Is Edward Snowden or the Government the villain?

In 2001 the Bush administration secretly ordered NSA to eavesdrop on the electronic communication of Americans without obtaining the warrants required by criminal law. At the time it was reveals by the New York Times it had been going on for four years. Edward Snowden was not the first to reveal the dirty antics of the NSA or the Bush/Obama administrations.

The government justified its actions by saying the threat of terrorism gave the President virtually unlimited authority to do anything to keep “the nation safe”.  This unlimited power has led to abuse. Does this also mean martial law?

The Founding Fathers protested laws that let British officials ransack at will any home they wished. The colonists all agreed the British needed warrants to carry out such actions. They also believe the warrants must specify the name of the person being searched and what was to be searched. The Fourth Amendment enshrined this idea in American law. It was designed to prevent Americans from being searched without probable cause and a warrant. The Founding Fathers would not have agreed to the NSA abuse as Bush and Obama want us to believe.

The purpose of mass surveillance is to suppress dissent and mandate compliance. The procedure has been used by Syria, Egypt, Libya, U.K., French, Germany, East Germany, U.S.A., China, North and South Korea, Iran and most likely all countries that have the capability to do so.

The ability to eavesdrop on people gives immense power to the governments. It is almost certain human nature will lead those with that power to abuse it.

In 2006 Bush denounced American companies for cooperating with China to carry out surveillance of its citizens when at the same time the Bush administration was doing the exact same thing here in America.

The threat of terrorism and fear has given the government a wide array of ways to abuse their power with little dissent from Americans. The Internet should advance democracy by giving those without power the power to express their dissatisfaction with those in power.  But, when it is used by the government to stifle discourse freedom of expression is lost. The Fourth Amendment becomes worthless.

How many Americans know that the government has the capability to activate their cell phones and laptops remotely and use them as eavesdropping devices? How many know even after Edward Snowden made it public? In 2006 a Federal Judge presiding over a mobster case ruled that the FBI turned on cell phones and used them as listening devices and it was legal to do so.

 How many Americans know about the program called PRISM, which allowed the NSA to collect private communications from the world’s largest Internet companies, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Apple, Microsoft, Paltalk, AOL and Skype.   How many know today even after Edward Snowden made it public?

The NSA does not operate alone the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand (the five eyes) are willing partners in mass surveillance.  They share information among what they call the “Five”.  What one of the “five” knows they all know.

In 1978 The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was created to prevent surveillance abuse that the Church Committee revealed. Eventually FISA itself became corrupt and rubber stamps anything the NSA wanted. FISA ordered Verizon to turn over all its records for communication between the U.S.A. and abroad, including any local telephone calls. That one decision made it possible for the NSA to collect private information on ten million American citizens.

For a one month period ending February, 2013 NSA collected more than three billion pieces of communication. Is it any wonder they missed the attack in San Bernardino.  They do not have the man power to handle that much information – no one does. The terrorist involved in that act had been communicating for over two years via telephones and Internet discussing their plans. Only after the fact did the NSA discover the records. The NSA “Collect it All” program was a complete failure in preventing the terrorist attack.

The Obama administration’s senior national security official, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, lied to Congress when, on March 12, 2013 he was asked by Senator Ron Wyden: “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions of Americans?” He lied under oath, but was never prosecuted. Edward Snowden confirmed he had lied.

The Obama administration made Americans think Edward Snowden was a liar by asking us to believe that it was impossible for a “HIGH SCHOOL” dropout to do what he claimed he did. They painted a picture of Edward Snowden as being inexperienced, young, seeking fame and “COCKY”.  If a “HIGH SCHOOL” dropout was not qualified then why was he hired in the first place? He dropped out of high school most liked because the public school system failed him. The curriculum probably bored him and the teachers were probably not qualified to teach him. Diploma or not he impressed government officials enough to hire him several times!

 In 2007 he applied for a position with the CIA in Geneva and got the job. He was given diplomatic credentials. He worked undercover. He was handpicked to support the President at the 2008 NATO summit in Romania. It was during his time with the CIA that Edward Snowden began having problems with what the government was doing.  He left the CIA in 2009.

Like many he thought Obama was going to bring transparency and change to government. He soon realized it was all campaign rhetoric and in fact Obama wanted more secret surveillance. It was at that time he began to think of becoming a whistle blower.

Edward Snowden was chosen by the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Joint Counter-intelligence Training Academy to teach cyber counterintelligence at their Chinese counterintelligence course. This does not sound like the incompetent, unintelligent person media in cooperation with the government tried to make Americans believe he was. He was a cyber security expert that NSA was glad to have and had even stated they wish they could find more people like him.

