WikiLeaks.Org
August 2, 2010 – by Gregory Franklyn
“WikiLeaks or Wikileaks is an international organization based in Sweden that publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of otherwise unavailable documents while preserving the anonymity of sources.” – Wikipedia
“The vision behind it is really quite ancient: in order to make any sensible decision you need to know what’s really going on, and in order to make any just decision you need to know and understand what abuses or plans for abuses are occurring. As technologists, we can see that big reforms come when the public and decision makers can see what’s really going on.” – Julian Asange (2010)
WikiLeaks' Julian Asange
There are governments and multi-national corporations the world over who would like nothing more than to see Austrailian Journalist turned whistle blower conduit and WikiLeaks’ Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, Julian Asange extinguished, or at least his website. Over the past 2 weeks we’ve seen some relatively embarrassed and confusing squirming from the White House and the Department of Defense in response to WikiLeaks’ release of some 91,000 documents related to the US war in Afghanistan.
The first wave of response was that most of the documents were old and had little relevance to the war effort today. The message was to downplay the relevance of the classified material. The next wave was that an investigation would be undertaken to find the source of the leaks while demonizing WikiLeaks for posting sensitive top-secret national security material. The first thing that came to my mind when I heard the argument that the material posted was Top-Secret National Security information was, “If the material is old and doesn’t really reflect the war effort today, why is it still classified Top-Secret?”
There must be over 100 journalists every year being embedded with ground troops in Afghanistan who send us back reports of candid discussions with troops and military brass alike about the US Strategy in Afghanistan. General McCrystal lost his job over talking freely with a reporter for Rolling Stone about how the war is going! What we are trying to do there, and how we are going about it, is about as much of a secret as John Edwards’ love child. I’m reasonably confident the jig is up!
The third wave was fury from both our President and Secretary of Defense William Gates as they went on the “Fear Offensive” over the weekend about how American Lives and those of friendly Afghani operatives have been put in danger by the revelations contained in the leaked documents. Wait a minute, just a few days ago weren’t these leaks old information and barely relevant to the present?
The main objection of the White House and the Department of Defense to the information contained in the leaks isn’t about national security, or about protecting some big secrets. It’s about documentation of criminal activities both by US Contractors, possibly the US military itself and certainly unscrupulous Afghani entrepreneurs taking liberties with the sudden infusion of cash into the Afghani economy as well. It’s about documentation of clumsy mistakes by well meaning US troops and the sheer hopelessness of our intent to prop up a workable Government in Afghanistan that can withstand our departure. In other words, the White House and Department of Defense’s objection to the WikiLeaks leaks is the TRUTH!
And, That leads me to my mission tonight! WikiLeaks.org is a good thing. It provides an opportunity for well meaning people everywhere in the world to document the truth and get away with it. The very idea makes a big part of me cheer inside. Quietly, of course! I wouldn’t want a Government or a Multi-National Corporation coming after me for revealing a truth they were attempting to hide!
But my point is that these well meaning people who have the courage to speak up when they see something that is clearly amiss would HAVE to concern themselves with their reputation, their business, their safety or even their own mortality for doing so, and thus require the cover of anonymity that WikiLeaks provides!
Our politics as a nation has wandered so far into a moral wilderness that today someone at WikiLeaks.org documenting the truth is considered a credible threat to our national security worthy of being tracked down like a criminal. Let me give you a moment to let that sink in.
“The Revelation of truth has become a credible threat to our National Security!”
We want to drive the purveyors of such documentation, like WikiLeaks.org, into extinction to preserve a fantasy of moral superiority. We want to scatter them into the darkness like so many cockroaches as if they were doing something morally reprehensible! How, then, can our representatives make appropriate governing decisions under conditions which shield them from the reality of what is actually occurring.
There’s an old computer geek term from the days when we were operating our computers with DOS and the earliest versions of Windows. It goes, “Garbage in = Garbage out!” Which refers to a computer’s inability to reason or to correct mistakes. In essence, if you put incorrect information into a computer, it can only give you incorrect results. Without organizations and websites like WikiLeaks our system of government is not capable of useful governance. What you end up with is, well, what we have now!
