The word is out, and the obituary prepared, we may soon know the identity of Woodward and Bernstein's "Deep Throat".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

Needless to say, after 33 years, the politics of the Watergate scandal are long dead, but never buried because of the few loose ends that were never fully revealed. This piece of the puzzle should be absolutely fascinating when its revealed.

Given recent events where various persons in the media have been subject to horrendous pressure from the courts to reveal inside sources after the incident with Robert Novak, this older situation playing itself out in the final stretch may serve as a reminder as to why such protections exist. Whomever DT was, he put his neck on the line at a time when a President playing power politics was way over the line. The standard defended by Woodward and Bernstein allowed an opening where a person in a precarious position in the open was able to reveal information critical to the public without fearing for his safety. Nowadays, rarely is there a story that goes by about the US government without a mention of an anonymous source within the agency in question.

So whomever he turns out to be, when he is finally revealed, remember to thank him in some small way for daring to unlock the back door for people inside government to say what needs to be said in a manner which preserves the public interest by revealing the truth to those who know best (usually) how to get the word to us.