The Man

Bush denies spying infringes on privacy:

[...]
But Democrats and Republicans alike demanded an explanation after USA Today reported the National Security Agency was secretly amassing phone records from phone companies to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist plots.
[...]

Here's there rationalization: They're not eavesdropping on every conversation, they're only collecting the origination and destination of the call, and electronically listening for 'key words' in the conversation. If the origination or destination number is in their database of suspected terrorists, or a key word is 'heard' by the listening computer program, that call is flagged as worth further investigation by the NSA.

However, those fucking murderous towelheads are like every sneak - they use code words too:

"Hi babes, I'm missing you," one message read, while another said: "How you going love, did Sue want to meet me."

During a bail application for one of the men, Khaled Cheikho, 32, in the New South Wales Supreme Court, a prosecutor said the men used "covert phones" under false names and code to communicate, Australian Associated Press reported from the court.

One message between Cheikho and co-accused Mohammed Elomar referred to the purchase of some insulation tape allegedly used to make explosives, said prosecutor Wendy Abraham.

"Hello darling, could you let me know if you still have rolls of the silver tape,"
[...]

It's impossible to keep track of every possible key word or phrase they could come up with.
I guess what I'm saying, is under the pretense of looking for key words, the NSA is listening to anything and everything they want to. "For our protection". In wartime, they want to use every resource they can. That's understandable. But I don't think they should be able to get away with random wiretapping.

What if for instance, I call a buddy of mine on the cellular and ask if he has any silver tape I can borrow? Yup, I'm flagged.
Just what I need.

Update: Way more elequently put, here.