Michael Moore offers to post bail for Julian Assange

Oh, goody. Perhaps upset that his last film, Capitalism, was a dud and he hasn’t been in the news for a while, filmmaker Michael Moore is now offering to post bail for WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange, who is currently languishing in a British prison while the Brits work out his extradition to Sweden, where he’s wanted for questioning.

In a statement posted on his website, Moore writes:

I support Julian, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect itself from these follies. Some aren’t just follies. Some are crimes. What do we do with someone who informs the authorities — and in this case it is the free people in a democracy who are the "authorities" — that a crime has been committed? Do we arrest HIM? Do we try to shut his mouth? Do we hound him, threaten him, track him down and hunt him as if HE is the criminal? He bravely informed the citizenry of what was being done in their name and with their tax monies. That is no crime. That is an act of patriotism. He should be thanked and honored, not abused and jailed. It dishonours this court to be used in this way, holding this man without bail. Julian has made the world, and my country in particular, a safer place. His actions with WikiLeaks have put on notice those who would take us to war based on lies that any future attempts to do so will be met by the fierce bright light provided by WikiLeaks and intended to expose those who commit their war crimes. His actions will make them think twice next time — and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude.

For the record, Swedish authorities insist that their beef with Assange has nothing to do with WikiLeaks and that no foreign government has pressured them to arrest him.

In other Assange-related news, Internet sleuths have found what looks to be a dating-website profile in which he says he is looking for an "erotic non-confomist," preferably from a country in "sustained political turmoil."

"Do not write to me if you are timid," the profile reads. "I am too busy. Write to me if you are brave."

He also appears to have absconded with a copy of a book called Introduction to Non-Classical Logic from the Melbourne University library. Notes on the library’s website read: "Not returned by Julian Assange, March 2004. Despite many attempts by staff he was unable to be contacted. Still missing 2006."