Leahy And Cornyn: White House Trying To 'Eliminate' FOIA Office

Leahy And Cornyn: White House Trying To 'Eliminate' FOIA Office

thinkprogress.org

On New Years Eve, facing “congressional pushback against the Bush administration’s movement to greater secrecy,” President Bush signed the OPEN Government Act, toughening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The legislation — unanimously passed by the House and Senate — would push agencies to respond more quickly to records requests.

But now, the White House is doing everything it can to neuter the law. Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) said yesterday that Bush’s FY2009 “funds for the Office of Government Information Services authorized under the newly enacted OPEN Government Act will be shifted to the Department of Justice” from the National Archives.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Sounds to me like Bush Co. has got something(s) they want hide. Not a big surprise, as far as I am concerned this is one of the most corrupt administrations that has been in office in modern times.

It is unfortunate for those whoa re seeking the truth.

I do hope that this is not allowed to get to far, we have too little power over our government as it is.

thinkprogress.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Excellent thread Animal.

And the question best to ask is what DOESN'T the Bush admin want to hide? They are guilty of commiting literally every crime we have a law for.

Their corruptivity is the stuff legends are made of, and not good ones by any means. They epitomize everything that is wrong with our government in today's society.

Hopefully this gets shot down in a hurry.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


As much as this IS about the Bush administration and epitomizes so much of what is wrong with them, it is important to remember that it does go far beyond that.

The FOIA is a means used to uncover so many truths, without it the work of many people like so many of those here on ATS would surely be hampered.

What is more, I was taught that transparency in the actions of the governmentwas essential to democracy. I really do hope that people are upset by this and become active in trying to prevent this from coming to pass.

reply to post by Animal


Agreed. FOIA encompasses ALL branches of government, including military and the alphabet soup of spy agencies. To have it demolished would only further the gap that already exists between the agencies and taxpayers who fund them's access to important knowlege that may of benefit to all of mankind.

With FOIA gone, cover-ups would go on forever, uncontested.

reply to post by Animal


This story is no surprise, however messed up that may be.

The Bush Administration (and cronies) have essentially told the American people that we'll do whatever the hell we want to and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

This type of attitude eventually corrodes all support from the masses and in the end will be the cause of their downfall (among many others).

FOIA directly affects ATS as we are home to a section devoted to the 'freedom' of information.

Its ridiculous these people can get away with the destruction of the world and not many seem to give a crap about it.

I think blaming all this on Bush and Company is a red herring. The Dem's are just as opposed to easy access, except in public in plain view. It is a Government wide issue. As long as they can fool us into thinking its a Partisan issue it can be drug out over generations. After all the Dem's are in full control of Congress but how often do they actually stand their ground on these issues. They do a lot of lip service but their votes seldom reflect their verbal niceties.

Behind closed doors is where the real decisions are made. We see a few Republicans go down over secret activities and then we see some Democrats go down and the whole thing repeats through generations. Stretch an issue out over a decade or two and it slips right under the public radar.

[edit on 1/26/2008 by Blaine91555]

this sort of news depresses me , there is no accountability any more. its like they dont even pretend to be held accountable any more and blaine is right its non partisen this issue effects the flow of info for the whole goverment.

Originally posted by Animal
reply to post by DimensionalDetective

 

As much as this IS about the Bush administration and epitomizes so much of what is wrong with them, it is important to remember that it does go far beyond that.

The FOIA is a means used to uncover so many truths, without it the work of many people like so many of those here on ATS would surely be hampered.

What is more, I was taught that transparency in the actions of the governmentwas essential to democracy. I really do hope that people are upset by this and become active in trying to prevent this from coming to pass.

The thing is you are not living in a democracy anymore. Even though the administration wants you to beleive the opposite.

reply to post by Blaine91555


I have a different opinion regarding Bush.
Not to question what you know, but if you haven't you may want to look into the role the Bush Family has played throughout history and all of the things they have done.

It's a very sickening realization.
I think we spend far too much time though, trying to figure out who is doing what and how, but there are by far not enough people ready to do something about it.

We need to to something about it, and contrary to the thinking of Bush, there are a lot of things Americans can do about it. It just has to be a movement formed by large majority.

That being the case, there would be nothing Bush could do.

I guess that is the best food for thought that I can muster in this thread.....for all it's worth.

reply to post by Blaine91555


I too disagree with you, at least to a point. The way you talk about the bi-partisan conspiracy supposes an immense level of coordination.

While I do believe that there is corruption and consiracy taking place within the government, on boths sides of the aisle, I do not believe that it could be so organized adn wide spread as you portray it.

I do not believe that EVERY member of the government is in on the conspiracy, and of those that are only a small percentage is actually fully aware (if even) of what is actually going on.

When I talk of conspiracy I am referring to what I believe is the existence of a level of power above and beyond that of government, which uses government, religion, and other institutions as its tools.

I apologize I do not remember the name of the poster before me that also questioned your post, but I agree with him/her. I do believe that the Bush family is part of the wider conspiracy. I believe that Bush and several of those around him (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc) are puppets of this "higher power".

I believe that this attack on our ability to access information through the FOIA is not supported by all members of all parties for the reasons I have listed above.

The thing to keep in mind with this is that anyone with anything to hide (regardless of how earth-shattering or mundane it may be) will go to whatever lengths necessary to keep it quiet. The president is working like hell to cover his ass, and it shouldn't be suprising. I suppose my interest in this is how he has manuevered politically to paint a nice picture by signing the law for easier access and then weaseling to pull the rug out of the law after the fact.

So would the FOIA make the government declassify classifed files more quickly, or are those off-limits. I remember reading some files on the Kennedy Assassination are still classified, you'd think after 40+ years they could disclose all the knowledge they had on it.