Much in the same way that you could mistake the brilliantly offbeat and overlooked sixties film The President’s Analyst for a film that’s about being hunted by the FBI and the CIA, you could easily mistake what you’re reading at the moment for some kind of obtuse film review. I hadn’t thought of “The President’s Analyst” for quite some time, until I recently had an almost epic series of problems with The Phone Company (why kid ourselves, there’s only one, when you get down to the basic plumbing). My recent problems all involved a ridiculous series of lapses of communication which at one point inspired one of their own technicians to share the witticism: “Remember, we’re a telephone company, not a communications company“. With my problem still unresolved after literally hours on – how ironic – the telephone, I began to feel a little paranoid and persecuted. As maybe I should. In the hilarious, surreal, and quintessentially sixties film that stars James Coburn in a very In Like Flint role, it ultimately is revealed that “The Phone Company” is more powerful and secretive than all the world’s intelligence agencies combined. Which is disturbingly prescient, given the recent history of AT&T’s relationship with the NSA and their creepy and insidious FISA amnesty lobbying. Which, since I’m publicly bellyaching, all makes me wonder if I will finally get my DSL service activated on Tuesday as promised, after three weeks of waiting. I mean, Adam Savage of Mythbusters has gone public with his AT&T frustrations, but he has millions of followers on Twitter to back him up. Dissociated Press only has about 8,000 readers, and only about 5 of them comment with regularity. Now’s your chance. Had any problems with AT&T yourself? Feel free to vent in the comments.

Dick Cheney Shows Us
How Much He Cares

It’s likely to get you sued. In the ongoing legislative cat and mouse game that AT&T and the White House are playing to keep their ability to stick their eyes, ears, and noses into every aspect of your personal life, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is once again stepping up to bat for you. After AT&T bought enough dinners & prostitutes for politicians over the past several months, they eventually managed to get the bastards to grant them immunity for their part in illegally tapping our phones in the guise of protecting us. (Personally, my experiences with AT&T’s service and billing suggest I’ll be just fine without whatever protection they might be providing, thank you very much.) It’s a major show of dedication to protecting your constitutional rights on the part of the EFF; you might think about giving them some of your money , rather than giving it to those two senators running for president, one of whom voted for the bill after saying he would filibuster against it, the other of whom didn’t vote at all.

…because, you know, Obama was against the FISA bill.