A hero would not have fled to China, then Russia, or kept some of the information secret threatening to use it later.....

"Right wing MSM?"

Snowden to me is a paradox. On the one hand he expressly broke the law and defied the oath he took. On the other hand, one can also argue that his employment contract was voided because of lack of good faith on the part of the employer! I like to think it is the latter, but this isn't contract law - the US would lock him up and throw away the key if they could.

I think what he did was necessary to expose to the world how corrupted and power-hungry the US government has become.

I'm not sure if the message appeared elsewhere but I did see it in today's headlines of the Austin Business Journal:

http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entrepren...

Thought this might add credibility to the story. The accompanying article seems interesting, especially as it appears that our domestic media seems more critical of him when compared to the international press.

No problem, glad you found it interesting. The new media venture is definitely interesting. I suspect that there are others who share our views on this matter and in this instance are willing to back it with significant funding. One of the things that stood out to me in the article was how organized Snowden was and the patience he had in getting this information to a safe source. The article did not paint the picture of a "traitor" seeking personal fame or fortune. Many are definitely wearing blinders in this case, with some calling for his death or life imprisonment which I simply cannot understand.

Oh...and check this out.

I new a lot of these details already from reading other articles from The Guardian, but I was surprised to learn the ebay's founder was funding the media venture with Greenwald regarding the Snowden documents. That's an interesting tid bit I'd like to know more about how that came to be. Of course I'd like to know more about the whole thing. :) Interesting read, thanks for suggesting it. (Must demonize him...can't have him being a hero other people might start to get interested...ugh...people in this country have flippin' blinders on!)

I don't know if he actually said this but the message is good. Depressing but good. I'd like to know who down voted you.

I have it tagged to read...thanks :)

Agreed on all counts. If you haven't read it already I highly recommend the Rolling Stone article abut Snowden and the journalist he was working with that I had posted in response to Rozar's comment. The article really plays out the complexity of the situation very well and I think you might enjoy it given your comments on this issue.

PRE-cisely my point. And they love to say he's sold secret to enemies (or given them away)... I don't think he'd risk life and limb and lose his life to then aid the enemy....doesn't add up AT ALL. And this idea that he's a traitor for not going to internal complaint board (or congress, or whatever) is lunacy. He'd be 6 feet under or shark bait by now and we'd never know the difference!

This surprised me as well, but in hindsight it probably shouldn't have. Many complain about things that are happening, but few have the courage and tenacity to stand against popular opinion and take action.

Here you have someone who actually saw something that he believed was of detriment to our country and he risked his life to inform us. In my opinion this falls squarely into the category of a hero. What if he would have never taken these steps? How long and how far would this have gone before anyone knew of these actions?

Great segment, short, to the point, with a solid message.

I agree with you that Snowden is a hero but it's not a popular opinion to have as both sides denounce him. I think the right do so from a national security standpoint, however I believe many miss that the point of a strong defense is to protect, defend and uphold the Constitution. There is an excellent Rolling Stone piece on Snowden that may be of interest to you if you haven't seen it already:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/new...

It's a really long article but well worth the time.

There's a bunch of them I think have their heads up their butts just as far as the left, they just don't know it. Pandering for ratings or votes is not principled. Nor is compromise. And they are too afraid to call a spade a spade or offending. All sickening to watch. Why don't they just say the truth..it has no agenda and it's pleasantly uncomplicated.

I've always liked him. I was super surprised to here even the right wing MSM denounce him.

Well..the gulch is infested lately so take your pick.
I still stand by my initial proclamation that Snowden is a hero.