Snowden’s critics are either too ignorant to know this, or they’re toadies to the powers that be.

The government is not spying on the American people merely to catch terrorists. It considers us all enemies, in that it is taking an adversarial position to all of us.

Re: NSA surveillance, Obama has now publicly gone to bat for it and said things (in defense of it) for which candidate Obama would have excorciated Bush and McCain. Obama acquires the stink of it thusly, and even in the eyes of his young (ex-)supporters.

And I can accept that claim ILC, as long as you can also accept that the very same claim can be said of your position. After all–”you leave out the possibility that the [Rightists] might have been lying, or self-deceived or otherwise just plain wrong, when they were busy claiming to be scientific and objective.”

People can hold positions that do not accord with rational scientific positions and be rightist. One can ask why there are many today that believe that the sun revolves around the earth; or that evolution is a crock.To the extent that these folks hold such views because of “religious faith” or because they look for “a scientific rationale that accords with their religious beliefs” rather than based in the scientific method, that is the extent to which those folks fit your critique of those who are unwilling to use “objective epistemology.”

And Dan: “make the case why the study of philosophy and great works of literature mattered to those who pursued careers in law, medicine, banking and commerce” I thought HT provided a good answer at #20.

In the absence of a substantial number of foreign-born Muslim immigrants, would there be justification for a large surveillance apparatus?

I’m not saying that all Muslims are terrorists but a few people can cause a lot of trouble.

Nor am I saying that the government wouldn’t have found an excuse for the surveillance in any case.

I lived the past few years in California, where no matter what, it was going to be Boxer and Feinstein. Sigh. I now live in SC. I worry we’ll be stuck with Graham. I’m still marveling at, and shaking my head over Sanford… If noone viable beats Graham in the primary, I’ll have to vote for him in the election. Because as crappy as he is, I would rather him, than, oh, Elizabeth Colbert Busch.

Any chance of reoncsidering, Bruce?

Anyway, my guess is that 2014 is going to be a minor bloodbath for the GOP; there are so many discouraged and disgusted conservatives who’ve given up on the party and are sick of being spit on and called “Whacko Birds” by the GOP Establishment. If the GOP hd a stay-at-home problem in 2012, 2014 is going to be worse.

Anyway, looking at the GOP front-runners-to-lose-to-Hillary… Krispy Kreme, Rube, and OMG-Not-Another-Bush-Good-Lord-No-Please-Kill-Me-Now… none of them look like much of a course correction even if they could beat Hillary.

I never did see the “Iron Sky” movie, not something I would have any interest to waste my valuable time viewing. I did watch the 3:09 clip you linked to, and I will respectfully disagree with you on the Nazi allegory – it was pervasive and extremely clear what the filmmaker was alluding to in that 3 minute clip. Thus, it doesn’t matter if Sarah was portrayed as a Nazi or not – the clip left no doubt that that was the MAIN theme. I would also disagree that she wasn’t portrayed as a Nazi – the portion of her speech in that clip was very much Nazi like.

Gotta go – got no power – storms are brutal this evening in Atlanta – battery down to 7%!!!

The reality is that in both elections, it was the machine organized fringe which did the trick.

Now, those zero’s are back in their world of detached inattention pondering their navels and endlessly waiting for their check from the Obama stash.

So, the base and other sentient voters who went for the Obama illusion are beginning to wonder why the mind trip to castles in the air is beginning to look a lot like a fleeting figment of fantasy.

A little suspicion creeping in creating a fear of maybe having been raped by reality is unsettling to the basic faith structure of the Obamanauts. They see The Won not leading while golfing and traipsing around the world with his entourage and they begin to doubt him.

Oh, my.

Sonicfrog, you libs just can’t seem to get off that Nazi allegory when it comes to conservatives.

”

Mix… Since you’re kind of new here, let’s clear things up.

(A) I’m not a “lib”. I’m a libertarian with a small “L”.

(B) I didn’t write the script, direct, or have any involvement in the making of the movie “Iron Sky”. The film is social satire. It was written when Palin was at the height of her popularity in 2008, so of course she is going to figure into the plot. If you would have seen the film you would know there was plenty of jabs at all sorts of political and social issues, both Conservative and Liberal. Throughout much of the movie, it skewers the supposed “tolerance” and “culture” of modern black Americans.

BTW…. Sarah Palin was not portrayed as a “Nazi”, and, in fact, never really allied with them and ended up going to war with them when she found out their true intentions.

http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2013/06/confirmed-sharyl-attkissons-work-and.html

You know sonicfrog, you libs might get a better reaction when it comes to humor and skits directed at conservatives if you were equally as tolerant as you want us to be, when your progressive icons and leaders are the butt of a joke. But, that is not the case. We get thrown in jail, called Nazis, called racists, have the IRS, EPA, OSHA hammer us, the DEA raid our business, etc….

Libs are little people, with little minds and void of ANY sense of humor or tolerance – if it ain’t your way then it’s NO WAY!!

Good try though, it was funny.