You think it is OK for Comcast to steal electricity from their customers? If they forced you to install a software application on your computer in order to use their service would you complain? What if that application was a bit coin miner and they kept all profits? See any problems now?

"without having all the facts" So basically you are talking out of your ass and have no clue what your talking about. Apple committed a serious crime to hurt consumers. In a just world all the Apple executives that signed off on this would be in jail.

I dispute your statement that collecting records of which phone number called another phone number is "blantanly unconstitutional". I didn't know numbers had constitutional rights. But regardless of that, how small do you think the NSA is? Do you think every one of the ~40,000 employees knows about every program? That is like saying that everyone that worked at Sony should have been fired for the whole rootkit fiasco. Imagine a tiny office of 20 people. Chances are there are things someone is working on in that tiny office that other people don't know about. If Sandra in payroll is embezzling money do you get thrown in jail for working at the same company? Just because there were a few bad apples doesn't mean snowden was this hero you people are trying to turn him into. If he stopped with the metadata program he might have had some sympathy, but revealing any secret he could get his hands on to hurt the US is the act of a traitor. There is no justification for that.

I don't call him a traitor for leaking this instance of the metadata. I call him a traitor for abusing his position as a system administrator to download as much intelligence as possible and then releasing it with the sole intent to damage the US. How can ANYONE claim that isn't treason.

It never spied on Americans, any more so that your phone company does for having records of who called who. The information would be used to find out who a criminal was talking to. Despite what the "news" might have reported, the NSA does not listen to everyone's phone conversations.

Do they also have flying cars in your utopia?

There was no "unconstitutional domestic spying". It was simply records of which phone number called another phone number. If you think that is spying then your phone company has been spying on you for decades. Stop parroting what you hear on the news and actually do some research yourself.

What is your justification for calling the NSA evil? Do you even know what the NSA does? So the NSA collected some records that said which phone numbers called other phone numbers. Big deal. How did that harm anyone? Even if that is outside their jurisdiction, how is that evil? Do you even know what evil is? Snowden was a traitor whom tried to hurt the NSA as much as he could because he was disgruntled (he was almost fired for incompetence). The only ones elevating him to hero status are the ones who are just parroting what they hear on Foxnews. You're not one of those people that thinks the NSA is listening to your phone calls are you?

Do you know who created the internet? Hint: it wasn't Al Gore. What does DARPA stand for again?

You must be talking about state/local governments. Federal workers have been getting vilified by the congress critters at every opportunity and in the past 4 years we have gotten 1 pay increase (of 1% - whoopee!). Unfortunately the cost of living has been going up every year so in effect we have less buying power. Congress continues to compare Apples to Oranges to justify paying federal workers less. An example would be comparing an entry level employee in the private sector to a position in the government that requires a Master's degree and 20 year experience. No joke, Ryan did just that. The job security is great, but things aren't as rosy as you think on this side of the fence.

Instead of having only a few super-airports that all airlines use for connecting flights, why not reduce traffic to those airports by having more hubs?

This story was posted a couple of days ago: http://tech.slashdot.org/story...
Maybe some utilities are scared. Mine in Texas seems to encourage solar adoption since they offer thousands in rebates for a qualified solar installation.

The Reality distortion field has hit critical mass. The phone isn't bending as there is no phone, it is only yourself that is bending. Oh, that excuse didn't work? How about: Apple is the first to invent a phone that bends over backwards for the user. Imagine the possibilities!