Folks, the left, which includes the media, Democrats, and RINOs like Arlen Spectre (yes, that's the way I think it should be spelled) are just going bananas over this old news (as noted by Big Lizards) about NSA "spying." Real Clear Politics talks about the civil liberties at issue here. And Michelle Malkin describes how out of touch the left is with America -- but there's one thing missing in this discussion -- reality.

You see, much of the discussion focuses on protecting this "right to privacy." I'm not completely convinced that's a right, but for this discussion, I'll accept that it is. However, you only have the right to privacy about certain things. If you stand on a street corner and hold up a sign with your name and SSN on it, you cannot reasonable expect that it will remain private.

In this case where USA Today dredges up an accusation against the NSA, there are, very clearly, no violations of privacy. They are not listening to phone conversations. Here's a comparable example:

If you walk into a store and buy something, the store will likely have a record of that transaction. They will have a record that shows a list of the things you have purchased. That's not your record, it belongs to the store. Courts have ruled over and over again that YOU do not own that record. Since the store owns the record, they can do whatever they like with it, including giving it away or selling it. There's no personal information there, just the record that someone bought a list of items on a certain time and date -- that's it.

Anyone who claims there are any violations to any right of privacy are just plain wrong on this one.

Stop the ACLU also notices that there are zero violations of the law here.