I worked in classified communications in the service and held a Top Secret clearance. Like I did to get through Vietnam in general, I trained my mind to forget things I either shouldn’t really know, weren’t healthy for me to know, or which were things I didn’t want to know because I might remember them. Even though all of us who worked at jobs like mine were indoctrinated into the consequences of leaking, it probably also helped that I was in the Navy and “leaking” is not a word a sailor wants to hear in any context. It’s like the operating surgeon going “Ooops.”
I knew too that the teletypes and dispatches I was reading and sometimes couriering were bits and pieces of a global operational matrix I was not trained ~ and very likely not intelligent enough ~ to understand. I was exposed to a lot of weird stuff, things that never made the press during my war because back then, the media worked with the military to make sure nothing was published which might get an American in uniform killed. There were exceptions and those exceptions were, in my mind, justified. But by and large, there was an operational integrity which placed The First Amendment in a context far more appropriate the times than a strict letter of the law interpretation.
And this is not to suggest that the Fourth Estate pandered to the military, to the government or to anyone else. If that had been the case, the My Lai Massacre and Watergate, to name two, would never have come to light. But this WikiLeaks is not investigative journalism and they share the blame with the media of this generation. Why? Because even though the information was offered and accepted, it did not need to be published.
So to me, this is a rank and foul abuse of an honored profession and the betrayal of all those who believe in it. When asked by a colleague this morning what I would have done had WikiLeaks approached me as an outlet, I said that I would have accepted a sample, read it and returned it to the source saying that I was not interested.
The Northstar Journal would not have published something that will very likely get several thousand people killed within the next fortnight or so. We’re small but we have a conscience and we reach around 700 of you in seven nations who do as well. There’s not legions of you but it’s a band of brothers (and sisters) and that’s more than enough company for me.
Well, we found this more than a little ironic. Apparently Interpol is looking for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because he faces charges of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. His accusers are apparently two women he met in Stockholm on a recent visit. Interpol is looking for him and he’s rumoured to be in hiding in the south of England. His spokesperson denies the allegations and says this is Sweden’s retaliation for leaking all those documents. That doesn’t wash with me. Sweden does not play cop of the world. If the allegations are true, not only is Julian Assange a man totally devoid of scruples, he’s also an amoral predator who preys on women. My hunch is this tribute to humanity has probably cut more deals with the devil than Daniel Webster and with not nearly the finesse. The Devil’s finally become totally bored and now he’s calling this idiot home.
Canadians have discovered that sewage makes a good source of electricity and an inexpensive one. Vancouver’s Olympia Village has such a generator and provides its customers with electricity at three dollars per kilowatt hour cheaper than BC Hydro. This is another exportable, one of those, “if they can do it, it might just be worth us trying it too” stories so yep, for more, please go here.
Some Canadian farmers are now producing more than agricultural products, they’re also producing electricity. Thanks to a federal program called MicroFIT introduced at the provincial level and emulated from Manitoba to British Columbia, fallow land or land not suitable for cultivation, farmers have solar panels or wind generators installed. The electricity produced runs the farm and the surplus is sold to the local utility, making these farms energy self-sustaining and reducing the cost of the harvest so these savings can, in turn, be passed along to the consumer, local or export.
Felina: Well, this person from that place on the other side of the planet that is upside down from here and where they have these big hopping mice with pouches and where wrestling with big water lizards appears to be a national pastime among them certainly seems to have stirred up the proverbial hornet’s nest now, eh, Samuel?Sam: I’m going to take a shot at this and say we’re talking about the founder of WikiLeaks and that place he comes from is Australia.
Felina: Quite so. His name is Julian Assange and the place he comes from is also known as “Down Under” or “Oz,” which I understand the humans who live there do not like.
Sam: Yep, that’s it pretty much, Felina.
Felina: He is certainly an interesting human. He steals these things called documents, gives them to someone who does not know he does not own them and then shares these private communications with other humans to whom they were not addressed. I am searching for a parallel in the animal kingdom.
Sam: We’re both going to be old and gray and in that Big Green Valley Up Yonder before you’ll find one, love of my life.
Felina: I suspected as much, oh sun and moon of mine. And this Julian Assange certainly seems quite the global traveler.
Sam: And according to two female humans in that place up north and east of here and across the other pond…
Felina: Please, Samuel. I know where Sweden is. And if these allegations against him are true, he is not quite the lady’s man he seems to think he is.
Sam: You’re being real generous here, aren’t you, Felina?
Felina: I find that human being’s behaviour absolutely despicable and without moral precedent from the amoeba to the zebra. And what galls me even more, Samuel, is that this human is considered by many to be “successful” in the society of his species? Even the jackal and the hyena have more claim to the title of noble beast than this pitiful excuse for even a member of the species which was created last and with what mud remained.
Sam: No argument there, of occasional volcano of my life. It does make one pause to contemplate a fallible creator.
Felina: I doubt very seriously whether the Creator had anything to do with this. This one would disgrace primordial slime.
Sam: Well, look at it this way, between that gooey stuff you just mentioned and the hatred he is reaping among his own kind, he’s probably not going to last too long.
Felina: I understand they are doing great things with those metal fire canisters they send into space. Surely they could find room for him on one of those.
Sam: Nope, Felina. The universe would just bat it back to them. But where he’s going, one of those big cement caves with bars.
Felina: Samuel, be careful.
Sam: Where he’s going, he’ll have lots of help pondering the wickedness of his ways.
Felina: I hope his cell has air-conditioning. In winter.
Sam: And on that note?
