Just As I Thought

I, for one, welcome our new listeners

An ABC News poll — conducted via telephone — says that 63% of Americans think that the secret NSA program tapping American phones is justified.
At first, I thought to myself that this is just another example of the heavy training American citizens have suffered at the hands of the Bush administration, being told over and over that there are terrorists around every corner and that only giving up our freedom would make us safe.
Watch out! There’s a terrorist! No, THERE! Right there, where you can’t see him! They’re going to get you and your family any moment now! Get some duct tape NOW!
And here’s a great quote:

“This is all being done by machine,” said Bryan Cunningham, a former CIA legal adviser. “There’s nobody at NSA who’s sitting around reading these records. I think most Americans would say if you’re looking for links in the data and you don’t have my name and it’s a machine not a person, what’s the problem?”

I’ll tell you what the problem is, among others: how the hell is a machine going to detect terrorist communications? I mean, I have multiple spam filters on my email, and at every step in the screens dozens of offers to enlarge my penis still manage to get through.
If I was optimistic, I’d reason these poll numbers this way: the 63% who said they supported the spying all realized that they were talking on the phone and rationalized that the NSA is probably listening right now and they didn’t want to be detained without charge indefinitely.
As the wise man said, Doctor Kwan is an honorable man! He is building a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude! Let’s give Dr. Kwan a big hand!

[The real reason for the bizarre, skewed, unbelievable results of this poll is the leading questions asked. Look at a couple of them.]

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