September 2, 2013

There were 3 posts published on September 2, 2013 (this is page 1 of 1).

Ex-spooks debate Snowden’s actions

I’m a member of a Facebook group called United States Navy Cryptologic Technicians. Last week a member authored a post which questioned why NSA leaker Edward Snowden wasn’t being hunted down with all available resources. It spawned a very lively debate amongst ex-spooks about Snowden’s motives and those of the NSA, a debate which continues as I post this. There are many former spooks like myself who find the NSA’s new reach to be quite alarming, while others seem to be comfortable with Americans’ almost complete lack of online privacy. Several point out that Snowden took an oath to protect this information and broke his oath.

I took a similar oath when gained my security clearance. Like every other servicemember, however, the first oath I took was support and defend the Constitution of the United States “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” To the extent that the latter conflicts with the former, the former (being the law of the land) always takes precedence. In addition, it was drilled into us as sailors that it was our duty to disobey an unlawful order. In hindsight this is far easier to say than do, as in practice disobeying a lawful order would most likely put you in a world of hurt. At least the government would come out looking good during your court-martial.
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Fixing the home

Friday I was chatting with a neighborhood parent when she told me of a disturbing incident she witnessed as she drove through my neighborhood earlier this summer.

As she was passing one house, she saw a woman getting into a car at the curb as a young boy, probably 7 or 8, came running up to her. Anticipating a loving scene where the boy gets a big hug from his mom, my friend was instead shocked to see the woman turn and strike the boy with the back of her hand, knocking him to the ground!

The kid picked himself up off the ground and calmly walked back into the house. It was as if this wasn’t the first time that this kid had been hit.

I was aghast. Hearing this broke my heart. This kid lives in my neighborhood. I’ve waved to him many times as he’s quietly ridden his bike around his front yard, always by himself. He seems like a good kid but that’s beside the point. What the hell was this woman thinking to hit a child like that? How screwed up is she to think this is okay?
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Labor Day lake visit

Yesterday the family packed up some snacks, supplies, and the dog and drove up to Lake Gaston to visit our family friends, the Naylors, at their lakehouse for the day. We had a nice ride around the lake on their pontoon boat, stopping in a cove to go for a quick swim before returning to their house. Storm clouds were approaching by that time so we stayed inside and caught up. It was a wonderful visit with wonderful friends.

On the way back those storm clouds continued darkening and 45 minutes into the drive home the bottom absolutely fell out. I spent a good 15 minutes driving through very heavy rain! It reached its fiercest when we neared Franklinton but never completely ended. By the time we got into Raleigh we were hitting large puddles all along Atlantic Avenue and Kelly saw Crabtree Creek nearing the top of the bridge at Hodges St. Fortunately for us it stopped raining almost exactly as long as it took us to unload the major things from the car.

At some point yesterday afternoon I developed a raging headache which continued through dinner and never let up. Driving in a heavy rain did little to relieve it, too. I got home and decided the only thing that could make me feel better was a shower and bed. I was asleep by 10 after 9. I feel better now, though.