I had intended that I would post a short video as per my usual holiday tradition. Alas, the government has recently been up to so much I feel the need to comment on the happenings during the past couple weeks. My own schedule has prevented me from from my usual research so this is largely an opinion piece.
The Obama tax compromise was a true compromise in that there are parts that each side finds deplorable and other parts that each side are happy with. I'm disappointed that the Republicans didn't hold out until the "Zombie Congress" (a term I much prefer over "Lame Duck Congress") left Washington and an invigorated Republican House took office but it does make sense to extend the cuts for all tax brackets. By extending them for two years, this ensures taxes will be the main issue in the presidential election. I predict this will help the Republicans because tax cuts are more palatable than social issues to the electorate.
The defeat of the omnibus bill was a victory for America. Normally, appropriation bills fund the government but the previous Congress has pass continuing resolutions, basically running government without a budget. This, in and of itself, is shameful. The omnibus bill would have funded government but also included over 6,000 earmarks. Everything from studies of bugs, bridges to nowhere (sooner or later we're going to run out of nowheres to build bridges to), light rail, and other sweeteners for various congressmen trying to get a few million to take back to their district in time for Christmas. The Republicans deserve credit for killing the bill and leaving the Democrats hoping that Santa will give them their Christmas wish list rather than the American taxpayers.
The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell was a good thing. America is one of the few countries which does not allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. Although there will be some effect on unit cohesion, anyone who tells you otherwise is naive, any soldier who acts out regardless of sexual orientation will be reprimanded. When such reprimands occur, we need to remember that soldiers are held to a higher standard because their job is truly a matter of life and death.
The defeat of the DREAM act, a bill which would give illegal aliens tax subsidized in-state tuition to colleges in whichever state they claimed residence in (who could check?), was also heartening. The supporters of this bill tearfully claim its defeat means that college is out of reach for millions of children who had little choice in choosing to cross the border. When one looks at the plethora of free services from social to governmental to medical that illegal aliens get for free while contributing nothing in taxes, the question is not what more can we do for these people but how can an American renounce his citizenship to cash in on all these benefits!
And since I already had a couple videos picked out for today it seemed a shame to waste them. Does Joe Biden hate Christmas? This edited video says yes:
Most people don't think of Santa Claus as a business owner but this video reveals his struggle to make toys for kids all over the world while still not knowing what the tax rates will be long term:
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my readers,
Conservative Ken
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Julian Assange Is Not A Freedom Fighter
I believe there are very few secrets that a government should keep from its people. That being said, Julian Assange crossed a line when he released a quarter of a million diplomatic cables passed onto him from Pfc. Bradley E. Manning.
Some of the cables have identifying information about elders in Afghanistan that are actively helping the United States. Even with the names redacted, enough information remains to endanger those that we will need to rely on when we leave the country so that it is even marginally better than before we invaded it. Assange is a third party on these cables, not knowing the full extent of what should be redacted to protect the identities of those who may be put at risk. In the cited article, the Taliban actually thanks Assange for letting them know who to target.
When the judiciary rules on free speech, they often strike down laws that do not restrict speech but could be said to have a "chilling effect" on speech due to onerous requirements. Assange's release of diplomatic cables could very well have a "chilling effect" on other countries which may want to share information off the record. With two hot wars winding down, Iran pursuing a bomb, and North Korea launching offensives on South Korea, we need as much diplomatic leverage as possible.
Although Assange maintains no damage is done by his leaks, he maintains that he has stores of unredacted and damaging documents that he will release if he is imprisoned or in any other way held responsible for what he has done.
Currently Assange is in jail for unrelated sexual assault charges stemming from, supposedly, his refusal to wear a condom despite two girl's wishes. Others say the condom was not part of the charge while Michael Moynihan of Reason.com, who lived in Sweden for many years, says that overly radical rape laws in Sweden can charge me for merely rejecting a woman's wish to wear a condom even if consensual sex follows.
Some of the people defending Assange include MSNBC's Keith Olberman who believe the women are US operatives that lured Assange into a "honey trap." Olbermann's source for this information was an article on the far-left website Counterpunch by the writers Israel Shamir and Paul Bennett. Shamir is a fringe writer who has devoted his professional life to exposing the supposed criminality of “Jewish power," a paranoid anti-Semite who curates a website full of links to Holocaust denial and neo-Nazi sites, defenses of blood libel myths, and references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Note: For those who don't know, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was published by the Russian Empire in 1903 supposedly revealing a Jewish plot for world domination. The text was conclusively determined to be fraudulent anti-semitic propaganda in 1921.
Olbermann later tweeted that he regretted citing the article and repudiated the author.
It seems very likely that Assange could be charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 and some lawmakers of both parties have endorsed the idea. Assange seems to get a pass from the same people who decried the Climategate E-mail dump and the outing of non-covert operative Valerie Plame. He is even an early favorite for Time's Man-of-the-Year. Just because Assange used the Internet to disseminate his intercepted cables does not make him any more noble than anyone else who has ever revealed state secrets. Assange is not a freedom fighter, he may well have put America and her allies in danger and he belongs in a jail cell.
Some of the cables have identifying information about elders in Afghanistan that are actively helping the United States. Even with the names redacted, enough information remains to endanger those that we will need to rely on when we leave the country so that it is even marginally better than before we invaded it. Assange is a third party on these cables, not knowing the full extent of what should be redacted to protect the identities of those who may be put at risk. In the cited article, the Taliban actually thanks Assange for letting them know who to target.
When the judiciary rules on free speech, they often strike down laws that do not restrict speech but could be said to have a "chilling effect" on speech due to onerous requirements. Assange's release of diplomatic cables could very well have a "chilling effect" on other countries which may want to share information off the record. With two hot wars winding down, Iran pursuing a bomb, and North Korea launching offensives on South Korea, we need as much diplomatic leverage as possible.
Although Assange maintains no damage is done by his leaks, he maintains that he has stores of unredacted and damaging documents that he will release if he is imprisoned or in any other way held responsible for what he has done.
Currently Assange is in jail for unrelated sexual assault charges stemming from, supposedly, his refusal to wear a condom despite two girl's wishes. Others say the condom was not part of the charge while Michael Moynihan of Reason.com, who lived in Sweden for many years, says that overly radical rape laws in Sweden can charge me for merely rejecting a woman's wish to wear a condom even if consensual sex follows.
Some of the people defending Assange include MSNBC's Keith Olberman who believe the women are US operatives that lured Assange into a "honey trap." Olbermann's source for this information was an article on the far-left website Counterpunch by the writers Israel Shamir and Paul Bennett. Shamir is a fringe writer who has devoted his professional life to exposing the supposed criminality of “Jewish power," a paranoid anti-Semite who curates a website full of links to Holocaust denial and neo-Nazi sites, defenses of blood libel myths, and references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Note: For those who don't know, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was published by the Russian Empire in 1903 supposedly revealing a Jewish plot for world domination. The text was conclusively determined to be fraudulent anti-semitic propaganda in 1921.
Olbermann later tweeted that he regretted citing the article and repudiated the author.
It seems very likely that Assange could be charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 and some lawmakers of both parties have endorsed the idea. Assange seems to get a pass from the same people who decried the Climategate E-mail dump and the outing of non-covert operative Valerie Plame. He is even an early favorite for Time's Man-of-the-Year. Just because Assange used the Internet to disseminate his intercepted cables does not make him any more noble than anyone else who has ever revealed state secrets. Assange is not a freedom fighter, he may well have put America and her allies in danger and he belongs in a jail cell.
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