I guess that makes it OK. Nothing to see here.

It has certainly become hackneyed to call the government Orwellian, but in this case it’s unavoidable. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that he had given the “least untruthful” answer possible in March when he told a congressional hearing that the NSA does not collect information on millions of Americans, which it does, daily.



  1. CMike says:

    “Least untruthful” to Congress is still a federal crime of perjury. How soon before he’s the “least free” we can make him? I recommend ADX Florence.

    • bobbo, in Half Crouch says:

      Yea, verily! If he didn’t want to tell the truth, he had the Fifth, or refusal to answer, or not allowed to answer by the Statute.

      One Congress Creep rightfully stated they could not do their job if those in charge of the program would not tell them the truth.

      It truly is a culture of corruption. Liars lying to other liars.

      ……another revolting development.

      • we're here says:

        working device — sabotage, activate the sleepers grandma deliver cake timer mix it cook timer picric acid semtex pretty soft arm your cell-phone. Micro-miniaturize a camera flash circuit to put 600v onto the 5v data pins. “whatsamatter ocifer? Can’t figure out how to plug in your 30,000 dollar scanner into my rig right?”

        somebody here doesn’t like this message. Dallas??

  2. Eric says:

    Double Plus Good!

  3. kiwini says:

    “One Congress Creep rightfully stated they could not do their job if those in charge of the White House would not tell them the truth.”

    Fixed…

    • bobbo, in Half Crouch says:

      There is one of the few “slippery slope” situations that is valid. You start keeping secrets for National Security, then you start lying, then you start ……..

      Pretty dismal stuff.

      But “how come” Obama doesn’t come out and “Demand” that his employees be forthcoming and tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may?

      Where on the slippery slope do we think Obama is?

      Nothing to be proud of….fer shure.

  4. kiwini says:

    A better, far more appropriate version…

    “One Congress Creep rightfully stated they could not do their job if those in charge of the White House would not tell them the truth.”

  5. oldone says:

    But as the director of national intelligence, lying is part of the job. So, if he says that his lie was a lie, then does that make it the truth?

    • Glenn E. says:

      This sounds like a job for Capt. James T. Kirk, evil computer logic buster. He’d do it every time he came up against a world dominating, human killing computer. So why not a govt. agency, that plays by the same rules? 🙂

    • msbpodcast says:

      He could be lying in his spare time.

  6. Phydeau says:

    For the record… this is not stuff that liberals do. This is the stuff that Republicans do (and did, during the Bush administration). Obama is no liberal, except on fluffy stuff like gay marriage.

    • Glenn E. says:

      I think this proves my theory. That it really wouldn’t made that much difference which party won the elections of 2008 & 2012. It’s business as usual, in the government. Just a different color neck tie, being worn.

  7. notatall says:

    I just just about promise that everyone on this committee who is critical of the NSA will be getting an envelope containing just a taste of the dirt the agency has on them.

    And don’t try to tell me that they wouldn’t dare try to blackmail members of congress after they were just exposed for shit that came out in the past few days.

    • msbpodcast says:

      There are two types of cock-biters in every secret administration of a three letter acronym.

      The first is the one that knows where all the bodies are buried.

      The second is the one that puts them there. He’s usually called upon when bribery or duress don’t work.

  8. Ranger007 says:

    Like so much we hear – different rules for different folks.

    The train has left the station – doesn’t make any difference.

    I don’t visit as often as I once did, but “this is not stuff that liberals do” and/or “Obama is no liberal”, is that some kind of code?

  9. kerpow says:

    I want to throw out a tinfoil-hat-wearing-the-government-wants-to-enslave-us-all type hypothetical scenario and see what y’all think about this angle…

    Could this be a setup to further tighten a police state? Snowden’s story seems to have some holes in it so what if this NSA scandal is actually a red herring put out there to get the public pissed off and cry out to stop these spying practices? The powers that be all seem to be arguing that this is in our best interest, to protect us, but the majority of people aren’t having it. So lets say we get them to stop and THEN a big “terrorist incident” happens.

    What do you think the results would be? Do you think people would go crawling back to the government, tail between our legs, willingly and happily giving up more privacy and freedoms than before? If there truly is some shadow government that wants to control everything this would be a good strategy. I think they’ve squeezed us about as much as they can for now so they need something big, another 9/11 type event, but with DHS, NSA, FBI, CIA, or whatever other alphabet soup agency on the hook for our security how could they allow something to happen and not be on the hook for it? If the “protection” ends at our demand they would be held blameless and even be able to say “we told you so”.

    Thoughts? And please don’t bother calling me a conspiracy nut or other creative names. I’m not saying this is the case because there are too many unknown variables to know for sure. It was just a line of thought that I found interesting and not out of the realm of possibilities. If anything its made me scrutinize this thing more carefully.

    • noname says:

      Why the fishing?

      Make up your own mind based on truth and not what you can sell others!

      If you can’t handle the truth, you will always be fishing for likeminded gullible people to sell stories too.

      • kerpow says:

        The problem is we don’t know what the truth is. I’m not fishing nor trying to sell anybody anything. I had a thought and wanted to know what others thought. Is it wrong to ask opinions? Why be a dick about it?

