Eric Snowden, Traitor or Whistleblower

Civil servants of the Federal government take an oath to support and defend the government, I took that oath in 1984 and kept it for over 20 years. Now I am a government contractor, the same as Mr. Snowden, and we didn't have to take this oath; but, we are told that the government pays us to do a specific job and what the Federal employees, who work around us or with us, do is not our concern. In my case this is pretty much true. I go to work, analyze the materials assigned to me, write my analyses, give them to my supervisor, and go home. If I want to continue to do my job and keep my security clearance, I do not divulge government classified material.

Eric Snowden, stole classified materials and took them out of the government secure facilities in order to divulge them. Then when he was identified as the person who divulged classified government materials, instead of owning up and facing the consequences, he takes off out of the country to Russia. Now, let me tell you that in order to get on a plane and fly into Russian airspace, one must have a written invitation from Russia. You can't just jump on a plane and fly to Russia because you feel like it, and if someone tells you that you can and/or that they do, they are lying to you. Mr. Snowden is now living temporarily in Russia, at the invitation of that government, and he's saying that he is allowed to do this without revealing the classified materials he took with him. He's full of bull, never happen in our lifetimes.

Now, Mr. Snowden wants, and apparently a lot of Americans want, him to be pardoned or receive a reduced sentence because he isn't a traitor, he's a whistleblower. A whistleblower is someone who believes things are being handled incorrectly or illegally and so they go to their superiors and tells them.  Whistleblowers do not steal classified government material and take it to communist countries or sell it to media outlets... that is a traitor. Why do you think Mr. Snowden is living in Russia, because he likes it there and just wants America to change the way they are doing things, baloney.

When I worked for the Federal government as a civil servant, I signed forms allowing them to bug my phone because I have nothing to hide. I do not talked to anyone about committing terrorist acts or about subverting the American government, so....they can listen to my phone calls all they want, I don't care. Yes, our government bugs phones, foreign and domestic. Should they be keeping this information on innocent American citizens?  NO, I do not believe they should, so bringing this to the public's attention should have been done, in my opinion, but stealing the information, going to Russia to live, and having the information published in international media is not the way a whistleblower would have handled it.

Take the time to read Eric Snowden's articles and you'll see that he is a self-righteous SOB. He wants it all his way or not at all, he is right and everyone else is wrong. He is smug and enjoying his notoriety. Those of you who think what he did was right about making the public aware of the phone taps and keeping personal information on file, have a point; but, the way Eric Snowden is going about it, is very, very wrong.  He's a traitor and should be prosecuted as one. Come on home Mr. Snowden judgment is waiting for you.

Forgiveness

Someone recently made the following remark in my presence: "I'll never forgive my grandmother." What did your grandmother do to you that was so terrible that you'll never forgive her? Nothing, she did something terrible to somone else.

Have you read the Bible concerning forgiveness? Or, the Lord's Prayer? The Lord's Prayer says, "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Translation: forgive our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

So...we have the power to forgive those who do things to us and to ask for forgiveness for the things we do to others; but, we do not have the right to forgive someone or to ask for forgiveness for someone who does ill will to someone else. That can only be done by the person that was wronged.

Now, we can say that we do not like the things a person does and so we do not want to socialize with that person, or be friends with that person; but, before we do that we should find out why that person did what they did or why they act in the manner that they do so as to make you not want to be friends with them. However, in this case the Bible states that the first one among us without sin should cast the first stone.

Even though people make the statement that Christ was the only perfect person to walk the earth without committing a sin; and therefore, he is the only one who can sit in judgment of others...Christ stated on various occasions in the Bible that he was not perfect because of his human side. He went so far as to ask his father in heaven for forgiveness for the fact that he didn't want to die on the cross.

My point in this blog is to state that we should find out all the facts of the story before we condemn someone for something they have done to us or to someone else, because no one is perfect.