"Hispanics are much more likely to rely solely on their cells than any other race"

"[T]he Centers for Disease Control reported that more than half of us either don’t own a landline phone or don’t use their phone as their primary means of communication. Today, we live on our cellphones."

How prevalent are cellphones? In a smart piece written for The Huffington Post last week, Democratic pollster Brian Stryker pointed to industry statistics that show there were 326 million active cellphones in the U.S. as of December 2012 — 1.04 per person, infants and children included, in the entire country.

Here’s the dramatic change in households that rely on cell phones versus landlines that Stryker used to illustrate his point:

Those who use cellphones look remarkably different, demographically speaking, than those who use landlines. More than 60 percent of adults under age 45 use only their cellphones, Stryker reported, using data collected by the CDC, versus just 13 percent of those 65 and older. 

If you don't mind sharing, do you have a land line, cell phone, both, or maybe none at all? I didn't consider that last possibility until just now.

Washington Post

"Obama assures Merkel U.S. is not spying on her phone and won't do it again"

With the government shutdown out of the way for a few months, intense media and public focus has turned to the fizzled launch of ObamaScare, the new healthcare system that will be doing hardly any of the grand things Obama promised at the start.

Remember, "If you like your current healthcare plan, you can keep it"?

Anyway now President Obama is also in a lot of hot water abroad for embarrassing revelations about ubiquitous American intelligence-gathering operations disclosed by Edward "I'm Just Trying to Help" Snowden.

A Chicago businessman, Robinson loved to tell the story of his initial CIA briefing. He asked if the CIA spied on even Canadians. “No,” was the reply. “But we do spy on the people we would spy on if we did spy on them.”

Thursday Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador for an official scolding. To preempt something worse, Obama talked with Merkel by telephone on Wednesday.

The White House description of such calls rarely reveals who initiated the connection. But this time it was most likely Obama on damage-control over widespread reports that the NSA eavesdropped on Merkel's cellphone. As usual, we have the entire White House text below.

Such descriptions typically lack specific details. In this case, though, that's the telltale clue.

For example, read this seemingly clear-cut denial: “The President assured the Chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel.”

Notice the verb tenses in this White House statement: “is not monitoring and will not monitor.”

What's missing there is the key phrase "has not monitored." Sometimes what’s important is what's not said.

In other words, Obama's NSA is not eavesdropping on the German leader and the American president promises not to do it again.

Investors.com Andrew Malcolm