Thus the coward label.

I see this as a very interesting debate among conservatives - strong national defense vs. lack of government trust.

I see this as a very interesting debate among conservatives - strong national defense vs. lack of government trust.

Very true, that's one reason I made the thread. I honestly don't know where I stand as of yet.

I lean traitor as well. He should have kept his mouth shut.

Neither.

 

MLK sat in jail for a cause he believed in. Its righteousness proved him noble in the end. It's too early to say about this guy or his motives, but there's a cost to be paid or else everyone would be doing it about everything. I hope what information he released will lead to changes, but it doesn't make him innocent even if so.

Neither.

 

MLK sat in jail for a cause he believed in. Its righteousness proved him noble in the end. It's too early to say about this guy or his motives, but there's a cost to be paid or else everyone would be doing it about everything. I hope what information he released will lead to changes, but it doesn't make him innocent even if so.

 

He didn't release that info for a cause. He released it for his own selfish reasons.

 

He didn't release that info for a cause. He released it for his own selfish reasons.

 

I haven't been paying much attention to his personal story, so I really don't know. I'm glad there is a public debate about how this program actually functions. It doesn't absolve him though. He deserves no special treatment because some people, like me, are glad this program is being criticized.

I haven't been paying much attention to his personal story, so I really don't know. I'm glad there is a public debate about how this program actually functions. It doesn't absolve him though. He deserves no special treatment because some people, like me, are glad this program is being criticized.

 

I don't know his personal story either I just feel like if he truly wanted to do something about it he wouldn't have ran to China. That's not a good look.

 

I'm still undecided how I feel about the program. If I worked for the NSA I know going in to keep my mouth shut about everything I see and hear in the building so it does bother me that he ran his mouth.

On top of that Getslow one person doesn't get to decide what is the best interests of our country and that is what Snowden has done.

 

Devils advocate here. What if you are the ONE person amongst a small group who is the only one willing to tell the American people something they absolutely need or should know, yet am sworn to secrecy? For instance: The American military has been experimenting with LSD on it's own unsuspecting soldiers. You work with a national security group who is overseeing the experiments, and have sworn to secrecy about this. Since you swore to keep this a secret and now blow the cover on the project, are you wrong?

 

I can't make up my mind about this Snowden guy. Personally it seems he's a little full of himself and not a likeable dude, but that shouldn't sway us one way or the other to the perceived right or wrong of what was done. And to be honest, he didn't tell me anything that I didn't already think the gov't could or was already doing, he just confirmed it.

Not 100% sure how I feel, but how he is playing it out I would lean towards just short of the word traitor, I won't use that other word that is in the thread title as I don't want to create a ping on the system, lol.

 

There are proper channels to be a whistle blower, and he choose to ignore that, go out and tell what he thought went on, and then fled to HK, now in China? I know he may have been worried about extradition, but he could have picked several other countries besides China who wouldn't have let the US touch him. But China? Basically our enemy? I am sure he is not liking the hospitality there right about now, heck, we won't have to worry about torturing him, they are already doing it.

 

As others have said, he is too full of himself. He was a low level contractor, who also signed a confidentiality agreement, and above his signature it says what will happen if you break that agreement. Again, he didn't follow the rules to be a whistle blower, so now he should get what's coming to him.

Not 100% sure how I feel, but how he is playing it out I would lean towards just short of the word traitor, I won't use that other word that is in the thread title as I don't want to create a ping on the system, lol.

 

There are proper channels to be a whistle blower, and he choose to ignore that, go out and tell what he thought went on, and then fled to HK, now in China? I know he may have been worried about extradition, but he could have picked several other countries besides China who wouldn't have let the US touch him. But China? Basically our enemy? I am sure he is not liking the hospitality there right about now, heck, we won't have to worry about torturing him, they are already doing it.

