Julian Assange and Wikileaks Campaign Directly Against Obama!

[MineralMan]

See this link for an anti-Obama video connected with their campaign to raise money in order to "Intervene" in the 2012 presidential election:

http://wikileaks.org/donate2012/

See this link for a DU thread with additional information on this whole "intervene" business:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456318

Assange and Wikileaks have officially jumped the shark on this one. I can say only one thing about it:

Fuck Wikileaks and Julian Assange!

They have gone too far. I reject them completely.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Is this where you submit to some sort of brain wipe and have all the things they exposed erased?

[struggle4progress]

4. Wikileaks' "accomplishments" include scuttling the Copenhagen climate summit:

Wikileaks Greatest Hits: Climategate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021162614

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. Gee I thought it was right-wing and big business climate change deniers that scuttled the summit.

At any rate, you aren't even sure who initially released the information. This is your own comment from your link to your previous thread (I guess you assume people wouldn't read it):

Your comment may be accurate: a number of the denier sites do object to Wikileaks claiming credit. I do not know how to sort out the full story here, without devoting much more time than I want to this particular matter

But that sure doesn't stop you from re-posting what you acknowledge is dubious information.

"without devoting more time than I want to this particular matter"

Really?

Excuse me

[struggle4progress]

21. My link includes video in which Assange takes credit for the Climategate release

Last edited Wed Oct 3, 2012, 03:08 PM - Edit history (1)

and I'm certainly willing to entertain the possibility that Assange routinely lies for the purposes of self-promotion

But by posting the material, and by taking credit for it, Assange definitely contributed to the noise surrounding the emails -- and since there was really nothing there except noise, that fact that Assange contributed to the hullabaloo is scarcely an acquittal of his behavior

Of course, the Climategate noise certainly involved right-wing and big business actors, and it served right-wing and big business interests. But Assange has repeatedly identified himself a libertarian, and some of the strongest support for libertarians comes from right-wing and big business interests. So it's unsurprising to find the anti-government ideologue Assange acting to scuttle any agreement for global regulation of carbon emission

[MineralMan]

7. No. This is where I introduce some more information

about Assange and Wikileaks. Exposing the exposers. Nothing gets erased.

[Taverner]

2. Hate the game, not the player

[MineralMan]

5. In this case, the player is the game,

and vice-versa.

Assange gets nothing from me but the statement I made above.

Sorry, but I'll be voting for President Obama and for Democrats down-ticket.

[Taverner]

30. Me too, BUT I still have deep admiration Assange and Manning

Both are heroes in my book

It's about time we got rid of the CIA "Black Book"

[brush]

34. What happened

I've been a supporter of his but why is Assange working against President Obama? He has a better chance of being able to work freely in an Obama administration than in a rightwing Romney one.

[leftynyc]

37. Because he's an attention whore

and many on this board are only too happy to give him exactly what he wants. How he became a hero is a mystery to me.

[Taverner]

42. I think he's mad at the entire US Government

And I don't blame him!

What the DOJ is doing to catch him is nothing short of unconstitutional and tyrannical.

We have a right to know what our government does

[Bodhi BloodWave]

67. what exactly are they doing to 'catch' him?, mostly asking out of curiosity

as the only thing I'm aware of that can be put on them specifically is the grand jury investigation into wikileaks

[tama]

114. Problem is, we don't know much

That's the problem with lack of transparency. From what we know is that when they are working hidden away from public scrutiny they are usually up to no good.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

123. most investigations tho don't tend to be public, usually thats actually a rather bad idea nt

[randome]

69. No. You don't.

When you are part of the military, you do not have the right to betray your country. That means Manning was an idiot because he didn't expose anything that wasn't already known except for some embarrassing diplomatic cables.

Assange is Australian. Are you saying that you have the right to go to Australia, steal whatever you want and publish it?

