Free Bradley Manning!

I'm not getting the whole Julian Assange-is-a-hero thing. To me, based on what I remember of what he did and the stuff he released, he's more of an oportunistic self-promoter who was causing chaos for his own benefit, not out of some idealized sense of duty. He set out to trash a country's diplomatic reputation, he did it, and he got caught. Should we begrudge that country (ours) if it wants a little payback?

Watchers of "I shouldnt Be Alive" know that almost anything can happen after accident situations. People thought to have no chance have survived weeks even on the open seas...floating half way around the world.

#2

I think it is more like he played the game at "their" level and now is running around saying, oh, please, please help me.

Russia loves Al Assad but hates gays. Man, what a fucked up country. Could we please boycott Russian tourism?

The omission of the word "late" in that last item evokes Monty Python:

"Four hours to bury a cat?"

"Yes, well, he wouldn't keep still — all that scratchin' an' howlin'..."

I wish we'd call off the dogs already so that that jackass Assange can be tried and serve his time for those alleged rapes (and get his face out of the public eye) already.

I love the news story about the front yard grave. There's a quote from an Alabama official stating, "We're not living in the 1800's anymore".

Yes, Alabama, yes you are.

Holy shit - the Spanish judge Garzon, Pinochet's nemesis hounded from the bench, is now Assange's lawyer?

"Earhart disappeared on a flight that would cement her place in flying history as the first woman to circumnavigate the world...The island where they believe Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, crash-landed"

LOL, she had a male navigator yet was set to get credit for being the first woman to circumnavigate the world? Man navigates properly to island, woman driver blows it and kills him. Amazing. I never knew about Fred until now.

I don't want to associate myself with the sentiments of #11, but I'm perpetually amazed by the continuing fascination for Earhart. As I look at her biography, she was interesting, and a talented self-promoter, but she was not a tremendously accomplished explorer or innovator. None of what she attempted would have been a world first; much of it wasn't even a world first for a Woman. And yet there are seemingly annual expeditions to seek her remains, at significant and sometimes tremendous expense - why? Why her, and not others? Are there no better archaeological questions these resources could be put to?

Where the hell is my cute/funny/irreverent embedded dancing animal video? This is an outrage! I demand justice! (in the form of irreverent video.)

As if I needed another reason not to go into a cave around here, but really, giant clawed spiders???

#13: Not at all what you were asking for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eob7V_WtA…

"Alan Rickman Drinks Tea"

@9
Yeah, a good story. My interest is always piqued by someone who builds their own home.

@2, nobody's saying he's humble or easy to get along with, but at least grant Assange the courage of his convictions. Nobody dedicates an entire life to a nonprofit project like WikiLeaks without believing in what they're doing. He may be guilty of grandstanding and self-promotion but he also pretty clearly believes powerfully in transparency and informed democracy.

@11, wow, misogynist stereotypes and know-nothing blowhard armchair piloting. Have you ever been forward of coach in an aircraft that wasn't parked at a terminal, or were you just desperate to crack the world's lamest "dumb broads" joke?

Free Bradley Manning!

Free* Julian Assange!

http://video.pbs.org/video/1946795242

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

*(i.e. stop persecuting him, I know he's not technically incarcerated... yet)

@12, I'm kind of talking through my hat here, but I think there's an interesting parallel to be drawn between Steve Fossett and Amelia Earhart as wetware ballast.

Is it really all that deserving of accolades and near-deification if, whether through expenditure of your own wealth acquired in unrelated endeavors or through innovative PR efforts, you mount high-profile attempts to topple records although your own expertise in the chosen arena is fairly shallow?

Fossett had almost unlimited funds to throw at his various hobbies and achieved records in round-the-world ballooning, powered aerial global circumnavigation, unpowered soaring, sailing, etc.

Yet I think there's an argument to be made that, despite the primary FAA finding in the crash that killed him ("inadvertent encounter with downdrafts that exceeded the climb capability of the airplane"), he in fact made rookie mistakes: he flew too close to rising mountainous terrain in the erroneous belief that clear conditions indicated safety and he failed to file a flight plan, resulting in a protracted expensive search that endangered many other people.

You all realize Assange has not been charged with any crime yet right?