Assange Op Ed in The Australian newspaper

[bigrebnc1775]

Do you support what Manning did? If so, why?

Absolutely. Civil disobedience is important to keep an out of control government in check, and Manning exposed criminal activities that our State Dept. has been involved in. He should be praised, and Hillary and Condoleezza should be in prison.

I think you could make a case for whistleblowing if he actually exposed any criminal activity...like proof of torture or war crimes. He didn't. I would be surprised, and in fact disappointed, to find that our government did not keep tabs on other governments, friendly or not. I'd also be surprised if other governments didn't keep tabs on ours.

There is nothing in what was released that anyone needs to know...except that the State Department is doing what it is supposed to do.

You're hinting that it's ok if it's Bush but if it doesn't expose anything that Bush did, then he, Assange did wrong. I'm glads he did it. As long as nothing military was exposed I don't care.

 

[Dr Grump]

Whatever the rantings of keyboard warriors, the US Government is considering Espionage charges against Assange.

Who gives a shit what the US thinks....

 

[daveman]

Let "freedom" ring... etc... etc...

Not technically a traitor means not a traitor at all, by the way. To label him a traitor would require a certain amount of judicial activism. Surely you don't want that?

Do you support what Manning did? If so, why?

Absolutely. Civil disobedience is important to keep an out of control government in check, and Manning exposed criminal activities that our State Dept. has been involved in. He should be praised, and Hillary and Condoleezza should be in prison.

Manning is a little thief who thought the rules didn't apply to him. He's since found out that actions have consequences. That's a novel concept to you leftists, isn't it?

Maybe you can visit him in jail and organize candlelight vigils.

 

[daveman]

All of you who have spoken out against open governance in this thread have been successfully duped into believing that your "freedoms" are contingent on your government's ability to commit atrocities in secret. All of the leaks up to this point have served either to expose blatant wrongdoing or to bring diplomatic negotiations to the public's attention. My only gripe with Wikileaks is that they clearly aren't telling us everything that they know. The powers that be and those who refuse to question their actions can all go to hell

So can America-hating bastards who want to see my nation damaged in any possible way.

I've never made a habit of singling America out and don't plan to start now. I'm more eager for releases that expose corruption in the governments of the "Muslim World" because those are the governments that I want to see fall apart.

Uh huh. Yet you're here on an American board cheering on treason and espionage. Go figure.

 

[daveman]

It is vital to your national security when it involves communiques that deserve that designation....I've seen nothing released so far that fall into that category. Most of it is just a bunch of office gossip.

And if other countries don't realise that this information was released without the permission of the US govt, then it's their problem, not yours.

Do you have original classification authority? No? Then your opinion of the classification of the stolen information is worthless.

So is yours..shrug..

I have read some of them, and they are not worthy of such a designation.

Again...worthless.

Hey, if you want to give your govt carte blanche and pull the wool over your eyes, more power to you...

Time to grow up, Skippy. You don't need to know everything that goes on. That's never going to change.

 

[Dr Grump]

So can America-hating bastards who want to see my nation damaged in any possible way.

I've never made a habit of singling America out and don't plan to start now. I'm more eager for releases that expose corruption in the governments of the "Muslim World" because those are the governments that I want to see fall apart.

Uh huh. Yet you're here on an American board cheering on treason and espionage. Go figure.

Assange is not American so cannot be tried for treason. Do I need to bold it and put it in caps before you finally understand. As for espionage - doesn't even make the dictionary definition, let alone any other trumped up crap..

 

[daveman]

Hey Daveman, what gives some faceless bureaucrat the right to decide what I should hear or not hear, or is all of the above wrong?

Because some faceless bureaucrat has no reason to believe that you wouldn't give information to those trying to harm the nation, information that would help them to do so.

Neither do I, for that matter.

You love and trust your govt?

I don't love it. Our government is the worst one in the world...except for all the others. As far as trust goes, yes, I trust most in government to do the right thing by the nation. The leadership...not so much.

 

[daveman]

I never said he was guilty of espionage, but that's not the end-all of his culpability, now, is it?

But he is guilty of espionage.

What information has he released? Nothing that would harm the military. The only information so far as been what the government has been doing, which has not been of any military value. If Assange is silenced who's to say the government will stop there?

Locations of sensitive installations is of military value.

 

[Dr Grump]

Do you have original classification authority? No? Then your opinion of the classification of the stolen information is worthless.

So is yours..shrug..

I have read some of them, and they are not worthy of such a designation.

Again...worthless.

Time to grow up, Skippy. You don't need to know everything that goes on. That's never going to change.

Nor do i need govt employees to tell me what is worthy of being tagged "national security" and what isn't....if you want to be a sheep, more power to you...bbbaaa...

 

[daveman]

Whatever the rantings of keyboard warriors, the US Government is considering Espionage charges against Assange.

Who gives a shit what the US thinks....

And yet, you're here, and none of us are on a NZ message board.

 

[daveman]

I've never made a habit of singling America out and don't plan to start now. I'm more eager for releases that expose corruption in the governments of the "Muslim World" because those are the governments that I want to see fall apart.

Uh huh. Yet you're here on an American board cheering on treason and espionage. Go figure.

Assange is not American so cannot be tried for treason. Do I need to bold it and put it in caps before you finally understand. As for espionage - doesn't even make the dictionary definition, let alone any other trumped up crap..

