Gotta Admit... I'm Pretty Baffled By The Split And Depth Of Feeling Re:The Assange/WikiLeaks Story

[freshwest]

53. Willy T! Old enough to be your Mom, and side with both for various reasons, but more with Assange.

I regret that this is going on right now and it is not in the spirit of the FOIA. But this is not the USA I grew up in, either. It is more RW now. I am a member of the generation who benefited from the passage of the FOIA in the USA:

In the United States the Freedom of Information Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 4, 1966 and went into effect the following year. Ralph Nader has been credited with the impetus for creating this act, among others.[68] The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments were signed by President Bill Clinton on October 2, 1996.

The Act applies only to federal agencies. However, all of the states, as well as the District of Columbia and some territories, have enacted similar statutes to require disclosures by agencies of the state and of local governments, though some are significantly broader than others. Some state and local government agencies attempt to get around state open records laws by claiming copyright for their works and then demanding high fees to license the public information.[69]:441–42 The ruling in Santa Clara v. CFAC will likely curtail the abuse of copyright to avoid public disclosure in California, but agencies in other states like Texas and New York continue to hide behind copyright.[citation needed] Some states expand government transparency through open meeting laws, which require government meetings to be announced in advance and held publicly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_legislation#United_States

I have not changed my mind one bit, do not hate those witha different view of President Obama, who I fully support. I believe, in contrast to those that have taken the 'all government is evil, it's all a conspiracy' belief filter, his actions will change as America changes. He is not acting for himself in this matter, the machinery of the system is in place and must be changed by us, as he is not a dictator. In life, we all have roles to play, some of them are not popular and do not please all of us.

I met Daniel Ellsberg at my university when he came to talk to us. I bought a paper back copy of his book, The Pentagon Papers which he signed. He was a lightning rod for many with reasons to not support the Vietnam War. He released the Pentagon Papers and the firestorm around that was bigger than this one, but I understand those who didn't live in those days don't know what it was like then. Read below if you're interested the part of this I italicized and the links below.

Ellsberg now supports Wikileaks, Assange and Manning. I supported Gravel in the last election for POTUS since I was involved in mobillizations to end the war in those days and knew what he did to make that release. I can't forget watching him weep as he read the Pentagon Papers into the public record so it could not be destroyed as actions to stop it being disclosed were extreme.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Gravel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers


Daniel Ellsberg knew the leaders of the task force well. He had worked as an aide to McNaughton from 1964 to 1965, had worked on the study for several months in 1967, and in 1969 Gelb and Halperin approved his access to the work at RAND.[3] Now opposing the war, Ellsberg and his friend Anthony Russo[4] photocopied the study in October 1969 intending to disclose it. He approached Nixon's National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, Senators William Fulbright and George McGovern, and others, but none were interested.[3]

In February 1971 Ellsberg discussed the study with New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan, and gave 43 of the volumes to him in March. The Times began publishing excerpts on June 13, 1971; the first article in the series was titled "Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces Three Decades of Growing US Involvement". The name "Pentagon Papers" for the study arose during the resulting media publicity.[3][5] Street protests, political controversy and lawsuits followed.

To ensure the possibility of public debate about the content of the papers, on June 29, US Senator Mike Gravel (then Democrat, Alaska) entered 4,100 pages of the Papers to the record of his Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds. These portions of the Papers were subsequently published by Beacon Press, the publishing arm of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_papers#Leak

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg#The_Pentagon_Papers

While I don't know the reasons for the emotions, that is my story. I respect the opinion of Ellsberg, as a fellow sojourner, but not a god, which some people seem to be ready to put someone or the other in that place.

The issue of good governance is essential in some aspects of our lives. I find some opinions rabid or heavy handed, just I am sure some find mine tedious and oboxnious at times, if not all the time. Hurray for Ignore.

Pardon me for this being so long. I was going to the 3rd post but ended up being the fifty-third.