WikiLeaks

U.S. President Obama got a taste of Bay Area politics this last week when protestors broke up his breakfast fundraiser in San Francisco to confront him about the imprisonment and torture of whistleblower Pfc. Bradley Manning.  Obama's response proved he can roll with the punches, but it also showed that Obama is unwilling to say anything meaningful about Manning's mistreatment.  But then again, no one expects him to.

"We have seen too many cases of cost reduction competition through heightened efficiency jeopardizing safety." Such was the assessment by U.S. Ambassador to Japan J. Thomas Schieffer according to a diplomatic cable written in 2006 and published today by The Telegraph and Wikileaks.