Maybe he stuck a bug on her when he was groping her.

We don't know if it's true or not--but the real problem is, who in the NSA is leaking shit to foreign countries? SPECIFICALLY to implicate Obama? I guess this is retaliation for the revelation that it was BUSHCO that started spying on her.

Michael Hayden from the train wanting to be relevant in some way.

countries are upset, but if they could, they'd do the same thing. But yeah, I do find it odd that someone in the NSA deliberately contacted a German newspaper to report specifically what Obama knew, and when--whether true or not.

Certainly there is way too much abuse of modern technology. But you are reading this from a very US centric viewpoint based on the heavy propaganda we have been fed from birth.

It is also unfortunate that this shit keeps us from the real discussion, which is how do we deal with the very serious implications of the invasive power of technology: Aka truly appropriate regulation. The "meme" that everybody does it is extremely effective at disarming the general populace, which is why it is so deeply spread in our media and discource.

It is a fact that Europe has a different view of such things as privacy and limits of what government and industry should be able to do. They have laws in place that add clarity and define an inherant right to a certain level of privacy and places the idea that there should always be some limits to this capability.

In that environment (Europe's) and also considering they do not spend, nor have allowed their military industrial industries to bloat to the huge levels we have here, they simply are less capable, and likely really do really have some limits to which they try and hold themselves to.

That they liklely **have not** broken those boundries is obvious if folks let the facts, and not the fears and false memes we have grown up with dominate our thinking. I mean, why would Merkel and the other leaders of Europe and South America be ratcheting this up into an international incident if they have been involved in truly equivilent practices. That just does not make sense: Well maybe to the right wing and others who are extremely xenophobic.

Thank you. Everybody does not do it. The NSA wanted this precisely because nobody else could do it.

Yeah, the president had NO idea.

The Obama administration must realize they can't lie their way out of this mess. There are too many documents floating around that will expose those lies. I'm so happy to see this very big problem back in the spotlight where it belongs.

Anonymous "high ranking" NSA official?

Riiiiiiight.

they're throwing the kitchen sink at him to see what will stick.

Obama was so willing to continue Bush's illegal spying and put the Democratic Party at risk?

If we really want to win we need to stand up for what is right.

Equivicating and putting feet in both sides of the divide are the things that de-energize what should, at this point, be an unstoppable liberal democratic party.