Community > Politics, Current News & Events

Topic: Bradley Manning Deserves a Medal
Optomistic69 Joined Mon 10/10/11 Posts: 5173	Tue 12/20/11 05:34 AM
It is sad what we have become when we choose gov't over its people...... Very sad indeed.... Truth is only a danger to those who have something to hide.

Leigh2154 Joined Sun 10/02/11 Posts: 16479	Tue 12/20/11 05:44 AM
The 4th day of the preliminary hearing to determine whether Private Bradley Manning should face court-martial on 22 charges which, if convicted, would result in a sentence of life in prison concluded Monday with 15 or 21 witnesses having been called.. Most notable testimony included the introduction of records on Manning's personal computer of internet chats with former hacker ADRIAN LAMO in which the defendant confessed to leaking the info to twice accused rapist JULIAN ASSANGE....

msharmony Joined Mon 08/31/09 Posts: 61041	Tue 12/20/11 05:30 PM
there is a time and place for everything and some secrets are important to keep I think MOST internationally influencial policies and actions do not need to be 'exposed' in an internet culture to what is ultimately the WHOLE WORLD,,,, Precisely!! ..National security depends on it!... So national security means the goverment can lie to its citizens at will and for whatever reasone it deems necessary? Tell that to Nixon. Or Oliver North and to be fair. Tell it to Bill Clinton thats arguing extremes really national security calls for MANY things to be kept strictly within certain departments and organizations and not on a GLOBAL medium like the internet or television not for 'whatever' reasons, but for legitimate reasons as citizens we expect a certain 'privacy' of our information and there is information within government that deserves that same 'privacy' When you're doing things that effect us, we have every right to know. What we do doesn't effect an entire country, but what they do does. There's a HUGE difference between the two. Once you allow them the ability to hide particular things, you open the door to abuse, lies, deceit and cover ups. The best way to keep them accountable is to demand transparancy. the 'right to know' is a simplistic cliche what we have a 'right to know' is irrelevant when we cant isolate information so that just americans 'know' it the whole world does NOT have a 'right to know' everything going on in the US, and for that reason, not everything that is going on can be reported,,,,pretty simple

heavenlyboy34 Joined Fri 07/04/08 Posts: 17348	Tue 12/20/11 05:32 PM
It is becoming a trend to punish the whistleblowers, and often they receive more punishment than the actual offenders of the charges. Such is the case also of the guy who broke the UBS banking scandle that led to the prosecution of 1900+ tax defrauders and recovered over $20B in fines for the US Treasury.... he is the only one who received ANY jail time and is still in prison while all the "offenders" walk free. It makes you wonder if it is not to set an example to make people be silent to such offenses and keep the rich safe to continue "business as usual". Yep. Truth is treason in an empire of lies.

Lpdon Joined Thu 02/25/10 Posts: 18772	Tue 12/20/11 05:35 PM
The 4th day of the preliminary hearing to determine whether Private Bradley Manning should face court-martial on 22 charges which, if convicted, would result in a sentence of life in prison concluded Monday with 15 or 21 witnesses having been called.. Most notable testimony included the introduction of records on Manning's personal computer of internet chats with former hacker ADRIAN LAMO in which the defendant confessed to leaking the info to twice accused rapist JULIAN ASSANGE.... I guarantee the two women Assange raped arn't the only ones out there. Predators like Assange dont just start over night.

