Blow That Whistle and Get On Down The Road
This is Washington Whistleblower week. Does that make you wonder, "What the heck is that?" It is a celebration of sorts to acknowledge those former employees who got booted for being curious, discovering secrets, and refusing to keep the lid on it. So, America decided to throw a party for, ummmm, let's see how to put this, The Fired? Wow.
Having employment terminated carries a connotation of ugly comparable to green slime running off the hands down the elbow then slowly dripping to the floor and leaving big globs. The ugly is there regardless that efforts were for a good cause. The status of having been fired can leave a life time wound subject to external and internal lancing and probing. Even thirty years down the road, after public vindication, the uglies can be effectively used against the revealer.
After all is said and done, there may be acknowledgment that The Fired did a noble thing; saw darkness and shined light upon the multitudes. Nevertheless, that green goop is still in the skin crevices and under the finger nails. Green is permanent.
The U. S. House of Representatives no sooner had passed The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007 than the President sent word it would bite the dust via his veto, if necessary. So much for doing the right thing and living by principle.
Wolfowitz. Trouble in paradise. Internal email can be enlightening and it was when it illuminated the hullabaloo associated with the girlfriend of the World Bank President and her extraordinary bank staffer income. But now Wolfowitz claims it was the fault of the World Bank and his girlfriend that he okayed all of her raises as he bellows that the unconventional couple ganged up and forced him to nod his approval. Oh, please!
Jane Turner worked for the FBI over twenty-five years. When she refused to stop pointing out that the FBI had intentionally refused to correct its recordation that the sexual assault of a Native American child as a motor vehicle accident was more than a little off, she became a moving target. She dug in her heels, filed a civil rights suit, and a jury verdict underscored her actions as having been correct. The jury slapped the FBI but it looks like the same folks in the chain-of-approval for the misconduct in the first place remain in charge.
Cynthia Cooper shattered the silence governing WorldCom, then next to the largest national long distance telecom, when she yelled accounting fraud. Things hadn't looked right to her, so she looked again. Then she tapped the shoulder of a corporate superior, Scott Sullivan the Chief Financial Officer, who told her in no uncertain terms to shut up and mind her own business. She didn't. She pushed forward with Godspeed to unravel a scheme where through false categorization WorldCom turned millions of loss into billions of profit. Fancy, but keeping a second set of books isn't anything new. By the way, WorldCom didn't thank Cooper but it fired Sullivan who later was given a light criminal sentence in exchange for ratting out Bernie Ebbers, the big fish, who is now serving a twenty-five year federal sentence in Louisiana.
Enron. Enron. Enron. Sherron Watkins sent an email to Kenneth Lay which set out concerns about Enron's accounting methods. It began a saga of ramifications which resulted in numerous convictions. One interesting twist is that Lay's conviction had to be set aside by the Federal Judge because his chance to pursue an appeal was foreclosed by his death which may mean that his Estate assets can't be reached by the Federal Government. Lay's co-defendant, Jeffrey Skilling, is serving a twenty-four plus year sentence.
Jospeph Darby forced awareness of detainee torture at Abu Ghraib which included rapes and murders. It was bone chilling to learn American captors had run amuck from our national moral values.
A remarkable whistleblowing clandestine strategy was utilized by Mark Felt a/k/a Deep Throat. Of course, we would expect nothing less from the former number two guy at the FBI. Felt whistled Dixie to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about illegal activities involving the White House. The publications eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and criminal convictions for Haldeman, White House chief of staff, and Ehrlichman, Presidential adviser.
Remember: pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered, and living high on the hog can be costly. Whistleblowers are watching, listening, making notes, and chattering. So, watch your step and avoid the green goo.
© Coninc., TheDownsideUp.Com 2007
Having employment terminated carries a connotation of ugly comparable to green slime running off the hands down the elbow then slowly dripping to the floor and leaving big globs. The ugly is there regardless that efforts were for a good cause. The status of having been fired can leave a life time wound subject to external and internal lancing and probing. Even thirty years down the road, after public vindication, the uglies can be effectively used against the revealer.
After all is said and done, there may be acknowledgment that The Fired did a noble thing; saw darkness and shined light upon the multitudes. Nevertheless, that green goop is still in the skin crevices and under the finger nails. Green is permanent.
The U. S. House of Representatives no sooner had passed The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007 than the President sent word it would bite the dust via his veto, if necessary. So much for doing the right thing and living by principle.
Wolfowitz. Trouble in paradise. Internal email can be enlightening and it was when it illuminated the hullabaloo associated with the girlfriend of the World Bank President and her extraordinary bank staffer income. But now Wolfowitz claims it was the fault of the World Bank and his girlfriend that he okayed all of her raises as he bellows that the unconventional couple ganged up and forced him to nod his approval. Oh, please!
Jane Turner worked for the FBI over twenty-five years. When she refused to stop pointing out that the FBI had intentionally refused to correct its recordation that the sexual assault of a Native American child as a motor vehicle accident was more than a little off, she became a moving target. She dug in her heels, filed a civil rights suit, and a jury verdict underscored her actions as having been correct. The jury slapped the FBI but it looks like the same folks in the chain-of-approval for the misconduct in the first place remain in charge.
Cynthia Cooper shattered the silence governing WorldCom, then next to the largest national long distance telecom, when she yelled accounting fraud. Things hadn't looked right to her, so she looked again. Then she tapped the shoulder of a corporate superior, Scott Sullivan the Chief Financial Officer, who told her in no uncertain terms to shut up and mind her own business. She didn't. She pushed forward with Godspeed to unravel a scheme where through false categorization WorldCom turned millions of loss into billions of profit. Fancy, but keeping a second set of books isn't anything new. By the way, WorldCom didn't thank Cooper but it fired Sullivan who later was given a light criminal sentence in exchange for ratting out Bernie Ebbers, the big fish, who is now serving a twenty-five year federal sentence in Louisiana.
Enron. Enron. Enron. Sherron Watkins sent an email to Kenneth Lay which set out concerns about Enron's accounting methods. It began a saga of ramifications which resulted in numerous convictions. One interesting twist is that Lay's conviction had to be set aside by the Federal Judge because his chance to pursue an appeal was foreclosed by his death which may mean that his Estate assets can't be reached by the Federal Government. Lay's co-defendant, Jeffrey Skilling, is serving a twenty-four plus year sentence.
Jospeph Darby forced awareness of detainee torture at Abu Ghraib which included rapes and murders. It was bone chilling to learn American captors had run amuck from our national moral values.
A remarkable whistleblowing clandestine strategy was utilized by Mark Felt a/k/a Deep Throat. Of course, we would expect nothing less from the former number two guy at the FBI. Felt whistled Dixie to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about illegal activities involving the White House. The publications eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and criminal convictions for Haldeman, White House chief of staff, and Ehrlichman, Presidential adviser.
Remember: pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered, and living high on the hog can be costly. Whistleblowers are watching, listening, making notes, and chattering. So, watch your step and avoid the green goo.
© Coninc., TheDownsideUp.Com 2007
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posted by KKHC | 6:53 AM
