These are certain things that you will not easily find in U.S. media like Jimmy Carter declaring that we no longer have a functioning democracy in this country. Another is reading about Snowden as a whistleblower. The White House has been highly successful in telling media not to refer to Snowden as a whistleblower and enlisting various media allies to attack him as a clown and a traitor or mocking his fear of returning home. This week you had to read Moscow Times or other foreign sites (or a link on Reddit) to learn that Snowden has won this year’s Whistleblower Award established by German human rights organizations.
The award handed down by the Association of German Scientists (VDW) and the German branch of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) comes with a small financial reward that will be given to Snowden’s legal representatives. Such awards will bolster his claim for asylum.
While there is no evidence thus far of any motivation by Snowden except his desire to reveal an unconstitutional program, the media has largely complied with a demand of the White House that he not be called a whistleblower as Obama officials and members of Congress denounce him. The problem is that many Americans and foreigners view him as a whistleblower and some as a hero. Likewise, the effort to get Americans to embrace a new surveillance-friendly model of privacy has largely failed though most average Americans feel helpless in a system with a locked monopoly of power by two parties.
As I have noted before, it brings to mind the successful effort to convince media to call waterboarding “enhanced interrogation” in the media rather than “torture” as it has long been defined by courts. Snowden is a whistleblower in my mind. It is true that the Administration can argue that these programs were lawful to the Supreme Court’s precedent stripping pen registers of full constitutional protection in Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735 (1979). Many of us disagree with that ruling, but this is a new application of the precedent. While the government has long sought the information for individuals, the Administration is essentially issuing a national security letter against the entire population. Moreover, it does appear that violations have occurred in these programs.
Putting aside the legality issue, whistleblowers are defined more probably by public interest organizations. For example, The Government Accountability Project, a leading nonprofit handling whistleblowers, defines the term as “an employee who discloses information that s/he reasonably believes is evidence of illegality, gross waste or fraud, mismanagement, abuse of power, general wrongdoing, or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. Typically, whistleblowers speak out to parties that can influence and rectify the situation. These parties include the media, organizational managers, hotlines, or Congressional members/staff, to name a few.”
Snowden clearly fits that more common definition of whistleblower, even if the government contests the application of statutory protections. Many can legitimately question Snowden’s chosen means for objecting to this program. However, the hostile and dismissive treatment by the establishment reflects an obvious fear of the implications of this scandal. We saw the same full court press in defining Julien Assange in a way that avoids calling him a journalist or a whistleblower. He is just an Assange. Well Snowden is just a Snowden in the view of U.S. media . . . until he can be called a prisoner.
Congress members (not to include the “intelligence” committee) have said they did not know what the NSA was doing. Their briefing consisted of 8 lines “explaining” the program. IMO, these members of Congress were remiss in their duty to our Constitution and our nation, nevertheless they did not know this information until Snowden leaked it.
Further, each court case brought against the administration to release the information was blocked. So the American public had little way of knowing this information when the ways to know about it were shut down by the executive.
We also see clearly that this is an administration who is going after people who expose wrongdoing and even people who report about it. In this climate I can see no other accurate description of Snowden than, whistleblower.
Below are two things I do not believe would have been possible without Snowden’s release of information, that we the people have ever right to know:
“Debate was due to begin on Wednesday afternoon on an amendment tabled by congressman Justin Amash, a two-term libertarian Republican from Michigan, that would prevent the NSA from collecting bulk phone records on millions of Americans.
The vote on the amendment provides the first test of congressional opinion about the widespread NSA surveillance revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden and reported in the Guardian.
“This is the moment,” said Michelle Richardson, a surveillance lobbyist for the ACLU.
Even if Amash’s push to limit the NSA program fails, civil libertarian groups are preparing for a long battle, fueled by the belief that public opinion is finally tipping their way. On Thursday, a court in New York was due to hear preliminary legal arguments on a case brought by the ACLU that challenges the constitutionality of the NSA’s mass collection of phone records.
