Obama’s cloud-based transparency
Obama’s Cloud-Based Transparency
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2011
At the dawn of his administration, President Obama opined: “A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency.” Magical rays of white-hot sunlight emanated from his media-manufactured halo. And then bureaucratically engineered darkness settled over the land.
For three years, White House officials have rolled out countless executive orders and initiatives touting open government. Just this week, they unveiled plans to move federal archival records from a paper-based to an electronic system. But behind the scenes, Obama’s lawyers systematically have stymied public information requests, carved out crater-sized disclosure loopholes, fought subpoenas on scandals from Fast and Furious to Solyndra, and made routine the holiday document dump.
The latest meeting of the Government Accountability and Transparency Board, attended by Vice President Joe Biden, was closed to the press two weeks ago.
The Justice Department stealthily attempted to sabotage the Freedom of Information Act last month with a regulation change that would have allowed federal agencies to legally and deliberately deceive the public about the existence of requested records. After a massive backlash, DOJ retreated and sheepishly admitted that the license-to-lie rule “falls short” of the Obama “commitment” to transparency. (Actually, it’s the perfect embodiment of the administration’s contempt.) The same DOJ, it should be noted, banned reporters from a FOIA training workshop in 2009.
In October, the Interior Department and Energy Department spurned attempts to gain information about the administration’s $1.2 billion loan guarantee to Democrat-connected solar company SunPower. The deal, championed by powerful Democratic Rep. George Miller III, was approved hours before the program expired on Sept. 30. Miller took Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on a tour of the SunPower plant last year; Miller’s son is a lobbyist for SunPower. Conservative newspaper Human Events and the nonprofit legal watchdog group Judicial Watch have now filed several pending FOIA requests.
In September, State Department officials refused to go on record during a briefing on its new global government transparency program. Earlier this spring, a ceremony to honor Obama’s commitment to openness was closed to the media — after which dutiful (sup)press secretary Jay Carney boasted that his boss “has demonstrated a commitment to transparency and openness that is greater than any administration has shown in the past.”
As evidence of this historic openness, Obama flacks point to farces like last week’s Thanksgiving-timed release of White House visitor logs — which even left-wing good government activists have criticized for their incompleteness. As the Center for Public Integrity reported earlier this year, the logs (which disclosure advocates forced into the public eye after suing) “routinely omit or cloud key details about the identity of visitors, whom they met with and the nature of their visits. The logs even include the names of people who never showed up. These are critical gaps that raise doubts about the records’ historical accuracy and utility in helping the public understand White House operations, from social events to meetings on key policy debates.”
Occasional holiday document dumps have always been a mainstay in Washington. But the agents of Hope and Change have turned the ritual into a weekly punch line. If it’s Friday, it’s dump day. The plan worked. As of Tuesday, no mainstream news outlet had reported on the contents of the Black Friday document trove.
None showed interest in the nearly 60 visits from Robert B. Creamer, a convicted felon and tax cheat, left-wing Huffington Post agitator, husband of Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky and vocal champion of the Occupy Wall Street movement. According to the newly released records I reviewed, Creamer was at the White House five times in August 2011 meeting with various officials, including Jon Carson, Cecilia Munoz and Stephanie Cutter.
Nor has there been interest outside conservative blogs in the five White House visits by former Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, a key Fast and Furious scandal bureaucrat, in July and August 2011, or in the five visits from former Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison, including on Aug. 18, 2011, just before the tax-subsidized firm declared bankruptcy.
Nor did any journalism ethics mavens show any curiosity whatsoever about the Aug. 5, 2011, appearance of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and her party of seven (names not identified) to visit “POTUS.” Maddow made no mention of the visit on her August 5 show, which promoted the latest batch of White House stimulus proposals. According to the White House logs I reviewed, this was Maddow’s fifth trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. — and the fourth to see the president personally.
Instead, as Newsbusters noted, a Washington Post political blogger was busy trolling Twitter for help digging up “outlandish/incorrect predictions from Newt Gingrich’s past.” And the only documents The New York Times is interested in crowd-sourcing are Sarah Palin’s e-mails.
