First, I got an email message referring me to this CNN story:

The second in command at the Pentagon said Thursday that people who publicly oppose allowing a Middle Eastern company to take over management of some U.S. ports could be threatening national security.

I shrugged it off. The Bush Administration says stuff like this all the time. In this business, you get a lot of wacky leads. Then came the second email. What it contained was dynamite: a template file that the Administration uses for press releases.

[fill in administration authority name] said on [date of announcement] that people who publicly oppose [fill in administration policy] could be threatening national security.

If my source was right, this meant that a collection of Microsoft Office macros was running the government now. Poorly-coded macros. That would explain a lot of things.

I’ve decided not to reveal the name of the source. It’s much more dramatic that way.

If the source works for the federal government, then this blog post is investigative journalism, and I should be getting packed for prison right now. If not, then this whole story is nothing more than incisive political commentary, and my source and I should expect audits of our income tax returns.

Boy. Investigative journalism sure is exciting.