- Yesterday, we had news of deeper, more difficult-to-foil privacy attacks on our computers. Well, today those very same attackers bring us more honorable news.
- Yesterday, I also linked to the WikiLeaks donation page and suggested this might be a good time to send money to those lone warriors battling government secrecy. Alas, WikiLeaks.org is no more. Continuing attacks against the site forced it out of existence. BUT. The site came back to life. It’s now at WikiLeaks.ch in Switzerland. Here’s the IP address in case the domain name is killed once again: http://213.251.145.96/. And here’s that donation page again, which is on yet another site: https://donations.datacell.com/.
- Julian Assange is probably not the nicest person in the universe. He’s arrogant and self-centered — as he would just about have to be to take on the most powerful people of the world with nothing but a small staff of techies and volunteers to help. But you know that terrible “sex crime” that’s made him an international fugitive? Here’s what it is. And here’s another account. Careless sex. Women scorned. Yep, Interpol would go after just any ordinary Joe for a condom failure, wouldn’t they? No political motives here at all. You may not love Julian Assange. But as Jack Shafer so brilliantly says, “I love WikiLeaks” — for restoring distrust in government.
- Own the sun. Use the proceeds to bail out Spain. Well, it makes at least as much sense as anything any central bank is doing.
- Now this is a powerfully touching story. (NYTimes link. Free subscription required.)
- Want JP Morgan to crash? Here’s an idea. Should you want JP Morgan to crash? That’s another story, as a lot of commenters note. It’s not about wanting to hurt bank employees or customers. It’s about wanting a corrupt banking system to fall so that a healthy system can — finally — arise in its place.
- One of the most corrupt nations on earth decides Dick Cheney is too corrupt for its tastes.
The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. -John Gilmore
Angeles Duran can get in line with all the other idiots who’ll never see any money out of me….BTW, that’s a pretty long line LOL…..
Nigeria, like a good many other countries (Peru and Zimbabwe come to mind) is SO corrupt that the “anti-corruption police” (what a joke!) themselves run cons – and like any good con-artist, they go after people who have money and a reason to buy them off; if for no other reason than that you can’t go anywhere if you have an Interpol warrant out on you. So Cheney’s rep certainly isn’t sullied any MORE by being fingered by Nigeria.
Not in response to anything here, other than the miscellany maybe:
If you have ever moved cross country with pets (and I know you have), you must read this. IT’S ALL TRUE. There are even illustrations.
Under Miscellany (apropos of nothing above): Today is Prohibition (or Repeal) Day http://www.repealday.org/
Not just about alcohol anymore; it’s time to repeal the War on Drugs and the War on Guns. Plus: repeal *all the Powers That Be* who brought us to this fascist state today.
Maybe Angeles Duran is an updated Emperor Norton..they let her do it just because it’s entertaining..
Scott,
LOL … Good comparison. Funny how the egomaniacal “real” power players in the world never see themselves in the Emperor Nortons or Angeles Durans.
Help me out, Claire, regarding Wikileaks: Don’t governments have to have some secrets? The world is not full of nice people saying “can’t we all just get along?”. This whole thing smells a bit fishy to me. e.g. Why doesn’t Assange and his bunch hack into the Chinese government’s emails, or those of N Korea or Iran? Afraid of getting his skinny ass killed?
Karol,
Well, I’m an anarchist. I don’t think government should have anything
But if you’re actually looking for another viewpoint (which I don’t think you are, given your tone and comment about Assange “getting his skinny ass killed”) here’s a mainstreamish view that’s hardly pro-Assange, but hints at how WikiLeaks might end up enhancing the government secrecy you cherish by prompting the fedgov to take better care of its data (because, after all, this all began with the U.S. government being incredibly cavalier with its alleged “secrets”):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/08/editorial-wikileaks-julian-assange
That doesn’t represent my view. But it’s true that systems need to be tested and WikiLeaks is giving the fedgov a serious reality check.
And as to Assange and his bunch “hacking” into other countries’ systerms — don’t you understand that’s not what WikiLeaks does? Despite Assange’s history and skills as a hacker, that’s not what he’s doing here. Like journalists, the WikiLeaks people take what’s given to them from employees of governments, corporations, etc., examine it, and publish some of it. I’m pretty sure they’d happily publish Chinese, North Korean, or Iranian secrets. And if you actually search the material on WikiLeaks, you’ll find they’ve published documents from all manner of sources, not just the U.S. government. (Although since no other government on earth currently strives for global empire, the secrets of the U.S. fedgov certainly provoke the widest interest.)
Finally, if you’re on an honest quest, I hope you’ll look into what a huge culture of secrets the fedgov has — the kinds of completely innocuous data they’ve classified — the number of people who have security clearances — the way federal agencies routinely (and illegally) refuse to respond to Freedom Of Information Act queries, etc. — and ask yourself how can a government claim to represent “the people” when it’s determined to keep those very people from finding out most of what it does?
Added: Here’s an example of the secrets “our” leaders now keep:
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/assassin-nation/
If that’s what you want from a government, you’re welcome to it.
Thank you, Claire, for your patient reply. I’m new here, having just heard of you on Brian Wilson’s show. I don’t want to waste any more of your time, so I’ll rummage around a bit for the answer to my next question.
Given human nature, I’m trying to figure how anarchy would work. If I remember, even Jefferson lamented (in his later letters) the abuses at the U of Virginia; having founded the institution with very limited restrictions on the freedoms of students and faculty. I think I read that it was sort of an experiment in freedom and more along the lines of what he would have wanted for the country, but had to compromise away in order to get the articles or constitution accepted. (Sorry, I’m blessed with a lousy memory.)
Karol,
I should thank YOU. I think your response was more patient and gracious than mine. Thanks for being here. I hope you find plenty to interest you and keep you coming back.
Anarchist, minarchists, Tea Partiers, unaffiliated curmudgeons — everybody’s welcome here. For the record, I don’t expect to see functional anarchist institutions in my lifetime, or maybe anybody’s lifetime (and you have a pretty darned good memory if you recall that much about Jefferson and the U of V). But daily life among the civilized is a decent mini-anarchy. And I’ll be content — nay, delirious with joy — if we can simply achieve smaller, less intrusive, and more accountable government.