Team Obama’s data whitewashers inside and outside the White House have given “cloud-based” a whole new meaning.
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The Vichy Media are not only absent in terms of truthful and accurate reportage but are complicit in some of the greatest scandals in American history. The fact that Jay Carney continues his absurd defense of the indefensible tells me that he is either a liar or simply stupid, maybe a combination of the two.
Obama’s crew is good at whitewashing and great at stealing.
MM said:
Even casual perusal of the Socrata database looked like a sign up sheet for detention hall. Wasn’t “The Fog” a low budget b-movie schlock ‘horror’ flick?
This will bring new meaning to the term “Lost in Translation”. For decades the progressives had tried to rewrite history, now they have a golden opportunity to do just that.
Oh yeah, clear as mud!
Wow. Just wow. I’ll even say it backwards: woW.
Maddow is Reggie Love’s replacement? Obowmao’s new body man? Yeesh!(shudder)
The odds of the various FIAs to actually arrive in a timely manner are slim-to-none.
And the odds of any person or persons to actually be hauled in front of a committee is less than that.
The odds of any person or persons to actually be indicted AND convicted is less than even that.
Why do we even waste our time?
Because it is the right thing to do.
As my beloved Granfather used to say to me when I would stand in front of the TV: “You make a better door than a window, now get the hell out of the way!”
This is a truthful statement, however…having a “commitment” without action on the commitment, is like issuing a statement of “intent” that turns out to be just an excuse when held accountable after the intent is exposed as blather.
Some well-worn examples of this are:
“I wanted to do it, but the ______________ fought me on it at every turn.” (Blame others for failure.)
“I intended to do what I had promised the voters, but circumstances changed, making it impossible to achieve.” (A convenient excuse for lying to the public.)
Politics is the perfect occupation for pathological liars, morally corrupt blowhards, and ethically challenged thieves (with a penchant for semantics.)
Public service, indeed!
I’ll vote for a combination of the two. I wonder how Carney can be so blind to not realize he’s a tool being used by the Obowmao administration. When he’s no longer useful he will be under the same bus as his predecessors.
Yes, with Adrienne Barbeau.
My mind is wandering now… I’ll be back soon.
If Jay Carney were to quit now, he would probably be found floating in the Chicago East River…a suicide, of course. Job pressure.
We need a perp walk…NOW!!! This can’t wait until elections, but I’m sure nothing can be done before that. By November of 2012, this country will be irrevocably changed. And our history will be re-written. Just as Mr. and Mrs. Obama promised. Just think, a campaign promise that was actually kept. Thanks to the morons who voted these people in…we might just be toast.
Ah yes, as we fondly called her back in the day, Adrienne Boobeau. Mind if I wander with you?
“My eyes are up here, Mister!”-Adrienne Barbeau
LOL
Dexter Alarius,
The analogy was spot on for this Administration. Cheesy special effects, cliche ( and rather thin ) plotline, has been actors phoning in their performances all designed to ‘scare’ the mindless?
See a thrift store bargain bin for your VHS copy today! 1 for $3, 2 for $5!
… and… Adrienne Barbeau!
Great movie!
Just like when the media vetted Obama…what’s that? We still have little idea about his past except voting “Present” a lot in the Illinois legislature and he won the Nobel Peace Prize?
In the wordes of Miss Emily Litela, “NEVER MIND!!!”
Getting paid what he is plus all future money making opportunities, I’d say he has put his morals on the back burner.
Would you?
***
The American Pravda Media has done a really excellent job flying air cover for Comrade Obama and His Ilk. Most people are too busy in their personal lives to listen to talk radio, watch the Fox T.V. channel, or to visit good conservative web sites like this one or the Drudge Report or Hot Air.
***
My Phoenix based doctor sons had barely heard of the GunWalker scandals. They asked me what was going on in their own area. One of them wanted to go to the local gun club to get a refresher course in gun safety and shooting practice. There were already 300 people waiting for range time. His question was “Why are so many people here?”
