Rep. Darrell Issa -- Who Says Investigating Wikileaks Is A Priority -- Sets Up His Own Whistleblower Site
from the say-what-now? dept
There seems to be a bit of confusion among the new leadership in the House concerning just what Wikileaks does. Just over a week ago or so, we noted that Rep. Darrell Issa, who is heading the "oversight committee" had declared that investigating Wikileaks was a major priority for Congress, because if the US government didn't attack back at Wikileaks, the world would "laugh" at how the US had become a "paper tiger."And yet... days later, Issa has announced his very own "whistleblower" site, in which he's asking government officials and the public to blow the whistle on government fraud and abuse.
This is, apparently, not a joke.
So he's attacking Wikileaks -- which does the same thing, asking people to highlight fraud and abuse worldwide -- and then sets up his own website to do the same thing. Maybe he just didn't want the competition? Of course, some will point out that there are serious differences. Wikileaks releases certain things it receives publicly. It's not at all clear what Issa will do with whatever he receives. Of course, that seems to make Wikileaks seem like a lot more effective solution if you're really trying to expose government fraud and abuse.
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Filed Under: darrell issa, whistleblowing, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks
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Re:
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--CONTROL--
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Re: --CONTROL--
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Re: --CONTROL--
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Honeypot
Probably turn the *wistleblower* over to Homeland Security for investigation. Classic honeypot.
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Re: Honeypot
Someone should put up an Issa leaks page by and populate it with the most embarrassing leaks of the Bush administration by the best of wikileaks.
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There is one teenie tiny weenie little problem with Wikileaks: The documents had to be obtained and distributed illegally (and exposing state secrets) in order to make it work out. It isn't whistleblowing, it's a political agenda to attack the US and it's allies.
So the means (having manning copy 250,000 documents) doesn't justify the end result (people confusing political agenda with whistleblowning).
Rep. Issa want a site to report things like government waste and lazy federal employees, not to out operatives in foreign countries.
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Another gov't shill, err, "information officer", raises it's ugly head.
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So, maybe this person has an honest opinion.. BUT OH NOES, IT"S NOT MINE! SO THEY MUST BE A SHILL!!!
Let me guess, you use the word "sheeple" as well, and blame Palin for the recent shooting?
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Of course you aren't. Such things don't even exist. That would be like accusing you of being a unicorn. Ridiculous.
Just because it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck some people jump to the conclusion that it's a duck. Again, ridiculous.
I bet he opposes torture too. Typical lefty wuss.
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This is wrong it should be:
Let me guess you are the sheep that believe that Democrats and Republicans are different and they do things differently right?
You also may believe that people do nothing wrong if they can get away with it, that is why you are so against transparency. No matter the cost of whistle-blowing, it is the only thing that keep those crooks in power in check and the price to pay for it is tiny compared to the consequences of letting them do whatever they want to.
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At least when you blindly defend each and every action of a country, learn its language : in english, we say "ITS actions". Anyway, you would probably be the kind of guy who would support the system, if you remain coherent with your classical argument "if you have nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" that you would use to support Governments monitoring their citizens and censoring, TSA procedures and all that stuff.
"Rep. Issa want a site to report things like government waste and lazy federal employees, not to out operatives in foreign countries."
And, guess what, between those two things, there's something else : wrongdoings committed by those high in the hierarchy. That's what Wikileaks is providing and should exist in a clean Democracy
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Did you have to borrow the capital E in English for ITS?
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Ah, so only the barely worth knowing about stuff. Got it....
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Ah, so only the barely worth knowing about stuff. Got it....
The sad thing, if this is the case, is that Issa is committing Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, because this capability already exists and is run by the Government Accounting Office (FraudNET.) If he is using government funds to duplicate the efforts of an already existing service provided by a government agency, I might be the first person to report him to the GAO Fraud, Waste and Abuse group.
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That's not how whistleblowing works.
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So thank you for saying "it isn't whistleblowing, it's whistleblowing!"
