A SelectivelyTransparent Administration

A Tortured Rationale - WSJ.com:

"President Obama was then asked whether he had read the memos recently mentioned by former Vice President Dick Cheney as evidence of the effectiveness of enhanced interrogations. Yes he had, he said, immediately adding that 'they haven't been officially declassified and released, and so I don't want to go into the details of them.' The fact that he didn't rebut Mr. Cheney's point about what the interrogations yielded suggests that the memos would prove the former Veep's point. Mr. Obama should release all the memos and let Americans judge for themselves -- though perhaps that's precisely why he won't release them."

The American public needs to hear THE REST OF THE STORY.

Obama team reverses union transparency - Washington Times

Obama team reverses union transparency - Washington Times:

"The Obama administration, which has boasted about its efforts to make government more transparent, is rolling back rules requiring labor unions and their leaders to report information about their finances and compensation."

I kid you not, last night, I came across the following WSJ article while looking for info on how much money the teacher unions spent buying off the Democrat party in the 2008 elections:

If we told you that an organization gave away more than $65 million last year to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Amnesty International, AIDS Walk Washington and dozens of other such advocacy groups, you'd probably assume we were describing a liberal philanthropy. In fact, those expenditures have all turned up on the financial disclosure report of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union.

Under new federal rules pushed through by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, large unions must now disclose in much more detail how they spend members' dues money. Big Labor fought hard (if unsuccessfully) against the new accountability standards, and even a cursory glance at the NEA's recent filings--the first under the new rules--helps explain why. They expose the union as a honey pot for left-wing political causes that have nothing to do with teachers, much less students.

I decided not to use it, because it was about contributions to other leftist organizations, not the Dem party, and also it is a few years old. But I thought to myself, I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP, "it won't be long before I read about these transparency rules for unions going away..."

Seems to me since we are bailing out teacher jobs, and police jobs, and fireman jobs, and autoworker jobs that we should all know exactly how much every union official makes, and be able to cap their earnings, shouldn't we?

The Most Transparent Administration, Covering Up Effectiveness of Interrogrations

Obama muddles torture message - Josh Gerstein and Mike Allen - POLITICO.com:

"President Barack Obama’s attempt to project legal and moral clarity on coercive CIA interrogation methods has instead done the opposite — creating confusion and political vulnerability over an issue that has inflamed both the left and right.

In the most recent instance, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged in a memo to the intelligence community that Bush-era interrogation practices yielded had 'high-value information,” then omitted that admission from a public version of his assessment.

That leaves a top Obama administration official appearing to validate claims by former Vice President Dick Cheney that waterboarding and other techniques the White House regards as torture were effective in preventing terrorist attacks. And the press release created the impression the administration was trying to suppress this conclusion."

Contemptible.

Uh - oh: The Putsch Continues

Sebelius Open to Fast-Track Process for Health Bill - WSJ.com:

"WASHINGTON -- Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, President Barack Obama's nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, indicated Tuesday she wouldn't take off the table a fast-track process for passing a health-overhaul bill despite Republicans' opposition to the tactic. Ms. Sebelius, testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said she had spoken with members of Congress who support using the budget-reconciliation process to pass health legislation, which would allow a bill to pass in the Senate with only 51 votes rather than 60."

Yet another fundamental change to a massive portion of our economic system may be shoved down our throat without even any respect for the Senate rules. 1 senator will be able to decide the future of our health care system and 17% of our economy. Glad we elected this post-partisan, bi-partisan, centrist President.