The global power of the financial centers is so great, that they can afford not to worry

about the political tendency of those who hold power in a nation, if the economic program (in other words, the role that nation has in the global economic megaprogram) remains unaltered. The financial disciplines impose themselves upon the different colors of the world political spectrum in regards to the government of any nation. The great world power can tolerate a leftist government in any part of the world, as long as the government does not take measures that go against the needs of the world financial centers. But in no way will it tolerate that an alternative economic, political and social organization consolidate. For the megapolitics, the national politics are dwarfed and submit to the dictates of the financial centers. It will be this way until the dwarfs rebel . .

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/ezln/1997/jigsaw.html

Marcos is a really intelligent, perceptive, and prescient human being.

I understand. You are looking at this from the POV of a good American, who is convinced

that their government can do no wrong, and that the information provided by the government is always true and accurate.

Tories, people who sided with the British during the American War for Independence, basically felt the same way about Paul Revere and the rebels that you feel about Snowden. Americans who believed that the extermination of Native Americans was justified felt the same way you do about Snowden. Germans who felt that the German government during the mid thirties and early forties of the 20th century felt the same way about Oskar Schindler as you do about Snowden.

It's all relative. Some people simply believe that everything their government does is moral, ethical, and just, even if that government has a policy of oppression and or genocide, and that anyone who opposes these actions and policies and struggles against these actions and policies is an outlaw and a traitor, like Revere, Crazy Horse, and Schindler, just to name a few on a very long list of resistance "heroes".

Personally, I am much more concerned with the distressing information that Snowden made public, and basically view most unsourced attempts at assassinating Snowden's character as pseudo-patriotic strawman arguments created to deflect attention from the fact that the US government has been employing unethical methods and devices to invade the privacy of innocent US citizens.

There is a big difference between ethics/morality and law, and it appears that many here have difficulty understanding how these things can be different.

After WWII, the Nuremberg Commission made a clear distinction between national laws and government orders and common human ethics/morality:

Advocates Explain Why the R-word is so Hurtful When Used in Jokes or as Part of Everyday Speech:

Thank you for your post. As a lifetime advocate of the rights of the disabled, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to step back and make an effort empathize a bit with some of our awesome brothers and sisters who face unusual challenges in their lives. I have worked with, and advocated for rights with, folks with these challenges for many years, and I have been humbled by the strength and persistence that these folks have displayed in their efforts to master these challenges.

I had a very great friend, his name was Butch, I loved him dearly. He was very severely challenged, with challenges that would have crushed me forever in a split second. But Butch was always sunny and happy, he had a keen wit, and was the kindest person I have ever known.

Butch is my hero, and my mentor. He taught me how to never to feel sorry myself, never to make excuses, and how to be happy.

Butch taught me that I am pretty much capable of anything if I have the will to do it.

Clue: Believing that we have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

does not make us libertarians.

Just for your information, that inalienable rights thing is a line from a historical document know as the Declaration of Independence, which is a document primarily concerned with freedom, rights and liberty, and was in large part written by Thomas Jefferson, who is universally considered to be the founder of the Democratic Party.

I strongly suggest that if you want to learn what it means to be a Democrat that you study the Declaration of Independence, as well as the writings of Jefferson. I assume you don't know these things, or you would not have posted such a clueless OP. You see, Democrats, unlike republicans, believe in collective and personal liberty. There is another Party, known as the Third Way, who claim to be Democrats, but, like republicans, do not believe
in the aforementioned inalienable rights, or in individual and collective liberty for all people.

You seem to be coming from a Third Way perspective, because you are clearly confusing Democrats with Libertarians.

I had to assume from your OP that you are unaware of this vital historical information. I have noticed that many conservatives seem to be lacking an education in history these days.

A field of tulips, and a poem as well...

No. Our government is always upright, honest, and good, and must never be questioned.

......................

Great article, thank you!

The bottom line is that it is all about protecting wealthy private interests, and keeping them, and laissez faire capitalism, safe from democratic control.

The imperialists need to be able to freely plunder the planet and be free from interference by the people they exploit, as they greedily ravage the globe and wantonly desolate the human condition for profit.