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Real Whistleblowing is about changing things. It isn't about forwarding a political agenda. The connections between wikileaks, government(s), and political parties suggest that the action of wikileaks isn't to make the world a better place, but rather to make the world the place they want it to be.
Banks decide to stop forwarding payments to wikileaks, and surprise, Wikileaks says they have incriminating documents on them. News Corp points out that wikileaks has issues, ad suddenly they have documents on old Rupe. All the while, Assange is out in public saying that the effects of losing paypal and bank transfers is costing Wikileaks half a million euros a week. Do the math, why the hecks does a virtual "whistleblowing" site need 26 million euros a year to run?
Wikileaks isn't a whistleblowing site (at least not anymore). Now it is a political agenda site, not far separated from groups like The Pirate Party and some fairly extreme liberal factions in Europe. They are being selective in which whistles they blow, which suggests ulterior motives.
Rather than just swallowing the TD pap whole, why not investigate a little yourself and learn something?
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Of course, this is unsurprising given your inability to actually argue against the leaks themselves.
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Do they have "ulterior motives"?
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Rather than just attacking TD and its readers, why not actually address the challenges to your statements?
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Sorry, I can't answer to attempts to cloud the debate such as yours. Your mind was long since made up, no matter what is said here.
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More likely from WikiLeaks. You just hate that, don't you?
Sorry, I can't answer to attempts to cloud the debate such as yours. Your mind was long since made up, no matter what is said here.
Yeah, if people are going to start bringing up the truth, you may as well just give up, eh?
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And, by the way, I hate Limbaugh. But thanks for telling me how my mind works... appreciate it.
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WTF? Are retarded? That HAPPENED. It wouldn't have gotten the publicity it deserved, that those poor Afghan CHILDREN deserved, if it weren't in part for Wikileaks. Are you suggesting that that tidbit should have remained hidden?
"Sorry, I can't answer to attempts to cloud the debate such as yours. Your mind was long since made up, no matter what is said here."
Right. Dismiss a real world example of the effect of Wikileaks as "clouding the debate", meanwhile you got your own timeline fucked up (here's a hint: Wikileaks had already said that a major US bank was their next leak subject BEFORE they stopped taking payment).
You can hate Wikileaks. You can think they do things the wrong way. But do so with a valid argument, rather than dismissals and lies....
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Such as the documentation about a US company pimping out young boys to local officials? Yup... Dyncorp must have pissed them off something fierce to have such trivial info aired.
Rather than just attacking TD and its readers, why not actually address the challenges to your statements?
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And then, WikiLeaks reveals what everyone was whispering. And then, a young man immolates himself. And then, 20 Tunisians are killed in one day.
And for the first time, we see the opportunity to rebel, to take revenge on the "royal" family who has taken everything, to overturn the established order that has accompanied our youth. An educated youth, which is tired and ready to sacrifice all the symbols of the former autocratic Tunisia with a new revolution: the Jasmin Revolution – the true one.
• This article was originally published in French on nawaat.org
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Re: Re: Re:
"
Real Whistleblowing is about changing things. It isn't about forwarding a political agenda. The connections between wikileaks, government(s), and political parties suggest that the action of wikileaks isn't to make the world a better place, but rather to make the world the place they want it to be.
+ blah blah pirate party"
Is there any link between the Pirate Party and Wikileaks? Is the PP ready to seize power?
"Banks decide to stop forwarding payments to wikileaks, and surprise, Wikileaks says they have incriminating documents on them."
RIAA-class fallacy, let me congratulate you. Wikileaks announced the next leaks would incriminate banks on the day they leaked the first cables. Mastercard, Visa, Paypal and Apple reacted days (weeks?) after. Don't rewrite history your way
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I find it amusing that you think this is somehow in conflict.
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Yours on the other hand I'm scared of LoL
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You know, this propoganda machine thing reminds me of another time in world histroy... some guy named Joseph Goebbels. I'm not making a direct connection here but damn if events aren't heading downa familiar path.
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Political Shownanship
Now if the very same Wikileak documents had been submitted to Issa's "good" whistle-blower website, Issa would be holding camera packed Congressional hearings on how our various intelligence agencies were incompetent in protecting American secrets.
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Yeah, this plan is totally gonna get rid of that "the whole world is laughing at us" thing.
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Not the same
Wikileaks is more like your best friend that catches your wife cheating on you and then takes out a full page add in the NYT with photos of the illicit affair to let you and your family know about it.
Wikileaks is all together different.
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Re: Not the same
Convincing tautology.
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Re: Not the same
Out of curiosity, why do you blindly regurgitate the rhetoric you've been spoon-fed rather than thinking for yourself?
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Re: Re: Not the same
Because thinking is hard! Why do that when faux news will do it for you?
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Re: Re: Not the same
Come on dare you.
That's what I thought. You don't know because your not well informed. Now who's blindly regurgitate the rhetoric they've been spoon-fed rather than thinking for themselves?
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Re: Re: Re: Not the same
Come on dare you.
Yeah, that Collateral Murder video had been all over the broadcast news airwaves for at least 9 months.
Oh, wait...
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Re: Not the same
In a democracy, the government is like the wife and the public is like the husband. When she's unfaithful, he needs to know about it.
You, on the other hand, are like her illicit lover trying to keep your affair secret, especially from her husband.
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Re: Re: Not the same
The problem with your theory is that there were no secrets reveled.
What Wikileaks reveled was what most educated people already knew: The Bush administration lied (did it take Wikileaks for you to know that? If it did, you really should read a newspaper), that the war in Iraq was a complete and utter mess until the surge (Again, did it take Wikileaks for you to know that?), etc., etc.
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Re: Re: Re: Not the same
Actually, I'd say you're the one having trouble in the analogy comprehension department. Of course, it's hard to understand what you don't want to.
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Re: Re: Re: Not the same
Going by what you've said then it served its purpose: confirming beyond doubt that the government had lied about very important issues. Are you saying that we don't need to know for certain that they're lying because everyone is accusing them of lying? That's an interesting position to take.
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Re: Re: Not the same
I have so many problems with that metaphor. Can we go back to cars?
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Re: Not the same
Try this one LoL
http://cheaterpumpkineater.com/
You may be listed there dude.
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Because, in a democracy, the people should have no idea what government officials are up to. Because, if they did, they might not vote "correctly", right?
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I suspect Issa will only release those 'secrets' for political gain. That's not whistleblowing, that's spinning.
But nope, Wikileaks is clearly the bastard lovechild of Satan and Josef Fritzl.
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A great idea
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Re: A great idea
It would be interesting to see how much of it they fail to recognize is old news.
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Office of Inspector General
I know for a fact that the military has a hotline for fraud waste and abuse. I seem to recall similar posters up at various government offices about who to call to report any incidences of fraud waste and abuse.
Maybe someone should educate the Representative of his options.
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So fill his site with info about corporate fraud.
Why do our politicians focus on all the wrong issues?
One more point, every bit of information posted to Issa's site should be posted elsewhere. Perhaps Mike can create a companion site and then report on which items Issa has followed through on?
Ronald J. Riley,
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Other Affiliations:
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.
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Re: So fill his site with info about corporate fraud.
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Re: So fill his site with info about corporate fraud.
I wouldn't suggest that unless techdirt wanted to get into that business and risk its current approach and standing.
Anyone can go carry out those experiments; however, if you find something "juicy" to submit and do so, you will likely be risking getting caught in the TRAP.
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Anonymity preserved...sort of
"The page promises that all personal details will be "kept in strict confidence." It requires users to state their phone or e-mail address as well as their agency or organization, but not their name."
I'm sure no one will notice his persecution of Wikileaks and all of its actors in deciding to *trust* Issa's site ;)
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Issa set up a Republican Only whistleblower site
Darrell Issa has no interest in cleaning up Washington.
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Wait wait wait....
"Darrell Issa". "Darrell". Darryl? Wow... That's a creepy coincidence. Both have a shaky grasp on reality.
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