the biggest revelation

Edward Snowden didn't reveal as much as he confirmed what most conscious observers knew but could not prove, that the US under Obama is a Stalinist regime, whose  paranoia has bred a pathological need to know what everyone everywhere is doing, and to keep tabs on the unorthodox.

Snowden's flight, however, revealed something else, that the US has attained a degree of obnoxious aggressiveness other countries are no longer willing to tolerate, and Uncle Sam is finding himself more and more isolated on the world stage.

This has occurred a few times before in modern history. Both Napoleon Bonaparte and Hitler created such disturbance in the world that the international consensus in both cases became "We cant possibly live with this bastard." And now, today, we're the bastard the rest of the world can't live with.

During this stump of a century we're living in, we here in the states have caught it all. Just 30 years ago, despite the Reagan regime, the US was still a byword for freedom and opportunity, and  people in other places considered themselves fortunate to come here. But in the 13 years since Y2K, we've had eight years under a miniature Hitler who bloodily invaded a Mideast country just to prove he could, and now four and a half years so far under Joe Stalin, Jr.

So here we sit, listening to functionaries of our clueless gov absolutely screaming at the Russians and Ecuadorians, accusing them of violating US law and threatening dire consequences if they don't do as we demand.

We've been betrayed by our own government while we were asleep and dreaming of freedom and democracy and the land of opportunity. Now the dream is over, and it's time to wake up and deal.

Sidewalk stencil art by EClair Acuda Bandersnatch, San Francisco, CA.