As Abby Zimet points out this morning, America is being introduced to Big Brother by the revelations about the surveillance state recently. Abby says, "One small good thing to come of the NSA revelations: Americans are discovering the brilliant, prescient "1984" by English Democratic Socialist Eric Arthur Blair, aka George Orwell. Just in time for its 64th anniversary, sales of his classic dystopian tale of state surveillance and thought control have skyrocketed, with sales rising an incredible 5,771% and some editions hitting Amazon's top bestsellers list."
Yesterday's Mud Report was in part about Rand Paul suing the NSA. And today's article 'ACLU Sues Obama Administration Over NSA 'Dragnet' Surveillance Revealed in Historic Leaks' announced that because the NSA phone surveillance will have a 'chilling effect' on ACLU's ability to protect civil liberties they are launching a case. The ACLU's Brett Kaufman says, "As an organization that advocates for and litigates to defend the civil liberties of society's most vulnerable, the staff at the ACLU naturally use the phone—a lot—to talk about sensitive and confidential topics with clients, legislators, whistleblowers, and ACLU members. And since the ACLU is a VBNS [Verizon] customer, we were immediately confronted with the harmful impact that such broad surveillance would have on our legal and advocacy work. So we're acting quickly to get into court to challenge the government's abuse of [the Patriot Act's] Section 215." This is excellent news because the ACLU has a terrific legal team who often presents opinions before SCOTUS so they will be respected by the court and the case will get coverage in the MSM which will work to further raise awareness.
As for the dynamic duo, Edward Snowden said in an interview today in The South China Morning Post that, "I'm neither traitor nor hero. I'm an American". In the interview Snowden explains that he chose Hong Kong because he believes that their very fair legal system will allow him to fight US extradition effectively. And Glen Greenwald, channeling the great Edward R. Murrow - who stood up to Senator Joseph McCarthy's tyrannical Red Scare when all other journalists ran for cover in the 50s - reiterated his statement that many more leaks are coming, which in the face of a government that summarily executes its own citizens with no due process is IMO very courageous.
“There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” - George Orwell, 1984
