What is horrible about this NSA stuff...
Who cares if Snowden had a girlfriend, or is not nice to neighbors, or has perverted tastes in music or whatever...all this is obscuring what is truly horrible about these "revelations" (which I agree we knew all along since the ghastly Patriot Act was renewed).
As that leftist terrorist Benjamin Franklin said "Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."
What we have done is built a cage around ourselves in order to avoid looking at the atrocities that the US has been committing for years, and which should have caused much more unrest that it actually has. It is interesting that after killing duly elected leaders and replacing them with hated dictators who enriched themselves before being replaced one way or the other, the US hasn't had more terrorist attacks.
But if we get obsessed with how the government spies on us, we will avoid the real conversation, and stop wondering why Bush and Cheney and Co are not behind bars, and why Obama seems to be their accomplice and heir (he also could be tried for war crimes)
Anyway...the worst of Snowden's revelation is the fact that a private Company, accountable to no one except their shareholders is the entity entrusted with handling all this data. As if Gordon Gecko's "greed is good" had become our national motto. Not to mention that in these days of "cutting costs" you can bet that we are paying for the office in Hawaii and the salaries of everyone above and below Snowden.
As I.F.Stone said "All governments lie", which is true, so the US in spite of its tendency to see itself as exceptional is no exception.
The truly tragic part, is that this country has no moral fiber, no integrity, and is truly a fascist plutocracy that pretends to be a democracy.
Obama, who exudes kindness and intelligence, seems to truly believe that you destroy terrorism by killing people and innocent civilians with robot planes and claiming "surgical strikes", that he can decide who lives or dies, and that National Security depends on secrecy. These very concepts are what breeds terrorists like maggots on a carcass...And everyone seems to think this is normal...(except Rand Paul??? Argh!)
The oath of office, which really says that principle is stronger than warfare, has now become meaningless and trivial: "I swear to defend the U.S Constitution (not the U.S!) against all enemies foreign and domestic" makes one want to laugh with sad irony. Who these days defends that poor old piece of paper?
The spying is nothing new...what is new is the fact that the horrible has become the new normal, and that we don't even have enough money anymore to go shopping like we were told to do after September 11th 2001...
