At this point, I’ve trashed two ideas for scripts about Wikileaks, a site that you might possibly have already heard something about in the last week and a half. This is because the story– and my own feelings on the story– keep developing. First it seemed like we were getting a hard lesson in the nature of a global free press, which isn’t always beholden to American interests.

Then the story shifted more specifically to Assange, and my admiration for his accomplishments is tempered. I don’t think he’s a terrorist, and statements to that effect made by people like Sarah Palin simply sicken me. (Although, in fairness, Palin is a pretty sickening person.) The U.S. government seems to be tripping over itself to propose boneheaded and illegal strategies to deal with Wikileaks in general and Assange specifically. I support transparency and the idea of an organization like Wikileaks is a good one.

Still, Assange repels me, too. There’s an odd contradiction at the core of his character. He’s oh-so convinced of the importance of his actions… and I’m not arguing that Wikileaks isn’t important, but he and Palin are oddly similar in how much contempt they have for, and how casually they equate their efforts with, the very best products of “the lamestream media.” On the other hand, Assange doesn’t really act as if his actions are important. I’m just not convinced that he really grapples with the idea that releasing the wrong document– or failing to release the right one, soon enough– could ruin lives or cause wars.

And now, the story has spread beyond him. As I write this, Visa and Mastercard are recovering from successful denial-of-service attacks, for their role in denying Wikileaks funding. I feel like it might be fair to call those attacks terrorism. And yet I can’t support the Federal government’s blatant disregard for the rule of law as it threatens sites for the mere mention of these attacks, and of Wikileaks.

(Where is Obama in all this, by the way? I’m not asking him to save the world, but can we get a real statement?)

So, to sum up, I’m pretty disgusted by everybody right now. We’ll do something about Wikileaks eventually. I sort of feel like we have to. But I want the story to settle down a bit first, so I feel it’s ready to be summed up.

At times like this, I’m sort of hoping the tech news cycle gets back to silly stuff that we can mock with no sense of social responsibi– OMG, Steve Jobs is missing! Can anyone find him!