Whistleblowers Are Patriots

Patriots, if they can, expose government wrongdoing.  The hypocrisy of those in the upper levels of our Outlaw Fed Gov't is beyond the pale.  If China, or Israel, or Russia, or any other country spies on us, the Feds go bananas; but when our Gov't spies on our own allies, oh, there's nothing wrong with that.  The National Security State trumps any concept of Right and Wrong...and the Natural Rights that all humans possess.

In case you haven't heard, and as reported in Der Spiegel, the NSA has an elite computer hacking unit that has been remotely installing spyware and malware on computers using the Windows Operating System.  Not only that, it has been intercepting the delivery of new computers ordered online, installing spyware, and then sending the machines on their way.  This illegal process also includes cell phones.  The existence of the hacking unit, Tailored Access Operations (TAO), was revealed in documents sent by Edward Snowden to Der Spiegel.

Judge Pauley, who contradicted another Fed Judge who said the NSA's phone records collection was "almost Orwellian", in a very real sense claims that if the NSA does it to everyone, then that's constitutional.  Please, is he serious?!  Judges have been throwing out court cases because the individuals bringing suit don't know for certain if their records are being collected...they have no "standing".  It's clear to me that the Judicial System, in a very large part, is not independent of the Political System.  That's called corruption.  Read the Fourth Amendment; what the NSA is doing is blatantly unconstitutional.  Unfortunately, we can't even rely on the Supreme Court to be totally independent...remember the Kelo v. City of New London case?  The City seized private property using Eminent Domain and sold it to PRIVATE developers, claiming that the taxes to be generated qualified as "public use" of the property.  If that's true, then anyone's property can be seized under the guise of Eminent Domain, and the seizure doesn't have to be for a public road or public building, etc.  Where is the common sense in that?  The same is true for Judge Pauley's opinion that as long as the NSA does it to everyone, that's constitutional.  Have mercy.

If you look at History, you'll see that the Govt's response to Whistleblowers is to smear and criminalize them.  The U.K. is as bad as the U.S.A. in that regard.  Ask Glenn Greenwald, who now lives in Brazil.  He's wary of returning to England because he's being investigated for "terrorism".  Terrorism is the great catch-all now for governments.  Constitutions can be ignored, Natural Rights can be ignored, due process can be ignored...just label the person a potential terrorist.  In this country, because of the NDAA, such a person can be executed without a trial (according to an article in Forbes, & many other sources).  When he signed that bill into law, Obama said, "I would never do that.", or something to that effect.  Well, guess what?  I'm not reassured.  History shows us that no politician, present or future, is to be trusted.

Just my opinion.