Kleisto Joined Tue 05/13/08 Posts: 5704	Tue 12/20/11 07:22 PM Edited by Kleisto on Tue 12/20/11 07:23 PM
there is a time and place for everything and some secrets are important to keep I think MOST internationally influencial policies and actions do not need to be 'exposed' in an internet culture to what is ultimately the WHOLE WORLD,,,, Precisely!! ..National security depends on it!... So national security means the goverment can lie to its citizens at will and for whatever reasone it deems necessary? Tell that to Nixon. Or Oliver North and to be fair. Tell it to Bill Clinton thats arguing extremes really national security calls for MANY things to be kept strictly within certain departments and organizations and not on a GLOBAL medium like the internet or television not for 'whatever' reasons, but for legitimate reasons as citizens we expect a certain 'privacy' of our information and there is information within government that deserves that same 'privacy' When you're doing things that effect us, we have every right to know. What we do doesn't effect an entire country, but what they do does. There's a HUGE difference between the two. Once you allow them the ability to hide particular things, you open the door to abuse, lies, deceit and cover ups. The best way to keep them accountable is to demand transparancy. the 'right to know' is a simplistic cliche what we have a 'right to know' is irrelevant when we cant isolate information so that just americans 'know' it the whole world does NOT have a 'right to know' everything going on in the US, and for that reason, not everything that is going on can be reported,,,,pretty simple Maybe the whole world doesn't, but the citizens in this country that are effected damn sure do. Once you give the controllers the power to censor information from us on a whim, they WILL abuse it, and they have many times over. We need to demand our government be honest with us, plain and simple.

msharmony Joined Mon 08/31/09 Posts: 61041	Tue 12/20/11 07:23 PM
there is a time and place for everything and some secrets are important to keep I think MOST internationally influencial policies and actions do not need to be 'exposed' in an internet culture to what is ultimately the WHOLE WORLD,,,, Precisely!! ..National security depends on it!... So national security means the goverment can lie to its citizens at will and for whatever reasone it deems necessary? Tell that to Nixon. Or Oliver North and to be fair. Tell it to Bill Clinton thats arguing extremes really national security calls for MANY things to be kept strictly within certain departments and organizations and not on a GLOBAL medium like the internet or television not for 'whatever' reasons, but for legitimate reasons as citizens we expect a certain 'privacy' of our information and there is information within government that deserves that same 'privacy' When you're doing things that effect us, we have every right to know. What we do doesn't effect an entire country, but what they do does. There's a HUGE difference between the two. Once you allow them the ability to hide particular things, you open the door to abuse, lies, deceit and cover ups. The best way to keep them accountable is to demand transparancy. the 'right to know' is a simplistic cliche what we have a 'right to know' is irrelevant when we cant isolate information so that just americans 'know' it the whole world does NOT have a 'right to know' everything going on in the US, and for that reason, not everything that is going on can be reported,,,,pretty simple Maybe the whole world doesn't, but the citizens in this country that are effected damn sure do. Once you give the controllers the power to censor information on a whim, they WILL abuse it, and they have many times over. We need to demand our government be honest with us, plain and simple. how would you propose such 'honesty' WITHOUT disclosing our informatino to the whole world?

Kleisto Joined Tue 05/13/08 Posts: 5704	Tue 12/20/11 07:25 PM
there is a time and place for everything and some secrets are important to keep I think MOST internationally influencial policies and actions do not need to be 'exposed' in an internet culture to what is ultimately the WHOLE WORLD,,,, Precisely!! ..National security depends on it!... So national security means the goverment can lie to its citizens at will and for whatever reasone it deems necessary? Tell that to Nixon. Or Oliver North and to be fair. Tell it to Bill Clinton thats arguing extremes really national security calls for MANY things to be kept strictly within certain departments and organizations and not on a GLOBAL medium like the internet or television not for 'whatever' reasons, but for legitimate reasons as citizens we expect a certain 'privacy' of our information and there is information within government that deserves that same 'privacy' When you're doing things that effect us, we have every right to know. What we do doesn't effect an entire country, but what they do does. There's a HUGE difference between the two. Once you allow them the ability to hide particular things, you open the door to abuse, lies, deceit and cover ups. The best way to keep them accountable is to demand transparancy. the 'right to know' is a simplistic cliche what we have a 'right to know' is irrelevant when we cant isolate information so that just americans 'know' it the whole world does NOT have a 'right to know' everything going on in the US, and for that reason, not everything that is going on can be reported,,,,pretty simple Maybe the whole world doesn't, but the citizens in this country that are effected damn sure do. Once you give the controllers the power to censor information on a whim, they WILL abuse it, and they have many times over. We need to demand our government be honest with us, plain and simple. how would you propose such 'honesty' WITHOUT disclosing our informatino to the whole world? Find a damn way, I can't propose to be as smart as some others, but surely there has to be a way to have some sort of transparency. As it is, as long as we allow them to control what is said and what isn't like we have been, quite frankly we deserve what we get. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, history has shown us this over and over, and America is no exception to that rule.

