I am a big fan of what Edward Snowden has done in revealing the 4th amendment abuses perpetrated by the NSA. Big fan, love your work.
True, Snowden is a criminal under existing laws, but much of what we've been allowed to see of those laws indicates they are illegal as well, so who's zooming who? And while legality is a matter of high importance, it has never, ever been the marker of good or right. Legality and goodness should be very best of friends, but they do not share a passport. A long line of martyrs keeps attesting to this. Reminds one of the parable of the tenants.
Snowden has shown himself to be restrained and principled in his communications post-affair, while several members of the U.S. government have behaved with red-faced bluster. The primary journalists spreading the leaks demonstrate care and responsibility in releasing information, while the leakees unlawfully detain journalists' loved ones and force leaders of sovereign nations out of the sky in their manhunt. Even unsophisticated observers such as myself can read these stars.
Every time a new piece of information arrives, I feel an impulse to blog about it, but have nothing substantial to add. "Right on!"; "Well what do you know?"; "I'm angry at the government's plainly foreseeable abuses in the wake of the PATRIOT Act."
Anyway, these are sentiments better expressed in a service featuring hashtag appendages. Blogging -- well, this blog anyway -- is for having an opinion and working to express it well.
If you've only kept up with this out of the corner of your eye, I encourage you to catch up. It now looks like this issue probably won't just fizzle. Something will probably be done. But will enough be done? Will good or right things be done? These are not settled questions. Your participation is relevant.
Privacy in this modern world remains arguably our biggest American issue right now. That includes issues of income equality, sluggish job market, deficit reduction, same-sex marriage, and anything involving Middle East policy. There are bigger world issues: climate change and antibiotic overuse come to mind. An excellent case can be made for the prevalence of untreated sin as the biggest issue facing humanity, which, if faced, could solve many of these other issues virtually overnight.
But I'll confine myself to talking about trees instead of forests. Myopic as it might sound, privacy is the big American issue.
Ironically, you need to go to a British source for comprehensive information. The Guardian is a London-based newspaper that has been in publication in various forms for 192 years. They have been the primary journalistic outlet for reporting on the Snowden leaks. They present information in clear, easy-to-understand articles and organize the entire story well at their website.
If you've fallen a behind on the whole deal, see their overview of what's going on.
And for what it's worth, I am angry about the government's plainly foreseeable abuses. Encourage your congressperson to repeal the PATRIOT Act. It hurts us much more than it helps.
True, Snowden is a criminal under existing laws, but much of what we've been allowed to see of those laws indicates they are illegal as well, so who's zooming who? And while legality is a matter of high importance, it has never, ever been the marker of good or right. Legality and goodness should be very best of friends, but they do not share a passport. A long line of martyrs keeps attesting to this. Reminds one of the parable of the tenants.
Snowden has shown himself to be restrained and principled in his communications post-affair, while several members of the U.S. government have behaved with red-faced bluster. The primary journalists spreading the leaks demonstrate care and responsibility in releasing information, while the leakees unlawfully detain journalists' loved ones and force leaders of sovereign nations out of the sky in their manhunt. Even unsophisticated observers such as myself can read these stars.
Every time a new piece of information arrives, I feel an impulse to blog about it, but have nothing substantial to add. "Right on!"; "Well what do you know?"; "I'm angry at the government's plainly foreseeable abuses in the wake of the PATRIOT Act."
Anyway, these are sentiments better expressed in a service featuring hashtag appendages. Blogging -- well, this blog anyway -- is for having an opinion and working to express it well.
If you've only kept up with this out of the corner of your eye, I encourage you to catch up. It now looks like this issue probably won't just fizzle. Something will probably be done. But will enough be done? Will good or right things be done? These are not settled questions. Your participation is relevant.
Privacy in this modern world remains arguably our biggest American issue right now. That includes issues of income equality, sluggish job market, deficit reduction, same-sex marriage, and anything involving Middle East policy. There are bigger world issues: climate change and antibiotic overuse come to mind. An excellent case can be made for the prevalence of untreated sin as the biggest issue facing humanity, which, if faced, could solve many of these other issues virtually overnight.
But I'll confine myself to talking about trees instead of forests. Myopic as it might sound, privacy is the big American issue.
Ironically, you need to go to a British source for comprehensive information. The Guardian is a London-based newspaper that has been in publication in various forms for 192 years. They have been the primary journalistic outlet for reporting on the Snowden leaks. They present information in clear, easy-to-understand articles and organize the entire story well at their website.
If you've fallen a behind on the whole deal, see their overview of what's going on.
And for what it's worth, I am angry about the government's plainly foreseeable abuses. Encourage your congressperson to repeal the PATRIOT Act. It hurts us much more than it helps.
