LinuxQuestions.org
Help answer threads with 0 replies.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Non-*NIX Forums > General
User Name
Password
General This forum is for non-technical general discussion which can include both Linux and non-Linux topics. Have fun!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 07-01-2013, 02:53 PM   #1
Nbiser
Member
 
Registered: Oct 2012
Location: Maryland
Distribution: Fedora, Slackware, Debian, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Helix,
Posts: 302
Blog Entries: 7

Rep: Reputation: 44
To the Linux Community: The Edward Snowden Case


Hello all,

I would just like to post a word of warning about the petition currently on the White House web site. Do not sign it! The wording of the petition itself should set off warning bells:
Quote:
Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs.
It should be obvious: he did not commit a crime, therefore he doesn't need a pardon. The proper petition would be one asking that all charges against him be dropped, not that he be pardoned from his current crime. Snowden was not the one who broke the law, the Government broke the laws. The U.S. constitution is the ultimate law in the land, all laws that do not agree with the U.S. Constitution are illegal. The government has been carrying out "unreasonable searches and seizures" on every thing carried over the internet, which is against the U.S. Constitution. The government, the entire government, are the guilty ones. They are the ones who need to be charged, impeached and arrested, not Snowden. Snowden, the whistle blower, was the one who was following the law, the government was the one breaking it.

Conclusion: Don't side the Pardon Snowden petition! He is not guilty, so he doesn't need pardoned.
 
Old 07-01-2013, 04:13 PM   #2
sundialsvcs
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Feb 2004
Location: SE Tennessee, USA
Distribution: Gentoo, LFS
Posts: 10,599
Blog Entries: 4

Rep: Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905Reputation: 3905
"Good luck with that."

If I were still seventeen years old, full of vim and vigor and still convinced that the world, perhaps with just a little bit of youthful convincing from people like me, really can work like I think it "should," then I might jump onto such a "petition."

Instead, when a college professor "quietly took me aside" and inquired "if I wanted to be a part of a project" that would have required me to join one of the 1.5 million(!) people who today have a "Top Secret clearance" ... I made a life-setting decision:

I said, "No, thanks."

Almost 40 years later, I still do not regret it.

First of all, I can't help but notice that, in exchange for having given the US Government carte blanche privilege to (that is to say, "officially" ) peer into every single aspect of their personal lives, the vast majority of those million people don't seem to be making significantly-more money than I do.

Second, "my conscience is clean." Yes, there have (unfortunately) been times when there were just 2¢ in my bank-account, but I have never had to appeal to Vladimir Putin for mercy when I "leaked" the content of a PowerPoint presentation that, I am quite sure, was seen by a hundred thousand people.

My good friend, if you learn nothing else in this life, learn this: War Is A Racket. Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler (1881-1940), who was the most-decorated Marine in his day, and who held every commissioned rank from the bottom to the very top, said this quite plainly. A generation later, five-star General (and President) Dwight D. Eisenhower coined the phrase, military-industrial complex. This is the cancerous, nation-eating monster that has paid for quite a few 20,000-square-foot "cottages" in, uhhh, Maryland.

In the USA, today, you can tap into literally Trillions of dollars of "Uncle Sugar's Money," merely by breathing the magic words, "nine wun-wun." On a vastly larger(!) scale, you can actually launch a full-scale invasion of another country ... and it will be an invasion that never ends(!) ... and you can do this for a dozen countries at a time, and you can build more than a thousand military bases worldwide (some of them are small cities), and win the Federal contracts to supply all of them.

Now, put on your thinking-cap for a split second here, and guess which one of the two alternatives is more likely:
  • { President Obama | Your Senator | Your Congressman } truly has no idea about any of this, and would be aghast to have discovered it, and therefore will move swiftly to Do The Right Thing. or ...
  • { the aforementioned ... } "merely await the obligatory 10% 'Legislative Fee'" to arrive in the Grand Caymans.

(Close your eyes. The US National Debt is tens of Trillions, and most of that money was spent on ... this. What is 10% of (just...) 10 Trillion Dollars?)

"Son|Daughter, how much money do you make in a year? Uh, huh. That's nice. I make that amount of money in twenty-three seconds ... and Nobody Knows. Get it?"

"And-d-d the way that I make "all that money" is ... this.

"So, what are you asking me to do, you miserable plebeian? Get out of my face. Go... go eat some cake. And, if you are about to die, then you'd best better do it, and thus do your part to decrease the Surplus Population..."