msharmony Joined Mon 08/31/09 Posts: 61041	Tue 12/20/11 07:30 PM
there is a time and place for everything and some secrets are important to keep I think MOST internationally influencial policies and actions do not need to be 'exposed' in an internet culture to what is ultimately the WHOLE WORLD,,,, Precisely!! ..National security depends on it!... So national security means the goverment can lie to its citizens at will and for whatever reasone it deems necessary? Tell that to Nixon. Or Oliver North and to be fair. Tell it to Bill Clinton thats arguing extremes really national security calls for MANY things to be kept strictly within certain departments and organizations and not on a GLOBAL medium like the internet or television not for 'whatever' reasons, but for legitimate reasons as citizens we expect a certain 'privacy' of our information and there is information within government that deserves that same 'privacy' When you're doing things that effect us, we have every right to know. What we do doesn't effect an entire country, but what they do does. There's a HUGE difference between the two. Once you allow them the ability to hide particular things, you open the door to abuse, lies, deceit and cover ups. The best way to keep them accountable is to demand transparancy. the 'right to know' is a simplistic cliche what we have a 'right to know' is irrelevant when we cant isolate information so that just americans 'know' it the whole world does NOT have a 'right to know' everything going on in the US, and for that reason, not everything that is going on can be reported,,,,pretty simple Maybe the whole world doesn't, but the citizens in this country that are effected damn sure do. Once you give the controllers the power to censor information on a whim, they WILL abuse it, and they have many times over. We need to demand our government be honest with us, plain and simple. how would you propose such 'honesty' WITHOUT disclosing our informatino to the whole world? Find a damn way, I can't propose to be as smart as some others, but surely there has to be a way to have some sort of transparency. As it is, as long as we allow them to control what is said and what isn't like we have been, quite frankly we deserve what we get. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, history has shown us this over and over, and America is no exception to that rule. I think any absolute can be dangerous including 'absolute' transparency, many things the world doesnt need to know and no way to release information to one country of citizens without exposing it to the world,,,

Jeanniebean Joined Wed 01/30/08 Posts: 40028	Tue 12/20/11 07:37 PM
The truth should not be hidden. They hide the truth because they are ashamed of it. They think what they are doing (although it is SINFUL AND WRONG) is for the "greater good." They want to manipulate your thoughts and opinions so they give you FALSE INFORMATION better known as Lies. They do this so you will agree to pay their taxes and send your children into foreign wars and teach them how they must kill innocent people for the greater good.

Kleisto Joined Tue 05/13/08 Posts: 5704	Tue 12/20/11 09:16 PM
Here's an idea, let the PEOPLE decide what they should know and what they shouldn't. The government is supposed to be serving us, not the other way around. One way to do that, would be to allow us the right to know what we wish to know. If you won't, then you're not serving our interests.

msharmony Joined Mon 08/31/09 Posts: 61041	Tue 12/20/11 09:19 PM
Here's an idea, let the PEOPLE decide what they should know and what they shouldn't. The government is supposed to be serving us, not the other way around. One way to do that, would be to allow us the right to know what we wish to know. If you won't, then you're not serving our interests. another cliche idea, how can you know what you wish to know without first knowing what that is,,, like I said, there are some things the WHOLE WORLD doesnt need to know which must therefore not be released in this instant access global information age,,,

Jeanniebean Joined Wed 01/30/08 Posts: 40028	Tue 12/20/11 09:22 PM
Here's an idea, let the PEOPLE decide what they should know and what they shouldn't. The government is supposed to be serving us, not the other way around. One way to do that, would be to allow us the right to know what we wish to know. If you won't, then you're not serving our interests. another cliche idea, how can you know what you wish to know without first knowing what that is,,, like I said, there are some things the WHOLE WORLD doesnt need to know which must therefore not be released in this instant access global information age,,, What are these things that the whole world does not need to know? Classified stuff most often protects the criminals in office.

