What Amnesty and Gang Green have in common

They both pass out crap tchotchke gimmes that are probably made in countries that undercut their mission.

Years ago, Sierra got in Dutch with many of its memberrs when queried about a backpack gimme for membership renewers when it wouldn't identify its country of origin and said, in essence, "trust us."

Amnesty? It sends a presumably made-in-China tchotchke pen every few months to try to solicit contributions. That said, I can't prove it's made in China because I can't find a single country of origin identifier on it, which is suspicious enough.

John Burns - bastard, warmonger

And, so too are Reporters without Borders and Amnesty International

Under the guise of a personality portrait, neocon-beloved NYT war reporter John Burns does a hack job on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

No surprise there, in a sense. As Glenn Greenwald points out, Burns has long been a cultivator of access with generals and other Serious People who "know" we must fight the "Forever War" that fellow neocon-beloved Dexter Filkens touted.

Burns, you're also a bastard for trying to blame Pvt. Bradley Manning's arrest entirely on Assange, without mentioning how Wired magazine, despite its denials, used a quasi-freelancer to throw him under the bus.

Amnesty International? Reporters without Borders? Why, Burns touts them as agreeing with him:

Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders have joined the Pentagon in criticizing the organization for risking people’s lives by publishing war logs identifying Afghans working for the Americans or acting as informers.

I don't know if either organization has changed its tune since the Brass Hat Shop admitted that Wikileaks' postings on Afghanistan endangered no informants that it knows of. Probably not. After all, challenging the "good" Americans just wouldn't be right.

So, Amnesty, between this and that cheap, presumably made-in-China tchotchke pen you send me every few months? Forget about more money from me.