Good posts. The Snowden case is an interesting one. One does not have to accept false choices of either being for the NSA or Snowden. Some people apparently can’t deal with multiple bad guys and degrees of bad. Both the NSA and Snowden are wrong. Snowden’s action crossed a line when he started spewing off about China. Snowden should be tracked down and neutralized (shot) before he does any more damage. NSA should be reined in and those involved dealt with. There are no heroes here.
Heroes in this case....are not existent.
First, there are a small circle of Senators who likely knew all of the basic details to Snowden’s accusations, for several years, and never told the NSA to hold back. Each of these ladies and gentlemen knew there were violations of American law being committed.
Second, there is a US Army general in charge of NSA, who is honor-bound to obey American law. He has failed at his oath.
Third, this Snowden character is narcissist and this tendency should have been demonstrated at various points....to such a degree....that his clearance should have been revoked. They should have tested this guy yearly, and followed his comments that he posted on-line. He was a problem, waiting to occur.
Fourth and final....none of this is a Bush or Obama issue. NSA and the programs all started years ago, and mostly run on automatic. Congress grants them billions and a President likely gets an hour or two a week in briefings from them. This digital library of sorts being built in Utah? It needs to be separated from the agency and controlled by a totally separate unit, with a federal judge on the site...twenty-four hours a day (shift-work if necessary). That judge needs to appear in front of Congress quarterly and be the gate-keeper to prevent abuse from political figures. If he fails to do his job....he needs to do jail-time.