I believe Edward Snowden was willing to sacrifice his own interests for the sake of the greater good!

TO BE CONTINUED…

The government uses fear to make the citizens fall in line

Create fear in people of a common enemy and convince them you are the only source of protection from that enemy and you can gain ultimate control. That technique has been used by the military in basic training for decades. New recruits fear the Drill Instructors and the source of protection from them are your fellow recruits. I was the Barracks Chief at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. I was surprised that the Drill Instructors I knew in private were not the same men when in front of the recruits. They used fear to get the new recruits to depend on each other. Fear is a powerful thing and can be used for good and bad.

9/11 caused Americans to fear. Who could we turn to other than our elected officials for protection? We had no choice but believe the people running our government knew best and the politicians took full advantage of it. We unfortunately did not think for ourselves and began to rely on the government for all our security against terrorism.

My political party – Republican Party – was all for the Patriot Act. That same party espouses the virtues of our Founding Fathers, small government and individual freedoms. Our Founding Fathers would have never supported the Patriot Act, the Patriot Act increased the size of government and the Patriot Act took away some individual freedoms. The Patriot Act led to the NSA abuses which robbed us of some of our guaranteed freedoms.

President Bush shortly after 9/11 signed the Patriot Act. It was done in haste and could not have possibly been well thought out in such a short time. The Patriot Act allowed our government to legally intercept PRIVATE conversations and correspondence and even gave the government the right to enter our homes and businesses for what the Founding Father described as unreasonable search and seizure.  We were willing to accept this intrusion on our privacy for the politicians promise of security at home and abroad from terrorism. There is no such thing as a risk free society.

9/11 was a perfect opportunity for Bill Bratton to gain the fame he so desperately craved. Bill Bratton was a former Boston policeman who became second in command and then went on to become the head of the New York transit police system. Even as a military policeman in Vietnam he had already begun to seek fame.  His colleagues referred to him as an ‘attention seeker’.

If burglaries went up in a particular area he got warrants to bring in every one in the area that had ever been questioned or convicted of burglary. If car robberies went up he set up registrations check points in the area and stop every vehicle. If you did not have the registration papers in the vehicle you went to jail. Crime did decrease, but civil rights were violated. The homeless became a target. New York city citizens complaints against the police department jumped 50%.  The question we all have to ask our selves is what price are we willing to pay for a little more security. Are we willing to tolerate aggressive police tactics (Bill Bratton tactics) and loss of freedoms.

The officials of New York were at first impressed until the law suits were filed and settlements were having to be made out of court in order to reduce losses and two years later Bill Bratton was fired. Bill Bratton moved on to the notorious Los Angeles Police Department as Police Chief.

Following 9/11 people were willing to accept Bill Bratton’s crime-fighting techniques.  People were looking for a PROACTIVE F.B.I., private security force and police force. Most were willing to sacrifice their rights to privacy because of fear. Bill Bratton returned to fame and his police tactics went in to effect in the Federal Government.

I went to a Galveston Bookstore and ask for a book on terrorism and a few days later was visited by two government agents and ask why was I searching for the book. I simply wanted to know as much as I could about what I had to fear. I learned that curious people needed to fear their own government. I had been a supporter of the Patriot Act until then because like many Americans I said over and over if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. Maybe I over reactive, but the visit by government agents instill some fear in me. It seems that since Galveston is a port town extra precautions were being taken in the area.

President Obama and President Bush defended the extensive secret collection of information as critical to fighting terrorist. I believe security had to be stepped up, but I question did they go too far. What I found interesting was Obama saying you can’t have 100% security and 100% freedom. I realized then for sure that just like guerrilla warfare in Vietnam our leaders did not understand terrorism at all. Any American who thinks they are 100% secure are foolish.

In a single vote in 2011 our members of Congress  wiped away what thousands of patriotic Americans died for -- our right to privacy and our freedom of speech. As events in Washington have proven, freedoms lost are hard to regain. The Patriot Act was based on ignorance and fear. We were told the Patriot Act did not curtail any of our rights. We have now found that was not true just as we have found so many things Washington politicians say are not true (Iran Deal). Ben Franklin agreed with the statement: "Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security." Politicians are often ill informed (weapons of mass destruction). Human history has proven there will never be an honest excuse for giving away our freedoms.

I will not vote for a politician that voted for the Patriot Act which took away Americans freedoms and then turns around and ask us to support ‘Open Borders’ or ‘Path to Citizenship’ or ‘Amnesty for Illegals’  or welcoming Syrian refugees into America.  This alone is enough for me to vote for Donald Trump.

