The third time, it’s enemy action.

The first international Snowden revelations were about China. And they were released to the “news” media, right before Obama met with Chinese leaders.
The scheduled talks were derailed and damaged by the resulting brouhaha.

The second time involved Russia. Shortly before Obama and Putin were supposed to meet. So much fuss was raised, the meeting didn’t happen at all.

And right before this week’s EU meeting, some Snowden revelations hit the press about… You guessed ‘er Chester, about the NSA spying on Europeans. American/European relations have taken a big hit.

“The first time is coincidence, the second time happenstance, and the third is enemy action.” Someone is trying to damage the United States. The only question remaining is who’s behind it.

But the intent is now clear. Yes, the Bushies screwed us but good with the “Patriot Act” and all that came from it. And yes, the NSA needs to be put on a tight leash. These are needed reforms, sorely and urgently needed.

But reformers don’t try to weaken or destroy the thing they are trying to reform. Indeed, reformation aims to strengthen its object. That is the polar opposite of what is being done with Snowden’s stolen NSA files.

“The first time is coincidence, the second time happenstance, and the third is enemy action.” The only question remaining is who that enemy is.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Who is Paying Edward Snowden’s Bills?

If you see Mr. Blunt and Cranky on stage playing some old chestnut like “Freebird”, you can tell why he’s playing it by who’s paying him (some bar owner, corporate type or FOTB). Once you know who is laying out the green and folding, you can understand why the band is playing a song we’ve grown heartily sick of over the decades. But hey, he who has the gold makes the rules: so in order to get the gold, the players follow the rules. The dude with the bucks wants to hear Skynyrd, so he gets Skynyrd.

If you encounter this writer in a corporate context, you might wonder why he puts on a tie, when his aversion to such ornamental ligatures is well-established. So you ask who is putting up the cash. Once you know who is writing the checks, the wearing of a suit and tie makes sense. Because he who has the gold makes the rules: so in order to get the gold, the suits follow the rules. The man with the cash wants us to wear ties, so we wear ‘em.

Now let us apply the same analytical (and yes, cynical) process to Edward Snowden. He took a pay cut in order to be able to steal government secrets and spread them around the globe, so he wasn’t likely saving a ton of bucks. He then flew on some not-too-cheap flights from Hawaii to Hong Kong, and then to Russia, where he’s been holed up for weeks in a pretty darned expensive and heavily secured hotel. He’s also been accompanied and been given legal advice on occasion by Wikileaks at least since he fled the USA (and for all we know, before that). He’s divulged secrets and rattled cages, and acted in a sometimes inexplicable manner. And we wonder: “Why?”

The answer, my friend, can be found when we identify Snowden’s paymaster. Putin sure as hell ain’t comping Edward’s room, meals and drinks for nothing. So either he is getting “paid” with Snowden’s stolen information, or somebody else is paying the bills for the airport hotel and whatever other costs he may be incurring.
Wikileaks is also not giving legal advice away for free. So either they are getting “paid” with Snowden’s stolen information, or somebody else is paying the bills for the legal beagles.

When we know who is bankrolling the man, we’ll understand why he is doing such things. Whoever has the gold makes the rules, and if Ed wants the gold, he’s following their rules. Somebody with money wants to stick it to the USA, and so Eddie is sticking it to us.

So, who’s the “somebody”, and what do they want for their money? Snowden sure as Hell isn’t telling: he wants to get paid, like everybody else. So who among you, out there in the Cranky Nation, can track down man with the cash?

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

P.S. This writer was able to find any number of crowd-funded “legal defense” funds set up for the man: but no way to actually tie those funds to his current financial situation. Send in some documentation, and if it’s verifiable we will publish it here.

Deluded Sacks of S*** of The Week: Edward Snowden and his Supporters

Here’s how crazy and delusional people have gotten: a contractor admits having taken a job with the NSA in order to steal national security information (which is a crime);

He flees to Communist China, famous for slaughtering and imprisoning political dissidents because he thinks they are a more free and open society than America;

He then flees to Russia, which is run by the former head of the KGB because he thinks that Putin will be more respectful of human rights than America or Communist China;

And is now planning to flee to Venezuela, a country with a human rights record that is almost as bad as those of Russia and Communist China, because he thinks he’ll be “free” there;

And legions of deluded dips***s from across the American political spectrum think he’s a hero. Really. They think this.

In reality, Edward Snowden is by his own admission a liar and a thief. He is also a delusional dips*** in his own right; this we know by his actions.

Christ on a trampoline, who would think so many people could be such idiots?

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

P.S. Go to http://www.hrw.org/ Human Rights Watch’s website and search on “China”, “Russia” and “Venzueala” to see what these supporters of Snowden say about the human rights situation of these three countries. Then ask yourself why anyone possessed of even a moity of their marbles would call them champions of “human rights”.

P.P.S. This has nothing to do with the debate over domestic NSA surveillance and the like. That leftover from the Bushies needs ripped out by the roots, and that soon.

Edward Snowden Vs. Bradley Manning

First off: this writer considers both men (if tried and convicted, of course) to be stinking scum buckets who violated the terms of their employment and many other laws as well. Having said that, Manning seems a more genuine, if misguided, character than Snowden. Here’s why:

Number A: Bradley Manning stole a load of sensitive and secret documents and handed them off to others to publish. After committing said theft, he stayed on the job until the cops came to arrest him. He has since followed the legal process and from all reports considers himself to be a whistleblower who acted with patriotic intent. And if he has to go to prison, he’ll go to prison, because he believes in what he did and why he did it.