[Taverner]

84. Manning showed courage and bravery

Manning was US Military. Are you saying that you should follow orders, no matter how heinous? CONGRATULATIONS! You are a "good German!"

[randome]

85. Wikileaks is cool (for the most part). So is whistleblowing.

Manning was an emotionally disturbed idiot.

What he did was not whistleblowing. Releasing millions of pages of documents that no one could possibly review? That's not whistleblowing. That's stealing classified information and trying to look cool while doing it.

All the while going through a gender identity crisis that left him huddled in a fetal position on the floor. (I'm not making fun of him, BTW. Just pointing out that he was unbalanced. Hell, the military should have handled his dilemma much better.)

And what exactly changed because of this document dump? Nothing.

[msanthrope]

108. No, he didn't. Courage and bravery would have been him using the MWPA of 1988 and forcing

an investigation. He would have been immune from prosecution.

Instead, he chose to leak to a commercial enterprise. That's not courageous--that's just a document dump.

[struggle4progress]

3. He's a libertarian ideologue, and the libertarian ideologues are anti-Obama:

Ron Paul, Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald and the Libertarians’ Electoral Strategy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/125179195

[MineralMan]

6. Thanks for the link.

I missed that thread.

[tama]

10. Left libertarian

as you very well know, but still lie.

Assange's positition on the political map is the same as most DUers: anti-authoritarian left. On the same political map Obama administration's policies belong to the authoritarian right.

Authoritarian followers like you and others who attack against Assange and Wikileaks, against freedom of expression and government transparency, are working for the authoritarian right.

[cali]

18. ridiculous. Man, I'm tired of this same old lame rhetoric

First of all, I think measuring who you are on some map is pathetic. Stupid. Secondly, who the fuck are YOU to run around accusing people who disagree with sainted little you, "Authoritarian followers"? That shit blows chunks, hon. and it's not exactly reflective of any thought whatsoever.

Assange is not above criticism. Don't like it? Tough shit.

[Erose999]

23. Some on DU thinks Obama is above criticism, as evidenced by some of these responses.

[randome]

25. What criticism has been offered?

Simple-minded calls that Obama is part of an authoritarian mindset? Is that what you call criticism?

Guess what? Government is not always at its best but it is necessary.

[DevonRex]

135. What you said is beyond criticism.

[tama]

31. I understand

It is very hard and tiresome to support - or at least pretend to support - progressive values and to vote for NDAA, drones and Wall Street crony capitalism with good conscience. It makes you feel angry and powerless and frustrated, and you don't want to be reminded of truth and the real cause of your frustration, so you attack the messenger.

[randome]

35. And what does Assange have to do with any of what you mentioned?

At least he CLAIMED to have super-duper-double-secret documents about the banks. But...um, where did they go? Oh, that's right, someone destroyed them. How convenient.

The crap Assange put out there had to do with embarrassing diplomatic emails. The rest was already known. BFD.

[tama]

64. BFD

It's obvious that you and other haters have a BFD with Assange and Wikilieaks. Why else would you keep up the smear campaign?

[randome]

71. Simply responding to a current news item.

I don't think we need an Australian lecturing us on transparency or dignity or whatever the hell he's on about. We can take care of our own country, thank you.

[tama]

77. You are wellcome

Also from where I'm looking it's pretty obvious that you can't take care of your own country and need all the help and good advice available. Not least because you are not just fucking up your own country but also many other countries.

[Tarheel_Dem]

99. She doesn't know. She's in Finland ferchrissake. Anti-authoritarians who follow global summits....

around the world, breaking bank windows, tossing molatav cocktails, and screaming FU to the IMF. That's really changed the world, hasn't it?

[tama]

112. Yes

World is constant change, history has not ended. Your caricature of the global revolution against neoliberalism tells more about you than about the revolution, but all that you mentioned has happened and been part of the revolutionary process.

What's your problem with peaceful revolution? Do you prefer police state beating people into submission, drones, austerity for bank bailouts and all that jazz? What do you care about?

