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.
Speaking to rafflaw’s excellent point:
Four Years After ‘Citizens United,’ There Is Real Movement to Remove Big Money From Politics
John Nichols on January 21, 2014 – 1:02 PM ET
http://www.thenation.com/blog/178004/four-years-after-citizens-united-there-real-movement-remove-big-money-politics
Excerpt:
Four years after an activist majority on the United States Supreme Court struck down barriers to the buying of elections by multinational corporations—with the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling that signaled an intention to dismantle remaining restraints on money in politics—a broad-based movement has emerged to undo the damage done by the Court.
This is a coalition that refuses to tinker around the edges of the crisis.
It is boldly demanding that the US Constitution be amended—a reform sufficient to prevent the High Court from transforming American democracy into a dollarocracy.
“I’ll grant that it’s not easy. Amending the Constitution should not be easy,” says Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, which has been a key player in the movement. “But in just four years, we’ve brought what many deemed a pipe dream into the mainstream.”
People for the American Way president Michael Keegan agrees.
While there is no question that “the deeply misguided Citizens United ruling four years ago brought immeasurable harm to our democracy,” Keegan says, “it also inspired a re-energized national movement to get big money out of politics.”
That movement has accomplished more than all but the most optimistic reformers could have imagined on January 21, 2010.
Sixteen American states have formally demanded that Congress recognize that the Constitution must be amended in order to re-establish the basic American premise that “money is property and not speech, and [that] the Congress of the United States, state legislatures and local legislative bodies should have the authority to regulate political contributions and expenditures…”
Six states made the call for corporate accountability in a three-month period last year, making 2013 a banner year for a movement that began with little attention and little in the way of institutional support following the US Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling.
Support for an amendment now stretches from coast to coast, with backing (in the form of legislative resolutions or statewide referendum results) from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia. The District of Columbia is also supportive of the move to amend, as are roughly 500 municipalities, from Liberty, Maine, to Los Angeles, California—where 77 percent of voters backed a May 2013, referendum instructing elected representatives to seek an amendment establishing that “there should be limits on political campaign spending and that corporations should not have the constitutional rights of human beings.” continues…
Will Hefner: Impeachment is setting the bar unrealistically high and takes too long to affect. What’s needed is a strong response from Congressional Democrats. There won’t be one and that’s why we’re getting a Republican Senate in the next election.
Jill: I agree with you one hundred percent. Where and when shall we meet to make our voices heard? I’ll bring the coffee.
Seriously, it’s a appropriate today, St Paddy’s Day, to bring up the Postal Strike of 1913, when a sizable portion of Ireland went out on strike, and where a high percentage of Dubliners refused to show up for work. That’s pretty much what it going to take – a mass work stoppage, not just the unemployed or underemployed – to get the attention of the business and political community.
So what do you say…are you ready? Let’s start with the tar sands pipeline.
Annie, You still haven’t said what your ideas are. What are your ideas for reining in the power of these combined entities?
RTC, Why don’t you look up and post the information you are requesting from others, linking to your sources?
Also, I wonder why you call illegal activities disappointing instead of illegal?
Jill, I suspect that it is a combination of power of deep pocketed corporations and the military industrial complex. That was pretty easy, now how about getting to the nitty gritty of reining in the power of these combined entities?
Jill, I have plenty of ideas, I’m attempting to get other’s ideas to see if they are suspecting the same things I am. Asking questions is the first step in getting closer to the answer. I want to hear from everyone, not just Jill, thanks.
Zblgniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s national security adviser said…” We have “a legally corrupt system”.
I’m going to draw fire for this, I’m sure, but as an exercise in critical thinking I would want to know if there has been an increase in the number of requests for information and how much of an increase there’s been. I would want to know the number of requests the Bush administration simply ignored vs the number times the Obama administration has failed to respond to a request.
I’m not trying to make excuses for Obama, I’m trying to put the disappointment in his Presidency in some perspective.
Annie,
Don’t you have any ideas? Why must everyone else come up with them but not you? We face an enormous undertaking. Everyone is going to have to contribute ideas. I gave some things, other people have mentioned others. What are yours?
annie,
The answer at its root is money in politics. If money is removed from politics, the elected only have their voters to answer to. A start would be to overturn Citizens United.
Like our distinguished president George W. Bush said….” Sometimes money…ah…ah…ah.. trumps freedom”. How about, just about every time?
Full Show: The Deep State Hiding in Plain Sight
February 21, 2014
Everyone knows about the military-industrial complex, which, in his farewell address, President Eisenhower warned had the potential to “endanger our liberties or democratic process” but have you heard of the “Deep State?”
http://billmoyers.com/episode/the-deep-state-hiding-in-plain-sight/
Essay: Anatomy of the Deep State
February 21, 2014
by Mike Lofgren
http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/21/anatomy-of-the-deep-state/
The notion of “deep state” has an inherent flaw, which is a notion that the government is all government, all state.
It is not.
It is not like a lake, which is still a lake where deep and where shallow.
Those who control sway over U.S. government are neither government, state, nor deep.
They aren’t even American either.
They are external private entities (The Private Parts).
“Deep state” is like saying genetic control is done by “deep genes.”
It is not.
That is why “epigenetics” and “epigovernment” are more accurate parts of a tight nomenclature (Epigovernment: The New Model).
