What's next?

General Malaise

This is a quote from a U.S. Civil War commander fed up with some bozo he had to serve under. The story is here if you like that sort of thing.

"You have played the part of a damned scoundrel, and are a coward, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it. You may as well not issue any orders to me, for I will not obey them. . . I say to you that if you ever again try to interfere with me or cross my path it will be at the peril of your life."

In other news

Which social media site do you hate most and why?

"I think I’d have to go with Facebook. The details are too numerous to list here, but my general view is that it’s a den of superficiality and petty narcissism that acts as a massive black hole for time and attention – which to me are the two most valuable resources a person has."         Scott Garner

I think Scott said it well enough there. Please try to keep that in mind.

In keeping with the general a theme here I humbly submit a post on Edward Snowden.

Seems it's well known what he's in hot water for, but it's hard to judge just what people know.
What you hear depends on where you are to a large degree, and we all kind of believe what can fit in our head, so to speak.

We are all connected

"The purpose of whistle-blowing is to expose secret and wrongful acts by those in power in order to enable reform. A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the dark, and informing the public about those acts. Both purposes have been significantly advanced by the revelations thus far."  

Glenn Greenwald - The Guardian

Here are some stories to bulk up your information store:

• Story: what's happening right now.

http://falkvinge.net/2013/06/22/petition-to-preemptively-pardon-ed-snowden-reaches-goal-of-100k-signatures/

• Story: background and support for Snowden

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/22/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-julian-assange

Keep your minds pliable folks; how many guys have to get 'in trouble' for exposing all the misdeeds of  governments or individuals before we demand they are ushered up to the public mic to speak? 

If and that's a big if, if there's a chance anything can change and I'm not saying I think it can, I believe a big first step is for everyone to insist upon honesty. Transparency in government: at a minimum!
The more difficult steps that have to do with a universal respect for one another and the planet, losing this love of money (that has completely captured our attention) can come later.

Think about it, the whistleblowers are attacked, villified and hardly anyone is talking about what's being revealed and why it needs to be in the first place. Then it's a small step from exposing some misdeeds to exposing a rigged system. OMG, help my whole world is tumbling down around me!

The chance to work this out in a good way is now. Do things looks "out of control" to you?

If it's not attended to by everyone and I mean everyone (think: Gary Oldman in The Professional) things are likely to continue heating up.

Peace

Next Post: Brazil is on Fire