I'm glad people are talking about this "scandal" in which the NSA has taken a bunch of information on people's phone calls from Verizon. But I'm still not clear on how this is a news story. After years of expanding America's security agencies, and expanding law-enforcement powers in the name of the War on Terror, pretty much everyone should know this sort of thing is going on.
And the story isn't going to have any effect on American politics: Democrats will continue to half-heartedly defend the government, and Republicans are too married to the philosophy that everything is expendable for national security. So here we have a story which tells us something we already knew, won't have any effect on the world, and isn't being pushed by any special interests. So how did the media decide that it's worth talking about?
I'm not complaining; I'm just surprised. Really, it's a relief to know that the news media can still run with a story that deserves the public's attention yet serves no political entity. We just need a British newspaper to start it for us.
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