After 8 fucking miserable years of blatant fascism under Bush/Cheney, & the PNAC, you can spew that?

I was born this way. I got my dark skinned mixed race female LGBT Yellowdog

bleeding heart tolerant hippie radical liberal social worker anti-fascist racism directly in the womb, apparently.

This should be completely evident from my sig line below.

Born This Way ~ Lady Gaga

Don't be a drag, just be a queen
Whether you're broke or evergreen
You're black, white, beige, chola descent
You're Lebanese, you're orient
Whether life's disabilities
Left you outcast, bullied, or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today
'cause baby you were born this way

No matter gay, straight, or bi,
Lesbian, transgendered life,
I'm on the right track baby,
I was born to survive.
No matter black, white or beige
Chola or orient made,
I'm on the right track baby,
I was born to be brave.

I was born this way hey!
I was born this way hey!
I'm on the right track baby
I was born this way hey!

Same DNA, but born this way.
Same DNA, but born this way.
------------------------------
Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever ever feel, like you're less than, fuckin' perfect, to me.

You conveniently forget that many of these same nice DU non-black folks you are calling racist

bigot haters supported and helped elect Obama, and were joyful, hopeful, and enthusiastic when he took office.

The proof is right here at DU, written in stone, in the post Obama nomination posts of many of these same good progressive white folks you are trashing.
.
Your assertions of racism in this case are possibly the most disgusting, cheap trick propaganda device I have ever seen on DU.

The bottom line (pun intended) of why these nice white folks, and even mixed race people like me, and even many liberal black folks, are not happy with Obama is that after he was elected, and to this day, it is business as usual in Washington.

We wanted Obama to make the main focus of his Presidency to be extreme institutional progressive democratic reform, in government, society, and economy.

We wanted a President who would who would work tirelessly to end the control of our government by wealthy private interests.

But all we got was (the) business, as usual, with a small portion of social and environmental reform.

The vitriol you are seeing is not hate, racism, and bigotry, prosense. We understand that the President has an enormous job to do, and that getting things done is difficult in this irreparably broken political system. What we don't understand is why the President has not made a significant sustained focused effort to root out the wealthy private interests controlling our government, and has not even acknowledged that wealthy private interests are controlling our government.

Why not???

You see, our criticism is Democrats simply being Democrats, believing in the traditional ideology of the Democratic Party, and wanting the purported Democrat we elected President to govern like a Democrat.

But we got business as usual.

We want democracy, so don't expect our criticism of Obama to end until he makes a sincere effort to wipe all vestiges of fascism from our country. Yes, he has done some good things, and good on him for that, but he has not made any apparent focused, sustained effort at rooting out control of our government by wealthy private interests

We want democracy, not the kinder, gentler fascism being forced upon us by the Third Way New Democrat Blue Dog conservatives who have infected the heart of Democratic Party philosophy with the insidious, malignant pathogen of fascist corporatism.

Don't you get it? We don't want these fucking wealthy private interests controlling our government anymore. We want our President to fight them tooth and nail, so we can remove these rats and termites from undermining the foundation and structure of our democratic Democratic house, so that we can begin the progressive work of making our government, economy, and society constructive instruments used to do the utmost to insure the life, liberty, happiness, and health of every citizen of our nation, and to foster and preserve a healthy environment for ourselves and all future generations.

Instead, for far too many of our leaders, all of the republicans, and their Democratic allies, the utmost priority of our government is just.

BUSINESS AS USUAL.

Do you get it now? All these nice, kind, compassionate liberal Democrat white folks you are insulting are not bigoted racists, they are anti-fascist democrats. They don't give a flying fuck if the President is black, red, white, yellow, green, pink, purple or is red white and blue striped. They don't care if the President is female, male, or other. They don't care if the President is lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, or straight.

It's very simple.

They want the President, no matter what s/he looks like, etc, to work to govern like a democratic Democrat, and protect our people, country, and democracy from fascist corporatist plutonomy.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."
- Mussolini

"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. "
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Message from the President of the United States..."

So please. Everyone here know how much you like and admire the President. Just please, stop with these cheap bullshit allegations of racism toward all of us who deign to criticize the President for what may be criticism leveled for the most appropriate reason on the planet.