Edward Snowden Has Awakened the Sleeping Giant

[NorthCarolina]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by pacalo (a host of the General Discussion forum).

By Vincent Guarisco
8/9/2013

Link to full article

Aside from the ongoing destruction of our planet with GMO crops, radiation fallout, chemtrails, fluoride added to our water supplies and a host of other carcinogenic unpleasantries forcing humanity to live in a deadly toxic soup, we now know we are also living under a huge microscope attached to a mammoth NSA vacuum cleaner that is sucking everything up. Thanks to the sobering revelations of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the world has been given a glimpse of the abuse of power (and trust) that our governments have breached. Indeed, the gravity of this "hijacking of humanity" is a crime against "life" itself.

Each moment of our daily existence, 24-7, our every movement and still-frame is being tracked, monitored, recorded and stored by the NSA and/or its affiliates. The implications are vast: faxes, home phones, cellular phones, emails, telex satellite transmissions, fiber-optic communications, microwave links, voice, texts, images and many other things that run on electromagnetic energy and beyond is being sucked-up. Suck, suck, suck...

To no surprise, the western news media, which is nothing more than a propaganda mouthpiece for the state, is performing damage control by attempting to divert attention onto Edward Snowden, himself. Their task is to demonize him as a traitor, while at great risk, not informing us of the vital information he conveys. In addition, his prosecution and probable lengthy prison sentence (for telling the truth) will ultimately be a Big Brother lesson to all future whistleblowers to "stand down."

But thankfully, these days, the world is not so easily fooled. The old switch-and-bait, wag-the-dog tactic is not working so well. This round, the message is not easily lost, twisted nor forgotten. In fact, on the heels of Wikileaks, whole societies are again extremely infuriated by Snowden's eavesdropping revelations. Heads of State fully understand the ramifications of this criminal intrusion on privacy that woefully affects all nations, all people, on all continents.

Just to set the record straight -- we owe this international hero a debt of gratitude for the sacrifices he has made in order to expose this hideous global spy ring. And thus far, the best thank you letter I have read on his behalf is written by Rebecca Solnit, "Prometheus Among the Cannibals: A Letter to Edward Snowden." You can read Rebecca's letter here. <--snip-->

This is the part that gives a bit of hope "But thankfully, these days, the world is not so easily fooled. The old switch-and-bait, wag-the-dog tactic is not working so well. This round, the message is not easily lost, twisted nor forgotten." I have seen the state propagandists challenged here on DU over the Snowden revelations to a degree I had not seen previously. People are awake and paying attention it seems, and that is a good thing.

[99Forever]

1. For me at least, the biggest...

... disappointment is that this crap is going on under a supposedly "Democratic" administration. That is UNFORGIVABLE.

[chimpymustgo]

2. It's the ruling class vs the rest of us. Obama and the Dems are genial tools.

[99Forever]

3. Spot on, my friend.

Willing tools of the 1%, all of them.

[Octafish]

11. There are many good Democrats, my Friend.

You can tell them by their words, but especially their actions.

[Johnny Ready]

35. Very true, but this will help the republican's.

If you are a republican running for office this NSA scandal has provided the comeback angle that has the potential to give the republican's a win. How long before we see a republican link the right to own high powered weapons and the right to privacy, with a resulting decrease in the need for surveillance? Allowing for greater freedom in the land of the free. This is the door that has now been left open, which may attract voters at record numbers as a result of this scandal imo. Will it help them win, I'm not sure anyone could beat Hillary at this point.

[hlthe2b]

7. Not to mention the absolute defense for these acts by supposed "progressives " here

Against a fury of posts DEMANDING that opposing DUers show where it is ILLEGAL...
Honestly, I think they'd defend MURDER if it could somehow be rendered legal...

Oh yeah, we've already done THAT as well...

Is there no shame?

[99Forever]

10. The "Democratic Party" has...

... become a faint shadow of it's real self. It's has been infiltrated and corrupted so badly that it is barely discernible from the GOP, in most ways.

[Zorra]

14. Yeh, this was the last straw for me. I had never put anyone on ignore before, because

I always felt that it was important to evaluate all opinions, especially those contrary to mine.

But this affair, combined with what I view as a dubious posting history in some cases, made me so contemptuous of some poster's opinions that I am compiling a fair sized ignore list. I'm not sure, in most cases, if these posters are righties, trolls, paid shills, sockbots, or a combination of all of the above, but their opinions and posts are valueless to me due to their fawning irrational obeisance to authority and subsequent disingenuous defenses of it.

