Government - good at protecting themselves not you.

A couple of days ago I wrote about the whistleblower case the Supreme Court ruled on. In a 5-4 decision the ruling was a victory for crooked politicians and government workers everywhere. The ruling allows retribution against whistleblowers in the government who alert their superiors in the government about violations, abuses or dangers in the government. So if a guy in the Department of Homeland Security finds out emergency radios or gas masks or counter-terror weapons don't work and brings those concerns to his superiors who no doubt would be embarrassed (certainly not held responsible), the whistleblower can be demoted, transferred or fired without recourse. Take that along with the Justice Department's position that reporters can be prosecuted for publishing classified information and you have no way to bring government incompetence, abuses or criminality to light.

Now you might say, well, reporters shouldn't report classified information. Well then what is to stop classifying every incompetent, abusive, corrupt, politically damaging or criminal act so that no one can report on it and with the latest Supreme Court decision, whistleblowers, criminally prohibited from disclosing classified information will have no protection trying to raise their concerns with their superiors. Checkmate. Now the Justice Department is going so far as issuing subpoenas to reporters just because they can't get the information elsewhere. The former spokesman for Attorney General John Ashcroft, Mark Corallo said, "This is the most reckless abuse of power I have seen in years. They really should be ashamed of themselves."

If Corallo were still in the government his concerns of the abuse of power could have gotten him fired. Now that he is out of government he has to hope they don't classify the information or he'll be barred from talking about it. Soon the only thing you'll be able to report on or talk about is the times and places where elected officials give speeches. For national security reasons those are also going to be classified to protect against that information getting into the wrong hands. Remember, if people know what the government is doing the terrorists win.