posted 11-20-2001 10:08 AM            

Bush Restricts Access to Presidential Papers—Including His Dad’s
19-Nov-2001

George W Bush
On November 1, President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13233, which ends 27 years of Congressional and judicial efforts to make Presidential papers and records publicly available.
This Executive Order suggests that Bush not only doesn’t want Americans to know what he’s doing, he also doesn’t want to worry that historians will someday find out. That is the message in this effort to prevent public access to Presidential papers — not only his, but those of all Presidents since the Reagan-Bush administration.

Secrecy is important to Bush. He has hired only loyal, leak- proof staffers. He has had his records as the Governor of Texas hidden, shipping them off to his father’s Presidential library, where they are inaccessible. Not since Richard Nixon has there been such an effort to keep the real work of a President hidden.

While this effort started before September 11th, the events of that day have become the justification for even greater secrecy. There were the secret arrests of terror-related suspects (currently over 1,000 publicly unknown people). There has been the expansion of the wiretap granting powers of a secret federal court hidden within the Department of Justice. There is a policy of preventing news organizations and congressional leaders from obtaining access to anything other than official news about the war in Afghanistan.

There has been some confusion about the meaning of the President's actions in addressing Presidential papers. He has not repealed the existing law, because he does not have that power. But he has modified the law, and made its procedures far more complex and restrictive. In doing so, he has exceeded his executive powers under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which recognizes the Freedom of Information Act.

Bush has shifted the burden to the person seeking the material. Under the Executive Order, the person seeking material must show that he should be given it; it is no longer necessary for the former President to show why material must not be disclosed. It also creates an elaborate procedure for an incumbent President to block his predecessor from releasing documents. Under Bush’s order, a former President can indefinitely block release of his material, which is not possible under existing law.

What appears to have provoked President Bush’s action is the fact that 68,000 documents from the Reagan presidency were waiting at the White House when Bush arrived, ready for release by the National Archives. These documents passed the twelve-year deadline for public release on January 12, 2001, but their release has been stalled by the Bush White House until now. The documents are believed to contain records that George Bush Sr., as Reagan’s Vice President, does not want made public. They also contain the papers of others who are now working for George Bush Jr., who might be embarrassed by their release.

While secrecy is necessary to fight a war, this Nixon-style secrecy is not necessary to run the country. As former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said in his report on government secrecy, “Behind closed doors, there is no guarantee that the most basic of individual freedoms will be preserved. And as we enter the 21st Century, the great fear we have for our democracy is the enveloping culture of government secrecy and the corresponding distrust of government that follows.”

posted 02-25-2002 04:25 PM            

To ensure we Americans never offend anyone - particularly fanatics
intent on killing us - airport screeners will not be allowed to profile
people.
They will continue random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids,
airline pilots with proper identification, Secret Service agents who are
members of the President's security detail and 85-year old Congressmen
with metal hips. Let's pause a moment and take the following
test.........

1) In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by:
(a) Norwegians from Ballard;
(b) Elvis;
(c) A tour bus full of 80-year-old women; or
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.

2) In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
(a) A pizza delivery boy;
(b) Crazed feminists complaining that being able to throw a grenade
beyond
its own burst radius was an unfair and sexist requirement in basic
training;
(c) Geraldo Rivera making up for a slow news day; or
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.

3) In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
(a) Luca Brazzi, for not being given a part in "Godfather 2;"
(b) The Tooth Fairy;
(c) Butch and Sundance who had a few sticks of dynamite left over from
the
train mission, or,
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.

4) In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
(a) Mr. Rogers;
(b) Hillary, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems;
(c) The World Wrestling Federation to promote its next villain: Mustapha
the
Merciless;" or
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.

5) On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked and destroyed by:
(a) Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd.
(b) The Supreme Court of Florida trying to outdo their attempted
hijacking
of the 2000 Presidential election;
(c) Mr. Bean,
(d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.

posted 02-25-2002 04:52 PM            

Seriously, isn't THAT special! They usually pick stuff to death before they pass it...like the bill with "chemtrails" in it...but something like this they just sail on through. Our tax dollars at work! If we ever see another election day, some of these guys need to look for a new line of work!

posted 02-26-2002 07:23 PM            

KE, you may be thinking of Ed Rollins? He was a Republican 'strategist' who was involved in Republican presidential elections (Reagan/Bush), then became a 'stealth' strategist/adviser when he joined and helped to sabotage Ross Perot's first presidential bid.

posted 02-27-2002 07:39 AM            

quote:

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....from the artist(s) formerly known as Black Flag?

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That be he. Kneweyes, Blag Flag may be bit much for most people. I rock hard and obscure when it's not the classics. The Henry Rollin's rip I refer to is a spoken word piece. Worth the listen.