Hello operator...

I see the telecoms want USA Today to retract their story on the phone records, claiming they did not "turn over" records to the government. Forgive me for noting the careful worded denial. No they probably didn't turn them over, as I understand it, they allowed the government to tap in at the source and collect the records themselves. It seems unlikely we'll ever know for sure. As this excellent op-ed points out:

According to Federal Elections Commission data analyzed by The Center for Responsive Politics, Telephone Utilities have given $6,762,966 to Republican Members of Congress since 2004 and more than $15 million since the 2000 election. How tough do you think the questions are going to be from a Republican Congress investigating the role of AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon in turning over the phone records of tens of millions of Americans to the NSA?

I doubt if they'll ever even hold hearings on it. They just fuss around until the next scandal knocks this one out of the spotlight. The way this administration dishes out the scandals, it shouldn't take too long.