A large group of noted whistleblowers--including Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Pentagon Papers--has written an open letter asking that the "transparency award" given to President Obama by five open government organizations in March be rescinded.
In the letter, published in the UK Guardian, the group of 50 individuals and watchdog organizations called the Obama administration's record on secrecy and surveillance "a disgrace."
The group claims that petitioners have filed more Freedom of Information Act requests made during Obama's first term--with fewer responses--than have been logged in previous years; that the administration has squashed "legal inquiries into secret illegalities more often than any predecessor" and "amassed the worst record in U.S. history for persecuting, prosecuting and jailing government whistleblowers and truth-tellers," including WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning. The letter also notes that the White House has refused to make its visitor logs public, while overseeing a 15 percent spike last year in budgetary outlays for classifying secrets. The Obama administration has spent $10 billion in enforcing secrecy protocols, the letter notes--the first time any White House has eclipsed that mark."Obama's department of justice is twisting the 1917 Espionage Act to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national security leaks," the letter reads, "more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous administrations combined."
Maybe the leg tingling dumb-fucks should have waited to see if Obumble actually was worth the award before awarding it to him? Hmmmm?
[] House Minority Leader Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace... (D-Calif.) saw her net worth rise 62 percent last year, cementing her status as one of the wealthiest members of Congress.
Pelosi was worth at least $35.2 million in the 2010 calendar year, according to a financial disclosure report released Wednesday. She reported a minimum of $43.4 million in assets and about $8.2 milion in liabilities.
For 2009, Pelosi reported a minimum net worth of $21.7 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2011 00:00 ||
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From Akron Beacon Journal: When the Civil Service Commission meets in Akron today to consider proposed changes to its rules, the first thing it will consider is a change in the basic eligibility requirement.
Currently, applicants ''must be citizens of the United States.'' The proposed change calls for applicants to ''be eligible to work in the United States.''
Now, given the fact Akron's unemployment rate is a shade below 9 percent, is this a great time to expand the pool of job candidates?
Answer: Akron has nothing to do with it. The Department of Homeland Security has mandated the change.
Why on earth is Homeland Security involved in something like this?
''Good question,'' replies Assistant City Law Director Patty Ambrose Rubright. ''I can't answer that. I really can't.'' Why? Because it can, and there's nothing to be done about it. A GOP pledge to quash such federal intrusions might be a popular campaign issue.
#1
Well, Patty, why don't you all tell the Dept. of Screw-You-Over-Because-They-Can to go take a hike?
Make it a public crusade. Demand loudly that they show you exactly where in the Constitution is says they have any right to interfere in this way. Get your Senators and Representatives involved.
Somebody's got to stand up for America - why not you?
Posted by: Barbara ||
06/16/2011 15:22 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A large group of noted whistleblowers--including Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Pentagon Papers--has written an open letter asking that the "transparency award" given to President Obama by five open government organizations in March be rescinded.
Nancy 
