When reports began surfacing about the National Security Agency's domestic spying program involving American phone companies, I was very concerned there would be more bad news on the way. And there was.

This is yet another a blatant example of the fact that Americans are losing more of their freedoms. These domestic surveillance programs -- on your phone calls, on our bank records,  and now, at least potentially, on private conversations even when telephones are turned off -- have usually been introduced as measures to protect us from terrorism.

It is the typical pattern of the government to introduce a problem, generate a reaction -- fear -- and then come up with a solution that takes away your freedom in exchange for their protection from the perceived threat. 

The bird flu hoax and many others are classic examples of this pattern.

I highly recommend you read the commentary by former NSA analyst Ira Winkler, written in 2006 in response to the government’s warrantless collection of the phone call records of millions of Americans. He points out several important ideas to consider:

• Warrantless spying is illegal
• It provides useless information
• It takes law enforcement agents away from investigating and preventing crimes actually being committed
• It erodes civil liberties
• We have no clue how bad it really is