[ExI] the ambiguously evil british have leaked julian assange's address

Darren Greer darren.greer3 at gmail.com
Thu Dec 16 23:20:20 UTC 2010


>"Here's what I want from you guys: think carefully and hard, the way I
know you can.  Think of all the *unintended consequences* of Julian
Assanges work..."<

The most unintended consequence, if it really was so, is that the leaks will
eventually work in the government's favour. Keith compared Assange to Daniel
Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers and the comparison is valid. With a major
exception: people actually cared at that time what was in those those
papers. The supreme court eventually ruled in favour of the New York Times
by saying they were protected under the first amendment because the American
people had been deliberately mislead about the war and the papers proved it.
The American people had a right to know. So tied up with the first amendment
ruling and the national security discussion was also a discussion about the
content of the documents and the duplicity of the Johnston/Kennedy/Truman
administrations when they manipulated and tricked a naive public into
supporting an unwinnable war.

Not the case here. So many documents released. So many revelations. So many
objectionable acts and policies and secret dealings and lies. Revelations
not about one war but two. State-sanctioned pedophilia. Drug trafficking.
Mass killings and torture. Machiavellian tinkering with the democratic
processes of other nations. Cover-ups of collateral killings. Spying on the
U.N. for pete's sake? Anyone one of these would have been enough to shake
the foundations of a government in the past. Yet if you decide to pillory
the government on just one of them, you have to admit that they're guilty of
all of them. What these papers reveal is that the whole system is so
hopelessly corrupt and devoid of ethics that, short of revolution, people
are powerless to do anything about it. And so it turns to into a privacy
discussion for lack of any else to do or say. If they can divert disaster
with this one, governments can operate with near unlimited freedom in
future.

If I had any doubt about this, it disappeared when I started checking public
opinion polls. The majority of people interviewed in a poll in the U.S. over
the August Afghanistan leaks think that governments should be allowed to
keep secrets and we should do just keep quiet and support them.

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/08/03/poll-more-americans-view-afghan-war-docs-leak-as-harmful/

In another more recent on-going poll on MSNBC, slightly under 50 percent
think Wikileaks should be declared a terrorist organization.

http://www.blameitonthevoices.com/2010/11/poll-is-wikileaks-terrorist.html


The 'net is full of such polls and freedom of speech and the 1st amendment
lose overtime. For a country that has always had libertarian leanings, this
seems like a very large concession to the power and scope and influence of
big government.  And it's not just the U.S. The trend is the same
practically everywhere.

On top of it. Assange is claiming to be holding something back that would be
like a political nuclear bomb should it be dropped. He will do so, he says,
in the event of his death or disappearance. If he really wanted to affect a
change, he should have just dropped that and held on to the rest. Give
people just one representative issue to focus on, rather than just a
fruitless debate over process and privacy, which as far as I can see, is
what this has become.

Sorry if I seem a bit cynical. I'm putting up Christmas decorations and I'm
trying to get in the mood. :)

