Jon Ronson
July 21, 2006 12:22 PM
These past few weeks, politicians and newspapers and business leaders have been falling over one another to support the NatWest Three, the bankers extradited to the US to stand trial for their alleged part in the Enron collapse. And as they do, I think: what about north London hacker Gary McKinnon? He’s about to be extradited, too. Why is nobody interested in Gary McKinnon?
The NatWest Three have secured the services of a PR company; Gary McKinnon hasn’t: he can barely afford to pay his phone bill. People such as Sir Digby Jones, the former director general of the CBI, have been giving speeches about how US-UK business relations are suffering in the wake of the NatWest Three’s extradition; nobody is giving influential speeches in support of Gary McKinnon. The only people who seem to care much about him – besides the odd Lib Dem MP – are his fellow stoner UFO nerds. And who is going to listen to them?
Finally, though, there seems to be some mainstream interest in Gary’s plight. This evening he is due to appear on Richard and Judy. This really is his big – and last – chance to win the support of the nation.
US federal prosecutors want to extradite Gary for perpetrating, in their words, “the biggest military computer hack of all time. [He] caused damage and impaired the integrity of information … The US military district of Washington became inoperable and the cost of repairing [the shutdown] was $700,000 … These [hacking attacks] occurred immediately after 9/11.” And so on.
You probably don’t know this, because it only got a few paragraphs, but on July 6 the home secretary, John Reid, ruled that Gary could be extradited. The next stage is an appeal to the high court, but suddenly the stages are running out. The prison sentence the US justice department is seeking is up to 70 years. What Gary was hunting for, as he snooped around Nasa and the Pentagon’s network, was evidence of a UFO cover-up.
Yeah — I have a moment… you want to close the loop don’t you? You’d written:
//Remember the bylaws chum. You are perilously close to losing right now!//
I’m reminded how much you seem to feed on contention, revel in the “sturm”, delight in the “drang.” You twist in the wind of your own contentiousness, lack of imagination, and emotional shallowness hoping for some taste of negative validation… …typified by being bitch-slapped around the interior of cyberspace, presumably? How sad it is that you don’t aspire to the opposite of that. It’s a lot more satisfying…
Is that what ‘it’ is for you? How _would_ one ‘win’ or ‘lose’ with regard to by-laws which have only _ever_ been metaphor and so illusory, Mr. Pettingill? Do try to keep up… get the ball over, eh?
Actually don’t you rather make the admission, with your impertinent approach, that you are out of your depth on the issues underlying our little tempest, and so you make pathetic _enticement_ to sail closer to your bleak and featureless little shore? I’m not a psychologist, Mr. P., but I should suspect so.
//So Al, have you ever told a lie, even once? Do you think Ms Lee is pure as the driven snow too? Do you think she’s never lied to anyone—ever?//
Mr. Lehmberg, Mr. Pettingill. Our contention provokes a propriety remaining required, Sir. The familiarity you display is unwarranted and not appreciated. Moreover, you digress.
To point, pass your little straw-man fetishes elsewhere. You only squirm under a righteous heel. Pondering the absurd imponderable of the preceding specious questions only distracts from the issue at hand, Sir…:
…Not _does_ Mr. Lee , myself, or ‘anyone’ _ever_ lie (How witheringly inane and stupid!) … …no.
DID she lie; that’s the issue. I’m sure you must be able to see the difference. Try to stay on point.
//Why I never knew I was in such august company! Behold! The Red Queen Regan Lee and and The Lemming King Alfred Lehmberg! Two people who have never lied!//
…Then another quick, very clumsy and non-adroit dodge to the absurd… …and it is obvious that your cheesy little toes don’t make the ‘bottom’ anymore, do they? You tread in water decidedly unsuited to a dripping nose unable to stay above the surface with any ease, anyway…? Here, I’ll throw you a rubber ducky and bring this to a close.
//I Am not worthy I Am not worthy!//
Yes — still another thing which may be true. And are you _not_ relieved to find _some_ truth within you?
Sorry, that just snuck out! I’m further reminded, too, that you have inspired me to poetry before! Yes. A singular accomplishment, meted to a few. Oh, not _you_ so much, but your depthless ilk typified and examined. You likely don’t get it.
