Edward Snowden Allows Everyone To Decide How Much Liberty They Want

<div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: large;">Definition of patriot: “a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.”</span> ~<a href="http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/patriot" target="_blank">The Oxford English Dictionary</a></blockquote><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">D</span><b>o patriots defend and support agencies of their government who are knowingly lying to the citizenry or do they expose the lies and the agencies that are untruthful? Are government agencies that are lying to the citizens, an enemy of the people? </b><br /><br />The revelations of Edward Snowden expose the lie which is being touted by certain members of Congress and government that the American people have both privacy and security. Probably most individuals are willing to give up some privacy for added security but Snowden has shown that the government expects you to surrender all privacy in your online world only they will not tell you that.<br /><br />We are currently engaged in a silent civil war where sections of government are removing hard fought liberties from its constituency. Speaking during another Civil War, President Lincoln mentioned “a new nation, conceived in Liberty” and “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” But a government “of the people” and “by the people” is very much in danger of perishing as well as the freedom of those people.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" height="245" id="msnbc319390" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" /><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=52161213&width=420&height=245" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed name="msnbc319390" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=52161213&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object></div><p></P>Edward Snowden has reminded “the people” that their government is meant to be of, by and for them. There was a time when “the people” decided what they wanted and they authorized representatives in Congress and other branches of government to put those desires into action. Today, those representatives of “the people” appear to have forgotten that they are only authorized to represent “the people.” Instead, those representatives are acting as if they have the power that only “the people” have in a government that is truly “of the people, by the people, for the people.” <p></P>Much ink will be spilled and many words uttered over the next few days regarding the secrets released by Edward Snowden. By making confidential documents public, Snowden has used his power to not made us less secure but has to give “the people” a limited security clearance to see information that was hidden from them and which can now aide them in the security/privacy discussion. <p></P>A famous terrorist is said to have exclaimed “Give me liberty, or give me death!” in a speech to the Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia (perhaps security was not an issue in his day). “The people” now have an opportunity to reassess how much liberty they want to give up. They can decide and let their representatives know their determination. “The people” can decide. A recent president declared that he was the decider. Snowden has reminded us that it is we who are the deciders. <b><i>~Ed Long</i></b></div>

Edward Snowden Allows Everyone To Decide How Much Liberty They Want

Definition of patriot: “a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.” ~ The O...

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Edward Snowden Went Public On His Own Terms

<script type='text/javascript' src='http://KHNL.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=753957;hostDomain=www.hawaiinewsnow.com;playerWidth=853;playerHeight=480;isShowIcon=true;clipId=8974559;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=overlay'></script><br /><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/edward-snowden-media-genius-2013-6?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29" target="blank">Business Insider</a></b></span><br />Henry Blodget <br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">E</span><b>dward Snowden is a public relations genius.</b><br /><br />When he decided to leak top-secret National Security Agency documents to the media, Snowden knew he was taking a big risk of spending a good chunk of time in prison — but Snowden felt passionately enough about his cause that he was willing to risk this.<br /><br />And Snowden also appears to have been smart enough to realize that a leak of this magnitude would likely lead to his being “outed” at some point, regardless of how careful he was.<br /><br />And he was also presumably smart enough to realize that if his identity was ever discovered, the process of being introduced to the public as a “traitor” and “felon” (presumably in cuffs, during a perp walk) would likely color how the public perceived him and his actions. Snowden would likely have been forced to make any public statements from a jail cell, in a jumpsuit, with nervous attorneys sweating every word, so he would not likely have been able to say much if anything to turn this public perception around. And he certainly would not have been able to make an extensive, careful case for why he did why he did, and what the government is doing, with so much time and control.<br /><br /><span style="color: black; display: inline; float: left; font-family: museo-1,museo-2,helvetica; font-size: 32px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.04em; line-height: 1em; margin: 30px 30px 30px -125px ! important; text-align: right; width: 295px;"><br />Snowden is already being hailed as a “national hero” in many quarters.</span>In other words, Snowden appears to have been smart enough to realize that, if he waited around to be found out, he would be treated like Bradley Manning — the Army private who was hustled out of public view and thrown in solitary confinement for months after being charged with leaking documents to Wikileaks.<br /><br />So instead of living in fear and awaiting that fate, Snowden took matters into his own hands.<br /><br />He went public on his own terms.<br /><br />He presented himself to the world as a courageous, well-intentioned, brave, and principled young man.<br /><br />He placed an image in everyone's mind of Edward Snowden as well-dressed, articulate, and free, a man in full control, a David standing up to Goliath, a man ready to accept the consequences of his actions. And he got a chance to make his full case against the government before the government got to dictate the terms of the engagement or say anything in response.<br /><br />And, at least so far, this decision worked!<br /><br />Snowden is already being hailed as a "national hero" in many quarters.<br /><br />A petition to “pardon” Snowden before he has even been apprehended and charged with anything has already received nearly 10,000 signatures. In a poll we have conducted this morning, fully two-thirds of Business Insider readers view Snowden as a "hero." Only 15%, meanwhile, view him as a traitor. (~20% haven't made up their minds.)<br /><br />That's not bad for a 29 year-old contractor who easily could be painted as a selfish traitor and appears to be responsible for one of the biggest U.S. intelligence breaches in history.</div>

