Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Not So Sunny

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Happy Freedom of Information Day


The Most Transparent Administration In History™ sure picked a strange way to kick off Sunshine Week,” tweeted Parker Higgins of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

 “WASHINGTON — 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 irony of this being Sunshine Week is not lost on me,’ said Anne Weismann of the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. ‘It is completely out of step with the president’s supposed commitment to transparency. That is a critical office, especially if you want to know, for example, how the White House is dealing with e-mail.’”

—Gregory Korte, reporter, “White House office to delete its FOIA regulations,” USA Today, March 17, 2015 

Editorial Comment: What’s with Dems and their friggin’ email?


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Hazelnut is one of hundreds of homeless dogs passing through the Humboldt County Animal Shelter this year. Support your local animal shelter — and maybe take a Hazelnut home.










TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California.
(Be)Friend The WORD

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard
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1 comment:

  1. Alert WORDcommenter Steve Ross observes:

    "1. The president, like all politicians, is committed to saying he is transparent. As with all politicians, he's not committed to actually being transparent.

    2. Democrats actually use email. Not sure about Republicans. John McCain says he doesn't. Nothing to disclose here. Just move along.

    3. I know Sunshine Week was an invention of newspaper editors. But the Federal FOIA was enacted July 4, 1966, re-enacted almost a year later, and became effective July 4, 1967. What's this mid-March thing? To take our minds off the NCAA?"

    ReplyDelete