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A Bayesian Take on Julian Assange – NYTimes.com:

“The handling of the case has been highly irregular from the start, in ways that would seem to make clear that the motivation for bringing the charges is political.”

 

Breaking News on EFF Victory: Appeals Court Holds that Email Privacy Protected by Fourth Amendment | Electronic Frontier Foundation:

“Given the fundamental similarities between email and traditional forms of communication [like postal mail and telephone calls], it would defy common sense to afford emails lesser Fourth Amendment protection…. It follows that email requires strong protection under the Fourth Amendment; otherwise the Fourth Amendment would prove an ineffective guardian of private communication, an essential purpose it has long been recognized to serve…. [T]he police may not storm the post office and intercept a letter, and they are likewise forbidden from using the phone system to make a clandestine recording of a telephone call–unless they get a warrant, that is. It only stands to reason that, if government agents compel an ISP to surrender the contents of a subscriber’s emails, those agents have thereby conducted a Fourth Amendment search, which necessitates compliance with the warrant requirement….”

I still don’t think it is a bad idea to encrypt your emails…

“Questions to consider:

Number 1: Do the America People deserve know the truth regarding the ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen?

Number 2: Could a larger question be how can an army private access so much secret information?

Number 3: Why is the hostility mostly directed at Assange, the publisher, and not at our governments failure to protect classified information?

Number 4: Are we getting our moneys worth of the 80 Billion dollars per year spent on intelligence gathering?

Number 5: Which has resulted in the greatest number of deaths: lying us into war or Wikileaks revelations or the release of the Pentagon Papers?

Number 6: If Assange can be convicted of a crime for publishing information that he did not steal, what does this say about the future of the first amendment and the independence of the internet?

Number 7: Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on Wikileaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy of empire than it is about national security?

Number 8: Is there not a huge difference between releasing secret information to help the enemy in a time of declared war, which is treason, and the releasing of information to expose our government lies that promote secret wars, death and corruption?

Number 9: Was it not once considered patriotic to stand up to our government when it is wrong?

Thomas Jefferson had it right when he advised ‘Let the eyes of vigilance never be closed.’ I yield back the balance of my time.”

(Via Huffington Post - Ron Paul Defends WikiLeaks On House Floor (VIDEO)🙂

Props to Bernie Sanders.

If you don’t want to watch the entire 9 hours (and I don’t either) I think the first 12 minutes are worthwhile:

He states towards the end of this segment that the estate tax only applies to the richest .3% of Americans. I did not know that.

Here’s a bit more about the speech at the New York Times. Sanders Rails Against Tax Bill

From a rather interesting article (Why Elizabeth Edwards Left God Out of Her Last Goodbye) about Elizabeth Edwards’ faith:

“Such openness to doubt and, in particular, to the persistence of suffering runs counter to powerful currents of American Christianity that stress the blessings (mostly material) that will flow to those who believe (and donate), as well as to the premium so many Christians place on voicing a confident and undiluted conviction, no matter what the reality.”

Amen to that.

And bollocks to the writer of the “American Power”  blog who thinks its cool to criticize a dying woman’s last words.

“Still, at her death bed and giving what most folks are calling a final goodbye, Elizabeth Edwards couldn’t find it somewhere down deep to ask for His blessings as she prepares for the hereafter? I guess that nihilism I’ve been discussing reaches up higher into the hard-left precincts than I thought.”

From the comments on the second article, a quote…

“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

– Ghandi

 

The crux of the WikiLeaks debate – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com

“but this segment, in my view, really highlights the core disputes — and many of the misconceptions and falsehoods — at the heart of this controversy, one that I think will be seen as easily one of the most important political developments of the last several years”

Take a look at this one…

The U.S. State Department:

The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from May 1 – May 3 in Washington, D.C. UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press.

(Via Daring Fireball)