Still think NSA-leaker Edward Snowden is a hero?

[MADem]

19. No, but if someone says they've gotten epilepsy as an adult, it is a VERY unusual circumstance.

There are only a few ways that it happens-- the most prevalent are that you get clunked on the head, you are a drug addict, you are a booze hound, you have a tumor, or a brain lesion.

He SAID he has epilepsy, and it is "adult onset" within the last year. Don't believe me--Google is YOUR friend too. You can look it up and I urge you to so do.

Would you prefer I speculate that he's an inveterate drunk or a coke fiend? Or that his girlfriend smacked him in the head with her pole?

Look--Doctor Frist was trying to make LAW using "distance diagnosis." I am not a member of the Senate, now, am I? So why are you comparing me to someone who was? My pronouncements have no force of law, they're just opinions, EXACTLY like your unsubstantiated opinion that Mr. Snowden is a virtuous man, completely healthy, who is pure of heart. You have no proof of your assertions, EITHER.

So get off the high horse before you fall and hurt yourself.

Basically, you're saying "Shut up, shut up, shut up--I don't like your speculations, so SHUT UP!" This is a discussion board, and the object here is to DISCUSS, not cheerlead.

I believe that only intolerant authoritarians are afraid of contrary views. I'm not afraid of your opinions or speculations--why are you so terrified of mine that you have to call me Doctor Frist in order to try to bury my comments? You don't hear me calling you The Amazing Kreskin because you have the ability--that none of the rest of us do--to read this guy's mind and see into his heart.

In fact, if I'm not mistaken, there wasn't anyone on this board who knew their "good friend Ed" a couple of weeks ago. You don't "know" him and you don't really know what is motivating or driving him. You like the IDEA of the story he tells, and so you cheer for him.

See, I don't KNOW what is driving this guy's train--and I'll admit that--so I'm not afraid to speculate. He could be physically sick, he could be mentally ill, he could be taking money from the Chinese--or even the Russians--or he could be even -- though his details aren't really holding up--telling the "truth" as he thinks he knows it.

I'm not afraid of being proven wrong, so I don't need to try to shut people up with snark. And I'm not afraid of theories, either. After all, unless we're hosting the guy in Hong Kong, we know nothing about him, really--some of us just like to pretend that we do.