When it becomes apparent that someone cannot distinguish the difference between law and morality/ethics, and makes unreasonable justifications for acts of corruption and deceit by authorities, I view them as irrational, and possibly dangerous.

I highly recommend the ignore button, because there seems to be no other recourse, other than wading through their regressive clutter.

Apparently, there is no shame.

[grasswire]

29. It must make a person feel fairly nauseous to defend those..

....who have attacked the Constitution. It would be anathema to many of us, but some do it with apparent aplomb.

To quote the old saw: "What did you do in the war, Daddy?" "I defended those who attacked the Constitution and attacked those who defend the Constitution, son."

[KansDem]

4. And by referring to "state" or "government"...

...we really mean "corporation" or "plutocracy."

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. We don't have a government .

We have a marketing/PR department for the corporations.

[sufrommich]

6. Chemtrails,Fluoride, 9/11 truthers.

This article is an almost perfect example of the conspiratorial NSA hysteria among the usual suspects.Like most conspiracy theory bullshit,it takes grains of truth and embellishes them beyond reality,like "everything that runs on electro magnetic energy is being sucked up" by the NSA "our every movement is being tracked". It's paranoid nonsense mixed with fact. This guy also wrote an article claiming that the government will soon be implanting microchips in everyone.

[Incitatus]

8. Yeah, I read the first sentence and thought it was going to link to infowars. nt

[sufrommich]

9. It might as well have, OPED News is

basically a site where anyone can publish any crazy thing they want to,there are no editorial standards,it's a vanity site. I'm sure the Alex Jones types take advantage of that.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

13. You know what "OpEd" means, right ?

"An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page (though often mistaken for opinion-editorial), is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board."

As the Vincent Guarisco article says at the bottom,
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

You have to actually follow his links and think for yourself, without the "gravitas" of The New York Times telling you that Judith Miller writing up crap that Scooter Libby fed her is "All the News That's Fit to Print".

You fell for those Judith Miller articles, didn't you? That was printed in The New York Times !
DLC Democrats swallowed that Curveball crap hook, line and sinker.

And where is that former "Liberal newspaper" reporter now ? Newsmax.
http://www.businessinsider.com/disgraced-nyt-war-reporter-judith-miller-joins-conservative-mag-newsmax-2010-12

http://www.newsmax.com/blogs/Miller/id-117
LOL

[sufrommich]

16. Yes, I know what OpEd means, I also know that

Last edited Sat Aug 10, 2013, 02:32 PM - Edit history (1)

not all OpEds are created equal,both Alex Jones and Eugene Robinson are capable of writing OpEds,the difference is that one of them is a lunatic who has never met an anti government conspiracy theory he didn't embrace and the other is Eugene Robinson. Your comment about Judith Miller makes no sense,you seem to be saying that if I don't believe some tinfoil garbage from Op-ed News then I must believe Judith Miller. I can hold both of them unbelievable.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

19. Your comment about Alex Jones makes no sense

We are talking about Vincent Guarisco, who has written an article - his opinion - that has links to other more "mainstream" sources like The Guardian and Wired magazine. Is that the "facts" part of your "it's paranoid nonsense mixed with fact" ?

Meanwhile, you've said nothing about these "facts" interspersed with the "paranoid nonsense":

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/
Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the world’s communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks. The heavily fortified $2 billion center should be up and running in September 2013. Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital “pocket litter.” It is, in some measure, the realization of the “total information awareness” program created during the first term of the Bush administration—an effort that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its potential for invading Americans’ privacy.

Sitting in a restaurant not far from NSA headquarters, the place where he spent nearly 40 years of his life, Binney held his thumb and forefinger close together. “We are, like, that far from a turnkey totalitarian state,” he says.

Do you lump together Wired, The Guardian and InfoWars ?

Judith Miller was an example of what some DLC Democrats considered a "trustworthy source" at one point in time. Why don't you enlighten us as to your "trustworthy" sources of information - you have some, don't you? What meets your high "editorial standards" if not The New York Times and The Guardian? Or is the "quality" of your information dependent on whether you believe it or not?

[Rex]

46. They only have a few people that they actually know of like Alex Jones.

Notice how you will get no reply, it is their limited amount of talking points that keeps them held back. The Wired is one of the best magazines out there, but ya they will trash it too...having never read it and half of them don't care.

They move the goal posts all the time...just ignore them.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

47. I was curious

what she would claim as a "trusted source".
It's easy to attack - harder to defend.

I actually enjoy learning more about an issue, just to argue with someone who annoys me.
It's all good...

