Wiki Leaks and stuff

With a docile and toothless press, where are we to turn for information? Keep this in mind. Basically only six companies control the press here in the USA and they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Do this yourself sometime. Flip through the news channels and watch how they all cover virtually the same events. Today (May 24, 2011) it is tornado clean up; Obama goes to Europe, Ratko Mladic and as always The Middle East. Detailed coverage is virtually non-existent. We get the Youtube two to three minute versions of events (followed by advertising for denture creams, drugs and tanning lotions). This past Sunday, the self styled hard hitting 60 Minutes spent two thirds of the broadcast talking about charges of Lance Armstrong doping. I don’t know about you, but I could care less. It would be great it this was really our most pressing problem. Let’s not think about contractors killing people and blood money in Pakistan, possible links between sever weather and climate change or the very real dangers of nuclear power. Real news is hard to come by. It is sad but we have a pressing need for wikileaks.

This Julian guy gets the idea to create a website for whistle blowers. Sounds good. Send us info on corruption, genocides etc and we will post it for the whole world to see. When there is nowhere else to turn, this is a good and useful option. The only problem is it is also run by human beings all carrying their own baggage and axes to grind. Who gets to decide what stays secret and why? I think there is a need for state secrets staying secret. I don’t need to know where the missiles are our all about our latest bio weapons. That said, how do I know corruption, abuses and worse are not being hid behind the wall of state secrets? How can we keep tabs on this and all the conflicting interests? It is not a black and white situation with heroes and villains. This is taking place in the real world with real people who have mixed motivations and agendas. Frontline did a pretty good story on Bradley Manning recently.

Bradley Manning, a young US Army Intelligence Officer, turned over everything he could, even the kitchen sink, (American expression) to wikileaks. Some things needed to come out like shooting up Iraqis just standing around by US helicopter gunships. But why include Iraqis and Afghans working with the United States? Why include masses of diplomatic cables? The US Army did a very poor job in keeping track of data and helping Mr. Manning deal with his personal life. Not his being Gay but his unhappiness and anger. I can see him as both a hero and a villain. Freed Bradley Manning? Forget it people, it is not going to happen. He broke his oath, the law and pissed off some of the most powerful people in the world. My guess (and it only a guess) is he did it for mixed reasons. He came to hate the Army and he also saw terrible wrongs. It could also be he is serving the role as scapegoat. Could one low level Intelligence Analyst have had access to so much and leaked it all? This is also problematic. I have no problem with abuses getting out and find it sad this is how we find out. Keep reporting on Lance and other nonsense 60 Minutes!

End of the World News Stories...

My my, I better write quickly! It’s all over for us 6pm Saturday. Now, which time zone exactly? A few hours here or there no matter, I still plan to buy my Corvette tomorrow after work so I can have a fun filled last Saturday of joy riding. Most people would agree this is just more religious nut case lunacy but there is another question. Why is this a lead in story on CNN and other so-called news outlets? I view CNN (Certainly Not Newsworthy) as maybe just a slight step up from a tabloid. Other main stream media outlets are about the same (except Al Jazira- no doomsday nonsense there thank you). These fools get the attention while serious threats to our existence like climate change and nuclear proliferation are all too often denied by moneyed interests or simply ignored. Why is this? Well, the dumb ass stories serve as a good distraction from our very real problems. Look at all the fools commenting on it. Hell, I’m writing about it. We love to contemplate our own doom! There is something sublime about watching whole cities going up in flames, sinking under the waves or invaded by zombies or mutants (kudos Hollywood). Such Hollywood movies are entertaining even for an alleged thinking person like me. But for someone to really believe some god or other is going to end the world? It is wrong is so many ways. It is the same old worn out story of a “chosen people.” “We’re going to Heaven and you’re not! Na na nany bobo bobo stick your head in dodo.” Heaven? With these people? I don’t know about you but I’ll pass.

Judgment Day. Now there’s a concept. All of the good people (unless they believe in another religion or no religion) go to heaven while all the bad people go to a bad place called Hell. God decides. Man, I would not want his job! I’ll leave that for the Decider, George W. Does that sound like an all knowing all loving supreme being or some vengeful old fart not getting his way? Now if I were God for a day I’d take everyone else but these morons. Let them figure it out. With the multiverse, it could happen and we would never even have to know! Just click the remote and we are on another copy of the Earth! Now that’s a movie I’d like to see, The Left Behinder bunch Left Behind scratching their balls wondering WTF. Oh, now I’m getting absurd.

Yes, the world as we know it will end one day but not from god. We’ll nuke ourselves, an asteroid with our name on it will show up given enough time, the sun will go supernova, or some other such event. There are plenty of real ways the end will come. When watching this BS ask yourself a question. What is NOT being reported on right now?

But what a fun filled Saturday it could be!