An interesting argument and also testable. So who has been criminally prosecuted for mishandling classified material accidentally (without intent)? Given the massive volume of classified material and just basic human error you would expect that hundreds of thousands of government employees would be prosecuted every year for this type of thing. That does not happen and it's important for the government to prove intent for criminal prosecution. Snowden intended to release information, Clinton did not -- that is the major difference regardless of how you feel about either of them.

I agree.

There are more key concepts more easily taught in Python than in other languages. I had my 9 year old on Khan Academies Javascript course, which was good at teaching concepts, but only as far as Javascript has them. For a real OO implementation and ease of use Python stood out. I got my son the excellent "Python for Kids" by Jason R. Briggs and he picked up a lot about classes and methods very quickly. IDLE is an easy to use tool for beginners, and other resources are great. I like Python as it's a real language used to solve real problems (unlike Scratch et al). Come AP testing time (US) he may have to switch to Java, but there is a good chance the test will be Python by then.

Better yet read well sourced and well written journalism from Mother Jones from just a few months ago (http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/fbi-terrorist-informants). Or ask yourself why the feds just indicted someone who was 15 year old at the time if his alleged offenses (http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-10-24/news/bs-md-teen-indict-terrorism-20111024_1_terrorism-charges-jihad-jane-courtroom).

As for the original post, someone ought to tell Mr. Elahi about 18 USC 1001 where it is a crime to lie to a federal agent. Folks have been indicted on this for misremembering dates on conversations and this is the law that send Martha Stewart to jail.

There are many benefits to walking and biking but losing weight is not one of them. This is covered in good detail, citing latest medical research, in "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes. The reason is straight forward while fatty acids move from your fat tissue to your muscles when you exercise, those same fatty acids return to your fat tissue when you rest. If you add that to the effect of an increased appetite that you are compelled to act upon after you exercise (aka "working up an appetite") the net is that you don't lose weight by exercise. Changing your diet, on the other hand, is very effective. There is obviously a lot more to this, but this is the rationale in a nutshell.