Wikileaks and Free Speech

[Virtual Bison]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/12/1...292142840/

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The United States would dearly like to prosecute WikiLeaks founder and operator Julian Assange but it is having a hard time getting a legal grip on him.

The problem is not just physical custody, but of establishing at what point speech -- in Assange's case the publicizing of confidential and classified information -- becomes a crime. Is Assange, paraphrasing Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, crying "fire" in a crowded theater?

Some U.S. politicians, such as Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., have suggested that Assange could be prosecuted under the World War I-vintage Espionage Act, but that could prove problematic. Late last week, lawyers for Assange told a variety of news outlets that he might be indicted under the act soon, though the U.S. Justice Department was denying those reports

[ham]

Come think of it...
Big brother is under attack as an evil, pervasive hydra...then you get the "reassuring" news that the first cretin with a crummy website may rip it open like a freshly slaughtered pig...as if to say: don't worry folks, big brother and its social alchemy and surveillance apparatus are under control after all.
Of course all that transpires is third rate tabloid gossip devoid of any real consequence, if true at all.
Comes to mind the stubborn reporter who wanted to keep investigating on the white house pedophile scandal of the late 80s...he oh-so-mysteriously died in an airplane crash...and I could cite other examples...Italian billionaire entrepreneur Raul Gardini committed suicide (or was suicided) at the high of a scandal involving high political and financial figures.
A bottle thrown by protesters damages the security glass of the limousine of prince Charles on his way to a mundane event...as if to say: calm down, folks! You may have to foot the 200 billion bill in taxes to rescue Greece, Portugual, Iceland, Ireland etc from disaster, but you can kill them anytime, so just carry on as usual and don't forget tax deadlines...blame is cast upon "unscrupulous" security that may have carelessly plunged the "terrified" aristocrat in the clutch of a rioting mob...rioting mob excited and controlled by agitators in turn funded and coordinated from within the very "palaces of power"...
To me it's all a screenplay.

[Virtual Bison]

Thanks for the input Ham. I don't know if you ever been to http://www.infowars.com/ but if you have you would see a lot of information on how the heavy hand of the government is being used to surpress free thought everywhere.

An interesting note here. I got an email at work stating that it is against corporate policy to go to the Wikileaks website. This not only included going there using corporate media but using your personal resources as well. This means its forbidden to surf Wikileaks at home. I asked my boss where the the company gets off telling me what I can do on my own time. He did not have much to say about it. I guess its meant to scare us or something.

Oh... speaking of Wikileaks, here is an interesting article about the alleged rape victims of Julian Assange:

http://www.infowars.com/wikileaks-rape-v...es-lawyer/

[WilliamW]

As usual, the socialist news media is focusing on the wrong guy. Assange is a scumbag, to be sure, but the real culprit is the slimy little faggot who stole the stuff in the first place, the pervert Bradley Manning.

Just like in Oregon, when you put a pervert in charge of something they run it according to their pervert agenda. If a pervert doesn't like Christians, he tries to screw over Christian schools for no reason other than their religion--Constitution and civil rights be damned. Again, deviant in one thing, deviant in many.

Bradley Manning: Poster Boy for 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

The two biggest stories this week are WikiLeaks' continued publication of classified government documents, which did untold damage to America's national security interests, and the Democrats' fanatical determination to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" and allow gays to serve openly in the military.

The mole who allegedly gave WikiLeaks the mountains of secret documents is Pfc. Bradley Manning, Army intelligence analyst and angry gay.

We've heard 1 billion times about the Army translator who just wanted to serve his country, but was cashiered because of whom he loved.

I'll see your Army translator and raise you one Bradley Manning. According to Bradley's online chats, he was in "an awkward place" both "emotionally and psychologically." So in a snit, he betrayed his country by orchestrating the greatest leak of classified intelligence in U.S. history.

Isn't that in the Army Code of Conduct? You must follow orders at all times. Exceptions will be made for servicemen in an awkward place. Now, who wants a hug? Waitress! Three more apple-tinis!"

According to The New York Times, Bradley sought "moral support" from his "self-described drag queen" boyfriend. Alas, he still felt out of sorts. So why not sell out his country?

In an online chat with a computer hacker, Bradley said he lifted the hundreds of thousands of classified documents by pretending to be listening to a CD labeled "Lady Gaga." Then he acted as if he were singing along with her hit song "Telephone" while frantically downloading classified documents.

I'm not a military man, but I think singing along to Lady Gaga would constitute "telling" under "don't ask, don't tell."

Do you have to actually wear a dress to be captured by the Army's "don't ask, don't tell" dragnet?

What constitutes being "openly" gay now? Bringing a spice rack to basic training? Attending morning drills decked out as a Cher impersonator? Following Anderson Cooper on Twitter?

