Thank you for the feedback regarding last week’s column. It is great to know that there is concern regarding the National Security Agency and its proper role. There certainly is a divergence of opinion as to whether or not Edward Snowden is a hero or a traitor. While I hope that he is a hero, I concede that only time will tell.

As I stated previously, one of the troubling aspects of the Snowden affair is that he has applied for political asylum in Russia. Russia has granted his request, at least on a temporary basis. I’m a firm supporter of the concept of stand your ground and I would have preferred that Snowden stand his ground here in the United States against whatever charges the government might have brought against him.

In early June, British journalist Glenn Greenwald, writing for The Guardian, published an interview with Edward Snowden, the employee for Booz Allen hired to work on PRISM, a mass electronic surveillance data mining program operated by the National Security Agency. In it, he alleges that the NSA intercepts and stores private emails and phone conservations and does so without a warrant. Snowden contends that the NSA does this “as a matter of course” and has amassed an enormous database.

Last week the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy, reportedly with an indebtedness of more than $18 billion. The city has a staggering pension liability as well. This has called into question the “blue model”, a label that has been applied to what are called “progressive” municipalities such as Chicago, Santa Fe and Oakland. Chicago’s credit rating was lowered three notches at the same time that Detroit filed for bankruptcy. Could they be next?

Recently, Logan County, West Virginia, has made national headlines. The event that garnered the attention was the arrest of 14 year old Jared Marcum, a student at Logan Middle School, on April 18th because he wore a tee shirt to school that displayed the NRA logo, a hunting rifle and the words: “protect your right”. That’s right, arrested. Band teacher David Burroway took exception to the shirt and ordered Marcum to either remove it or turn it inside out, claiming that it violated school policy. Marcum disagreed, and after consulting the school manual and the school attorney, Burroway conceded the point, according to one account.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. First Stanza of the poem Concord Hymn - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.