Snowden and Me

The mass media want me to believe that I am awaiting with bated breath news of Snowden’s whereabouts. Well, not really. I don’t really care, for several reasons.

The more info perspires through, the easier it is to believe that Snowden did not “reveal” much that was not already officially known of both Democrat and Republican leaders in Congress. That’s not a bad way to handle programs one cannot publicize without voiding them, by the way. I mean government programs I may not like but that I might also consider necessary if I knew more.

President Obama had the right reflex when he said we need a national debate about how much privacy we are willing to trade against how much security. No facile formula will do. In fact though, the terrorists of today have the power to disrupt our societies deeply enough to make any future discussions of past privacies obsolete. To my mind, the trade-off is between loss of privacy today and loss of privacy tomorrow.

I can’t resolve this alone. I need more information and I need the input of others. That’s to make up my own mind. Of course, I also recognize that others may have other sets of preference than I and that theirs are as valid as mine. If ever there were an opportunity to use the Internet constructively!

The President had the right reflex, then, he went into hiding. One of his advisers from 1967 must have gotten to him. Speculations about the whereabouts of Mr Snowden are a distraction from those real questions. Sometimes, it’s difficult not to think media conspiracy, tacit conspiracy.

Will Mr Snowden be tried? Maybe? Will he be convicted of something besides breach of contract? Not obvious. It would take twelve of his peers. It’s hard to imagine. Is this well-meaning publicity-seeker a spy? I have said it before : Don’t you have to be spying for something?

One good fallout and one bad:

Perhaps, there will be a review of the frivolous ways in which our national government awards security clearances.

The Obama administration never misses a chance to have America look ridiculous, a little pathetic. Today, Mr Kerry was waiving his finger at Putin the Grand-Duke of Russia: “You had better turn Snowden over to us or else. Besides, he does not have a valid travel document.”

Mr Secretary of State Kerry: Any government can admit anyone it wants. A travel document, a passport, is only a way for Country A to tell country B, “This person, Mr S. is known of us. He is one of our citizens. We might protect him, maybe, perhaps.” There is nothing, zero thing resembling “international law” that requires one to carry a passport to cross national boundaries.

Mr Kerry was a liar when he was young. He made false testimonies before Congress about the Vietnam War. He got the Purple Heart. He is a petty certified tax evader. He was a C student in college. After a lifetime in Congress, he has precious little to show. I would say he is stupid except that he showed much talent in marrying rich women. (That’s why some critics said he was French when he was running for president, I guess.) He is thinking the Snowden flight is his chance to impress posterity. As I said, he is not too bright.