Colbert Report: "Poor" in America

My father always advised me that if attacked by thugs to always fight back and fight back with strength and determination. He also advised that if I were overwhelmed and on the floor with the thugs boots kicking ribs and head to curl up and beg for mercy. I hope this strategy works for this brave soldier and 21st century hero.

"Thugs" well describes Pvt Manning's captors. There are few candidates suggested for election who would entertain the notion of executive clemency, so its now or never to appeal to have the sentence trimmed. Remember, the thugs are still after other whistleblowers and enablers.

Granted, best would be to go after the war criminals but it is WE who would have to make that happen.

Sorry, but the criticism of Israel is WAY off base since it refused to sign the NPT, unlike IRAN! Thus Iran IS subject to being FORCED to abide by its treaty obligations. Israel is NOT. Let's try being truthful for a change.

Mr. Parry, the immorality of mainstream media is also complicit in this farce of charging Pvt. Manning. While they all panted for information and the "inside scoop," and in fact many of the "better known" media were quick to publish it, none came to this brave man's defense.

The "upside down morality" extends itself to sectors other than the military. However,as we have seen in this debacle against Pvt. Manning, no one in the other sectors that have turned many Americans live irreversibly upside down forever, will ever be prosecuted, despite of reams of evidence against them.

Appalling to think we live in such an immoral century and in a country that is lead by a man whose "infamous dictum only wants to look "forward not backward.""

Finally, many thanks for your insights and straight shooting as an intrepid and incorruptible journalist.

Manning has made the world a better place to live in, so we all owe him. What he said in court recently, no matter why, does not alter the benefits of the great service he has done the world. To expect mercy from a kangaroo court is unrealistic. He is doing the best he can under the circumstances. All of us who appreciate his acts of courage and empathize with the torture and suffering imposed on him during detention are with him in spirit.

Well, reporting happens whether the US mediacracy wants it to happen or not.

Thank heavens for Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and all the other genuine patriots who have and still are blowing the most beautiful whistles on the monstrous "patriot act" bull poopy of official washington, d. c. and its wall street manipulators.

At least there is still some truth being told in the media, even if it's just a little site like ours here.... I have to state that I unequivocally disagree though with some of the comments here. The thing to do when attacked is as Jesus of Nazareth (or according to Gandhi as well)told us to do was turn the other cheek: in defiance, not subservience. Begging for mercy does nothing but allows the perpetrator(s) to feel even a greater sense of power. As for the rest of us, we can no longer pretend that we didn't know or do not know what is being done to the oppressed, the poor, the 99% of us both at home and abroad who are being systematically beaten into submission. Understand this you global elite SOB's...the time is fast approaching when you will no longer rule and your money, fame, and or power will not protect you. As for me, I fear this day will be here all to quickly, when Gen.X which fears no one or nothing, simply takes what they feel they need to survive. The bloodbath currently raging in both our urban and rural poverty stricken communities is proof enough that time always moves onward. I can only continue to pray and hope for my children's future. As for me, well let's just say that I will probably lay, as Sir Winston Churchill's metaphor for what would happen if the Nazi's invaded England in WWII, dieing and choking in a pool of my own blood but ever defiant to the end I hope....

Imagine being a youngster, growing up amongst this Farce of Dishonesty. What Values to establish and Entrain?
Which Leadership skills to admire?

What Poison to assimilate, and make sense of

Yes, though Manning's confession was a harm to Assange, Snowden, and all of the other brave souls who have come forward to reveal the crimes of our government, he did accomplish a great deal of good. The harm ought not to be forgotten, because it is a result of the schooling and parenting of our young. They are, in the vast majority, raised to believe that this is, in approximation, a land of liberty and justice for all. That is the in the Pledge many must say each morning before classes begin, and it is false. The young join the military with that idealism and with the pride of their parents. They are not cautioned that they are not placing only their lives in the hands of the chain of command, but their judgments and their consciences. They may not refuse to obey for fear of their lives nor for the preservation of their consciences and mental integrity. We see the results of that disintegration in the extraordinary numbers of suicides and PTSD cases among our veterans.

We can go back and forth on Manning. I personally think he is a hero, and I hope he will soon be free.

But shouldn't we talk about the war crimes? You know, the violent illegal acts that DID destroy thousands of lives? That is the debate we should be having right now.