WikiLeaks - December 3, 2010

I just wanted to drop a few ideas down into written form about WikiLeaks today.  I would post a link to the site - but it keeps changing.  Why?  Because the site has come under cyber-attack from those who would seek to impede free speech.

Here are just a few ideas about secrets in general.

If you want to keep a secret - that is your right.  But it is also your responsibility and the responsibility of everyone in the know to protect that secret.  If your secret gets out - you cannot impede the god given right to communicate.  You cannot beat to death those who would practice free speech.

Here is another thought.  Why is the information that WikiLeaks is publishing of interest to the world, and the American people?  Because it is proof that we are being lied to by the government and military of the United States of America.

You must keep secrets to win a war.  But, we are not at war.  No declaration of war has proceeded from the U.S. Congress - the sole body that has Constitutional Authority to declare war.  You might think this is a trivial notion, because we have troops on the ground, who may be put in harms way by what is being released.  First - there is no evidence that what is released is of a nature that would bring immediate harm to our troops.  Second - the notion that we are conducting an illegal war is not trivial in the least.  It is, in fact, the core of the matter.

If Americans came together, and agreed, through our representatives in the House and the Senate that we needed to go to war, a declaration of War would have been issued.  But it was not.

Think about our history, and the sentiments surrounding World War I and World War II; and, how there are very different sentiments surrounding the Viet Nam "War".  The nation came together and declared war in the first two instances - but did not in the case of Viet Nam.  Subsequently - popular opinion was against the war.  It was a dark time in our nation's history.  While there are many factors that lead to the overall popularity of war and peace, I submit that the core issue is that we were divided before we even began.  If we were not divided - the Executive branch would have sought a declaration of war.

I urge all of my friends to ask their representatives in the House and the Senate, how they feel about their Enumerated Powers, as detailed within our Constitution.  If they are not willing to fight to restore them - they should not hold office.

No one act is going to fix our current situation.  However, we can only do one thing at a time.  Multi-tasking is a myth.  We need to find the common ground, and move to restore what can be restored.  I would rather see 50,000 acts of congress that are short and to the point, than a far fewer number that are large, convoluted, difficult to read due to length and compromise-induced complexity.

If we allow ourselves to be blinded by emotion and tricked into following the finger that always points to the next enemy - we will end up becoming the tyranny our founding fathers so desperately tried to avoid.

Ken Walling

AKA - Metajunkie
@kewal on twitter

for the latest on the "infowar" - search for #SaveWikiLeaks

Wikileaks - November 2010

Dear Friends,

When my fellow Americans get upset about Wikileaks publishing U.S. government/military secrets on their website, I have to remind them that we do not have a declaration of war on any foreign state at this time.  Now there are voices demanding the creators and maintainers of the Wikileaks website be labeled as terrorists.  Such a move would endanger the Liberty of every American.  You must take the time to learn about our Constitution, or we are doomed to lose those things that define American Freedom.

Some will argue that these are "new times", and that the old rules of the United States Constitution no longer apply.  I beg to differ.  Our Constitution is just as valid and necessary as it ever was - if not more so.  Being a former member of the Unites States Air Force, I still remember the oath I swore to protect our government and our Constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.  Today, I see domestic enemies seeking to dismantle our sovereignty, and extinguish Lady Liberty's Torch.

What we have here is a run of madness within our government.  Wikileaks has not stolen the information they are posting - much of it was given to them by men, who just like me, swore to protect our nation from all enemies both foreign and domestic.  These men (and/or women) see first hand that all is not what it should be.  They have risked their own liberty in a hope that enough people will see the truth, and react soon enough to avoid what is otherwise the quickening march toward tyranny.

Each administration has been emboldened by those who came before and spurned the rules, ignored the rules, or made up their own rules.  The policies of "printing money as we need it", ignoring the Bill of Rights and spying on Americans have become a "necessary evil" in the eyes of many.  Unreasonable searches and seizures are fast becoming the accepted norm to "help fight terrorism"; and driving our economy into the ground while amassing debt to a Communist Nation (China) has become a problem of emergency proportions.  All the while we continue to go to war without declarations of war.

Why are we allowing all of this to happen on our watch?  Do we feel disempowered by the precedents of wrong-doing that we grew up with?  Do we feel powerless to question the actions of our leaders?  Are we completely ignorant of the agreement we are all working under, namely, The Constitution of The United States?  Whatever the reason, we have moved into dangerous waters.  Our course will not "auto-correct".  Something must be done, or our nation is doomed.

We have taken to a policy of re-defining words, or coming up with new terms to define age old things.  Even though we live in a digital age, and we are surrounded by seemingly new products and services and ideas every day - it can still be said that "there is nothing new under the sun".

You cannot have a "War on Terror", anymore than you can have a "War on Drugs".  These notions should be left for Poets, not Politicians.  If we are going to kill, we had better have a good reason we can all get behind.  This is why only Congress (the representatives of the people and the States) MUST decide if war should be declared.  This is not some fanciful idea I came up with on my own.  Our Constitution clearly states, in black and white terms, that ONLY Congress shall have the power to declare war.  So, what does Congress do when the Executive Branch decides to go to war and call it something else?  Nothing.  Since before I was born those rules were blurred.  We have come up with exceptions that have been used without proper cause.

If you told your child that you were going out for the evening, and that you decided that they could not have any friends over while you were away; but, you came home to find their company in the kitchen drinking beer and playing cards, what would you do?  You might say, "Wasn't I clear?  I said, no friends in the house while we were away."  And then, your son or daughter might turn to you and say, "You said no friends.  These aren't my friends.  They are my gambling associates.  Believe me, with all of your money I lost tonight - these are not my friends".  What would you do?  You would do something.  Congress has done nothing, if not encourage such behavior by refusing to stand up for one of their enumerated powers.

Terrorism is the act of an individual, or a group of individuals.  Terrorism is a crime - not an act of war.  We should work with the nations that harbor terrorists to bring them to justice.  If these nations fail to comply - either through a lack of will or incompetence - then perhaps a declaration of War is in order.  That is a decision for Congress - because Congress is a representation of "we the people".  It is a hard call to make - but it has to be made.  If we decide no war - then we don't get to bomb a countryside back into the stone age.  If we decide War - then we go to war with one voice.  We are divided now, because the tail is wagging the dog.

If there is a Clear and Present Danger - then - of course we must act.  But when that happens - everything else should stop - and the question should be put to Congress:  War or immediate withdrawal?  In the cases of immediate withdrawal, it would seem that the next order of business should be impeachment proceedings.

Congress is and should be as powerful as the Executive Branch.  It does not appear to be the case today.

So, my friends, before you get in an uproar about an organization (wikileaks.org) that is publishing facts provided to it by US Patriots, I beg you take a hard look at what we are doing to our nation by our lack of integrity with the US Constitution.  For the love of Liberty and the only nation under God to declare that Liberty as an inalienable right, please educate yourself about our Constitution before it is too late.

Yours in Liberty,

Kenneth R. Walling Jr.

aka - Metajunkie