Another Reason Why Snowden is a Hero

[HI54UNI]

The Dept. of Ed should be abolished. It is a joke that just creates more paperwork.

EPA should continue to be an agency but it needs to be curtailed. Too much bureaucratic power and the bureaucracy lacks common sense.

NSA is out of control. More and more it is becoming like the movie Enemy of the State.

That's funny right there. BP has been telling them to pound sand for years now.

That's not the type of thing I'm talking about. I have no problem with EPA regulating BP. What I'm talking about is things like municipal water departments having to test for chemicals based on a nationwide standard. For example in Iowa we have to test for oil drilling chemicals. Makes sense in North Dakota or Texas but not Iowa. That money would be better spent in Iowa testing for farm chemicals. Iowa cities are spending $1 billion on wastewater treatment plant improvements to improve plant efficiency from 99% to 99.5%. That money could've been better spent on controlling run off from farm fields and it would've done a lot more for the environment.

[CitadelGrad]

In the thirty-four years since the DoE was created, has education in the U.S. improved? If you think it has, has it improved enough to justify the cost of the DoE?

By every objective measure I've seen, the state of U.S. education has declined since 1980.

There are many factors that contribute to educational success. Even the definition of success is convoluted. Who's to say that without it, our performance wouldn't be even lower? So I honestly don't know. I tried googling the US Dept. of Ed and success rates and came up with very little. Here's a wiki entry on it fwiw...

Unlike the systems of most other countries, education in the United States is highly decentralized, and the federal government and Department of Education are not heavily involved in determining curricula or educational standards (with the recent exception of the No Child Left Behind Act). This has been left to state and local school districts. The quality of educational institutions and their degrees is maintained through an informal private process known as accreditation, over which the Department of Education has no direct public jurisdictional control

.

Regardless, do you think the DOE poses a greater threat to liberty than an out of control surveillance state? That was my point.

I think they go hand in hand.

[CitadelGrad]

The bulk of the Patriot Act was written by Janet Reno's DoJ during the Clinton Administration. Bush just took it off the shelf and dusted it off.

I like that one ^
It's like saying: "The gun was already sitting their, all I did was point it at his head and pull the trigger"

It was written for a reason. I doubt that it was the result of a busywork assignment for some DoJ lawyers. The Patriot Act was going to be enacted eventually. 9/11 provided the impetus.

[BlueHen86]

There are many factors that contribute to educational success. Even the definition of success is convoluted. Who's to say that without it, our performance wouldn't be even lower? So I honestly don't know. I tried googling the US Dept. of Ed and success rates and came up with very little. Here's a wiki entry on it fwiw...

.

Regardless, do you think the DOE poses a greater threat to liberty than an out of control surveillance state? That was my point.

I think they go hand in hand.

How so? How does the DOE pose a threat to liberty?

[HI54UNI]

The Dept. of Ed should be abolished. It is a joke that just creates more paperwork.

EPA should continue to be an agency but it needs to be curtailed. Too much bureaucratic power and the bureaucracy lacks common sense.

NSA is out of control. More and more it is becoming like the movie Enemy of the State.

Again, abolishing the Dept of Education is a long standing conk meme. I'm not discounting it (NCLB seems like a flop) but can someone please post a link to a non-partisan article that discusses why it's ineffective.

Thanks in advance, I'll take your answer off the air.

I don't care whose meme it is and I don't have any links. All I can share is personal experience as a school board member. The feds just mess everything up. Our school receives about $160,000 a year from the Dept of Ed. Our school has a $12 million budget.

NCLB isn't all bad but it is the typical federal problem - one size fits all mandate across all 50 states. And it lacks some common sense on certain things.

[kalm]

Again, abolishing the Dept of Education is a long standing conk meme. I'm not discounting it (NCLB seems like a flop) but can someone please post a link to a non-partisan article that discusses why it's ineffective.

Thanks in advance, I'll take your answer off the air.

