Remember that politician around 8 years ago who promised the most transparent Administration ever? Well, long ago, President Obama distinguished himself by withholding documents, pictures, and documents from the public and Congress. This includes the withholding of photos for the simple reason that they will embarrass the government or be used by critics like the pictures of Osama Bin Laden. (In the case of Bin Laden, it appears that the account glamorized in movies like Zero Dark Thirty may not be true and that U.S. forces allegedly riddled the body of Bin Laden with countless bullets, according to a new report). However, the Administration has gone well beyond the simply embarrassing. It has defied Congress in refusing to turn over documents to oversight committees, prompting a vote to demand that Attorney General Eric Holder be prosecuted for obstruction. (The Administration then prevented prosecutors from acting on the charge). A new analysis by the Associated Press shows what is already well known in Washington, President Obama has created the least transparent presidency in decades. The AP found that the Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
Across the categories of information and 99 agencies, last year was the worst on record for the government. In that year, the Obama Administration cited undefined national security reasons for withholding information roughly 8,500 times — a 57 percent increase over a year earlier and more than double Obama’s first year when the rationale was used some 3,658 times. It is not just the Defense Department and the CIA which covered most of the claims, but also the Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency did twice and the National Park Service which also claimed national security exemptions.
The use of the oft-abused “deliberative process” exception was used by the Obama Administration a record 81,752 times. The government censored materials overall in 244,675 cases or 36 percent of all requests. For an additional 196,034 requests, the government simply said no information was available or the request was improper or required payment for production.
The weird thing White House spokesman Eric Schultz insisted that the damning report showed “that agencies are responding to the president’s call for greater transparency.” That seems perfectly Orwellian where the denial of records shows a greater openness.
Even Democrats in Congress has complained about the treatment of FOIA requests as well as the refusal to turn over material to oversight committee. Recently, even the most deferential member to the Intelligence Community, Dianne Feinstein, complained of obstruction and spying by CIA as her staff tried to secure documents for the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Reporters are also complaining about a wholesale blocking of media requests — part of the dismal record on press freedoms that has resulted in the United States ranking 64th in the world. That was a drop of 13 spots under Obama. For a recent column, click here.
The hostility of the Obama Administration to inquiries from the public, the press, or Congress is obviously part of a broader attack on civil liberties. From surveillance to kill lists to torture, the Administration has held tightly to information that could be used by critics. Indeed, the Administration has protected officials who destroyed evidence of torture under the Bush Administration at the CIA.
If the recent report on the Bin Laden pictures is true, it offers a disturbing glimpse of the mindset in the Administration. Obama barred the release of the pictures while his Administration played up his role in approving the killing of Bin Laden. The actions of the President has been heralded by Democrats even though there was clearly no intent to capture Bin Laden. It was an assassination carried out in violation of international law after entering the territory of an ally without permission. The legality of operation led many to ask what the U.S. would do if Mexico took out a figure in San Diego or New York. However, the Administration maintained the story that Bin Laden was shot a couple of times but that his body was treated with respect and given a proper burial at sea. If the U.S. forces riddled his body with bullets, it would constitute the abuse of a corpse and violate long-standing military principles. Of course, the truth is held to deduce when the Administration is holding the evidence that would prove its own misconduct.
The same can be said with regard to the withholding got the “Fast and Furious” documents and other scandals. Those are areas where Congress has a legitimate right to investigate the moronic actions of federal officials that led to at least one death of a federal agent — and included later false or misleading statements.
The question IS then, who does run both parties? If there is an entity so powerful, how can we the people change it? Do we have even the first idea of what to do to change the direction of this entity that is the “deep state”? So when critical mass has been hit and there is consensus among Americans that something must be done, what next then? Why is it when the name Koch is brought into any thread lately some body jumps in and claims a Godwin breach? Are they so powerful now that we must not even utter their name?
So who or what is the “deep state” and do we have any power to really change the direction that they’ve steered this country? All of this talk of change, the populace rising up, it’s just talk until the “enemy” has been identified.
Ross, I agree, that is suspicious. You’d almost think the two major parties were working hand in hand!
Ross, I agree, that is suspicious. You’d almost think the two major parties were working hand in hand!
It’s curious that Republicans aren’t demanding a clean “up or down” vote (without pork) to advance civil liberties and transparency.
Raff,
You’d be surprised what information the national park service collects for the HSA…… Think if only by bow tie was a camera…..
Transparency indeed…..
You can tell how cynical this hiding of reality from people is by looking at what is shown to us. The govt. blessed and may has well have written, Zero dark 30. So the govt. showed us torture the way god intended for torture to occur–for the greater service of world citizens! At the same time, Obama refused to release actual pictures of torture saying we couldn’t handle it! It must have not been so glorious afterall.
Whoever was in the compound was unarmed, sick and sitting on a portable toilet. Drone surveillance of the compound, along with on the ground listening devises had been in place for at least 6 months prior to the raid. That means, everyone who was in the compound was known and likely, their whereabouts as well.
This leads me to question why arrest was impossible, let alone the need to kill the person on the toilet.
The govt. wants you to see their lies, they don’t want you to see reality. We must question why that is so.
Jill said: “The US is run by a deep state. … This situation transcends parties.”
Truth that bears repeating.
Letter to the editor: To Obama critics: What about Bush/Cheney?
Mar. 8, 2014 |
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140309/OPINION04/303090039/Letter-editor-Obama-critics-What-about-Bush-Cheney-
I wonder if the many people who criticize President Obama for foreign policy, health care, spending too much, raising taxes, and almost everything else would like to return to the Bush/Cheney years of starting two wars we have lost or will lose, putting our economy into a free-fall, torturing people and thus ignoring the Geneva Convention, publicly exposing a U.S. agent, and setting a new low point of those who respect the U.S. and what is stands for in most nations of the world.
