Snow-den Job

UPDATED: Like most people, I was freaked out when I first heard about what the National Security Agency was doing. But as we learned all three branches of the government had approved it  -- unlike President Bush's sketchy executive order that enabled him to run his warrantless wiretap program from 2001-07 -- I became more ambivalent. And as we learn that Glenn Greenwald's story is unraveling (Key Facts Turning Out to Be Inaccurate) -- exposing things is only useful if we're being given the whole truth, and whether or not the NSA didn't "enlist nine tech giants, including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple, in a massive program of online spying" seems to be still seems to be in question -- it's becoming increasingly apparent to me that Edward Snowden is less of a whistleblower and more of an anti-government kook with an anti-government agenda. No one is happy that our privacy is being eroded. But the Constitution was not written when today's technology existed. Nor was it written when the threat of nuclear weapons existed. Perhaps calling Snowden a traitor is a bit much. But he's a Ron Paul supporter, which is practically the same thing. (When you proudly boast that Americans who can't afford or stupidly don't buy health insurance deserve to be sentenced to DEATH if they get sick, that's about as traitorous as it gets.) Like I said, I'm ambivalent about this whole thing. But let's just say the irony of his fleeing to China to escape the tyranny of the U.S. government isn't lost on me.


P.S. Am I a "hypocrite" about this? Apparently no more than the rest of the nation The truth is, I am more comfortable with a president I trust and who has shown he has similar values as me doing this than I was when Dick Cheney was president. (Putting the legalities of it aside, I don't fault Republicans who were more comfortable back then.) Could we all be wrong? Sure. But I don't think it's incorrect to base your opinions on past experiences.