Exhibit A

I said a few days ago that what Greenwald and Co. wants is purity not progress.

Consider these two recent stories.

Greenwald says that the Espionage and Theft charges recently filed against Snowden suggests Obama's vindictive nature.  Not that - as head of the executive branch - he has to enforce and prosecute laws as written.  Does anyone think that Snowden didn't break his confidentiality agreement?  Does anyone think Snowden didn't take information that wasn't his to take?

Why the hell did he leave the country if he didn't break the law?  Martin Luther King was willing to go to jail for his belief that the laws he was breaking were unjust.  I guess Snowden didn't feel the same level of conviction.  He's outraged by what the NSA was doing, but not outraged enough, I guess.

But isn't charging him with espionage a little harsh?  I mean he's a whistleblower, right?

Except for the fact that he's telling the Chinese about cyberattacks launched by the NSA against Chinese systems.  And before everyone gets upset about the US launching cyberattacks against poor defenseless China, remember that we have been engaged in a low level cyber-warfare with China for years.  We are not in military competition with China, but we are in economic and political competition and cyber snooping and cyber attacks are part of that.

And Snowden is telling a foreign government about secret US programs.

But Greenwald thinks Obama is being vindictive.