From ProPublica.org, 5 January 2009 post, by Jennifer LaFleur:
'I've got yur infurmation right here.'
As one of the most secretive presidential administrations in history gets ready to close up shop, it’s closing a few more things — records. Over the past few months, some federal agencies have issued rules that would eliminate public disclosure of information — or, in some cases, make it more difficult for requesters to get information.
While the federal Freedom of Information Act regulates what government information may be withheld from the public, internal rules determine how that law is carried out at the agency level. Those rules also may restrict access to information…
This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 8:53 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This piece is nothing but partisan BS! If one really looks at this issue with a hint of reality and objectivity, one sees that most presidential administrations try to block access to information generated during their rule.
The author of this piece is not better than the Republicans and their anti-Clinton agenda.
If you want to know what the government is really doing, why don’t you ask for full disclosure on members of both chambers of Congress. That would be a real eye opener, now wouldn’t it…
After reading your comment, I felt the need to clarify something. The picture of W giving the finger and its heading were my addition, and it has nothing to do with the original post from ProPublica.org. I must admit a liberal bias, and I felt the picture was a fair representation of the Bush administration’s disdain for explaining its policies to the public. ProPublica, however, is usually nothing but objective in its reporting.
I’d love for Congress to be more open, but I don’t expect they will be anytime soon. That is largely why I feel the integrity of FOIA is so important. And, of course past administrations have sought to block access to documents, but Bush, in my opinion, has a lot more at stake in doing so. Consider some of the agencies mentioned in the ProPublica post: The Department of Energy & the SEC. Both agencies have behaved questionably during the past eight years, and will have a great number of questions to answer regarding their conduct. The only way such questions will answered satisfactorily is through FOIA requests on behalf of academics and journalists.
Personally, I feel that, with the exception of highly sensitive national security documents, all governmental agencies have a duty to be completely open with the public. Sadly, this is unrealistic.
Thanks for the comment.
Sincerely,
AP – pastinprint.com