Obama puts it in stark terms. Nuclear bomb in Manhattan is his greatest fear! It makes me say "Spy all you want!"

Refuse! Resist! Etc! Please propose a solution instead of throwing your arms in the air and acting like a helpless little boy. Your whining in this manner is about as useful as the NSA's work itself and Obama's shitty proposal. I honestly don't understand what this post is other than an impotent shriek.

Maybe my post is a little harsh. I just don't know what the point is in questioning the inner motives of Obama. He's a politician; of course his motivations are political. It's just a lot of paragraphs to express a one-sentence burst of cynicism you might find on Facebook, like "Just more lies from the Liar in Chief. Sorry Obama but no one believes you anymore!" All fine and well, but it doesn't really fix anything. Ideally, you want to exert pressure on politicians so they will, out of political expediency, do what you want. If the American people really have the will to do anything about this, then they're not going to vote for politicians that support the NSA, or they're going to protest. And you know what, they're not doing either, and so they're complicit in this process. Daddy won't fix the problems if they're not reminded to do so by the American people. Remember that on election day.

Obama declares an end to the "meta data collection of phone records"!

But the average person doesn't know that this phrase is but a tip of proverbial iceberg.

Most, if not all, "long distance" calls were switched to use the internet years ago. As a result, if you are vacuuming up the internet into a giant data-center, which has the capability to store "the contents of the internet, many times over and as static snapshots in time that you can go back through", then "meta data" becomes obsolete and toy-like.

IMHO: This is political theater that prey's upon the American public and judicial system's lack of knowledge and pertinacity to remember brand-names. "Meta-Data" is a brand name for a teeny/tiny piece of the surveillance state. A brand that "the Govt." can pile all suspicions into and drive off a cliff.. or in this case, shuffle back to the carriers and maintain the same requirement they always have to store it themselves.

The only thing that will change is the American public's perception. One piece of the apparatus will be scaled-back, while the rest of it expands. In another ten years, the public will wake up again (hopefully from another *whistle-blower*) and we'll rinse/repeat. The society of 1984 has already happened, we're just only know getting a glimpse of big-brother. In time, it will all just be part of normality.

Except that most Americans are basically happy with their lives and aren't living under Soviet conditions. 1984 has misery, rationing and random acts of war impinging on everyday life. That's what the comparisons to 1984 always miss. Yeah we have mass surveillance, some doublespeak, some political prisoners, some police abuse, etc., but most US citizens aren't really feeling the brunt of that and have remarkably posh lives compared to large swaths of the rest of the world. If our situation was comparable to what was described in 1984, everyone would be angry and scared, and might even be prone to rebel or protest in significant ways, etc. The fact is the average American isn't afraid of where their next meal is going to come from and spends most of the free time indulging in entertainment culture. I have a hard time sympathizing with the general US public given that they have several rights they're allowed to exercise, but can't quite make it happen because, hey The Americans or The Good Wife is on tonight, oh and there's a cool rock concert coming up on Friday and beers are only 2 dollars at the venue, oh and there's this awesome sale on collectible action figures at Amazon. Would it be too much to ask of average Americans to stop pretending they're victims of a terrible oppressive government and maybe ask that they start reclaiming government by the people for the people? Certainly we're afforded more say over our collective fate than the burned out husks of 1984. It's a little too glib and easy to compare a true totalitarian nightmare, as represented in 1984, to officials we elected passing bad laws. "1984" did already happen. It was called Stalinism, and it's not comparable to our current condition, surveillance or not.

Best Republican President Ever!

Who needs a US Constitution anyway ... It's not like you serfs have rights ....

" President Obama long ago decided that these programs were essential for the safety of the American..." government & corporations.

There, fixed that.

@3 - "Ideally, you want to exert pressure on politicians so they will, out of political expediency, do what you want"

...eeexcept that US politicians don't do anything that anyone making under $500,000/year wants. US politicians don't accede to anything the poor or the middle class want, except by chance. Regardless of who gets elected, Rep or Dem.

The rest of us fighting word-wars over federal-level "Republicans this!", "Democrats that!", or "Elect someone better next time, ya slacker!" ...are wasting our time. The only elections that count are state-level elections.

Actually, I've gotten quite a few things I've wanted on the federal level due to Obama being in office. In truth, not many economic benefits, but I definitely got things out of his presidency I wanted, whether by accident or not. I feel his being elected has helped a lot of people actually, regardless of what his motives were. It depends on what legislation you think is important, I guess. Certainly, Obama is no progressive, but from my perspective I got a better deal out of him that I would have gotten out of a Republican president. That's just a fact. I also don't feel being engaged with federal elections or law is a waste of time, but I don't have a cynical, defeatist disposition. I'm actually not convinced democracy always produces desirable or rational outcomes, but that's no excuse for inaction.

I honestly believe people in the US have simply forfeited their power. The whole "corporations took over and ruined everything" conveniently leaves the people the speaker/writer is addressing off the hook.

The key thing isn't that spying is occurring, but how it is occurring. Right now it is occurring with unconstitutional general warrants based on no suspicion and with a court that always agrees. The changes should make this an adversarial process (as a counterbalance to its secrecy) that requires the same amount of suspicion that normal warrants do. I'm okay with that. This is an important step in that the government has acknowledged that unconstitutional general warrants do not jive with public opinion. With enough effort, the general warrants aimed at technology companies will fall as well.

@ 6 Just because not a progressive doesn't meant republican, and constitution is gone are cops no longer getting warrants, or only for national security reasons?

You aren't changing this shit at the ballot box or by holding hands and singing Kumbya at Westlake Park gang.