DEA busted with NSA data.

This is the other shoe we've been waiting for, a federal agency caught red handed using NSA data to bust other-than-terrorist knobs, and then lying about where their intel came from. In court, no less.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.

Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin - not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges.

The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant's Constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don't know how an investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of exculpatory evidence - information that could reveal entrapment, mistakes or biased witnesses.

Shock and surprise? No. Because there was never any chance the NSA would have a record of EVERY PHONE CALL IN AMERICA but the DEA and the FBI and the CIA and every son of a beeotch down to the Forest Service and the Dept. of Education wouldn't be getting their noses in the trough too.

Same for Canada, my friends. Time to unplug yourself while conducting important business is -now-. No more email, Facebook, Twitter to the mistress, no more leaving the battery in your cellphone while visiting anyplace you don't want Big Brother and all his friends to know you went. No more credit cards or cellphone transactions once you get there. This may not be only for clandestine visits to the local strip club, but may include visits to the mall, the supermarket and McDonalds.

Because who the hell knows if the Ministry of Health is monitoring your eating habits, the better to decide if you get any treatment in our single-payer health system. With ubiquitous surveillance of cellphone data, license plate tracking and credit card information, they can do that. Really. And worst of all, they can do it -cheap-.

"So sorry Mr. Phantom, you have exceeded your monthly allowance of poly-unsaturated fats. No knee replacement surgery for you."

The poly-unsaturated Phantom