Government Transparency, A Promise Unfulfilled

The Associated Press did an analysis of how well the Obama administration was doing on his promise to have "the most transparent administration in history", and it's not looking good according to their analysis in an article published by The Guardian.

The government's own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that halfway through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records. In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government's efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Barack Obama took office.
And five years after Obama directed agencies to less frequently invoke a "deliberative process" exception to withhold materials describing decision-making behind the scenes, the government did it anyway, a record 81,752 times.
"I'm concerned the growing trend toward relying upon FOIA exemptions to withhold large swaths of government information is hindering the public's right to know," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "It becomes too much of a temptation. If you screw up in government, just mark it 'top secret.'"

CIA Vrs the Senate

While Dianne Feinstein has long protected the US Intelligence agencies in the Senate, she finally had enough when the CIA accused her staff of hacking while investigating waterboarding Post 9/11 by the CIA.  She took to the floor of the Senate for 90 minutes denouncing the CIA and their tactics, accusing them of violating the US Constitution.  Ron Wyden agreed in a statement released Tuesday, 3/11/2014.  His language regarding the CIA was very blunt.

In my judgment, the Intelligence Community leadership’s misleading statements on interrogation and many other issues has undermined their credibility. I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that the facts about the CIA’s detention and interrogation program are made public, so that the American people can make up their own minds about what happened and prevent the mistakes of the past from being repeated.

 Even Lindsey Graham rose in wrath according to CNN.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the allegations "dangerous to a democracy," if it's substantiated that the CIA interfered with a congressional investigation.

"Heads should roll, people should go to jail, if it's true. ... I'm going to get briefed on it. If it is, the legislative branch should declare war on the CIA, if it's true," Graham said.

Climate Change Senate Marathon

The US Senate Democrats (28 of 55) are holding an overnight talkathon on the reality of climate change and urging legislation to deal with it, which sadly won't happen any time soon given the poisonous divisions in congress and the massive money behind the fossil fuel industry.  Both Oregon Senators Wyden and Merkley are in attendance. 

The full list of Senators attending are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md.; Bernard Sanders, I-Vt.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Mark Udall, D-Colo.; Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Al Franken, D-Minn.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Angus King, I-Maine; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and Edward Markey, D-Mass.

Here are some interesting stats on the GOP point of view on Climate Change.

Republicans going to bed

Predictably, Republicans in Congress will not be joining in tonight’s events on the Senate floor. A majority of Republicans in Congress deny the existence of climate change or oppose action on climate change. The Center for American Progress has done a good job tracking congressional Republicans’ views on climate change.
By their count, 56% of Republicans in the house deny the existence of climate change or oppose action on climate change, and 65% of the Republican caucus in the Senate.
The numbers are even higher in the Republican leadership:

• 90 percent of the Republican leadership in both House and Senate deny climate change
• 17 out of 22 Republican members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, or 77 percent, are climate deniers
• 22 out of 30 Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, or 73 percent deny the reality of climate change
• 100 percent of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans have said climate change is not happening or that humans do not cause it

Decoding CPAC

I don't take seriously much of anything that comes out of the Conservative Political Action Council known as CPAC, but it provides a clear view of what goes on in the heads of the attendees, it resembles a tent revival gathering of the mean spirited crowd, and all they want is to be told the devil is a really bad dude.  It really doesn't reflect what the speakers think, they're going to utter whatever sound bites they think will get the folks riled up and cheering.  The Washington Post had a pretty good article by Dana Milbank on it.

The conservative movement is united in one way: its antipathy toward anything that has to do with President Obama. In the 2014 midterm elections, that will likely be enough to allow Republicans to keep the House and possibly win the Senate.   ... 
Take away the shared contempt of Obama, and there was little left. After strolling past the talk-radio booths (sponsored by Koch Industries), participants could hear sessions on “The American Dream vs. The Obama Nightmare,” and “Health Care After ObamaCare: A Practical Guide for Living When No One Has Insurance and America Runs Out of Doctors.”
The booths in the CPAC exhibit hall made very clear what the conservatives are against: anti-United Nations, anti-AARP, anti-Federal Reserve, anti-union, anti-abortion, anti-bilingualism, anti-lawsuit, anti-gay marriage.
There were “pro” booths too: pro-Cruz, pro-Sarah Palin and pro-Rand Paul. But that only underscored the party’s, and the movement’s, lack of agreement on its leadership.

There were some recurring themes repeated often.

1. Obama is weak and the US is not respected internationally.  Now this is pretty easy to decode, anytime the US doesn't get everything it wants from the international community, it denotes "lack of respect", which really boils down to lack of fear of our mighty power and our unswerving will to use it.  These folks pine for the good old days of Iraq and Afghanistan, in their mind those wars showed our true character.
2. Chris Christie said "We have got to stop letting the media define who we are and what we stand for.".  That is pretty easy too, the media is the enemy, their probing questions and unwillingness to accept the almighty truths given them by Cruz, Paul et al means they're hostile to all conservatives.  Never mind that the majority of the media is controlled by mega capitalists.  Different points of view don't play well at CPAC.
3. It's all about the Second Amendment.  Mitch McConnell walked on with a rifle, a gift he was giving to the retiring Tom Coburn  Wayne LaPierre of the NRA cried the battle call.  “Joining the NRA,” he told the crowd, “is how you resist. It’s how you tell the world that you’re going to fight and you’re going to protect everything you care about: trust, honor, dignity, civic duty, courtesy, kindness, the liberty to live our lives and believe as we choose, to be as accepted as we are accepting of others, freedom that only comes through the second amendment and the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution!”.  Arguing with him will just get you shot, but I'm nut sure what packing heat has to do with "trust, honor, dignity, civic duty, courtesy, kindness", but I'll ask him next time I see him.
4. Government is bad for all of us.  Original sin created government and the sooner we do away with it, the better.  Just ask Rand Paul.