Right down to it’s roots, this whole Afghan War is about the money. It is a hopeless cause that has been proven hopeless for nearly 200 years of failed attempts. The ONLY entity that benefits from our involvement in Afghanistan is big business. I believe that somewhere inside each of us is a place where we know it, too! No one in Afghanistan has asked for a western style form of democracy. We are attempting to impose it!
As a nation, we have allowed money to distort our vision, not only of ourselves, but also of the world we share. Think about what we are doing in Afghanistan for a moment. We are actually attempting to forcibly impose freedom, democracy and self determination on another sovereign nation, who did not seek it, at the point of a gun!
A gun we purchased, at a premium, from Armalite of Geneseo Illinois (A division of M7 Aerospace Corporation) and we are willing to punish, impugn and/or maybe even KILL anyone who presents a reasonably documented argument that our cause is not morally just. The only thing that stands between us and a total coup by big business is organizations like WikiLeaks.Org! And that, dear reader, is my point.
Much Love,
Gregory
August 4, 2010
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GLFranklyn · 
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Tags: Afghanistan, Corporate Greed, Current Events, Democratic Philosophy, Economics, George Bush, Media, Middle East, Oil Prices, Politics, Republican Philosophy, War in Iraq · Posted in: Current Events, Media, Politics
Gays in the Military
July 25, 2010 – by Gregory Franklyn
Now there’s a subject for you. (Full Disclosure) It might be important for you to know, as you read this, that I never served in the military. I came of age in the draft during the Viet Nam war and was classified 4-F (medically unfit) because of a heart murmur. That was OK by me because I was against the war and the draft anyway. I’m also Gay, and I’m reasonably sure that matters in any discussion of the subject.
My experience with the issue of Gays in the Military begins during the presidential election that resulted with Bill Clinton. That would be 1991/92. The race was tight and Clinton, like his wife Hillary, is a relentless campaigner. I was kind of skeptical of Bill Clinton having watched the campaign progress and I was considering not voting at all.
Shortly before the election, it had to be within days, Bill Clinton came on TV and talked about Gays in the Military. It was a campaign spot and had to be 2 minutes long. I listened to him talk about how he was going to lift the ban. He was so sincere as he gently manipulated me into believing that he actually held the belief that it was discriminatory, and just plain morally wrong. Who knows, maybe he actually DOES feel that way!
But, I voted in that election because of that spot. That was the one that got me up off the couch and into the voting booth. Had it not been for that spot, I was disgusted enough with both of my choices that I’d have stayed home.
Bill Clinton’s nickname back home in Arkansas is “Slick Willie” and he got that nickname for very good reasons. In the first 100 day of his first term he literally “sold” Gays in the Military for votes on his economic package. I often wonder how many voters were like me that year. Voters who were swayed by that one spot, just before the polls opened. I didn’t vote for Clinton in his second term. The reason? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me! This vote is not for sale.
Today, 16 years later, we are still haggling over this same issue. Part of the reason for that has nothing to do with Gays in the Military. It has to do with Good Christian Moral Values and the Republican Party’s reliance on what they call “Morals Voters”. These voters vote their religious beliefs and the prevailing religion in America is Christianity. Christianity, particularly in the west, teaches that Homosexuality is an abomination to God and the Republican Party plays that belief, already implanted in voters, like a violin. It gets them votes. I don’t think even Republicans believe that any more. But they still play that song because it works! Republicans know for sure that Gay men and women are serving in the military right now and unit cohesion has not been disrupted by it.
Now, The White House and the Pentagon are putting forward a survey of troops to determine how much the military hates gays. The last time such surveys were done in the military was when blacks were about to be integrated into the service. They had already been serving throughout our history but were sort of a separate but unequal force. The results were that 86% of white troops said, “No!” Interestingly enough, similar surveys were done on the subject of Women in the Military. The result? 86% of troops said, “No!”
We know what happened! Blacks and women were both integrated into the service anyway. Guess what else happened? The military didn’t fall apart under the pressure. The military remained the very best force on the planet. Blacks and women were integrated into the service because it was the right thing to do regardless of the resistance to it.
