Senate Approves Whistleblower Rights Breakthrough

By Bill Larson | June 23, 2006 |

I am posting this here, due to the large number of civil service employees in our community. I feel that it directly affect them, and their constitutional rights. Whistleblowing should be encouraged and protected, Whistleblowers should have nothing to fear. Sadly this is not the case, and has been made worse by the recent Supreme Court decision.

Legislation Added to Defense Bill Would Restore Free Speech Rights Canceled by Supreme Court for Federal Government Workers on the Job.

WASHINGTON - June 23 - (Press release) - The Senate yesterday acted quickly to plug a government accountability loophole created less than one month ago, when the Supreme Court’s Garcetti v. Ceballos decision canceled constitutional free speech rights for government workers carrying out their job duties. Senate bill S. 494, which includes that reform amidst a general overhaul of the Whistleblower Protection Act, was agreed to by unanimous consent as an amendment to the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act, passed 96-0 last evening. For the last three Congresses, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) approved similar legislation, but until yesterday Senate leaders had refused to permit a floor vote. «Read the rest of this article»

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More warrantless spying, this time financial records

By Bill Larson | June 23, 2006 |

The goal of terrorism is to force the target to change their way of life. To take away those things a society treasures. Before the Bush administration, we dealt with terrorism as what it is, a criminal matter. By calling this a war, by using that as an excuse for stealing our nations civil liberties, to bypass our legal and constitutional safeguards on our right to privacy, Bush has given the terrorists victory before we even got started. Before one American soldier died in this conflict, we the citizens of this nation had already lost. «Read the rest of this article»

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