It is the first court challenge since the Snowden revelations, and the ACLU believes it has a strong case because of the publication by the Guardian of a secret court order authorising the bulk collection of Verizon records, and because it is a Verizon customer.” (guardian)
I am conflicted about Snowden. Here is a guy who reportedly deliberately sought out a defense contractor to do what he did. So while he might perform some “whistleblowing” that can be appreciated, I think the intended criminality (mens rea) makes him less of a whistleblower and more of a criminal.
I think some of civil libertarians on both sides of the political aisle are blinded by their own grandiose idealism. And while I do think that government secrecy and surveillance has run amok, that doesn’t mean any old joe blow Edward Snowden has the right to put people in danger by stealing massive amounts of top secret information and then making freely available for the world to see.
“They came for the Communists, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a Communist;
They came for the Socialists, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a Socialist;
They came for the labor leaders, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a labor leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a Jew;
Then they came for me – And there was no one left to object.”
[Martin Niemoller, German Protestant Pastor, 1892-1984]
——-
These spyings are not new…and beyond the spying, how many communications get deliberately messed with? We are going collectively off grid as land lines are replaced by Corporately owned wireless and satellite servers…. the repercussions are chilling if we are governed by the sorts who are easily bought and/or haven’t the tater tots to stand up to big greedies.
Mike S.,
One can a week is the discipline but my concern for ap’s continued good health is such that once reassured, I turn to a poor health celebration.
F*cked up reasoning? Certainly.
“Sometimes it is too hard to follow the money, but it is much easier to follow the immunity.”
They usually go hand in hand, Dredd.
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/daniel_ellsberg_edward_snowden_is_a_patriot_partner/
Daniel Ellsberg: Edward Snowden is a patriot
The man behind the Pentagon Papers talks NSA, Bradley Manning and whistle-blowers’ importance in a new interview
By Brad Friedman
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/daniel-ellsberg-nsa-leaker-snowden-made-the-right-call/2013/07/07/0b46d96c-e5b7-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html
Snowden made the right call when he fled the U.S.
By Daniel Ellsberg,
Daniel Ellsberg is the author of “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.” He was charged in 1971 under the Espionage Act as well as for theft and conspiracy for copying the Pentagon Papers. The trial was dismissed in 1973 after evidence of government misconduct, including illegal wiretapping, was introduced in court.
rafflaw 1, July 24, 2013 at 11:14 am
There is a lot of money involved in the private contractors involved in the pervasive spying on Americans. Follow the money…
==========================
The NSA is not private, it is military.
They hire contractors as a cover up or diversion so the public does not know that the military is spying on them.
Sometimes it is too hard to follow the money, but it is much easier to follow the immunity.
Snowden is extolled by whistleblowers such as Ellsberg as the number one whistleblower.
The queens of Stalingrad, Bullshitistan don’t see it that way.
Mike,
I’ve said it before: Rules without enforcement are suggestions.
There is a lot of money involved in the private contractors involved in the pervasive spying on Americans. Follow the money to the source and keep blowing the whistle on who is profiting and why private corporations are allowed access to this information and why spying on my phone calls helps keep America safe? We need to be kept safe from ourselves. Where is Pogo when you need him?
Correct Mike S.
If you wish to see a further example of what you express as well as what I have stated, I would suggest to any Democrat here to look deeply into the likes of Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
A truly repulsive piece of corporate fascist hiding under the guise of Democrat and Women and Gay rights. She is a tyrannical crook. Pure and simple. She will use partisan issues to rally the troops behind her while she continues to erode our rights to make her corporate backers wealthier. She is the definition of corruption. She is a Democratic version of ALEC.
“I would suggest to any Democrat here to look deeply into the likes of Debbie Wasserman Schultz.”
G. Mason,
I couldn’t agree with you more about Debbie, she is a nasty piece of work. I’m a Floridian from south Florida by the way so we get more news of her down there.
Bruce I would not argue against that.
However in the interest of fairness, I would suggest the prior few administrations are “nothing but a bunch of crooks”
The primary politicians in both parties are hypocrites, liars and thieves. I trust none of them.
For too long the people of this nation have supported and backed the politicians in their party because, well, ” the other party are evil bad guys etc etc”. It is foolish behavior.
