Kudos to Me!

This letter appeared in the February 1, 2006 issue of the Picket. It is a response to my NSA Spying column.

Kudos to Jeff Keller's article in the Picket dated January 25, 2006. It is a sound, accurate article that puts the NSA 'spying' program in proper context. The only thing I would have added was that domestic spying conducted by the Clinton/Gore Administration known as the Echelon Program aimed at monitoring the personal telephone calls and private email of employees who worked for foreign companies in a bid to boos US trade--all done within the US without a court order! Hence this shows the height of hypocrisy of Gore questioning the legality of NSA eavesdropping in recent speeches.

On the other hand, the article by Alex Brown on the same date should have come with a disclaimer that it is "fictional" or a parody. If this article is being peddled as legitimate journalism, he'll have to take the necessary efforts to research facts. Item 1: Brown says only one Democrat in Congress took Abramoff lobby money. The fact is 40 of the party's 45 US senators made the Jack Abramoff 'dishonor roll' to include tom Democrat Harry Reid. Bottom line, this scandal has indicated Republicans and Democrats alike.

Item 2: Brown alleges the NSA eavesdropping of calls to or from suspected al Qaida members abroad is illegal. At the very least, the "jury is till out" on this issue. There is little doubt however that, in a time of war, the Commander in chief's first responsibility is to protect American citizens. Moreover, an overwhelming number of Americans support this intelligence tool to protect us from those who seek our annihilation. It is explicitly transparent that Mr. Brown can only regurgitate talking points speed by the Ultra-left, many of who have known ties to the Communist Party and hate America and all she stands for.

Jim Rosko
Shepherd University Staff

This was exciting for me! I was surprised to read such support and such a slam of the lefty side. I hope this sort of thing continues. My next column is on Hamas. I may post it tomorrow or Monday.