Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

The witch-hunt against Assange threatens all investigative journalism.

"Whatever the unusual aspects of the case, the Obama administration’s reported plan to indict WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for conspiring with Army Pvt. Bradley Manning to obtain U.S. secrets  strikes at the heart of investigative journalism on national security scandals.

That’s because the process for reporters obtaining classified information about crimes of state most often involves a journalist persuading some government official to break the law either by turning over classified documents or at least by talking about the secret information. There is almost always some level of “conspiracy” between reporter and source.

Contrary to what some outsiders might believe, it’s actually quite uncommon for sensitive material to simply arrive “over the transom” unsolicited. Indeed, during three decades of reporting on these kinds of stories, I can only recall a few secret documents arriving that way to me."

Of course this is true. On the flip-side, freedom of speech is not immunity from treason. If a newspaper publishes US launch codes, they people involved should be prosecuted. The material being published is what's important. If it's material about how corrupt, petty and destructive the government is like the stuff Assange published, it's legitimate news. If it threatens US security like printing government security techniques for tracking suspected terrorists and cutting off their sources of funding, it's treason.

REGULATION:

Alternate history based on idea that the FCC started regulating the Internet in 1993. The consequences are predictable.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Atlanta gets first white Christmas since 1882. Coldest Christmas ever recorded in Britain. No report of the Thames freezing solid yet as it did during the Dalton Minimum, but more northern rivers have frozen.

POLICE STATE:

Here goes TSA again. The government is warning us about a Holiday (or is it Christmas?) terrorist threat, an attack by thermos, but in their next breath, the claim there is no specific information about an imminent attack by thermos. This is another government attack on our fears. They're covering their asses, taking our freedom and having it both ways. As always, they win, and we lose.

Soldiers discover that they were not fighting for freedom after all. I can't imagine how that realization would make them feel.

MISC:

Speaking of reprogramming your genes. What your dad ate effects your genes.

Traitorware is a result of IP laws. In a competitive environment, people would chose gadgets and services that protected their privacy. They would create independent ratings agencies to evaluate products for privacy protection. But IP laws keep us from having a competitive environment. The big corporations buy up all the IP and promising technology and exclude everybody else from the marketplace.