On a "Never Need To Know" basis

Just as Dolly told the other animals to be quiet and trust the pigs, the swine in the White House pretty much don't want us to know anything about what they do.

16 MILLION documents stamped "secret" and stashed away from the lighted lamp of public knowledge since 2001. Yeah, I know, 9/11 changed everything. No shit. It lets the shadowy fucks at 1600 Penn get away with pretty much anything.

Much props to Ken Saunders - I don't like to just cut-and-paste another bloggers work, but in this case, it's just so... so...so... unbelievable...

Putting the "mock" in Democracy"

Odds are, that, if asked, most Americans would define democracy as a government of, by, and for the people. Likewise, most Americans would consider America's "grand experiment" to be the shining example of democratic government, to be exported and worshiped worldwide. These are, after all, the fairy tales told to us in school.

However, in order for a government to properly be of and by the people, the people, namely "we", must have some idea of what our government is doing. Otherwise, while perhaps called a democracy, it becomes a government over the people and in which we have little, if any, say. Sadly, not only do we not have a clue about our government's actions, our government is systematically deeming more and more information about its activities improper for public consumption.

Since 2001, the number of government documents stamped "secret" by the Bush administration has steadily increased nearly 75 percent, from 9 million to 16 million. This increase in clandestine governance stems directly from Executive Order 12958 wherein President Bush broadened the classification of secret and confidential government information and ordered government agencies to restrict disclosures under the Freedom of Information Act. (more)