Good Morning Bear, Actually, I agree with you. I am troubled by Snowden's release of classified info, but by the same token, from what I know right now, the info that he exposed should have been exposed. In other words, I have mixed feelings, and the proverbial "Jury's still out"....
With regard to "RT" (Russia Today") I watched the channel a lot while I was residing in Europa, and I don't think it's anymore biased than MSNBC or CNN. It's another biased news channel with an agenda. On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 10:38 AM, Bear Bear <[email protected]> wrote: > Considering that we know almost nothing about Snowden. And nothing about > his motives. It seems to me that it is a bit early to be calling him a hero > or a traitor. > > What he did was clearly criminal. But beyond that, I'm willing to wait > until we hear more. He certainly comes across as a bit of an odd ball. > > Keith. > > I'm surprised how many thing RT is just another news channel like NBC, > BBC, CNN and the like. The bias is pretty blatant to me. Just another > example of people believing what they want to. > > Bear > > > On 14 June 2013 17:51, Keith In Tampa <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Although I have no clue what we are still doing in Afghanistan, any >> sound bite caught from RT is highly suspicious and not at all credible. >> >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 4:43 PM, plainolamerican < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> a military that has not defended authentic American liberties for >>> decades. >>> --- >>> I've been seeing a tv show promo about some some soldiers in >>> Afghanistan. >>> One of the soundbites for the promo shows a soldier saying ... 'we're >>> fighting for each other.' >>> >>> US soldiers in Afghanistan are not fighting for their country or their >>> flag, but rather for each other, war reporter and filmmaker Sebastian >>> Junger told RT. >>> “What I realized in the five months that I spent at this little >>> outpost at the Korangal Valley in eastern Afghanistan -huge amount of >>> combat, very isolated place – what I realized is that the guys were >>> not fighting for flag and country,” he said. “They may have joined up >>> for those sorts of reasons, but once they were there, they were >>> fighting for each other and there was a completely kind of fraternal >>> arrangement that had very little broad conceptual motivations behind >>> it.” >>> Not many American soldiers in Afghanistan take their time to reflect >>> on why they are fighting this war, they are just fighting it, Junger >>> said. >>> “They did not debate why are we in Afghanistan very much,” he said. >>> “It is like, well, 9/11, 3000 Americans were killed by attacks coming >>> out of Afghanistan and we had to go to that country and fix it and >>> find the people who killed our American brothers and sisters, and that >>> is about the extent of their analysis.” >>> >>> On Jun 14, 12:44 pm, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > Ilana Mercer:“‘Thank You For Your Service, Mr. Snowden’” is my current >>> column, now on WND. It ends thus: "Come every Memorial Day – more aptly >>> called 'Dying For Nothing Day' – we direct a commonplace saying at members >>> of a military that has not defended authentic American liberties for >>> decades. It is, however, to a young man such as [Edward Snowden] that we >>> should say: >>> > “Thank you for your service, Mr. Snowden.” Read the other 1080 words @ >>> http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/thank-you-for-your-service-mr-snowden/"Come >>> every Memorial Day -- more aptly called “Dying For Nothing Day” -- we >>> direct a commonplace saying at members of a military that has not defended >>> authentic American liberties for decades. It is, however, to a young man >>> such as this that we should say: >>> > "“Thank you for your service, Mr. Snowden.”"RETURN TO REASONThank you >>> for your service, Mr. Snowden'Let us prove ourselves worthy of his >>> sacrifice'14 June 2013 >>> > Ilana Mercer >>> > A heroic American whistleblower chooses, oh-so wisely, to expose Uncle >>> Sam’s usurpations to the veteran reporters of the British Guardian and not >>> to the partisan hacks of the American press. This fact tells you all you >>> need to know about U.S. presstitutes. >>> > Confirmation of the degree to which American media have been co-opted >>> by power came on June 10, again, via a British newspaper. The Mail Online >>> divulged that Edward Snowden had “first approached the Washington Post with >>> his leaks, but the newspaper refused to comply with his publishing demands.” >>> > You see, the Washington Post had to hotfoot it back to Big Brother >>> Obama before it would do its journalistic due diligence. “The Post broke >>> the story on PRISM two weeks later, on Thursday, after consulting with >>> government officials,”confirmedthe Mail Online. >>> > Even after being scooped by the Guardian, the Obama embeds at the >>> Washington Post saw fit to inform their readers about PRISM on a purely >>> need-to-know basis, “reprinting only four of the 41 PRISM PowerPoint >>> slides” and generally misrepresenting the nature of the program known as >>> PRISM. The manufactured-in-America version of PRISM thus contradicts the >>> “internal NSA documents” leaked to the Guardian. >>> > According to the guardian of American freedoms at the Guardian, >>> reporter Glenn Greenwald, the 41-slide PowerPoint presentation he acquired >>> from Snowden has been authenticated as a document “used to train >>> intelligence operatives on the capabilities of the program.” The >>> presentation,pictorials with captions, handed out by the National Security >>> Agency, boasts of having “direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, >>> Apple, Yahoo, PalTalk, YouTube in 2010; Skype and AOL, and other servers.” >>> > Contrary to what you’re being told, “the world’s largest surveillance >>> organization” can and does “obtain targeted communications without having >>> to request them from the service providers and without having to obtain >>> individual court orders.” And it is contrary to the Bill of Rights, the >>> Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, in particular. It specifies that >>> “warrants shall issue” only “upon probable cause, supported by oath or >>> affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the >>> persons or things to be seized.” >>> > Tellingly, the tools of Big Media and big government are not apprising >>> you of these facts. Like a tortoise in its shell, they’ve retreated from >>> the watersheds that are theAP,theIRSand the NSA scandals, informing you >>> only of what New York and Northeast elites think is important:“Most of you >>> still like Obama.” >>> > In light of “the disclosure that the federal authorities routinely >>> collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have >>> any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation,” the Gray Lady endeavored, >>> fleetingly, to shake off a flea or two and adopt a slightly less >>> reverential tone toward the godhead Obama. The New York Times quickly lay >>> down with dogs again; the paper rushed to restore Obama’s bona fides the >>> following day. >>> > As to other “nimble” minds in media:Andrea Tarantula,one of the >>> interchangeable females on a Fox News idiot’s extravaganza called “The >>> Five,” said that, “If they are competent with my information; they can have >>> it. If not, let me have my freedoms back.” >>> > To Andrea (who is, admittedly, not as invincibly stupid as the statist >>> Dana Perino), the inviolable “right of the people to be secure in their >>> persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and >>> seizures” is subject to the efficiency of a naturally illicit search. >>> > Not for Greg Gutfeld are arguments from principle. Sitting in for Bill >>> O’Reilly, Gutfeld declared that “this” was not about surveillance but about >>> a progressive government that could not be trusted. The majority of >>> Americans are equally adrift, oblivious to the individual liberties >>> American Constitution makers bequeathed them. The individuals questioned by >>> the polling professionals at the Pew Research Center were inclined to >>> approve of the phone-call tapping of millions, if conducted by the party >>> for which they voted. >>> > Lawrence O’Donnell and his entourage at MSNBC -- Alex Wagner and Chris >>> Hayes, the most enthusiastic Obama bobbleheads on TV -- acted all surprised >>> about rudderless America, never implicating their daily, partisan >>> promotionals in the process. The hosts harped on the fact that no harm had >>> come from the NSA PRISM program. And, after all, was Obama not obligated to >>> continue the incursions into liberty begun by Bush?C’est la vie. Wagner did >>> display a modicum of remorse for her cover-up. She admitted that Obama had >>> gone beyond the call of duty in expanding counterterrorism and state >>> surveillance. >>> > Neoconservatives such as Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard, the >>> editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. >>> Ralph Peters and radio talker Hugh Hewitt all pronounced the NSA data sweep >>> a non-scandal. Another neocon, Charles Krauthammer, saw Obama’s infractions >>> as a vindication of Bush’s. The columnist invited Democrats now excusing >>> Obama to pardon Bush and … party on. >>> > Snowden came forth, in his words, “to reveal criminality.” But Fox >>> News’ Megyn Kelly chose to mine crime from the ore of virtue. Kelly >>> summoned a two-bit profiler, allegedly from the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis >>> Unit -- who sounded like she’d been plucked from the set of“Criminal >>> Minds”-- to expose “this guy.” Not to be outperformed by Kelly, the >>> profiler unloaded terms like “loser” and “drop-out” on a man who has held >>> many responsible positions within the intelligence community in his young >>> life. >>> > Yet another Fox News personality, Neil Cavuto, went on to compare >>> Snowden to celebrity seducer Roman Polanski, who, in 1978, sought asylum in >>> France after being convicted of sleeping with an American minor. Chimed >>> Cavuto, “We don’t know why [Snowden] did what he did.” >>> > Oh yes we do. Contra Cavuto, Snowden forsook creature comforts and >>> worldly possessions to speak truth to power -- and not to any power. The >>> 29-year-old NSA contractor has gone up “against the world’s most powerful >>> intelligence agencies,” as he stated soberly. Snowden understands his >>> chances of prevailing are not good. “[T]ey’re such powerful adversaries >>> that no one can meaningfully oppose them. If they want to get you, they >>> will get you in time.” >>> > In Snowden’s poignant words, “You can’t wait around for someone else >>> to act. I had been looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is >>> about being the first to act.” “I’m neither traitor nor hero. I’m an >>> American,” he summed-up so simply. >>> > Yes, we need fewer personalities like Cavuto and more men of character >>> like Snowden. >>> > Those who’re not suspended in the moral abyss with mainstream media >>> already know that Edward Snowden is the best of America. Let us prove >>> ourselves worthy of his sacrifice. >>> > Come every Memorial Day -- more aptly called “Dying For Nothing Day” >>> -- we direct a commonplace saying at members of a military that has not >>> defended authentic American liberties for decades. It is, however, to a >>> young man such as this that we should say: >>> > “Thank you for your service, Mr. Snowden.” >>> http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/thank-you-for-your-service-mr-snowden/ >>> >>> -- >>> -- >>> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. >>> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum >>> >>> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ >>> * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. >>> * Read the latest breaking news, and more. >>> >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "PoliticalForum" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >>> >>> >>> >> -- >> -- >> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. >> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum >> >> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ >> * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. >> * Read the latest breaking news, and more. >> >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "PoliticalForum" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> > > > > -- > *Bear > http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/GNUZ/ > * > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