***
The other son asked about what the tax changes in 2013 and the Medicare cuts would mean to them and their patients. He turned a little green when I explained to him that his income would probably drop 10 percent. And that his clinic would probably have to start turning away Medicare patients when they could no longer make a profit on them.
***
But most people do realize that the job markets have not improved. And that continued wild spending for the next 5 years will really sink our country into third world status. Fundamentally Transformed by The Good Comrade and His Ilk. And The One’s work is still wrapped it the clouds of B.S. by most “news” media.
***
Oh! Look! Over there! Who is that racist Hermann Cain banging now? Isn’t that Governor Sarah Palin’s NBA star lover behind that tree over there? Look at these brave OWS protesters pooping up the parks and helping out the “little guys”! The APM at its finest–generating the old U.S.S.R. “truth and news” made so popular by Pravda and Isvestia.
***
John Bibb
***
RC:
That’s the first time I’ve heard that line in decades, since I first heard my mother (she’s still around and very well) use it!
“You make a better door than a window”!
Yes!
A couple of her other lines:
When a gal is dressed/sitting with less than usual modesty: “She’s giving a free show.” (This one I have heard once in a while lately ….)
and:
“Put your arms down – you’re losing friends!”
Or, as my gorgeous young bride referred to her, in the late 70s, Adrienne Big-[****}(Boobs) Barbeau.
Why do i get the feeling that these ‘transparency’ meeting are really about obfuscation?
I can’t begin to tell you how frustrated I am with these utter MORONS who don’t bother to get the least bit informed about what is really going on, then come out and act like they are the only ones who know how to fix things! My sister claims to be “informed”. Yet, whenever I bring up something that she should know about if she is at all informed, she is hearing about it for the first time. When I talk about issues that are real, and affecting us in a big way, she says I am a conspiracy nut. Of course, she gets ALL her news in 1/2 hour of NBC “news”. This is what people consider “informed”. Am I calling my sister a “moron”? Yes, I guess I am. Sigh.
Here’s some more transparency for you.
Nothing to hide here.
MSM to rail about this abridgment of the public’s right to know, in 3..2..1.
It does make you wonder what they will drop of Christmas and New Year’s.
Has anyone ever seen Rachel Maddow and actor Fred Savage in the same room at the same time?
The Weekly Standard said:
Better watch out too cuzz’ holder’s fixin to go all gangsta’ on your azz..! Is it possible that what the Administration meant when they said ‘transparency’ is that we’d be able to see right thru their efforts to deceive us?
Now, on to a more serious note. We should have both paper and electronic records.
1. It’s hard to alter paper.You have to steal it or destroy it.
2. Electronic records can exist anywhere and even if altered in one location, the likelihood of an unaltered record existing somewhere else is high.
Of course none of this matters given that the media is in bed with the government. I’m no fan of Michael Savage but when he coined the term “Government-Media” complex he nailed it.
I’m reporting you to Attaaaaack Waaaaatch.
If you think that one is bad then take a look at a picture of Janet Reno and Bill Gates side by side.
You guys are ruining the Adrienne Barbeau vibe!
Cut it out!
Throw that b@st@rd out…now!! He is corrupt to the core. We can’t continue to allow this stonewalling of the truth! And he can’t hide the truth forever, no matter how much he breaks the law to do it.
Did Obama select ANYONE for his administration that isn’t corrupt, sleazy and socialist? I am asking a question. Can anyone name one single person?? He has even snuck in a few that his own regressives in the Senate won’t approve. But Eric Holder is one of his biggest travesties. Get these low lifes out of MY house!!! I can smell them from Minnesota.
Yeah! What Dexter said! Stay on topic! Now where were we?
Oh yes, … why Adrienne, you’re soaken wet, here, let me help you out of those clothes before you catch your death. (fade to black)
donnyvee said:
Nor am I but that’s well put. Record-keepers are GATE-keepers! You’d be surprised what they can control. Applying for the same position as gate-keeper crony? Oopsie! Lost your app?
