CNN has a story about an FBI contract translator’s wrongful dismissal case being dismissed because the evidence needed to prove the case one way or the other is secret.

Now, having at one time held a piddling Secret clearance, I can tell you that a lot of stuff that is classified is bogus…at most it needs to be classified for about 72 hours and then it is worthless. Details of Hillary Clinton’s itinerary in various trips she made abroad, as far as I know, are still Secret…even though they’re published in the press and over for several years. (No, this is not the Secret material I had access to, just an example.)

However, there are cases in which the testimony would not be best left out in the open (“Well, since the Aurora pictures taken at Mach 9 with our image enhancement technology show the defendant’s license plate on the car moments before it blew up, we’re relatively sure it was him.”). But why can’t these cases be handled by specially cleared judges who are cleared Secret, Top Secret, and a special few who are code-word cleared?

I would prefer open trials in most cases–but the idea that a case is dismissed because the government says, “Uh, no, that’s a…secret…yeah, that’s the ticket,” is even more repulsive to me.

Until then, let’s change regimes at home so the trend has a chance to reverse–and vote those bums out if they don’t reverse it.

(See, Mike? It’s not hard, and I didn’t quote anybody out of context. Loads of reasons to vote against Bush–it’s like taking candy from a baby.

Hmmm…I’m hungry.)