Gee, let's see: All that NSA 'big data',
every phone call, from, to, time, etc.

Then we had the wacko Boston bombers. So,
apparently the great, all powerful,
all seeing, all knowing NSA didn't see
those two wackos coming.

But, but, but, how could the poor, little
NSA be expected to see two, obscure, wacko nutjobs?

Well, let's see: The Russians told us over
and over that those guys were wackos and
dangerous. Told us face to face, in plain
English/Russian. No phone records, Internet
data intercepts, super computers required.

Really sounds like 'security theater', like
Senator Feinstein is having fun straining
her arm patting herself on the back for
"protecting the US" and a lot of middle
managers in the huge NSA funny farm are
having fun doing what not very good
middle managers are wont to do, build
empires. Gee, they can build their
own giant facility in Utah, with rows,
columns, and layers of racks of
computers, disk drives, etc. with
rivers of cables overhead all with its
finger tips on the
pulse of every little thing, except
ignoring the wackos in Boston the
Russians told us about in simple
sentences, face to face, didn't
even need a phone tap.

I used to live in Laurel, MD and, thus,
have two pictures of the NSA:

First, when I was in graduate school,
in our class in measure theory and
functional analysis, we had an NSA
employee also in the class. Nope,
not the sharpest tack in the box.
Really, a bit out of it. We're talking
slow witted. I was the grader for
the class, and as I recall he never
got anything correct. He said nothing
in class and lasted a few weeks,
and then we didn't see him again.

Second, there's a great photograph
taken, likely, at a Congressional
hearing, of the head of the NSA
and standing not far away
Diffie Hellman or one of the RSA
guys, etc. The Hellman guy,
of course, had been explaining public key
crypto-systems that heavily embarrassed
the NSA and, really, essentially
put it out of business for its
stated mission, is smiling.
As I recall, he had blond hair
long, nearly to his waist.
The head of the NSA, a real
ram rod straight arrow,
short hair, close shave,
crease in his shirt, etc.
is a sour
looking puss. Torqued. Like
he was just made a fool of,
embarrassed, like he's just lost
his self-respect, career, etc.

The evidence is that the NSA is
a bunch of fumble bumblers
collectively about three cans
short of a six pack.
We should be even more concerned about the
NSA if there was good evidence
that they were competent.

NSA has thousands and thousands
of people. Even if some of the
people are bright with good
backgrounds, they will get lost
in the mob of paper pushers,
mediocre middle managers,
and high end military brass.

First fundamental problem: Too much
big gumment. Sorry, Senator Feinstein:
Why don't you do something useful
like help some grade school children
read Mother Goose?

Second fundamental problem: Our democracy
is short on well informed citizens.
So, gumment just grows and grows.
A problem? Sure: Mo big gumment, Ma!
Hopefully the Internet can make
some progress here. Or the technology
that can let the NSA ruin the US
can also let the US keep the NSA
'safe and effective' for the good of the US.

Supposedly Bin Laden claimed that he
wasn't trying to defeat the US
but just to have it so over react
it would bankrupt itself. Whether
he said this or not, there's a point
there.

We're again back to the old
"America always does the right thing
after trying everything else.".

Money wasting, incompetent big
gumment is a very ugly thing.
If they try actually to do something, then
they get even uglier. When they
take the next step and really want
to take over, then they are taking
us close to Hitler, Mao, etc.

The US founding fathers were fully
correct: "The price of liberty
is eternal vigilance.".

The thing for Congress to do is just
to cut the budgets. How much?
Recently there was a report that
supposedly the wealthiest area of
the US is Silicon Valley. Next
was the hedge fund area of CT.
Next? And the nominees are,
Houston with its oil,
NYC with its finance,
Chicago with its "broad shoulders",
Redmond with its computing,
and within 100 miles of the
Washington Monument with its
big gumment. May I have the
envelope, please? Yes,
here it is. And the winner
is (drum roll) within 100 miles
of the Washington Monument
with its big gumment.

Put it on a diet. Cut it back.
Leave the money in the hands of the
citizens. Then let that money
be seed corn actually to get the
economy going again.

Kings of old commonly bled their
countries white, over their
delusions of self-importance
and especially their absurd
foreign adventures. Now DC
is doing the same.

For people leaving back packs
with pressure cookers in public
places, sorry 'bout that, but
NSA, FBI, CIA, DHS, etc. clearly
are no real solution. So,
basically we just have to leave
that issue to local police.

NSA, etc. are short on both safety
for our democracy and efficacy
for stopping the bad guys.

Yes,
yes, we know that they are incompetent.
But we have to understand: They
are really, really expensive, a gigantic
waste.
Besides
they trash the spirit and/or letter
of the Constitution.

Just vote for guys in Congress who
will cut their budgets. Let's get
Detroit, etc. looking like
100 miles from the Washington
Monument and that area looking
more like Detroit.

The main purpose of the US
is "life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness", not forever bigger
and bigger big gumment. The main
business of the US is business,
not gumment. Gumment is there to
serve the people, not force the
people to serve big gumment.
Senator Feinstein: Go help some
children with Mother Goose.