Obama overturns Bush order on access to White House records

So does this mean we'll get to see o'boy's birth certificate? the real one....none of this copy of a fake crap that some of you tools fell for.

What about this constant whining about Obama's birth certifcate in here?

What about SHR's whining about the mistakes Obama made during his presidential swearing?

Issues like that are so blown up in here, that it often gives me the suspicion: many of you arent even willing to give Obama a chance just because he is, in your view:

a communist/marxist/radical black/muslim/terrorist/a socialist/a liberal/another NWO-stooge/the messiah, etc...

Cartoonesque labels put unto a human, blinded by your our own prejudices, frustations or false hopes?

What is the use of turning 'politics' into some sad and silly exchange of plattitudes?

Obama is working hard to change my opinion of him...for the better.

EXACTLY. Why does it seem that everyone WANTS him to fail? It's almost as if they don't know anything else, except suspicion and hatred. Like they wouldn't know what to do with themselves if the U.S. was actually on a good path for once. There isn't anything we can do at this point, he IS the president of this country. What is the point of going in with blind fury? I'm going to at least give the man a chance. I don't think there is anything moronic about simply giving him a chance before deciding he is "evil" or anything of that matter. I like what I see so far, and if it all turns out to be for show-well time will tell. I will deal with that if/when the time comes. Until then watch carefully with an open mind.

The people who were whining about Obama that pissed me off were the ones that were writing him off before he had even taken over which is what, only a few days, not weeks!.

Obama is doing ok, so far!. Oh and can he please open the UFO files, that would be so kind lol :)

I bet, with all of this, there's really nothing to find that's worth pursuing the prosecution of a former President. I don't think any President in their right mind would do something to destroy the reputation of a former President. And if there's anything that can be traced to anyone, it'll be someone who was not precisely at the top level. It's how the ball rolls. Despite my idea, it's a good start.

Did you just wake up from your nap and join the discussion?
We're here to talk about real issues now.

If he really exposes, if even a little bit, the sick ploys of PNAC'S foreign policies, serving their allies's interests, instead of the north american people's own, and the criminal actions carried on by the neocons for the sake of 'the new empire', he's more north-american than bush's hat.

The world watches with increasing interest...
...and hope.

Let's see...

Obama thanked Bush for his generosity and cooperation, which probably means Bush wont be investigated.

Learn a bit about politics.

When Obama would sue Bush and co, he would shoot himself in the foot.

But by his policies and actions he can make a sharp change from the neocon years.

He had also praised the same alliances that Bush had, but his actions of late denote that he might have other ideas on mind. Who knows? I, too, think that exposing a former govt's crimes against his own people and abroad is an expectation close to dellusion on my part... in the matrix we live.... yet, if he has the heart on the right place... if he really means change.... *sigh* How I wish... sometime, someday... change must come. We've been waiting for it.

how about urine samples and lie detector tests for everybody on the government payroll?

...including the retired astroNOTs.

just kidding?
how far do you want to go with disclosures?

namaste

Seems to me he is just here to lull everybody back to sleep......hahahahah

At least with the bush administration, people start waking up to how everybody was being screwed.........


Now the majority will be put back to sleep with the false security that things are changing when all it really was was a facelift. hahahha

The body remains. LOL

Which is EXACTLY what they wanted...humans are so easily manipulated. :(

The Office of Vice President needs its records opened up too,it operated with inpunity even refusing to attend or supply hearings and Senate committees.

You really think this will provide the public with any secrets?

They will black everything out for national security like always, They will release pages and pages of nothing with all the meat blacked out.

Eyep!

What is this kind of nonsense when it comes to americans distrusting their government?

All i read here, both parties work together to 'enslave'us.. they are part of the 'NWO'.

It doesnt matter who you vote for, they all are 'against us'....

Never has there been any proof for it, just sentiments, sensationalism to stir things up.

It tells a WHOLE lot more about you, then the people who are actually trying to make a career into politics.

More and more i get the idea that a majority of americans are running away from their responsibilities.

I said it before, when you are not content with a two-party system there is no one that witholds you from starting your own political party and trying to reach as much votes as possible in your society.
There also is no-one that withholds you from expressing your own views within the existing political parties.

You see conspiracies everywhere, leading yourself by simple entertainment as the X-files, while you dont show the guts to actually raise your voice.

To resume: you act like very lazy, annoying whiners, while you should at first experience life.

My prayer is to see Bush's head roll over his 911 crimes!

Did it take practice to become so blind, or were you just born that way?

Took this from Annie Oakleys' thread:
THE COMING CHANGES
Thread: THE COMING CHANGES

Obama is opening up the process to all papers of Presidents. FOIA
That means that the whole MENSA,AR drug running could be investigated, Sibel Edwards of the Turkish drug connection could be reopened... 9/11, torture orders, Iraq, Our 'special relationship' with Israel...Oklahoma City bombing, Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam...where could it end?! all sorts of things could happen!
Fulford writes about that too...1/19 on his blog.

It takes alot of 'maintenance' to keep those things 'fresh,' and you SHOULD know that they have "practically" NO shelf life.

know this, and knock it off, please.

Awesome!

Obama is showing himself to be a man of integrity and action!

The PNAC and Zionists must be shitting themselves!

By whos laws?...another man? I dont think so..we are of free will and free mind if we choose to seek then so be it. However we should not be avoid of secrets because another man says so. Yes some things are better off not to know, but if i chose not to know the truth to things and desires burning within I would be a weak minded person. I want to grow and know as much knowledge as I can, Im sorry you cannot understand or embrace the power of true knowledge

Given the amount of ignorance you display, I'd guess you're in a constant state of ecstasy as well as denial.