— Bob Basham, Ankeny
We should start a pool for the first sycophant to say, “Yeah but wattabout Bush!!”
Gary T,
I think it has been a mistake to keep hoping for “The One”. It’s a hard trap not to fall into because things are desperate. I do think Nick was correct is saying the US is ready for a(nother) demagogue because we are so desperate. I’m quite certain we are and will be bombarded with a Democratic woman for president such as Hilliary and/or Elizabeth. But it is quite possible that an openly right wing white male strongman could take power under the current state of affairs. Both pathways will lead to the same end, with the exception that having a woman as the strongman will make people stupid in the same way that having a black man has made people fall for identity politics instead of paying attention to reality.
I believe we must come to terms with the fact that it must be the people who will make things better. I don’t hold out much chance of success for us but it is still worth trying. We have to stop falling for BS and all the propaganda. We have to understand what is actually happening. We need a clear goal that many people can agree to-such as return to the rule of law. We need to have a clear desire for justice, for a good life, not just for the few, but for everyone.
There are no saviors. We cannot afford the mistake of thinking there are any longer. The desire for a savior will lead to greater totalitarianism and nothing else. It is the desire for justice and for a good life for all that will lead away from this madness.
It was interesting that you spoke about his speeches. I heard those weird things also and wondered why people weren’t catching it. It’s a good insight that could help people stay awake and alert should a strongman or the certain coming of a strongwoman from the Democrats cloud over our minds and hearts!
Reminds me of a thug cop beating the unconscious body of a citizen while yelling, “stop resisting”.
It’s good to see that some are finding that our two party system is really a two headed snake, that will bite our heads off if necessary to protect their interest. As Henry Kissinger’s quotes surely emphasize; “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.”
“The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government.”
If you have not noticed, whenever the Citizens of the world start to rebel against the tyranny of their government, the US government is almost always the first to the rescue of that government, and if necessary to replace it but not to repair it. If we cannot repair our own governance, it is impractical to suggest that we can repair the governance of others. What the American government is really doing in almost every foreign conflict is to stabilize the controls of the central bankers over their nation and trade and they care less how many are harmed or what human fights are usurped in the process; that is the true definition of collateral damage. They are desperately trying to maintain the debt based fiat currency system, with it headquarters in Basil Switzerland, the BIS, that provides such profits to them despite no fiat currency in world history ever surviving for a prolonged period of time.
Kissinger said: Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.
If such evils are committed because of such a system, it should be obvious to our sensibilities that such as system should be abolished. A central bank is the economic control for communism, as Karl Marx noted in his famed book “the Communist Manifesto. It allows the ruling oligarchy to control the means of production.
Why some people believe that it, the various platforms of communism was meant to thwart this control and have it shift to the workers, despite the various histories of the world showing otherwise is an interesting study of itself.
I spotted Obama for what he is now, years ago.
I originally was a fan, hoped beyond hope that all his election promises would be fulfilled. Then I saw a couple of his campaign speeches, which had odd wording and politically stranges perspectives peppered through them, and I concluded he was just another politician, not The One everyone was hoping for (see e.g., Nobel Peace Prize).
The most opaque presidency in history. He has much to be opaque about.
http://www.nolanchart.com/article4421-barack-obama-what-has-become-of-the-magic-man-html
First I would like to say that we cannot have a Republican Congress in 2014, and especially we cannot have a Republican President in 2016. Just because we can’t. It is our bound duty as citizens to elect Democrats so they can do things like president Obama is doing and not get criticized for doing them!
(Just thought I’d get that out of the way!)
The US is run by a deep state. The Obama administration fronts for it, protecting high placed military and financial and other corporations along with high ranking govt. officials. How much more evidence do we need to acknowledge this truth?
This situation transcends parties. In fact, it is hidden by those who constantly harp about parties. What keeps happening is people get sick of Democrats and vote Republican, get sick of Republicans and vote for Democrats. This has not made our nation better. We keep getting worse, losing one right after another. I know there are partisans who will never be able to offer any action beyond voting for the party of their employer or actual held beliefs. I am not speaking to those people, there is no sense in it.
To the other people here, we must act beyond voting. We must act together with every person who would like to restore the rule of law. We need peaceful, mass action. We are facing down an entrenched, armed to the teeth, financed to the teeth, propagandistic, no expense spared group of people who really do want absolute power. We need more leaks. We need deep thinking, courageous people to band together and confront this power mongering group of people. I firmly believe they must be confronted with soul power, non-violence. You aren’t going to face down those who have spaced based rods from god, drones and god knows what else, through military force. We need the force of wanting justice and a good life for all people and this earth. That is the only alternative to people who seem to worship death and destruction.
Like turning off transponders in a hijack, the information stream must be turned off in a coup (A Tale of Coup Cities – 10).
It is a well known fact in Washington that the National Park Service is deeply involved in our National Security efforts and the War on Terror!!???? Wow. The Parks Service? Scary.
Good on you for putting out these posts as the truth comes out. This site has tendered to be more Democrat than Republican & it takes a real man to see where things change for the worst. At first we had a lot of right wing Republicans downgrading Obama for spurious reasons like the birther thing & because he was black. I lost count how many guys in Wyoming would come up with stupid comments like “Getting that nigger out of the White House”. I apologize to my black friends if any offence is taken; none is intended other than getting the truth out there that any dislike of our president has nothing to do with his color. So, good on you Mr Turley. For the 2004 election I had a theme I was incorrectly jailed for: “Anybody but Bush!”. Now I realise the two parties are only there to distract us, and the next president may indeed be worse than what we have today! Meanwhile, carry on & tell it like it is.
Reblogged this on This Got My Attention.
When is the C ingress going to stand up and get rid of this feckless excuse for a president?