On the NSA / government data collection scandal: “As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.” – Barack Obama, January 2008 “You can’t have 100-percent security and also have 100-percent privacy and zero inconvenience. We’re going to have to make some choices as a society.” - Barack Obama, June 2013 Those two quotes, when read together, tell you everything there is to know about Obama. He begins with stunning naiveté and moral superiority. Then, when confronted with how the world REALLY works, he’s forced to backtrack. But rather than backtrack meekly (as someone who is wrong often should do), he does it arrogantly - as if he’s put off for having to explain his new position and why it doesn’t conflict with his original position. That’s classic Obama for anyone who is paying attention and wants to connect the dots. Speaking of dots, let’s talk about the NSA program (which I’m in favor of). Here’s how it works: The government collects massive amounts of data. The data is stored so that when new data is collected (e.g. a phone call or e-mail to/from a known terrorist is intercepted), it can be plugged into the existing data to allow our intelligence professionals to connect the dots (i.e. to identify a terrorist plot before it happens.) Is the program something to be concerned about? Sure. But it’s something most reasonable people will support when they hear that facts, understand its usefulness, and understand that there are safeguards in place. When you want to get on an airplane, you don’t just walk from your car to the plane. You have to pass through security. The NSA / government data collection program is the digital equivalent of passing through security to get on an airplane. It’s unfortunate that all this security is necessary, but it is. The reality is that psychopathic terrorists want to kill as many of us as possible. The only reason we haven’t lost a major American city yet - with hundreds of thousands dead - is they haven’t been able to pull it all together (the weapon, the strategy, the people, and the execution). But make no mistake about it, they are trying. We need programs like this to increase our odds of stopping them. Here’s a piece in Politico that explains the legality of the program: politico/story/2013/06/surveillance-privacy-nsa-programs-legal-92590.html. Unfortunately, it takes a swipe at the Bush administration (which did a remarkably good job of building the anti-terrorism infrastructure – on the fly, in the midst of fear and chaos, and without a manual - that has kept us safe all these years since 9/11). Who agrees with that? Obama does. How do I know? Because after attacking Bush endlessly for years with stunning naiveté and moral superiority, Obama had to backtrack and keep many of the programs Bush put in place. But typical of Obama, he backtracks arrogantly and with zero class – refusing to acknowledge that the Bush administration was right about more than he’d like to admit.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:41:35 +0000
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