Besides, does anyone really believe Teh Administration is interested in saving money? You’re kidding, right.
Put your tongue back in your mouth, young man!! She WAS beautiful. Now, she’s old. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!!
The Doh!Bama administration has inadvertently made theirs the most transparent adminstration in history.
How?
When they say something, you can safely assume that the exact opposite is true.
Yawn
Obviously past your bedtime.
Rep Issa ought to be on this like flies on an OWSer.
Sunshine is the best disinfectant. And boy do we need it for this administration.
Normally I ignore the trolls – especially the ones without the mental resources to defend themselves, but in this case I’d like to point out how important it is for all Americans to demand transparency and honesty from their government, no matter who is in power. If a dishonest government makes you yawn, you should try living where the government will keep you awake nights.
Oh – it’s the talk about Adrienne Barbeau that has you yawning…well here, this should get you all a tingle…
Here is another example of the Obama Administrations “Transparency”
Gunwalker suddenly become Obama’s Watergate.
More transparency from the last document drop...
RED ALERT: Deputy A.G. behind ‘Fast and Furious’ met with President Obama four times during the height of the operation
Item 1: In March of 2011, President Obama denied knowledge of ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ — the Justice Department program that sent thousands of murder weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
Item 2: According to documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee, Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler was keenly aware of all aspects of Operation Fast and Furious as early as March 2010.
Item 3: Newly released White House Visitor Logs list Grindler as having visited the White House 40 times, but only four times with the President himself. All four meetings with the President occurred over a two-week period, between 7 May 2010 and 19 May 2010.
Summary: In early 2010, Gary Grindler was intimately involved in all aspects of Operation Fast and Furious. During the height of the operation, Grindler visited the President on four separate occasions in only two weeks — his only documented meetings with the president at the White House.
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2011/11/red-alert-deputy-ag-behind-fast-and.html
I wonder if she still wants me. She used to.
Yes! Transparency! There needs to be more transparency!!!
Adrienne Barbeau-
Obviously none of you amateurs have seen the uncut version of
Swamp Thing!!
Wow!! That is PROOF of Obama’s culpability in this. Can we fire him NOW??? Someone needs to RUN with this to every news outlet in the WORLD.
Off topic, but I just had the gag reflex kick up. I looked up and Obama was on TV, going down the AF One steps with his limp wrists bobbing up and down. It looks so retarded (not PC, I know, but that’s what he looks like!). Every time I see that, a phrase starts running through my mind…trip, trip, trip, trip. You all think the same thing…don’t deny it!
But thanks to the miracle that is modern video technology, she will remain forever young to those of us who remember.
Transparency?
So, let me see if I have this straight?
You folks want a more transparent government? Like a public listing of all Congressional donations right?
Now, I agree with all of you on this issue, but I also think you’re lying – because you are too partisan to be credible.
But, let’s say you folks really support transparency.
Then why is Mitt Romney your leading candidate?
There’s nothing transparent about the guy – he’s the biggest flip flopper in politics and he’s your nominee.
http://youtu.be/K9njHHyRI7g
Maybe you folks should pick a transparent candidate first.
Just a suggestion
Someone appears to be having difficulty with the meaning of Transparency.
Romney is very transparent. That’s the problem. It appears to show opportunism with regard to his conversion to pro-life, pro-2nd Amendmenet and anti-individual-mandate stances.
Anyhoo… Here’s an object lesson in transparency:
Obama failed English 101 at Occidental. Prove me wrong.
Green eyed Lady said:
Yawn… that doesn’t ‘prove’ anything! Grindler could have been there for any number of reasons and for all you know he and the pResident were discussing NCAA brackets?
You got nothing lady, nothing!
Barry Ozerotoro: Even a blind man could see how transparent we are! Wait…
Bozo Joe: I’m gonna blow the whistle!
Barry Ozerotoro: You wanna visit from da boys in Chicago?
