I'm sick of closed government protection. It's time for an open-government Dem President.

[blm]

There is no need for Democrats to capitulate and give in to closed government. We know this country will vote for an open government Democrat and that the RNC has to STEAL elections to stay in power.

For those undecideds - choose open government. Reject anyone who sides with protecting closed government and continuing the protection of the secrecy and privilege of the Bushes and their powerful elite cronies.


http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html


This may be our last chance to reverse course and open government to the people.

[antigop]

1. I agree, blm. Too bad people want a continuation of the status quo. n/t

[blm]

10. I think they avoid thinking about it because they know the truth already.

But they're in bunker mentality mode - which is another character problem with Clinton fans, one that they share with Bush devotees.

[antigop]

11. if "they know the truth already" then why in THE HELL do they support her? n/t

[blm]

14. Bunker mentality - we all became consitioned to defending Clintons for the lies that were

spread about them that some of us kept on defending them even from some of the truths.

Personally I will still defend them from the lies of the RW but that will never make me pretend that some serious wrongs were committed against this country attached to their decision to protect BushInc throughout the 90s and the last 7 years.

[aquart]

2. Won't get it.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. By not impeaching King George, we concede all his usurped privileges to the next president.

Do you really believe a Democratic Congress will not allow a Democratic president all the power it allowed George? I will, however, enjoy the quandary of George's Supreme Court.

[blm]

7. I don't think ALL candidates WANT that power, and that is what I will work to

assure - that the Dem nominee is not one who surely will protect closed government and the elite who run it at this point.

[blm]

24. Curious what you think about this now that Bill sez Hillary will use GHWBush.

I know you held out for their integrity a helluva lot longer than me.

[mike_c]

3. open government and open society....

Hear, hear! That is why I find all this talk about focusing the election on "security" distressing.

[blm]

4. The 'security' we need is security of the election process. We'd have HAD a strong

and secure nation YEARS AGO if we had a DNC who secured the election process in 2000, or 2002 or 2004.

[Egnever]

5. I agree its one of the main reasons I like Obama

If this was implimented it would be revolutionary.

2. Create a Transparent and Connected Democracy

Open Up Government to its Citizens: The Bush Administration has been one of the most secretive, closed administrations in American history. Our nation's progress has been stifled by a system corrupted by millions of lobbying dollars contributed to political campaigns, the revolving door between government and industry, and privileged access to inside information-all of which have led to policies that favor the few against the public interest. An Obama presidency will use cutting-edge technologies to reverse this dynamic, creating a new level of transparency, accountability and participation for America's citizens. Technology-enabled citizen participation has already produced ideas driving Obama's campaign and its vision for how technology can help connect government to its citizens and engage citizens in a democracy. Barack Obama will use the most current technological tools available to make government less beholden to special interest groups and lobbyists and promote citizen participation in government decision-making.

Obama will integrate citizens into the actual business of government by:

Making government data available online in universally accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action in their own communities. Greater access to environmental data, for example, will help citizens learn about pollution in their communities, provide information about local conditions back to government and empower people to protect themselves.
Establishing pilot programs to open up government decision-making and involve the public in the work of agencies, not simply by soliciting opinions, but by tapping into the vast and distributed expertise of the American citizenry to help government make more informed decisions.

Requiring his appointees who lead Executive Branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can watch a live feed on the Internet as the agencies debate and deliberate the issues that affect American society. He will ensure that these proceedings are archived for all Americans to review, discuss and respond. He will require his appointees to employ all the technological tools available to allow citizens not just to observe, but also to participate and be heard in these meetings.

Restoring the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best-available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on the ideological predispositions of agency officials.
Lifting the veil from secret deals in Washington with a web site, a search engine, and other web tools that enable citizens easily to track online federal grants, contracts, earmarks, and lobbyist contacts with government officials.

Giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days before signing any non-emergency legislation.

Bringing democracy and policy deliberations directly to the people by requiring his Cabinet officials to have periodic national online town hall meetings to answer questions and discuss issues before their agencies.

Employing technologies, including blogs, wikis and social networking tools, to modernize internal, cross-agency, and public communication and information sharing to improve government decision-making.


Bring Government into the 21st Century: Barack Obama will use technology to reform government and improve the exchange of information between the federal government and citizens while ensuring the security of our networks. Obama believes in the American people and in their intelligence, expertise, and ability and willingness to give and to give back to make government work better.

