IT LOOKS AS IF the United States government has placed a certain large international company on double secret probation:

Senior officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation have at least temporarily blocked the release of findings by auto-safety regulators that could favor Toyota Motor Corp. in some crashes related to unintended acceleration, according to a recently retired agency official. George Person, who retired July 3 after 27 years at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said in an interview that the decision to not go public with the data for now was made over the objections of some officials at NHTSA.

What the deuce? How did that happen?

“The information was compiled. The report was finished and submitted,” Mr. Person said. “When I asked why it hadn’t been published, I was told that the secretary’s office didn’t want to release it,” he added, referring to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Why would they want American consumers to think that safe cars are unsafe?

Well, the U.S. government is the partial owner of a certain car company, and it also gave an ownership stake in that company to the union (whose lavish retirement benefits were one reason the company wasn’t profitable.) Also, the party in control of the government is beholden to labor union support. Why should they be interested in (a) helping foreign competitors–regardless of how well that foreign competitor has tried to be a good American corporate citizen–and (b) spurning an important political support group?

The Chinese government and some in South Korea make no secret of their intention to poison the well of public sentiment regarding Japan for their own benefit.

Why would the United States government behave any differently–particularly an administration that makes no secret of its intention to bash its friends (Great Britain and Israel in addition to Japan) and to appease enemies that are beyond appeasement to begin with?