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

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Flirting with Sauron: The Risks of Trusting the Snowden Story

Click here to access article by Kevin Ryan from his blog Dig Within.

Ryan is another alert blogger who is troubled by the latest twists and turns of the NSA's documents related to the agency's surveillance of electronic communications of people throughout the world. The first person, that I know of, to question some of the inconsistencies in Snowden's release of a few of his stolen documents was Naomi Wolf, and more recently joined by the most fearless truth-seeker and whistleblower of all, Sibel Edmonds, at her Boiling Frogs website.

Given the ruling class's propensity and long history of contriving and manipulating information and events along with their other powerful weapons in their huge arsenal they use in their insatiable addiction to more wealth and power, we must always be on guard for such practices. Thus far I have not reached any conclusions about the Snowden story, but I think we all must have the courage demonstrated by real whistleblowers such as Edmonds to examine the evidence carefully as it is revealed. Ryan provides an update on some of the most troubling aspects and provides a summary of various people who have questioned and continue to question.