[Tarheel_Dem]

117. I care about Americans voting for our American president. Finland? I could give a shit.

[frylock]

61. boom!

[cali]

104. you understand nothing.

you view the world as black and white. It's not. you think it's a zero sum game. It ain't.

I don't vote for NDAA or drones or wall street, sweetums. I try to hold the President accountable for those- and more. At the same time, I'm not about to cede the country to the wingnut repukes. DUH. That should be a no brainer for anyone who's progressive. For the vast majority it is.

As for fucking "truth". That, honey, as anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell you, is a largely subjective concept. It's not like you have to have a PhD is philosophy to figure that out. Facts are objective- though obviously they can be used subjectively.
"Truth" is subjective. It's an opinion.

I'm not attacking you. I'm attacking the lack of critical thinking you exhibit.

[tama]

110. "Subjective" and "Objective" is Latin Grammar

What is true is true without either subject or object and PhD philosophers philosophising about subject and object. When rains, rains.

[Erose999]

136. By supporting Obama without criticism, you are supporting NDAA and drones and Wall St cronies.

These are all things Obama supports. I am watching the debate now and hearing him talk about lowering corporate tax rates.

[Johonny]

40. +1

[frylock]

60. yes, why measure yourself based on policy when you can just label yourself as liberal?

yay team.

[struggle4progress]

38. There's really no evidence that Assange has any coherent leftist views. Read his essays and you

will learn that his asserted theory is that government is by nature a criminal conspiracy and that he regards information releases as organization-smashing exercises, which undermine communication within government: so his expressed view seems to be an adolescent libertarian stance, closely related to anarchism, heavily flavored with the notion that he Julian should be able to do whatever he wants

Whether his actual views coincide with the views he sometimes expresses, is a different question. Since Wikileaks has been an extraordinarily secretive organization, it is difficult to determine what information has actually come to the organization and what use has been made of it. But the image of Assange's friend "Israel Shamir" carting unredacted Cablegate revelations to the dictator Lukashenko in Belarus should produce at least a moment of suspicion about exactly what is going on

[tama]

128. As Orwell said

The real political divide is not between left and right, but between authoritarians and anti-authoritarians. You have made it clear on what side you are.

What do you know about the Milgram experiment, btw?

[struggle4progress]

131. Orwell earned a reputation for honesty by not caving to the political pressure of his contempories

[Ikonoklast]

54. If Glen Beck had been the one that had done or said half the things Assange has done or said

you'd be calling for his head.

[tama]

59. I don't believe in capital punishment

especially for using freedom of expression. And I don't know who Glen Beck is and don't care to know.

[frylock]

63. and if bush or romney were drone bombing the shit out of the middle east..

you'd be calling for their heads.

[randome]

73. Excuse me. A lot of us are dead set against the drone wars.

What the hell does that have to do with Assange? Again, the crap he published simply stated what we already knew. It sure as hell wasn't enough to start this global conspiracy you believe in.

The only reason he's disliked by our government is because he enticed a military officer to pass him classified documents.

He needs to go to Sweden and face the music there.

[msanthrope]

121. Actually, no. Drone bombing Tora Bora in November of 2001 by Bush would have saved us a shit-load

of trouble. I would have had no problem with Osama not seeing the 1st anniversary of 9/11 via drone.

S

[Tarheel_Dem]

98. +1. Can't we just chip in & buy them all an island somewhere? How long b/4 they turn on each other?

[Erose999]

8. If I were in Assange's position (or Manning's, god forbid) I'd be pretty pissed at Obama too.

[cali]

12. So what. Seriously, just because he's mad at Obama doesn't

legitimize his trying to intervene in this election. I've supported Assange, but he's really jumped the proverbial shark. I'm beginning to find his narcissism more than a bit disturbing.