Bozo Joe: Not that s#!t, you promised I could blow the frigin’ train whistle!
Barry Ozerotoro: Yeah, blow it out yer…
“Obama’s
cloudclown-based transparency”Fixed it.
CloudMud based “transparency”Fixed it for you
There was more transparency in the former Soviet Union than there is in this White House and this Congress.
Hang the lot of them I say.
He is also a subordinate of the Liar-in-Chief. ‘Nuff said.
“Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of corrupt Obamites.”
And what will they do with this? Seriously?
Ran across an old poem the other day I hadn’t read in ages. Seems a perfect fit for Captain Zero and the prog crew of the good ship Librocrat.
From: The Hunting of the Snark – An Agony in Eight Fits
- by Lewis Carroll
Fit the Second. (With a few liberties…)
[Captain Zero] himself they all praised to the skies —
Such a carriage, such ease and such grace!
Such solemnity, too! One could see he was wise,
The moment one looked in his face!
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
“What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?”
So [Cap'n Zero] would cry: and the crew would reply
“They are merely conventional signs!
“Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we’ve got our brave Captain to thank:
(So the crew would protest) “that he’s bought us the best —
A perfect and absolute blank!”
This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out
That the Captain they trusted so well
Had only one notion for crossing the ocean,
And that was to tingle his bell.
Dingalingaling indeed.
It is going to take a cataract surgery to open them up. Never trust a man who put his papers in a lockbox before he ran for the public office.
What did anyone expect? This administration has operated on the fringes of the law for three years. They will stretch those boundaries if they get another four years.
The media have not only protected them, they have been a part of the cover-up to the extent they no longer enjoy much credibility.
As they continue to lose readership and viewership, they will get into panic mode and try to redeem themselves, but their efforts will fail. They are rapidly becoming a dirty part of history, and deservedly so.
I saw a reply from an Italian blogger to a web story last week. He said that even the ancient Romans were worried about this, saying: “We have the Caretakers ruling over us, but who is watching the Caretakers?”
This is only one of many egregious professional misfeasences of which the Vichy Media are guilty, albeit a critically important one that allowed an unqualified person access to the highest office in the land.
Why did Michel (snooki) Bachman say she would close the US embassy in Iran?
Would any of you do the same?
*Yawn*
Because of what Obama said happened to the English embassy.
Good response, Dexter.
In fact, she didn’t say she would close it. She said there wouldn’t be one. She also said she would do what the Brits are doing, as in if she were them or if we had an embassy.
Poor HuffPo mis-stated her words. And poor ILMDinglebarries hooked itself again.
We drifted off topic again.
I’d be Adrienne’s Swamp Thang in a second!
We did, but now I’m intrigued by the reference. What started that? I saw something the other day, too…
She has eyes?
On December 1st, 2011 at 11:49 am, Ilovemyrumpfetishsaid:
Hey, did you hear the one about the English Embassy that was attacked by the Iranians?
Or maybe the one about Hawaii is in Asia?\
Or this Gem:
The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries.”
And my favorite:
The Intercontinental Railroad!!
All aboard – LA to Paris loading at gate Zero!!
Okay, first inspect the illustration at the top of the post.
Then read comments #3, 14 and 16, etc. Then, Bing “Adrienne Barbeau” and click on the Images tab. Enjoy.
Okay, now it all makes sense. Of course, I have seen the babe in question. She was in Escape From New York, too…
The illustration is what I failed to connect to everything… the references to her weren’t adding up until you pointed that out. What can I say. I’m at work…
I can neither confirm nor deny…
This administration makes Baghdad Bob look honest.
For those of you, who remember the ‘old’ IT (data processing) verbiage:
What is it???
If it’s there, and you can see it, it’s real.
If it’s there, but you can’t see it, it’s transparent.
If it’s not there, but you can see it,
it’s virtual.
If it’s not there, and you can’t see it, it’s gone!
(unreal)
So, to paraphrase: Teh Oone is “gone”…