What are words for

The radio this evening was running yet another story related to the USA Today story on [allegedly] illegal wiretapping done by the government. Good stuff. "No, we didn't do anything illegal" - ok, great. Who gets to decide what "illegal" is? You do right? Yeah, so how about if you tell the rest of us exactly what you did, not whether it was illegal or not, but just tell us what you did. I can't speak for everyone else, but I promise not to judge you.

Apparently no one told Qwest that they were supposed to deny the allegations. They said the NSA approached them but ran off when they asked for a court order or something officialish.

Verizon, on the other hand, must have either a good lawyer or a good linguist on staff, they said:

One of the most glaring and repeated falsehoods in the media reporting is the assertion that, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Verizon was approached by NSA and entered into an arrangement to provide the NSA with data from its customers' domestic calls.

Mirriam-Webster defines "aftermath" as "the period immediately following" - so you can imagine how if they turned over information recently that the quote above would be accurate - I mean, really, 9/11 was four and a half years ago, "now" is hardly "the aftermath," unless you happen to be a redwood tree. For the rest of us, well, aftermath is over, what about the here and now?

Alternatively, perhaps it's the NSA in particular that Verizon takes objection to? Is it possible that someone else came to Verizon and asked for information? Could be? Maybe? Perhaps "some unnamed possibly government agency requested information.." would have worked? Tell us what you (Verizon) have done (but do so without compromising national security of course); it's ok if you have your fingers crossed while you're telling us..

Sigh.. Can't we all just get along and be honest with eachother for a change? I'll show you mine if you show me yours?

Amusingly enough, a telemarketer ("TM") called earlier this evening. The conversation started off like this:

TM: This call may be monitored
Me: Yes, I know, by the NSA, I was just reading about it online
TM: No, by us, for quality assurance purposes.
Me: Oh. Can't you just get the tapes from the NSA?
TM: Uhm.