If you haven’t heard, a douchebag named Julian Assange has taken it upon himself to publish several classified documents.  He claims to be holding over a quarter million documents, of which he has released just over 1300.  The ones that he has released are basically gossip, but there are some real gems buried in the contents.  Such as a list of security-critical locations around the world.  Or, to put it another way, a checklist for any terrorist to attack us.

Last year this asshat published a list of weaknesses with our current protection systems, basically giving the enemy an easy way to kill my comrades-in-arms.  At the same time, he released the identities of human rights activists and informants.  Then he has the gall to say “we must be willing to break a few eggs to make the omelette”.

Now, it seems, he has a deadman switch.  If anything happens to him, a completely unredacted form of all the documents that he has received will be made public.  Apparently there are legal issues, and governments think that they have no legal reason to arrest him.  The security acts, apparently, don’t cover this case.

Here’s a hint, not that anyone in power is reading this.  It’s fucking blackmail.  He is threatening that he will release secret documentation, which will jeapordize American and allied troops around the world.  He will tell the worst people in the world the identities of those working undercover to overthrow their regime and make the world a better place.

Julian Assange, you are a terrorist collaborator.  If you were burning in front of me, I would not piss on you to put out the flames.  Your pigheaded arrogance is jeapordizing the lives of my friends, my brothers-in-arms.  My family will sleep MUCH better at night, knowing that in your crusade for government transparency, you have told the world where my ship will be.

I hope the ghosts of all those innocents you’ve outed gnaw on your conscience for the rest of eternity.  Go fuck yourself, Julian.

For about 0.15% of the government-quoted cost, he came up with a plan for a community streetcar.

If you ever thought that you could do something cheaper than the government (a corporation, your employer, etc) can, here’s the proof.  It is possible.

Why not suggest it at your next planning meeting?

Congratulations, Abby, on making it more than half-way to your goal.

The media is all over her failure, rather than applauding her success.

Apparently, her parents should have stopped her from fulfilling her dreams.

Apparently, her professionally-built boat wasn’t good enough.

Screw all of you.  A sixteen-year-old girl has the skill and fortitude to sail, alone, all the way around the world.  And when it ends in an accident (don’t you dare say failure), what does she plan to do?

Abby Sunderland has already voiced her determination to set sail around the globe again.

“I’m definitely going to sail around the world again or really give it another try,” she said.

(From this article, because I can’t find a reference (yet) on her blog)

Abby: good luck on your next attempt.  Show these desk-bound commentators that you can do something that they will never do.  Something that I am not ashamed to admit that I would never be able to do.

And know that you have done an all-too rare thing.  You have followed your dreams.

In response to concerns about high-profile event security, Bruce Schneier, an internationally-recognized security expert, has this to say:

This is certainly the conventional wisdom, but is there any actual evidence that it’s true? The 9/11 terrorists could have easily chosen a different date and a major event — sporting or other — to target, but they didn’t. The London and Madrid train bombers could have just as easily chosen more high-profile events to bomb, but they didn’t. The Mumbai terrorists chose an ordinary day and ordinary targets. Aum Shinrikyo chose an ordinary day and ordinary train lines. Timothy McVeigh chose the ordinary Oklahoma City Federal Building. Irish terrorists chose, and Palestinian terrorists continue to choose, ordinary targets. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that ordinary targets are easier targets, but not a lot of it.

So how effective are we being, by emphasizing Olympic security?  Are we concentrating our attention at one “weak point”, opening security holes to be exploited elsewhere?  Or possibly when we stand down from Olympic high-security, will the lull make us a target?

We were already at sea, but since we were the duty ship, we would have been recalled.  Just got back today from the training that was originally scheduled.

He claims that this will improve movie making, as producers can find out exactly where his test audience loses interest.  But I’m pretty sure this isn’t a good use of a declining stockpile of medical isotopes.

I celebrated this fact by getting into an almost-head-on collision.  I was making a left turn, the other car went straight through the intersection.  We both swerved.  We hit.  I stopped, they went flying.

I’m OK.  A bit of bruising from my seat belt and airbag.  Nothing broken or cracked, no apparent internal injuries.  The other driver was waiting on tests when I was discharged from hospital.

Now I’m waiting to hear on the results.  I made my ICBC claim last night, and am waiting to hear from the adjustor.  I’ve talked to the police (they were at the accident site) and been to the hospital.  I went to work this morning (CF rules say I need to see a military doctor after I see a civilian doctor).  The doc gave me three days off work – today (the day I had to go in and see him) and the weekend.  Back to see him again Monday to see if I need any more work restrictions.

The doc also told me that, by Monday, I’ll be cursing and screaming, as the real pain should settle in   Not something I’m looking forward to.

Remains of my Car

I, however, am not one of them.  My last PT test resulted in a failure, disqualifying me for “physically intensive activities”, which includes forest-fire fighting.  If, however, the members get called up, I will be taking over some responsibilities onboard.  I will probably be standing more duty watches, to cover for people going out of town.  It sucks, but at least I get to go home at the end of a 24-hour duty (rather than a 30-day firefight).

Even before I joined the military, when I was working on a government contract, we were required to sign a document stating that we understood the consequences of releasing, or improperly disposing of, classified information.

Although the exact level of classification of the documents isn’t listed, but Northrop Grumman and the Pentagon somehow managed to get sensitive information to a West African street market.  Of course, there’s the standard finger-pointing and deflection of blame.

The owner of the data is responsible for its destruction.

You don’t trust a third-party, asset-destruction company to remove and destroy the hard disks if they contain “sensitive information”.  Destroy them in-house.  Put them out on the test range, or in a shredder – if a city can maintain one, the Pentagon definitely can.  Don’t try to save a few bucks by reselling a hard drive containing secret documents.

Now, he’s trying to do it.  But he can’t find anywhere to put the terrorists.  He tried to send them to Canada, but we refused.  Even his own country won’t take them.  So it looks like the inmates are stuck in Guatanamo for a while, because the American government doesn’t have the balls to take care of their own problems, and nobody is willing to take the heat for them.