Shattered

Edward Snowden - traitor or hero?

Edward Snowden and his girlfriend, the pole dancer.

Edward Snowden - traitor or whistleblower hero?  I don't think at this point we can determine whether he is either one.  

He has definitely let the proverbial 'cat out of the bag.'  The government was in violation of the fourth and twelfth amendments of the U.S. Constitution in collecting so much phone and internet data on millions of Americans.  

Apparently, Snowden had a crisis of conscience and decided to leak this information to two newspapers, The Guardian and The Washington Post.  He just didn't feel he could live with doing his job and the American people not knowing the government surveillance that was going on without their knowledge.

Should he have revealed or leaked this information?   For one, I am glad to now know my government is doing this.  I am glad he leaked this so I know what is really going on here in America.  Can we have freedom and security here in the U.S. if this is the type of surveillance it takes to keep us safe?  I don't know.

On the other hand, has he compromised the United States in the eyes of her enemies, who are now aware our government is doing this and can take precautions?   I don't know.  

This is not such an open and shut case like the Watergate scandal was.  Woodward and Bernstein were heroes for cracking  Nixon's  scandal.  The right of Americans to know what their president was really doing behind their backs - a shady burglary of the Democratic National Headquarters seems so quaint and silly in today's world.  

This Snowden scandal is a tough ethical question and I guess we are going to have to see how this plays out before a judgment can be passed on Edward Snowden.

Snowden comes across to me as a 'kid' - evidence that I am growing older now.  He appears to me to be misguided in his attempts to alert the world to what our government is doing.  Yes, we definitely have to have a public discussion or discourse on this topic.  I agree with him there.  

I think this surveillance information needed to come out, I'm just not sure how Snowden should have done it though.  Many in government say there are systems already in place for whistleblowers to use to reveal hidden information.  But, could Snowden really trust those systems or avenues?  Perhaps he felt they were just as corrupt as the government was in its surveillance.  

I also, don't care for Obama's nonchalance and cavalier attitude toward these leaks.  His attitude is 'well, we were doing this in secret and violating the U.S. Constitution, but now that it's out we should have a discourse about it.'  There is no embarrassment or remorse that he has been violating the constitution.  I don't understand his cavalier attitude - it is all right to have done this in the name of national security?  This incident has raised more questions than it is answering.

No, I don't want another terrorist attack like 9/11 ever again.  But, I don't want millions upon millions of Americans' phone records confiscated either.

Can't we find a happy medium in this world?  It seems in the Boston Marathon terrorist attack we weren't surveilling the right phone calls anyway.  We dropped the ball on that one.  We even had the Russians telling us about the older brother's phone calls and acquainting himself with terrorist organizations, but were weren't able to stop the two brothers and their attacks.  

I don't know what the answer is anymore and I don't know what to think of Edward Snowden yet.  Perhaps time will tell.


Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Depth of My Love - a poem

You will never understand 

the depth of my love



The fire of my passion

or the purity of my soul

You will never understand

my feelings for you



The butterflies in my stomach

that flutter at your gaze upon me



You will never understand

my temperature rises



At the gentle touch

of your hand



You will never understand . . .






Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Butterflies are free

England's Brutal Terrorist Murder

My condolences and sympathy go out to the family of the English soldier so brutally murdered by jihadist terrorists this week.   My sympathy and empathy go out to all of England and its people for
having this horrible attack take place in their country.  To be so cruelly cut down in the name of Islam is too much for most people to bear.

The viciousness of this attack has stunned the world.  To literally be hacked down by knives and machetes on the street in broad daylight is horrendous.  And, for people to have had to witness this is beyond belief.  Thank heavens the terrorists have been apprehended and are now in jail.  I hope that justice will be swift.

We here in America feel your pain, England, having just recently experienced the Boston Marathon murders by terrorists.

Where and how this conflict with the terrorists of Islam will ever end I don't know.   All the good nations of the world are in this conflict with these terrorists for the long haul.  We will not bend or break in our quest to end this scourge from the world.

But, where are the good and peaceful believers of Islam?  Why are you not stepping up and doing more for your people so they do not turn to these hateful terrorists?   Please understand that all we are seeing are these horrible attacks in the name of Islam and your religion is becoming darker and darker by each attack.  How can a true and peaceful religion remain silent and condone such acts?  Why are you not more vocal and vigilant in rooting out these horrible people on your own.

I understand these terrorists' justification for these horrible acts.   Our armies are in your native lands killing your friends and family also.  But, we did not start this.  It is you, jihadist terrorists that attacked us first on 9/11.  Did you think we would just sit by and do nothing?  Or was that your manipulation?  Knowing we would do something about such a heinous attack on our country, so that you could perpetrate more and more attacks on us?  A tit for tat?

Perhaps our country's decision to invade Iraq and Afghanistan was not a good one in your opinion.  But, we have brought a modicum of democracy to those nations.  The people have been able to choose their own government and their own leaders.  We have done this in the name of good and in the name of democracy.  We are trying to do what is the most good for the most people living in those areas.  Our involvement in those countries was not perpetrated by hate, but by love of justice and wanting to free an oppressed people.  Our intentions are for good, not evil.

We are now as a country winding down our involvement in those countries and the middle east.  We are leaving and bringing more and more of our troops home.  So is England.  So these attacks you make on innocent people here are not justified.

I used to believe it was just a a fundamentalist sect of Islam that was perpetrating these acts of violence.  But, I don't hear the good people of Islam speaking out enough against these attacks.
Could it be these terrorists are doing your dirty work for you?

Is the religion of Islam being taken over by these fundamentalist terrorists?  Today, when I see women with scarves on their heads I almost look at them in disdain and derision.  I never used to do that.   I always kept an open mind about other cultures and other religions.  But, as these attacks continue on innocent people just going about their lives, my opinion of women in scarves and the Islam beliefs and religion are beginning to change.  I am beginning to see it is a hateful religion at its core.

If the true and good believers of Islam do no step up to the plate and do more to stop these ugly terrorists, I will continue to loose respect for you and for your religion.  Now is the time for your voices to be heard and to condemn what has happened in the U.S. and England over the past month.

I am calling on the entire Islamic world to come together and work to find a way to end this terrorism that is in the name of your religion and Allah.

And, if you truly and sincerely do work to find a way to end this terrorism, America and England will help you achieve that goal.


Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker  all rights reserved

Beauty

Brandywine Falls - CVNP in Ohio - a photo essay

 Hiking to the Falls --CVNP

 Brandywine Falls in Sagamore Hills Township, Ohio -- CVNP

 All photos taken by Suzannah Wolf Walker

Copyright (c)  2013   Suzannah Wolf Walker    all rights reserved