HURRAY!!!

Bump the rebut

Lame swerve attempt twinkie; here's some background:

An Executive Order
Hiding presidential papers
November 11, 2001

"A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."
James Madison, father of the Constitution.

President Bush's sudden move to restrict public access to presidential papers has ignited a firestorm of protest from archivists, historians and journalists.

Should you care? Yes, and here's why. Although most of us will never use presidential archives, we depend on historians and journalists who need these documents to write our political history, to scrutinize the public record and to keep the past honest. In short, a free and democratic society requires open archives.

We fought long and hard for public access to governmental records. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, the public grew weary of hearing half-truths and outright lies from government officials. In 1974, Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act, which guaranteed citizens access to public information.

Four years later, the Presidential Records Act, which defied Richard Nixon's last attempt to conceal his papers and tape recordings, stated that presidential records are the property of the government and do not belong to former presidents. In a spirit of compromise, the act guaranteed public access to papers 12 years after a president has left office.

Last January, former President Reagan's most sensitive records became available for public scrutiny. The Bush administration, however, delayed the release of some 68,000 records three times.

Then, on Nov. 1, President Bush issued an executive order that gives himself -- as well as former presidents -- the right to veto requests to open any presidential records. Even if a former president wants his records to be released, the executive order permits Bush to exercise executive privilege. It also gives him and former presidents an indefinite amount of time to ponder any requests.

Bush's executive order openly violates the Presidential Records Act passed by Congress in 1978.

In defending the executive order, the White House has argued that these new restrictions balance public access with "national security concerns."

But few archivists, journalists or historians believe that national security has anything to do with Bush's executive order. That is because national security documents are already excluded from public scrutiny.

Bruce Craig, director of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History, an umbrella group that represents more than 60 organizations, says, "These claims have no bearing on national security, or on information that may be of use to terrorists."

Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists agrees. "We are not talking about protecting national security information of properly classified documents."

Those who study the presidency and political decision-making are rightly outraged. Hugh Davis Graham, a presidential historian at Vanderbilt University,

charges the Bush administration with trying to "reverse an act of Congress with an executive order." Thomas S. Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive, notes that "The Presidential Records Act was designed to shift power over presidential records to the government and ultimately to the citizens. This shifts the power back."

Former President Clinton also opposes the new order; he wants the public to have full access to his papers.

What, then, prompted Bush to issue such a controversial executive order?

Critics note that, aside from Bill Clinton, the 1978 act will affect the presidential papers of Ronald Reagan, Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, as well as the vice-presidential papers in each administration.

What kinds of information, they ask, might President Bush wish to protect from public scrutiny?

Anna Nelson, an historian at American University, is hardly alone in suspecting that the White House is worried about what the Reagan and Bush papers may reveal about officials who worked in those administrations and are now part of George W. Bush's inner circle. They include, for example, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and Budget Director Mitch Daniel Jr.

"There may in fact be embarrassing documents," concedes White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, "but that would not be considered a legitimate reason to withhold archives from historians and journalists."

If not embarrassing moments, then what?

There is, of course, no end to growing speculation. That is the problem with trying to suppress information. It inevitably raises the question, "What is he trying to hide?"

Consider, for example, the Iran-Contra scandal that tainted the Reagan administration. In order to finance opposition to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, certain high-level administration officials sold weapons to Iran. This was illegal. But despite a huge public scandal, no government official ever went to prison. At the time, some suspected that then-Vice President George Bush, a previous head of the CIA, knew more than he let on about the illegal Iran-Contra scheme. The elder Bush, however, always protested that he "was out of the loop."

Still, other historians think that the current Bush White House, deeply immersed in the war on terrorism, may be worried about fresh revelations that detail the Reagan administration's strong financial support of the Taliban as they rose to power.

Although the president may have hoped that this executive order might go unnoticed, the backlash is already fierce. Archivists and historians have accused the White House of using heightened public interest in national security as an excuse for quashing access to presidential papers. Members of both political parties have also condemned Bush's attempt to suppress public information. Last week, Rep. Steven Horn, R-Long Beach, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, even held hearings on the executive order.

To deny the public's right to presidential papers is a violation of the law -- as well as the spirit of a democratic society. President Bush should rescind his executive order immediately. If not, Congress should act quickly to overturn this high-handed order.

At stake is nothing less than the public's right to know how our democracy works -- in the past, as well as in the present. [link to www.sfgate.com]

"Most speculation on the President Bush's intent with his executive order has been unflattering. Critics have noted that the order gives the President the authority to seal documents that likely contain revealing conversations between former President Reagan and his vice president at the time, George Bush Sr. The current administration includes several Reagan aides, including U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte, who was ambassador to Honduras under Reagan; Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was Reagan's national security adviser; and Budget Director Mitch Daniels, who headed Reagan's White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

President Bush's executive order that overrides the 1978 President Records Act came in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But the Bush administration, in fact, repeatedly had delayed releasing documents since it took office, claiming it needed time to establish a process for handling requests. The September 11 attacks provided Bush an opportunity to implement the far-reaching policy change that nullifies the 1978 law.

Whatever the motivation behind the Bush executive order, it gives a president the opportunity to erect a blockade that stifles inquiry. This thwarts the pursuit of truth, contrary to the principles underlying a free and open society." [link to www.sa2.info]

Ya, like one of those dog training clickers. It's changed.
Quick and decisive. Sure...
There's no gettin out of Pres. duty. Sucka. No pres that ends up having the backbone to continue a living legacy within the gov. All pres. leave and don't contribute.
Interesting. Oh, if they contribute it is in a well fare way.
Signed
Jumpn Ship