White House Releases 75,000 New Visitor Records

By GottaLaff

As Seinfeld never said, "Who are these people?"

Most of the roughly 75,000 records released Friday cover October. Most visitors were there for White House tours.

Bond. James Bond:

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Poll-itics: Americans think standing for principle more important than bipartisan compromise

By GottaLaff

Dear President Obama,

Please pay attention to this poll. You did your best. You reached out numerous times, only to be kicked in the teeth. It's time for change.

Love, Laffy:

(click on image to enlarge)

More poll numbers here.

Transparency, standing up for principles, standing up to special interests... check.

Obama "White House shrouded in bubble wrap"

By GottaLaff

I do appreciate the White House visitor log info, such as it is, and the .gov web sites. But now I'm curious. I'd love to know more about what it is we would love to know but don't:

Walter Shapiro: "For all the campaign talk of transparency, the Obama White House is, at best, translucent and often opaque. An unheralded but politically significant accomplishment is Obama's success in imposing Republican-style loose-lips-sink-ships discipline on normally garrulous Democrats. Sure there have been press leaks... But for the most part, Obama is either presiding over the most boring White House in human history or else he has been adroit in keeping internal doubts and divisions out of the headlines."

"Nothing will remain hidden forever -- if the publishing industry has anything to say about it... For the moment, though, this is still a White House shrouded in bubble wrap. Even though Obama dominates the TV screens and news headlines, there are surprising gaps in our knowledge of his 11-month presidency."

So what are we missing?

If you're not already familiar with him, here's a little background on Walter Shapiro:

Shapiro served in the Carter administration as a presidential speechwriter (1979) and as press secretary (1977-78) to Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall. In 1972, as a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Shapiro sought the Democratic nomination for a U.S. House seat and finished second in a six-way primary. Since 1979, his only partisan activity has been voting.

Obama scores well for first year on ethics, say watchdog groups

Yeah, that new guy in the White House hasn't done anything of any consequence. /rolls eyes

President Barack Obama scores well among ethics watchdog groups in his first year in office, though they’d still like to see more from the president.

Obama has wielded the power of the White House to craft an executive order that limited lobbyist hires in his administration, push federal agencies to share more of their data with the public and begin releasing visitor records for the executive complex on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“After the last eight years, it is refreshing to see a president, through his rhetoric and action, who understands the way that the system works is a problem. That just a great place to start with,” said Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center.

Headline of the Day

Federal Workshop On Openness Closed To The Public

Quickie: House Expenses Go Online for First Time

By GottaLaff

Today's Quickie:

For the first time, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to release their quarterly expenditures online later today.

From the site:

On June 3, 2009 Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested the Statement of Disbursements (SOD) be published online, as part of her continued commitment to increase governmental transparency and accountability.

That was today's Quickie. Was it good for you?

Transparency Watch: Here they are, the White House visitor records

By GottaLaff

BushCo wouldn't know the first thing about this. The word "transparency" was not in their DickTionary:

This unprecedented level of transparency can sometimes be confusing rather than providing clear information.

A lot of people visit the White House, up to 100,000 each month, with many of those folks coming to tour the buildings. Given this large amount of data, the records we are publishing today include a few “false positives” – names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else. In September, requests were submitted for the names of some famous or controversial figures (for example Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly ("R. Kelly"), and Malik Shabazz). The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House. Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names.

Here is the list.

White House Will Reveal Visitor Names

Strike one up for transparency!

The Obama administration "plans to change White House policy by releasing the names of thousands of visitors whose comings and goings traditionally are kept secret by presidents," USA Today reports.

"Until now, Obama had followed the Bush policy of keeping visitor logs secret. News organizations and watchdog groups had sought to make the records public to show who was influencing administration policy on health care, financial rules and other issues."

Torture Ministers must explain destruction of CIA 'torture flight' papers

By GottaLaff

Remember when Boy Georgie said he and Tony Blair were bffs? Partners? Soul mates? Fellow Colgate users? Remember the U.S. and Britain were paired up the way the Enquirer paired up Sarah the Quitter and the First Dude's business partner?

