Bill Watt’s Blog

So, you know when you read an article, post, blog or whatever and at first you’re shocked and then immediately after you realize that the conclusion should have been obvious to you? I just had another of those experiences when I read the following post (full post):

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You’re Calling
A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

And later in the post:

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

And here’s the ah-ha portion:

The official who warned ABC News said there was no indication our phones were being tapped so the content of the conversation could be recorded.A pattern of phone calls from a reporter, however, could provide valuable clues for leak investigators.

See now, why wasn’t that obvious to me? In many cases they don’t even need to tape the calls to bring the level of information to where this administration could rule you guilty. (Keeping in mind that I think it is stupid for them to say that the special courts setup specifically to review their wiretap requests are too slow. I assume that this is false, that this court has one job and there is no line if the President calls, and that the reality is that the court isn’t slow but that the burden of cause is hard to prove if you have no reason other than “I want to do it!”)

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this is the end and I’m still waiting for the announcement that they are in fact recording conversations. It will happen as I believe it is too tempting for them NOT to do it. It doesn’t have to be everyone… just the people they suspect of doing “harm” like the reporters in the post above.

At some point I’m sure we’ll find out that they’ve been imprisoning Americans outside America like what they did with the secret CIA prisons in Europe. Will people wake up at that point and realize that these people do not represent the kind of Republican Party I was raised to believe in?

I still say we all had better hope God doesn’t tell President Bush that the only way he’ll get into Heaven is by harvesting as many kidneys as possible. If he gets that call we’re all screwed.