Transparency - not so much...

[Anonymous]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18969.html

A Politico review of Federal Register issuances since Obama took office found three executive orders, one presidential memorandum, one presidential notice, and one proclamation that went unannounced by the White House.

Two of Obama's actions on regulatory reform were spotted by bloggers, lobbying groups and trade publications after they emerged in the Federal Register.

There was no apparent rhyme or reason to the omissions. A proclamation Obama issued on February 2 for African-American History Month was e-mailed to the press and posted on the White House web site. But another presidential proclamation the same day for American Heart Month slipped by.

Such notices were routinely released by the White House press office during prior administrations — making their omission all the more unusual given Obama’s oft-repeated pledges of openness.

Most of the documents were posted to the White House web site Tuesday night, after Politico inquired about their absence. “It was a simple oversight,” a spokesman, Ben LaBolt, said.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate this website and look forward to tracking the money from the stimulus package via it.

http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/accountability-and-transparency

That's a step in the right direction.

I didn't know about the posting of some proclamations and executive orders and not others -- makes me wonder what percentage did not get posted. If the percentage was low in particular, I'd believe that it truly was an oversight -- the important thing is that they are posted now, and hopefully people will keep looking to be sure that this problem gets fixed. But it's been a busy busy few weeks for the Obama administration -- I'm cutting them a lot of slack for stuff like this.

[Anonymous]

Regarding transparency and the passage of the stimulus package:

http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/legislation?id=0273

“Unprecedented Accountability: An historic level of transparency, oversight and accountability will help
guarantee taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and ensure that Americans can see the results of their investment.

There are no earmarks or pet projects.”

How can the Speaker of the House make such a completely false and delusional statement??

And this was all done contrary to the promise by House Democratic leadership that the bill would be posted online for 48 hours before a vote and against President Obama's very own campaign promise to post all bills online for 5 days before he would sign it.

Change and hope? I guess the change is in the definition of transparency, oversight and accountability and the hope is the hope of more broken promises.

[Anonymous]

From the White House website - an update on the posting of bills for 5 days before sigining. I'm sure they will contend that the Stimulus was an emergency bill and not subject to the review time.

Update on Sunlight Before Signing
As we've noted on the blog, the President has signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. We've also published the DTV Delay Act of 2009.

Since a few questions have come in, we want to update you on the President's campaign commitment to introducing more sunlight into the lawmaking process by posting non-emergency legislation online for five days before signing it. This policy will be implemented in full soon; currently we are working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar.

The President remains committed to bringing more transparency to government, and in this spirit the White House will continue to publish legislation expected to come to his desk online for public comment as it moves through Congress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From the White House website - an update on the posting of bills for 5 days before sigining. I'm sure they will contend that the Stimulus was an emergency bill and not subject to the review time.

Update on Sunlight Before Signing
As we've noted on the blog, the President has signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. We've also published the DTV Delay Act of 2009.

Since a few questions have come in, we want to update you on the President's campaign commitment to introducing more sunlight into the lawmaking process by posting non-emergency legislation online for five days before signing it. This policy will be implemented in full soon; currently we are working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar.

The President remains committed to bringing more transparency to government, and in this spirit the White House will continue to publish legislation expected to come to his desk online for public comment as it moves through Congress.

This all sounds like the White House is saying "Well, geez we are trying to make good on the President's promises, but...yada yada"

To quote Master Yoda to young Luke Skywalker, "Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This all sounds like the White House is saying "Well, geez we are trying to make good on the President's promises, but...yada yada"

I was taught in communications 101 that when you use the word BUT in a sentence, you completely negate anything that was said before it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was taught in communications 101 that when you use the word BUT in a sentence, you completely negate anything that was said before it.

You may have been taught that, BUT it's clearly an exaggeration. In fact that sentence itself proves my point, since the second part does not negate the first part at all.

Is there a name for a statement that proves itself? A simpler example is "There exists a six word sentence."