        • noname says:

          Yes, let me ask your same question:

          “Is it wrong to ask opinions?” of which I ask “Why the fishing?”

          and yes, “Why be a dick about it?”

        • noname says:

          One other thing:

          “The problem is we don’t know what the truth is.”

          Speak for yourself and your friends!

          • kerpow says:

            Clearly you have nothing to add to this conversation. You gave no opinions only assertions towards my intentions. Just move along.

          • noname says:

            Oh, I most certainly gave you my very strong opinion(s) (“assertions” as you call them), and; you most certainly didn’t like it/them, because it didn’t play well with your intentions!! Tough Nookie, this sand box is not for children!

            You are like a little spoiled child when others aren’t spell bound by your theatrical games.

            You obviously didn’t like my opinion (“assertions”) when you asked for opinions.

            Would you like to play another game?

  10. MikeN says:

    So Obama’s Treasury Secretary is a tax cheat, and his Director of National Intelligence is someone who declared that the Muslim Brotherhood is a largely secular organization.

    • Greg Allen says:

      Jeeze Louise, MikeN.

      Those things are only true on Fox News.

      • MikeN says:

        Testifying before Congress, “The term ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ … is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam,” Clapper said.

        You may be right, this is only true on Fox News, because other networks won’t cover such stories that embarrass their party.

    • dusanmal says:

      Don’t forget the side players like NASA head appointed by Obama who stated that one of main NASA goals and duties is “outreach to Muslim community…”.
      This is what you get when voting for utopian promises. Sadly, most Americans have not lived under Progressive and related regimes to be able to even grasp how this all was inevitable from day one of such rabidly Progressive administration.
      Trace back my comments – I stated early on, before he was even “candidate Obama” that he would fit as hand in glove in such institution as Communist Politbiro… Communist didn’t say – “hey, we’ll enslave you by a powerful ruthless bureaucracy…” – they promised Utopia, equality, prosperity,… Progress.
      (PS – Bush, while on the same wavelength would not have done well in Politbiro… There was a trace of humanity left there. So, no excuse for him for paving the way but he’s not anyway near the rabid Progressivism as Obama and his [call them Communist, Nazi or Progressive – same thing] henchmen are).

      • Greg Allen says:

        dusanamal,

        Don’t be such a dupe!

        Don’t let Fox News lead you around by the nose from one Fake Fox Scandal to the next.

  11. noname says:

    Like any perjurer (read criminal) he is only sorry and angry he got caught!

    He most certainly wants to vent his self-righteous evil anger on Edward Snowden!

    NSA most certainly wants to vent their self-righteous evil anger on Edward Snowden!

    FBI most certainly wants to vent their self-righteous evil anger on Edward Snowden!

    CIA most certainly wants to vent their self-righteous evil anger on Edward Snowden!

    Meanwhile the NSA/CIA/FBI/DoD… are telling the AMERICAN public not to get upset because they boldly flat-out lied to AMERICANs (because we were trying to protect U.S.)!

    I am angry because they broke their oath to uphold and protect American’s Bill of Rights because they believe our Bill of Rights endangers Americans!

    • msbpodcast says:

      Meanwhile the NSA/CIA/FBI/DoD… are telling the AMERICAN public not to get upset because they boldly flat-out lied to AMERICANs (because we were trying to protect U.S.)!

      Right to our faces.

      He can eat my shit…

  12. Greg Allen says:

    I think he should but indicted for perjury.

    However, I think he can weasel out of it.

    His answer was, “any type of data at all on millions of Americans.”

    I think his lawyers would argue that the data collected wasn’t on _Americans_ but was on _cell phones_.

  13. Greg Allen says:

    It bothers me that most Americans are not bothered by this.

    (according to the Pew poll being reported all over the place today).

    Do Americans realize that this is only the beginning?

    Right now, the government can track your virtual communications and associates.

    But, eventually, the government will be able to track you, personally, in the physical world.

    It seems like a sci-fi movie now, but I think we are on the brink of it.

    Between your cell phone, traffic cameras, security cameras, car computers, and who-knows-what-else, the government will be able to follow your every movement.

    Do we really that? I sure as hell don’t.

    • msbpodcast says:

      I would not object if and only if they didn’t feel that they need to lie to us.

      I’m not a little kid who wouldn’t understand the truth when I heard it.

      I also understand that he’s some bastard that nobody will weep when he crosses some even bigger cock-biter and gets his own premature 6x6x6 piece of America.

      There seems to be a stock yard where they breed these slimy, reptilian bastards.

      Luckily, they don’t seem to make it to retirement age.

    • MikeN says:

      The government can already track you physically, and it is more substantial than this tracking here. A cop can pull up a history of where you’ve traveled for the last few months pretty easily in many big cities that have installed cameras along with license plate readers. Some crimes have been solved with this by finding suspects nearby.