Darren



On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 6:06 PM, Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 8:16 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
> "Here's what I want from you guys: think carefully and hard, the way I
> know you can.  Think of all the *unintended consequences* of Julian
> Assanges work..."
>
> I'm flippin' loving it!   David Brin's predictions of ten or so years
> back are emerging into the mainstream, crackling with electric
> excitement, even as we speak.    Where shall I start?
>
> Irony, ya, huge promontories of it, sliding over the old paradigm
> landscape like a Venezuelan mudslide.  The folks who just spent the
> last ten years reading everyone else's mail, hiring corrupt lawyers to
> manufacture legality out of whole cloth, wiping their backsides with
> the Constitution, and saying they would do it no matter what the law
> says.  These same folks are all tweaked and outraged now that we are
> reading their mail.  Sweet, oh so sweet!
>
> But here's the thing (or one of a multitude of things): IT"S NOT THEIR
> MAIL.  It's our mail. This is why the protests about govt's need -- or
> as those who conflate and compare it with and the individual's
> "right" -- to privacy fail the logic test.
>
> The Govt's business is the people's business.  The Govt does its thing
> in the people's name and with the people picking up the fiscal, moral,
> and geopolitical tab.  The state operates (not really, but it's sorta
> supposed to) with" the consent of the governed", on behalf of the
> governed. We are (supposed to be) citizens, not subjects.  We are
> (supposed to be) the govt's bosses not the other way round.  So, in
> fact, they not only have insisted on trashing our rights to privacy by
> reading our private mail, but then they say we can't read our "public
> mail", the record of what's being done in our name.
>
> Not no more.  Thank you, Julian.  (And thank you Shockley, DARPA,
> Billy G, et al).
>
> In a different vein, consider the entertainment value.  We have
> incredibly excellent heroes, deliciously malign villains, and --
> blessed be those monkeys at their typewriters -- hot, endlessly
> complicated sex.  Oh my!  I think I need some private time.
>
> An excerpt from ""The Hand of God, the Gland of Man: The Trial of
> Julian Assange",  Act 6, scene 23:
>
> Attorney for the defense(AFTD) Ingrid Pornquist (played by Merril
> Streep) continues:
>
> So, Miss Arden...
>
> Arden (played by Katherine Heigl): That's "Ms" Arden if you please...
>
> AFTD:  Ms. Arden, on the night in question, following dinner,...How
> was that by the way?  Did he pay, did you pay, was it Dutch?
>
> Arden:  He paid, with cash, the security thing, you know.  I had the
> scallops...yummy.. he had oyster cakes.  He's not a big eater.  He
> would cut the cakes with his fork and lean over and give me a
> bite...(she leaps to her feet, looks toward JA at the defense table,
> who smiles and winks his support, and declares) I love you Julian!  I
> never meant it to turn out this way. Please forgive me!
>
> (The courtroom, packed with tall Swedish blondes of every gender
> preference, explodes with shrieks -- "Stay away from him, you slyna,
> he's mine!" -- and tumult )
>
> Judge BIrgitta Prodsdottir (played by Queen Latifa): Order! (bangs her
> gavel) Order in the court!  (courtroom quiets down)
>
> Ms. Arden (in tears): ... just because he paid doesn't mean...
>
> AFTD: Yes, yes, we're all feminists here.  Look at me.  I'm a grown up
> attorney, and everything.  So he paid for dinner, but couldn't expect
> to get lucky on that account.  All the same, you wasted no time in
> jumping his bones, did you?
>
> AFTP Loni Anderthaler(played by Sarah Palin, her hair dyed blonde) :
> Objection!  Badgering the witness, your Honor.  I can see Russia from
> here! (the courtroom is momentarily silent, puzzled.  Co-counsel
> (played by a blonde Tina Fey) leans toward Palin and whispers in her
> ear.)  I can see Finland from here!
>
>  Judge Prodsdottir(somewhat disoriented):  Sustained.  Speed it up
> will you, Ms. Pornquist, and please confine yourself to the
> juicier,... strike that... to matters of relevance.
>
> AFTD Pornquist:  Yes, your honor.  Of course, your honor.  (Turning
> back to Arden).   So, you had a romantic dinner then?
>
> Arden: Yes.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: And afterwards a movie, yes?  "The Girl with the
> Dragon Tattoo"?
>
> Arden: Yes.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Was it a good movie?
>
> Arden: Yes.
>
> AFTD Pornquist:  A smart movie?
>
> Arden: Avery smart movie?
>
> AFTD Pornquist:  About a sexually abused young woman who teams up with
> an investigative reporter to track down a serial rapist and murderer
> of young women.   And in the climactic scene, the young woman pursues
> and burns to death the raping murdering monster, yes?
>
> Arden:  No, no, that's not right.  She doesn't kill him.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Oh, I apologize.  My mistake.  She merely pursues him
> on her motorcycle at high speed until he crashes, yes?  Then she
> stands by as he begs for help, severely injured, helpless in the
> crashed vehicle, drenched in gasoline, until the inevitable happens,
> fire erupts and he burns to death screaming, yes?  Just as a flashback
> shows she did years earlier when she threw gasoline on the abuser of
> her youth, and then a match to set him
>  ablaze? Yes?  Isn't that the "chick flick" you took Julian Assange to
> see/  A film about feminist revenge and murder?
>
> Arden: Yes, yes, yes.  So what?
>
> AFTD Pornquist: And during this movie about lethal flaming feminist
> revenge, you sat in the back of the theater with Julian Assange and
> had every kind of sex you could have without actually laying down on
> the butter and cum- soiled floor?
>
> (Massive disruption in the courtroom, everyone shouting, screaming,
> shrieking, ranting, fainting. etc)
>