Our form of government is called a Democratic Republic. What that means is that our union is guided by a bed of laws and principles that are NOT up for a vote. That’s what our Constitution is. It’s the bed of laws and principles from which all of our democracy springs. We can take votes on lots of issues related to our union, EXCEPT those. Changing those principles requires a super-majority of all Member States. The objective was to prevent changes to the bed of laws unless the whole country was of one mind that the change was required for our common well-being.
One of the things that is NOT up for a vote is the inclusion of EVERYONE as a full citizen with all the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other citizen. I’ve always found it interesting that our prejudices made it necessary for us to LIST specific groups of citizens in our constitution as if the term “ALL MEN” needed clarification. Now, I could understand the need to specify that for the purposes of constitutional law “ALL MEN” includes women.
It would have been easier and more effective in the long term to change the word “MEN” to “Persons” which would surely solve the problem and include what was originally intended by the people forming the government. They, revered as they are, were mere mortals too and had certain blind spots that seem kind of obvious to us today. But the intent was clearly egalitarian citizenship for “ALL”.
My argument against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is the same argument I have in favor of Gay Marriage. I am a full citizen of the United States of America. According to the Constitution of my country, I already have a right to serve in the military and to marry whomever I wish. I’m just waiting for Washington to catch up with me. Our representatives in this democracy do not yet understand that my rights are already protected and therefore they need to haggle over it for some more years until they come the the realization that I’ve already come to. That Realization? I am a full citizen of the United States of America and have all the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other citizen.
If a heterosexual man or woman can serve in the military, then so can I. If a white man or woman can serve in the Military then so can a black, hispanic, asian, native American or whatever is on your list today. This isn’t Rocket Science or Brain Surgery, it’s politics!
DOMA and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell are unconstitutional misunderstandings of our bed of laws and at some point, the people we elect to act on our behalf are going to realize it and only then will the enforcement of these unconstitutional misunderstandings come to a halt.
President Barack Obama is going to integrate GLBT people into the military because, as a Constitutional Scholar, he knows that this error needs to be corrected. It’s wrong AND it’s unconstitutional. We’re dragging our feet on the issue and someone who knows better has to stand up and say so. Mr President? You’re up!
Much Love,
Gregory
July 25, 2010
· GLFranklyn · No Comments
Tags: Christian, civil rights, Current Events, Gay & Lesbian, GLBT, Obama, Presidential Politics, Religion, Republican Philosophy, War in Iraq · Posted in: Current Events, Gay & Lesbian, Politics, Uncategorized
Republican Economics and Lab Rats
July 18, 2010 – by Gregory Franklyn
I’m getting the impression that Republicans are having trouble with themselves again, this time on the subject of economics. While all of your Senators and Representatives have returned to Washington after their 4th of July break, your Republican Senators are stonewalling the extension of unemployment benefits. Their arguments are basically that the unemployed are lazy and need incentive to go back to work. And, that unemployment insurance extensions increase the deficit and that would be fiscally irresponsible when the deficit is so out of control as it is.
It is interesting to me that Republicans are so concerned about the deficit while there’s Democratic control of the White House and Congress, but weren’t so concerned for the 8 years preceding this administration, when they were in charge and running up the biggest deficit in the history of the world. Check my facts here, under the Bush Regime, not only did the Republican controlled White House and congress spend a healthy surplus left by the Clinton Administration, they also over spent to the largest deficit of any nation in the entire record of human history.
Republicans claim, when they’re in a patriotic mood anyway, that American workers are the best, most productive workforce in the world. They can compete with any work force in the world. But, wait a minute here. Aren’t they now lazy shiftless unemployed pot smokers that need incentive to go out and get a job?
“There’s lots of jobs out there, Republicans insist, “if we make it easy for American workers to stay home by paying them for NOT working, what’s the incentive for them to go out and get one of those jobs?” But wait a minute here. Isn’t the “Obama Economy” killing jobs and causing the highest unemployment numbers in a century? Isn’t it the “Obama Tax Increases” on big business that’s causing all these jobs to either be eliminated or shipped overseas? It’s the Republican Policies of deregulation of big business that has allowed these companies to lay off American workers and move their work forces to third world countries where labor is cheaper and there are no unions or environmental regulations?
