Truth Over Law
I’ve been quiet for a while because I’m WRITING (almost finished with Mindbenders 2: Under the Radar)! And I rarely deal with politics here because I think it’s mature of me to pick my battles and I try to be mature as often as it comes natural.
But the NY Times today published an editorial (well worth reading -linkĀ here) recommending clemency or a plea bargain for Edward Snowden, who exposed a long list of NSA abuses in a stream of articles published in the Guardian and the Times and the editorial unleashed a shitstorm of responses characterizing Snowden as either an evil traitor or God’s gift. I just added this comment to the Times page and thought I’d reprint it here for the twenty of you that read this page. Sometimes you just have to stand up for something:
To the Times:
The President’s own commission scorched his program (when’s the last time that happened?).
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle agreed that the NSA wildly overstepped its boundaries (by having none at all) and all but the one toadie judge agreed.
So how can anyone say these revelations haven’t been a service to the nation and the world?
Does anyone believe any of this would have become public if someone like Snowden hadn’t come forward?
No, none of you do, even the ones who are going to write to flame this comment.
Snowden did break the law, but there is a long-standing history of light or suspended sentences when a higher truth was served and this is certainly one of those examples.
I suggest Snowden be sentenced to time served in exile in Russia – after that first vodka party at the airport, I doubt it’s been a whole lot of fun for him.