CAPTAIN OBVIOUS and GOVERNMENT SECRECY!

When last we looked in on CAPTAIN OBVIOUS, the superhero with the amazing power to point out what everyone else already knows, he had thwarted unproductive workers in both the public and private spheres, merely by pointing out their existence. Now we see the good CAPTAIN as he takes on his arch nemesis, GOVERNMENT SECRECY!

Recently the CAPTAIN read what is called the "Millennium Trilogy," the three novels that all begin with the two words, "The Girl. . . .." Set in Sweden, the novels tell us of Lisbeth Salander, world class computer hacker and indomitable fighter against vicious masculinity. Lisbeth is bedeviled by a part of Sweden's internal and secret police force that sheltered her malevolent father. This father had defected to Sweden from the Soviet Union and was trading information about the Communist state for carte blanche to behave just as he pleased in Sweden.

Now, you might not believe Sweden has much need to turn a spy. Sweden is not what you'd call a major power, has no nukes, not much of an army as far as the CAPTAIN knows, and although it is close to what was once the USSR, doesn't seem to have been particularly threatened by the red juggernaut. Why they needed the secrets this guy presumably knew, and why they'd want to persecute his own daughter, a Swedish citizen, to protect him bewilders the objective outsider.

However, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS notes that people and governments keep secrets for several reasons. Personal or national security is one of them. Secrets also are kept to avoid embarrassment, scandal, and legal trouble. More insidiously, some people realize that keeping secrets hoards power. Those who are in possession of the secret can do as they want, and the poor folks left on the outside must look on helplessly. Once information has been hidden, it becomes precious, even if it's not of any special value. Lies are told, false trails are laid, the secret takes on a life of its own. Anyone trying to uncover the secret must be stopped, by fair means or foul.

And now the CAPTAIN concludes by saying we cannot rely on the Lisbeth Salanders and Mikael Blomkvists (Yes, there is a character in the novel named "Blomkvist.") of this world to ferret out the secrets governments cling to. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

BTW, despite his unfortunate name, Blomkvist does very well with the ladies in the novels.