Last edited by sundialsvcs; 07-01-2013 at 04:29 PM.
 
Old 07-01-2013, 06:28 PM   #3
Nbiser
Member
 
Registered: Oct 2012
Location: Maryland
Distribution: Fedora, Slackware, Debian, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Helix,
Posts: 302

Original Poster
Blog Entries: 7

Rep: Reputation: 44
Quote:
Originally Posted by sundialsvcs View Post
"Good luck with that."

If I were still seventeen years old, full of vim and vigor and still convinced that the world, perhaps with just a little bit of youthful convincing from people like me, really can work like I think it "should," then I might jump onto such a "petition."

Instead, when a college professor "quietly took me aside" and inquired "if I wanted to be a part of a project" that would have required me to join one of the 1.5 million(!) people who today have a "Top Secret clearance" ... I made a life-setting decision:

I said, "No, thanks."

Almost 40 years later, I still do not regret it.

First of all, I can't help but notice that, in exchange for having given the US Government carte blanche privilege to (that is to say, "officially" ) peer into every single aspect of their personal lives, the vast majority of those million people don't seem to be making significantly-more money than I do.

Second, "my conscience is clean." Yes, there have (unfortunately) been times when there were just 2¢ in my bank-account, but I have never had to appeal to Vladimir Putin for mercy when I "leaked" the content of a PowerPoint presentation that, I am quite sure, was seen by a hundred thousand people.

My good friend, if you learn nothing else in this life, learn this: War Is A Racket. Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler (1881-1940), who was the most-decorated Marine in his day, and who held every commissioned rank from the bottom to the very top, said this quite plainly. A generation later, five-star General (and President) Dwight D. Eisenhower coined the phrase, military-industrial complex. This is the cancerous, nation-eating monster that has paid for quite a few 20,000-square-foot "cottages" in, uhhh, Maryland.

In the USA, today, you can tap into literally Trillions of dollars of "Uncle Sugar's Money," merely by breathing the magic words, "nine wun-wun." On a vastly larger(!) scale, you can actually launch a full-scale invasion of another country ... and it will be an invasion that never ends(!) ... and you can do this for a dozen countries at a time, and you can build more than a thousand military bases worldwide (some of them are small cities), and win the Federal contracts to supply all of them.

Now, put on your thinking-cap for a split second here, and guess which one of the two alternatives is more likely:
  • { President Obama | Your Senator | Your Congressman } truly has no idea about any of this, and would be aghast to have discovered it, and therefore will move swiftly to Do The Right Thing. or ...
  • { the aforementioned ... } "merely await the obligatory 10% 'Legislative Fee'" to arrive in the Grand Caymans.

(Close your eyes. The US National Debt is tens of Trillions, and most of that money was spent on ... this. What is 10% of (just...) 10 Trillion Dollars?)

"Son|Daughter, how much money do you make in a year? Uh, huh. That's nice. I make that amount of money in twenty-three seconds ... and Nobody Knows. Get it?"

"And-d-d the way that I make "all that money" is ... this.

"So, what are you asking me to do, you miserable plebeian? Get out of my face. Go... go eat some cake. And, if you are about to die, then you'd best better do it, and thus do your part to decrease the Surplus Population..."
I wasn't saying that we should start a new petition. I was just saying that the current petition is no good and explaining why.
 
Old 07-01-2013, 06:56 PM   #4
Z038
Member
 
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Dallas
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 910

Rep: Reputation: 174Reputation: 174
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nbiser;4981909
I would just like to post a word of warning about the petition currently on the White House web site. Do not sign it! The wording of the petition itself should set off warning bells: It should be obvious: he did not commit a crime, therefore he doesn't need a pardon. The proper petition would be one asking that all charges against him be dropped, not that he be pardoned from his current crime. [U
Snowden was not the one who broke the law, the Government broke the laws.[/U] The U.S. constitution is the ultimate law in the land, all laws that do not agree with the U.S. Constitution are illegal. The government has been carrying out "unreasonable searches and seizures" on every thing carried over the internet, which is against the U.S. Constitution. The government, the entire government, are the guilty ones. They are the ones who need to be charged, impeached and arrested, not Snowden. Snowden, the whistle blower, was the one who was following the law, the government was the one breaking it.

Conclusion: Don't side the Pardon Snowden petition! He is not guilty, so he doesn't need pardoned.
I agree with you, but perhaps I go a bit further than you by asserting that the constitution itself has no authority, and neither the government established by it any legitimacy.

