So, who are these people that are handling Edward Snowden?

[JDPriestly]

103. Do you know who Bruce Fein is?

Bruce Fein is a lawyer in the United States who specializes in constitutional and international law. Fein has written numerous articles on constitutional issues for The Washington Times, Slate.com, The New York Times, Legal Times, and is active on the issues of civil liberties. He has also worked for the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, both conservative think tanks, as an analyst and commentator.[1]

Fein is a principal in a government affairs and public relations firm, The Lichfield Group, in Washington, D.C..[2] He is also a resident scholar at the Turkish Coalition of America.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Fein

Do you suppose that maybe Snowden's dad means well in choosing Bruce Fein as his lawyer but that Snowden may view things differently? Bruce Fein may or may not be too conservative for Snowden.

Let's not worry about the differences between Snowden's friends and those of his parents. The Snowden family will work it out. I have no doubt that Snowden's dad will denounce Wikileaks and friends. They may feel that denouncing Wikileaks and embarrassing Assange, etc., will help Snowden safely return to the US.

In fact, maybe Snowden came out with his revelations as a way to embarrass Wikileaks. We will find out. That does not change the fact that what the NSA has been doing in collecting metadata, huge amounts of metadata on American citizens gives a small clique in the executive branch of the government access to secret information not only about American citizens and foreign policy issues but also about members of the press and the other branches of government. In addition, it will inevitably mean that people think twice about who they contact, what news media they read, etc. That chills not only speech and association rights but also creativity and discovery and the sharing of ideas.

The NSA program, no matter what Snowden's situation a) is a huge threat to the separation of powers, the co-equality of our three branches of government, as set forth in the Constitution and thus to our constitutional form of government and b) chills speech because it will and probably is causing some people, scholars hoping for new jobs, lawyers, teachers, scientists, journalists and just you to stop and think before we do an internet search or respond even on DU.

I'm retired. I don't have to worry about my career. Maybe you are still working and have to defend the government just to appear loyal and insure your job. I have no idea. But somewhere, some time, probably this week, at least one person will hesitate to read something, write something, study something, learn something, talk to someone, ask a question, answer a question, and all because of the knowledge of the NSA spying. No one really knows just exactly what the NSA is doing.

Of course, the government would love to see Wikileaks belittled and embarrassed. Even though people want Wikileaks to be treated fairly, the furor is not about Wikileaks or Snowden as a person. It is about the fact that the NSA has gone too far.

Watch the Bill Moyers video i have been posting to. It is available on DU.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Fein

Again, I give that link. It puts the threat that the NSA is posing to our democracy in a historical perspective. The excessive secrecy is incompatible with our free economy and our freedom within our country. It is incompatible with our constitutional form of government. It is unAmerican. It has to stop.