[AtomicKitten]

11. Maybe he's just drunk-dialing from the consulate trying to stay relevant.

[julian09]

13. Well he can forget about a presidential pardon

[MineralMan]

14. I doubt he'll ever be tried in a US court, anyway.

So, it will be a moot point.

[newfie11]

15. I think he was already aware of that nt

[BenzoDia]

16. Perhaps Wikileaks would rather see a Republican in charge who would've rushed into

Libya, Syria, and sabre rattles with Iran.

[EC]

17. Oh and Rmoney

would treat them like heros I suppose?

[Erose999]

19. I watched the video and theres no mention of support for another candidate. It seems that they're

just raising money for Assange's defense and their normal operations.

And I do not support the "security state" no matter who is in charge.

Fuck the M.I.C
Fuck the War
Fuck Wall St.

and to a lesser extent

Fuck Obama.

[MineralMan]

24. Your last statement in that post sucks! nt

And here's your post again, in case you decided to self-delete:

just raising money for Assange's defense and their normal operations.

And I do not support the "security state" no matter who is in charge.

Fuck the M.I.C
Fuck the War
Fuck Wall St.

and to a lesser extent

Fuck Obama.

Nice. And during election season, too.

[hrmjustin]

51. I was under the impression that Obama bashing is an alerting offense.

[MineralMan]

52. It is. If nobody has alerted, you can.

I imagine someone already has, though.

[randome]

58. I prefer to let such diatribes stand.

Then we can see who among us is a skilled debater and who is not.

[MineralMan]

83. Yeah, I suppose.

It seems like a weak argument, though, doesn't it?

[frylock]

65. and 2.5 hours later the post stands..

so you can put away your stack of loyalty oaths now.

[MineralMan]

79. So it does. I don't have any loyalty oaths.

I'm not sure why you think I do. People write stuff on DU. It stands or it doesn't.

I commented on the post. That's my contribution.

[Erose999]

102. And they're still at war and there are still drones killing innocent people, and military

whistleblowers are still being indefinitely detained in solitary confinement. And indefinite detention of American citizens is now perfectly legal thanks to Obama signing NDAA. And they're still looting the treasury to have military presence in places like Germany that can damn well defend themselves, they still support the stupid NeoCon wars, rattling the saber at Iran, etc. But we will all still vote for Obama because he's slightly more respectful of civil liberties than Romney.

Thats about the long and short of it.

[Cha]

111. President Obama is exponentially Better than

mitt romney. You're way short.

[msanthrope]

122. And who are you voting for? nt

[rl6214]

138. I was under the impression that Obama bashing in that fashion was a banning offense

[SidDithers]

28. "Fuck Obama" during elections season at DU...

screencapping for posterity.



Sid

[MineralMan]

33. Thank goodness for transparency in edits.

But, I screencapped it, too.

[Cha]

97. FUCK ASSANGE, erose.

[DevonRex]

132. So who're you voting for? Not Obama after saying fuck him.

[liberal_at_heart]

20. Show us Romney's tax returns Assange

[freshwest]

129. Now THAT would set the world free, indeed. A real world example of where the money went.

[NCTraveler]

22. Fuck Assange.

He is a piece of shit. But I will not write off wikileaks. They need to separate from him. They might not be willing to do so because propaganda like this works. When you are trying to stay relevant you attack something bigger than yourself. It really does work on people with certain personalties. It makes them feel like great warriors when they are nothing of the sort. I bet wikileaks will get a nice payday from this from those people.

[MineralMan]

27. It's almost impossible to separate Wikileaks from Assange.

I can't see any way to do that. I have no issue with whistleblowing and releases of information. I have issues with how it's done, sometimes, though.

[NCTraveler]

43. I agree with what you say.

I just wish it wasn't so. It is great to have a place where whistle blowers can send information anonymously. It is very hard for people to determine the right place to send information. Wikileaks has become very well know and could do enormous amounts of good getting information into the right hands. The biggest negatives to me are Assange and the fact that they have tried to use the info as leverage. It should never be used as leverage, just shown the light of day to the proper sources.

