Wednesday, March 18, 2015

White House Office to Delete its FOIA Regulations

USA Today link provided by George Jefferson

The White House is removing a federal regulation that subjects its Office of Administration to the Freedom of Information Act, making official a policy under Presidents Bush and Obama to reject requests for records to that office.

The White House said the cleanup of FOIA regulations is consistent with court rulings that hold that the office is not subject to the transparency law. The office handles, among otherhyp things, White House record-keeping duties like the archiving of e-mails.

But the timing of the move raised eyebrows among transparency advocates, coming on National Freedom of Information Day and during a national debate over the preservation of Obama administration records. It's also Sunshine Week, an effort by news organizations and watchdog groups to highlight issues of government transparency.

"The irony of this being Sunshine Week is not lost on me," said Anne Weismann of the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.

"It is completely out of step with the president's supposed commitment to transparency," she said. "That is a critical office, especially if you want to know, for example, how the White House is dealing with e-mail."

10 comments:

  1. Please Mike share with us how this is Obama hate?

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    1. The fact that there were no inquiries in to the same offenses by Bush, shows something else is at work about these criticisms.
      War technology (kill technology) is supposed to kill the enemy with the fewest number of deaths on our side. Collateral damage (civilian deaths) would be much larger if we sent in enough troops to do the same job. war is a dirty business, which is why we should get out of that business.

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    2. John I assuming your response was intended for another thread however I agree wholeheartedly that we should get out of the war business

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    3. Your suggesting it was an example of Obama hate.

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    4. Your suggesting it was an example of Obama hate.

      That seems more than a little tenuous, but even if it is "Obama hate," what's wrong with hating the malignant vermin who ran on a platform of "most transparent administration in history," and who after being elected, got busy shutting more White House blinds?

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    5. I know Mike pointing out this presidents crimes and despicable behavior constitutes hate in your mind...Expecting transparency from the president = Hate......Got it.....what are you gonna due when Clinton ramps up her campaign and starts rolling the bus over him every chance she gets....its gonna make you go nuts isn't it and yet you'll still vote for her evil ass wont ya

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    6. Pointing out a president's crimes is not enough to qualify for hate. But referring to him as "malignant vermin" certainly is, just as an example.

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    7. But referring to him as "malignant vermin" certainly is, just as an example.

      I can't argue with that (and, in fact, have no wish to dispute the fact that I do, indeed, hate that malignant vermin). I'll point out, though, that this example of yours came well after you had tagged this post "Obama hate," and even if it had preceded that choice of tags on your part, it would still do nothing to explain how Mr. Jefferson sending you a link to a USA Today story qualifies as "Obama hate."

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  2. Most transparent administration ever right?

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  3. Obama--Continuing the Abuses of the Bush administration and making some of them official.

    Is this the Hope and Change we were promised?

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