Manning wants to be a girl - Page 5

I put them in the fool camp. But what the heck, apparently either or both of you must be thinking, too, I am a testy bee? Moons, I do believe you have told me to "go live in another country" because you thought I was not patriotic enough on a thread rant, at one time or another  ! So, again either of you, may want to make hero's out of so called, whistle-blowers, be my guest. Snowden remember, would rather live any where else than the country he so nobly defies with its confidentiality, because he wants his higher-ups held accountable?  Did I say that right? Bah! I think he's selfish to the core. Or, just a fool. Look where he is now! I suppose it is my flaw that I see them both as milquetoasts, not so much men. And now Manning actually wants to be a girl? Double Bah!

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How's this for a tangent topic? What makes a country recognized by the rest of the world? Does it need land to exist? Or just a shared identity by people? Don't  expats still need a home base? I think it is obvious just by counting wars, but the world sure has shrunk, and now there is a shortage of land that grows smaller even as the web makes it possible for shared identities to increase. That is a problem that can only get worse? That would seem to be something we can all agree?




 

What makes a country recognized by the rest of the world? Does it need land to exist? Or just a shared identity by people?

A country requires land, while a nation only the people.

As far as skipping town, personally, I identify more with the one who would stand indignantly before the  "powers" that be, challenging the status quo.  On the other hand, if you agree that power is being exercised beyond the authority that has been measured, then what serves us all best is likely the current situation, given the nature and reality of our 24-hour news cycle.  What would likely have sunk to the bottom of the barrel has remained in the public eye, and that's probably where it needs to stay.

Bee,
I was actually trying to support you and lighten the mood.
As for these people leaving the country, it's my belief that if they had not you might have never even heard their names, except in some obscure news report of an auto accident or a sudden heart attack.

That's a reality.
Survival might have been going through their minds.

What great secrets have been revealed that you consider traitorous?

vonissk,
While I am somewhat embarrassed by my ancestors of the white race I will not be held accountable for them.
You can only claim what you can hold, whites or someone else is irrelevant, America would have been exploited one way or another.
Even if all the Indian nations had joined together it would have happened sooner or later.
Actually race has nothing to do with it.

It was and is always about technology.

Tell me what's the difference between their e-mails and ours , both are read by a government agency......LOL

The founding fathers were considered traitors by their rulers of that time and look at how that turned out.

Moons, 
I thought you might have been. I couldn't tell for sure. You, actually being nice to me. It is a change, for sure.

Leaving the country with the expectation it is forever? I suppose that is the double edge sword being played, to catch the media's attention. True, enough, I am sure I would never have heard about Snowden if he just stayed shacked up with his pole dancing girlfriend. Just don't know why I have to keep hearing about him any more, is all. 

Seems to me what has actually been leaked highlights a bunch of goofs. That's the other thing. The big bad spying government is so after its puny citizen's all the time, but the truth is, we are all buried in technology overload. If the spying government was so omnipresent, how in the world did the brother's Tsarnaev ever do as much damage as they did?

 

I believe that to have been staged .
A training OP.
They closed down an entire city, major coup.

In reality the damage was minimal.

Bee - that really has been a large part of the argument of those opposing legislation compromising privacy; there are no guarantees, yet, the costs, monetary and otherwise, or so high.  When you think about how little it takes to put primitive explosive devices together in a cave in Pakistan, a hut in Yemen, or a tenement in Cambridge, they are infinitesimal compared to our the military and intelligence expenditures involved with "the war on terror"; not to mention the loss of human life.  Some will argue that it has become necessary given the resolve of Islamic militants in their jihad against the "great Satan".  I question how much of an issue we would have at all if we didn't make a habit out of interfering in the political and economic structures of sovereign nations for profit -what I view to be the true goal of "democratizing" the world.  Meanwhile, we loose freedom and privacy at home, whilst struggling to balance our budget. 

Don't let that bother you one little bit.