Analysis: States steadily restricting info

[NVMojo]

States have steadily limited the public's access to government information since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a new Associated Press analysis of laws in all 50 states has found. Legislatures have passed more than 1,000 laws changing access to information, approving more than twice as many measures that restrict information as laws that open government books.

Some things your government doesn't have to tell you about:

- The safety plan at your child's school, if you live in Iowa.

- Medication errors at your grandparent's nursing home in North Carolina.

- Disciplinary actions against Indiana state employees.

The horror of the attacks spurred a wholesale re-examination of information that could put the country in danger, and the state actions roughly mirror those on the federal level. Federal agencies responded by shutting down Web sites, pulling telephone directories and rethinking everything from dam blueprints to historical records.

more...

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SUNSHINE_WEEK?SITE=CODER&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-03-11-18-14-19

[babylonsister]

1. This just infuriates me. I wonder if Leahy knows about this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2507814

[NVMojo]

3. let's tell him!

[babylonsister]

4. Will do!

:thumbsup:

[HockeyMom]

2. Terorists Attack School Drills

Remember Fire Drills? Well, that is a thing of the past. The latest is "disaster" drills. In primary grades, they call them hurrican/snow(???) drills. They are much as the fire drills, except the school goes into lock down.

What we were told (staff) is that they are really terrorist attack drills, but they don't want to tell the children that. Of course, they cannot keep that fact from Middle or High Schoolers (or Staff or Parents).

Wonderful World. Fear, fear, fear.

[Trillo]

5. Interesting:

You wrote: "they are really terrorist attack drills, but they don't want to tell the children that."

The implicit training or 'the example' of 'how to lie' starts young now.

[UpInArms]

6. States steadily restrict public's right to know

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/6022213p-5995372c.html

Some things your government doesn't have to tell you about:

n The safety plan at your child's school, if you live in Iowa.

n Medication errors at your grandparent's nursing home in North Carolina.

n Disciplinary actions against Indiana state employees.

States have steadily limited the public's access to government information since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a new Associated Press analysis of laws in all 50 states has found. Legislatures have passed more than 1,000 laws changing access to information, approving more than twice as many measures that restrict information as laws that open government books.

<snip>

“I don't know why all of a sudden the holy grail of security and safety is now closing records,” Mark Thomas, head of the Oklahoma Press Association, said after the bill was introduced. “It seems to me we would be more secure if we knew what was going on around us. ... Apparently there are those in government who want to close all these records and say, ‘We'll keep you safe, trust us.”'

...more...

[LizW]

7. Knowledge is power.

And, god forbid the people should have any power.

This is becoming the pervasive philosophy at all levels of government. In my city, our city council keeps everything they do secret. At their so-called "open" meetings, they run through a two page agenda in 15 minutes, because every decision has already been made. They rarely have any open discussion, and the relevant information (like the amounts of money they're spending, and who they're contracting with, etc.) are not printed on the agenda and they don't say them out loud, so the public has to dig for the information.

[fshrink]

8. In fact,

it's not so much that knowledge is power than lack thereof fosters submission and control. Which appear to have now become the core of capitalistic strategy, not only at the domestic level but internationally as well. Work, consume images and shut up.