Quote:
Our constitutions purport to be established by 'the people,' and, in theory, 'all the people' consent to such government as the constitutions authorize. But this consent of 'the people' exists only in theory. It has no existence in fact. Government is in reality established by the few; and these few assume the consent of all the rest, without any such consent being actually given. -- Lysander Spooner
Quote:
The ostensible supporters of the Constitution, like the ostensible supporters of most other governments, are made up of three classes, viz.: 1. Knaves, a numerous and active class, who see in the government an instrument which they can use for their own aggrandizement or wealth. 2. Dupes—a large class, no doubt—each of whom, because he is allowed one voice out of millions in deciding what he may do with his own person and his own property, and because he is permitted to have the same voice in robbing, enslaving, and murdering others, that others have in robbing, enslaving, and murdering himself, is stupid enough to imagine that he is a “free man,” a “sovereign”; that this is “a free government”; “a government of equal rights,” “the best government on earth,” and such like absurdities. 3. A class who have some appreciation of the evils of government, but either do not see how to get rid of them, or do not choose to so far sacrifice their private interests as to give themselves seriously and earnestly to the work of making a change. -- Lysander Spooner

Last edited by Z038; 07-01-2013 at 06:57 PM.
 
Old 07-01-2013, 07:28 PM   #5
jefro
Moderator
 
Registered: Mar 2008
Posts: 21,921

Rep: Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618Reputation: 3618
Every search engine, every web page (almost), every credit card company, every tv channel, and so on has been collecting data on me to sell me stuff and take advantage of me.

Thousands of crooks world wide have been attacking my computers, credit and bank accounts and such in order to rob me.

So when the NSA tries to prevent some nut from blowing me up, you guys are mad?? None of you guys ended up in any trouble out of this. None of you lost data because of this.

Edward Snowden is a coward, crook and can't keep a promise to his country and it's citizens. He did nothing to save the lives of innocent people from death.

A guy with a stripper girlfriend ought to give you a clue to what his is.

Last edited by jefro; 07-01-2013 at 07:29 PM.
 
Old 07-01-2013, 07:42 PM   #6
k3lt01
Senior Member
 
Registered: Feb 2011
Location: Australia
Distribution: Debian Wheezy, Jessie, Sid/Experimental, playing with LFS.
Posts: 2,900

Rep: Reputation: 637Reputation: 637Reputation: 637Reputation: 637Reputation: 637Reputation: 637
Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
Every search engine, every web page (almost), every credit card company, every tv channel, and so on has been collecting data on me to sell me stuff and take advantage of me.

Thousands of crooks world wide have been attacking my computers, credit and bank accounts and such in order to rob me.
True.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
So when the NSA tries to prevent some nut from blowing me up, you guys are mad?? None of you guys ended up in any trouble out of this. None of you lost data because of this.
Doesn't make much sense does it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
Edward Snowden is a coward, crook and can't keep a promise to his country and it's citizens. He did nothing to save the lives of innocent people from death.
Actually he is extremely brave, he has taken on a government and I for one admire him for doing so. He may not have saved any Americans, but I dare say he has saved, in the future, lives of non-Americans,

Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
A guy with a stripper girlfriend ought to give you a clue to what his is.
What does his personal preferences have to do with this? Next you'll be saying to be LGBT is a bad thing.
 
Old 07-01-2013, 07:51 PM   #7
TobiSGD
Moderator
 
Registered: Dec 2009
Location: Germany
Distribution: Whatever fits the task best
Posts: 17,148
Blog Entries: 2

Rep: Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886Reputation: 4886
Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
So when the NSA tries to prevent some nut from blowing me up, you guys are mad??
I would like to see actual data on this. How many terrorist attacks have been prevented, actually? Not an estimate, real data, facts, together with names and which sentences the alleged terrorists have got for their crimes. Also, do the EU politicians that were bugged by the NSA count as possible terrorists, too?

Quote:
None of you guys ended up in any trouble out of this. None of you lost data because of this.
How do you know? Does the NSA call you every time someone gets in trouble because of this?

Quote:
Edward Snowden is a coward, crook and can't keep a promise to his country and it's citizens.
Indeed, he has done something very few Americans do nowadays, as long as the second amendment isn't involved: He reported a blatant violation of the US constitution to the press, a violation of the very basis of your country. And he gets treated like a criminal for pointing out other criminals and is called a coward and crook for that? That seems to me somewhat weird: Those people that break the basic rules of your country are the heroes, those that point that out are the criminals?