This is what happens when you're inextricably linked to a partner... in crime-- investigations begin to overlap:

Ministers must explain why crucial documents relating to CIA "torture flights" that stopped on sovereign British territory were destroyed, a panel of MPs has said.

A damning appraisal by the influential foreign affairs select committee on Britain's role in the rendition of terror suspects and alleged complicity of torture condemns the government's lack of transparency on vital areas of concern.

In particular, the MPs, in a report released today, call for an explanation for the missing papers, which might explain the role of Diego Garcia, the British overseas territory, in the US's "extraordinary rendition" programme. [...]

It also criticises the government's inability to offer assurances that ships anchored outside Diego Garcia's waters were not involved in the rendition programme. [...]

Amnesty International said the MPs' verdict underlined the need for a full, independent inquiry into the UK's involvement in "war on terror" and human rights abuses.

The committee also voiced disquiet over claims that British intelligence officers were complicit in the torture of detainees held overseas. [...]

Details of the investigations the government has carried out into any of the claims should be made public, according to MPs. Mike Gapes, chairman of the committee, said it was time ministers also disclosed the guidance given at the time to intelligence officers interviewing suspects.

He said details of people captured by UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and placed in US custody should be divulged as part of a drive to improve transparency.

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All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

White House won't disclose executive visits

By GottaLaff

It's getting more and more difficult to see the White House through all that transparency:

Citing an argument used by the Bush administration, the Secret Service rejects a request from a watchdog group to list those who have visited the White House to discuss the healthcare overhaul. [...]

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter to the Secret Service asking about visits from 18 executives representing health insurers, drug makers, doctors and other players in the debate. The group wants the material in order to gauge the influence of those executives in crafting a new healthcare policy.

The Secret Service sent a reply stating that documents revealing the frequency of such visits were considered presidential records exempt from public disclosure laws. The agency also said it was advised by the Justice Department that the Secret Service was within its rights to withhold the information because of the "presidential communications privilege."

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics said it would file suit against the Obama administration as early as today. The group already has sued the administration over its failure to release details about visits from coal industry executives. [...]

As a candidate, President Obama vowed that in devising a healthcare bill he would invite in TV cameras -- specifically C-SPAN -- so that Americans could have a window into negotiations that normally play out behind closed doors. [...]

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics asked about visits from Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans; William Weldon, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson; and J. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Assn., among others.

Sigh. Someone want to talk me down?

Reporters have had it with officials going "off the record"

By GottaLaff

We can relate:

Reporters have had it with officials abruptly going "off the record" at public events and conferences. Now some are calling for an end to it. "If you're giving a speech to the public, and especially if the organizers have made it open to the press, don't declare your comments to be off the record. That's silly," says Rick Blum, coordinator of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, which is asking media outfits to sign a letter urging an end to the widening practice. [...]

In the draft letter being circulated for news agencies to sign, there's a specific demand that officials at widely attended meetings keep their comments on the record. "Keeping public remarks by officials at all levels in the government on the record will greatly improve transparency and accountability for taxpayers," it reads.

Blum especially wants officials to stay on the record when talking policy, a request he made to Barack Obama's transition team. "We'd like fewer backgrounders, and when comments are made off the record or on background only, it's only to provide context or background information, not to discuss policy," he says.

Birthers 'overrun' White House online program

By GottaLaff

Screenshot of recent tweets from @ogovbrainstorm, which automatically shows which ideas have recently gotten 20 positive votes or more.
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The word "birth" is everywhere these days. I guess the "birthers" didn't want to feel left out:

Micah Sifry reports that an effort at government openness seems to have been swamped by questions about Obama's birth certificate:

Right now, the Open Government Dialogue created as part of the Obama administration's new initiative to engage the public in a participatory discussion of ways to make the federal government more transparent and collaborative looks like it is being overrun by the so-called "birthers"--conspiracy nuts who think the President isn't legitimately a U.S. citizen.

