Posted on 06/10/2013 9:31:15 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Edward Snowden is not a hero. He's a 29-year-old former security guard at the National Security Agency who ended up knowing way too much about what goes on at the NSA, CIA and the rest of the intelligence community. In case you missed it over the weekend, he is the kid who spilled the beans about the NSA's PRISM program.
Snowden is now in Hong Kong, probably awaiting a fairly severe knock on his hotel room door by some Chinese cop who will ask him nicely to put his hands behind his back and provide the story line for next season's "Locked Up Abroad."
There is a serious flaw in Edward Snowden's and Bradley Manning's (the U.S. soldier who copied and sent miles of secret messages to Wikileaks) claims that they were looking out for you and me.
As a taxpayer, I'm not paying you to look out after my Fourth Amendment rights. I'm paying you to do whatever job you were hired to do, and if you find that job too ethically distasteful, then you should quit.
But keep your mouth shut.
If everyone is allowed to decide for themselves what is legal and ethical and what is not, then society - not just American society - will collapse. I happen to hate bicycle riders who run stop signs. I think that America would be far better off if bicycle riders who run stop signs are rendered incapable of riding a bicycle at all.
You disagree? Too bad. Under the Snowden/Bradley Rule, I get to pick and choose which laws I obey and which I violate. You can decide to rat out the barrista at your local Starbucks who gives the cute girl from down the block a Grande every day when she only pays for a Tall.
Or you can decide to use your get-out-of-jail-free card to inform on that guy on the fifth floor who is always bragging about his landscapers being from Mars and thus are Little Green Men without Little Green Cards.
If you read or watch the Guardian's interview with Snowden, the first thing that comes to mind is this: Who is in charge of H.R. at the CIA, the NSA and Booz Allen Hamilton - all of whom Snowden has worked over the past four years?
The NSA is tracking phone calls and Google searches because that's what it's in business to do. The only reason the NSA exists is to track phone calls and Google searches - or some facsimile of those things. The CIA is spying on people because that's what we pay them to do.
It is a little hard to swallow the notion that this kid can be smart enough to go from security guard to CIA covert operative and Booz Allen consultant and yet look like the main character in an Edvard Munch painting when he finds out that the NSA and CIA are snooping on people.
I have an advantage over most of you in that I've finally grown into being a curmudgeon. I'm 66-years-old, cranky most of the time, and if the government wants to track who I call and what I download, then have at it.
However, if you are 28 and think you have a future in the government that might include a job requiring Senate confirmation, you probably should be worried.
Edward Snowden should be extradited from Hong Kong and tried in the United States. If he is found guilty - and given his public interviews it won't take Rudy Giuliani or Chris Christy to get a conviction - he should go to federal prison for a long time.
While he's there, I hope that the U.S. Government's security services will continue to do what they are paid to do.
I hope.
Galen says, I'm paying you to do whatever job you were hired to do, and if you find that job too ethically distasteful, then you should quit.
But keep your mouth shut.
By Galen's "logic," there should never be any "whistleblowers" about anything in government. "Just quit and keep your mouth shut." I guess he believes that the BATFE agents who saw what was happening with Fast & Furious should have just kept their mouths shut. What about the soldiers who informed on Lt Calley, at Mi-Lai?
I do happen to believe that he went about this completely wrong, and with his presence in Hong Kong, my guess is that he'll never leave China. It's quit possible that this whole thing was orchestrated by the Chinese.
If he legitimately wanted to get the information out, but in a way to minimize the damage to the country, would have been to hand the information off to someone in government, like Rand Paul or Ted Cruz, but not go straight to the media.
Mark
Rich Galen runs a site called Mullings and he is a huge NeoCon.
He’s a witty speaker but he’s not at all unclear about that.
If Israel were 1% safer with America in chains he would probably be OK with that.
Trying to berate him calling him a security guard. I don’t no may security guards that make over $10/hr much less $200,000/yr.
“If everyone is allowed to decide for themselves what is legal and ethical and what is not, then society - not just American society - will collapse.”
Opinion is not license to act without legislation. The author would deny me my independent opinion. Freedom doesn’t die that quickly.
Mark
This is about the current junta ordering the national intelligence services to spy on the Presidents domestic political opponents . This means that you are on an ENEMIES OF THE STATE list. We have seen this before & it generally doesn’t end well. To those folks who say “If you have nothing to hide why are you worried” what makes you think that YOU decide that you haven’t done anything wrong.
What amazes me is if this revelation about tracking the phone records of every single American had occurred during the Bush Administration, the “media” and dems would’ve been screaming for heads. The sheep have been lulled into thinking it’s not problematic if they don’t feel directely affected.
As for Snowden’s leaking info about PRISM.. it appears some of our “leaders” are more interested in attacking him rather than questioning the regime’s motives, completely losing sight of the real issue.
It took decades to recover from the Church Commission under Carter.
Mark
What exactly did Snowden divulge, other than the fact the 0bama regime using the NSA was violating everyone’s Fourth Amendment rights on a regular basis?
“But that little microprocessor chip built into that eartag....could we take just that functional part of the eartag and...say....implant it into everyone.”
Would a tinfoil hat block the signal? ;-)
What happen to honest people? Answer They run to Hong Kong.
Well, this episode is very telling.
Many so-called “conservatives” are just as willing to wipe their ass with the US Constitution as the leftists are.
All he’s told us that’s new, is that the Obama admin is tapping all of us without bothering with the warrant part.
Ozcams Razor at work...
“The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.”
It has, however, allowed obama to build a database of political dissidents, including those of you here on this site.
So true, and with my moniker probably a double whammy....
As a taxpayer, I’m not paying you to look out after my Fourth Amendment rights. I’m paying you to do whatever job you were hired to do, and if you find that job too ethically distasteful, then you should quit.
Most red-diaper-baby NeoCons would be perfectly happy to see America lose our future to insure the future of Israel, and no small number of American lives lost fighting Israel’s battles.
Sadly for the neo-cons, their short-sighted agenda has brought about a very different result: One political party is now open hostile to Israel, and the other has a base that is rapidly becoming indifferent.
As far as I’m concerned now, if Jews want to preserve the future of Israel, they and they alone can pay for it. It is Not My Problem.
What amazes me is if this revelation about tracking the phone records of every single American had occurred during the Bush Administration, the “media” and dems would’ve been screaming for heads.
So true. The impeachment drum would be wringing loud and clear.
My lord, I hate cowards. Hence, I detest the GOPe.
Even the military isn’t obligated to follow every order. In fact, individual soldiers can be punished for following orders that they know violate the Laws of War. The same thing goes for government employees. If they see corruption, they are obliged to report it.
Snowden might deserve punishment for not working through his chain of command if he believed they were doing something immoral or unconstitutional. However, what’s one to do if they believe the corruption goes all the way to the top? What if the courts and Congress are simply rubber stamping everything the NSA wants to do?
What do you do when the people tasked to enforce the law are the biggest law breakers?
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