Freedom Fighters and Dictators Make Strange Bedfellows

Forgive me for looking a bit askance at Julian Assange's bid for diplomatic asylum from Ecuador.

As founder of WikiLeaks, Assange has spent half a decade pretending to represent the interests of those who embrace freedom of the press, but in reality he has done nothing more than undermine the diplomatic efforts of the West through the mass release of classified secrets from whistleblowers and anonymous sources. The world is not a better place because of Assange's deeds; it inches closer towards anarchy.

Rather than face the charges of rape of two women in Sweden, Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Enter Ecuador's repressive dictator, Raul Correa. Under the trumped up charge of labor law violations, riot police in the nation's capital raided the office of one of the country's largest magazines, Vanguardia. Publication was prohibited for a week and journalists' computers were confiscated. All of this took place mere days before Assange was granted asylum with Correa presenting his government as a champion of freedom of expression.

"Move over principles.  I've got a prison to avoid."

Does this sound like the kind or regime Assange would cozy up to when the stated goal of his precious WikiLeaks is "to bring important news and information to the public" and "one of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth"?  No, of course it doesn't.  That is unless you are trying your damnedest to avoid prosecution for your criminality. I guess then principles come a distant second.

Assange is a fraud and when the history of the world is recounted someday, he will be footnoted as nothing more than a narcissistic raping anarchist who was good with a computer.

An Anarchist By Any Other Name Would Still Stink The Same

Lately I've been occupied with the Occupy movement that has swept across North America and Europe.  From what I've gathered from their incoherent hodge-podge of arguments, I've concluded that the collective is simply disenchanted with their prospects in life.

I wonder how many of these "occupiers" bothered to vote in their last election or would even consider the democratic process as a means to exact the change they seek?

"...a cacophony of random rhetoric blather..."

Don't be fooled.  This is nothing more than another group of anarchists, their enablers, interlopers, and hangers-on who want something, but don't feel particularly compelled to work for it.

Demands posted on a website mention irrelevant arguments about better bank lending practices and prosecution of corrupt corporate fraudsters.  These "fixes" from the last economic meltdown are already in place.  Yes, it may still seem unjust that the CEO of Bank X earns 100 times more than the employees, but that's called supply and demand; something leftists and children don't comprehend.  Moreover, what do CEOs' compensations have to do with anyone else's lot in life?  Has a disproportionate increase in CEOs' earnings ever prevented anyone from carving out a life for themselves?  Of course not.  It's just a talking point and fodder for a group that isn't quite sure of what their goal actually is.

Other demands include:  better health care, employment, education, immigration, racial and gender equality, or in other words, the same things "the people" have sought for generations.   These changes, when sought by the majority, have occurred and will continue to do so through the democratic process.  Yes indeed, in the same democracies that afford these malcontents the opportunity to "occupy" in the first place.

These demands should be tabled and lobbied for in Washington, not on our downtown streets.  Preventing us from getting to work while subjecting us to a cacophony of random rhetoric blather does nothing for anyone's "cause".

I suspect that the only winds of change upcoming for the occupiers are winter's chill.  Grounding them once and for all, at home, snug in their beds, asleep 'til noon, while the real 99% remain hard at it.

Damnation!