Manning is the traitor, idiot.

 

[daveman]

So is yours..shrug..

I have read some of them, and they are not worthy of such a designation.

Again...worthless.

Time to grow up, Skippy. You don't need to know everything that goes on. That's never going to change.

Nor do i need govt employees to tell me what is worthy of being tagged "national security" and what isn't....if you want to be a sheep, more power to you...bbbaaa...

This is the real world, dude. Your insistence that there should be unicorns roaming the meadows makes for a nice leftist wet dream, but it's never going to happen.

 

[Dr Grump]

Hey Daveman, what gives some faceless bureaucrat the right to decide what I should hear or not hear, or is all of the above wrong?

Because some faceless bureaucrat has no reason to believe that you wouldn't give information to those trying to harm the nation, information that would help them to do so.

Neither do I, for that matter.

You love and trust your govt?

I don't love it. Our government is the worst one in the world...except for all the others. As far as trust goes, yes, I trust most in government to do the right thing by the nation. The leadership...not so much.

1) And yet you follow said faceless bureaucrat like a little sheep all the while whining and bitching about your govt..go figure.

2) I wouldn't say your govt is the worst in the world by a long shot. However most European, Australian and definitely NZ are much better forms of govt by a long shot...

 

[Dr Grump]

Whatever the rantings of keyboard warriors, the US Government is considering Espionage charges against Assange.

Who gives a shit what the US thinks....

And yet, you're here, and none of us are on a NZ message board.

Finding the opinions of various people - including those from the US - interesting - is a mile away from actually giving a shit what a particular country thinks...

 

[Dr Grump]

This is the real world, dude. Your insistence that there should be unicorns roaming the meadows makes for a nice leftist wet dream, but it's never going to happen.

And you thinking that these 'leaks' have actually done any harm in the 'real world' just reinforces how stupid you really are...

 

[Epsilon Delta]

You guys really gotta simmer down. Assange can't seriously be tried under the Espionage Act. The only people that can be tried are the people who actually, literally obtained the documents and gave them away. Wikileaks, which is a media organization, cannot be tried (First Amendment) unless you change the law and proceed to try The Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais, and Der Spiegel, not to mention the New York Times which got them from the Guardian. In fact, the NYT itself along with all the others started publishing coverage and cables even BEFORE Wikileaks did, because it was under attack at the time.

I nevertheless love the way this issue is splitting the bases up, you got your bash-America crowd, your crazy no-goverment tea partiers, your anarchos, libertarians, etc, and on the other side you have your jingoists which come in red and blue, of course.

And speaking of that, should people be tried for this in the first place? Obviously not. I hope this sends signals that spread far and wide. I want to see wikileaks of everything, the banks, the Chinese Communisty Party, I wanna see French Wikileaks, German Wikileaks, RUSSIAN Wikileaks. I wanna see total glasnost n' perestroika all over again, man. Obviously that personal privacy is sacrosanct, but the government? The government is THE PEOPLE's, it can't keep secrets from the PEOPLE, and now they fuckin' know.

THAT'S RIGHT, MAKE 'EM PISS 'ER PANTS, JULIAN!

Whatever the rantings of keyboard warriors, the US Government is considering Espionage charges against Assange.

Well, of course, the key word there was "seriously." Just because the US can't seriously try Assange doesn't mean they can't just mock-try him and put him in jail, but that has nothing to do with the law, it has to do with power and revenge.

 

[daveman]

This is the real world, dude. Your insistence that there should be unicorns roaming the meadows makes for a nice leftist wet dream, but it's never going to happen.

And you thinking that these 'leaks' have actually done any harm in the 'real world' just reinforces how stupid you really are...

Wait until sources start turning up dead. When that happens, Manning and Assange should be charged with murder.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Do you support what Manning did? If so, why?

Absolutely. Civil disobedience is important to keep an out of control government in check, and Manning exposed criminal activities that our State Dept. has been involved in. He should be praised, and Hillary and Condoleezza should be in prison.

I think you could make a case for whistleblowing if he actually exposed any criminal activity...like proof of torture or war crimes. He didn't. I would be surprised, and in fact disappointed, to find that our government did not keep tabs on other governments, friendly or not. I'd also be surprised if other governments didn't keep tabs on ours.

There is nothing in what was released that anyone needs to know...except that the State Department is doing what it is supposed to do.

Stealing credit card information, banking information, physical DNA, etc... is a crime.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Do you support what Manning did? If so, why?

Absolutely. Civil disobedience is important to keep an out of control government in check, and Manning exposed criminal activities that our State Dept. has been involved in. He should be praised, and Hillary and Condoleezza should be in prison.

Manning is a little thief who thought the rules didn't apply to him. He's since found out that actions have consequences. That's a novel concept to you leftists, isn't it?

Maybe you can visit him in jail and organize candlelight vigils.

Leftist?

Maybe I can, I'd love to chat with him.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Uh huh. Yet you're here on an American board cheering on treason and espionage. Go figure.

Assange is not American so cannot be tried for treason. Do I need to bold it and put it in caps before you finally understand. As for espionage - doesn't even make the dictionary definition, let alone any other trumped up crap..

Manning is the traitor, idiot.

Not according to the U.S. Constitution.