 

As others have said, he is too full of himself. He was a low level contractor, who also signed a confidentiality agreement, and above his signature it says what will happen if you break that agreement. Again, he didn't follow the rules to be a whistle blower, so now he should get what's coming to him.

 

What are "proper channels" for whistleblowers? Isn't the point to go outside of the system to make something known?

I don't know his personal story either I just feel like if he truly wanted to do something about it he wouldn't have ran to China. That's not a good look.

 

I'm still undecided how I feel about the program. If I worked for the NSA I know going in to keep my mouth shut about everything I see and hear in the building so it does bother me that he ran his mouth.

 

He didn't work for the NSA when he leaked the information.

 

When you call him a traitor you are putting him in the same category as Bradley Manning who had no regard for the information he handed out (and is there any evidence showing the information he handed out actually hurt anyone?)

 

Edward Snowden sifted through the information and blew the lid off crap like the secret court order that made Verizon hand over billions upon billions of phone records emails on innocent Americans. We now know the government collected over 97 billion pieces of intelligence from computer networks in March of this year alone. Three billion from US computer networks alone.

 

We now know they have direct access through a third party to the biggest computer companies in the world to pull data to see just what every single american is looking at, searching for, where they are going, what their hobbies are, shopping habits, and are using a program that predicts your next move will be through algorithms. Be careful not to use words like radicalized or tea party or patriot because then you will be under scrutiny and potentially a terrorist.

 

The NSA/CIA/DOJ has a LONG history of abusing its power and snooping on Americans. Like when they got busted for intercepting EVERY single communication that went in and out of the US. But they just keep on keeping on.

 

One reason is because when an individual actually gives a sith about the world he wants to live in, the Lindsay Grahams and the John McCains and the rest of the police-state sympathizers call people like Edward Snowden a traitor.

 

I am much less concerned about what he did with this information rather than why the government is obtaining it. It isn't transparency and isn't how free society operates. Period.

 

I thought we sent our sons and daughters our husbands and wives over to the middle east to defend these freedoms? That is why thousands have died, right? I'm sure its a real morale booster for our men and women to going over there after the warhawks demand it in the name of liberty then in the same breath demand the US government be entitled to our private information even when it directly contradicts the bill of rights.

 

Barack Obama in 2007 would've defended this man just like he used to defend civil liberties with great vigilance -- used to.

 

Kudos to this dude.

Edited June 14, 201313 yr by marvel
Wrong on his whereabouts.

I see this as a very interesting debate among conservatives - strong national defense vs. lack of government trust.

 

Very true, that's one reason I made the thread. I honestly don't know where I stand as of yet.

 

My guess is the vast majority of the people who call Snowden a patriot are liberals. John Boehner called him a traitor.

My guess is the vast majority of the people who call Snowden a patriot are liberals. John Boehner called him a traitor.

 

Is that the litmus test? John Boehner speaks for small government minded people?

 

Feinstein agrees with Boehner.

Not 100% sure how I feel, but how he is playing it out I would lean towards just short of the word traitor, I won't use that other word that is in the thread title as I don't want to create a ping on the system, lol.

 

There are proper channels to be a whistle blower, and he choose to ignore that, go out and tell what he thought went on, and then fled to HK, now in China? I know he may have been worried about extradition, but he could have picked several other countries besides China who wouldn't have let the US touch him. But China? Basically our enemy? I am sure he is not liking the hospitality there right about now, heck, we won't have to worry about torturing him, they are already doing it.

 

As others have said, he is too full of himself. He was a low level contractor, who also signed a confidentiality agreement, and above his signature it says what will happen if you break that agreement. Again, he didn't follow the rules to be a whistle blower, so now he should get what's coming to him.

 

Hong Kong is not beholden to the laws of the Republic of China......

 

I agree it didn't look the best but its kind of a smart move. He doesn't want to be tried in a court over here because he will be like Bradley Manning. We won't hear a peep and he will suffer and spend the rest of his days in jail.

Edited June 14, 201313 yr by marvel