Can we spell Whistleblower?

The large majority of Americans are not as dumb as the government and much of the mainstream media and press appear to think we are.

We know the difference between a whistleblower, who believes that the government, or some other powerful entity, is breaking the law in such a way as to be harmful to the American people, or democracy and our way of life, and an administration snake, who prefers slithering around in back channels, in order to smear critics and intimidate political opposition.

That the press and TV news media seems not to know the difference is, indeed, frightening.

If the administration has something to say, let them say it from a podium or shut the hell up!

Meanwhile, whistleblowers should be given medals of freedom, unless those awards have totally lost all meaning in Bushworld, a distinct possibility

Public Secrets:

"Why does The Washington Post willingly publish 'classified' information affecting national security? Should Post journalists and others who reveal the government's secrets be subject to criminal prosecution for doing so? These questions, raised with new urgency of late, deserve careful answers.

There's a reason why we're hearing these questions now. We live in tense times. The country is anxious about war and terrorism. Washington is more sharply divided along ideological lines than at any time since I came to work at The Post in 1963. The Bush administration has unabashedly sought to enhance the powers of the executive branch as it wages what it calls a 'war on terror,' many of whose components are classified secrets.

These are new circumstances, but to a reporter who has been watching the contest between press and government for four decades, what isn't new here seems more significant than what is. What isn't new is a government trying to hide its activities from the public, and a press trying to find out what is being hidden."