I have been reading the praises of Edward Snowden [View all]

[Vietnameravet]

...and the condemnation of Obama and government spying, so much so, I just had to ask some questions.

I am open to changing my mind, even if you don't think so, but here are the questions I want answered.

I cannot see how my liberties have been taken from me and my freedom gone simply because some agency may track who I am in contact with, if they are doing that in an effort to stop another terrorist attack on this country. I realize this takes a bit of trust but are we all so jaded that we trust no one and think Obama is another Dick Cheney?

Just how is the NSA supposed to find terrorists without spying? If a suspected terrorist contacts someone here is the government to do nothing because someone might loose a bit of privacy? And how is the NSA supposed to know who is and who is not a terrorist without spying, which obviously involves checking emails from people who turn out to be innocent. Some talk about freedom but don't I deserve the freedom to be able to go where I please without fearing another terrorist attack?( Sure success is not guaranteed but cant we even try?)

And if there is an attack am I suppose to tell the victims, that is simply the price they must pay so no one will open my email or track my phone calls even if they are to suspected terrorists? My privacy trumps their lives?

And please answer this; How is this talk about loosing freedom and an out of control authoritarian state over the issue of spying any different from the NRA ranting about the same issues when gun buyers are asked to register their guns or have their backgrounds checked when they buy an assault rifle? Sounds like the same logic to me.

And on the matter of Ed Snowen..some say he is not the issue while others call him a hero. To me, he could have made the public aware of this spying in a way so as to preserve the secrets he promised to keep, but he didn't.

He had no right to take upon himself the authority to reveal counter-terrorism secrets, as long as he had legitimate methods of expressing his concerns. He had such methods but he chose not to use them. Instead, he took authority upon himself which no one granted him.

I think its obvious he lied when he pledged secrecy and he stole secrets he was to safeguard and that makes him a liar and a thief in my mind.