The Guardian today released additional excerpts from Glenn Greenwald’s videotaped (by documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras) interview conducted in Hong Kong with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden before he outed himself last month. He accurately predicted the government’s response to his revelations and explains clearly why he felt it necessary to do what he’s done.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden (Guardian photo)
He is a very principled man of great courage troubled by what his government has become, as am I.
Are you listening, Uncle Sam?
Uncle Sam BW (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Richardson's rummage 
You’ve blogged about this issue a lot, and I completely agree that the NSA surveillance is unconstitutional and needs to stop.
Have you looked into this group yet?
http://RestoreTheFourth.net
They’re dedicated to resisting the NSA’s overreach and restoring our Fourth Amendment privacy rights. I protested with them on July 4, and I’ll do it again soon.
Thanks for your comment, Brian.
I am aware of Restore the Fourth. We were kinda preoccupied here in Boise, Idaho, with our 150th birthday parties; Idaho Territory and Boise City were designated on July 4th and 7th, 1863. Idaho Gold was a precious resource and Boise provided both supply center and army base to ensure its flow to the Union.
I think large group protests are important, but I also think we need to figure out how to use the Internet and the very technologies that got him elected to let Obama know that he’s losing his base. However, another part of me thinks the the president was co-opted by the spooks early on. They either have something on him or they somehow have him boxed in politically.
Hactivist Jake Applebaum says “If it wanted to, Google could overthrow any country in the world.” Just think what military/intelligence/security industry can do with a brilliant, politically naive president.
At any rate, whenever I get a request from Organizing for America or the other Obama people, lately, I’ve been sending back the message that “No, I’m not ‘IN.’ Not until the president cleans up the NSA and denies the Keystone XL pipeline.”
But then, again, I have this recurrent vision of the Oval Office shortly after inauguration of any new president since Kennedy, not just Obama: The guys in the very expensive dark suits and very, very expensive shades sit down and explain to the president how things really work in DC. I haven’t figured out what they tell him, but it’s not too good for most of us.
I completely agree that we need a wide variety of tactics, beyond just physically protesting. I’ve been trying to think of as many as I can.
Thanks for continuing to write about this, Gary. You’re not alone.