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Obama Administration Transparency Getting Worse
schwit1 writes "The government's own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that halfway through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records. In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government's efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Barack Obama took office."
“This is the most transparent administration in history,” -- Barack Obama, February 2013
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." -- Napoleon, Animal Farm, by George Orwell
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Yep, I went there!
See folks, no thanks to Dick Chaney, the Bush Administration grabbed more power for the Executive branch.
And when folks like me protested, we were labeled "Liberal" or "UnAmerican" or some such derogatory term.
Now, the next guy has all that power.
See?
Our Constitution has checks and balances for a reason. A BIll of Rights for a reason. And when we try to be selective in there application, it backfires.
Also, this just shows how corrupt our Ruling Class is.
For those of you who were "In Living Color" fans and remember Damon Wayans character "Homey the Clown"; I'd like to say that Obama is "Obama the Man."
..
Captch...."whimper" - ain't that right ....
in what manner?
From a POTUS that is the most secretive about his own past?
Unless someone is planning to pull a Kennedy on him, he's got 34 months to go...
Oh please NO! I don't want to get Biden as president with all the sympathy of having to take over under those circumstances. Not on your life.
I'll keep the guy I know over dementia prone Biden who would be wheels off nuts. Obama will be totally emasculated by the end of this year when his party looses the Senate. Let him spend his last two years in office planning for his presidential library. If we are ever going to fix this, he has to stay in office and be marginalized as much as possible.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
He is one quater through his term. And he is through playing nice.
"He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
Spying on citizens is one thing, but to think the CIA was spying on Dianne Feinstien and her Senate Select Committee on Intelligence really crosses the line.
You really think Obama is going to act like other former presidents and leave DC for Chicago or Hawaii? His ego would never allow for it. He will stay in DC and be a thorn in the side of whoever the next president is (Dem or Rep).
As to Biden....tell me again why Palin was so bad compared to Biden again?
At least third parties have stepped up, and I would say are doing a far better job at Government transparency.
And who cares about transparency? Great, now I can see in minute detail the human rights abuses, and constitutionally illegal practices of the government on a constant and institutional level. Yay, that totally fixes the problem.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
How about if we start by acknowledging that there was never supposed to be a "ruling class" and elminating that philosophy from our culture.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
I agree he has to stay in office. We need to make absolutely sure he takes the blame for all his fuck-ups.
It would great if the GOP could take the Senate. It would possibly enable them to castrate the Affordable Care Act, and it would be worth it in that sense, but I am not optimistic.
Its just to many seats to pickup. In some ways its better if they don't get the Senate. It will make 2016 election simpler because it will be more possible to blame the DNC/Obama. It might at that time be possible to grab the Senate and the Presidency; especially if the House GOP members behave themselves for the next two years. Avoid fights they can't win, try not call women whores etc.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Yea, that has ALWAYS worked in the past... NOT!
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Because Palin was a soundbite politician. She had an open distaste for carefully considering all sides of an issue, favoring the use of quick slogans ('Drill Baby Drill') to win over the unthinking. It's always hard to tell a politicians image from reality - behind closed doors she could have been a genius in all things - but the image she carefully projected was of the quick-thinking renegade who didn't have the time to actually read any reports or listen to advisers, but instead promised she could run a country on gut instinct and American luck.
Really? A self inflicted shot to the head is a bad rap? I don't think it was bad enough myself....
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Don't worry, there's no way the GOP doesn't take the Senate. What probably won't happen is that they won't get the veto-proof majority, but come the end of this year, we'll be looking forward to a GOP House and Senate. There's no way it doesn't happen, even Democrat advisors admit as much.
It is absolutely essential we kill the ACA dead. If we don't, people will start to rely on it, and then, much like Social Security, we'll never be rid of it. I'd much rather put a stake in ACA and lose 2016 (which in unlikely, incidentally, if history is any guide) than have it stick around and start going into effect.
Yeah, because the GOP has proven that once in power, they govern for the benefit of all, compromise with minority positions, and pursue policies that balance the interests of capital and labor.
Oh that's right, they nominate telegenic yes-men who rubber stamp a pre-existing agenda that inflames international tensions and entrenches white, christian, business owners disproportionately into positions of power.
He was too busy Shilling healthcare.gov
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
well, not for nothing but she and other republicans (and other democrats) correctly predicted we would be having problems with russia and that they are still a treat to freedom. Obama took cheepshots at her and romney and now look at whats happening, imperialist russia crawling back
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
*threat - not treat
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Unless you do some research on your own and look at her very real track record of reform in Alaska, then yes she is only a soundbite politician.