Letter 2: Edward Snowden stole a load of sensitive and secret documents and ran away after working with a publicist to make this as big a deal as possible. He went to a territory controlled by a nation with a much more intrusive domestic security apparat than America’s to tell us all how bad America is. He then fled to another nation with a hideously intrusive domestic security apparat on his way to another such country. While doing so, he has carefully leaked selected material at such times as to cause damage to his birth country. He has been inconsistent in his story and is going to great lengths to avoid stating under oath what he did and why. Much about the man is shady, to say the least.

Your friendly neighborhood blogger doesn’t find either of them to be particurlarly admirable, but Manning at least acts like a man who believes in his cause.

Snowden just acts like a crook.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

You Can’t Move Forward if You Insist on Standing Still

You may not know this, but Medieval China was the world superpower in the first centuries of the second millennium. Yes, Southwest Asia and some of the Mediterranean and North African states had influence and wealth (Europe was in the Dark Ages for much of this period, and America had yet to be invaded by we honkies), but China dominated the civilized world, militarily and economically. Until the early part of the fifteenth century, that is.

In that time, China suffered several economic setbacks that threatened their economy and indeed the very state itself. So they pulled back, abandoned the empire they had spent centuries building, and embarked upon an isolationist period that would last for around 500 years. And during that time, Europe and the Middle East pretty much took over the world that the Chinese used to run: indeed, they took even more of the world and ruthlessly ruled and exploited it. Now China wants its old role back, and is having a hard time accomplishing that feat: because, while they slept, we took the planet and have no desire to hand it back to them.

Why is this interesting? Because America in 2013 is a lot like China in, say, 1423: having spent many years being bold and innovative, building and exploring, daring to do great things in the past, there is now a movement to haul ass backwards, or at least to hold still.

Look at our media figures and politicians: far too many of them preach a gospel of fear, ignorance and falsehood; Lies and panic-mongering, media manipulation, and hardly anyone talks about how destructive this is to our nation.

When this writer was a wee lad, America went to the moon. Yes, we did that. We did brave things, bold things, things that mattered to the world, things that were investments in our future.

Nowadays, America is being ruined by a load of greedy, cowardly, short-sighted poltroons. We couldn’t do an Apollo today, folks. We can’t even keep our roads paved properly or our bridges up in the air. We can’t even keep Grandma fed or Junior safe in his school. America is stuck.

And, just like China in the past, America is choosing to be left behind by the nations who still have a pair. We are dooming ourselves to has-been status. Many of our “leaders” aren’t leading us forward: they are doing the exact opposite, if they are in fact leading at all.

The supreme irony? China, having learned from its mistakes, is leaving America in its dust. Because America not only didn’t learn from China’s mistakes: we are repeating them.

Forward? No, backward march. Double time.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Motherf***in’ Mitt Made Millions from The Auto Bailout

The source of those millions? We, the taxpayers paid them to Mitt and his cronies, while Delphi workers lost their jobs, pensions, and healthcare. Then their jobs were sent to…you guessed ‘er, Chester; China. Yes, Mitt’s cronies sent American auto industry jobs to China. (Mitt later claimed that Obama sent autoworkers’ jobs there. That takes some brass.)

Click the link below for a rare example of actual journalism (yeah, a sadly uncommon thing these days)covering the money trail and the crooked slimeballs involved. Short version: Mitt invested in a company that bought Delphi, got paid more than once for the purchase, and then shipped each and every union job to China. The former American workers are in foreclosure, working at Wal-Mart, going hungry, doing without health care, and so on. The usual fate of de-jobbed American workers in our modern Dickensian economic reality.

http://www.thenation.com/article/170644/mitt-romneys-bailout-bonanza

Mr. Blunt and Cranky really, really has a problem with his tax dollars going to pad the offshore bank  accounts of these motherf***ers. Especially when Romney opposed the bailout in public, whilst profiting from it in private.  He stole our money and money owed to the former American Delphi workers, sent the jobs overseas, and then tried to blame Obama for it.

If you read this and still vote for Romney, you are one of the following:

Number A: Stupid

Letter 2: Racist AND Stupid

Thirdly: In on the scam and making tons of money from it.

If you are in the third category, well; f*** you assh***, give us our money back.

Mr. B & C

Lying Sack of S*** of The Week: Mitt Romney, of Course!

Mr. Etch-A-Sketch’s campaign did, at least, tell us they were going to totally change their story whenever it suited them, so one must give them kudos for being honest about their intentions to lie. And yea, verily, they have  lived up to their promise to be lying sacks of s***. But Willard has just raised his game, as the existing lies might not have been enough to con enough people into voting for his lying a**:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121026/POLITICS01/210260402/1121/AUTO01/Romney–Chrysler-may-move-Jeep-production-to-China

Mitt, for those of you that don’t care to click links, lied a really big lie about Chrysler moving all Jeep production to China and blaming Obama therefore. That is, of course, totally not true (Jeep is, in fact, adding a shift in Detroit), but hey, since when has Mitt shown a big ol’ regard for the facts when there are dollars (or votes) to be grubbed?

He’s gonna have to add another car elevator to hold all of the Crowns O’ Polished Turds he has earned thus far: Willie M. Romney, the Lying Sack of S*** of The Week.

Mr. B & C