Like Nixon's attempt to keep the New York Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers (see New York Times Co. v. United States), no attempt to keep WikiLeaks from publishing the documents they have will be successful. Even if they can find a way to prosecute Assange for publishing what he has, the US government can't stop any of the other documents from coming out unless they contain specific information endangering specific people.
Arguably, some of the documents already released have given away the identities of people working as informants for the US in Afghanistan, but, so far, nobody seems to have been killed because of it. As long as WikiLeaks takes care to keep people who may become targets under wraps, the US really has no way to keep the rest of the documents from coming out.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Is Assange a Spy?
I think this video sums it up.
It should also be noted that Joe Lieberman believes it may be worth the trouble to investigate the New York Times for publishing the info posted on WikiLeaks.
It should also be noted that Joe Lieberman believes it may be worth the trouble to investigate the New York Times for publishing the info posted on WikiLeaks.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The Fact That Amazon Is Uncrashable Is the Reason It Hosted Wikileaks in the First Place
Anonymous has been trying to take down Amazon.com with a DDoS all day for refusing to continue to host space for Wikileaks. This would be quite a blow if it could be done, as it would shut off the flow of all that sweet Christmas shopping money. But because it is prepared for ridiculous amounts of traffic over the holidays, overloading it's servers is next to impossible.
In fact, the reason Wikileaks was being hosted by Amazon in the first place is that it has so much extra server space to handle the extra traffic that rents a lot of it out to other websites.
In fact, the reason Wikileaks was being hosted by Amazon in the first place is that it has so much extra server space to handle the extra traffic that rents a lot of it out to other websites.
We'll See How they Like Him When He Gets Some of Russia's Secrets.
Russia wants Julian Assange to get the Nobel Peace Prize. Normally a guy going around giving away everybody's secrets would not attract the affections of Russia, but
That may all change, of course, once he gets proof of Putin's involvement in the poisoning of Yukashchenko, or Litvinenko.
"Russia's reflexively suspicious leadership appears to have come round to WikiLeaks, having decided that the ongoing torrent of disclosures are ultimately far more damaging and disastrous to America's long-term geopolitical interests than they are to Russia's."
That may all change, of course, once he gets proof of Putin's involvement in the poisoning of Yukashchenko, or Litvinenko.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
"Harmful" Books
Wikipedia's article on Human Events magazine has its list of the ten "most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries". Here it is, this is great:
1. The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
2. Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler
3. Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, by Mao Zedong
4. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, by Alfred Kinsey
5. Democracy and Education, by John Dewey
6. Das Kapital, by Karl Marx
7. The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan
8. The Course in Positive Philosophy, by Auguste Comte
9. Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, by John Maynard Keynes
Now, nobody's gonna argue about Mein Kampf, except for the fact that it is below The Communist Manifesto, which, although a lot of grief came from the implementation of its ideas, was not a call for hatred and genocide, so, if I were compiling this list, I'd put Hitler's book somewhat higher than the Marx books and Mao's book. Of course, just behind Nazism and Communism is Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Conservative's hate this book because it put an end to the credibility of claims by conservative males that they never masturbate.
Democracy and Education dared to claim that a person's personality is formed by a combination of inborn inclinations and environmental factors, leading foolish liberals to believe that criminal behavior may be caused by something other than demonic possession.
The Feminine Mystique pointed out that some women may actually have ambitions beyond simply being wives and mothers.
The Course in Positive Philosophy made the obviously satanic claim that belief should be based on reason and evidence.
Beyond Good and Evil annoys everybody by getting into the hands of sophomore arts majors, and the ideas in Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money ended the Great Depression, but did so without advocating tax cuts and therefore must be forever banned.
1. The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
2. Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler
3. Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, by Mao Zedong
4. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, by Alfred Kinsey
5. Democracy and Education, by John Dewey
6. Das Kapital, by Karl Marx
7. The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan
8. The Course in Positive Philosophy, by Auguste Comte
9. Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, by John Maynard Keynes
Now, nobody's gonna argue about Mein Kampf, except for the fact that it is below The Communist Manifesto, which, although a lot of grief came from the implementation of its ideas, was not a call for hatred and genocide, so, if I were compiling this list, I'd put Hitler's book somewhat higher than the Marx books and Mao's book. Of course, just behind Nazism and Communism is Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Conservative's hate this book because it put an end to the credibility of claims by conservative males that they never masturbate.
