Support Snowden - You can!

When a tornado happens - we go to the basement/tornado shelter for protection.  But we don't spend our lives living in the basement/tornado shelter forever.

Just because 9/11 happened - does not mean that we should give up our rights forever

Who defines what a "terrorist" is?
Now or in the future?
Have the American people become the "enemy"?
Now or in the future?

Even though charges haven’t been filed –

We know they are coming –

Even moderate Dems are getting in front of the cameras and stating that national security was breached – which is a crock of _____  - - -

From Crooks and Liars

In a CNN interview Sunday night, Daniel Ellsberg -- possibly the most famous leaker in history -- said of Edward Snowden:

"He's done an enormous service, incalculable service, that can't be overestimated to this Democracy. It gives us a chance from drawing back from the total surveillance.... I think if the public is given now authentic official documents congress can't plausibly deny...maybe we'll see hearings with genuine oversight that can reign in this severely abusive surveillance program."

On Monday, Ellsberg wrote an op-ed for the Guardian:

"In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago."

Edward Snowden– like Bradley Manning, is a hero – and we need to stand behind him.

And we’ve seen what they have done to Bradley Manning.

Snips from Raw Story (my emphasis):

Sen. Bernie Sanders warns of an Orwellian future where everything you do is on file

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday warned the United States could face an Orwellian future if it didn’t reign in expansive domestic counterterrorism operations.

Sanders told MSNBC host Chris Hayes that former CIA employee Edward Snowden showed that “virtually every phone call in the United States is now on record, on file with the United States government.” In addition the PRISM program showed that “the websites that we access, the emails that we use, may also be on file.”

“The question is: What does freedom and liberty mean in the United States of America? What does our Constitution mean? What kind of country do we want to be? Are we comfortable with knowing that so much of what we do in our private, person lives is in somebody’s file in the United States government?”

A snip from the front page of Daily Kos (taken from a Stephen Walt article)

The real risk to our democracy is what this situation does to potential dissenters, whistle-blowers, investigative journalists, and anyone else who thinks that some aspect of government policy might be boneheaded, unethical, or maybe even illegal. If you are one of those people—even on just a single issue—and you decide to go public with your concerns, there's a possibility that someone who doesn't like what you are doing will decide to see what they can find out about you

STAND UP NOW - before all our rights are taken away.

We may not have the chutzpah - to do what Manning and Snowden have done - but we do the the time and $$$ to help.

From Common Dreams

Even as U.S. officials consider charges against NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, progressives are rallying to his support. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has begun a legal defense fund for him, and a White House petition has been created declaring Snowden "a national hero (who) should be immediately issued a full, free, and absolute pardon." It has already garnered over 36,500 signatures in a day, over half what it needs by July 9 to elicit a response from the Obama Administration. This story is just beginning

BOLD PROGRESSIVES

LEGAL FUND

 

WHITE HOUSE PETITION
 

    

    First they came for the communists,
    and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

    Then they came for the socialists,
    and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

   Then they came for the trade unionists,
   and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
 
    Then they came for me,
    and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

If you don't take action, eventually there will be no one to speak for you 
- this is about your Fourth Amendment rights.