Short Takes

Dysfunctional Senate

The United States Senate has become the arch-typical dysfunctional family. There is abuse (holding the unemployed hostage), destructive addiction (to insane tax policies), chronic lying (need examples?), and even the weak-willed enabler (Harry Reid).

Original Construction

Freedom of the Press did not just apply to mainstream loyalist newspapers but to anyone who wanted to print a seditious pamphlet (Thomas Paine). The internet is just another form of printing press. Freedom of Speech today doesn't just apply to the paid pundits on radio and TV but anybody who wants to stand on a street corner. The First Amendment totally applies to Assange.

A Spy is a Spy and He Ain't

On a scale of one to ten where Sidney Reilly is ten, the Rosenbergs are five, and Anna Chapman is a one, Assange doesn't register. We are not talking about nuclear secrets or troop movements. We are not even talking about the Pentagon Papers. The State Department cables were just catty gossip and not even very revealing gossip. It is hardly a threat to national security to show that ambassadors are just like teenage girls at a slumber party. If embarrassing the government is a crime than half the US Senate should be in prison.