Support Wikileaks

[Calmday]

A hell of a lot of people seem to be sticking up for this guy and using the 'freedom of speech' angle. Makes you wonder though, how many would be calling him a 'freedom fighter' and how many would be calling him a 'terrorist' if he was an Arab with a long beard as opposed to a slightly effeminate looking white guy (that's not aimed at anyone here btw, but it certainly applies to some other forums I've read)

You make a good point. Members of the US Congress (Republicans) have called him a terrorist. Yet to my knowledge he hasn't flown an airliner into anything, nor blown up a car bomb. Is someone changing the definition of terrorist to include the release of 'secret' documents? If so, I'll take that kind of Arab 'terrorist' any day of the week.

It’s really humorous how you tend to get it wrong when US politics comes up.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1GMN3O.DTL
Ya she is a democrat. You can’t use this one to bash republicans.

[Calmday]

http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=27935
Here is the link to a good article that (to me) seems semi neutral from a liberal blog.

“Attorney General Eric Holder officially confirmed that the U.S. Justice Department could invoke the Espionage Act of 1917 to take legal action against the WikiLeaks staff. Under the law, the disclosure of secret military information is a crime”

[Strong Eagle]

A hell of a lot of people seem to be sticking up for this guy and using the 'freedom of speech' angle. Makes you wonder though, how many would be calling him a 'freedom fighter' and how many would be calling him a 'terrorist' if he was an Arab with a long beard as opposed to a slightly effeminate looking white guy (that's not aimed at anyone here btw, but it certainly applies to some other forums I've read)

You make a good point. Members of the US Congress (Republicans) have called him a terrorist. Yet to my knowledge he hasn't flown an airliner into anything, nor blown up a car bomb. Is someone changing the definition of terrorist to include the release of 'secret' documents? If so, I'll take that kind of Arab 'terrorist' any day of the week.

It’s really humorous how you tend to get it wrong when US politics comes up.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1GMN3O.DTL
Ya she is a democrat. You can’t use this one to bash republicans.

I didn't get anything wrong. She wants to prosecute Assange for espionage... and that would be part of due process if it comes to pass. Instead, the government is trying to shut him down with no finding that espionage exists. The word terrorist appears exactly once in the article and she didn't use it.

You'll also note in the same article that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates 'called the current batch "embarrassing" and "awkward," but not a "game changer." The diplomatic fallout, he believes, will be "fairly modest." Mr. Gates noted that he considers the latest batch of released documents to be ”

[Calmday]

Personally I agree with the liberal Canadian professor.


I have issues with always getting the last word so I’ll quit. Maybe we can pick this up over a beer or six someday.

[Strong Eagle]

Personally I agree with the liberal Canadian professor.


I have issues with always getting the last word so I’ll quit. Maybe we can pick this up over a beer or six someday.

It is difficult to discuss complex issues in 3 and 4 sentence retorts. Beer sounds good. Then we can convince each other of the correctness of our positions at length.

[JR8]

You can't finish yet, I haven't got my 2c in! hehe.. .


I have rather conflicted thoughts:
I believe in freedom of expression, but not such that it endangers others lives. Assange is a Walter Mitty character, spends way too much on hair dye, ex computer-hacker... deffo something going on upstairs there <twit>. He is essentially a charismatic anarchist in a suit, I think it is an ego thing. I do see the world as being run by something of a cabal of self-interested politicians and bureaucrats (refer to the EU for one example of how it works), but do not think this the current mayhem being released is a particularly intelligent way to go about trying to change that. Wikileaks is like the Tea Party on crack.


<pauses>

p.s. They wouldn't release him on bail yesterday as there is no record of him entering the UK. Yep, he's not even legally in the UK. The guy is just Big-Trouble on a plate.

[nakatago]

You can't finish yet, I haven't got my 2c in! hehe.. .


I have rather conflicted thoughts:
I believe in freedom of expression, but not such that it endangers others lives. Assange is a Walter Mitty character, spends way too much on hair dye, ex computer-hacker... deffo something going on upstairs there <twit>. He is essentially a charismatic anarchist in a suit, I think it is an ego thing. I do see the world as being run by something of a cabal of self-interested politicians and bureaucrats (refer to the EU for one example of how it works), but do not think this the current mayhem being released is a particularly intelligent way to go about trying to change that. Wikileaks is like the Tea Party on crack.


<pauses>

p.s. They wouldn't release him on bail yesterday as there is no record of him entering the UK. Yep, he's not even legally in the UK. The guy is just Big-Trouble on a plate.

+1

Although, the rape charges are really lame. I mean, really? That's the best they could do? I don't like that smug sonovabitch but at least charge him with something that he really do--being a dickhead with delusions of grandeur.

On that note, I read somewhere that he practically blackmailed Amnesty International. Money in exchange for redacting the names of Afghan informants. DISCLAIMER: I didn't fact check this but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.

[JR8]

Thx Nak

Trouble with his Swedish charges, is that he was at a conference, and bonking two local delegates at the same time. Then the two women who thought they were each the sole focus of his attention found out about the other. Well, it's little wonder World War 3 ensued from that! ('There is no such fury as a woman scorned') lol...

It would not surprise me about the alleged attempted blackmail of Amnesty. Even his (household name UK) lawyer this week said that he has a 'thermo-nuclear bomb of documents that he will release if necessary'. That sounds pretty much like blackmail to me.

[Strong Eagle]

('There is no such fury as a woman scorned')

Or being bonked in a double team.

[JR8]

('There is no such fury as a woman scorned')

Or being bonked in a double team.

I say, top-hole old bean!

[scarbowl]

Unfortunately for the Wikileaks guys, there's no "right" to be served by a credit card processor. Also, I'd say the hackers extracting their 'revenge" are not going him any favors. More like confirming the image of him as an outlaw without a conscience.

He's a reckless guy and endangering lives. So if he has to stand trial for the assault of these two young women so be it. I do hope that he gets a fair shake. But I don't think the Swedes as the type to trump up charges.

[carteki]

This morning I read a commentary on the Wikileaks saga that captures my feelings on the matter in that there is a double standard at play (why not go after the news corporations for continuing to disseminate the product and what about practicing what you preach with regards to internet freedoms) and I don't blame the guy for "having some insurance".

The Establishment vs the Web