  14. Glenn E. says:

    “Least untruthful” apparently is one of those replacement terms for “lying”, that the federal court system will allow as a defense. You’ll see. Just don’t you try it in civilian court. Because there always going to be a double standard, of legality. Big corporations, big banks, government agencies, and politicians, get the solid gold standard, of justice. While the rest of use tax paying slaves get the cheap zink plated standard, tossed at us.

  15. msbpodcast says:

    I wouldn’t buy a used car from that surly looking bastard. Hell I wouldn’t buy a new car from him either.

    These peons of the 1%ers think that the principles of law against violating our privacy, property and other rights obviously don’t apply to them. (They never seem to apply to their 1%er leash holders either. That’s where they get the my shit don’t smell attitude.)

    They get to operate in the shadows seeing neither permission nor forgiveness while we get blamed around the planet for all the shit that they do.

    I can only hope that he eats a bullet fired by one of his own operatives, in public, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, in front of the white house.

    Lying bastard.

  16. msbpodcast says:

    He looks like somebody who’s about to get a shellacking when his mom gets home.

    He probably feels like it too. (If only he hadn’t whacked her behind the barn and buried her there.)

  17. bobbo, in Half Crouch says:

    The Young Turks had an excellent show today on the revolving door between Booz Allan and the Gubments National Secrecy Programs.

    Its 100%.

    Booz Allan has only ONE customer: US Gov. 5 Billion a year income.

    RICH = CRIMINAL.

  18. MikeN says:

    Congress already knew the answer to this question. Ron Wyden asked the question as a perjury trap. Clapper is not allowed to reveal classified information just because a Senator asked, and suggesting he would answer in closed session would also be tantamount to a yes.

    Clapper’s real problem is that he declared the Muslim Brotherhood to be ‘largely secular’ and this makes him unqualified to be Director of National Intelligence.

  19. Captain Obvious says:

    Why doesn’t the NSA want us to know what they’re doing all the time? If they haven’t done anything wrong, what do they have to worry about?

  20. Sea Lawyer says:

    Honestly, I don’t know why all the progresives are outraged. If you want the nanny state, where you are protected from all the ills and hardships of the world, then you have to accept what comes with it.

    • Captain Obvious says:

      Your spelling and understanding of the word progressives is adorable. But it is better than your understanding of conservatives.

      • Sea Lawyer says:

        I understand that a conservative is somebody who would use the law to preserve things as they have been.

        Given that the United States is a nation founded on individual liberty and limits to the power of government, I see nothing conservative about the expansion of the police state.

  21. Mextli says:

    Feinstein fell right into his lie. LMAO
    http://tinyurl.com/l65sygj

    STEPHANOPOULOS: But that’s what I was just going to get to. Both of you know so much more than any other Americans. One of the things you heard from Senator Udall is the desire for more public information. Now, he believes that the administration hasn’t been misleading generally the committee and the public, but I want to play an exchange, it was in the Intelligence Committee in March, when James Clapper was questioned by your colleague, Senator Wyden.

    (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

    SEN. RON WYDEN, D-OREGON: Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?

    JAMES CLAPPER, DNI: No, sir.

    WYDEN: It does not?

    CLAPPER: Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently, perhaps, collect, but not wittingly.

    (END VIDEO CLIP)

    STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Feinstein, I have to confess, I have a hard time squaring that answer with what we learned this week.

    FEINSTEIN: Well, I think this is very hard. There is no more direct or honest person than Jim Clapper, and I think both Mike and I know that. You can misunderstand the question. This is one of the dilemmas of talking about it. He could have thought the question had content or something, but it is true that this is a wide collection of phone records, as Mike said. No name, no content. But the number to number, the length of time, the kind of thing that’s on the telephone bill, and we have to deal with that.

    • MikeN says:

      Clapper is not allowed to reveal classified information.

      • bobbo, in Half Crouch says:

        To a greater degree, he is also not allowed to lie to Congress.

        Was he under oath??? Even though I don’t think that should matter.

        This internet webby thing is interesting. Reading various arrest reports. The charge of “lying to a Police Officer” comes up more than I had ever thought was used. Still don’t read much about people being CONVICTED of it though. Bargaining Chip?

        Too many lies damage a society. “Keeping Secrets” is probably more about lying than information collecting, trumped only by profits made in contracting with the gubment?

  22. jim g says:

    How to lie without lying:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=6CGyASDjE-U

  23. WmDE says:

    Airwaves vs Cyberspace

    Airwaves belong to everyone and no one.
    Cyberspace belongs to everyone and no one.

    Everyone has the right to listen to what is being broadcast over the airwaves. (Except for a fairly stupid, unenforceable law passed by congress regarding wireless phones during the Clinton admin.) Once you have your receiver you can tune to any frequency and listen. You want to transmit that may require additional licensing.

    Everyone has the right to cyberspace. If you want access to the internet backbone you can have it. Don’t know what the monthly bill would be. Once you have access you can “tune” to any IP address and “listen.” A bonus is you can also transmit.

    The airwaves and cyberspace overlap in wifi and wireless IP services.

    Treating cyberspace as more secure than CB radio is a mistake. No law will REALLY protect you.

  24. noname says:

    James Clapper does look allot like a white Yoda!

  25. Super! I love these delicate posts.


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