//BTW, it’s not libel if it’s the truth Al. Regan knows this and that’s why she sent you.//
Sent me… …Right — now go check your blood sugar. Wait… Wait… come-back. […snatches the proffered rubber-ducky]. Now you can go. …And use an air-wick in here, huh? Thanks.
alienview@adelphia.net
http://www.AlienView.net
AVG Blog — http://alienviewgroup.blogspot.com/
That’s pretty good Al, more or less to the point (for you anyway.) Not too insulting (a bit but, you can’t help yourself can you?)
Al, you have very little understanding outside of this strange fantasy life you’e created. That’s fine and dandy with me, really. I love stories you know.
Where you and I part company is your insistence that others positively validate your beliefs. When people point out that your ideas are a little strange you react in a very hostile manner, boorish and absurd sounding. When they attempt to engage you, even politely you trash them. Most people (you may have noticed) are too timid to stick up for themselves against you. That’s because most people don’t feel like fighting about something as trivial as UFOs and aliens. You on the other hand you have admitted you’re not trashing people on a personal level, you only regard them as symbols of things you dislike. That’s a very unusual way of looking at the world, people are not objects Al. Even if you don’t agree with someone it’s not a good idea to be rude to them. I’m not a psychologist either but, that speaks volumes of your self image.
I truly don’t have any particular beef against you Al. Your attempts at intimidation are so much hot air verily! (Since you are trying to be civil here, as much as you are able.) Saying that I am inclined to take issue with someone who openly calls other people mentally ill, then runs away when they respond. I think that’s pretty cowardly, don’t you? But by supporting such people you support the concept and that seems out of character. I also don’t\ like bullies and you are a bully Al. People use you in that regard.
Since we are trading advice, how about this? Why don’t you write something about your experiences in the Army? I’d be fascinated. You go on about it all the time so why not tell the tale while you have an audience?
So far as what I do on the Odd Empire, I’m rather amused at how seriously you take all of this. Far-far more than I do. It started out as a joke and (thanks in part to you) it’s grown into a smacking big one. Truly it’s nothing more than a lark at this stage. It could grow into something much larger.
I’m flattered that I inspire you so much, truly! I have that effect on people. Seems at least two of you have been inspired enough to create something because of the Odd Empire, or is it three? And you say I don’t contribute? ; )
BTW, good luck on your article in UFO magazine. I’ll be looking forward to reading it.
Quite a dance from the point… or your reflex denial is truly legendary… at least you’re not itemizing your pathology any more. That was just pathetic. Still, it deserves a point by point analysis:
//That’s pretty good Al, more or less to the point (for you anyway.) Not too insulting (a bit but, you can’t help yourself can you?)//
Yawn, Mr. Pettingill. Obstinate. Impertinent. Off topic. Amatuer… and just sad.
//Al, you have very little understanding outside of this strange fantasy life you’ve created. That’s fine and dandy with me, really. I love stories you know.//
Yes, Mr. Pettingill, but the ‘fantasy’ I have created for myself is somewhat less pedestrian and cowardly than the fantasy you have created for your own use. You love stories because you have no stories yourself other than which threatens you provides you. You’re an experiential leech, Sir, only able to suck up nourishment from those braver than you… …she who would dare to think outside _your_ tedious little box. And proudly on her own name too, you know?
//Where you and I part company is your insistence that others positively validate your beliefs. //
Such a tedious canard… you wield your distractions clumsily, Sir. Unconvincingly. Pathetically…
I do no such thing. This is only your reaction to my supported convictions yourself, Mr. Pettingill. A reaction to the bottom slipping out from beneath _your_ feet. I make expression. You read, or not. That’s it. What you do with regard to my expression is entirely up to you. I regret your _limited_ courage.
//When people point out that your ideas are a little strange you react in a very hostile manner, boorish and absurd sounding.//
Oh crap! Sneer and I’ll know the reason why, Mr. Pettingill. That’s my motivation right there. I’m in the Autumn and had the hull breached a few times. I’ve little predilection to suffer smirks and insults from na-bobs you seem to typify.
//When they attempt to engage you, even politely you trash them.//
I suspect this is at _least_ overstated. Moreover, it may not be _you’re _ positioned favorably to make an unbiased assessment on the matter… knowuttmean Vern?