[msanthrope]

29. Wikileaks is as damaged as he is--read this expose from Al-Jazeera--

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/09/20129410312450511.html

[msanthrope]

26. Intervene in the 2012 presidential election?

Fuck him, and those who would support this intervention.

[msongs]

32. bush did it = bad, obama does it = good. ok nt

[liberal_at_heart]

36. shhh! We're not allowed to criticize Obama on this site

[NCTraveler]

47. Not only are you allowed to criticize him....

You can childishly attack him...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021457194#post19

And work against him.....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456318

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021457194#post46

[frylock]

68. so you agree that bush drones = bad, obama drones = good

[NCTraveler]

80. No clue what you are talking about.nt.

[frylock]

100. of course you don't..

deny everything!

[NCTraveler]

134. What am I denying?

Are you replying to the right person.

[randome]

39. Bush and Obama did what? Explain, please.

[tblue]

45. IOKIODI? Noooo, not really.

People who cannot at least acknowledge the evil of drone attacks killing and terrorizing innocents are really too extreme, for me anyway.

I just appreciate unbiased facts. Obama is not above criticism any more than is Julian Assange. That said, Assange is desperately fighting for his life with what tools he has available. Who is surprised and who in his position would not cry out against the person they believe is trying to destroy them?

It won't work though. Assange is not even American and even the American Left doesn't care all that much.

[MrScorpio]

62. You do know that you can leave at anytime, right? nt

[frylock]

70. love it or leave it

[SidDithers]

72. And yet you continue to post here...

why is that?

Sid

[Tarheel_Dem]

105. 'Cuz there's not a lot of activity over where the nuts used to fill the trees. Smashed acorns....

litter the landscape here at DU.

[Union Scribe]

41. Wikileaks will be crushed when they hear

that you have rejected them completely.

[MineralMan]

44. No doubt. I am definitely someone to worry about

on an international basis.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

46. Thanks for the link. I donated $15 for transparency in government.

Governments should be held accountable no matter who runs them.

"From such beginnings of governments, what could be expected, but a continual system of war and extortion?" Thomas Paine

[phleshdef]

48. Tired of holding back on this. Fuck that attention whoring, rapist piece of trash.

[Zorra]

49. Julian Assange speaks much truth in that video. But then, again...

President Obama, despite his best intentions, can only operate within the political and economic boundaries set for him by the 1%. He can only do so much. And the fact is, he serves at the pleasure of the 1%, and only nominally at the pleasure of the People.

Julian Assange is actually campaigning against those who limit the ability of President Obama and others we elect to solve the problems created by the greed of the 1%, and not against the President, who he apparently considers personally irrelevant and powerless insofar as his subjection to the restrictions placed by the 1% on his ability to govern according to the Will of the People is concerned.

What I find immensely disappointing and disturbing in the video is Julian saying that the only vote that matters is a vote for Wikileaks. He is clearly ignoring the fact that President Obama, despite the limitations placed on him in the realms of economic and political policies, will still be a million times better than Romney, based solely on domestic social policy alone, and Julian is very, very wrong for not acknowledging this reality, and just shot himself in the foot by denying this difference between republicans and Democrats.

We, as American citizens, while still being subject to the economic and political dictates of the 1%, will benefit so much more in the area of domestic social issues under a President Obama than we would under Mitt Romney. This is our very basic reality in the US. If President Obama is not reelected, many American citizens will unnecessarily suffer grave injustices and deprivations for many years to come.

So. despite the fact that there is much truth in that video, I am forced to give Julian Assange a huge thumbs down, no, actually, a fuck off, for his failure to consider how many more people will suffer at the most basic levels under Romney than they would under an Obama presidency. It is what it is. We do the best we can with what we can, and there is certainly no reason to make it any worse without serious necessity to do so.

