letter to the editor:

Biden identified the real issue

Thu, Jun 20, 2013 (2:02 a.m.)

The latest Obama administration scandal concerning the revelation that the National Security Agency is tapping into private citizens’ phone calls and Internet traffic has set up quite a debate on whether this is an illegal invasion of privacy or necessary for national security. Might I defer to the wisdom of our own Vice President Joe Biden?

To quote then-Sen. Biden, from a June 2006 televised interview on the subject of the then-Bush administration’s intelligence gathering programs:

“If I know every single phone call you made, I’m able to determine every single person you talk to. I can get a pattern about your life that’s very, very intrusive. The real question here is: What do they do with the information they collect that does not have anything to do with al-Qaida? And we’re going to trust the president and vice president of the United States that they’re doing the right thing? Don’t count me in on that.”

For once I think Biden has identified the real issue (trust), and for once I agree with him. Don’t count me in either.

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