Edward Snowden Went Public On His Own Terms

Business Insider Henry Blodget E dward Snowden is a public relations genius. When he decided to leak top-secret National Security Agency doc...

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Edward Snowden | NSA PRISM Whistleblower

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_Z99qFwsDmU?rel=0" width="853"></iframe><br /><br /><blockquote>“The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards” ~Edward Snowden</blockquote><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance" target="_blank">Q&A with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance" target="blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Guardian UK</span></b></a><br />Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras in Hong Kong<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“You are being watched.”</span> ~Person of Interest TV Series</blockquote><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">E</span><b>dward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee in Hawaii of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.</b><br /><br /><span style="color: black; display: inline; float: left; font-family: museo-1,museo-2,helvetica; font-size: 32px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.04em; line-height: 1em; margin: 30px 30px 30px -125px ! important; text-align: right; width: 295px;">“They are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them.”</span>"He learned just how all-consuming the NSA's surveillance activities were, claiming "they are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them".<br /><br />He described how he once viewed the internet as "the most important invention in all of human history". But he believed that the value of the internet, along with basic privacy, is being rapidly destroyed by ubiquitous surveillance. "I don't see myself as a hero," he said, "because what I'm doing is self-interested: I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity."<br /><br />Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA's surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. "What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to democracy", he said. <br /><br /><span style="color: black; display: inline; float: left; font-family: museo-1,museo-2,helvetica; font-size: 32px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.04em; line-height: 1em; margin: 30px 30px 30px -125px ! important; text-align: right; width: 295px;">“The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to.”</span>"The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to," he said.<br /><br />In response to officials downplaying the NSA’s targeting capability, “the NSA routinely lies in response to congressional inquiries about the scope of surveillance in America.”<br /><br />He has had "a very comfortable life" that included a salary of roughly $200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a stable career, and a family he loves. "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."<br /><br />Three weeks ago, Snowden made final preparations that resulted in last week's series of blockbuster news stories. At the NSA office in Hawaii where he was working, he copied the last set of documents he intended to disclose.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: large;">“The NSA specifically targets the communications of </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">everyone</span><span style="font-size: large;">. It ingests them by default. It collects them in its system and it filters them and analyzes them and it measures them and it stores them for a period of time.”</span></blockquote><br />He then advised his NSA supervisor that he needed to be away from work for "a couple of weeks" in order to receive treatment for epilepsy, a condition he learned he suffers from after a series of seizures last year.<br /><br />As he packed his bags, he told his girlfriend that he had to be away for a few weeks, though he said he was vague about the reason. "That is not an uncommon occurrence for someone who has spent the last decade working in the intelligence world."<br /><br />On May 20, he boarded a flight to Hong Kong, where he has remained ever since. He chose the city because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent", and because he believed that it was one of the few places in the world that both could and would resist the dictates of the US government.<br /><br />In the three weeks since he arrived, he has been ensconced in a room at a plush hotel.<br /><br />"All my options are bad," he said. The US could begin extradition proceedings against him, a potentially problematic, lengthy and unpredictable course for Washington. Or the Chinese government might whisk him away for questioning, viewing him as a useful source of information. Or he might end up being grabbed and bundled into a plane bound for US territory.<br /><br />He predicts the government will launch an investigation and "say I have broken the Espionage Act and helped our enemies, but that can be used against anyone who points out how massive and invasive the system has become".<br /><br />The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he said.<br /><br />Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. "I don't want public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing."<br /><br />He does not fear the consequences of going public, he said, only that doing so will distract attention from the issues raised by his disclosures. "I know the media likes to personalise political debates, and I know the government will demonise me."<br /><br />He views his best hope as the possibility of <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/06/09/icelandic-legislator-im-ready-to-help-nsa-whistleblower-seek-asylum/" target="_blank">asylum, with Iceland</a> – with its reputation of a champion of internet freedom – at the top of his list. He knows that may prove a wish unfulfilled.<br /><br />Read the entire story at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance" target="blank">The Guardian UK</a>.<br /></div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cOdKerzcpWo?rel=0" width="853"></iframe>

