Secrecy of Government

Patrick Henry: “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers [representatives] may be concealed from them.”

THE NATION TODAY
Archives seek to halt agencies' culling of files
March 4, 2006

"Archives seek to halt agencies' culling of files
Intelligence officials will meet with the county's top archivist early next week to discuss the withdrawal of historical documents from the National Archives' public shelves.."

White House Trains Efforts on Media Leaks
By Dan Eggen The Washington Post
Sunday 05 March 2006
The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.

Documents Reveal the Stories of Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay
By Greg Miller, Mark Mazzetti and Josh Meyer The Los Angeles Times
March 04 March 2006

"Washington - Forced by a federal court to lift the cloak of secrecy that had long shrouded the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon released thousands of pages of documents Friday containing names and other details for hundreds of detainees scooped up after the Sept. 11 attacks..."

A National Disgrace: Scandalous State of Affairs at Gitmo
By Thomas P. Sullivan The Chicago Tribune
Wednesday 01 March 2006

"Tantamount to torture" is how an inspection committee of the International Committee of the Red Cross recently described detention practices at Guantanamo Bay. More than 400 men have been detained for more than four years in virtual solitary confinement at the military detention center in Cuba. The prisoners, whom the U.S. government has denominated "enemy combatants," are foreign citizens taken into custody from various countries.

Panel to Expand Inquiry on Surveillance
By Eric Lichtblau The New York Times
Friday 03 March 2006

"Washington - Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee agreed Thursday to expand their inquiry into the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, but Republicans rejected a broader effort by Democrats for President Bush to turn over detailed White House records on the operation..."

Link this up with the fact that one week into his first term of office, Bush signed a law that kept secret all of the Presidential Papers and Administrative documentations for every President from Ronald Reagan to Shrub, himself. An unprecidented move that will keep hidden the lies, manipulations, distortions, and unscrupulous manuevers of these past and present presidents. Also add that in every single way, this Bush Administration has been the most secretive and hidden government in U.S. history, working in the shadows to scheme and ruin the lives of millions of human beings.

The fact is, that you only hide stuff you are ashamed of. That sums up the entire Bush Administration precisely.

And how have the American People responded to these revelations?

Nothing.
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....and finally we have this little ditty from the Salt Lake City Tribune, a bastion of right wing republican sentiment…

Seeing is believing: Federal government still not connecting the dots.
KATRINA BRIEFING

"Three days after Katrina laid waste to the Gulf Coast and drowned New Orleans, President Bush appeared on TV and said, among other things, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." Now, the Associated Press has turned up videotape of the president being briefed on the hurricane the day before it hit The Big Easy. In it, federal disaster officials warn the president and his homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, that the monster storm could overtop the levees and trap tens of thousands of people in the city.

In one sense, this is not news. Transcripts of the tape had reported months ago that the president was warned of the possible disaster in advance. But in the video age, seeing it on tape has more impact than reading a transcript. At this point, we are less interested in whether the president lied about the briefing, didn't remember it correctly or simply misspoke…”
(emphasis mine)

Let me see if I really understand this….This newspaper, the Salt Lake City Tribune, is saying that it dosen’t matter that the President of the United States Lied to the American People about what was known of this horrendous disaster? This, after one of the most devastating disasters ever to befall this country? It doesn’t matter that the leader of this country couldn’t undertand the gravity of the situation, or even that he couldn’t formulate the correct words to describe the sitation? NONE of this matters? Than what the fuck does matter?

Any society, any country, that accepts this premise does not deserve freedom. I say this now, the American people are just such a people.

The Bush Administration has been caught in so many lies and have yet to pay the price of these lies. Lies that have forced this country into a war, into disasterous domestic and international policies. Lies that have undermined the very essense of this country, lies that have devastated the foundations of our tripartite government. Lies that have killed and maimed thousands of innocent human beings. Lies that have endangered the very planet we live on as well as all life on this planet. Lies that have shamed and mocked the very Constitution upon which this country was founded. When these lies have been revealed, the American people just shrugged, ingested more big macs, and went on their way as if nothing had happened.

Americans have demonstrated that they are a people that deserves George W. Bush.