Partisan politics have allowed for nefarious interests to seize control of both major parties under the guise of fighting the ‘big bad other party’.
I am a Liberal who finds most of the politicians in the democratic party to be absolutely repulsive. I refuse to engage any longer in the game of hypocrisy and deception. People like Obama or Feinstein to be vile, evil hypocrites and crooks who lie and manipulate through bogus partisan or political issues to keep us from throwing them out collectively. They use party politics to shield themselves from being revealed as the vermin they are.
If there were true justice, both would be standing trial for treason against the Constitution. Along with Bush, Cheney, Graham and so on and so forth.
How can we ever hope to clean out the corruption from within the system if we all refuse to hold our own parties accountable for their hypocrisy and crimes? As soon as any of them begin to feel heat from their own party they rally the troops behind them with cries of “abortion, gays, religion, guns”.
We have become an easily fooled nation of emotionally charged ‘sheep’.
For example, above I noted as how as a Democrat I find Feinstein to be a repulsive vile criminal. Now I am quite sure until that point that I had the agreement of many people reading this. However as soon as I said that I can assure you that somewhere one reader immediately thought” NO she is a good person fighting to good fight!”.
No she is a crook who has no respect for the Bill of Rights and only seeks to secure and guard her power and money.
We witness those who shout and carry the Civil Rights flag while ignoring the chains of slavery being slipped around all of our necks.
When we look within at our own party, we choose to see only what we wish to see, not what is reality.
We go to the polls and pull levers for Democrat or Republican and walk away feeling good that we are fighting the power when in fact we are only enabling it further.
New York City is a microcosm of our future. It is not very pretty. It is a fascist corporate led totalitarian government of tyranny. It is just getting started too.
Bloomberg has been one of the most dangerous and horrible politicians to ever emerge within this nation. He is however, the template of all future politicians. That is truly frightening.
I no longer love or respect what this nation has become. I fear my own country.
ap,
Thank God … you’re back. I was deeply worried … and am now going to pour myself an unscheduled can of coke as I quietly celebrate!
“ap,
Thank God … you’re back. I was deeply worried … and am now going to pour myself an unscheduled can of coke as I quietly celebrate!”
Blouise, Please, drink in moderation.
Anyway it is good to see your comments again AP.
We have a wonderful, yet in some ways flawed Constitution. Many other countries have had similar documents. The problem though is that documents alone do not ensure freedom. In any society of humans there are those who glorify power and will do anything to achieve it. The Constitution is only as good as the people who are sworn to uphold it. We have seen in this country a corporate oligarchy that usurps unto itself more and more power by buying our politicians and our political system. The power of our Constitution to protect us has been diminished and those who are to uphold it are in fact aiding in this decline. Our “Press” which was given freedom in our Constitution has lost that freedom through corporate control and serves more as a source of corporate propaganda. Our public school system which was relied on to teach people their rights and duties as citizens, has been under attack for many years by corporate interests, dumbing down our people. In this context for his effort I must commend Edward Snowden as not only a whistle-blower, but also for having performed a heroic feat. I wish him well.
I guess it depends on who your blowing the whistle on. This administration is nothing but a bunch of crooks
Also this should be a front page story here in my honest opinion.
Further evidence that the people of this country must truly put ‘Revolution’ on the table as a considered action.
http://www.examiner.com/article/us-military-blocks-troops-from-entire-guardian-website
US military blocks troops from entire Guardian website
The US military and the Pentagon told the Guardian that it has completely blocked troops abroad from accessing the Guardian’s website after Edward Snowden revealed some of the truth about widespread US surveillance, according to a Guardian report Monday.
CNN truly has become a disgrace.
It used to be a fairly reputable network that had achieved better balance than FOX. Now it is merely another propaganda network. I will no longer watch it and encourage many others to turn the channel.
What is rather sad is the fact that we must now turn to foreign news sources for proper coverage of US affairs.
I suggest watching and subscribing to this channel for example.
WeenyDog is not related to Anthony Wiener.
You don’t need a Whistleblower to know which way the wind blows.
–Bod Dylan