Final Word from Thursday, March 15, 2012
One Czech judge after another is getting into trouble for shooting off his or her mouth. First it was Constitutional Court Chief Justice Pavel Rychetský, who criticized the very Constitution he swore to uphold. Then his deputy Eliška Wagnerová lambasted the cabinet for "crazy and asocial" reform policies. And then Assistant Judge Marie Jungwirthová talked about wanting to throw up after listening to witnesses in the Vít Bárta bribery case. What do these "whistleblowers" have in common? They didn't tell us anything that wasn't already in the public domain. They called attention to themselves and influenced the political debate, but they didn't provide any insight that we couldn't glean on our own if we tried. How about revealing the dirty details of how the courts and prosecutor's offices are controlled by commercial interests and judicial mafias? That would make them true dissidents within their profession. [Czech Republic judicary courts]
Glossary of difficult words
to shoot one's mouth off - to talk indiscreetly or boastfully;
to lambaste/lambast - to criticize someone or something harshly;
public domain - the state of belonging or being available to the public as a whole;
insight - awareness, understanding;
to glean - to extract (information) from various sources.