Murky Waters

There is a disturbing pattern, here: we never really found out the truth the about Bush administration claims regarding Saddam's weapons of mass destruction; we never found out the truth about the nature or the volume of toxic assets lurking on the balance sheets of the major investment banks, or how much each bank, specifically, got from taxpayers during the bailout process, and now we haven't been given accurate information about the spill in the Gulf. This is not a partisan issue. Without tranparency, democracy becomes oligarchy.

It is the duty of the press and the congress to discover the facts.

Without public knowledge, we do have oligarchy.

The lack of investigation lies firmly on congress, the Republican party and the press corps.

Emergency planning has had no funds since I don't know when.

FEMA was gutted by the shrub.

The officials are not required to plead guilty.

"Homeland Security" in this crisis is unprepared.

The intelligence organizations are barred by law from US operation.

The editors of the press had best stop whining and get the work done.

This means the New York Times as well as others.