There is a clearly a huge difference between Democrats and republicans in the areas of social and environmental issues. On this basis alone, I would vote for Democrats. Republicans do nothing that is positive and good whatsoever, Democrats at least do some good. Julian Assange should retract this video, re-word it, and post it again, because it is a huge untruth to say that the only vote that matters is a vote for Wikileaks, and by saying this, he greatly detracts from the the truths expressed in the bulk of the video.

In fact, if this clear falsehood was not present in the video, I would actually have been really impressed, and would have sent Wikileaks a small donation immediately. But unless those untruths are edited out of the video, I will never donate to Wikileaks again.

There are many things that have disappointed many of us during the past four years, but most of us fully recognize the limitations in the system under which many elected officials are compelled to operate. To me, this is a core issue that Occupy is all about: Removing the 1% from power by actions taken from outside the political system, and subsequently removing the restraints placed on genuine democratic policies placed upon them by the 1%, so that We the People, the 99%, can better control our own destinies through genuine self-governance, rather than simply be pawns subjugated by a wealthy and powerful elite.

It should be apparent to any reasonable person that our elected officials are, to a large degree, held captive by wealthy and powerful private interests. If someone can't recognize this, then, in my estimation their opinions are not worth considering, because their perceptions, and/or powers of discernment, and/or ability to logically and objectively evaluate factually, would clearly be untrustworthy.

Obviously, many of us recognize this reality.

The global power of the financial centers is so great, that they can afford not to worry about the political tendency of those who hold power in a nation, if the economic program (in other words, the role that nation has in the global economic megaprogram) remains unaltered. The financial disciplines impose themselves upon the different colors of the world political spectrum in regards to the government of any nation. The great world power can tolerate a leftist government in any part of the world, as long as the government does not take measures that go against the needs of the world financial centers. But in no way will it tolerate that an alternative economic, political and social organization consolidate. For the megapolitics, the national politics are dwarfed and submit to the dict ates of the financial centers. It will be this way until the dwarf rebel.

[tama]

74. He did not tell anyone not to vote

or whom to vote, as that is none of his business, not being American Citizen etc. What he said was to donate aka "vote with your wallet" to Wikileaks instead of political parties.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

86. Oh, shush! Assange is an enemy of the state and very naughty..at least he is here.

How dare he embarrass our government with the truth!!!

[Zorra]

90. I've long been a staunch and consistent Assange/Wikileaks supporter, and feel that they do important

work.

But voting matters, and I really resent it when Julian states in the video that donating to wikileaks is the only vote that matters. It's simply not true.

What is true is that it is critical that we put as many Democrats or progressives who caucus with Democrats in office as possible.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

115. He's attacking the corrupt establishment.

Which needs to be held to account no matter who's running the wars and protecting the capitalists.

[Zorra]

88. OK, good point. But actually, he did say "Cast the only vote that

matters, vote with your wallet..."

It is absolutely not true that this is the only vote that matters.

All of us voting to elect Obama and all Democrats or those who will caucus with Democrats is critical, and any implication that voting for Obama and other Democrats does not matter is not true.

So, I apologize for and retract my "fuck off, Julian", but will keep the thumbs down, continue to want this part of the video edited out, and will maybe donate to Wikileaks again.

[tama]

92. I'm also a realist

ie. highly critical and cynical about the representative system as whole and political parties as form of political organizing, but I also understand why people in US may perceive such choice of words as bit insensitive. The further away you are looking, either from Embassy of Ecuador in London or in my case from London, the more similar both parties and their policies look. Just a matter of perspective.

[Zorra]

101. Yes, another good point, I totally get that. But Julian really needs to understand OUR perspective,

especially since he is appealing to American Liberals/Progressives for money. (Of course, all conservatives hate Julian and Wikileaks, and are certainly never going to send Wikileaks any money under any circumstances).

That's why I believe it is important that he edit his pitch on the video, because he is demonstrating a profound lack of understanding of the devastating negative social consequences to real human beings that a Romney presidency and administration will have on our country and our planet.

