B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options. By Richard A. See the note below for details. More From the Los Angeles Times. What we really see here is how the largest and most corrupt corporations own not just the government but also the culture.
The minute something even a bit deviant takes place as defined by standards imposed by America's political and corporate class , even the SF Gay Pride Parade must scamper, capitulate, apologize, and take an oath of fealty to their orthodoxies we adore the military, the state, and your laws. And, as usual, the largest corporate factions are completely exempt from the strictures and standards applied to the marginalized and powerless.
Thus, while Bradley Manning is persona non grata at SF Pride, illegal eavesdropping telecoms, scheming banks, and hedge-fund purveryors of the nation's worst right-wing agitprop are more than welcome. Second , the authoritarian, state-and-military-revering mentality pervading Williams' statement is striking. It isn't just the imperious decree that "even a hint of support" for Manning "will not be tolerated", though that is certainly creepy.
Nor is it the weird announcement that the wrongdoer "has been disciplined". Even worse is the mindless embrace of the baseless claims of US military officials that Manning "placed in harms way the lives of our men and women in uniform" along with the supremely authoritarian view that any actions barred by the state are, ipso facto, ignoble and wrong.
Conduct can be illegal and yet still be noble and commendable: see, for instance, Daniel Ellsberg, or most of the leaders of the civil rights movement in the US. Indeed, acts of civil disobedience and conscience by people who risk their own interests to battle injustices are often the most commendable acts. Equating illegal behavior with ignominious behavior is the defining mentality of an authoritarian - and is particularly notable coming from what was once viewed as a bastion of liberal dissent.
But the more one learns about the parties involved here, the less surprising it becomes. According to her biography , Williams "organized satellite offices for the Obama campaign" and also works for various Democratic politicians.
It was President Obama, of course, who so notoriously decreed Bradley Manning guilty in public before his trial by military officers serving under Obama even began, and whose administration was found by the UN's top torture investigator to have abused him and is now so harshly prosecuting him. It's anything but surprising that a person who was a loyal Obama campaign aide finds Bradley Manning anathema while adoring big corporations and banks which funded the Obama campaign and who, in the case of telecoms, Obama voted to immunize.
What we see here is how even many of the most liberal precincts in America are now the leading spokespeople for and loyalists to state power as a result of their loyalty to President Obama. Thus do we have the President of the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade sounding exactly like the Chairman of the Joints Chief, or Sarah Palin , or gay war-loving neocons , in depicting any meaningful opposition to the National Security State as the supreme sin.
I'd be willing to bet large amounts of money that Williams has never condemned the Obama administration's abuse of Manning in detention or its dangerously radical prosecution of him for "aiding the enemy".
I have no doubt that the people who did all of that would be showered with gratitude by Parade officials if they attended. In so many liberal precincts in the Age of Obama - even now including the SF Gay Pride parade - the federal government, its military, and its federal prosecutors are to be revered and celebrated but not criticized; only those who oppose them are villains. Third , when I wrote several weeks ago about the remarkable shift in public opinion on gay equality, I noted that this development is less significant than it seems because the cause of gay equality poses no real threat to elite factions or to how political and economic power in the US are distributed.
Papakie followed another witness, Marine Corps Master Sgt. Craig Blenis, who testified Sunday that Manning's sexual orientation was among the factors that led him to recommend Manning remain on injury-prevention status despite two psychiatrists' repeated recommendations that his conditions be eased.
Blenis referred to a letter Manning had signed "Breanna Manning," an alias he had used on occasion. The defense revealed at a hearing last year that Manning had written to a supervisor in Baghdad before his arrest, saying he suffered from gender-identity disorder. He included a picture of himself dressed as a woman and talked about how it was affecting his ability to do his job and think clearly. A former brig counselor, Blenis said the letter was a "red flag" for potential self-injury.
He said he considered it along with Manning's acknowledged history of suicidal thoughts shortly after his arrest, and his odd behavior at Quantico such as dancing alone in his cell and licking the cell bars during what the defense has characterized as a sleepwalking episode.
Asked by Coombs why Manning's gender-identification issues increased his risk of self-injury, Blenis replied, "That's not normal, sir. Manning was arrested in May , before the military lifted a ban on homosexuals serving openly in the armed services. Manning's lawyers must show that his treatment at Quantico was either intentional punishment or so egregious that it was tantamount to punishment.
The government has the burden of proving by preponderance of the evidence that it had a legitimate purpose in imposing the restrictions. The judge, Col.
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