Also, U.S. military, have you seen a picture of Bradley Manning? The photo I've seen is only from the waist up, but you get the feeling that he's wearing butt-less chaps underneath. He looks like a guy in a soldier costume at the Greenwich Village Halloween parade.

With any luck, Bradley's court-martial will be gayer than a Liza Minelli wedding. It could be the first court-martial in U.S. history to feature ice sculptures and a "Wizard of Oz"-themed gazebo. "Are you going to Bradley's court-martial? I hear Patti LaBelle is going to sing!"

Maybe there's a reason gays have traditionally been kept out of the intelligence services, apart from the fact that closeted gay men are easy to blackmail. Gays have always been suspicious of that rationale and perhaps they're right.

The most damaging spies in British history were the Cambridge Five, also called "the "Magnificent Five": Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean and John Cairncross. They were highly placed members of British intelligence, all secretly working for the KGB.

The only one who wasn't gay was Philby. Burgess and Blunt were flamboyantly gay. Indeed, the Russians set Burgess up with a boyfriend as soon as he defected to the Soviet Union.

The Magnificent Five's American compatriot Michael Straight was -- ironically -- bisexual, as was Whittaker Chambers, at least during the period that he was a spy. And of course, there's David Brock.

So many Soviet spies were gay that, according to intelligence reporter Phillip Knightley, the Comintern was referred to as "the Homintern." (I would have called it the "Gay G.B.")

Bradley's friends told the Times they suspected "his desperation for acceptance -- or delusions of grandeur" may have prompted his document dump.

Let's check our "Gay Profile at a Glance" and ... let's see ... desperate for acceptance ... delusions of grandeur ... yep, they're both on the gay subset list!

Obviously, the vast majority of gays are loyal Americans -- and witty and stylish to boot! But a small percentage of gays are going to be narcissistic hothouse flowers like Bradley Manning.

Couldn't they just work for JetBlue? America would be a lot safer right now if gays in an "awkward place" psychologically could do no more damage than grabbing a couple of beers and sliding down the emergency chute.

Look at the disaster one gay created under our punishing "don't ask, don't tell" policy. What else awaits America with the overturning of a policy that was probably put there for a reason (apart from being the only thing Bill Clinton ever did that I agreed with)?

Liberals don't care. Their approach is to rip out society's foundations without asking if they serve any purpose.

Why do we have immigration laws? What's with these borders? Why do we have the institution of marriage, anyway? What do we need standardized tests for? Hey, I like Keith Richards -- why not make heroin legal? Let's take a sledgehammer to all these load-bearing walls and just see what happens!

For liberals, gays in the military is a win-win proposition. Either gays in the military works, or it wrecks the military, both of which outcomes they enthusiastically support.

But since you brought up gays in the military, liberals, let's talk about Bradley Manning. He apparently released hundreds of thousands of classified government documents as a result of being a gay man in "an awkward place."

Any discussion of "don't ask, don't tell" should begin with Bradley Manning. Live by the sad anecdote, die by the sad anecdote.

Traitorous Faggot Bradley Manning (right) with pervert friend Tyler Watkins

[Virtual Bison]

As usual, the socialist news media is focusing on the wrong guy. Assange is a scumbag, to be sure, but the real culprit is the slimy little faggot who stole the stuff in the first place, the pervert Bradley Manning.

Just like in Oregon, when you put a pervert in charge of something they run it according to their pervert agenda. If a pervert doesn't like Christians, he tries to screw over Christian schools for no reason other than their religion--Constitution and civil rights be damned. Again, deviant in one thing, deviant in many.

As a libertarian I believe that the less govenrment interfarence in our lives the better. I could be wrong but I believe Wikileaks and its founder are really people on the forfront on the information war.

There are elitsts in charge of everything. They control government, schools, business and rigg the game so that nobody else can have a fair shot at it. This is why the Academic Mafia exists and has foot soldiers like Alan Contreras to do their dirty work.

In a way I think its a lot like this board here for that reason. Just my own opinion.

[Armando Ramos]

Let's check our "Gay Profile at a Glance" and ... let's see ... desperate for acceptance ... delusions of grandeur ... yep, they're both on the gay subset list!

Hmmm...that's pretty much everyone who posts at DI and DD too....

[ham]

Oh... speaking of Wikileaks, here is an interesting article about the alleged rape victims of Julian Assange:

PFFT!
Yes, right...
I had thought "that antisemite who had become a suicide bomber after beating up his wife"...

[Martin Eisenstadt]

As usual, the socialist news media is focusing on the wrong guy. Assange is a scumbag, to be sure, but the real culprit is the slimy little faggot who stole the stuff in the first place, the pervert Bradley Manning.