[tama]

116. Talk to Julian

if you want him to understand your perspective better, and try also understand his perspective. If he, Australian Citizen, would use his public appeal to take side in US elections and advice people how to vote, then he would be doing what so many no wrongly accuse of him doing.

[Zorra]

119. Yeh, well, he's kind of hard to get ahold of these days.

I don't believe that I ever said, or implied, that he should take sides in our election.

My issue is simply this:

He said that the "only vote that matters" is a donation to Wikileaks, and I am saying that this is not true, and that the results of this election are extremely important, and that our votes really do matter, and his perspective that our votes in this election don't matter is extremely naive, at best.

He should not be telling us that our votes in this election don't really matter, because they do.

A lot more innocent people will suffer if Romney he is elected. Social Programs will be cut. Social Security will be at risk. Conservative SCOTUS justices will be appointed. LGBT will not have their deserved equal rights etc.

I know that you understand this reality.

I've always been full on totally supportive of Julian and Wikileaks.

But they are way out of line telling us our votes don't matter. Our votes will be, on the domestic social level, a matter of life and death for many people.

[randome]

126. He characterizes his plea for money as 'intervening' in our election.

His own words damn him.

[marlakay]

50. While he has done some good

he isn't an American so to him there isn't the choice we have of picking the better of the two big parties.

Plus isn't he an enemy of the state now? To me that means they could go after and kill him...

[DisgustipatedinCA]

53. And you were so very close to completely embracing Assange before now. He'll miss you.

.

[MineralMan]

57. No, I wasn't, as of course you know.

I don't like Assange. I never did. He's operating without any controls, either self-imposed or imposed by others. In my opinion, his ego is controlling what he does, and anything that boosts his questionable fame is just fine.

Did he get important stuff sent to Wikileaks? Sure. Did he release everything that came to him. No. There is banking information that has somehow "disappeared." Assange is a libertarian, and does not have anyone's interests but his own in mind.

That's all irrelevant, though. Since I'm of no importance at any level in international politics, what I think doesn't matter one bit. That, however, does not stop me from having an opinion, as irrelevant to any real effect as that opinion has.

So, you're right. My opinion is meaningless to Assange, Wikileaks, or any organization beyond my front door. So? I still have an opinion, and I'll state it whenever I feel the urge to state it.

Your sarcasm is wasted.

[struggle4progress]

56. Julian Assange Launches Vote WikiLeaks Funding Campaign while Supporters Face £140,000 Bail Loss

Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks has launched a fundraising campaign in the US - on the day that a group of founder Julian Assange's wealthy backers could lose £140,000 ...
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/390641/20121003/assange-launchs-vote-wikileaks-funding-campaign-supporters.htm

So Julian's already pissed away 200K pounds in bail monies, and he seems now set to piss away yet another 140K pounds, which to most small nonprofits would be a substantial amount of cash: at current rates, the total's well over a half million dollars. The natural guess might be that, had his guarantors recovered their funds, he would have been well-positioned to ask them to donate their sums to his organization -- but Julian simply wastes the monies and then goes about, hat in hand, begging more

[treestar]

66. Well of course

Obama is oppressing him with non-arresting him!! And therefore, well, darnit, Obama shouldn't be President, because of his oppression of this foreigner by failing to persecute him!

[nichomachus]

76. I'm pretty Obama designated Assange as a potential drone assassination target

That would kind of sour me on someone too

[treestar]

78. Obama has not done that

There is no proof of that and no evidence whatsoever that drones would be sent into Great Britain for this purpose. That's taking it over the shark.

[Tarheel_Dem]

106. OMG!

[MineralMan]

81. I doubt very much that President Obama has given

Assange or Wikileaks much of his attention for some time now. Why would he?

