Obama Administration Transparency Getting Worse 152
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."
Most Transparent Ever! (Score:5, Insightful)
“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
Bush's fault. Obama the Man. (Score:1, Insightful)
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" [wikipedia.org] 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 ....
Re:"halfway through its second term" ? (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Most Transparent Ever! (Score:4, Insightful)
“This is the most transparent administration in history,” -- Barack Obama, February 2013
He must have been speaking about how obvious their stance with regarding releasing information was.
But to make a counter-point, much as I loathe to do so, it's also possible with all the NSA/Snowden stories that they have faced more requests for documents that are classified than typical. It would be nice to see the chart from TFA displayed as a 100% breakdown rather than a stacked breakdown.
Re:Most Transparent Ever! (Score:5, Insightful)
Transparent as in we can see right through this bullshit.
Re:"halfway through its second term" ? (Score:3, Insightful)
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?
Re:I appreciate that. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Most Transparent Ever! (Score:5, Insightful)
Pretty much. Obama ran on the platform of 'change.' He isn't bringing it. The only reason his supporters continued to support him last election was because a democrat not advancing their agenda would still be better than a republican openly fighting against it.
Re:Most Transparent Ever! (Score:5, Insightful)
He has broken the law plenty too, but the House won't try impeachment because they know the Senate majority does not care the law has been broken they are going to protect their guy.
The GOP learned its lesson the last time around, its not politically useful to impeach a president unless you have a Senate willing to follow through with a conviction and removal from office.
As far as anyone else doing anything about it, the SCOTUS will find some weasel wordy way to conclude they haven't got standing.
Re:"halfway through its second term" ? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Most Transparent Ever! (Score:2, Insightful)
Seriously? Republican or Democrat, Liberal or whatever.. it makes no difference.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim
Re:Most Transparent Ever! (Score:3, Insightful)
You have forgotten the Democrat Catechism
"Everything Is Bush's Fault, Now, and Forever. Amen"
Now go say 3 "Our Obamas" and 4 "Hail Hillarys"
Re:Most Transparent Ever! (Score:3, Insightful)
It's amazing you have to prove you are actually harmed by NSA spying to get standing, when our core concept in creating a government is the assumption government is up to no good and will abuse power.
he brought it, just heard wrong. Hope FOR change (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Re:Most Transparent Ever! You Right wingers! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:"halfway through its second term" ? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Yes we can," "Change we can believe in," "Common sense gun laws," "Most transparent administration"
Re:"halfway through its second term" ? (Score:0, Insightful)
Fortunately single payer is so blatantly unconstitutional that not even calling it a "tax" could save it from the Supreme Court.
If you want single payer, take it to the state level, where it belongs. Keep the federal government out of healthcare.
That way, when the states dumb enough to implement single payer crater, the rest of us will still be able to move to Texas and enjoy the America we grew up loving. There's a reason Texas is growing faster than any other state in the Union, and it sure isn't Obamacare!