READ THE NEWS ON ONE CLICK 1.. Provocative Whistleblowers Debate Including Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Julian Assange denies allegations of sexual assault in Sweden Dan Ellsberg: I was that young man - I was Bradley Manning Veteran journalist and filmmaker John Pilger Robert Halfon MP Maryanne Godboldo READ THE NEWS ON ONE CLICK
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, Julian Assange
This red hot ticket Frontline Club/New Statesman event including Julian Assange, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks; Clayton Swisher, head of Al-Jazeera’s Transparency Unit; Mehdi Hasan, senior political editor, New Statesman; Sir David Richmond, former director, defence and intelligence, British Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Bob Ayers, former director of the US Department of Defence Information Systems Security Programme and Douglas Murray, author and political commentator is taking place at Kensington Town Hall, London on April 9 at 5:00pm. This provocative public debate is now fully booked. One Click Note: WiFi willing, One Click will be live Tweeting this event on April 9 @OneClickGroup. Look on our Profile Page on the day for current reporting.
The Frontline Club / The One Click Group
2. Wikileaks' Julian Assange extradition appeal date set for 12 & 13 July
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's appeal against extradition from the UK to Sweden on sexual assault allegations is to begin on 12 July. A two-day hearing has been listed at the High Court. After February's ruling at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court, Mr Assange said the extradition was due to a "European Arrest Warrant system run amok". Lawyers for the 39-year-old, who denies the charges, argued the case breached his human rights. Mr Assange has suggested the case was politically motivated because of Wikileaks' publication of sensitive material - including leaked US diplomatic cables - from governments and high-profile organisations that has made headlines worldwide. He said he feared he could be handed over to the US authorities. District Judge Howard Riddle found that there had been "considerable adverse publicity in Sweden for Mr Assange, in the popular press, the television and in parliament". Mr Assange's legal team ha s indicated this issue would be central to their appeal against the decision.
BBC News
Related Links:
* Tweet Record, Julian Assange Extradition Trial Judgement Day 2011-02-24
Information Release, The One Click Group et al
* Tweet Record, Julian Assange Extradition Trial 2011-02-11
The One Click Group et al
* Tweet Record, Julian Assange Extradition Trial 2011-02-08
The One Click Group et al
* Tweet Record, Julian Assange Extradition Trial 2011-02-07
The One Click Group et al
3. Dan Ellsberg and 'Saving Private Manning'
After many months in the shadows, Pvt. Bradley Manning, who sits in the brig at the Quantico base in Virginia in near-solitary confinement, has recently drawn some high-level defenders, from Hillary Clinton’s former chief spokesman at the State Department to editors at The New York Times and The Guardian. But none of them stand by Manning for his alleged crimes – he’s accused of leaking a massive number of classified documents to WikiLeaks -- but instead protest the conditions of his harsh confinement. One person, however, has spoken up for Manning for his actual (alleged) actions as a whistleblower ever since his arrest last May. That would be Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked The Pentagon Papers four decades ago. He was even arrested twice in two days last month as part of his pro-Manning activism. I’ve known Ellsberg pretty well for almost thirty years (and he turns 80 tomorrow), so this doesn’t surpris e me one bit. But I’ll let Dan explain. Here are a few excerpts from my new book, Bradley Manning: Truth and Consequences, charting Ellsberg’s support for Manning during the past month or so. Ellsberg added, again looking back forty years: “I was that young man — I was Bradley Manning.”
Greg Mitchell, The Nation
4. When the media gets it wrong
In his long career as a journalist and filmmaker, John Pilger is used to getting under the skins of warmongers, imperialists and those who wield and abuse power. But it's the members of Pilger's own profession who face tough criticism in his latest film The War You Don't See. For Pilger, the problem with embedded war journalists is that the military controls what they are allowed to see and report. It's not just a problem for war correspondents. Embedding can apply to all forms of journalism. He believes journalists feel threatened by WikiLeaks, partly because the website illuminates journalists' reliance on official sources and the perils of taking those sources at face value, to the point where journalists end up, as Rather notes, playing the role of stenographers. Pilger says: "WikiLeaks is doing exactly what Edmund Burke suggested of journalism and that was ... the fourth estate checking the other estates. That's what it's done and I think the hostility towards WikiLeaks in part masks a guilt that journalism has not done that."
Paul Kalina, The Sydney Morning Herald
5. Robert Halfon MP defends the Open Internet
On Tuesday, Robert Halfon MP defended the Open Internet in a debate in Parliament. In defending a free Internet from an assault on it by regulation, Mr. Halfon said, "when it comes to free expression, regulation is censorship by another name." Mr. Halfon went on to say, "We are regularly criticised on Twitter and other social media sites-sometimes outrageous or even libellous things are written, and I have also been a victim of some of the things that the hon. Gentleman described-but that is mostly part and parcel of politics. I do not believe we should bring in a law to stop it because it is the essence of a free society. Negative campaigning, however frustrating, is part of free speech and we must hope that the truth will ultimately shine through in a marketplace of ideas." Mr. Halfon is saying what isn't often said from government itself. Namely, the government should not impose regulation of any kind on the Interne t. From net neutrality to web blocking to political censorship, all of these notions at their very heart recommend some sort of government backed intervention in the form of regulation.
Big Brother Watch
6. Clarion Call For Parent Choice In Psychotropic Drugging Of Minors
A Detroit mother who held police at bay after they tried to remove her daughter from her home was right to take her daughter off psychotropic drugs prescribed by the state, says a physician who knows the family and advised the mother. "She did what she was supposed to do," says Dr. Margaret Betts, a veteran Detroit MD who specializes in holistic treatments and who consulted with the mother, Maryanne Godboldo, on alternative treatments for her child."The treatment they recommended wasn't helping. Maryanne sought further medical attention. She acted like a good parent. It's a parent's right to choose. When the parent chose a different treatment," says Dr. Betts, "CPS played a muscle game." Yesterday, news reports said that Godboldo's daughter has tested positive for an STD, raising concerns that she may have been the victim of a sexual assault while in CPS custody. This is a clarion call for pa rents to be more active in all aspects of our children's lives—and especially when people try to push medicine on them that they don't need.
Darrell Dawsey, MLive.com
Related Links:
* Girl Being Held By State Tests Positive For STD
Click On Detroit
* Girl seized in Detroit standoff to remain in state custody
Doug Guthrie, The Detroit News
Friday, 8 April 2011
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