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Bradley Manning’s cause gained a famous supporter this week when Watchmen and ‘V’ for Vendetta author Alan Moore issued a statement proclaiming his concern over the case. Moore, whose graphic novels have been adapted into big-screen blockbusters, explained his concern for a system where unjust deeds are deemed acceptable while those who uncover them are persecuted. A spokesman for Beyond the Choir, an organization that supports the Bradley Manning Support network, Moore asserted that “Bradley Manning and others like him everywhere are vital to our continued moral health and well-being as a people, and unless we offer them our full support in their often dire and isolated circumstances, it is we, as a people, who will end up the losers.” Read more here.

The Washington Monthly featured an article which covers the public’s evolving knowledge of Bradley’s case, and responses by the media. This is one of the most supportive articles in the mainstream media to date. Click here to read this excellent synopsis of other media coverage of Bradley Manning.

This week, jurist.org, a legal news and research website, featured an interesting take on the Patriot Act and its assault on American liberties written by Charles Lugosi a criminal defense attorney at Lugosi Law Firm PLC. Lugosi questions how the Homeland Security Act, which is protected from the Freedom of Information Act, can exist in a supposedly free and democratic society, and cites Bradley Manning’s case as an example of the dangers of withholding vital information from the American public. “Democracy is undermined by a government that shields itself from criminal prosecution when war crimes are authorized and carried out by those in government who are given our trust and consent to rule,” he explains. “Self-rule by ‘we the people’ requires more than simply freedom of expression and freedom of speech.” Lugosi argues that, although Manning did break the law, this law is the result of over-classification and over-criminalization that have resulted in a society ruled BY the law rather than FOR the law. Since such societies tend to be characterized by totalitarianism, he advocates an end to the Patriot Act, which similarly infringes on people’s rights by limiting their speech and actions and continuing to over-classify information. To read the entire column, please click here.

This week on Firedoglake, Alternet author Rania Khalek discussed in a recorded interview corporate influence on US policy, and why she thinks the mainstream media has not more loudly recognized the significance of WikiLeaks. Listen to her interview here.

The Bradley Manning Support Network also launched a fundraising campaign this week, in preparation for Bradley’s pretrial hearing. Educate friends and neighbors while raising money for the defense fund by hosting a house party of your own! Sign up to receive tips and materials here.