[Rex]

49. Ruh roh

You are like me then, be prepared to get a few posts hidden.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

50. Why ?

Is spirited argument considered "personal attack" or something at DU ?
I meant it is easier for her to "attack" sources as unreliable than to "defend" her choice of sources.

I've already had a few jokes "jury censored" - are there other complaints that people litigate here ?

Another "hidden comment" here and I go back to verbal aikido with Washington Post commenters for a few weeks - they're always good for laughs.

[Rex]

51. No I am joking.

You can never tell with the jury.

[lumpy]

21. Truly

Hysteria, panic, fear

[sagat]

32. DU is going down the shitter, fast.

Shame this has 60 recs.

[99th_Monkey]

54. 63 recs now. including mine.

DU is doing just fine, functioning as a place where we can come to
debate policy and help hold public officials accountable to their claims.

[SidDithers]

33. Yup...

DU should close down the Creative Speculation. GD is the new "crazy talk" Forum.

Sid

[sabrina 1]

37. And it's premise is shared by a majority of people on the planet. I guess we live in world

full of 'usual suspects'. Wait, that IS what we live in, a country where EVERYONE is suspect, except for the REAL CTs at the top of the teeming masses who are all, every last one of them IF they dare to question, 'suspects'.

It's instructive to see what priorities this country now has.

Call me 'paranoid'. I don't like being spied on.

[cantbeserious]

12. The Duplicity Of Government - Directed, Owned And Controlled By The Oligarchs And Politicians

eom

[Orrex]

15. I'm glad that he mentioned fluoridation. Fluoridation of water.

Nice to have someone looking out for our precious bodily fluids.

POE

[liberal_at_heart]

18. I don't know if its genetics or what but my entire family has had a history of having really bad

teeth. I am thankful my kids had flouride in their water.

[marions ghost]

27. More and more evidence that flouride does not help teeth

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi/

July 25, 2012 — For years health experts have been unable to agree on whether fluoride in the drinking water may be toxic to the developing human brain. Extremely high levels of fluoride are known to cause neurotoxicity in adults, and negative impacts on memory and learning have been reported in rodent studies, but little is known about the substance’s impact on children’s neurodevelopment. In a meta-analysis, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and China Medical University in Shenyang for the first time combined 27 studies and found strong indications that fluoride may adversely affect cognitive development in children. Based on the findings, the authors say that this risk should not be ignored, and that more research on fluoride’s impact on the developing brain is warranted.

--------------

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/warning-this-daily-habit-_b_741635.html

Third, water fluoridation is ineffective. There is practically no difference in tooth decay between fluoridated and non-fluoridated countries, and no difference between states that have a high or low percentage of their water fluoridated.

Meanwhile, fluoride can cause significant harm.

"We know that 32 percent of American children have been overexposed to fluoride," Connett says, "because you have this telltale sign of dental fluorosis, which in its mildest form is little white specs. But when it gets more serious, it affects more of the surface of your teeth and it becomes colored; yellow, brown and orange mottling of the teeth."

Promoters of fluoridation scoff at these signs, saying that they're "just cosmetic." But, since we already know that water fluoridation does not effectively reduce dental caries, this is an unnecessary cosmetic defect, and, worse yet, it is a worrisome indication that your body has been overexposed to fluoride. If it's having a detrimental, visual effect on the surface of your teeth, you can be virtually guaranteed that it's also damaging something else inside your body, such as your bones.

"The teeth are the window to the bones," Connett says. "If you've seen the damage to the teeth, what damage can you not see?"

[SidDithers]

39. Dr. fucking Mercola!!!...

Sid

[marions ghost]

43. Go ahead and ignore the Harvard Study

"Science" didn't decide this debate years ago. Science is going to decide it now and into the future. Because there is finally enough interest and questions.

Stay tuned.

[SidDithers]

44. You seem to be ignoring the fucking nutbar you put in your own post...

Mercola. Seriously.

Do you know nothing about him? If you did, there's no way you'd put him in a DU post, if you wanted to appear at all credible.



Sid

[marions ghost]

48. I'm not worried about my credibility

where you are concerned. Again you said nothing about the Harvard study.

Cya in the next flouride discussion. There will be more.

[arely staircase]

42. ever see a commie drink a glass of water?

fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous commie plot we have ever had to face.

[liberal_at_heart]

17. I have only seen this one other time and that was when they wanted to cut SS. People were so pissed.

They rose up and let the administration know in no uncertain terms that SS was not to be touched. And now people have let the administration know they will not stand for the 4th Amendment to be violated. It's great to see it on these two issues. I hope we will see more of this. We have so many issues to fight for; getting money out of politics, education, wages. We need to get loud about all of these issues not just SS or the NSA.

