From Denny: Well, Assange just can't seem to stay out of the headlines. This guy must be a media exhibitionist. Now he's whining how he isn't rich enough to pay his own legal fees? This guy is supposed to be a billionaire. So, where did all his money go?
Apparently, Founder Assange is worried he can't keep his WikiLeaks "whistle blower" site running. Why? He says it is running out of cash since Paypal, MasterCard and Visa quit allowing payment donations through their sites to the WikiLeaks site. Assange states he has lost as much as $650,000 since the three sites blocked his donors. Get this: Assange was raking in as much as $130,000 a day in pure untaxed donations to the tune of almost $4 million per month before the financial crackdown. What a sweet con. And now it looks like the wild ride is over.
So, what does a con man move on to next? Well, that's obvious: he moves on to the other muckrakers, the gossip publishing industry. He signed a $1.3 million deal with Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House in America and British publisher Canongate.
Assange may have good reason to worry. It isn't just his current legal costs fighting extradition to Sweden to face a rape charge. There are mounting lawsuits against his WikiLeaks site to consider. We can only wonder what fantastic stories will be told in this book, since he is known for his embellishment of the truth.
Assange also claims he does not want to write the book. Who believes that garbage? "I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he told the Sunday Times of London, per ABC News. "I have already spent £200,000 for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."
In case you have been completely unplugged from technology - or living under a rock - the past few months here's the rundown on the developing WikiLeaks-Assange story:
To date, Australian Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, turned himself in to police in the United Kingdom. He was wanted on an Interpol warrant for extradition to Sweden. Two women in Sweden accused him of rape and sexual misconduct. Assange is fighting extradition and is currently out on bail with an ankle monitor and house arrest, staying at a friend's house.
Assange's fear of assassins
Assange is terrified of the American government and fears assassination squads were sent to kill him. If that were true he would already be dead. But then this guy ticked off the entire world and embarrassed the diplomatic community. There isn't a government on this planet that approves of him, his methods, his so-called cause. He reeks of selling information to the highest bidder, releasing the low level intelligence just for fun to screw with everyone's lives. I'm sure there are plenty of Afghan families who are just thrilled with him outting them as intelligence sources. Now those tribal people and their code of vengeance is something to fear.
Taliban seeking Assange
Better yet, the Taliban are who Assange should really fear. Those guys are ruthless and will kill those close to him just to get more information, especially if they are too cheap to pay for it. Assange just can't go around claiming he is the world storehouse of all the most secret and precious information and think he has no enemies. It's ludicrous.
Diplomatic cables released
For several months now WikiLeaks has released low level secret documents and video regarding the Iraq and Afghan wars. The vast majority of the information was already in the public domain. And let's not forget the diplomatic cables between American and foreign diplomats, detailing stupid opinion that no smart diplomat would ever write and send in an electronic missive. Those opinions and observations are only mentioned among friends or in person. Talk about amateurs. Who is actually stupid enough to think that electronic anything is private?
GOP labels Assange a terrorist and WikiLeaks a terrorist group
Providing political theater lately are the Republicans like Rep. King from New York who is calling Assange a terrorist and he should be classified as an enemy combatant. King is the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and wants a crackdown on WikiLeaks.
One of the few interesting ideas King has had is to label WikiLeaks dumps as a treasonable offense. By so doing then the site can be labeled as a terrorist group. And by labeling WikiLeaks as a terrorist group then it is easier to go after their finances legally. Just this month, King introduced a bill to stop WikiLeaks by declaring its activities as criminal.
ABC Interview with Assange
In this video Assange tries to defend his actions, claiming no one has died or been hurt by the vomiting release document dumps from his site. Like that's going to become public knowledge. Nor have we seen Assange digging to find out if it's true.
It's one thing to push boundaries to challenge possibly corrupt governments and authority, to want freedom of information. It's quite another to release information indiscriminately without regards to consequences for innocents or intelligence sources in a war-torn country. No one really cares how much these docs embarrass various countries and their diplomatic communities.
Listen to Assange work his wriggle room interview. It's astounding anyone labels this guy as a hero, a person so completely devoid of human compassion for, well, anyone. Is a rapist, a for-profit information dealer and a con man worthy of hero status?
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