Verizon

Can you hear me now?

We ask the government, can you hear us now?

Verizon has been turning over millions of daily calls to the NSA. The administration defends it. It is all part and parcel of the Patriot Act and the destruction of our liberties.

If Mr. Obama cannot get back on a true course, he and his administration are going to be lame duck for 3 years.

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Later:

Sorry, Mr. Obama. The Congress was the one who passed the Patriot Act, keeps on renewing it, and is right up to date on how our lives are invaded.

BBC:
Paul Adams BBC News, Washington

After years of allegations, lawsuits and sporadic, vaguely-worded warnings from members of Congress, finally there is a piece of hard evidence, a window into the reality of post-9/11 intelligence surveillance.

The breadth of this dragnet is breathtaking. The thought that the phone records of millions, this reporter included, have been collected on an order of the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is a little creepy, to say the least.

Should we demand action to stop it? Some civil rights activists say absolutely.

Such behaviour, they argue, simply runs counter to the letter of the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which says there has to be "probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized", before any of this can happen.

The reality is that since 9/11, the national security establishment and telecommunications firms, with the aid of Congress, have constructed a new surveillance environment.

We just haven't been told about it.

Congress, Ho!

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