I don't care whose meme it is and I don't have any links. All I can share is personal experience as a school board member. The feds just mess everything up. Our school receives about $160,000 a year from the Dept of Ed. Our school has a $12 million budget.

NCLB isn't all bad but it is the typical federal problem - one size fits all mandate across all 50 states. And it lacks some common sense on certain things.

So how has it harmed education on a national level? Why should it be abolished?

[HI54UNI]

I don't care whose meme it is and I don't have any links. All I can share is personal experience as a school board member. The feds just mess everything up. Our school receives about $160,000 a year from the Dept of Ed. Our school has a $12 million budget.

NCLB isn't all bad but it is the typical federal problem - one size fits all mandate across all 50 states. And it lacks some common sense on certain things.

So how has it harmed education on a national level? Why should it be abolished?

Waste of money/resources for no benefit.

[kalm]

So how has it harmed education on a national level? Why should it be abolished?

Waste of money/resources for no benefit.

So it's had zero positive affect for the country?

[AZGrizFan]

The Dept. of Ed should be abolished. It is a joke that just creates more paperwork.

EPA should continue to be an agency but it needs to be curtailed. Too much bureaucratic power and the bureaucracy lacks common sense.

NSA is out of control. More and more it is becoming like the movie Enemy of the State.

Again, abolishing the Dept of Education is a long standing conk meme. I'm not discounting it (NCLB seems like a flop) but can someone please post a link to a non-partisan article that discusses why it's ineffective.

Thanks in advance, I'll take your answer off the air.

I see what you did there.

[HI54UNI]

Waste of money/resources for no benefit.

So it's had zero positive affect for the country?

Have we gotten $1.3 billion worth of good out of it since 1979?

[JohnStOnge]

What can you expect from those that think showing an ID to vote is protecting your rights but showing an ID to buy a gun is violating your rights?

It was funny before I realized that they seriously believe that drivel. Conks.

There's no right to vote in the Constitution. There IS a right to keep and bear arms in the Constitution.

And, yes, I am aware of the sort of argument presented at http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc ... ge/262511/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

To suggest that you should not be required to show at some point that you are who you say you are in order to vote is ridiculous. It really is.

And the reason that there is a debate about that is because the Democratic Party knows it, on balance, benefits from voter fraud in very close elections.

[93henfan]

So it's had zero positive affect for the country?

Have we gotten $1.3 billion worth of good out of it since 1979?

$1.3 billion is 65% of the total program cost of... wait for it...

One B-2 bomber

[JohnStOnge]

BTW, I do consider Snowden a "hero." I do think he did the right thing. "Hero" might be over stating it but I do think we have gone way too far in justifying law enforcement and/or intelligence capability in the name of security.

[kalm]

Have we gotten $1.3 billion worth of good out of it since 1979?

$1.3 billion is 65% of the total program cost of... wait for it...

One B-2 bomber

I honestly don't know if we've gotten $30 million a year's worth of good out of it. But I'm beginning to think neither do those who think it should be abolished.

[houndawg]

What can you expect from those that think showing an ID to vote is protecting your rights but showing an ID to buy a gun is violating your rights?

It was funny before I realized that they seriously believe that drivel. Conks.

There's no right to vote in the Constitution. There IS a right to keep and bear arms in the Constitution.

And, yes, I am aware of the sort of argument presented at http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc ... ge/262511/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

To suggest that you should not be required to show at some point that you are who you say you are in order to vote is ridiculous. It really is.

And the reason that there is a debate about that is because the Democratic Party knows it, on balance, benefits from voter fraud in very close elections.

What's ridiculous is the suggestion that voter fraud is the real reason that republicans want to see an ID to vote. It really is John, and truth be known you are probably a bit embarrassed about acting as if you believe it.

Your comment about the right to bear arms also fails since it only applies to US citizens. How are you going to prove you're a citizen without a photo ID?

[HI54UNI]

Have we gotten $1.3 billion worth of good out of it since 1979?

$1.3 billion is 65% of the total program cost of... wait for it...

One B-2 bomber

We don't need those either.

