Foreign governments may well have to step up to protect American citizens from their own country

I've been thinking a lot about the Snowden case lately. Here's where it stands now:

Possible asylum locations for Snowden

As may have been clear from some of my entries here, I'm not exactly your average hardcore, flag wavin' pie bakin' American patriot. It has been said, that "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." - Samuel Johnson. I get the feeling that the US as a nation has been using such mawkishly sentimental appeal to its detriment. Because intellectually, there is no way to justify a decision as contemptible as that of Citizens United, for example. How can we possibly feel 'patriotic' towards a government that now views money as free speech, and rewards corporations with the status of personhood?

America has become a very unsafe country in which to live, and I think even the most staunch patriot is starting to sense ominous clouds on the horizon. I won't delve too deeply into the Conservative distrust of government here. I'd say their critique of 'too much government' is invalid when discussing the United States, because it is a fact that there really isn't much of a 'nanny state' to speak of and government has not been on the side of its citizenry for a very long time now, let alone fed or clothed any of its more unfortunate citizens with any program of note or genuine social value.

I'm sure that other countries have looked upon the US in horror, as when our government denied victims of hurricane Katrina any sort of help whatsoever. And there are countless other examples, the most current being the extreme level of inequality between rich and poor that now has us at less than third world country status. I wish that were an exaggeration.

In my own life, there have been twists, turns and ironies that make it near impossible for me to be a 'patriot' in any sense. For one, I discovered the incredible warmth of family and community support when I lived in beautiful Italy, from about the age of twelve to twenty one. When I first moved there, being treated like a human being was a novelty to me, sadly. In the US, I was severely bullied at school and was also subjected to some pretty extreme abuse by relatives. TV was a mother surrogate. I'm certain that this culture of abuse and dehumanization was a result of the American love of materialism over people. I remain convinced of it today. Yet, when I arrived in Italy, there was a 180 degree turnaround in how I was regarded. For one thing, children are loved there. As for adults, they are regarded as an important part of the social puzzle at any age, not treated as a burden.

All in all, I lived in Europe a good sixteen years of my life. Perhaps the final kicker was that the British government picked up the tab for my entire college tuition, merely because I was resident in the EU for more than ten years. I will be forever grateful for that. It's hard to imagine Uncle Sam investing in education to such an extent.

Every time I have returned to the US, something abusive seems to happen. The reason for the existence of this whole blog is a result of the abusive corporate American policy of keeping Permatemps. I don't feel my rights as a citizen have ever been protected here. Not in the slightest.

And now we have the insane human rights abuse in the form of the NSA raping our personal space pretty much whenever they feel like it. And government and corporations being more on their side than ours. What reason do we have left to believe in this country? It's a question that deserves serious contemplation at this point. If not, we will see our dignity and every last basic civil right being run into the ground.

Really, it's no wonder that every country, US ally or not, is running to protect Edward Snowden. The US has confirmed the worst fears and concerns the global community has had, that it is an infantile, dangerous country that has no interest in protecting or caring for its own, let alone addressing universal concerns of the human race in general. And unfortunately, when a country that has been given a great deal of responsibility and power starts to behave like a raging sociopath, it's best to quietly remove its influence from the world stage...

I love you, Alternet!

Your success is well-deserved. It takes some real chutzpah to report on corporate corruption:

Tech Monstrosities, Inc.

Again, I've been sayin' it all along...

But thanks to Alternet, the point is being driven home:

Shine coming off the Apple :)

Protest in front of Chevron, San Ramon

A friend of mine from the activist site, Care 2, singing 'Connect the dots':