I could write separate books on the obsessive secrecy and reluctance to reveal even the most trivial information shown by the British Government and the bureaucratic dictatorship that rules the European Union, but hey, there is an important election this year in the USA and while I would never dream of telling US voters who they should vote for (vote for whomsoever you like, except Hillary Clinton, even if we overlook her Servergate scandal, she's a crook and a liar).
With that in mind I find myself wondering what happened to Obama's promisemade in 2008 to head the most transparent administration ever?
The US Freedom of Information Act, like its British equivalent, requires a response within 20 business days, but government departments easily sidestep that deadline by replying with a non committal acknowledgement.It's what bureaucrats do, when dealing with government departments in my role as a business consultant I would lay out my problem, followed by my suggested solution and conclude by saying if I had not received their reply within seven working days I would assumed they agreed with what I was proposing and go ahead.
It did not make me Mr. Popular, but it got things done.
Justin Elliott, a jounalist for Pro Publica should get in touch with me for some free tips on dealing wiyh bureaucracy. He complains of withing eight months for a reply to a query on the Sany Hook investigation. Even after that delay, Justim wrote, it did not include any documents from FEMA.
In conclusion he comments: "Finally, this Feb. 10 — 492 business days past the law’s 20-day deadline — I got a curious phone call from FEMA. The agency was starting a “clean search” for the documents I asked for, because the original search “was not done properly.”
Why?
The ability to get information from the government is as essential as the right to free speech and expression in holding the people in power accountable.
President Obama (or his autocue) waxed poetic about FOIA on his first full day in office in 2009, issuing a statement calling it “the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open Government.” He promised that his would be “the most transparent administration in history.”
But Obama hasn’t delivered. In fact, Freedom Of Information has been a disaster under his watch. Americans have never lived under a truly left wing before and so have never experienced the self righteousness and authoritarianism of those who just know their way is the ONLY way.
Newly published documents (made public only through a FOIA lawsuit) reveal the Obama administration aggressively lobbying against reforms proposed in Congress. Associated Press found last year that the administration had set a record for censoring or denying access to information requested under FOIA, and that the backlog of unanswered requests across the government had risen by 55 percent, to more than 200,000.
Why is the law failing so badly after all the promises about transparency? Incompetence and politically correct hiring policies that judge a person on the colour of their skin or their sexual preferences rather than the quality of their character account for a lot of the problems. And then as I warned in 2008 and again in 2012, Bracak Obama is not and never was a 'liberal'. He is a cheap little shyster lawyer whose ambition far exceeded his ability, but during his wild adventures in Chicago bathouses he must have collected a lot of dirt on very important people.
Having propelled himself to political prominence without any kind of track record, thus showing himself to be extremely flexible in matters of ethics and morality, he was quickly befriended by some very nasty neo fascists and foreign tyrants whose links with US government Washington would rather not reveal.And that is why the Obama administration has been the most opaque since World War Two.
RELATED POSTS:
Obama Has been An Inspirational President?Well He Probably Inspired More Suicides Than Any Other
Obama’s greatest achievement perhaps it to have put Donald Trump in The White House. Whether you think this is a good or bad thing depends on your political stance. This blog is neutral, our view being that Trump can’t be a worse president than any of the three that preceded him.
Terrorist Friendly Obama Doctrine In Foreign Policy Has Made The World More Unstable
A highly critical look at the ongoing disaster of American Foreign Policy, in particular relating to the middle east, during the Obama administration. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria are the main catastrophes, there are plenty of others.
Speaking to the US Senate Armed Services Committee this month, Breedlove said that " Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration from Syria in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve." These irrational remarks, and the mainstream media's ability to convey them with a straight face, are an indication of a broken system, experts suggest.
Obama To Visit London In Bid To Keep UK In The EU
The UK will vote in June on whether to remain part of the increasingly authoritarian, bureaucratically controlled trading bloc. Obama has said he wants Britain to stay in the EU and help maintain the post-war transatlantic partnership. Obama clearly thinksThe UK it would be in the USA's interests for Britain to be swallowed by the European Federal Superstate the bureaucratic dictatorship in Brussels are intent on creating ...
Control Freak Cameron Wants to Vet Foreign Leaders’ Speeches To Curtail Free Speech On Brexit
Britain’s report on Muslim Brotherhood contradicts U.S. views on group
Ukraine revolution was US led
Has Obama Admitted Defeat In Syria?
Unemployment falling? The Great Statistical Con Trick
Crazy Obama Administration Claims It Brought Peace And Security To Syria In 2015
American paranoia shapes world affairs
Obama, the American dictator
Obama More Concerned Islamists' Rights Than Protecting America
Failure of American world leadership
Obama takes another celebrity vaction
We Learn More Of The USAs Real Foreign Policy From Wikileaks Than We Do From Washington
Obama the backstabber betrays his allies
The pervert president
Liberal Thinker Noam Chomsky Says Obama Is Abolishing Civil Liberties. WTF Is Going On In America?
Obama and Kerry pushing for war
Elsewhere: [ The Original Boggart Blog] ... Daily Stirrer ...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]... [ Ian's Authorsden Pages ]... [Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... Ian Thorpe at Flickr ] ... [ Tumblr ] ... [Ian at Minds ] ... [ Authorsden blog ] ... [Daily Stirrer News Aggregator]