The NSA activity news was fresh so it hadn’t quite hit the fan yet in the newspapers or other talk shows. Bennett comes on at 6 a.m. in New York, 3 a.m. back here. What, Bennett asked McCarthy, do you think is going to come of this?

Mass hysteria said McCarthy, led by about 15 of the usual suspects, which will die down as people realize what it amounts to — except for the 15 who are in the forefront of anything that could tarnish the Bush administration. They’ll keep fanning the flames.

McCarthy then explained what it was about. Information supplied by three telephone companies (Qwest refused to take part), reveals who called whom but conversations are not listened in on or recorded. As an example, he said, if we (our guys) find that one bad guy talks to another bad guy six times in a week and then one of them calls a third suspect person, that might call for more intensified attention, i.e., a warrant to eavesdrop which is obtained before any such action is taken.

It is a very useful tool in counter-intelligence, he said, and may be one reason we haven’t been attacked in our homeland since 9/11.

Well, he was right about the hysteria. Many seemingly intelligent and experienced people who should have known better than to leap to the attack without waiting for a more detailed explanation of its worth, shot their mouths off right off the bat.

I can understand why Sen. Maria Cantwell called it “outrageous” and called for more oversight by Congress. She’s a Democrat up for reelection who uses every opportunity to eat away at the trust of the people in their president. But what’s her Republican opponent, Mike McGavick, doing in calling for such programs to be reined in and the administration forced to meet a high burden of proof that they are needed?

An appropriate answer by him would have been that we shouldn’t jump off half-cocked before learning more about it, and he would prefer to think that what our government does in terrorist surveillance is on our behalf.

I was outraged myself. Here’s one more example of the media, USA Today, “outing” the government in its supposedly secret operations to forestall another 9/11 and misrepresenting what it is. It is not eavesdropping. I also was outraged by NBC calling its coverage “Spying on America.” “Spying in America” is more like it. There are many spies from other countries here, some legally, some illegally. We’re trying to track them.

One of the worries of my friend in high places whom I quote here occasionally, is where are all those illegal immigrants? Oh, sure, many are working in homes, businesses, the fields, etc. They came here for a better life. Countless others are embedded in American settings as they plot future attacks like 9/11. They came here to kill us. It’s supposed to be convert to Islam or be killed, but I don’t recall hearing of offers from the 9/11 terrorists to the plane passengers to accept Islam or die.

You watch. If we have another massive attack like 9/11, the same people having hissy fits now about their privacy being violated will be the first to blame the government for not connecting the dots to prevent it. God save us from those who would sell our country down the river to gain back their power — and the dolts stupid enough to aid and abet them.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA., 98340.).