The sway of control comes from above (“epi”), in the sense of more powerful, not from deep within.
Just sayin’ …
Dredd, In political economy, Epigoverment is called an oligarchy; leadership by the few. A populous may not even know who these folks really are and most often Presidents, Prime Ministers and even so-called Dictators are only the spokesman for those that are truly pulling the stings. Generally this group is primarily composed of those from banking because of the powers central banking allows. Some Industrialists and politicians may also be a part of this group depending on their economic power and influence but they generally avoid the political spotlight to maintain as much anonimity as possible. I’m told “Hitler’s Secret Bankers” is a fascinating read and is on my short list. If someone has read it, I would surely like to get their opinion. I know the Warburg banking family played both sides of WWI.
rafflaw. Politics is only about the money and without the money there would be no politicians and the anarcho-capitalist model does not apparently “appeal” to most. Sadly, the average voter is not knowledgeable enough in the necessary areas of socio-economics and the politicians know this.
Politicians for the most part are corrupt souls willing to break the law, if necessary to both gain and maintain their power. They will find ways to exchange money with their special interest, whether legal or not. It’s much like gun control with the guns ending up in the hands of primarily the criminals and the ethical people unarmed because they are obeying the law.
Citizens United is just a front group. The real targets are much higher up the ladder. Many of them occupy positions in the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, The Bank of England, the Bundesbank and the BIS. The various members of the BIS are in collusion to economically rape and pillage the world and for the most part they go unchallenged.
Dredd – Let’s not let this confuse the inherent problems of a democracy. If society is in fact being run by a so-called epigoverment, which I do believe, would that not thwart or negate the influences of the democratic process. Why do you think I and many others have been saying that all democracies fail for the same reason, as do democratic republics. BECAUSE, in reality they are not democracies but in fact oligarchies or epigovernment as you are suggesting we call them. The masses are just led to believe that by being good Citizens, fighting for democracy and apply pie, things will just miraculously work up for what is int he best interest of the majority. The facts are that It is much more deceptive then most care to imagine or believe.
In the DARK; accountability “slip/slidding away”
http://wallstreetonparade.com/2014/03/fed-chair-bernanke-held-84-secret-meetings-in-the-lead-up-to-the-wall-street-collapse/
Fed Chair Bernanke Held 84 Secret Meetings in the Lead Up to the Wall Street Collapse
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: March 10, 2014
—————————————————–
http://wallstreetonparade.com/
Fed Nominee Stanley Fischer’s Cayman Islands Problem
By Pam Martens: March 17, 2014
Stanley Fischer, Former Vice Chairman of Citigroup, Nominated to Serve as Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors…(details are shocking)!
We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Over 92,000 signatures. It would be a start.
From the previous link:
WASHINGTON – July 1 – CREDO Mobile announced today that it is supporting a petition launched today by Daniel Ellsberg, the heroic whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers, calling on Congress to launch a new Church Committee to investigate the abuses of the NSA and make public its findings.
Daniel Ellsberg, whose leak of the Pentagon Papers altered public attitudes about Vietnam, said the recent revelations provides the U.S. with an opportunity to: “roll back a key part of what amounts to an executive coup against the Constitution.”
One course of action:
“Daniel Ellsberg and CREDO Call for New NSA Investigation”
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2013/07/01-2
What should or could be the vehicle to ensure no other Administrations can engage in this secrecy and overreach? All this talk, no solutions.
annieofwi – The Judiciary is where and how politicians and bureaucrats are protected, by their appointed cronies, the Judges. Without correcting the injustices caused by the collusion between the two branches, we are literally spitting in the wind. There are a myriad of appellate cases that show this as evidence of the fact that there is no effective Citizens recourse against those, especially in higher positions of power. They will occasionally even hand over to us a occasional scapegoat to satisfy the masses ignorance.
Thinking that we can create some sort of legislation or attempt a referendum election to stop such corruption has historically be a fools errant as they will just ignore, dismiss, or change the law. One Judge in a case I read, dismissed a suite against himself; he was the Defendant. Appeal it, and that will be dismissed as well. Lack of jurisdiction is one of their favorites means. If a Citizen tries to use the same tactic, the Judges will deny the request for dismissal. It, “protection” through such concepts as sovereign immunity are truly one of the great rackets of government. The other of course is the confiscation of money and property.
Sovereign immunity is only supposed to protect those doing their job under a specific scope and not those acting outside the law and their official capacity. At least that is my understanding in laypersons terms.
As noted by NS above:
The US is run by a deep state. -Jill
This situation transcends parties. -Jill
U.S. Government Watchlisting: Unfair Process and Devastating Consequences
March 14, 2014
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/us-government-watchlisting-unfair-process-and-devastating-consequences
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/watchlist_briefing_paper_v3.pdf
And the situation is much, much worse than many people realize.
“It is hard to say whether the doctors of law or divinity have made the greater advances in the lucrative business of mystery.”
— Edmund Burke
buckaroo wrote: “It is hard to say whether the doctors of law or divinity have made the greater advances in the lucrative business of mystery.”
– Edmund Burke
One does it for taxation the other for tithing. One uses the legalization of the initiation of force and coercion and one uses psychological manipulation. When they are in collusion they are the most dangerous enemy of liberty and civil society on earth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_manipulation