Kleisto Joined Tue 05/13/08 Posts: 5704	Tue 12/20/11 09:23 PM
Here's an idea, let the PEOPLE decide what they should know and what they shouldn't. The government is supposed to be serving us, not the other way around. One way to do that, would be to allow us the right to know what we wish to know. If you won't, then you're not serving our interests. another cliche idea, how can you know what you wish to know without first knowing what that is,,, like I said, there are some things the WHOLE WORLD doesnt need to know which must therefore not be released in this instant access global information age,,, What are these things that the whole world does not need to know? Classified stuff most often protects the criminals in office. What she said. Like I said once you give these people in power control over the flow of information, they WILL abuse it. Period.

msharmony Joined Mon 08/31/09 Posts: 61041	Tue 12/20/11 09:27 PM
Here's an idea, let the PEOPLE decide what they should know and what they shouldn't. The government is supposed to be serving us, not the other way around. One way to do that, would be to allow us the right to know what we wish to know. If you won't, then you're not serving our interests. another cliche idea, how can you know what you wish to know without first knowing what that is,,, like I said, there are some things the WHOLE WORLD doesnt need to know which must therefore not be released in this instant access global information age,,, What are these things that the whole world does not need to know? Classified stuff most often protects the criminals in office. I dont know, but I can think of many examples (fictitious as far as I know) the world doesnt need to know where or how we have intelligence around the globe to protect us from threats the world doesnt need to know our military weaknesses or the locations of our most volatile military or nuclear facilities the world doesnt need to know everyone our leaders 'speak' to as it is human nature for people to make ASSUMPTIONS from such little facts the world doesnt need to know when certain leaders or policy makers are ill or disposed ,, I can think of many more little things that would put us at risk from those who do wish us harm(and I do believe they exist although IM not 'paranoid' about it) , certain information can be used against us and other information will cause more harm than good if disclosed other information is just not distinct and absolute enough to spread, at risk of panic or assumptions which cause setbacks, unnecessarily,,,

Kleisto Joined Tue 05/13/08 Posts: 5704	Tue 12/20/11 09:30 PM
The entire thing is just way too subjective msharmony, you give them an inch, they will take a mile every single time. Always have.

msharmony Joined Mon 08/31/09 Posts: 61041	Tue 12/20/11 09:31 PM
The entire thing is just way too subjective msharmony, you give them an inch, they will take a mile every single time. Always have. I disagree. There is no perfect system, but the absolute transparency some seek would be as catastrophic as any other.

Jeanniebean Joined Wed 01/30/08 Posts: 40028	Tue 12/20/11 09:32 PM
The truth is, I fear and mistrust my own government as much or more than any foreign threat. It is extremely difficult to believe or trust the leaders of this country and the leaders of the world given all the lies that have to this date been exposed. It is a well established fact that the officials have lied to us and to the public in the past. There are reasons for these lies. Mostly they are protecting their own criminal acts and lying to cover up other lies.

msharmony Joined Mon 08/31/09 Posts: 61041	Tue 12/20/11 09:34 PM
at least you are honest jeannie I fear nothing and noone really, life happens and some will be good and some will be bad and noone and nothing will be perfect. I appreciate all the things that I know could be worse and they still outlist those which could be better.....

Kleisto Joined Tue 05/13/08 Posts: 5704	Tue 12/20/11 09:34 PM
The entire thing is just way too subjective msharmony, you give them an inch, they will take a mile every single time. Always have. I disagree. There is no perfect system, but the absolute transparency some seek would be as catastrophic as any other. It doesn't matter if you disagree or not, it's the simple facts. All you have to do is look into history to see it. Why do you think they make these damn bills so big that even those voting on it don't have the time to read through it all? They do it so that they can hide all sorts of crap in it that we won't know about till later, by which time it is too late. Without some sort of transparency in what they are doing, they can do just about any damn thing they want and get away with it, and they do.