Activists Crawl Through Web to Untangle U.S. Secrecy

http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=26467

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (IPS) - To combat the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy, U.S. citizens have been forced to unearth new sources for information they once read in their daily newspapers. But thanks to a few dedicated individuals and not-for-profit groups -- and the Internet -- such material is easier to come by than ever before.

"The Bush administration has taken secrecy to a new level. They have greatly increased the numbers and types of classified documents," says Steven Aftergood, who conducts one of the most widely used "open government" programmes -- the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Project on Government Secrecy.

"They have made it far more difficult and time-consuming to obtain documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). And they have imposed 'gag rules' on an ever-widening group of government employees," Aftergood added in an interview.

<snip>

As an example, the website reports the effort of a former conservative member of Congress to board a commercial airplane. "She was pulled aside by airline personnel for additional screening, including a pat-down search for weapons or unauthorised materials. She requested a copy of the regulation authorising such pat-downs, and was told that she couldn't see it."

Why? "Because we don't have to," said an official of the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). "That is called 'sensitive security information'. She's not allowed to see it, nor is anyone else," he added, according to 'Secrecy News'. "She refused to go through additional screening (without seeing the regulation), and was not allowed to fly."

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is becoming the Orwellian phrase of the decade. Getting information from these people is like pulling teeth with tweezers. They won't even release the Reagan presidential papers, for Christ's sake. Or for our sake.

is for their sake.

I would do the /sarcasm thing, but am fresh out. :(

For the sake of Poppy Bush.
During and after Iran-Contra, he kept insisting he was "outside the loop," and it's still too soon for the truth to come out.

Glad to have you here :)

:hi:

Wow. Thank you. I just found this place, and it's nice to be home!

Just checked the membership numbers and was astounded - more than 59,500 of us now -

When I joined in early 2001, there were less than 2,500.

My how we have grown!

I have to say this is the only place on the web that allows thoughts to be exchanged without the flamefests - and I despise those nasty things.

The rules are civility and that's easy - wish that they applied everywhere :sigh:

I'm glad you found us - we will be richer for your participation :thumbsup:

Hang around, join in and let's make a lovely noise :bounce:

(edited for grammar)

DU cites sources and covers the nitty-gritty, not the pretty-pretty. This is where I go for news and/or links to news, have since before I became a member.

Seems to be lots of folks seeking alternative (can we say "truthful!") news sources and unbiased reporting. I often wonder if msm has seen a reduction in the number of viewers.

:hi: I'll buy ya a :beer:

It's a hell of a place. Very warm and teeming with devilish characters.

at my house tomorrow about 4 p.m., does cavanaghjam go with home-made bread? Ima if you have something else planned you can show up late, the batch makes four loaves. Just shoo a cat and sit down. We have a lot to talk about.

This site is like a huge mansion full of passageways and rooms and delightful people. Thanks for the welcome! :hippie:

,...like you (who bake bread, too)! :bounce:

:hi: Welcome to DU.

Sit down in front of your fireplace,...and think awhile here at DU.

Orwellian is too kind.

almost anything under the quise of 'national security"

during the Nuremburg Trials:

The Gestapo and the SD were instrumentalities of an espionage system which penetrated public and private life (1680-PS). Goring controlled a personal wire-tapping unit. All privacy of communication was abolished (1390-PS). Party Blockleiter appointed over every 50 householders spied continuously on all within their ken (1893-PS).
Upon the strength of this spying individuals were dragged off to "protective custody" and to concentration camps without legal proceedings of any kind (1956-PS) and without statement of any reason therefor (2533-PS). The partisan Political Police were exempted from effective legal responsibility for their acts (2347-PS).
With all administrative offices in Nazi control and with the Reichstag reduced to impotence, the judiciary remained the last obstacle to this reign of terror (2469-PS). But its independence was soon overcome and it was reorganized to dispense a venal justice (784-PS) Judges were ousted for political or racial reasons and were spied upon and put under pressure to join the Nazi Party (2967-PS). After the Supreme Court had acquitted three of the four men whom the Nazis accused of setting the Reichstag fire, its jurisdiction over treason cases was transferred to a newly established "People's Court" consisting of two judges and five Party officials (2967-PS). The German film of this "People's Court" in operation, which we showed in this chamber, revealed its presiding judge pouring partisan abuse on speechless defendants (3054-PS). Special courts were created to try political crimes, only Party members were appointed judges (2065-PS), and "judges' letters" instructed the puppet judges as to the "general lines" they must follow (D-229).
The result was the removal of all peaceable means either to resist or to change the Government. Having sneaked through the portals of power, the Nazis slammed the gate in the face of all others who might also aspire to enter. Since the law was what the Nazis said it was, every form of opposition was rooted out and every dissenting voice throttled. Germany was in the clutch of a police state, which used the fear of the concentration camp as a means to enforce nonresistance. The Party was the State, the State was the Party, and terror by day and death by night were the policy of both.
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Sorry, watched the movie tonight and it's affected me deeply.

Call it what it is.This is fascism.

Thank you for posting part of the summation. After seeing the movie, now I want to go and read all I can on the actual trials.

As they slumber, it's happening.

Yes, call it fascism. Even the skeptics and cynics are recognizing it.

great bunch of researchers here. :)

,..."rule of law" - BAH,...

,...democracy - BAH,...

,...dictatorship - whatever my boss says,...YAH