No Free Speech For Nurse Berg

VA nurse Laura Berg wrote a letter critical of the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. The letter was published in the The Alibi

"Bush, Cheney, Chertoff, Brown and Rice should be tried for criminal negligence, wrote Berg. "We need to wake up and get real here, and act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit. Otherwise, many more of us will be facing living hell in these times."

The response was typical. The VA seized Berg's office computer. The reason being Berg wrote the letter on a government computer. The investigation proved that to be false.

Responding to her inquiry, human resources chief Mel Hooker acknowledged that Berg’s “… personal computer files did not contain the editorial letter written to the editor of the weekly Alibi.” But he didn’t apologize: “The Agency is bound by law to investigate and pursue any act which potentially represents sedition,” he wrote. “In your letter ... you declared yourself ‘as a VA nurse’ and publicly declared the Government which employs you to have ‘tragically misplaced priorities and criminal negligence’ and advocated, ‘act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit.’”

The Veterans Administration is getting bad press because of the incident. I'm wondering who gave the order to seize Berg's computer. That's a question worth asking. This also presents a good opportunity for the VA to use the right of free speech.