government

TRX
August 20, 2013
25:
@7:
... and now: Get of your ass and do something about it.
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Any suggestions?

The government falls into the category of "highly distributed enemy." And, at least in the USA, candidate selection and policy making aren't even part of the government structure; they're part of the party NGOs, which are even more diffuse and require a lifetime of service (or huge amounts of cash) to influence.

TRX
August 22, 2013
182:
@116:
A good goal to aim for would be the total abolition of violence and coercion at all levels, by every human being, period.
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You go first.

TRX
August 22, 2013
223:
@191:
I think Snowden INTENTIONALLY infiltrated the NSA on his own behalf, found things that seemed to agree with his preconceptions, and misinterpreted and embellished them - and then proceeded to find a useful journalist and made escape plans;
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Taking his stash to the media was, at best, naive. Turning the media spotlight on them will cause them to do what any over government agency does - deny, destroy evidence, and hide similar activities. Congress isn't going to spank the NSA because of a couple of news stories; we've probably already seen the extent of censure they're likely to apply. As long as the government considers itself to be operating a "police action" and fighting "the war on terror", NSA's operations are simply too valuable to disrupt. At least, that's what its apologists will claim.

There are half a dozen different committees charged with overseeing the operations of the NSA; military, Presidential, and Congressional. Some simple web searching returns the names of the members, which could have been evaluated and approached with information that the NSA was exceeding its authority. Assuming the oversight committees weren't deliberately turning blind eyes to the activities, something might have been done. Now anything to do with it is political poison, other than some grandstanding for publicity.

TRX
August 23, 2013
232:
@206:
Actually, that reminds me: there's a chunk in John Hackett's novel "the third world war" where he uses the (fictional) example of Russian soldiers shooting at US field ambulances to show how evil the commies are.
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Victor Suvorov brings that up in one of his books. According to him, Soviet soldiers weren't told that ambulances were anything special, therefore they were just as valid a targer as any other enemy vehicle.

Note that there's a huge amount of debate on how truthful/accurate Suvorov's books are, down to the level of "moustache scissors at two paces."