Edward Snowden | NSA PRISM Whistleblower

“The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communi...

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Edwin Ushiro

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YPw1RwjmyZQ?rel=0" width="853"></iframe><br /><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://thrashlab.com/profiles-edwin-ushiro-8722/" target="blank">Trash Lab</a></b></span> <br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span><b>riginally from Maui, <a href="http://www.mrushiro.com/" target="_blank">Edwin Ushiro</a> attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and works in the entertainment world as a Production Designer, Visual Consultant, Art Director, Storyboard Artist, and Concept Designer.</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpjtDtRsFGC8wM9zJBl4uUkohKvTHd1XdWvc0-NcvVt0qJyidHnjGR_qpqUVonQQPSS86jItfWys592lNCTCUf3_PmNzFmyc_79ESS-t_FAjyO_0TkTiUXBEMlaeXPhV-biSD1VtTnH-0/s1600/ushiro_2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="645" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpjtDtRsFGC8wM9zJBl4uUkohKvTHd1XdWvc0-NcvVt0qJyidHnjGR_qpqUVonQQPSS86jItfWys592lNCTCUf3_PmNzFmyc_79ESS-t_FAjyO_0TkTiUXBEMlaeXPhV-biSD1VtTnH-0/s1600/ushiro_2.jpg" width="853" /></a></div><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>The most famous haunted house on the north shore of Oahu once stood beside Kamehameha Highway, at the entrance to Waimea Falls Park. Visitors to this house described high pitched calls, which locals identified as the spirits of the house. The spirits called out through the walls, from under the floor and down from the ceiling, vibrating the entire frame of the wooden building. In the mid-'80s, the structure was scheduled to be demolished, and a curious archaeologist was given permission to make a quick survey. Over a few days, they uncovered an ancient structure under the foundation, which was believed to be a fish shrine. As the research team continued to work, they heard a faint “woooo” sound that seemed to be exhaling through the ground. Following that noise among the stones, the team located a small opening from which the eerie sound emanated. Evidently, an old lava tube ran underneath the house, down to the nearby ocean at Waimea Bay. So when the tide rose, the air in the tube was forced out through the opening, literally penetrating the earth and into the walls of the house, emitting that unearthly call of the dead.</blockquote></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwsrbWUO683reKAWg0fITZcVuz5kOSiBE6TpdNAIwbUxsQqW2Ykjz5nMWtncXGlt2S3y4OyzsWc2yYPXCDzSdvLj3D92svilGlKAV_JdicY_iYG_BxVHcjewwS0QdfPh4W3V2Q507r1E/s1600/ushiro_1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwsrbWUO683reKAWg0fITZcVuz5kOSiBE6TpdNAIwbUxsQqW2Ykjz5nMWtncXGlt2S3y4OyzsWc2yYPXCDzSdvLj3D92svilGlKAV_JdicY_iYG_BxVHcjewwS0QdfPh4W3V2Q507r1E/s1600/ushiro_1.jpg" width="853" /></a></div><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>Owned and operated by the Kahului Railroad Company, the stone crusher was a concrete and corrugated metal building near the western breakwater of Maui’s Kahului Harbor. The crusher was primarily used to maintain the breakwater, while the finer rock was used for road pavement. Decades ago, the building was torn down, leaving only skeletal remains which can be explored today as a remnant of Kahului’s industrial period.</blockquote></div>

Edwin Ushiro

Trash Lab O riginally from Maui, Edwin Ushiro attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and works in the entertain...

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Oliver Age 24 | Acapella Cover of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”

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Oliver Age 24 | Acapella Cover of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”

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