HAIL DUBYUS!

An Illustrated Guide to Mendacity and Folly in the Imperium Americanum

Even the Seven Dwarves Are Upset About This One–They Thought Whistling While You Worked Was Cool ;-)

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(AP WashPost) Quotes on Whistleblower Case

(WashPost)High Court’s Free-Speech Ruling Favors Government

Garcetti et al v. Ceballos (Opinion)

“It will enable management to be more honest and candid in its personnel actions,” said Employment attorney Dan Westman…yup, now they can say, we’re screwing you because you have a big mouth…and won’t have to come up with false job reviews about how someone who’s gotten outstanding ratings for the last five years suddenly merits unsatisfactory performance ratings…I GUESS that’s a plus–if you’re a manager involved in shady shenanigans…or a president…vice president…secretary of defense…This is only to be expected of an administration that favors “corporate loyalty” above adherence to the law. If this is true for the government, what effect will it have in the private sector? Will this become a precedent that will allow any employer to fire an employee for revealing illegal or unethical practices by their company?

There is a quote (mistakenly ascribed to Mussolini) floating around the net that says that fascism should really be called corporatism in that fascism is really the identification of government with corporate interests. A misleading statement–there are other characteristics of fascism that go beyond a mere corporatist viewpoint–but it does identify an essential plutarchic slant of repressive rightwing regimes: that the government is dominated by moneyed individuals and companies, whose loyalities are not to the people, but to their own pocketbooks and power. Do we not have here the natural extension of that identification? If the government can eliminate employees who are “disloyal” to an administration, will that not poison the “corporate waters” for any future administration whose interests run counter to the plutarchs by creating a workforce whose loyalties lie with the administration that favored them?

This is a very dangerous judgment and exposes the ideology of the Bush appointees. Might makes right.