re: Snowden and Putin really throwing it down on us now.

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Does his action help or hurt the United States?

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In my opinion a constant reminder of what our government has become can only benefit us as citizens.

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undermine the position of the United States on the world stage.

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That ship has left port and Snowden is not to blame.

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The best analogy I can think of for this would be that I can make fun of my brother but if you make fun of him we are going to fight. I don't believe it is OK to embarrass the United States with one of our enemies. This serves no purpose other thn to further Russian policy and undermine the position of the United States on the world stage. I realize this one event will not accomplish any such thing but it does aid that cause. Snowden has already let us know of the wrongs the NSA has done so what is the point of helping Russia rub it in? Does his action help or hurt the United States?

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I see what you are trying to say, and agree to a certain (but very small) extent. This is how I see the whole thing...

The problem with being wrong on items such as this is that there is no grey area. These things were brought to light, and NOTHING has been done about them. There is a culture in circles of people that deal with classified information at every level all the way up to the NSA, obviously (and probably higher), of distancing yourself from any incident or personal belief regarding classified information. It is cowardice, and in many occasions, people are scared to report it correctly.

What happened with Snowden is that he was one of those people who actually had the guts to raise this flag. The people he worked around and under, to include the IG that he tried to run the flag through, were not on board with being involved in a classified incident of this magnitude. Reason? Because classified incidents can be CAREER KILLERS, and nobody wants to be recognized in association with an incident, or people willing to get involved with this kind of information.

Being wrong is a black and white thing, no matter how you go about it. Even if you are just half-wrong, so to speak, you are still wrong in some shape or fashion.

The United States Government is WRONG for doing this, no matter how you slice it. The fact that our leaders are using it as propaganda instead of changing the process that is without a doubt illegal and unconstitutional tells me all I need to know about their gall. Snowden is a better leader than all of those sorry cowards.

The other poster who said "maybe we NEED to be embarrassed" on a global scale is correct. When someone raises a flag like this that affects everyone in the nation, is persecuted for it, AND used thereafter for the gain of the government instead of the people, other things obviously need to happen to make the wrong a right.

I don't think it will be turned around during this presidency, but there are candidates on both sides that I feel would take the right side of this issue and ACTUALLY start to promote positive change on this matter of constitutional protecting. The mockery he is making of our government on a global level is not something he made up, more something he is communicating expeditiously. If we humiliate our leaders enough, they should realize that we need to reverse our direction and take the steps that our governmental structure was designed to take.

The next president, and his constituents, will have to do a LOT of rebuilding on the image that Mr. Obama has destroyed due to his lack of respect for the power of the American people, and his disregard for the inner workings of the House and Senate as a counterbalance to his office.

Snowden did not create this problem, he revealed it. He turned on the light, and the cockroaches spread. In this great big analogy, the next people that live in this house need to clean up the place, because the government leaders before them trashed the frick out of it.

ETA: LULZ @ those who think he is hiding behind "geopolitical foes" rather than using them as an avenue to force change where the leaders, who are elected to enforce this very kind of change, are not doing their fricking job by any stretch of the imagination.