Obama will appoint the nation's first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an interagency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices.

The CTO will have a specific focus on transparency, by ensuring that each arm of the federal government makes its records open and accessible as the E-Government Act requires. The CTO will also focus on using new technologies to solicit and receive information back from citizens to improve the functioning of democratic government.

The CTO will also ensure technological interoperability of key government functions. For example, the Chief Technology Officer will oversee the development of a national, interoperable wireless network for local, state and federal first responders as the 9/11 commission recommended. This will ensure that fire officials, police officers and EMTs from different jurisdictions have the ability to communicate with each other during a crisis and we do not have a repeat of the failure to deliver critical public services that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In the 21st century, our economic success will depend not only on economic analysis but also on technological sophistication and direct experience in this powerful engine of our economy. In an Obama administration, the government's economic policy-making organizations and councils will include individuals with backgrounds in our technology industry

[blm]

6. You shouldn't miss this news then from Obama and Kerry on FCC...

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6513123.html?industryid=47169

Kerry, Obama Continue Push vs. Dec. 18 Vote

Senators Write FCC Chairman Martin, Threaten to Ask Appropriations Committee to Deny Any Funding to Implement Media-Ownership Decision
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/14/2007 5:22:00 PM

Late Friday, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) weighed in on the media-ownership debate, telling Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin in a letter that if he did not delay an FCC vote on the broadcast-newspaper cross-ownership rules, they would ask that the Appropriations Committee deny any funding to implement that decision.

It is the latest in a series of gambits to try to block the vote, including a Senate bill that would not allow it to go through.

“This is a showdown with an FCC chairman who is letting the FCC do the bidding of big corporate conglomerates without giving smaller media outlets a chance to fight back,” Kerry said.

“We must ensure that we have an open media market that represents all of the voices in our diverse nation and allows them to be heard,” Obama added.

Both are vocal media-consolidation critics, with Kerry leading the toughest questioning of Martin at a Senate Commerce Committee FCC oversight hearing Thursday.

Martin has vowed to hold the vote and finish the years-long media-ownership-rule review.

The full text of the letter follows.

The Honorable Kevin J. Martin

Chairman

Federal Communications Commission

445 12th St. S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20554

Dear Chairman Martin:

Your testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee Dec. 13 restates your intention to move forward aggressively with a proposal that would relax media-ownership rules with respect to the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule. We reiterate our call from July of last year and in various forums over the past two months for you to delay this vote for a period of time sufficient for the commission to examine the status of minority and women media ownership in the United States and to establish a policy to effectively address the need to promote greater diversity in media markets.

With respect to this issue, the intent of the Senate Commerce Committee was made clear with its decision to unanimously report S. 2332, the Media Ownership Act of 2007. Section 2 of this bill would require the Federal Communications Commission to establish and convene an independent panel to make recommendations for specific rules to increase the representation of women and minorities in the ownership of broadcast media. The bill further states that the FCC must act on the panel's recommendations before voting on any changes to its broadcast and newspaper ownership rules.

We recognize the widespread animosity aimed at the direction of the commission regarding Tuesday’s scheduled vote. We understand that for a variety of reasons, you are being asked to postpone the vote to permit more time for the commission to fully understand how a relaxation in the cross-ownership rule will impact other important issues such as localism. It is our hope that the sum of these objections will convince you to delay this vote until a time following the commission’s consideration of other pressing matters. Specifically, we believe that moving forward with this change will have a direct and detrimental impact on the state of media diversity. Should you decide to move forward with this vote against the expressed bipartisan, bicameral intent of Congress, we will approach Appropriations chairman Byrd with a request that funds be denied for the implementation of this rule.

Thank you for your consideration. Should you have any questions regarding this request, please do not hesitate to contact any of us at any time.

Sincerely,

Sen. John Kerry

Sen. Barack Obama

[Egnever]

12. OK thats it.

I am now officially an Obama Supporter. This tips me over the edge. I like so many of our candidates that I have been reluctant to chose anyone as my candidate. This and the tech stuff above however as many other things Obama has done has finally pushed me into his camp for good.

I want a more open government I am tired of the lies and secrets. Lord knows our media needs diversification.

Go Bama!

[blm]

13. This also paints a bigger target on him by the media owners, so we have to

fight back harder.

Most people still didn't get what media was doing to Kerry last time and why they helped to let RNC steal that election for Bush.