[houndawg]

$1.3 billion is 65% of the total program cost of... wait for it...

One B-2 bomber

We don't need those either.

The defense budget isn't about what we don't need, its about welfare.

[YoUDeeMan]

Especially to you "limited government" types.

Posing as Facebook and implanting 100,000's of computers with malware….

On Wednesday, Glenn Greenwald and I revealed new details about the National Security Agency’s efforts to radically expand its ability to hack into computers and networks across the world. The story has received a lot of attention, and one detail in particular has sparked controversy: specifically, that the NSA secretly pretended to be a fake Facebook server in order to covertly infect targets with malware “implants” used for surveillance.

This revelation apparently infuriated Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg so much that he got on the phone to President Barack Obama to complain about it. “I’ve been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the US government,” Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post Thursday. “When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government.”

That wasn’t all. Wired ran a piece saying that the NSA’s widespread use of its malware tools “acts as implicit permission to others, both nation-state and criminal.” Slate noted that the NSA’s hacking platform appears to be “becoming a bit more like the un-targeted dragnets everyone has been so upset about.” Meanwhile, Ars Technica wrote that the surveillance technology we exposed “poses a risk to the entire Internet.”

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014 ... al-denial/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'll say it again...Snowden is a hero.

Some clown General was saying Snowden cost the military potentially BILLIONS with the leaks.

1, 2, 3....


Yeah, and the Verizon links were saying that the Malaysian Airlines incident demonstrated "air defense weaknesses." Yes, as if we need to worry about the airspace between Malaysia and Vietnam...you know, for our "Security."

Next up, hundreds of millions of dollars of military supplies to our "allies" in South Asia...paid for through deep discounts by our taxpayers.

Our government is out of control.

[Chizzang]

We don't need those either.

The defense budget isn't about what we don't need, its about welfare.

I know this ^ and you know this...
But how can you explain it to them who think it's about "delivering the world Democracy and Freedom and the America Way with Liberty and Justice for all..?

The Defense Budget is about a few things (specifically) and Welfare is a huge part of that

[CID1990]

The bulk of the Patriot Act was written by Janet Reno's DoJ during the Clinton Administration. Bush just took it off the shelf and dusted it off.

I like that one ^
It's like saying: "The gun was already sitting their, all I did was point it at his head and pull the trigger"

or,

"Obamacare was the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation"

[CID1990]

There's no right to vote in the Constitution. There IS a right to keep and bear arms in the Constitution.

And, yes, I am aware of the sort of argument presented at http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc ... ge/262511/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

To suggest that you should not be required to show at some point that you are who you say you are in order to vote is ridiculous. It really is.

And the reason that there is a debate about that is because the Democratic Party knows it, on balance, benefits from voter fraud in very close elections.

What's ridiculous is the suggestion that voter fraud is the real reason that republicans want to see an ID to vote. It really is John, and truth be known you are probably a bit embarrassed about acting as if you believe it.

Your comment about the right to bear arms also fails since it only applies to US citizens. How are you going to prove you're a citizen without a photo ID?

Where can you buy a gun without photo ID?

(other than out of a car trunk on the street, of course)

?

[Ivytalk]

You should want them all shut down.

I agree. This isn't a conk/donk issue.

I agree with BH86.

Which scares me a little.

[AZGrizFan]

The defense budget isn't about what we don't need, its about welfare.

I know this ^ and you know this...
But how can you explain it to them who think it's about "delivering the world Democracy and Freedom and the America Way with Liberty and Justice for all..?

Who in the hell believes THAT?

[JoltinJoe]

Maybe pounding sand is a way to get the oil off of it.

They're done paying fines, we'll pay for the rest of the clean up. Privatize the profit, socialize the risk.

Accurately describes the financial crisis too.

[kalm]

I know this ^ and you know this...
But how can you explain it to them who think it's about "delivering the world Democracy and Freedom and the America Way with Liberty and Justice for all..?

Who in the hell believes THAT?

Hilary Clinton, William Kristol, Peter King, John McCain, Blue Dog Dems...to name a few.