I know of no such evidence WRT the NSA.

Well... yeah! That would make sense, wouldn't it? It means they're doing their job competently. The NSA itself existed for a long time before the public ever knew about it at all.

Sorry, that's classified. Ask again in 50 years or so, preferably before they burn the tapes.

It's a secret court, with a secret oath, to the government and its masters. You won't find a copy of the constitution anywhere in the room, well maybe in the bathroom, on a roll, by the toilet...

At the end of the ordeal they drove us home... Cops in the US are real bastards.

Really! the gall!

find it hard to believe the back doors are being built into all of these phones.

Why? It's a trivial process... And who cares where the phone is going? One size fits all.

That's not quite working out as well as planned.

But it's not to say we shouldn't do what we can.

Oh please, stop with this 'cut off funding' crap. It's a tear drop in the ocean. Most of NSA and CIA funding comes from the transport and sale of contraband, weapons, drugs, any other 'controlled' substance, and money laundering through the banks. Or do you actually believe that the Iran/Contra hearings put a stop to it? They are rogues in every sense of the word, and now they have the power to keep it going indefinitely.

The corruption, no. None of these problems arise from government 'opposition' to capitalism. To the contrary, the evidence of collusion is overwhelming, like what is happening in the republican/democratic tag team. The government, being nothing more than than a lap dog to business, is simply stealing our money for them. I believe your name for it is 'stimulus' or the much more poetic 'quantitative easing', not to mention war and empire, but I just did. And your Allen West, et al are in it just as much as the rest, so save your breath on those a-holes. Regulation isn't the problem, corruption is, and your boys are neck deep doing a nice relaxing backstroke along with all the others You just couldn't have it more backwards. Truly a case of wag the dog. Ah, shit, here I am again trying to lead a horse to the water. Forget it. You are happily living in your cultural attic, pining for a fairy tale past that never existed, while the house burns. "Tom cruise, come out of the closet"

Too bad the people with the resources to fight it are so cowardly and greedy.

Yep...

This internet thing is fucked up. Mr. Gore tear down these walls!

What could possibly go wrong now?

Then "war and empire" are the wrong things to pursue.

Right and wrong are irrelevant. Somebody is always pursuing them. Choose your weapon to defend yourself.

Who wants an empire?

An emperor, or a wannabe. As long as anybody can draw up a big enough army they will have one.

I don't.

Doesn't matter. You will either live in an empire or its colony. Choose the most benevolent one you can. That's just the way things will stay for the foreseeable future.

Who are we at war with?

Cold or hot, competing empires have been at war throughout all of history, each one replaced by or morphed into another. The natural desire for domination is not going anywhere, and war is its natural state.

...it's still not right for the USA to have done this.

Within the context of war and empire, I'm afraid it is the right thing to do. If you don't stay on the offensive, you will perish in this environment. Thems is jus' simple facts.

Hans across the water (water)
Heads across the sky...