mpohl

So, Holder's comforting assurance that Snowden would not be executed or tortured failed to work its magic?

So that you and I can live free? What did MLK do? Nelson Mandela? Dietrich Bonhofer? Ultimately the world will despise Bush and Obama. And ultimately we will free Manning!

So, when will the torturers of Pvt. Manning be put to trial? And the real war criminals: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld. And yes, Colin Powell. Who lied into the face of the UN. That’s what the prosecutors were trying to do, I am sure hind sight yes every one NOW is sure that wouldn’t have happened. If you asked me 10 years ago if we would ever kill American citizens without a trail, detain Americans without their rights I would have said no way, but now we know. Good to have something go the right way at least a bit. Wish the kid was free, but glad for all of us that charge didn't stick.

Well, let me chime in here. The United States, the SELF-PROCLAIMED beacon of democracy, all the world should revel in. No more... I can't believe I voted twice for Obama. He is worse than Bush. With Bush, we had hope that things could change. With Obama, now all hope has been lost... Sad, isn't it. Utterly. Beyond shameful. Well, in all fairness, Snowden claimed that he would face torture and/or the death penalty if he was returned to the US. It was part of his request for asylum. This letter was, in part, to rebut that claim. I do agree, however, that it's pretty pathetic that the US has to give assurances that he wouldn't face torture. Even more pathetic that the assurances are being given to - let's call it what it is - the Soviets by merely a different brand-name - the very same Russians that kill dissidents abroad with polonium and imprison Pussy Riot musicians for dangerous sedition. "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

I rest my case. With people like you, the US will make out like a wiener. P.S.: You wouldn't know the difference between a "wiener" and a "winner", anyways. Same thing.

You know that anything you say, post, communicate--be it via e-mail, Internet, phone, or any other means of electronic transmission--can and will be used against you. P.S.: I am not sure I even want to know the facts that Edward is holding back for now, supposedly as a form of "life insurance." Reminds me of the Matrix: "You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."

FOOD FOR THOUGHT. From NYT. WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a letter sent to the Russian minister of justice this week that the United States would not seek the death penalty against Edward J. Snowden, and would issue him a passport immediately so he could travel back to the United States. The letter also offered reassurances that the United States would not torture Mr. Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who faces criminal charges of disclosing classified information and has been hiding in an airport in Moscow in order to evade the American authorities. [...] Here are a few comments, spot on. "The very fact that the US government is making such a promise ("We solemnly swear we will not torture or kill Edward Snowden if you turn him over to us.")--and to Russia, yet!-- with its implicit admissions of Abu Graib, Guantanamo and the dronings of US citizens abroad, is a measure of how far the nation has fallen in the world's estimation." +++++++++++++++ "I hope all of my fellow New York Times readers and commentators who are older than thirty or so will take a moment to pause and contemplate the headline of this article and what it means for America that the United States is assuring Russia that we "won't torture or kill" a government whistleblower. Do you all remember a time not so long ago when a statement like this would have seemed surreal, improbable? Whether we accept that Snowden's leaking (of what many, but by no means all, believe to be illegal behavior by the executive branch) was the correct thing to do, or not, just focus for a minute on the fact that our officials are assuring the Russians that the government will not be torturing or killing Snowden. The rule of law in this country is in truly deep trouble. The irony is that for me at least, it is this 'constitutional lawyer president,' Obama, who has brought it even lower than the Rumsfeld-Cheney administration. The depressing thing is that I don't even believe them; I suspect that Snowden might well in fact be tortured and mistreated if he were returned to the US." +++++++++++ "I think the thing that frosts me the most about the Snowden case is how the U.S. government is openly and shamelessly pursuing him when his "crime" was exposing the completely illegal and unconstitutional activities of the U.S. government. The government has become so emboldened that they don't feel the need to handle this in a more discreet way and in fact they want what happens to Edward to be a Lesson to All of Us. We the People have just been peed on. The flagrancy with which they are attempting to make a political prisoner out of Snowden is truly quite alarming."

What does Peenemuende have to do with drone warfare? And yes, my father worked on the V2. Go back to your cave, old man. ***Spying on citizens is as monstrous and unlawful . . . as drone warfare. Think he has ever heard of Peenemunde? JerryBaumchen

+++1111. What goes on in the Bed Room is not of any relevance to a public office. Unless it is in the fucked up United States...or the Vatican. By American standards, basically all office holders in the EU (Heads of State, Secretaries, etc.) across all 28 nations wouldn't qualify. Because they are either (i) female, (ii) homosexual, (iii) black or any other skin color than white, (iv) Muslim, (v) quadriplegic, or (vi) born in a foreign country. Or they might be male, and have divorced and re-married. As many as four times. OH GOD!!! The US is so screwed...

He was/is a good man. And if you have ever visited Plains, GA, you'd agree.

Have "we"? I haven't!

I don't buy into conspiracies, etc. But I think you are not too far off. Organizations eventually become self-servant, and preoccupied with their on survival, at all costs.