So if I read Republicans correctly on employment, Obama is killing job growth and causing the highest numbers of unemployment in a century, but there are plenty of jobs out there and American workers are too lazy to go out and get them. So, the Republican Party needs to motivate them by cutting off any assistance.
When I hear these arguments, the first question that comes to mind is, “Are these guys mental patients?” The second question is a little more to the point, “Why are these people unemployed to begin with?” It’s not like these millions of American willingly quit their jobs and ran through their unemployment benefits and then doggedly continue laying around smoking pot as the bank forecloses on their homes.
They lost their jobs to the type of deregulation that allowed their employers to fire or lay them off and move their jobs to third world countries because labor is cheaper and there are no unions. After the migration of their living wage jobs, there’s little employment left in the US other than Minimum Wage Service jobs. Right now there are 5 applicants for every available job in the country. What do we do about the 4 other people who didn’t get that job? Democrats want to give them some breathing room until the economy bounces back. Republicans apparently want them to become homeless.
The Republican Mantra of deregulation and economic globalization has opened the door for big business to move it’s labor force to places where there are no unions or regulations requiring safe and habitable work environments or limits on the amount of toxins that can be released.
Big Business can now save a BUNDLE on the costs of producing goods while holding prices to an accessible level while simultaneously maintaining obscene profits with which to pay millions of dollars to top executives and desirable dividends to their investors. All with the determined support of the Republican Party. And, not just a few Republicans. They are of one voice, across the board, about economic policy.
I have always felt insulted by companies that pay minimum wage. They are in effect saying, in the only language that matters to a workforce, “I am paying you this amount in wages because the law requires it as an absolute minimum. If there were no such regulation, I would value you even less!” Now that deregulation and economic globalization is a reality, big business is free to do just that!
The Republican Economic “Magic Bullet” for economic growth is tax cuts for the wealthy that are intended to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. It works pretty well too. It does create jobs. Lots of them! The problem is that those jobs are being created in places like China, Indonesia, Korea, India and parts of Mexico and South America where big business CAN legally value their workforce even less! So much for Patriotism!
The Republican objection to Unions is that they increase the cost of doing business and cause inflation. But inflation is not due to paying a living wage to its workforce and insuring their safety and security. It is their insistence on levels of profit that are unreasonable to the market in which they occur. Republicans appear blind to the effect their support of such excess, has on the economy as a whole.
The natural result has been the steady decline in American Living Wage employment. What remains is an economy where there are now 5 applicants for every available job in America and those jobs are increasingly part time Service Sector jobs that pay minimum wage and carry little, if any, benefits.
Republicans fully expect those 4 Americans who did not get that one job, to suck it up, and go out there and get a part time minimum wage job at “Hot-Dog-On-A-Stick” at the mall to support their family, buy a new car, take out a mortgage, pay for medical insurance and send their kinds to a Charter School and then to college because that’s what a Real American would do when faced with economic hardship.
The fact is that unemployment benefits stimulate the economy. For every dollar issued in unemployment benefits the return in economic stimulation is over $1.50. None of this money goes to investments, savings, collectibles or any other instrument that takes the money out of circulation. All of it goes into retail purchases like clothing, food, shelter, utilities, fuel and medical care. It’s an economic stimulator that has an immediate effect on the economy as a whole. Those unemployment checks are taxable income. it saves existing jobs and in most cases, creates more jobs in the local economy, which gives the government part of its money back from the investment. You’d think “Fiscally Responsible” Republicans would like that idea more than, say giving it all to multinational banks who tend to gamble it away because they still can.
So the Republican economic plan is to push the middle class, the very foundation of a healthy economy, into the ranks of the poor and then denying them any government assistance because they’re lazy and all they want to do is lay around and get baked.
The scientist holds his clipboard while poking a lab rat with a stick backing the rat into a corner. The scientist continues poking the rat until the rat has finally had enough and bites the stick. The scientist writes in his notes, “Rats are Violent!”
Much Love,
Gregory
July 18, 2010
· GLFranklyn · No Comments
Tags: Corporate Greed, Current Events, Democratic Philosophy, Economics, George Bush, Obama, Politics, Republican Philosophy, Unions · Posted in: Current Events, Economics, Politics
