As Steve Burgess pointed out today, the politically widespread outrage about Edward Snowden's whistlebolwing has been sorta heartwarming, saying, "According to the Book of Revelations, when Al Gore and Senator Rand Paul agree on an issue the End Times are near. As well, scientists say that having the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tea Party on the same side of any question may reverse the polarity of the Earth's magnetic field and make cows lactose intolerant."
Glen Greenwald seems to agree in his Guardian article today titled 'On PRISM, Partisanship and Propaganda' though he uses less cows in his revelations addressing many of the issues arising from last week's NSA stories and breakdown of the numbers in the much discussed PEW polling results. In his analysis Greenwald says, "As I've written many times, one of the most significant aspects of the Obama legacy has been the transformation of Democrats from pretend-opponents of the Bush War on Terror and National Security State into their biggest proponents: exactly what the CIA presciently and excitedly predicted in 2008 would happen with Obama's election."
Many security experts say the NSA's surveillance played little role in foiling the terror plots despite the fact that the Obama administration says NSA data helped make arrests in two important cases. Court documents lodged in the US and UK, as well as interviews with involved parties, suggest that data-mining through PRISM and other NSA programmes played a relatively minor role in the interception of the two plots. Conventional surveillance techniques, in both cases including old-fashioned tip-offs from intelligence services in Britain, appear to have initiated the investigations.
National security, in every nation, is very important. But as Edward Snowden said a few days ago, “We managed to survive greater threats in our history than a few disorganized terrorist groups and rogue states without resorting to these sorts of programs." And he's right-on, somehow, even now in the digital ago, there must be a route to security that doesn't require the undermining of our RIGHTS.
A popular saying among my parents, who both fought in WW11, and their friends of 'the greatest generation' back when i was growing up was, "I disagree totally with what you are saying but I'd gladly die fighting for your right to say it." They fought for the right to free speech, to liberty, to privacy. They knew the difference between one's opinion of what is right and what a RIGHT is. Many, the majority according to PEW, have succumbed to the fear mongering of the fascists and their genuflecting media, but thankfully not all have. Thankfully there still are folks like Edward Snowden and journalists like Glen Greenwald who are brave enough to stand up for my RIGHTS.
