Soup?

There was a Campbell's soup ad years ago where this kid kept asking “Is it soup yet?” while his mom cooked up the Campbell's soup. Finally she goes, "Yes, it's soup."

I often ask the question in this blog, "Is this fascism?" I'm not trying to be glib, I'm just trying not to jump to conclusions. So I ask you, gentle reader, that question again tonight.

The headline says it all, and in USA TODAY, not the Workers Daily:

NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

Lede graf:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

So the article says they're not really listening, they're just creating the largest database in the history of the world, to analyze for trends (reasonable, right?),

"to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders...

And it's not like they're collecting additional personal information about us:

With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans. Customers' names, street addresses and other personal information are not being handed over as part of NSA's domestic program, the sources said. But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information.

Well, not exactly.

So how much do you trust those who have the authority to yank all the big levers these days?

50 percent?

31?

Is it soup yet?