Democracy and Education dared to claim that a person's personality is formed by a combination of inborn inclinations and environmental factors, leading foolish liberals to believe that criminal behavior may be caused by something other than demonic possession.
The Feminine Mystique pointed out that some women may actually have ambitions beyond simply being wives and mothers.
The Course in Positive Philosophy made the obviously satanic claim that belief should be based on reason and evidence.
Beyond Good and Evil annoys everybody by getting into the hands of sophomore arts majors, and the ideas in Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money ended the Great Depression, but did so without advocating tax cuts and therefore must be forever banned.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
SUBPOENA POWER!!!
Now that the Pugs control the House, they can start Ken Starr-style witch hunts against the Obama administration like they did to the Clinton administration. What will they prosecute him for, you ask? Well, "[a]reas ripe for investigation include Obama's health care policy, its response to the BP oil spill, and the multibillion-dollar bailouts of automakers, banks and the troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."
In other words, they're going to throw whatever bullshit allegations they can think of at him until they find something people will fall for.
In other words, they're going to throw whatever bullshit allegations they can think of at him until they find something people will fall for.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Fuck the Innocent, I'm running for President!
Rick Perry, the re-elected Governor of Texas, is rumored to be considering running for President. A scary scenario considering the recent imbroglio involving the investigation of a recently executed inmate, Cameron Todd Willingham. Willingham's house burned down, killing his children, and he was convicted of murder by arson and sentenced to lethal injection. Sometime after the execution,
"the Willingham case has been reviewed by nine of the nation's top fire scientists—first for the [Chicago] Tribune, then for the Innocence Project, and now for the commission. All concluded that the original investigators relied on outdated theories and folklore to justify the determination of arson."
That's from the August 2009 Chicago Tribune.
When an investigation was about to be conducted by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Governor Perry replaced the Chair of the commission who then cancelled the investigation.
This is scary shit. What kind of evil prick do you have to be to interfere with something like that? Even if the dude turned out to actually be guilty, there is clearly evidence in this case that any person with a conscience should want the state to look into.
Perry, of course denies that he was trying to interfere with the investigation, but he has a lot to answer for. To be fair, the people he replaced were about to reach the end of their term limits, and would have had to be replaced in the middle of the investigation. Perry said that "it makes a whole lot more sense to make a change now than to make a change later." However, the people he replaced asked to stay on for the beginning of the investigation and got no reply. One of the replaced prosecutors even said that "it would be disruptive to make the new appointments right now." The soon-to-be-expired terms seem to be an awfully convenient excuse to block an investigation that is potentially politically damaging.
"the Willingham case has been reviewed by nine of the nation's top fire scientists—first for the [Chicago] Tribune, then for the Innocence Project, and now for the commission. All concluded that the original investigators relied on outdated theories and folklore to justify the determination of arson."
That's from the August 2009 Chicago Tribune.
When an investigation was about to be conducted by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Governor Perry replaced the Chair of the commission who then cancelled the investigation.
This is scary shit. What kind of evil prick do you have to be to interfere with something like that? Even if the dude turned out to actually be guilty, there is clearly evidence in this case that any person with a conscience should want the state to look into.
Perry, of course denies that he was trying to interfere with the investigation, but he has a lot to answer for. To be fair, the people he replaced were about to reach the end of their term limits, and would have had to be replaced in the middle of the investigation. Perry said that "it makes a whole lot more sense to make a change now than to make a change later." However, the people he replaced asked to stay on for the beginning of the investigation and got no reply. One of the replaced prosecutors even said that "it would be disruptive to make the new appointments right now." The soon-to-be-expired terms seem to be an awfully convenient excuse to block an investigation that is potentially politically damaging.
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