Can’t You Hear The Whistle Blowin’?

We’ve been risin’ up so early in the morn’ waiting to hear it, and if you listen closely, there are a few whistles blowin’. Whether they will grow louder or whether they will be silenced still remains to be seen. If the last five nightmarish years have taught us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t get our hopes up even if we catch them with a literal smoking gun in their hands. But defeatism isn’t my strong suit so I’m trying to look on the bright side.

An intelligence agent from the NSA has come forward and in a letter to Congress, expressed his desire to tell them what he knows about the warrantless domestic surveillance being conducted by the NSA that is, in his opinion, in direct violation of the fourth amendment of the Constitution that he took an oath to uphold. Russell Tice has admitted to being one of the sources for the New York Times story that was withheld for a year before it ultimately exposed the domestic spying program by the NSA that has set off a firestorm of controversy. But beyond what we already know about the limited domestic spying that the President has admitted to, Tice claims that a program he was working on may have violated the fourth amendment rights of millions of Americans.

For his efforts, Russell Tice has been let go from the NSA and is being painted as mentally unstable by this administration in an attempt to shut him up, and make sure that he is either silenced completely or his credibility is shredded before he ever gets the chance to talk. The Bush administration has demonstrated over and over their willingness to do whatever it takes to silence any whistleblower brave enough to go against the grain and stand up against abuses of governmental power (Joe Wilson, Bunnatine Greenhouse, Sybil Edmonds, Richard Levernier, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer). Yet, Tice continues to speak. There are still a few patriots out there, and we should listen to what they have to say, regardless of how scary their words may be. Watch this clip of Dennis Kucinich questioning Tice in Congressional hearings held last month.

And now Sibel Edmonds is ready to talk as well, despite the gag order placed on her by the DoJ. So far she has been barred from discussing what she knows even with members of Congress. The DoJ has been working so hard to shut her up and bury her story that they even retroactively classified a 60 Minutes profile on her AFTER IT HAD ALREADY AIRED!! This administration will do anything to control the message, control Congress, control the media, and now they are trying to control history as well. We should all be very scared. Go to Brad Blog for the details of her story and go here to sign the petition demanding that Congress act on this matter.

There is criminality in how the Bush administration conducts its business and in how they attempt to keep a lid on the truth. The real effect of his plummeting poll numbers is an increasing sense among members of his own party that it is not in their best interest to keep propping up the dam. As the wall of secrecy begins to crumble, Republicans in Congress are starting to look for an escape route, lest they get swept away by the flood waters that are threatening to come crashing over, around and through. It certainly feels like the implosion is beginning, which either means things are about to get much better, or much worse. With the escalating violence that this administration exhibits in its attempt to grab and hold on to power, there is no certainty in how things will turn out. The rule of law is sooo September 10th and the Bush/Cheney crowd has a pre-July 4th view of the world. It is still their country, we’re just suffering in it.