It started in summer of 2003 - shortly after this action, Kerry's press was dropped to a van with a few reporters. He had to work his ass off to get every vote he did in the primaries.

Kerry Seeks to Reverse FCC's "Wrongheaded Vote"

Commission Decision May Violate Laws Protecting Small Businesses; Kerry to File Resolution of Disapproval

Monday, June 2, 2003

WASHINGTON - Senator John Kerry today announced plans to file a "Resolution of Disapproval" as a means to overturn today's decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to raise media ownership caps and loosen various media cross-ownership rules.

Kerry will soon introduce the resolution seeking to reverse this action under the Congressional Review Act and Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act on the grounds that the decision may violate the laws intended to protect America's small businesses and allow them an opportunity to compete.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerry expressed concern that the FCC's decision will hurt localism, reduce diversity, and will allow media monopolies to flourish. This raises significant concerns about the potential negative impacts the decision will have on small businesses and their ability to compete in today's media marketplace.

In a statement released earlier today regarding the FCC's decision, Kerry said:

"Nothing is more important in a democracy than public access to debates and information, which lift up our discourse and give Americans an opportunity to make honest informed choices. Today's wrongheaded vote by the Republican members of the FCC to loosen media ownership rules shows a dangerous indifference to the consolidation of power in the hands of a few large entities rather than promoting diversity and independence at the local level. The FCC should do more than rubber stamp the business plans of narrow economic interests.

"Today's vote is a complete dereliction of duty. The Commissioners are well aware that these rules greatly influence the competitive structure of the industry and protect the public's access to multiple sources of information and media. It is the Commission's responsibility to ensure that the rules serve our national goals of diversity, competition, and localism in media. With today's vote, they shirked that responsibility and have dismissed any serious discussion about the impact of media consolidation on our own democracy."

[Egnever]

15. My wife said the same thing when I told her about this.

I told her about your post and that it was the final straw for me and she was pissed off!

She said "Dammit why would he go and do that now", doesn't he remember what happened to Dean after going on mathews and saying he would break up the media conglomeration?

I have to admit it frightens me to know that he has come out with Kerry on this as I do believe the media will do what it can to torpedo him come the general if he does get the nod. At the same time it also gives me confidence in the man because despite that in the middle of the race he is willing to fight for it anyway. That says a lot to me and because of it he now has my support.

[blm]

16. Except it's harder for the media to protect BushInc now - the public isn't as willing

to believe in what the press is selling now the way they did back in 2003-2004.

But, still, we have to stay on this and fight whatever they come up with.

[sandnsea]

8. USASpending.gov

I think that's a definite step in the right direction. Between this and his work with Feingold, it shows Obama is serious about cleaning up government and making it work for the people again.

[blm]

9. He's on the right track, so far.

.

[Egnever]

17. Thanks for that link

I didnt know it was out there.

[sandnsea]

18. Just launched Thursday

I hope the campaign does more with this soon. It's pretty cool. We've been digging around in it this morning. You can dig down pretty deep into very specific contracts and the companies doing the work. The only thing is that it doesn't go into the sub-contractors, so you can't really see how much is being skimmed off the top.

http://obama.senate.gov/press/071213-coburn_and_obam/

[Egnever]

19. OMG I didnt realize It was started by Obama

This guy is just not standing still. My respect for him and trust grows day by day.

Just awesome! He isnt even waiting to be elected to start working on his tech platform. I am actually starting to get excited for the first time this election.

[sandnsea]

20. Here's the part I think is impressive

Okay, sure, Coburn is the biggest idiot in the Senate, total bigot, nutball. But that didn't stop Obama from finding something to work with the guy on. That's what people don't get. He isn't saying bring people to the table to give them what they want. He's saying bring people to the table to find the ONE good thing they want to do, and then get that done. He got this done in this partisan atmosphere with the biggest idiot in the Senate. That proves to me he can get important work done without compromising principles.

[Egnever]

21. I agree

The ability to get important things done with the help of people who are logicaly your enemies are the signs of a true leader.

I think its a good example of why his theme of talking to our enemies instead of ignoring them carries so much weight with me.

[blm]

22. Kerry had to do that with Jesse Helms in the 80s - that's how IranContra investigation

gained traction in a senate that HAD NO INTEREST in opposing Reagan and Bush on their activities there.

[blm]

23. You should post this link in its own thread. Most people have no idea it exists.

.