Bill Moyers: In the Kingdom of the Half-Blind

[malaise]

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051216/in_the_kingdom_of_the_halfblind.php

<snip>
It has to be said: there has been nothing in our time like the Bush Administration's obsession with secrecy. This may seem self-serving coming from someone who worked for two previous presidents who were no paragons of openness. But I am only one of legions who have reached this conclusion. See the recent pair of articles by the independent journalist, Michael Massing, in The New York Review of Books. He concludes, "The Bush Administration has restricted access to public documents as no other before it." And he backs this up with evidence. For example, a recent report on government secrecy by the watchdog groupOpenTheGovernment.org says the Feds classified a record 15.6 million new documents in fiscal year 2004, an increase of 81% over the year before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. What's more, 64% of Federal Advisory Committee meetings in 2004 were completely closed to the public. No wonder the public knows so little about how this administration has deliberately ignored or distorted reputable scientific research to advance its political agenda and the wishes of its corporate patrons. I'm talking about the suppression of that EPA report questioning aspects of the White House Clear Skies Act; research censorship at the departments of health and human services, interior and agriculture; the elimination of qualified scientists from advisory committees on kids and lead poisoning, reproductive health, and drug abuse; the distortion of scientific knowledge on emergency contraception; the manipulation of the scientific process involving the Endangered Species Act; and the internal sabotage of government scientific reports on global warming

It's an old story: the greater the secrecy, the deeper the corruption.
--------------

[tecelote]

1. Ah, Yes...

The most secretive Administration in History does not think that American citizens should have any right to privacy.

A President Of the (right) People and For the (right) People.

[cornermouse]

2. Thanks for the heads up

I have a lot of respect for that man.

[ray of light]

3. nice essay here too that uses that:

http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2005/12/how_i_knew_abou.html

[malaise]

4. Thanks for that lovely tribute

to William Proxmire. What a pity Alzheimer's prevented him from understanding how his fellow citizens were being fleeced by Bushco.

[pretzel4gore]

5. if they have done nothing wrong, why are they hiding everything they did?

To think that we, the people, have ever looked upon the 'government' or business or the dumkoffs at the military hq, the leaders of academia, or the top dogs of religion or entertainment, not to mention science, with anything other then suspicion and skeptical doubt now seems unbelievable! Bush has exposed not only patterns of imbecility in the management of public affairs, but the almost totality of dishonesty shown by the punks who, like pickpockets, have somehow sidled up to the public and robbed him, all while pointing away and describing the 'essence of purity in the midst of the state of being over there see, and maybe here too IF you let me...' etc. They 'classify' information because they want to keep the respect of the gullible young and the pretentious elderly and the stupid mid lifers fool....that, possibly, is the biggest secret on earth, kept from 'we the people' for thousands of years by the upper class twittery, and it's about goddarn time the upper class twits were consigned to performing for each other only and leave 'we the people' out of their crafty schemes (stealing and lying about it: basing our entire societies on big lies while pretending they're humble servants of jesus h christ, all at enormous public expense!)
in 1969 we the people went to the moon, and it's been all downhill ever since!

[Pharlo]

6. John Dean: 'Worse than Wathergate' (Little, Brown: 2004)

Sits on my reference shelf right next to my dictionaries and thesaurus....

7. Glad to see this on the discussion page

Bills Moyers is pissed off. Tomlinson had him cowed for a while, and now I think Moyers is not only pissed at the Right Wingers, he is mad at himself for not speaking out sooner.

I saw it on the editorial page, but not as many people visit there.

kick

[omega minimo]

8. Bill Moyers

:yourock: