Can we trust Ed Snowden? I don't think so.

I found an interesting article that provides a basic background on Ed Snowden.

What I found to be especially interesting is the fact that he donated $500 to Ron Paul when Paul ran for the presidency last time.

Please excuse me for saying this, but Ron Paul is kind of a nut.  (A nut means a crazy person.)

Ron Paul keeps running for the presidency and, basically, nobody ever votes for him. He considers himself a 'libertarian.' This apparently means that he thinks a strong central government is a bad thing and that the less government there is, the better everyone will be.

Libertarians often believe that the US government is 'stealing' freedoms from the people. I have always felt that 'libertarians' were kind of nutty and paranoid.  If you are paranoid, you believe that someone is trying to hurt you when, in fact, nobody is trying to hurt you. 

So basically we can assume that as a Ron Paul supporter, Ed Snowden has believed that the US government is trying to steal the freedoms and rights of American citizens.  Obama has denied that US citizens were spied on, however.  And, everybody knows that suspicious foreigners are monitored by the US government.

So, basically, I don't trust what Snowden says.  I think his support of a nutty political candidate compels me (forces me) to doubt anything he might say. I think he is kind of a paranoid guy who is making everyone else paranoid.  He should not be taken seriously.

So here's something about Ed Snowden.  May he enjoy his life in Ecuador.

The article:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/10/18882615-what-we-know-about-nsa-leaker-edward-snowden?lite

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

NSA leaker - National Security Agency employee who revealed secret information

a whiz - a genius.  A computer whiz is someone who is really good with computers.

to divulge - to reveal.

his upbringing - his childhood

mounting disillusionment - greater and greater mistrust of the government

intrusion - if the government is intruding in the lives of Americans, it means they are looking into the lives of Americans when they should not be.

"I do not want to live in a society where everything I do and say is being recorded." - everything we do and say is not being recorded. 

bespectacled - wearing glasses

a self-proclaimed spy - he calls himself a spy (nobody else does).

a traitor - someone who betrays his country.

a brainiac - a very smart person.  This brainiac never graduated from high school, however.

a general equivalency degree - if you do not finish high school you can take the GED test and get your high school diploma that way.  The GED is a very easy test.

military service - he dropped out of high school and dropped out of the army.

the fallout - the negative consequences.

a spook - a spy. He likes to think of himself in very dramatic terms as a spy.