We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, June 8, 2013

We Call a Top NSA Whistleblower … And Get the REAL SCOOP on Spying

Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.

It seems that the public relations officer of the One Percent (Obama) can get away with lying about internet/phone content being analyzed--he said that the government wasn't doing this--by having this function outsourced to private corporations. This reminds me of the lie Clinton told when asked if he ever smoked marijuana: "Yes, but I didn't inhale." 

According to one former National Security Agency (NSA) director:
Binney explained that the government is taking the position that it can gather and use any information about American citizens living on U.S. soil if it comes from...
Any service provider … any third party … any commercial company – like a telecom or internet service provider, libraries, medical companies – holding data about anyone, any U.S. citizen or anyone else. 
And, Binney went on to say that...
...the government is gathering everything, including content.
See also this piece which explains how the NSA has access to computers with the Windows operating system.