intelligence junta

one thing the ongoing disaster in egypt shows: the military never stopped running the government. (also, they run the economy in a nice version of squishy totalitarianism). well, i figure the nsa runs the government here. if they don't, it's a sheer act of charity, because for one thing they could destroy anyone at any time, don't care if you're a ceo, senator, president, and so on. indeed, they don't have to come up with substantive threats: a cocked eyebrow or barely-detectable sideways smile would make any of these people change course on a dime. next time you hear someone defending the nsa programs as essential to our national security, don't figure you should generate reasons on the other side - which are achingly obvious anyway. just ask yourself what the nsa has on him. start with mike rogers, say. this is an ad hominem i can get behind: if you are on the other side of the argument on this one, i figure it's very likely that you're not at all sincere - which is good, because if you were, you'd be profoundly evil. no, the only reasonable explanation is that keith anderson's minions are operating you like a marionette. maybe you think i'm kidding. imagine that j. edgar hoover had achieved omniscience.