[Bodhi BloodWave]

89. the only reason he/the obama administation even mentions him these days it seems

is because Assange keeps stepping forward and pokes them(verbally) to try provoking a reaction "did you feel that?" "Is this irritating you" "Hey, don't you dare ignore me"

[MineralMan]

93. Well, it sure does seem like that, doesn't it?

And this latest cry for attention barely makes any waves at all. I suppose some people will donate to the "cause," but I'm not sure that will have any effect on anything at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure it won't have any effect at all on anything at all.

Assange and Wikipedia are over. They just haven't figured that out yet.

[quinnox]

75. I support wikileaks 1000 percent

This changes nothing. The video is clearly a screed against the expanding police state, not a particular political party. It blames them both.

[MineralMan]

82. OK. Thanks for letting me know.

So you're supporting it 10 times past what is possible? Cool. Overstatement is an artform, apparently.

[MadHound]

87. LAUNCH THE DRONES!

Somebody, somewhere is daring to be critical of our whole rotten system.

[MineralMan]

91. I doubt that there is much concern about

some guy hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy to keep from having to answer questions about some sexual activity. Wikileaks is over, and Assange is over.

Right now, there's this Presidential election thing going on. I hear there's a debate tonight. Somehow, Assange doesn't mean much right now.

So, the drones aren't hunting for him. Nobody's hunting for him. Everyone knows where he is. He has imprisoned himself already.

[tama]

94. Classical rhetorical tactic

You posted this topic, it kinda backfired when everybody didn't join the hater group, and now it's back to "they don't matter, let's go back to serious politics (ie two 1% guys supporting police state debating on telly)" line...

[MineralMan]

95. Threads go where they will.

I never expect everyone to agree with me, and everyone always meets my expectations. Some agree. Some disagree. So it goes.

I do appreciate your replies in this thread, though. I don't remember interacting with you before, but maybe that's my old age kicking in and screwing with my memory. It's always nice to hear from someone new. You've shared your opinion, and that's what DU is all about. Whether everyone agrees with it or not is not really relevant.

[tama]

109. My memory is so bad

that I forget how bad it is. I don't much register the nicks posting and concentrate more on the content of posts, and what vague impressions I may have of the nick MineralMan suggests that it does the same.

I'm also still learning to talk with people instead of to people, which is not always easy. But I believe after lots of practice on this progressive site and elsewhere, I'm progressing.

[Tarheel_Dem]

96. God, I wish this asshole would get lost in the jungles of Ecuador already.

[Chorophyll]

103. People are fighting tooth and nail for the right to vote this year,

and this egotistical douche is threatening to intervene in our election??? This negates anything decent he ever did.

He's not a man of the people; he's a man for himself.

[one_voice]

107. ^^^^^^This^^^^^^

[Tarheel_Dem]

113. Very well stated!

[bluestate10]

118. Yes. Anyone that rapes a sleeping woman is a fucking savage.

My advice to Julian is take the night off, step out down the street for dinner. Otherwise, shut the fuck up.

[MineralMan]

120. You are right.

We're voting here, and don't need a bunch of nonsense from someone who doesn't even live here. Thanks!

[Cha]

124. Thank you, Chorophyll! Assange is

about solidifying attention for his own pockets.

[Chorophyll]

130. Thanks Cha and everyone else who replied.

I'd been reading about the Voting Rights Act today, and it really set me off. People DIED to be able to vote, or so that other people could vote. That's bravery. They put their bodies on the line for what they believed in, and didn't go running off to some foreign embassy.

For Assange to even pretend to interfere with this election, or any election, for the purpose of collecting some cash is the work of a callous prick.

[SidDithers]

137. Well said...nt

Sid

[Honeycombe8]

125. I am not surprised. It has been evident for a long time that Assange is for one thing: himself.

He is no knight in shining armor, no protector of freedom, no arbiter of free speech. Assange is in a business to make money (and get girls). That's about it.

[MineralMan]

127. Thanks for your comment.

We share similar views of him.

[seabeyond]

133. dweeb. nt