They ought to shoot them both, of course. But something else getting overlooked in the shuffle: WMD's were found in Iraq, which proves Bush was correct.

Wikileaks Documents Show WMD Were Found In Iraq
Posted by Matt Margolis on Dec 8, 2010 9:17 pm

Unfortunately, this information hasn’t made it on the media’s radar.

The release by Julian Assange’s web site Wikileaks of classified documents reveals that U.S. military intelligence discovered chemical weapons labs, encountered insurgents who were specialists in the creation of toxins, and uncovered weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. However, Washington, DC officials and the news media have ignored this information.

One of the WikiLeaks document dumps reveals that as late as 2008, American troops continued to find WMD in the region.

There are numerous mentions of chemical and biological weapons in the WikiLeaks documents, however the U.S. media appear only interested in those portions of the leaked material that highlight actions that are viewed as embarrassing for the U.S. military such as the accusation that U.S. commanders were aware of abuse and “torture” of prisoners by Iraqi soldiers and police officers.

[...]

According to the latest WikiLeaks document “dump,” Saddam’s toxic arsenal, significantly reduced after the Gulf War, remained intact. Jihadists, insurgents and foreign (possibly Iranian) agitators turned to these stockpiles during the Iraq conflict and may have brewed up their own deadly agents, according to the WikiLeaks web site.

During that time, former Iraqi General Georges Sada, Saddam’s top commander, detailed the transfers of Iraq’s WMD. “There [were] weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands,” Mr. Sada said. “I am confident they were taken over.”

So, it appears that our intelligence agencies were correct. So were the intelligence agencies of England, Germany, France, etc. who all concluded that Saddam had WMD. Of course, the reason why the media isn’t reporting this information is that this means that Bush was right, too.

[ham]

They ought to shoot them both, of course. But something else getting overlooked in the shuffle: WMD's were found in Iraq, which proves Bush was correct.

sure, and the Nazis were responsible for Katyn, remember?
PFFT!
Ignored what?
Everybody watched the US inspector (of one of the many inspection parties) claim he found none, and none was ever shown....but i surmise they can always fabricate some and show us as a "authentic weapon of mass destruction**".**reconstruction never used.

Jihadists, insurgents and foreign (possibly Iranian) agitators turned to these stockpiles during the Iraq conflict and may have brewed up their own deadly agents

guess what?
Maybe this spy syndicate of a website just told us we shall stand up more for Israel? What a coincidence...I love when a plan gets together...
Don't tell me that at the bottom of the scandal all we find is that big brother had been right all along...yawn...
Iran? Now that's a surprise...
What, no more A bombs?
PFFT!

this information hasn’t made it on the media’s radar.

Sure, all haters who can't choose whether to hate Bush because he loves Jesus more, or because he loves Israel...you mean Bush the one with drinking problems, the Enron affair, the flood of suspicious "contracts" in Irak...when boxes full of cash were apparently "put to safety" by peacekeepers?
Nah, must be another hater saying that, right?

[Virtual Bison]

They ought to shoot them both, of course. But something else getting overlooked in the shuffle: WMD's were found in Iraq, which proves Bush was correct.

sure, and the Nazis were responsible for Katyn, remember?
PFFT!
Ignored what?
Everybody watched the US inspector (of one of the many inspection parties) claim he found none, and none was ever shown....but i surmise they can always fabricate some and show us as a "authentic weapon of mass destruction**".**reconstruction never used.

Jihadists, insurgents and foreign (possibly Iranian) agitators turned to these stockpiles during the Iraq conflict and may have brewed up their own deadly agents

guess what?
Maybe this spy syndicate of a website just told us we shall stand up more for Israel? What a coincidence...I love when a plan gets together...
Don't tell me that at the bottom of the scandal all we find is that big brother had been right all along...yawn...
Iran? Now that's a surprise...
What, no more A bombs?
PFFT!

this information hasn’t made it on the media’s radar.

Sure, all haters who can't choose whether to hate Bush because he loves Jesus more, or because he loves Israel...you mean Bush the one with drinking problems, the Enron affair, the flood of suspicious "contracts" in Irak...when boxes full of cash were apparently "put to safety" by peacekeepers?
Nah, must be another hater saying that, right?

I see that there is another skeptic on this board.

I myself do not support ideas becasue its a left or a right thing to do. I only have one agenda and thats the truth.

I support Wikileaks out of principle. I do not know all that much about the personalities involved and do not care that much. But this stuff about having him deported to Sweden to face some trumped up rape charges is really kind of suspicious in my mind. Lets face it using sex charges to blackmail someone is the oldest trick in the book. Just ask Clarence Thomas.