Makin' a list, Checkin' it twice, Gonna find out who's naughty or nice

I posted this on my own blog last night, but a comment in TPM just inspired me to post it here.
Josh Marshall asks this morning:

Here's one thing I'm a bit unclear on in this NSA domestic spying story. From reading the original article in the Times, the prime rationale for this program appears to have been to avoid the time and bureaucratic hurdles involved in getting warrants . . . especially considering the importance of speed in counter-terrorism work. The problem is that the FISA Court -- the secret court set up to handle just such warrant requests -- is designed for speed. And it is known for being extremely indulgent of government applications for warrants . . . All of this, of course, is separate from the issue of the president overruling a federal statute by executive order -- something that by definition a president cannot do. But something seems fishy about the rationale itself.

Of course there is.
Anyone who gives this two seconds thought knows that the National Security Agency hasn't spent the last four years monitoring the phone calls of homesick Arab students and their roommates and their landlords.