Constitutional law is another branch of the law, one, AIUI, which requires dedicated years of study to fully master.

No, it takes dedicated years of study to become fully indoctrinated to the point where this kind of bullshit appears legal. The point of law school is not to teach you the law, it's to teach you how to distort the law to get your way.

Remember, just government relies on the consent of the governed. Uninformed consent is invalid. If The People cannot understand the Constitution, they can't consent to be governed.

The reason why he's angered the US government so badly, is because he's divulged sensitive information that has damaged American interests.

American interests are strictly limited by the Constitution. He may have damaged the interests of the criminals who run this country, but that's not the same as American interests.

So the American Revolution never happened? Universal Sufferage, The Civil Rights Act, etc never got passed?

They are doing it to foil terrorist attacks (and they've gone on the record saying that gathered intelligence has foiled "dozens" of terrorists attacks).

Of course they would say that. How do we know it's actually true?

Western spying is subject to a tremendous amount of oversight by the right people (and if you'll excuse me, Slashdot keyboard warriors aren't "the right people").

The whole point of Snowden's leak is that that is not true. There is essentially no oversight. Definately not enough oversight to comply with the 4th amendment.

Given the damage he's done to the US and the West

Snowden has done no damage to the US and the West. On the contrary, he has done us all a huge favor by bringing abuses of our rights to light.

Now, the criminals who set up this illegal surveillance program, THEY have done extreme damage to the US.

he has committed an extremely serious act of treason.

No, that would be the criminals responsible for implementing PRISM.

He sold to US buyers establishing jurisdiction. If he did not sell to US buyers and to only -- as an example --- Chinese buyers, US courts would likely not have jurisdiction ....

By that argument, me saying "the Thai king is an ignorant malodorous halfbreed" to citizens of Thailand would grant Thailand jursidiction to prosecute me for lese majeste.

I can't believe a website as reputable as slashdot would post such utter nonsense.

Welcome to Slashdot.

What's a "God"?

most bugs dont contain anything more than protein and a bit of fat,

Neither do most animals. If you want vitamins, that's what vegetables are for.

Why on earth would you need a website for what ought to be a simple RSS reader?

The better choice was a protest vote. And no, this is not "more legal". It's still a violation of the 4th amendment, the highest law of the land, which the President and Congress are sworn to uphold. You don't get any more illegal than that.

Also, same officer always having camera malfunctions sounds like something many officers would want to avoid, for fear of internal investigation

Why would any officer fear a paid vacation?

Many of those who die for health reasons are dying because of an oppressive government. A government that provided health care and subsidized healthy food instead of sugar would keep people healthier for longer.

Keep in mind, however, that the other major party candidates have not been any better in context of national security.

It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
Eugene Debs

I voted for Obama twice.

Then you have no one to blame but yourself. Obama openly supported warrantless wiretaps before his election in 2004.