Another Day, Another Collapse Against the Yankees

Willingham is out Hicks is back, and as to what happened yesterday. I simply don't want to talk about it.

Gardy can't beat the Yankees.

So what do I want to talk about?

I liked the show "24" a lot and I am super excited it's coming back. I like the basic premise of Mission Impossible. Basically people WITHIN the government do things they are not legally allowed to do to "keep America safe." If they get caught the government "disavows any knowledge of them or their actions."

The problem is I know, we all know, that people like this really do exist in real life. I haven't quite decided yet if these real-life individuals are patriots and heroes or the ultimate vigilantes.

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is running from the U.S. government because he leaked top-secret information to the press last month. He said he was morally obligated to release the information because it was the right thing to do and that people needed to know what he knew.

I have no problem with people following their conscious. In fact, I encourage everyone to do what they "know is right" as often as they can. The problem is that Snowden released the information and then ran like a coward instead of facing the consequences of his decision. He, in effect, wanted to break the law and then not be punished for breaking the law. As a result I have no problem calling THIS man a traitor. IF he would have stayed and taken his punishment like a man, my feelings about him would be considerably different.

In other words, and this is very important, you should be willing to die for what you truly believe in. If you want to be the whistleblower that deliberately breaks security laws, then you better be prepared to suffer the consequences if others think what you did was wrong. If you think betraying your government by releasing classified information is right, then you've lost the right to keep yourself protected by that decision.

In a related story, it's been discovered that the NSA director lied to Congress. When they asked him if the NSA keeps the e-mail and voice messages records of "millions of Americans" he told them the NSA does not do that. The problem is that they do and now we all know it.

Now HERE'S the dilemma, (quick side note, it's not spelled dilemna, look it up.) the NSA security head could not tell Congress the truth without divulging classified information. In other words, Congress asked him a question in which he legally was not allowed to tell the truth.

This is the insane world we live in. Congress regularly calling everyone in to testify about just about everything from steroid use in sports to gun control has given THEM the perception they have more power than they really are allowed to have. And it results in all sorts of insane mandates and discoveries. Oftentimes government HAS to keep its secrets. Not everything is open to public consumption.

But we should never trade our freedom for perceived safety.

I'm not wise enough to know where to draw the line. I just know that at least a couple of people have probably crossed it recently.