Why did President Obama rewrite the Freedom of Information Act without telling the rest of America?
An April 15, 2009, memo from then-White House Counsel Greg Craig instructed the executive branch to let White House officials review any documents sought by FOIA requestors that involved “White House equities.” You might rightly ask,
What the heck are White House Equities?
That phrase is nowhere to be found in the FOIA, yet the Obama White House effectively amended the law to create a new exception to justify keeping public documents locked away from the public.A serious breach
The Greg memo is described in detail in a new study made public today by Cause of Action, a Washington-based nonprofit watchdog group that monitors government transparency and accountability.
How serious an attack on the public’s right to know is the Obama administration’s invention of the “White House equities” exception?
“FOIA is designed to inform the public on government behavior; White House equities allow the government to withhold information from the media, and therefore the public, by having media requests forwarded for review. This not only politicizes federal agencies, it impairs fundamental First Amendment liberties,” Cause of Action explains in its report.
Equities are everything
The equities exception is breathtaking in its breadth. As the Greg memo put it, any document request is covered, including “congressional committee requests, GAO requests, judicial subpoenas and FOIA requests.”
And it doesn’t matter what format the documents happen to be in because, according to Greg, the equities exception “applies to all documents and records, whether in oral, paper, or electronic form, that relate to communications to and from the White House, including preparations for such communications.”
Essentially, the change gives the White House effective carte-blanche to decide what information it wants to divulge and how to present it, but perhaps just as sinister, the change means FOIA deadlines are a thing of the past. Since the White House equities exception took effect, it may potentially be impossible for some requests to meet the 20-day mandatory response deadline.
Is this actually “the most transparent administration in history?”
Source: Washington Examiner
June 28 at 11:51am · Like · 1
James Neighbors My fellow countrymen and women. Yesterday after the Supreme Court slapped Obama in the face, his reply was to slap the American people in the face. His snide, arrogance is going to be his undoing. Remember, 65% of the American public considers themselves Conservative. 25% consider themselves Liberals and the remainder are on the fence.
Obama has declared openly , war against the American people. He is a criminal. He will go down in the history books as the biggest fraud ever perpetrated against this nation. Benedict Arnold did nothing in comparison to this total waste of humanity, Barack Obama.
He is getting tons of help from both parties in DC and the media is just as guilty in all this. They all need to be taken out and removed from their positions. There is a war happening within these borders. Oath keepers, III%, American Patriot movement, what is it going to take for you to really get some skin in the game? We need every able bodied red blooded American to answer the call. This CAN be done peacefully and without bloodshed. It only takes people in the streets standing up against it. Millions need to take a stand right now. Millions need to be a Founding Father. We need millions of George Washington’s and Thomas Payne’s, and Paul Revere’s. If George Patton were alive, he’d be out there. Bank on it. Martin Luther King would have never gone along with this sham on the American people. The time has arrived. It needs to be done peacefully. Now is the time. Lady Liberty is standing in New York harbor, wondering when we will save her. Answer the call. Save the country. There is no choice. Slavery or Freedom. They are now the only choices. Choose wisely. BUT STAND!
this excuse of a leader has done more than enough to this point to warrant removing him from office.and it shouldn’t stop with just him but move on to those that are accomplices in his illegal actions and also the media that has lied and covered for him.
Hitler all over again,
This Sorry Arrogant Muslim Communist POS needs to be gone forever !!
TREASON is his middle name !!!
No president is allowed to write his own laws, he is PROHIBITED!
stick that executive order pen up his ass and impeach him!!!! 🙁
You are right it has to be peacefully all Oboma is looking for an excuse to declare Marshall Law
Obama is the biggest liar, murder, disgrace in America.
Because he is getting ready to put the screws to the American people and he really wants it to be a surprise! R u surprised if u r u r not paying attention