> Judge Prodsdottir (rises, shouting, pounding gavel): Order!  Order!
> Silence!  Bailiff!
>
> AFTP Anderthaler(simultaneous with commotion, and as it tails off):
> Objection objection objection, your honor.  This poor woman should not
> be persecuted for her robust sexual expression or her talent for
> multi-tasking.
>
> Judge Prodsdottir: Objection overruled, Ms. Arden answer the question.
>
> Arden:  Well, not EVERY kind.
>
> (Crowd roars again, then fades out in giggles.  Judge raises gavel as
> silence descends.)
>
>  AFTD Pornquist: But was it good, and I suppose more to the point,
> was it consensual?
>
> Arden: Yes.  (A thoughtful pause)  It was consensual.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: And...
>
> Arden: It was consensual.
>
> Julian Assange (dryly, with a slight smile): It was good for me.
>
> Judge Prodsdottir: You're not helping your case, Mr Assange.  Counsel,
> please keep you client under control.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Yes, your honor.  At this time I would like to submit
> into evidence as exhibits P and Q this pair of culots worn by Ms Arden
> on the August evening in question, and this forensics report which
> shows, despite subsequent laundering, substantial traces remaining, on
> both knees, of buttery-flavored vegetable oil staining.
>
> (Momentary disruption of courtroom abruptly silenced by wicked stare
> from "the bench")
>
> Judge Prodsdottir: Counsel...
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Your honor,... Now Ms. Arden.  After this sexual
> preamble, which we take it warmed you up, but didn't ring your bell,
> (suppressed chuckles from courtroom, stern look from bench), you and
> Mr. Assange proceeded back to your apartment for the condom-equipped
> main event, isn't that so?
>
> Arden: Yes.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Let's skip over the lurid details (brief roar of
> disapproval from the crowd) and cut to the chase, shall we?
>
> Arden: Please.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Who supplied the condom?
>
> Arden (hesitates, wary): I er, ...I don't remember.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: You don't remember!!!  Well, perhaps this video from
> the security camera at your premises, obtained and provided to us by
> the whistle-blowing organization Sneakyleaks, will refresh your
> memory.  Or perhaps this plethismo-cam video obtained from disgruntled
> CIA operatives and transmitted to the defense through the
> whistle-blowing organization Dickyleaks, will help you to recall.
>
> Arden (stunned):  Yes, yes, I supplied the condom.  So what?  He's
> Australian.  They surf; they wrestle crocodiles; they're real men.
> They don't wear condoms, and they don't carry them around with them,
> the pigs.  I wanted to bag him, so what? That's no crime.  He's tall,
> heroic, over-the-top intelligent; every women on the planet wants him,
> even the right-wing skanks who won't admit it.  They all want him.
> But I'm the one who got him.  Me.  He's mine.  He loves me.  Not that
> dipstick barbie wannabe Wilen.  (Rises, shouting at Assange)I love
> you, Julian.  No one else loves you like I do.  If I can't have you no
> one can.  I'm better than them.  (Breaks down sobbing.  Assange slides
> down in his chair.  The courtroom is hushed.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Magnificent.  What a marvelous actress you are,
> Anna,...if that is your real name.  But we both know it's a show don't
> we?
>
> Arden (still sobbing):  I don't know what you mean,  I love him,
> (trails off) I love him.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: You supplied the condom.  And it broke.  How sad; how
> tragic; how inconvenient!  Or maybe not.  What became of the condom in
> question, Ms Arden?, if that is your name?
>
> Arden (sobbing softly and unconvincingly):  Uh, I don't know, uh threw
> it away, I don't know where it is. No one saves old condoms.  It's
> gone.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Would you care to explain to me then this CIA report
> -- Your honor, I'd like to submit this into evidence as exhibit R --
> provided to us by the whistle-blowing organization Cheekyleaks,
> documenting the cryogenic storage of a semen sample whose source is
> listed as one Assange, Julian, with date of acquisition shown as the
> day following your assignation with Mr. Assange?
>
> Arden (confused disoriented):  I,...I,... don't understand.
>
> AFTD Pornquist: No, Well perhaps you could explain this?  (holds up
> small olive green packet, then as everyone watches tears open the
> packet to reveal what appears to be...)  Looks like a standard Profil
> condom, Sweden's most popular brand, doesn't it Ms Arden?  We found it
> at your residence, along with the rest of your gear.  But this olive
> green wrapper -- Profils don't usually come wrapped like this --
> what's this all about?  Perhaps Ms. Arden, you'd like to read for the
> court  what's on the wrapper.  (Hands wrapper to Arden.)
>
> Arden (sits sullenly)
>
> AFTD Pornquist: Okay then, allow me.  It says, "Ordnance, Sheath,
> prophylactic, sexual, self-failing, timed, duration 180 secs
> post-penetration, Mk 3 mod 1."  Code name" Onan's Surprise".  Then
> there are a bunch of numbers, mil-spec identification number, contract
> number, lot number, and a psy-ops command inventory identifier.
>
> Time to give it up, Anna.  You're busted.
>
>                  ****************************
>
> I could go one damn near forever, but you get the point, and I've
> "wasted" most of the day working on this.
>
> Best, Jeff Davis
>
>  "During times of universal deceit, telling the
>   truth becomes a revolutionary act."
>                   George Orwell
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>



-- 
"In the end that's all we have: our memories - electrochemical impulses
stored in eight pounds of tissue the consistency of cold porridge." -
Remembrance of the Daleks
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