The nut alert level is nearing red. They're swarming. They're everywhere. Get out the repellents!

White House Increases Transparency

By GottaLaff

Here's something we never saw, nor could imagine, from BushCo:

Heard in the CQ newsroom: For the first time, reporters and just about anyone else will be able to access the personal financial disclosure reports of senior White House officials and employees without having to take a trip to downtown Washington to look through paper documents. Just fill out an online request.

Damn Communist Socialist ignorami and their double-super-secret plans to bring America down.

Ask President Obama questions about the economy

By GottaLaff

Could he and BushCo be any more different? Welcome to Polar Oppositeland:

The White House is open for questions.

We invite you to participate in our community-moderated online town hall. Submit your own question about the economy and vote on submissions from others. We also encourage you to include a link to a video of yourself asking your question (ideally 30 seconds or less), but text submissions are all you need. Come back on Thursday to watch the President answer some of the most popular submissions live at WhiteHouse.gov.

Obama's Katrina moment?

By GottaLaff

Frank Rich opines that this might be President Obama's Katrina moment unless he addresses the growing populist anger:

A charming visit with Jay Leno won’t fix it. A 90 percent tax on bankers’ bonuses won’t fix it. Firing Timothy Geithner won’t fix it. Unless and until Barack Obama addresses the full depth of Americans’ anger with his full arsenal of policy smarts and political gifts, his presidency and, worse, our economy will be paralyzed. It would be foolish to dismiss as hyperbole the stark warning delivered by Paulette Altmaier of Cupertino, Calif., in a letter to the editor published by The Times last week: “President Obama may not realize it yet, but his Katrina moment has arrived.”

Six weeks ago I wrote in this space that the country’s surge of populist rage could devour the president’s best-laid plans, including the essential Act II of the bank rescue, if he didn’t get in front of it. The occasion then was the Tom Daschle firestorm. The White House seemed utterly blindsided by the public’s revulsion at the moneyed insiders’ culture illuminated by Daschle’s post-Senate career. Yet last week’s events suggest that the administration learned nothing from that brush with disaster.

Otherwise it never would have used Lawrence Summers, the chief economic adviser, as a messenger just as the A.I.G. rage was reaching a full boil last weekend. Summers is so tone-deaf that he makes Geithner seem like Bobby Kennedy. [...]

Since Americans get the big picture of this inequitable system, that grotesque reality dwarfs any fine print. [...]

[The] prominent players are just the handiest camera-ready triggers for the larger rage. Passions are now so hot that even Bernie Madoff’s crimes began to pale as we turned our attention to A.I.G.’s misdeeds, just as A.I.G. will fade when the next malefactor surfaces.

What made Jon Stewart’s takedown of Jim Cramer resonate was less his specific brief against CNBC’s cheerleading for bad stocks than his larger indictment of the gaping economic inequality that defined the bubble. As Stewart said, there were “two markets” — the long-term market that Americans earnestly thought would sustain their 401(k)’s, and the fast-moving, short-term “real market” in the back room where high-rolling insiders wagered “giant piles of money” and brought down everyone with them. [...]

But [the president's] rhetoric won’t tamp down the anger out there, and neither will calculated displays of presidential “outrage.” We must have governance to match the message.

To get ahead of the anger, Obama must do what he has repeatedly promised but not always done: make everything about his economic policies transparent and hold every player accountable. His administration must start actually answering the questions that officials like Geithner and Summers routinely duck.

Inquiring Americans have the right to know why it took six months for us to learn (some of) what A.I.G. did with our money. We need to understand why some of that money was used to bail out foreign banks. And why Goldman, which declared that its potential losses with A.I.G. were “immaterial,” nonetheless got the largest-known A.I.G. handout of taxpayers’ cash ($12.9 billion) while also receiving a TARP bailout. We need to be told why retention bonuses went to some 50 bankers who not only were in the toxic A.I.G. unit but who left despite the “retention” jackpots. We must be told why taxpayers have so little control of the bailed-out financial institutions that we now own some or most of. And where are the M.R.I.’s from those “stress tests” the Treasury Department is giving those banks? [...]

