It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Originally posted by nunya13
Unjust laws are meant to be broken. It is our duty as Americans.
Oaths are also meant to be broken if keeping them means the oath-taker is complacent in wrong-doings. If anyone broke their oath with malice it is the United States Government, not Mr. Snowden for they are the ones who took an oath to uphold the Constitution; whereas, Snowden took an oath to keep secret information that could harm United States citizens if our enemies learned of it, not to keep secret information that could harm the United States Government if it's populace learned it was violating their rights without their permission.
There are those who insist this kind of surveillance is necessary as if this, in and of itself, is a valid justification to violate the rights of every American without discrimination. I say to these people that they have NO SAY in whether or not I get to keep my individual freedom so that THEY can feel safer. The majority, or otherwise, does not get to decide which rights we, as individuals, keep and which we do not so that other individuals can have a false sense of security. This is why they are considered "Individual Freedoms". Only the individual can chose to relinquish his or her rights.
The old, "You shouldn't care if you don't have anything to hide," justification is illogical. It ignores the very fact that the government has violated our rights without our consent. It also presumes that a person who has a problem with their Constitutional rights being violated is guilty of something rather than acknowledging that some individuals refuse to allow the Government to violate their rights, not purely based on principle, but on legality.
No matter how one wants to spin or justify it, the Government broke one our most sacred laws. Not only that, but it continues to demonize the man who brought this fact to light and also snub those individuals who demand to have their freedom from government intrusion restored. It doesn't matter WHY one may take issue with this fact. It matters that a crime has been committed. Period.
Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
Jude i'll leave you with this simple thought.
Just because something is legal doesn't always make it right. The U.S. is going to collapse because of the rampant disease of evil men roaming in our governments, being led by the nose on the stink of the wealthy's money. Even Obama himself is being led by the nose on the money of George Soros. We have highly paid puppets sitting in our government, when our governmental offices were originally created to be offices of humble servitude to the people, the roles have reversed and the people are required to serve the government with humble servitude.
Then comes the "famous" words of John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your government can do for you, but what you can do for your government" and they shoved it down our throats with such patriotic enthusiasm as to make people nowadays think they are being unamerican if they speak out against the wickedness of those in control.
God save us all, we're riding the American flag to hell, and that is the price for being a patriot.
Originally posted by WeAreAWAKE
Originally posted by TinfoilTP
"adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
Yup, he is the very definition of the term traitor as spelled out in the Constitution, not by anyone's opinion.
It's not the spying on Americans part that matters, it's the info he released of the spying on hostile nations.
As if Russia is not spying on their citizens or the US, this whole spy mess is being overblown and the media is being used to tug at your heartstrings, aiding and abetting a fugitive.
So if I believed your logic, that Snowden is a traitor for telling "the enemy" that they are being spied upon, then Obama is a traitor for NOT telling the American people that he was spying upon them. In other words, if one person can get in trouble for telling a secret to the enemy, then another person can get in trouble for keeping a secret from an ally...or in this case, the citizens of the United States of America.
And I'm 100% sure that if Snowden was here, or could respond to back me up...I bet he would gladly wear the tag of "traitor" if Obama must also. Do you have any idea why? Because he is a patriot, willing to loose everything to tell the truth...a hero.
Originally posted by CasaFermi
Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
Then comes the "famous" words of John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your government can do for you, but what you can do for your government" ......
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
He didn't say government..........he said country. Within the context of his remarks there is a great difference between the terms.
Originally posted by phishfriar47
reply to post by phinubian
What immediately comes to mind is someone who wins the lottery and tries to live the lavish life without actually earning it. They are ignorant to the fact of protecting their money and learning about the mechanisms that retain wealth. Instead they blow through it willy-nilly and in the end are left with nothing. That is how the US is now. We rushed to the height of power, and now we have no idea what to do with it and are grasping for every straw we can to remain a powerhouse, but our poor decisions are showing that we as a nation lost our humble little way and arent too far from falling from our grace, if we havent already hit the precipice and are already tumbling on our way down.
Originally posted by flyswatter
Snowden shot himself in the foot when he did this. Had he taken and leaked ONLY the information about the domestic snooping, he MIGHT have been able to claim innocence under whistleblower protection laws, but he did not stop there. He stole and leaked much more than just the domesting snooping information, and that is where he made his big, big mistake.
The largely perceived "right" of leaking the domestic snooping information does not give him a free pass on the "wrong" of stealing and leaking the rest.
Originally posted by TinfoilTP
"adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
Yup, he is the very definition of the term traitor as spelled out in the Constitution, not by anyone's opinion.
It's not the spying on Americans part that matters, it's the info he released of the spying on hostile nations.
As if Russia is not spying on their citizens or the US, this whole spy mess is being overblown and the media is being used to tug at your heartstrings, aiding and abetting a fugitive.
Originally posted by nosacrificenofreedom
The US government is scared to death! Scared to death of whistle blowers because they have done some things
so reprehensible and terrifying that if it came to light no one would ever trust or believe anything the federal government has to say (Not that many of us do now)! This is the main reason why they are pursuing Edward so hard and why it is being shown across all the media outlets! He is being used as an example so that no one ever tries to reveal any thing else! I believe it may actually work too! I don't suspect anyone to reveal anything for a long while!
If they really wanted to get Snowden they would just suicide him which I believe they will still do eventually!
For now they want to create fear in any one else having any idea of releasing information to the world!
I suspect we will still see information released from anonymous persons which will be denied in full!
Originally posted by flice
Originally posted by TinfoilTP
"adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
Yup, he is the very definition of the term traitor as spelled out in the Constitution, not by anyone's opinion.
It's not the spying on Americans part that matters, it's the info he released of the spying on hostile nations.