The War on Terror Is America's Mania A Commentary By Klaus Brinkbäumer The NSA spying scandal shows that America's pursuit of terrorists has turned into a mania. Spying on citizens is as monstrous and unlawful as Guantanamo Bay and drone warfare. America is sick. September 11 left it wounded and unsettled -- that's been obvious for nearly 12 years -- but we are only now finding out just how grave the illness really is. The actions of the NSA exposed more than just the telephone conversations and digital lives of many millions of people. The global spying scandal shows that the US has become manic, that it is behaving pathologically, invasively. Its actions are entirely out of proportion to the danger. Since 2005, an average of 23 Americans per year have been killed through terrorism, mostly outside of the US. "More Americans die of falling televisions and other appliances than from terrorism," writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, and "15 times as many die by falling off ladders." The US has spent $8 trillion on the military and homeland security since 2001. America has other threats. The true short-term danger is homegrown: More than 30,000 Americans are killed by firearms every year. An American child is 13 times more likely to be shot than a child in another industrialized country. When it comes to combating the problem, President Barack Obama and Congress are doing very little -- or, to be fair, nothing at all. They talk about it every now and then, after every killing spree. The gun lobby, incurably ill, counters that the weapons are necessary for self-defense. And when it comes to real long-term dangers, such as climate change, America, its prime perpetrator, does nothing -- or, to be fair, too little too late. As Monstrous as Guantanamo All of this is not to say that terrorism doesn't exist: 9/11 happened, and al Qaida is real. But spying on citizens and embassies, on businesses and allies, violates international law. It is as monstrous and as unlawful as Guantanamo Bay, where for 11 and a half years, men have been detained and force-fed, often without evidence against them, many of whom are still there to this day. It is as unlawful as the drones that are killing people, launched with a mere signature from Obama. There has been virtually no political discussion about all of this. Attacks have been prevented through the spying program -- Obama says it, German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it, and we have to believe them. Voters and citizens are akin to children, whose parents -- the government -- know what is best for them. But does the free America that should be defended even still exist, or has it abolished itself through its own defense? An American government that gives its blessing to a program like Prism respects nothing and no one. It acts out its omnipotence, considers itself above international law -- certainly on its own territory and even on foreign ground. The fact that it's Obama behaving in such a way is bleak. If this were happening during the administration of George W. Bush, we could at least think, "It's just Bush. He's predictable. There is a better America." Now we know: There is only one America. Did Obama, the Harvard Law student, even believe what he was saying in his speeches about the return of civil liberties? Can someone be so cynical that they promise to heal the world, then act in such a way all the while giving the xenophobic explanation that only foreigners would be monitored? Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela are Obama's role models. What would they say?

Next, I'd like to see tort-reform. So we can cut off the lawrockets. Make them stand on their own two feet, instead. Earn a living every day...

Forget about it... That's way too advanced an argument.

You are just a chimp! Care for a banana? Because he annoys me???

What's the HIGH stress part of it? Got any specifics???? P.S.: Bet the only stressful part is to survive another year, to rack up more benefits and pensions.

Nothing more needs to be said! These days, I certainly have more respect for Russia, China, and numerous other Latin American countries than I have for the "democratic" US and its European allies. And I hold passports to both the US and Europe! P.S.: It used to be that countries spy on each other. But now countries spying on each individual? "Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone's communications at any time. That is the power to change people's fates. It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice - that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law. I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring." Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice. That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets. Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement - the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president's plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum. Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders. I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela's President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights. This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably. If you have any questions, I will answer what I can. Thank you."

If the two-year old victim also had had a rifle, this would not have happened! Hence, we need to make sure that all our toddlers are fully armed so that they can protect themselves and their right to bear arms.

Roger that.

Not sure what all the commotion is about. Simple, as that: "You can't afford a *decent* coverage of health insurance, you can't jump!" P.S.: Get catastrophic coverage, if you can afford a $5k or $10k out-of-pocket. Get better protection, at a higher premium, if you can't. And if you can't afford either: DON'T JUMP!

Let's set the record straight, shall we. You didn't decide to switch careers, giving up your six-figure ME job for $30 or 40k in teacher salary. That decision was not yours! Fact is that there is an oversupply of STEM graduates (and that includes Engineering). What the world does not need, contrary to all published news, is another science, engineering, technology grad. Am I being close?

That's a vapid argument. Did you know that you are REQUIRED to have car insurance? *You* think that's reasonable? I do!! Health coverage is just the same; you never know what is going to hit you and when! And unfortunately, I also have to have Uninsured Drivers Coverage in this pathetic state of ours. Just so I can get re-imbursed when some cheap-ass redneck, high on meth, slams into me.

Of course, I am utterly devastated that you could agree w/ anything I write. On second thought, I suggested handing over the proceeds to a bankruptcy lawyer. No wonder we are on the same page. :)

I don't know the guy personally, but Velo 84 @1,100 is a commitment. Unless, and as previously stated, he weighs in at 50 lbs. Also, at 300 base jumps, I think he would be a well-known entity in the base community. Never came across his name though. Sorry, medical bankruptcy still appears the best use of donation $$. For even if you collect $5k, he'll use that up (and more) for just one day in the hospital.