Another compelling question connects all of the above: why has there been so little transparency and so much evasiveness so far? The answer, I fear, is that too many of the administration’s officials are too marinated in the insiders’ culture to police it, reform it or own up to their own past complicity with it. [...]

As the nation’s anger rose last week, the president took responsibility for what’s happening on his watch — more than he needed to, given the disaster he inherited. But in the credit mess, action must match words. To fall short would be to deliver us into the catastrophic hands of a Republican opposition whose only known economic program is to reject job-creating stimulus spending and root for Obama and, by extension, the country to fail. With all due deference to Ponzi schemers from Madoff to A.I.G., this would be the biggest outrage of them all.

Leahy Vows to Name Names if Obama's Nominees Are Delayed

By GottaLaff

Watch out... Patrick Leahy is growling and pawing the ground:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is warning his colleagues that he will shine a light on any of them who try to hold up a nominee of President Barack Obama.

Leahy, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, criticized the use of anonymous "holds" and other tactics that allow a senator to delay a nomination without revealing that he or she is the one doing so. Any senator for any reason can place a hold on a nominee and thereby prevent the formal debate and vote from being scheduled.

"Today, however, there will be no more secret and anonymous Republican holds. Any effort to oppose the president's nominees -- executive or judicial -- will have to withstand public scrutiny. There will be no more anonymous holds," Leahy said in his prepared remarks.

His stance could have the effect of speeding up some of Obama's nominees, including those for the Department of Justice who have faced procedural delays. [...]

Last week, Senate Republicans -- who championed up-or-down votes during the Bush administration -- sent a letter to Obama advising that they are prepared to block votes on nominees when they see fit.

There are several methods that Leahy could use to try to identify publicly a senator who delays a nominee. He could make a request on the Senate floor to consider the nomination, possibly forcing a voice objection by a senator who placed a hold.

He could also name a senator who -- under what's known as the "blue slip" tradition -- has not given consent to consider a nominee from the senator's home state.

In the face of a possible filibuster, Democrats could move to cut off debate, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., did Monday with Ogden's nomination, but doing so requires lengthy procedures and at least 60 votes in favor.

How dare the Democrats force the Rushpublics' hand!? What?! That's unheard of!

That would make them all accountable and stuff. And that's undemocratically unpatriotically treasonous! Only Democrats should be held accountable for their votes, never Rushpubs.

There. I've said it. Someone had to. Damn Democratic zealots.

Presidential memo: Protect scientific decisions from political influence

By GottaLaff

Welcome to the new normal, meaning the real normal as opposed to the old normal which was the BushCo normal:

When President Obama lifts restrictions on funding for human embryonic stem cell research Monday, he will also issue a presidential memorandum aimed at insulating scientific decisions across the federal government from political influence, officials said today.

"The president believes that it's particularly important to sign this memorandum so that we can put science and technology back at the heart of pursuing a broad range of national goals," said Melody Barnes, director of Obama's Domestic Policy Council.

No more creating one's own reality? No more politicizing science? On the Makes-Sense-O-Meter scale of 1-10, that's like a... 400.

While officials would not go into details, the memorandum will order the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to "assure a number of effective standards and practices that will help our society feel that we have the highest-quality individuals carrying out scientific jobs and that information is shared with the public," said Harold Varmus, who co-chairs Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

What?! Did I hear them say "share information with the public"? Everyone duck! The Makes-Sense-O-Meter's about to explode!

The memorandum will ensure that "people who are appointed to federal positions in science have strong credentials and that the vetting process for evaluating scientific information doesn't lead to any undermining of the scientific opinion," he said.

Oh puh-leeze. Credentials schmedentials. Allowing cronies to dictate what happens to other people's bodies, which lab procedures to approve, or which religious beliefs to inject into research and development is perfectly sound... if you're an insecure, sadistic little splat of a tyrant named George.