Felina: And on that note, gentle readers, until next time, may the Creator bless and keep you.
SURVIVING HARD TIMES
Hard times can often be more difficult during the holidays and for a lot of us, the Christmas season is not the easiest time of the year to get through. YES magazine offers us the secrets of sharing and getting along in an entire issue dedicated to sharing with us what happy families know
ON THE CANCER FRONT
Surviving cancer is often also a matter of attitude and of being inspired by others. This is the story of a British man with testicular cancer who fought the disease for 16 years. Now his wife is pregnant thanks to some sperm he had frozen before the first of two operations. This is one of those Frank Capra Feel Real Good Stories and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Lung cancer among women in England is on the rise while declining among men. A recent study concluded that this was because the nationwide anti-smoking campaign focused more on males than on females. For more and what the British are doing to correct for course, yep, go here.
RESOURCES AND RELATED LINKS:
Cancer Research Journal
National Cancer Institute (American)
Fighting Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Survivor Stories
Science Daily: Health & Medicine News
American Cancer Statistics 2009
Canadian Cancer Statistics 2009
HEALTH NEWS
Anyone who works to protect kids gets a very long round of applause and I’m further delighted that this one goes out to the home of my birth. The Canadian government is now enforcing the strictest standards in the world for the amount of lead paint in children’s toys. The new amounts allowed are so small it’s apparently not worth using lead in these products at all. Way to go, Ottawa!
We applaud amazon.com for terminating its relationship with WikiLeaks, that cyber volcano of treason whose founder faces sex crimes charges in Sweden. Although they were approached by the government, amazon.com claims that WikiLeaks simply violated its terms of service by, among other things, storing too much data which didn’t belong to it on the site it rented from amazon.com. I sort of missed the fragrance of fire and brimstone around that one but I’m also reminded that a company is responsible to act ethically. It is not responsible for promoting ethics as a good business practice.
Goggle also gets an atta-person (PC rocks) for ending a practice that sort of has me admiring it for its simplicity. Seems that Google and other search engines can’t tell the difference between a positive or negative visit to a website. They rank a site by the TOTAL hits. So some merchants apparently go out of their way to be rude, screw up orders, delay shipments and otherwise generate visits to its complaint department. Goggle’s come up with another algorithm but is ~ sagely in our opinion ~ not releasing any details
Sightline Daily is the best Pacific Northwest source of environmentally friendly news we’ve encountered yet. They draw from newspapers and National Public Radio sources in Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state.
Meade Fisher Observes Humanity From A Safe Distance is a blog authored by an outdoor writer, photographer, West Coast kayaker and environmentalist living in the San Francisco Bay area. These short, humorous, few holds barred observations on the machinations of the human species run from the whimsical to the arid and occasionally to the quietly outraged. I’ve been a fan of this particular writer for years and I’ve always found him worth the read.
The Northstar Gallery features photography of Seattle available as postcards, computer wallpaper and workspace art.
Wrath of the Testament, an exciting seagoing saga of war and rebellion, is now available at amazon.com.
Nocturnal snow, Seattle's University District, recently. Photo by Merritt Scott (Rusty) Miller
Whether you live here or plan to visit ~ and whatever it is you enjoy doing at home or as a tourist ~ you’ll find it, you’ll find it listed here at
seattlepi.com.SEATTLE FACTS AND FIGURES
Seattle Rainfall in Comparison To Other US Cities
Seattle Geography & Climate
For more information about Seattle
OTHER RELATED STUFF FROM THE SHORES OF THE SALISH SEA
For live cameras on Seattle, the Puget Sound and Washington State
Mount Rainier slide show
Eat healthy while you’re here – Seattle PCC Co-Op
Take some fresh produce back to your hotel – Seattle Farmers Markets
CRITTER STUFF
Thanks to a unique program by Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, dozens of Puget Sound river otters whose presence at commercial and private marinas, boathouse docks and waterfront homes has posed a threat to their continued existence are now thriving and prospering on a remote stretch of the Gila River in New Mexico. I totally loved this one.
In a move which probably truly explodes the possibility of life in the universe and unknown forms of it on this planet, scientists trained a microbe to eat arsenic instead of phosphorous. The microbe decided it liked this deadly poison just fine. I definitely got a 1950s sci-fi chill when I learned that this tiny dude is a bacterium scraped from the bottom of Mono Lake, in California. It also strongly suggests to me that even if we allow ourselves and a lot of other life forms to drown in a sea of our garbage or choke on a deadly atmosphere of toxic gases, there is one life form on the planet who will probably watch that and go, “Cool. And look at all there is to eat now.” (including us.)
Recommended Related Links:
National Wildlife Magazine
Go Northwest: Northwest Wildlife Websites
BBC’s wildlife finder
National Geographic Daily News - Animals
Retrieverman’s Weblog: Engaging articles on domestic & wildlife in the American South
YOU GUYS THINK I MAKE THIS STUFF UP
Well, ever since I worked at Boeing, I have not been a real fan of going up 30,000 feet in something put together by a consortium of the lowest bidders. This article in AOL news, headlined Most Unexpected Flight Delays, has reaffirmed my pledge to remain with transportation I can swim or walk away from if it stops working. I have yet to see any human being fly away from a plane crash. At least none that were not Heaven bound. On the flip side, I also totally loved this and I think you will too.
Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for the ear. Before you leave, if you’re in a shopping mood and into some interesting choices? We’ve got a “reader stocked” General Store that you might want to check out. If you’d like to sell something with us or know someone who does, email us at minstrel312@aol.com and we’ll see what we can do.
Rusty
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