Some people I just can't understand...

...like Bradley Manning, and the people who think he's a hero.

Bradley Manning, for those of you non-news junkies out there, is a U.S. Army private who stole a billion top-secret classified documents and gave them to Julian Assange of Wikileaks notoriety. The documents contained sensitive State department memos, negotiations, confidential conversations with our allies, etc. There's a good chance people all over the world could be imprisoned or killed as a result of Manning's actions. There's an absolute certainty that other governments will be less likely to trust our own. Imagine that some jerk stole all your personal information and posted them all online, so the world could see your credit card debt, your Christmas list, and your personal correspondence. That's pretty much what Bradley Manning did to the United States of America. 

And that, according to some people, makes him a hero. Just read the comments here. Here's some samples, if you got the stomach for it: 

• Good luck Bradley, the free world is thinking of you 

...yes. And weeping. The unfree world, on the other hand, is laughing.

•  It is a shame how the US government is allowing a hero who helped support his fellow troops, by bringing info to light in order to aid in the cessation of continued military aggression abroad. 

...Ever notice how the military aggression of North Korea or Iran never seem to bother these people?

• the real criminals involved are getting away with much worse crimes while those brave souls sharing the truth end up rotting in jail like this.

...Oh yes, he's the true brave soul, rotting in jail. I wonder if these people give a hoot about actual normal soldiers in combat. Charging a machine gun nest...protecting civilians from terrorists...pfft! That's nothing compared to giving classified documents to a Swedish blogger. Or how about those brave souls rotting in jail in Cuba, North Korea, China, Burma, Vietnam and a dozen other totalitarian countries? Have the same sympathy for them?

• My heart goes out to this poor young man. I fear part of what they are doing is using this treatment to break him down and get him to testify against Julian Assange. Lord knows what they'll do after they're finished with him.

...Hmm. I don't know. A hundred years ago he would have been shot for treason. More likely he'll spend the rest of his life in Leavenworth - and good riddance.

• Shame on the USA. Shame, shame, shame. 

...Yes. Shame. How dare we punish traitors.

And my personal favorite:

• Bradley Manning is the role model I want my son to follow.

Makes you feel sorry for her son, doesn't it? Imagine the conversation:
"What do you want to be when you grow up, Lil'Fidel?
"I want to be a soldier!"
"No, no, Fidel! That would be serving the imperial war machine! Unless you join solely to steal classified documents and betray your country! Like Benedict Arnold! And Daniel Ellsberg! And Bradley Manning!"
"But mommy...I thought those were bad guys!"
"No, no! They're heroes! Unlike all the other unthinking drones in the Armed Forces with their puerile ideas of honor and duty! These guys marched to a different drummer?"
"But mommy...didn't Benedict Arnold betray his fellow soldiers for money? Didn't Daniel Ellsberg's actions help the North Vietnamese Communists, and set of a chain of events which ended with the enslavement and exile of thousands of Vietnamese, and the massacre of millions of Cambodians?"
"...."
"...."
"Shut up and eat your granola."

Or let's take another approach - what if all these maroons who laud Manning as a Wagnerian Superman had their own personal information exposed to the world? Hmm. Poetic justice.

What's really sad, of course, is that this isn't a conservative-vs.-liberal issue - or at least it shouldn't be. It's a right-wrong issue. Bradley Manning swore an oath, and broke it. He's a liar. But apparently that means nothing to these people. They hate the U.S. so deeply that all other moral considerations fly out the window.

Meh. Enough. This stuff makes my head hurt.