Quote:
A guy with a stripper girlfriend ought to give you a clue to what his is.
I can't see what the profession of his girlfriend has to do with that at all. Would you have a different opinion of him if his girlfriend would be a singer in the opera? Or is this just a projection like: She is a stripper, in my world view strippers are evil, so since she is his girlfriend he must be evil, too?
 
Old 07-01-2013, 08:27 PM   #8
Ser Olmy
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jan 2012
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 3,333

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
Edward Snowden is a coward, crook and can't keep a promise to his country and it's citizens.
Really? I thought he took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and furthermore I thought this oath is supposed to take precedence over any others, like "you must keep quiet about the illegal wiretapping we're doing here".

It seems to me he kept the oath that matters. Am I wrong?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
He did nothing to save the lives of innocent people from death.
Yes, it's a good thing we keep everybody under surveillance at all times, otherwise somebody might have been able to carry out an attack on, say, the Boston Marathon. Oh, wait...

My opinion: The only cowards are those who shiver at the mere mention of the word "terrorism", and are willing to give up all freedoms and all privacy for a false sense of security.
 
Old 07-02-2013, 01:52 AM   #9
H_TeXMeX_H
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Oct 2005
Location: $RANDOM
Distribution: slackware64
Posts: 12,928
Blog Entries: 2

Rep: Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301
I hope he is caught an executed as a traitor, but he won't be because he's still an agent on a mission.
 
Old 07-02-2013, 07:29 AM   #10
brianL
LQ 5k Club
 
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Oldham, Lancs, England
Distribution: Slackware64 15; Slackware64-current (VM); Debian 12 (VM)
Posts: 8,272
Blog Entries: 61

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Yeah, bring back hanging, drawing, and quartering. And make it public, and on TV. Anybody with a stripper for a girlfriend deserves no less.
 
Old 07-02-2013, 07:53 AM   #11
H_TeXMeX_H
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Oct 2005
Location: $RANDOM
Distribution: slackware64
Posts: 12,928
Blog Entries: 2

Rep: Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301
I vote for either Guillotine or firing squad on this one.
 
Old 07-02-2013, 08:01 AM   #12
brianL
LQ 5k Club
 
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Oldham, Lancs, England
Distribution: Slackware64 15; Slackware64-current (VM); Debian 12 (VM)
Posts: 8,272
Blog Entries: 61

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Quote:
Originally Posted by H_TeXMeX_H View Post
I vote for either Guillotine or firing squad on this one.
Nah, too quick and not messy enough.
 
Old 07-02-2013, 08:34 AM   #13
gnashley
Amigo developer
 
Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Germany
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 4,928

Rep: Reputation: 612Reputation: 612Reputation: 612Reputation: 612Reputation: 612Reputation: 612
Did you mean 'frying squad' ??
 
Old 07-02-2013, 08:48 AM   #14
brianL
LQ 5k Club
 
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Oldham, Lancs, England
Distribution: Slackware64 15; Slackware64-current (VM); Debian 12 (VM)
Posts: 8,272
Blog Entries: 61

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Yeah, put him in the barbeque queue.
 
Old 07-02-2013, 09:13 AM   #15
rokytnji
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: Mar 2008
Location: Waaaaay out West Texas
Distribution: antiX 23, MX 23
Posts: 7,048
Blog Entries: 21

Rep: Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470Reputation: 3470
@jefro Are you a Texan? If not. You'd make a good one.

I am more concerned about Manning living his life as a free man than Snowden right now. Just because he/Manning was a soldier does not mean he had to act like a Nazi (I was just following orders). Or as SGT.Shultz woulda said in Hogans Heroes. "I know nutting"!
I admire him greatly.

Last edited by rokytnji; 07-02-2013 at 10:33 AM.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
LXer: Snowden spy row grows as US is accused of hacking China LXer Syndicated Linux News 0 06-23-2013 06:12 PM
Edward HE, a newbie to LQ, want to say hello to everyon here :) Edward HE LinuxQuestions.org Member Intro 2 04-02-2009 10:02 PM
LXer: Vancouver Joomla!Day provides case study in community-building techniques LXer Syndicated Linux News 0 06-17-2008 03:30 AM
Copying files from case-sensitive Linux to case-insensitive Windows via CIFS? SlowCoder Linux - General 4 05-07-2008 07:03 PM
LXer: Software patent case defendant seeks support of FOSS community LXer Syndicated Linux News 0 01-29-2008 02:40 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Non-*NIX Forums > General

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:23 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration