White House defends phone snooping

Responding to widespread outrage over the government’s seizure of millions of private phone records, a White House spokesman said Thursday there is a “robust legal regime” to ensure such surveillance complies with the Constitution.

White House deputy press secretary Joshua Earnest didn’t say specifically whether President Obama is comfortable with the snooping. But he told reporters traveling with Mr. Obama aboard Air Force One that the Patriot Act includes protections of civil liberties even as it authorizes such electronic surveillance methods.

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House Speaker John A. Boehner on Thursday called on the Obama administration to provide answers regarding a government-sponsored surveillance program of U.S. telephone customers, even though Congress apparently has received frequent updates on the secret probe.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday that the U.S. National Security Agency currently is collecting telephone records of tens of millions of U.S. Verizon customers under an order granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Mr. Boehner, at his weekly news conference at the Capitol, told reporters the probe raises “public policy and civil liberties concerns” and asked President Obama to “explain to the American people why the administration considers this a critical tool in protecting our nation from the threats of a terrorist attack.”

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(CNN) -- Frightening government overreach or valuable law enforcement tool?

That's the question politicians in Washington, and millions of citizens around the United States, asked on Thursday thanks to an explosive report suggesting that the government has been collecting millions of Americans' phone records.

FBI Direct Robert Mueller will be asked about the matter -- revealed after a British newspaper, the Guardian, published a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court order that applied to phone data from Verizon -- when he appears next week before the House Judiciary Committee. The panel's chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, issued a statement Thursday saying he was "very concerned that the Department of Justice may have abused the intent of the law, and we will investigate.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/06/politics/nsa-verizon-records/index.html

What in the world are they looking for??

Tendencies.

tendencies plural of ten·den·cy (Noun)


1. An inclination toward a particular characteristic or type of behavior: "her tendency to socialize"; "criminal tendencies".

2. A group within a larger political party or movement: "the dominant tendency in the party remained right-wing".

"In digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?"

It kind of makes you wonder if they can see us right now, sitting in our houses, typing on our computers, doesn't it? Scary stuff.