I feel like a foreigner in my own country

I am reading “We the People” by Juan Williams.  I agree with his facts, but disagree with some of his conclusions.  That is only natural since he is liberal and I am conservative. I really do not know if I can define myself as a conservative any longer, since I believe it is time for a change in the Republican Party. I still believe in conservative ideas, but I also believe in moving forward and adapting to cultural changes, technological changes and scientific changes as new knowledge comes available. It appears to me that today’s right ring conservative Republican Party wants to go back to the days of the Founding Fathers. They have their heads buried in the sand.  I wonder if they realize that would include slavery, no rights for women, no social safety nets, etc.

A 2015 poll conducted by Reuters found that 62% of Republicans, 53% of Independents and 37% of Democrats feel like a stranger in their own country. I have not been back to the United States since 2005 and I do not think I would recognize the United States of today.  It is a strange feeling for I feel as if I no longer have a country. I am a foreigner in the Philippines and I think I would feel like a foreigner in the United States. The Right Wing of my party has gone too far. They are no longer open to new ideas, they think like most fundamentalist religious folks - their way is the only way, the party has become the party of bigot’s, hypocrites and judgmental Pharisees.  I support Donald Trump, but I do not like a lot of his rhetoric. I support him because I think he is the only one that can bring change to the Republican Party. Good or bad I am willing to gamble because what we have done for decades is not working.

I have no trust in any part of the government. Politicians (Republican and Democrat) think the solution to every problem is to throw more tax dollars into failed programs. You would think that by now they could see that the school system continues to fail regardless of the money invested in public schools. The welfare programs not only have failed, but poverty continues to increase. Obamacare may have helped some people, but hurt more people than it helped – especially the middle class.

This campaign cycle has proven to us we the people do not control the primary outcome the party bosses do. Hillary will become the nominee regardless of what the people want and ONLY Donald Trump saved us Republicans from Cruz or Bush. The Obama’s Iran deal definitely proved elected politicians will lie to the people in order to get what they want regardless of how dangerous it is to future generations. I guess what upsets me the most they all think they know better what is good for us than we know. They treat us like children.

There is a new America that the Republican Party had better begin to recognize or they will find it more difficult to win national elections in the future. It consist of young people, white women and Asian, black and Latino voters.  That new America is interested in universal healthcare, contraception, school reform, immigration reform, lower taxes and yes climate control. It might surprise most conservative Republicans that there are people among those in the new America that hold a more conservative viewpoint than the Democrat Party and liberals in general, but not as conservative as right wing conservatives. The Republican Party bosses have allowed the right wing of our party to make it known to those people they are not welcome in our Party.

The millennial generation of Americans, those born after 1980 is made up of 40% people of color. They have little to no problem with gays, gay marriage, interracial dating and marriage.  They grew up with women in leadership roles. The Democrats are catering to these voters while the Republicans act as if they do not exist or that they will die off due to some horrendous disease that God will send upon them as punishment.

The vote this week where dozens of House Republicans switched their votes and defeated a measure to protect gay rights is once again a perfect example that the conservative right wing of the Republican Party does not understand the millennials and are out of touch with the majority of American and 2016 culture. President Barack Obama immediately issued an executive order that bars discrimination against LGBT employees by federal contractors his actions sends a message to moderate conservatives that bigotry is alive and well in the Republican Party.

Our Founding Fathers were great men, but they were mortal and they made mistakes/sinned in both their public and private lives.  I have grown tired of hearing the right wing of our party act as if our Founding Fathers were infallible.

The Founding Fathers did not eliminate slavery. They did not give blacks and women equal rights -  not even the right to vote – racial and gender equality was something they did not understand. Most of them owned slaves. They did not provide any type of safety net for the poor, orphans or widows. Our Founding Fathers forbid people from forming labor unions. Our Founding Fathers did not include God, Jesus and other deities in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution or the Bill of Rights – that was not an oversight. They struggle with religion in politics as we do today. In fact Franklin, Jefferson, Madison Washington and Adams did not even believe in Jesus as the Son of God. The Founding Fathers favored morality over dogma. Ethan Allen a Founding Father said, “I am no Christian.” John Adams signed a treaty that stated, “The United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” Thomas Paine said, “… all churches accuse other churches of unbelief.” Thomas Jefferson wanted to make sure their was a wall of division between government and religion. He did not want any religion dictating public policy.

Thomas Jefferson said, “… no society can make a perpetual constitution or even a perpetual law … the dead should not be a weight on future generations, but that is exactly what the right wing of the Republican Party do with their strict interpretations of the Constitution and trying to apply what the Founding Fathers thought then with their limited knowledge and apply it to to us in 2016. We need to always remember what the Founding Fathers wanted then would not necessarily be what they would want in 2016.