// Most people (you may have noticed) are too timid to stick up for themselves against you. //
I think most folks do not feel the least bit timid to disagree with me. Those few who do, don’t need too. The rest, yourself in the minority, likely just _say_ so to save face and score points. You getting all this Mr. Pettingill?
//That’s because most people don’t feel like fighting about something as trivial as UFOs and aliens. //
Trivial… See? See what a lack witted dimensionless dim bulb you insist on portaying?
“I cannot believe how incredibly stupid you are. I mean rock-hard stupid. Dehydrated-rock-hard stupid. ‘Stupido’ so stupid that it goes way beyond the stupid we know day to day into a whole different dimension of stupid. You are trans-stupid stupid. Meta-stupid. Stupid collapsed in on itself so far that even the neutrons of stupidity, themselves, have collapsed. Stupid gotten so dense that no intellect can escape. Singularity stupid. Blazing hot mid-day sun on Mercury stupid. You emit more stupid in one second than our entire galaxy emits in a year. Quasar stupid. Black hole stupid…”
Author unknown…
Have you ever one time looked up into a night sky Mr. Pettingill. Don’t bother. You couldn’t possibly. “None so blind… sincerely.
//You on the other hand you have admitted you’re not trashing people on a personal level, you only regard them as symbols of things you dislike. That’s’ a very unusual way of looking at the world, people are not objects Al. //
They’re not the only sentience extant either. You at once objectify and insult same, all dodges and red herring speculations on my own psychosis forthcoming notwithstanding.
//Even if you don’t agree with someone it’s not a good idea to be rude to them. I’m not a psychologist either but, that speaks volumes of your self image.//
Push a sock in it, Pettingill. Now _that’s_ rude.
//I truly don’t have any particular beef against you Al.//
Mr Lehmberg, Mr Pettingill.
//Your attempts at intimidation are so much hot air verily! //
They seem to move _your_ flaccid tumbleweed across the valley floor… verily!
//(Since you are trying to be civil here, as much as you are able.)//
…How you doin’ with that sock?
//Saying that I am inclined to take issue with someone who openly calls people mentally ill, then runs away when they respond.//
Well — like I said Mr. Pettingill, but what what walks and quacks, huh? In turn, few persons want to go the distance with _your_ dim-bulb brand energizer bunny and interminable literary tediousness. That rather makes you the bully ironically to the degree that Alanis Morissette should add a verse to her song…
//I think that’s pretty cowardly, don’t you?//
I don’t know. Is is cowardly to avoid the na-bob with balloons full of piss and bad vinegar?
//But by supporting such people you support the concept and that seems out of character. I also don’t\ like bullies and you are a bully Al. People use you in that regard. //
Some persons, Like Mary Sutherland for instance (at the nadir of our current tempest remember), may be so far around the bend _you_ can’t see the curve, but she’s a mountain climber’s three points of contact compared to you, whining on the ground and lobbing your furtive little piss balloons around.
//Since we are trading advice, how about this? Why don’t you write something about your experiences in the Army? I’d be fascinated. You go on about it all the time so why not tell the tale while you have an audience?//
My ‘experiences’ in the Army… ‘fasinated’… ‘trading advice’… …there are other fish to be fried, Mr. Pettingill. Besides, I suspect you can’t handle the truth about any of that. You certainly don’t demonstrate a capacity for that anywhere else…
//So far as what I do on the Odd Empire, I’m rather amused at how seriously you take all of this. Far-far more than I do. //
Yes. So you say.
//It started out as a joke and (thanks in part to you) it’s grown into a smacking big one. Truly it’s nothing more than a lark at this stage. It could grow into something much larger.//
Maybe larger than you imagine… larger than you _can_ imagine.
//I’m flattered that I inspire you so much, truly! I have that effect on people. Seems at least two of you have been inspired enough to create something because of the Odd Empire, or is it three? And you say I don’t contribute? ; )//
True — you do bring out the worst in me.
//BTW, good luck on your article in UFO magazine. I’ll be looking forward to reading it. //
Don’t bother… it’s all lost on _you_ Mr. Pettingill.
alienview@adelphia.net
http://www.AlienView.net
AVG Blog — http://alienviewgroup.blogspot.com/
Thank you Al, I thought as much.
Please reframe from posting here unless you have something constructive to say.
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