Oh, My God! The Government is NOT Listening to Billions of Conversations!

That could be the headline accompanying the "bombshell" article in USA Today.

Of course, it isn't. That would be... . Oh, I don't know...THE TRUTH.

Instead, the usual suspects are twisting this into something that it's not, intentionally distorting THE TRUTH to score political points.

According to USA Today:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

Another leaker (Oops! I mean courageous whistle-blower) tries to undermine the Bush Administration's efforts to prevent another 9/11 and protect Americans.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

The important sentence: "This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations."

Nonetheless, that little fact is tossed aside by the Dems, their mouthpieces in the lib media, and the Dems in Republicans' clothing, like Arlen Specter.


From the Associated Press:

AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth telephone companies began turning over records of tens of millions of their customers' phone calls to the National Security Agency program shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to USA Today, citing anonymous sources it said had direct knowledge of the arrangement.

The telephone companies on Thursday declined to comment on national security matters, and would say only that they are assisting government agencies in accordance with the law.

"We have been in full compliance with the law and we are committed to our customers' privacy," said Bob Varettoni, a spokesman for Verizon.

The White House defended its overall eavesdropping program and said no domestic surveillance is conducted without court approval.

"The intelligence activities undertaken by the United States government are lawful, necessary and required to protect Americans from terrorist attacks," said Dana Perino, the deputy White House press secretary, who added that appropriate members of Congress have been briefed on intelligence activities.

So, what does this revelation mean?

It means that Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin will take a perfectly legal and historically PRECEDENTED measure and try to scare Americans into believing they are victims of undue governmental intrusion.

It also means that while these political opportunists act to divide Americans and destroy Bush and split the Republican Party, they are sidetracking the U.S. in the War on Terror once again.

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Here's something sweetly ironic.

The online version of the USA Today story includes this link:

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: The NSA record collection program

In order to access the link, USA Today demands some of your personal information. To proceed to the page, USA Today wants to know your sex, year of birth, and zip code.

Why is the outlet collecting this information?

Is it possible that USA Today is trying to detect some sort of patterns?

Are online users being analyzed?

Is tracking being done?

Where's a whistle-blower when you need one?

Leahy and Durbin really should call for an investigation.

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!
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Mark Levin discusses the NSA's collection of phone records, the 4th Amendment, and the Echelon program here.