It would be more accurate to say she was a working class mother who ran for office and made changes to a state rife with cronyism. Unless you do some research on your own and look at her very real track record of reform in Alaska, then yes she is only a soundbite politician.
She is / was a working class mother who ran for office and made changes to a state rife with cronyism.
But she didn't have the right pedigree, and she had that funny accent, and she presented a threat to the status que, so she had to be portrayed as a caricature that the left felt politically correct to destroy.
Some people bought into the program. 'the image she carefully projected was of the quick-thinking renegade who didn't have the time to actually read any reports or listen to advisers, but instead promised she could run a country on gut instinct and American luck'
It's no wonder we have the Tea Party, and this year (if the IRS is held in check) things will start to change.
Ask yourself this, what is the accepted image of the Tea Party as put forth by the media? Why is that?
'I don't know what it's called. I just know the sound it makes, when it takes a man's life.' ~ Four Leaf Tayback
Really? You (schwit1) must be disappointed on a regular basis.
Sorry, even if Obama really wanted to change things, he's still an elected. The bureaucracy marches on and very rarely cares about the comings and goings of temporary staff, even if they are the boss.
Then I see the kids who are put into the foster care system and see how fucked up they become. Only White babies get a chance at a loving home - and even then - if they have developmental problems, all bets are off (You WILL see them on death row.).
I am troubled.
So full of it more likely. I had a very good friend take a crack baby into her home for foster care and fought in the courts for four years before they would finally release the child to her for adoption. Mother completely abandoned her. Father serving a life sentence for multiple murders. But the state felt they were doing her an injustice allowing a white woman to adopt a black child. That little girl is doing great now and will get a free ride at her mother's college because of employment.
But it's much easier to bitch about (insert rant about races here) apparently than actually do something.
I politician *lied* to me?! I feel so disillusioned....
Because Palin was a soundbite politician.
Which politician ISN'T after the soundbite? With the media today, it's ALL about the soundbite, because they refuse to actually spend 5 min explaining what the real positions are. It takes too much time and doesn't sell advertisements.
But I have a few sound bites for you to classify... "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Period." "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." "not even a smidgen of corruption" "What difference does it make" or to include the original article, "the most transparent administration in history."
Palin wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but we would have been worlds better off with that administration over what we got and the headlong rush into partisan bickering that ensued.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
He wasn't lying, we all just heard him wrong. He made us hope for change. I'm sure hoping for a change right now. Right now I'm just hoping for a GOOD president next time, liberal or conservative hardly matters. Either Kennedy or Reagan would be a thousand times better than our last few presidents.
Is anything critical of this administration right wing or are they so wonderful in their totality that they are like pony, butterfly farts? Anytime something is posted that is published you proglocrats look like a bunch shambling, drooling zombies. Wake up, you got snookered, get over it and open your eyes. This guy is the worst president every and you fucks need to own it and fix it...
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
serve : v to rule "I'd like to thank Senator Linepockets for his many decades serving us."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
"Yes we can," "Change we can believe in," "Common sense gun laws," "Most transparent administration"
> It is absolutely essential we kill the ACA dead. If we don't, people will start to rely on it, and then, much like Social Security, we'll never be rid of it.
ACA needs time to fail, so that the inevitability of single-payer takes root.
Single-payer, that atrocious idea shared by almost all advanced countries, including these evil aging Germans with their balanced budget...
Thats what change looks like.
Well, he did promise change.
Braindead soundbites like this gem from 2008?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PMmY20nJ8E
Yaknow, I'd take gut instinct and American luck over career sociopath politicians anyday. How about you?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
a law that would simply require the president to obey the law!
When the executive is subject to the law, you have a democracy or a republic
When the exectuive is able to write or change the law, you have monarchy and tyranny
I never thought the Democrats would be able to out-evil themselves in Presidents - their guy, Woodrow Wilson, was my previous bet for the absolute worst as he, among other things, segregated the US government by race (that's right, if you were educated by unionized school teachers (Democrat activists) you probably thought the US was ALWAYS segregated by race and that this ended with the civil rights act under Johnson in the 1960's). Black Amercians were always free in the northern colonies and they even participated in the Revolutionary war. The southern colonies had slaves before, during, and after the Revolutionary war (until the civil war). The Constitution DID NOT count blacks as 3/5ths of a person... it counted "non-free" persons as 3/5ths (i.e. blacks in the north were always full people and only southern slaves were 3/5ths for purposes of allocating seats in congress (to prevent southern states getting so much power in congress that they could spread slavery further)). The REAL introduction of OFFICIAL race-based segregation within the US federal government was by Democrat President Woodrow Wilson. Even on his WORST day, however, Woodrow Wilson did not imagine he was above the Constitution and could write and re-write laws on his own.
