Leaks -- stupid secrecy

Another wonder that impresses me about the WikiLeaks experience is the vicious stupidity used by people in our government.  OUR government.  They classify nearly everything as “secret”, and a “threat to national security”.  Since when has being embarrassed been a national security issue?

Remember -- the WkiLeaks folks and the N.Y.Times folks gave the State Department an chance to weed out anything damaging before they printed the material.  Our State Department couldn’t be bothered, but Ms. Clinton and Mr. Holder can be bothered to plan criminal prosecution of the man who exposed these embarrassing secrets.  

I wonder . . . is this another sign of the drift towards a police state?  a facist style of governance, espoused by both major parties?  If so, I don’t like it.

Don’t get me wrong.  Most other countries in the world are in worse shape than we are.  But we need to be aware.  Leading the world towards freedom won’t happen if we let them lead us towards secrecy where none is needed.  None is needed if we are only protecting people who put their foot in the mouth.  Really. 

Secrets I would Like to See Leaked - Part One

What secrets would I like to see revealed that the government keeps under lock and key?

1. I wonder who is “running” Barak Obama?  He has way more intelligence and drive than he has shown in the first two hears of his term.  He has maintained the nastiest facist-like trapping of the previous administration.  So, who is really running our country?
2. I wonder who handled, managed and dictated to George W. Bush.  There have been hints that he actually is a decent human being who can, on occasion, think.  But his administration, while gathering power unto themselves, did most things badly, and moved us towards a facist state as well as a bankrupt state, more quickly than any government of a major country since Adolph Hitler.  (That is not a compliment!)  I don’t think that was his intention, but someone was pushing him that way.
3. I wonder who decided that war with Iraq was a higher priority than catching Osama bin Laden (whose family are friends of the Bush family).  I also wonder who in our vast government decided to go along with that set of priorities.
4. I wonder why the Federal government has not arrested the major players in the big financial institutions who created this vast recession.  What protects them, when poor and middle class people who disturb the peace get arrested (and if they are black, serve jail time).  

What secrets is our government keeping you would like to see leaked?

Leaks Part 1

WikiLeaks has begun releasing a ton of “secret” documents hidden by the USA.  Why is that a big deal?

Think it over a moment.  The USA has made it clear that it has every right to invade the privacy of not only American citizens, but people throughout the world.  From NSA monitoring of telephone conversations to TSA tickling your crotch at the airport this “government of the people, for the people and by the people” assumes the right to invade our privacy.

Fair’s fair.

Why should we not invade their privacy?  The WikiLeaks founder has been careful to avoid leaking anything that would put someone in physical harm (unlike the conservative Bushie who “outed” Ms. Valerie Plame resulting in harm and death being visited on her network of intelligence agents.  That’s an irony given the conservative howls about merely embarassing disclosures being made today.

See my next posting for secrets I am still waiting to see disclosed.

Thinking With Al - beginning

I plan to share thoughts with you as I have elsewhere in the past.  I plan not to cross the line into mere political opinion or faddish harangues.  Rather, I hope to examine ideas thoughtfully and provoke my readers, if any, to think bigger, to think realistically, to think using data while searching for more data.  More data may change all of our thinking. 

What a concept.  Let's do it!