Bobby Jindal’s office the most opaque in the nation

By GottaLaff

And here we thought Limelight Palin was the gift that kept on giving. Move over, Sarah, Ba-ba-ba*-Bobby's in town:

[A]fter all of his grandstanding on how government needs to be more transparent, about how there needs to be increased disclosure and stronger ethics laws in the state of Louisiana… Governor Jindal’s office ranks dead last nationwide when it comes to transparency.

S.B. 363, a bill about the Louisiana Youth Advisory, includes an amendment to exclude any records in Jindal’s hands from the open records law.

Let me repeat this for all the Jindal supporters who still are grasping on to the hope that Jindal is a reform candidate. Bobby Jindal, the person who said:

Today, we embark on the single most important endeavor for the future of Louisiana - bringing comprehensive ethics reform and transparency to our state

will now only have to give you his records if he feels like it. You cannot make a public records request for them. [...] Jimmy Faircloth on why the Governor needs to operate in secrecy.

… the governor’s office opposed the bill because it would create problems for the governor to freely receive ideas, policy recommendations and communications from legislators and others. He also said it would create problems with investors who want to privately negotiate with the state.

It is really hard to orchestrate bribes in the form of campaign donations when you are under public scrutiny after all.

So now Jindal has his own propaganda machine, can operate in secret without anyone knowing what he is doing, and has a Press Secretary and the rest of his handlers who will make sure that you cannot even talk to him unless they want you to.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

*What Rachel Maddow said after Jindal's rebuttal speech.

H/t: Spock8585

Transparency: Stimulus site gets 3,000 hits per second

By GottaLaff

Any physician who peered into Georgie's big ear canals could confirm that the only thing transparent about Bush was his skull:

The website President Obama said will allow Americans to monitor the spending of the $787 billion recovery plan is generating intense traffic, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Peter Orszag, Obama's director of the Office of Management and Budget, said recovery.gov received 3,000 hits a second upon its launch last week. [...]

"We have to go beyond normal procedures to a higher level of transparency," Orszag said.

Biden, who called the effort to track the money "unprecedented," also said he would be "a pain in the neck" and "intrusive" in making sure the money is spent wisely.

But that's cool, V.P. Joe, because it hurts so good.

Gitmo Detainee’s ‘Genitals Were Sliced With A Scalpel,’ Waterboarding ‘Far Down The List Of Things They Did’

By GottaLaff

A few days ago, I posted about this story and the need for President Obama to keep his promises about transparency, specifically regarding torture. Here is a nausea-inducing update:

But The Daily Telegraph reported over the weekend that the documents actually “contained details of how British intelligence officers supplied information to [Mohamed’s] captors and contributed questions while he was brutally tortured.” In fact, it was British officials, not the Americans, who pressured Foreign Secretary David Miliband “to do nothing that would leave serving MI6 officers open to prosecution.” According to the Telegraph’s sources, the documents describe particularly gruesome interrogation tactics:

The 25 lines edited out of the court papers contained details of how Mr Mohamed’s genitals were sliced with a scalpel and other torture methods so extreme that waterboarding, the controversial technique of simulated drowning, “is very far down the list of things they did,” the official said.

Another source familiar with the case said: “British intelligence officers knew about the torture and didn’t do anything about it.”

“It is very clear who stands to be embarrassed by this and who is being protected by this secrecy. It is not the Americans, it is Labour ministers,” former shadow home secretary David Davis said. But one unnamed U.S. House Judiciary Committee member told the Telegraph that if President Obama “doesn’t act we could hold a hearing or write to subpoena the documents. We need to know what’s in those documents.” [...]

Today in San Francisco, "a little-publicised court case into the treatment of Mohamed will open" in federal court. Andrew Sullivan notes that "we'll find out if the Obama administration intends to keep the evidence as secret as the Bush administration did."

Please do the right thing, President Obama. Break from BushCo, and prove Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and like-minded cretins wrong, publicly. And loudly. And please, don't rely on feckless truth commissions.

We can't afford to allow Bush's dangerous, horrific, democracy-demolishing precedents to stand.