ALL politicians use trite slogans.
"Hope and Change" ring any bells???? "Four more years"??? "reduce, reuse, recycle"?
There's quite a range and a long history, but for some reason you only think such slogans are evidence of an idiot when they are used by Palin? I guess that makes you "anti-woman"... :-)
For all the swagger of Obama and his Palin-hating mindless-minions, the man has thus-far proven himself to be exactly the sort of brainless, foolish, dishonest dirtbag I expected a coke-snorting (by his own admission) dope-smoking (by his own admission) "community organizer" (rabble-rouser) with no history of ever doing anything productive to be. I'm neither surprised nor disappointed, execpt in this one way: Sooner or later the country was going to have a "first black president" (just as it will someday have a first woman-, a first hispanic-, a first asian- etc president) but it's truly sad that with so many brilliant and accomplished black Americans to choose from (many in science, medicine, the military, etc) who could have been amazing role models and true uniters, the man who will hold that spot forever in our history will be this hyper-divisive dishonest idiot (Obama).
you can keep your transparency
In one organization, unless someone wins 2/3rds of the vote, they draw straws from among the finalists. It works quite well, achieving what campaign finance reform is intended to achieve, without the free speech issues involved such as potentially making it illegal for a blogger to speak their opinion.
It makes a lot of dog-eat-dog campaigning unnecessary because the candidates aren't fighting tooth and nail for that extra 0.1% of the vote - just put up a pretty good candidate, who can get at least 20%-35% of the vote to get their name in the hat. Primaries, and therefore pandering to the extremes, aren't critical when someone can get elected without being chosen by either major party.
On the other hand, if JFK came back to life he'd win 2/3rds and win, as he should.
I can relate to what you're saying. However, if by "the ruling class" you mean people in leadership positions - people who have built a successful business, people who have successfully organized large events like the Olympics, etc., you end up attacking anyone who has proven they can do a good job on big things - precisely the people we need to have leading.
Another option takes more work, but gets better results:
Identify the bad leaders, the morally corrupt and the incompetent. That would include Bush II, Obama, Ray Nagen, etc. Get rid of the bad ones and find good leaders. Good leaders might include Colin Powell and Robert Gates.
Third, along with identifying and eliminating bad leaders, we need structural changes. Other countries have better election systems we should consider, where you have to build a broad coalition to get elected. We need to look at ways to move away from the "American Idol" style popularity contest. There's some truth to calling Obama "President Kardashian" - many of his voters had no idea why they were voting for him, zero knowledge of the issues. We need to try to fix that.
With the media today, it's ALL about the soundbite, because they refuse to actually spend 5 min explaining what the real positions are.
You make it sound like they spent 5 minutes finding out what the position of the person is, rather than scanning for the R or D of policitcal affiliation in the bio and regurgitating their owned canned stereotypes provided them by their news organization.
True journalists are an endangered species.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
We are more "serviced" than served. Like a bull services a cow.
Is the government trying to achieve transparency by shrouding its activitties in a cloak of invisibility?
Congress doesn't pass ideas, they pass laws. And we expect them to be faithfully executed.
Uh, wtf is he gonna do in DC? Clinton had a much bigger ego than Obama. He's nowhere near to DC.
So you're saying she should have skipped vice president and gone straight for the top spot?
To be fair, in 1940s Germany, rap was still in its infancy. It was only 50 years later when it crossed the Atlantic to settle in the ghettos of New York that it really hit its stride.
Ok, these would be a good start, And yours other than "Blame Bush"?
1) Impeach Obama - http://www.impeachobamacampaig...
2) Balanced budget amendment
3) Flat tax
4) Term limits for the Senate, Congress, and Supreme court (See Mark Levin's Liberty Amendments)
5) Stop funding the United Nations and IMF
6) Repeal the 17th Amendment
7) Eliminate federal government involvement in Health Care, Education, and the mortgage industry
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
"Same as the Old Boss..."
The last 5+ years of Obama's failure to forgo the criminal secrecy of the previous administration only demonstrates the raw genius of Bush.
He was just that fucking brilliant.
Who, Bush? Many people claim I like Bush. However I'd like to know what you're drinking. Must be good.