[woo me with science]

20. Thank you very much for posting this.

Last edited Sun Aug 11, 2013, 06:08 PM - Edit history (2)

The Solnit piece linked at the bottom of your post is the most eloquent and moving summary I have seen yet of why Edward Snowden's actions are so important to all of us and this nation.

To anyone who has not read it yet, please do not miss Rebecca Solnit's Letter to Edward Snowden.

Huge, huge K&R.

[NorthCarolina]

23. I agree, Rebecca's letter to Snowden is well worth reading.

Thanks for your comment.

[Scurrilous]

22. What a load of @#$%.

Should be atop the Greatest Page shortly!

[arely staircase]

52. +1 nt

[AverageJoe90]

24. TBH.....the giant was already awakening.

My worry is is that Snowden pointed him in the wrong direction......and there's damn good reasons to be concerned as well.

[rhett o rick]

25. I think this is an important turning point. The Ruling Elite have established a strong

intelligence agency group. They will not give that power up easily. I hope the President will fight for us. So far all I have seen is rhetoric. Time for results Mr. President.

[Kelvin Mace]

26. Flouridation? Chemtrails?

Really?

Isn't there enough real shit out there without hauling out those tin foil coated chestnuts?

[sabrina 1]

38. Yes, there is enough shit out there, if you read the entire articles, both of them, you will find

a whole lot of it.

What's remarkable about all of this, is how so many people, across the political spectrum, across generations, although thankfully, mostly the young whose world this will be and who have not been reliant on the Corporate Media propaganda for their news, have been willing to set aside many of their differences and come to an agreement on this one issue.

It's happened before in history, but rarely. It takes a particularly important issue for those dynamics to come into play.

Eg, you can despise someone who believes in chemtrails, and still agree with them on the far, far more important issues that have been raised over the past several months. Assuming you opposed Bush's policies, this was what was needed because when only we on the left saw the dangers posed by the War criminals, it wasn't possible to even begin to put an end to them.

I hope every American now sees what we were talking about, and frankly the old 'oooh, he believes in 'fill in the gap' isn't going to work this time.

[SidDithers]

40. Welcome to the new DU...

where dumbass CT woo from anywhere on the internet is deemed appropriate for General Discussion.

I miss Mods, who knew enough to shut down shit like this. Most of our "Hosts" think that anything goes in GD.

Sid

[marions ghost]

28. From Rebecca Solnit's letter to Edward Snowden:

"Sometimes one person changes the world. This should make most of us hopeful and some of them fearful, because what I am also saying is that we now live in a world of us and them, a binary world. It’s not the old world of capitalism versus communism, but of the big versus the little, of oligarchy versus democracy, of hierarchies versus swarms, of corporations versus public interest and civil society."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-solnit/letter-to-edward-snowden_b_3616828.html

[jsr]

30. Recommend.

[sagat]

31. Prison Planet is that way >>>

[Progressive dog]

34. When an article starts by listing fluuoride in water as

a destroyer of the planet, I rush to get my duck tape, plastic, and tin foil. My God, the Jphn Birchers warned us about fluoride in water in the fifties. They knew it was a commie plot.
I don't get how the NSA spying is carcinogenic, though.

[Skidmore]

36. The Birchers just went underground.

They never left. The Koch brothers are from Bircher stock, too.

[arely staircase]

41. flouride? chemtrails?

that's a big bowl of the crazy right there.

[AZ Progressive]

45. "Their task is to demonize him as a traitor" - seems that some on DU are on the payroll

And at the very least, the DUer that routinely attacks Greenwald and Snowden.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

53. Are there many DLC-Democrat types

at DU ?

I thought the "underground" part would scare off Lieberman sympathizers and Gephardt admirers...

Or are these just Conservative trolls that fly under the radar with 80% neutral comments, then ply their Con talking points for key issues here ?

[pacalo]

55. Locking, per consensus of GD hosts.

There was a lot of debate in the hosts' forum in regard to locking your OP due to your source, OpEdNews, which is considered by many as being an outlet for conspiracy theories.

In this article alone is the following passage:

Aside from the ongoing destruction of our planet with GMO crops, radiation fallout, chemtrails, fluoride added to our water supplies and a host of other carcinogenic unpleasantries forcing humanity to live in a deadly toxic soup...

The Statement of Purpose for GD:

Discuss politics, issues, and current events. No posts about Israel/Palestine, religion, guns, showbiz, or sports unless there is really big news. No conspiracy theories. No whining about DU.

If you could provide a credible source for this topic, it will be fine to re-post on DU.