As if Russia is not spying on their citizens or the US, this whole spy mess is being overblown and the media is being used to tug at your heartstrings, aiding and abetting a fugitive.
Well... if you take time to examine where all this hostility comes from you'll find out that ALL OF IT is because of Americas actions in the first place. Every single administration has had it nose way too deep into the affaires of sovereign nations. The line behind which you can conduct your business is drawn at the very borders of your homeland. Across those, you have NO business dictating or administering how things take place and which trade deals go where.
If America simply seized completely interfering in other countries business, I GUARANTEE you that all that so-called hostility, which is overexagerated by the media in the first place, would completely disappear.
America is probably THE country who have had the biggest issues sharing information and technology with the rest of your human brothers than any other country.
Snowden is to be commended for his heroism and exposure of Americas crimes of espionage against so-called hostile nations as well as so-called allies.
Please tell me... how can the American facist administration with an ounce of conscience attempt to prosecute with charges of espionage a man who himself exposed the American administration commiting the very same crime he's accused of?
- We have a duty, at first politically, rid the entire world except the American homeland, of American influence.
- We have a duty to expel every single American diplomat and give them 24 hours to return to their homeland or face charges of terrorism in the country they would insist to remain in.
- We have a duty to cut off all and any communication as well as cooperation with American intelligence agencies or affiliate agencies, and immediately brand every single one of them as terrorist organisations at the same level as those we performed witchhunts against in the middle east.
II guarantee you… if American influence is dialed down to a minimum, the rest of the world will slowly begin to calm down and believe that peace is a possibility.
If the above is not possible, I appeal to those sane people left in America who honestly believe you still have a right to a private life protected by your constitution to resist the facist rule currently in place and peacefully disobey the administration NO MATTER WHO IS THE POTUS!
If your peaceful disobedience is not succesful in removing this threat against humanity, I completely understand your every move or action regardless of what it may be or result in.
Enough... is enough.edit on 29/7/13 by flice because: (no reason given)edit on 29/7/13 by flice because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by Ex_CT2
Great letter. And, lest we forget, those are the same sort of sentiments that Obama himself loved to pretend to before he was elected. Before he showed himself a coward, a sociopath, and a splendidly useful tool of the Elites.
Naturally I don't expect a response from our now-revealed Dear Leader--except perhaps even more reckless and cynical attempts to capture this dangerous "Enemy of the State...."
Originally posted by nunya13
Unjust laws are meant to be broken. It is our duty as Americans.
Oaths are also meant to be broken if keeping them means the oath-taker is complacent in wrong-doings. If anyone broke their oath with malice it is the United States Government, not Mr. Snowden for they are the ones who took an oath to uphold the Constitution; whereas, Snowden took an oath to keep secret information that could harm United States citizens if our enemies learned of it, not to keep secret information that could harm the United States Government if it's populace learned it was violating their rights without their permission.
Many members of the government take an oath to defend the constitution against enemies, both domestic and foreign. The Constitution means in this regard those who would violate it or our rights. That means the NSA then. Therefore, Snowden fulfilled his duty as a citizen, putting our rights and Constitution over maniacal or fear-filled officials who took it upon themselves to secretly violate said Constitution and spy on all of us without a warrant.
As has been said in courts of law, just following orders is no excuse.
There are those who insist this kind of surveillance is necessary as if this, in and of itself, is a valid justification to violate the rights of every American without discrimination. I say to these people that they have NO SAY in whether or not I get to keep my individual freedom so that THEY can feel safer. The majority, or otherwise, does not get to decide which rights we, as individuals, keep and which we do not so that other individuals can have a false sense of security. This is why they are considered "Individual Freedoms". Only the individual can chose to relinquish his or her rights.
Precisely. Just because another person or a percentage of Americans feel so afraid that they are willing to give up their fundamental rights under the Constitution does not by any means give them the right to give away mine.
The old, "You shouldn't care if you don't have anything to hide," justification is illogical. It ignores the very fact that the government has violated our rights without our consent. It also presumes that a person who has a problem with their Constitutional rights being violated is guilty of something rather than acknowledging that some individuals refuse to allow the Government to violate their rights, not purely based on principle, but on legality.
If I am correct, that quote comes from Goebles.
Those individuals who demand to have their freedom from government intrusion restored. It doesn't matter WHY one may take issue with this fact. It matters that a crime has been committed. Period.
Originally posted by Quetzalcoatl14
Originally posted by nunya13
Unjust laws are meant to be broken. It is our duty as Americans.
Oaths are also meant to be broken if keeping them means the oath-taker is complacent in wrong-doings. If anyone broke their oath with malice it is the United States Government, not Mr. Snowden for they are the ones who took an oath to uphold the Constitution; whereas, Snowden took an oath to keep secret information that could harm United States citizens if our enemies learned of it, not to keep secret information that could harm the United States Government if it's populace learned it was violating their rights without their permission.
There are those who insist this kind of surveillance is necessary as if this, in and of itself, is a valid justification to violate the rights of every American without discrimination. I say to these people that they have NO SAY in whether or not I get to keep my individual freedom so that THEY can feel safer. The majority, or otherwise, does not get to decide which rights we, as individuals, keep and which we do not so that other individuals can have a false sense of security. This is why they are considered "Individual Freedoms". Only the individual can chose to relinquish his or her rights.
The old, "You shouldn't care if you don't have anything to hide," justification is illogical. It ignores the very fact that the government has violated our rights without our consent. It also presumes that a person who has a problem with their Constitutional rights being violated is guilty of something rather than acknowledging that some individuals refuse to allow the Government to violate their rights, not purely based on principle, but on legality.
Those individuals who demand to have their freedom from government intrusion restored. It doesn't matter WHY one may take issue with this fact. It matters that a crime has been committed. Period.