45. Do you regard Edward Snowden, the national security consultant who released information to the media about the phone scanning program, as more of a traitor, or more of a whistle-blower?

The answers were:

American voters say 55 - 34 percent that Edward Snowden is a whistle-blower, rather than a traitor, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

In a massive shift in attitudes, voters say 45 - 40 percent the government's anti-terrorism efforts go too far restricting civil liberties, a reversal from a January 10, 2010, survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University when voters said 63 - 25 percent that such activities didn't go far enough to adequately protect the country.

Almost every party, gender, income, education, age and income group regards Snowden as a whistle-blower rather than a traitor. The lone exception is black voters, with 43 percent calling him a traitor and 42 percent calling him a whistle-blower.

There is a gender gap on counter-terrorism efforts as men say 54 - 34 percent they have gone too far and women say 47 - 36 percent they have not gone far enough. There is little difference among Democrats and Republicans who are about evenly divided. Independent voters say 49 - 36 percent that counter-terrorism measures have gone too far.

...and a fraction of the customers that broadband giants like Verizon and AT&T boast, one small internet service provider has resisted pressure from the NSA and refused to turn over customer data without a warrant.

Xmission, an independent company based out of one office in Salt Lake City, Utah, has spent nearly two decades protecting its customers' privacy as the National Security Agency, Department of Justice, and prosecutors have ramped up pressure on internet service providers (ISPs).

Owner Pete Ashdown told RT that every data collection request stops at his desk, since he is the sole proprietor of Xmission. At a larger company, a panel of stockholders would bow to government pressure, he added.

"It's pretty basic for me. Most of their requests are not constitutional. They're not proper warrants so I turn them back," he said.

[...snip...]

"We have had situations where people inside the Attorney General's office have slandered my business and said that we're supporting criminals," Ashdown said. "We absolutely do not support criminals. We just ask for a proper warrant and that seems to be too much to ask most of the time, unfortunately."

Ashdown has pledged his willingness to go to jail to protect his customers' privacy - a cause which he says is all too rare in the current profit-first climate exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

It would establish a National Park on the moon for preserving the artifacts we left long ago.

The Outer Space Treaty "explicitly forbids any government from claiming a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet, claiming that they are the Common heritage of mankind."

It also states that nation that launched the object retains control and ownership of that object.

I can't believe the garbage bureaucrats come up with to try and garner votes.

RICHMOND -- A prominent political donor gave $70,000 to a corporation owned by Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his sister last year, and the governor did not disclose the money as a gift or loan, according to people with knowledge of the payments.

The donor, wealthy businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr., also gave a previously unknown $50,000 check to the governor's wife, Maureen, in 2011, the people said.

The money to the corporation and Maureen McDonnell brings to $145,000 the amount Williams gave to assist the McDonnell family in 2011 and 2012 -- funds that are now at the center of federal and state investigations.

Williams, the chief executive of dietary supplement manufacturer Star Scientific Inc., also provided a $10,000 check in December as a present to McDonnell's eldest daughter, Jeanine, intended to help defray costs at her May 2013 wedding, the people said.

Virginia's first family already is under intense scrutiny for accepting $15,000 from the same chief executive to pay for the catering at the June 2011 wedding of Cailin McDonnell at the Executive Mansion.

All the payments came as McDonnell and his wife took steps to promote the donor's company and its products.

Another former Obama administration official outlined for The Daily Beast the defense of Patterson: that she was doing her best to implement a White House policy meant to correct decades where the United States failed to engage the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups in Egypt.

AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE MISSION SCHEDULED FOR TODAY HAS BEEN CANCELLED...TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

Moscow to Caracas theme song?

A Russian secret service that guards the country's high-flyers, including President Putin, will be reequipped with classic typewriters to protect its communications from any foreign snooping programs.

The Federal Protective Service (FSO) has recently become concerned about the security of Russia's topmost officials after it emerged that US intelligence agencies were eavesdropping on Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the G20 summit in London, as well as made a habit of combing through the troves of phone records, e-mails and other data that pile up on the Internet.

Now the FSO has announced it is going to procure a score of classic old typewriters, such as German-made Triumph Adler Twen 180s, to keep its secrets well out of NSA's reach.

-- Voice of Russia

The apparently miraculous end to the crippling energy shortages, and the re-emergence of the police, seems to show that the legions of personnel left in place after former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011 played a significant role -- intentionally or not -- in undermining the overall quality of life under the Islamist administration of Mr. Morsi.

And as the interim government struggles to unite a divided nation, the Muslim Brotherhood and Mr. Morsi's supporters say the sudden turnaround proves that their opponents conspired to make Mr. Morsi fail. Not only did police officers seem to disappear, but the state agencies responsible for providing electricity and ensuring gas supplies failed so fundamentally that gas lines and rolling blackouts fed widespread anger and frustration.

"This was preparing for the coup," said Naser el-Farash, who served as the spokesman for the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade under Mr. Morsi. "Different circles in the state, from the storage facilities to the cars that transport petrol products to the gas stations, all participated in creating the crisis."

Working behind the scenes, members of the old establishment, some of them close to Mr. Mubarak and the country's top generals, also helped finance, advise and organize those determined to topple the Islamist leadership, including Naguib Sawiris, a billionaire and an outspoken foe of the Brotherhood; Tahani el-Gebali, a former judge on the Supreme Constitutional Court who is close to the ruling generals; and Shawki al-Sayed, a legal adviser to Ahmed Shafik, Mr. Mubarak's last prime minister, who lost the presidential race to Mr. Morsi.

Keep an eye on the NSA. They need watching 'very' closely. Record everything they do for the history books, ok?