An excellent interview with Glenn Greenwald

The Guardian and its team of Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Spencer Ackerman, and Ewen MacAskill, have become the go-to source for news on the government’s massive surveillance program.

I am pretty certain that Edward Snowden chose Greenwald as the conduit for his whistleblowing because of the latter’s consistent and principled stand for government transparency, rare in a media landscape where people worry about loyalty to ‘their’ team and anxiously want to ingratiate themselves with one party or another or are afraid of antagonizing their sources in the government and military establishment. [Read more…]

Tennessee’s insane health care plan

I need to take a break from my obsessive coverage of the whistleblower story so I thought that I would take a look at the insanity that lies behind some of the opposition to Obamacare.

Under Obamacare, states have the option of expanding the number of poor people eligible to receive care under Medicaid, with the federal government picking up most of the bill. This would be a boon for many people. But governors of many states, all Republicans, have chosen not to accept this offer because they do not want to have anything to do with anything that might make Obamacare more acceptable, even though they are spiting their own people. Of course, they do not say so directly, manufacturing other reasons for their rejection. [Read more…]

The cyberattack target list story

Somewhat overshadowed by the news about the government sweeping up phone and internet communications has been the other whistleblower release of a secret directive by president Obama calling for agencies to draw up a list of targets for cyberattacks. Some responders have said that there is no news here. They say that of course the US targets other countries for such attacks and only the naïve would expect anything else. A variant of this argument is also given for the revelations about the government collecting phone and internet records. That is true but they need to be aware that when they argue this way, they have fallen victim to a specific propaganda strategy. [Read more…]

The Booz Allen connection

Edward Snowden worked for the security contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. For those who are unfamiliar with the name, this is a high-powered private agency that the government subcontracts much of its intelligence work to, often at much higher costs than it would have taken for the government to have its own in-house people doing the same work. It is the intelligence equivalent of military contractors that the state department hires as mercenaries (again at much higher cost) in its various wars and whose atrocious behavior in places like Iraq have done so much to poison the Iraqi people’s attitudes towards the US. [Read more…]

Edward Snowden’s brilliant move

The decision by Edward Snowden to reveal himself as the whistleblower was a public relations masterstroke. Long time readers of this blog will recall that I have documented case after case (Iranian Airbus, London subway ‘bomber’, KAL 007, Clinton’s bombing of a milk factory) of how governments, when they are faced with a situation that is potentially damaging to their image, will rush out an initial story that makes them look good. In doing so they will have no compunction about shamelessly lying and distorting the facts. This is because they have realized a major truth about manipulating people: It is the first impression in the public’s mind that is important because that is what sticks. [Read more…]

This is why we cannot have good government

Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall has been agonizing over how to feel about the recent revelations of government snooping. Given that he is a Democratic (and Obama) supporter, he has been grasping at arguments that seek to portray it as not as bad as it looks. One of his readers sent in a comment that illustrates precisely how many people decide on what stance to take. [Read more…]

What next for same-sex marriage?

As people await rulings on the two same sex marriage cases before the US Supreme Court that are due to be released any day now, it is useful to see what the state of play is. It seems unlikely that the court will issue sweeping rulings affirming the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry, though that would be a welcome surprise. Failing that, what lies ahead? [Read more…]