Americans Need To Make Up Their Minds!

Come on folks...this whole business about the 'spying on Americans' thing in the media frankly reminds me more of how far the American media has fallen in credibility than anything else. 

The media were fine with George II and his cronies passing all kinds of intrusive abuses of the Constitution partly because they called it "The Patriot Act" which made for good headline material, and partly because we were in the "War on Terror" (which has never made any sense to me or anyone with more than a junior-high education, but again it makes for good headline material).

Now, however, the media's collective knickers are in a twist over a program that has largely been reported and documented in books and other "non-media" venues.  It is a well known fact that the government has had an ability to monitor at least the metadata of all phone traffic since soon after 9/11.  Through court order (the "secret court") they can intercept actual content.

The creation and authorization of this "secret FISA court" was part and parcel of the original George II shenanigans concerning the Patriot Act.  Remember George directing his AG to write a 'finding' that the Constitution basically "did not apply" in these cases?  

Where was all the media concern and righteousness then? 

What President would dare say "this is un-American and we must return to our principles" and shut down the operation?  Obama tried it with that stinking, repugnant, un-American mess called Guantanamo, and what did it get him?

President Obama had it exactly right the other day when he said (but perhaps not forcefully enough) that the following are completely incompatible with each other:

• 100% security from terrorist attacks
• 100% privacy
• 0% personal inconvenience

[Update] Thomas Friedman has an annoying habit of writing his interesting columns faster than I can get around to reading them!  As usual, he came up with a very concise and I think correct approach on this subject last week.

Make the choices folks - think! - and figure out the balance and make sure you elect to Congress people who are bright enough to 1) understand what you are saying; and 2) do something about it.  (This probably eliminates the current Congress entirely unfortunately).