Free Bradley Manning

The US Army private who is charged with somehow obtaining hundreds of thousands of classified documents and videos has apparently been held in solitary confinement for seven months... far longer than most of the documents have even been released.

If he is indeed guilty, I do not know his motives. (How does an Army private gain access to so much classified information anyway???)  What I do know is that someone exposed a rather ugly underbelly of our nation's international relations and our illegal wars, and therefore embarrassed some high-level politicos.  It's this kind of situation that I thought Barack Obama would rectify by assuring us that his policy of transparency is fulfilled.  Instead, I hear no word from our President while this Army fellow languishes in prison as if he were already a convicted criminal.

Tonight my heart and mind goes out to Manning, and my prayers, such as they are, intone a plea for a more humane treatment of this person who may have helped to make public things that we the people should have been made aware of already.  Solitary confinement is not deserved.  Scorn should be reserved for those who would fashion a story to tell us that is not reality.  Thanks should go to anyone who risks their own personal freedom to bring the truth to us all.

Yes, there are probably times where secrecy by our state is warranted.  From what I've read and heard about the Wikileaks document dump, this is not one of those times.  The only people who have been harmed are the alleged leaker himself, and certain heads of states.  Embarrassment does not equal real harm.

Free Bradley Manning, or at least treat him like an American soldier, a human being, who has yet to be convicted of any crime.

Oh Really, Sarah?

One of the tweets from the twit who acts as if she is still a governor says:

Oh really? And just how do you think such tragedies can be averted in the future? This was the worst coal mining disaster in decades. According to the Washington Post,

The industry's influence in Washington was highlighted several years ago during a fight over safety legislation co-sponsored by then-senator Barack Obama. The 2007 bill would have allowed MSHA to issue subpoenas and to more easily shut down troublesome mines.

But according to Mrs. Todd Palin, government intervention in private industry is what is destroying our country. Go figure that Barack Obama, now our President and prime target for the failed VP candidate from last election, thought mine safety was important enough to sponsor a bill about while he was doing nothing as a Senator, if you believe the Grifter Queen.

So how, pray tell, how would you -- Mrs. Palin -- work to eliminate the awful heartache just suffered by our West Virginia coal-mining families? What do you have to offer? Smaller government? Less regulation? Freedom for the coal industry to crank up and make more money? What good is a wage if you die while earning it?

It's immensely disappointing and even disturbing that many residents of West Virginia's coal mining towns think you care about them, Sarah, when everything you seem to support would work to kill them even faster than now. Health care? Pooh. Get a job! Pre-existing conditions? (Think black lung.) Bah. Tough luck for you. Crippled in a mine explosion? Ha! Get your community to bring you casseroles, but don't stop mining that coal because after all, it's energy and you all know energy = security! Bring a law suit against the coal companies? No way! How will they survive if you put a dent in their multi-million dollar lobbying efforts!

I really dislike hypocrisy, and that, my friends, is Sarah's true name. She could give a sh!t about those who died at MontCoal. She has no clue why they died or what to do to keep such a horrid event from happening again. Her tweet about being sorry is nothing more than theatre.