They Hate Us for Our Freedoms

So Bubble Boy always tells us. It can’t be our freedom of information.

Late last year, Washington watchdogs won over a reluctant President Bush, who agreed to sign a law enforcing better compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

"But in his budget request this week," the Post's Elizabeth Williamson writes, "Bush proposed shifting a newly created ombudsman's position from the National Archives and Records Administration to the Department of Justice. Because the ombudsman would be the chief monitor of compliance with the new law, that move is akin to killing the critical function, some members of Congress and watchdog groups say."

[...]

The Bush Administration is already under pressure from Congress for its alleged politicization of the Justice Department. Nine US Attorneys were fired for what Democrats say were "political" reasons; the White House has refused to allow aides to testify to Congressional committees about what they know.

  Raw Story

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

And Who'll Challenge Them?

TPM Muckraker has a story that shouldn't surprise you.

We noted two weeks ago that the Bush administration had refused a Freedom of Information Act request for records concerning the loss of millions of White House emails. Justice Department lawyers argued that the office which maintained that information, the Office of Administration, was not subject to FOIA.

But sometimes the administration surprises even itself with its capacity for secrecy. And so it was here, since the White House website clearly stated that the Office of Administration was subject to FOIA. And the office had been busily fulfilling FOIA requests for years, even employing a FOIA officer (the Department lawyers explained in their filing that this wasn't a problem).

So, are they forking over the documents? Fat chance! They've simply updated their website to reflect their claim.

Hey, do what you want....you will anyway.