Why did nabalzbbfr's foolishness get an editor's star?

nab: If AG Gonzales came into your business and wanted to pay for a substantial item by personal check would you accept it?

For the past six months, I have been requesting without success specific details about the program, including: how many terrorists have been identified; how many arrested; how many convicted; and how many terrorists have been deported or killed as a direct result of information obtained through the warrantless wiretapping program.

Listen to what Michael Chertoff just told the EU Parliament:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/15/surveillance_scutiny/

He says that tracking the use of the DHS databases by law enforcement officials is impossible, while asserting that these same databases can extract specific actionable intelligence from broad, sweeping, undifferentiated data collected from blind, automated sources.

He's a liar on one of those counts.

The average person, who has not read information theory (why would they?), hears "we're collecting lots of information" and thinks, well they should be able to make better predictions. In fact, data-mining operations degrade considerably the more and broader input they are given. More information can (and at some point, has to) actually lead to less accurate prediction, reducing security.

Actually, Atrios highlighted Joe Klein, delivering what has to be one of the most boneheaded/pernicious (take your pick) statements of so-called "liberal" punditry of all time--and, yes, I know that's saying a lot:

"People like me who favor this program don't yet know enough about it yet," he says, "Those opposed to it know even less -- and certainly less than I do.

Atrios adds:

Those of us opposed to it know it's... illegal.

Which, unfortunately, needs to be unpacked a little for the Joe Kleins of this world.

You see, at the beginning of a Law and Order episode, someone's discovered murdered. We don't know much about it--sometimes not even the person's name. We don't know why the person was murdered. We don't know who murdered them. We don't know how many people were involved. We don't know if there are any witnesses, etc., etc., etc. But we do know it's illegal. Finding out all about it--that's what the next 50-odd minutes (minus commercials) is about.

Klein, however, is telling us he's in favor of the murder from the get-go, and would probably rather be watching cartoons anyway, since they don't strain his brain too much. (We're not talking The Simpsons here, folks. We're talking strictly Saturday (or Sunday) morning stuff.

The "tired rehash" posting from nabalzbbfr, or however you spell it, mentioning "another spasm of Bush Derangement Syndrome," was so out of character with the justifiable outrage shown by the rest of the thread that I checked back and found this over the same signature, from April 28:

"This is all Bush derangement syndrome. Like Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman, George W. Bush is mocked and reviled by the mobs and the demagogues during the latter part of his term in office. As Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house". And President Bush will be seen in hindsight as a great Prophet, who set in motion the forces of freedom and prosperity both here in the US and throughout the world."

We know Bush hasn't been seen much lately, limiting himself to conducting bands, dancing or insulting the Queen. Seems the burden of the office has driven him to more relaxing activities, like posting on Salon.

I guess somebody has to defend him.

nabbrrz . . . nabbbaffr . . . nazba . . . whatever the poster's name is, gets a star for that post? Really?

What's the criteria for getting a star? Seriously, Salon, help me out here. What's the criteria? Who's handing out the little red stars?

To quote Doc Cochrane, "If we hold with the Greeks that the body is governed by humors, then my bile was ascendant."

No kings,

Robert

P.S. To the NSA agents assigned to monitor communications here at Salon, when Gee Dubya Bush asks what "ascendant" means, tell him it means "on the rise," and speak slowly.

We are watching the destruction of this country right before our eyes and there seems to be no action being taken by anyone in a position of authority to right the sinking ship.The decline of the once great Republic is a rerun to anyone that knows anything about history.Total corruption always destroys totally.

The bush crime cartel should all be put on trial in the public square for all to see what happens to thugs such as these that presently are doing their masters bidding the international banksters.

The corruption runs so deep in this country that nothing will be done by any democrat in congress as they have all been compromised for the most part by the gangsters of the bush family.

Some right wingers are systematically trying to bury the digg version of this article.

Also, all our supporting comments.

Please do register with Digg and digg articles like these.

The hospital incident really needs to permeate more minds, because it is a highly representative incident of just how low they will go.

The thing with Digg, kind of like daily Kos is that there is a point of critical mass. 20-30 diggs is meaningless, hit 40 to 50 and suddenly the article gets "made popular" and is opened up to many many more readers.

So a small cadre of dedicated suppressors can keep this thing down.

I only hype Digg at times when I think Glenn has hit one out of the park, and this is one such time. We the little people can do our very small part to help end this travesty of an administration and here is something easy you can do to help.

Go. Now.

The reluctance of much of the national "opinion elite" to become engaged on this issue must be traced back to their hysterical reaction to the events of September 11, the anthrax letters, and the D.C. sniper. They evidently believed that only a dictator could put things right and they are stubborn in persisting in the belief that this is the "medicine" our country needs. Far from protesting, they privately applaud the trampling on our civil liberties -- it's what dictators do, after all -- better to ruin the reputations of 10 innocent people rather than let one suspect escape surveillance. They are already busy framing the 2008 presidential campaign with this in view -- they do not seek the restoration of our constitutional republic, but rather a more efficient and effective dictator.

A change in the country's political leadership will not cure our afflictions unless similar changes are made in the opinion elite. And they are much better entrenched than the craftiest of politicians.