ACLU: VA nurse investigated for critical letter (sedition)

[deminks]

I just ran across an article on Sen. Bingaman asking the VA to apologize to a nurse for investigating a letter written by a nurse that was critical of Smirky. She was investigated for 'sedition'. Chilling indeed.

Here is an earlier article:

http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=24086&cat=ABQMETRO

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico wants the government to apologize to a nurse who was investigated after she criticized the Bush administration.

The ACLU says the Department of Veterans Affairs seized Laura Berg’s office computer but found no evidence she used it to write a critical letter.

Berg wrote a letter in September to a weekly newspaper criticizing how the administration handled Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War.

The group is seeking an apology from the VA human resources chief to remedy what it calls the chilling effect on the speech of employees.

and here is the Bingaman article:

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=4469767

UNDATED Democratic U-S Senator Jeff Bingaman wants Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson to do a thorough inquiry of his agency's investigation into whether a letter critical of the Bush administration by a V-A nurse amounted to "sedition."

Bingaman says merely opposing government policies and expressing a desire for change is not a reason to suppose someone is involved in illegal subversive activity.

The V-A investigated nurse Laura Berg last year.

It cleared her of wrongdoing, but the V-A said it had to investigate any act it said potentially represented sedition.

[Dunvegan]

1. Oh no they didn't!

As Bette Davis said: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy flight" (for the next few years).

And we better start rocking the boat, seriously and NOW.

[lapfog_1]

2. This just seals the deal

all of us here are on a watch list... and probably the NSA is reading this right now.

So... guess what guys... I want Bush and the entire criminal enterprise that is the Republican controlled government out of power. And for those that we can prove are criminals... I want them behind bars. And, no, that's not sedition.

[acmejack]

3. They're out of their collective minds.

Sedition? and she is most likely a vet, most VA nurses seem to be.

edit for tense

[Tactical Progressive]

4. That's OK

If anyone speaks out against President Hillary Clinton or any of her policies, I think they should be investigated for sedition too. In fact, it would probably be best if they were held in custody until cleared of such serious charges.

[SmokingJacket]

5. This is one of those stories that just leaves me speechless.

Wish I had something to say about it, but I'm too flabbergasted...

[deminks]

6. More from the ACLU site

http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/24043prs20060131.html

ALBUQUERQUE —The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico today demanded an explanation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for investigating a federal employee who published an editorial critical of the Bush administration in a local newspaper.

In her letter to the weekly Alibi, Laura Berg, a clinical nurse specialist, criticized the Bush administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War, noting that, “as a VA nurse working with returning…vets, I know the public has no sense of the additional devastating human and financial costs of post-traumatic stress disorder.” She urged readers to “act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit.”

In September 2005, VA Information Security employees seized Berg’s office computer because they claimed “government equipment was used inappropriately…during government time for drafting an editorial letter.” No evidence was recovered to support that belief.

Simonson added: “The reference to ‘sedition’ is shocking. Even if Laura had used the office computer it would change nothing. None of her actions -- her criticism of the government, or her appeal for a change in the heads of government -- approach an act of unlawful insurrection. Is this government so jealous of its power, so fearful of dissent, that it needs to threaten people who openly oppose its policies with charges of ‘sedition’?”

[Mnemosyne]

7. .