Here’s the story according to the recent Guardian piece:

“US authorities have known for weeks that they have suffered a hemorrhage of secret information on a scale which makes even the leaking of the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam war look limited by comparison.

The source for these leaks is Wikileaks, the website which specializes in publishing untraceable material from whistleblowers, which is simultaneously publishing raw material from the logs. Washington fears it may have lost even more highly sensitive material including an archive of tens of thousands of cable messages sent by US embassies around the world, reflecting arms deals, trade talks, secret meetings and uncensored opinion of other governments. [Imagine that - the general public might get a free glimpse into their own government's shady dealings!].

The Guardian continues: “Wikileaks’ founder, Julian Assange, says that in the last two months they have received yet another huge batch of “high-quality material” from military sources and that officers from the Pentagon’s criminal investigations department have asked him to meet them on neutral territory to help them plug the sequence of leaks. He has not agreed to do so.”

While “true” US foreign policy has always been held close to the chest with a closed fist by the US government, (and more or less deemed “classified” to the public), when information rears it’s head, history has shown it’s been often heavily edited and/or santized by the media depending on the content.

Wikileaks might be the beginning of the end of such a process, and the American public has every right to be witness to the various atrocities and financial dealings of their own government.

Instead of saluting this leak of free information, the mainstream US media has instead started a backlash against Wikileaks. This reads thin as jealousy (at the free publicity Wikileaks is generating), and publicity means revenue for a struggling mainstream media company that’s answering to shareholders.

Media companies should remember that if you’re NOT going to expose information and truth, you don’t have the right to criticize others that will at their own potential legal expense, and only for the benefit of an unknowing public. Where you clearly failed, someone else only succeeded.

The tabloid online & print rag went right for the jugular with typical bottom-of-the-barrell-sensationalistic headline seen below…

Al Gore Sex Attack! (courtesy of the National Enquirer)

One might think that such a paper must be owned by someone “out to get Gore…” – interestingly enough, many people may not be aware that the prominent owner of the Enquirer is a prominent New York investment banker, and one of Hillary Clinton’s former key backers, Mr. Roger Altman.

According to a Politico piece from 2007, Altman was an official in the first Clinton administration, and his name was often mentioned as a “possible Clinton Treasury Secretary” in Hillary’s failed Presidential campaign. However, a spokesman for American Media (the parent company that Altman owns a large stake in, gave a statement in the 07′ Politico piece that Altman has “no involvement in editorial, ever.”

With that being said, as much as we want to laugh at the Enquirer, sometimes, just when you think Democratic candidates are un-touchable in public opinion, be very scared…

It should be noted that we applaud Helen Thomas for devoting her life to the pursuit of journalism, regardless of how the mainstream media judges her latest PR Gaffe. Ironically and surpisingly, FOX News (of all outlets) had an amusing take on her poor choice of words. Read it here

We’ll be doing a follow-up post about Helen Thomas later this week.

SPC Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Maryland, was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer, 40 miles east of Baghdad, where he was arrested nearly two weeks ago by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. A family member says he’s being held in custody in Kuwait, and has not been formally charged.

Read more at this article courtesy of Wired.com

“The loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world’s imagination because it reminded us how valuable a free press is,” Obama said.

Obama said the law “sends a strong message from the US government and the State Department that we’re paying attention on how foreign governments are operating when it comes to the press.”

Fox News and CNN might do themselves a favor and interview this guy since it’s apparent nobody in the mainstream US media can accurately report on the region. Read the details of his speech here…

In the biggest scandal ever to hit Iraq’s security contractor Blackwater, the NY Times has reported that 2 ex-workers have accused the private security company of defrauding the government “for years” by filing “bogus receipts, double billing for the same services and charging government agencies for strippers and prostitutes, according to court documents unsealed this week.”

Since Fox News had a heavy penchant for reporting on the moronic Acorn-Pimp-Prostitute “undercover-video” episodes, maybe AT LEAST their website can start living up to that bogus “Fair & Balanced” trademark, that way their readers won’t wise-up and start turning elsewhere for news. Amazingly, a quick trip to their website reveals not one single headline about the biggest scandal to rock the biggest Security contractor currently operating in Iraq.