Those who think that the goverment really cares about everything they personally are talking about

[we can do it]

are just about as silly as those who thinks gawd is monitoring their every move and has nothing better to do than to focus on only them....

[corkhead]

1. I know of no person at DU or otherwise

who actually thinks "that the goverment really cares about everything they personally are talking about". Where have you heard of such a thing?

[we can do it]

4. ........they are saving EVERYTHING!1111OMG!!!WTF seroius!1

[corkhead]

8. Read up on this definition:

Straw man:

A straw man or straw person, also known in the UK as an Aunt Sally, is a type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man&quot , and to refute it, without ever having actually refuted the original position. This technique has been used throughout history in polemical debate, particularly in arguments about highly charged, emotional issues.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

[we can do it]

12. Just a comparison, why take offense? Felling a little silly?

God is watching you. He is sitting right next to big brother.

[cherokeeprogressive]

19. You're the one who should be felliing a little silly.

You forgot to capitalize Big Brother.

[we can do it]

21. I don't feel silly. I realized we had no privacy a long time ago.

Like in high school when we joked about a crackle on the phone meant it was tapped. Like they knew what Henry Hill was doing in Goodfellas in the 70s.

[cherokeeprogressive]

22. Um... nevermind.

[we can do it]

24. OK sorry to interupt FB

[leftstreet]

2. Who thinks that?

[we can do it]

6. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!........they are saving EVERYTHING!1111OMG!!!WTF seroius!1

[leftstreet]

10. Bullshit! There is NO SPYING on Americans. None

Obama To Leno: 'There Is No Spying On Americans'

by Greg Henderson
August 07, 201312:44 AM


President Obama defended the US government's surveillance program, telling NBC's Jay Leno on Tuesday that: "There is no spying on Americans."

"We don't have a domestic spying program," Obama said on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. "What we do have is some mechanisms that can track a phone number or an email address that is connected to a terrorist attack. ... That information is useful."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/06/209692380/obama-to-leno-there-is-no-spying-on-americans

I believe Teh President

[we can do it]

15. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake....

oh wait - that's santa claus.... he does keep track of everything you personally are doing - so be good for goodness sake....

[loyalsister]

3. It needed to be said

[Arctic Dave]

5. Derp.

Face palm montage here.

[we can do it]

7. In the name of jeebus, sky pilot - mind monitor.

On earth as it is in heaven.

[alc]

9. EVERYONE doesn't give me concerns about ME

but I am concerned about my congressman. candidates in the next election. election supervisors. donors. and many other people who can affect my life.

collection data on everyone gives them capabilities that can change elections and congressional votes. That is scary. The fact that "I" am part of "everyone" doesn't concern me a bit.

[we can do it]

18. Like the 2004 election was rigged? or 2000?

hmmmm

[NuclearDem]

11. Huh?

WARNING: INCOMING WALL OF SMILIES. ACTIVATE DEFENSES.

[we can do it]

17. if you insist

[Electric Monk]

13. Is all that straw itchy?

[we can do it]

25. No, but the poison ivy is.

[Douglas Carpenter]

14. with cranks and nuts like Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, John Conyers, Gary Hart and the moonbats at Amnesty

International, the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch as well as freaks like Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson all working up this hysteria because of their blind hatred of Barack Obama - it is no wonder the lunatic fringe is also all worked up about this ridiculous and preposterous trivial matter of the government closely monitoring all our communications when it is only being done for our own good.

Just listen to this nutcase:


"It is not excessive to believe this growing, gargantuan, secret complex now represents the greatest threat to our freedom in the new twenty-first century." - for U.S. Senator Gary Hart


or just get a loud of these two goof balls:

The NSA's metastasised intelligence-industrial complex is ripe for abuse

Where oversight and accountability have failed, Snowden's leaks have opened up a vital public debate on our rights and privacy

by Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson

guardian.co.uk, Sunday 23 June 2013 13.00 BST


Let's be absolutely clear about the news that the NSA collects massive amounts of information on US citizens – from emails, to telephone calls, to videos, under the Prism program and other Fisa court orders: this story has nothing to do with Edward Snowden. As interesting as his flight to Hong Kong might be, the pole-dancing girlfriend, and interviews from undisclosed locations, his fate is just a sideshow to the essential issues of national security versus constitutional guarantees of privacy, which his disclosures have surfaced in sharp relief.

Snowden will be hunted relentlessly and, when finally found, with glee, brought back to the US in handcuffs and severely punished. (If Private Bradley Manning's obscene conditions while incarcerated are any indication, it won't be pleasant for Snowden either, even while awaiting trial.) Snowden has already been the object of scorn and derision from the Washington establishment and mainstream media, but, once again, the focus is misplaced on the transiently shiny object. The relevant issue should be: what exactly is the US government doing in the people's name to "keep us safe" from terrorists?

We are now dealing with a vast intelligence-industrial complex that is largely unaccountable to its citizens. This alarming, unchecked growth of the intelligence sector and the increasingly heavy reliance on subcontractors to carry out core intelligence tasks – now estimated to account for approximately 60% of the intelligence budget – have intensified since the 9/11 attacks and what was, arguably, our regrettable over-reaction to them.

Today, the intelligence sector is so immense that no one person can manage, or even comprehend, its reach. When an operation in the field goes south, who would we prefer to try and correct the damage: a government employee whose loyalty belongs to his country (despite a modest salary), or the subcontractor who wants to ensure that his much fatter paycheck keeps coming? - Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/23/nsa-intelligence-industrial-complex-abuse

[NuclearDem]

16. CUH-RAY-ZEE alert!

Geez where did you dig up that band of loons? Must be from some Rand Paul Geocities site or something.

[steve2470]

20. ....

[we can do it]

27. I love that illustration! Did you do it?

[steve2470]

28. no, can't claim credit, glad you enjoyed nt

[Electric Monk]

30. It was derived from The Biting Pear of Salamanca by ursulav on deviantART

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/lolwut

Artist’s Response

Yes. I know. LOL WUT. Yes, yes. I’m aware. Really, I don’t mind that y’all are havin’ fun with the image*, the internet is a very silly place and all, but if you could make an effort to include a link to the original when you’re posting it, I’d be really grateful.

http://ursulav.deviantart.com/art/The-Biting-Pear-of-Salamanca-29677500

[steve2470]

31. ah thanks for that nt

[Electric Monk]

32. If you've got broadband, or lots of patience, there are a bunch of other derivative works

here http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/lolwut/photos

[we can do it]

33. Yes, thanks. Want to check out more art there tomorrow.

[Warren Stupidity]

23. You

Put too many words in your headline and don't include links to nonsense.

[we can do it]

29. Did I spell something wrong, too?

[Union Scribe]

26. You are dusting off some old-ass talking points tonight. nt

[BlueStreak]

34. Apparently the OPer missed the news last week about the FBI visit

on a lady who had simply done a Google search for a pressure cooker.

Nobody every said they were interested in EVERYTHING we say and do. That is a disingenuous straw man argument.

But what they are interested in is having easy access to anything that might interest them at any moment, without being incumbered by such inconveniences as the laws and the Constitution.

And I hope the OPer gives considerably more thought than has been demonstrated so far. After all, did the NSA's eye in the sky accomplish anything whatsoever in apprehending the marathon bombers?

This is not "intelligence". It is not "detective work". It is harassment and intimidation. That has always been the goal.

[LaydeeBug]

35. It doesn't matter if they *care* what we're talking about, they're collecting data anyway. nt

[Demo_Chris]

36. I am personally kind of fond of the constitution and limited government...

Silly me.