a
sunday washington post article states that out of all of the wiretaps of americans, only about ten were worthy of further scrutiny! as cbs newsreaders report (with a straight face) what appears to be
good news, the questions that go unasked and unanswered are 1) how many people were wiretapped to cull those "ten" people, and 2) if the program is netting so few people to "watch", wouldn't resources be better spent in more productive forms of inquiry?
we all need to be aware of this spin before it becomes the talking point of the media and pundits. we need to reverse the numbers and ask why computers are sifting through the emails and phone calls of so many americans that have absolutely nothing to do with terrorism. we need to ask if there are other parameters being filed in non-terrorist related files? do these "searchs", for example, inquire about immigration status? are there "illegal" or "expired" visa files being compiled? are there groups or individuals that are being "filed" as potential threats, like peace groups and domestic activists?
more questions beyond the fold...
cbs is reporting the new spin on that article today with tremendous effectiveness - for the republican point of view!
from the washington post article comes this amazing statement:
Bush has recently described the warrantless operation as "terrorist surveillance" and summed it up by declaring that "if you're talking to a member of al Qaeda, we want to know why." But officials conversant with the program said a far more common question for eavesdroppers is whether, not why, a terrorist plotter is on either end of the call. The answer, they said, is usually no.
Fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their domestic calls, as well. That step still requires a warrant from a federal judge, for which the government must supply evidence of probable cause.
The Bush administration refuses to say -- in public or in closed session of Congress -- how many Americans in the past four years have had their conversations recorded or their e-mails read by intelligence analysts without court authority. Two knowledgeable sources placed that number in the thousands; one of them, more specific, said about 5,000.
most importantly, the question in MY mind is exactly what is being done with the original data files that are gathered? are they destroyed (want to make book on THIS one?) or are they simply filed away for future reference!
what is occurring as we awaken this morning is the "re-framing" of the discussion - the minimalization of the "numbers" of those affected to make it palatable to the masses. if we do not stop this re-formatting of the issue at the outset, we will lose this battle with the general public and we will lose the battle in november.
our major task in the coming months is to examine exactly how the republican "talking points" reshape issues to make them acceptable - we need to immediately counter with the discussion of the real issue and not allow ourselves or the media to be distracted by the smooth talk of the spinners.
how do we do this? we blitz the media each and every time they use the republican spin without questioning the source. we email and write and call each outlet and ask exactly WHY it is acceptable for the government to spy on many thousands of americans to only find ten worthy of scrutiny!
we need to turn the talking points around to our perspective by asking the <i<right</i> questions instead of passively accepting the format issued from the white house and the neocons!
the washington post article raises many more disturbing issues - points we need to drive home to the media. we need to frame this issue, NOT the spinners - and we need to start countering NOW!
please read the article! here is the link again...Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects