U.S.A. Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
Manning-Lamo Chat Logs, May 22, 2010:
(12:15:11 PM) bradass87: hypothetical question: if you had free reign over classified networks for long periods of time… say, 8-9 months… and you saw incredible things, awful things… things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC… what would you do?
(12:16:38 PM) bradass87: or Guantanamo, Bagram, Bucca, Taji, VBC for that matter…
(12:17:47 PM) bradass87: things that would have an impact on 6.7 billion people
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(1:13:10 PM) bradass87: i just… dont wish to be a part of it… at least not now… im not ready… i wouldn’t mind going to prison for the rest of my life, or being executed so much, … .
http://firedoglake.com/merged-manning-lamo-chat-logs/
The humanist math of rational choice: 6.7 billion equal persons (worldwide humanity) who benefit from information disclosure versus one of those equal persons (Bradley E. Manning) who pays the price with his life or liberty for disclosing the information.
For a great person, the rational choice is obvious. For a little person, the rational choice is equally obvious, but exactly the opposite from the great person. What is a little person?
Listen, Little Man! (1945 essay with illustrations)
http://satrakshita.com/Books/listenlittleman.pdf
You are the finest example of a great American Hero. Thank you for what you have done for all of us. We are all Bradley Manning and you have stood up for us. We can never pay you back, so please accept my personal thanks and that of a nation that aspires to be great like you and not just sheeple.
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