Monitoring the Domestic Trade Talks

Federal judge Richard Posner defends President Bush's extra-legal (meaning, surprisingly, not legal at all) spying program thusly:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act makes it difficult to conduct surveillance of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents unless they are suspected of being involved in terrorist or other hostile activities. That is too restrictive. Innocent people, such as unwitting neighbors of terrorists, may, without knowing it, have valuable counterterrorist information.

So, since anyone in the country may know something about terrorism, even if they don't know they know it, everyone's calls get monitored.

But what's even more important than preventing terrorist attacks? Getting the Mariners some more starting pitching. And since trade talks with Boston are likely to intensify, we'll be listening.

Maybe you live next door to Mariners GM Bill Bavasi. And you comment while conversing with your Aunt Pam that Bavasi's been talking on the phone early in the morning. Boston is in the Eastern Time Zone, so these pre-dawn conversations could indicate that a rumored Jeremy Reed for either Bronson Arroyo or Matt Clement trade is impending. (FYI--USS Mariner hates the idea--we do too, if it means putting the execrable Willie Bloomquist in centerfield.)

The trade winds are gale-force now that Red Sox centerfielder Johnny Damon signed with the Yankees. In addition to Reed, the Red Sox are also rumored to covet Cleveland's Coco Crisp and Tampa Bay's Joey Gathright--all three will probably be better than the aging Damon over the next four years--among others.

We at Seattlest need to know about this. So consider your phone tapped. You can see how important it is. A little Fourth Amendment bending is worth it.