"I've Been Retired for Four Days Now"

I'm not a big fan of the lottery. I almost never, ever play.

Okay, maybe a couple of times when one of the huge powerball lotteries has gone over a couple of million I'll plunk down a couple of bucks on a quick pick.

But you have to get a grin out of 8 regular joes at a meat packing plant in Nebraska hitting the big jackpot. $15 Million each, not bad.

Here's to those guys. Spend the money well.

I'm guessing at least one of them will buy season tickets to the Cornhuskers games. Go big red!

Passion Lives There

I know it's fashionable to bash the Winter Olympics. Not real sports. Not real athletes. Whatever.

I always enjoy them. Skating. Skiing. Hockey. Heck, even I'll even sit and watch curling!

There's something about the Olympic spirit that's inspiring, and we all need to be inspired every now and then.

Eavesdropping: Po-tat-o or Po-tay-toe?

The facts, as we know them from the NY Times whistleblowing story and the White House's response to it, are as follows:

- in the days after 9/11, President Bush acted on the advice of the National Security Agency (NSA) to authorize eavesdropping (phone, email, etc) on certain categories of individuals within the domestic United States. He did so without obtaining a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, claiming executive constitutional authority to collect foreign intelligence in war time.
- the individuals involved may or may not be citizens - we don't know yet
- the individuals involved were suspected of having some level of contact with Al Qaida. This suspicion was based on information collected in intelligence operations overseas. I.E. their phone number was found in captured cell phones of laptops.
- Approximately 500 people fell into this program
- The details of the program are top-secret, and involve elements that caused the Administration to believe that it would not be practical, or would compromise the secrecy and success of the program, to go through the established FISA court warrant procedure. A court procedure that the 9/11 commission report indicated was insufficient for combatting terrorism.

Those are the facts. How are they portrayed by the opposing sides in this media conflict?

Domestic Spying - say the Democrats, the mainstream old-school media, and the Hollywood politicos like George Clooney. They use this loaded phrase to cast the program in the widest possible worst case scenario to imply that the President is "spying" on every American - or at least his political opponents.

Terrorist Surveillance - says the President in his State of the Union speech. Limiting the scope of the program to those with connections to terrorists. Not you. Not me. Not the kindly old lady who lives down the block. Only people who have "reached out and touched" Al Qaida.

So, Domestic Spying vs. Terrorist Surveillance.

Which is right? More descriptive? More credible? More honest? More hysterical. It makes a difference.

So, let me ask you:

If U.S. military or intelligence personnel come into the possession of battlefield intel in the form of captured cell phones or computers that have contact information for someone within the borders of the U.S.A., who may be members of a terrorist cell waited for instructions, who may or may not be U.S. citizens - do you want that person monitored or not?

Are we really serious about "connecting the dots" regarding individuals within our borders who are in contact with the people who aim to kill us, or not?

Is said person, who is in contact with Al Qaida, having his civil rights violated by being monitored, or not?

And are the Democrats and the media advocating that we not monitor those people, and leave ourselves open to the next attack?

Democrats are playing a dangerous and losing game by asserting, without evidence, that President Bush has "broken a law" and/or committed an impeachable offense. Surveilling terrorists on our soil is a winning argument for the President.

WMD's Take Flight

The most underreported story at the moment is Saddam Sent WMD to Syria, Former General Alleges, which details how the WMD's were shipped out of Iraq to Syria in the days before the war started. Go read it.

I hope this report is taken seriously and investigated. Not just to prove the Democrats wrong in their continued, and irresponsible, litany that "Bush lied" us into war about WMD's. Because, if they are still around in Syria as this report alleges and as I believe they are, they are still a threat to us.

Let's investigate this seriously.