You know the NSA's wiretapping permission? They get to listen in on foreigners blabbing about killing Americans and plotting badness. It's how the Indian government knew about the Bombay bombing plot ahead of time but did nothing about it (small detail).
We tend to think that those who run online systems like Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed and the grand poo-bah Google make them passive robot-like vehicles for democratic action. That's not exactly true. At the very least someone wrote the code in a certain way to achieve a certain outcome. It doesn't have to be a nefarious plot to inadvertently cause harm.
So the New York Times needs to borrow against collateral to survive. I'm not surprised. This Sunday, I looked at the big lump of a paper put at my hotel room's door and sighed. Why bother? I scrolled through my feed links, saw the articles that interested me, read them and moved along.
Obama Exercises Greatness
The Anchoress notes the press' tongue bath. Meanwhile, I'm figuring they're covering for Obama's smoking. They excessively adore his fitness routine.