Dis"Connecting The Dots"

By show of hands, how many of you believe that collecting the phone records of innocent American's by the NSA is an invasion of your privacy? Here's what the president had to say about this today:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, you've said that the government is not trolling through the lives of innocent Americans, but why shouldn't ordinary people feel that their privacy is invaded by the NSA compiling a list of their telephone calls?

PRESIDENT BUSH: What I have told the American people is, we'll protect them against an al Qaeda attack, and we'll do so within the law. I've been very clear about the principles and guidelines of any program that has been designed to protect the American people.

I've also been clear about the fact that we do not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval, and that this government will continue to guard the privacy of the American people. But if al Qaeda is calling into the United States, we want to know, and we want to know why.

For the Australian press friends here, we got accused of not connecting dots prior to September the 11th, and we're going to connect dots to protect the American people, within the law. The program he's asking about is one that has been fully briefed to members of the United States Congress, in both political parties. They are very aware of what is taking place. The American people expect their government to protect them, within the laws of this country, and I'm going to continue to do just that.

Here we go again with the notion that "briefing" congressional reps and senators is the same thing as being forthright and legal about your actions. Simply becuase the W, Rove and Co says that they brief two parties about thier actions doesn't make it legal, now does it? Nor does it pass for congressional oversight, in my book. How bout you?