Flight Pundit

Jiminy Carter the peanut farmer has some advice: Let’s be more like 3rd world countries who have excellent policies regarding sharing of government information.

The U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) turns 40 tomorrow, the day we celebrate our independence. But this anniversary will not be a day of celebration for the right to information in our country. Our government leaders have become increasingly obsessed with secrecy. Obstructionist policies and deficient practices have ensured that many important public documents and official actions remain hidden from our view.

I’m SURE you have no secrets right? From your miserable failed term as President. Mr. Carter, my parents were lifelong Democrats until you came along, by the way. Your lack of action, your stifled pathetic reaction to the first attacks on freedom, by the Islamafreakoids, changed my parents politics.

The events in our nation today — war, civil rights violations, spiraling energy costs, campaign finance and lobbyist scandals — dictate the growing need and citizens’ desire for access to public documents.

We didn’t have these problems when you were President right?

Increasingly, developed and developing nations are recognizing that a free flow of information is fundamental for democracy. Whether it’s government or private companies that provide public services, access to their records increases accountability and allows citizens to participate more fully in public life. It is a critical tool in fighting corruption, and people can use it to improve their own lives in the areas of health care, education, housing and other public services. Perhaps most important, access to information advances citizens’ trust in their government, allowing people to understand policy decisions and monitor their implementation.

I’m sick and tired of people like you making these claims. There are very few pieces of information that are not available to the public, and you know it. People like you live in a bizzaar world of made up conspiracies. We need a term for this mental illness….oh maybe we already have that word: Liberalism is a mental disorder. Only dumb dipshits don’t trust their government if you live in America.

Nearly 70 countries have passed legislation to ensure the right to request and receive public documents, the vast majority in the past decade and many in middle- and low-income nations.

Let’s see what nations we’re talking about here.

In South Africa, a country emerging from authoritarian rule under the apartheid system, the act covering access to information gives individuals an opportunity to demand public documents and hold government accountable for its actions, an inconceivable notion just a decade ago. Requests have exposed inappropriate land-use practices, outdated HIV-AIDS policies and a scandalous billion-dollar arms deal. In the United Kingdom, the new law forced the government to reveal the factual basis for its decision to go to war in Iraq.

South Africa. A model. Lots of information is readily available to those who seek it. And don’t place GB in this group- they are not a third world developing nation. Sheesh. What an insult to them.

In Jamaica, one of the countries where the Carter Center has worked for the past four years to help establish an access-to-information regime, citizens have used their right to request documents concerning the protection of more than 2,500 children in public orphanages. Two years ago there were credible allegations of sexual and physical abuse. In the past year, a coalition of interested groups has made more than 40 information requests to determine whether new government recommendations were implemented to ensure the future safety and well-being of these vulnerable children.

I KNEW it. Somewhere in this letter old Jiminy HAD to pimp one of his centers. (THAT is what this is all about, this letter.)
And as for the allegations mentioned here, what of it? Have things changed? Are the kids better off? Or is it like so many other liberal missions- get the info, sit in AC rooms and talk, discuss, debate and make yourselves feel good, but do NOTHING but TALK and report.

Even in such unlikely places as Mali, India and Shanghai, efforts that allow access to information are ensuring greater transparency in decision making and a freer flow of information.

OH yes…Mali, India- the examples for the world. Unbelievable.

Comparing America to these nations is a joke Carter. You’re a joke. We have access to more information than every nation in the entire world combined; we have entire government dept.’s created JUST to gather information; we have more think tanks than all the above mentioned nations have people in power. We have activists groups, PACs, Senate committees’s, on and on I could go. But it doesn’t matter because you and your lot have decided America is bad and the few pieces of classified information are not worthy of being classified. The US has the most transparent government in the world. We’re not perfect but we come pretty damn close to it. It’s high time people like Carter and Bill Kellar and those who live in the reality based community to accept this and to be proud of this. Stop it with the hissy fits over those vital tidbits of info that are supposed to assist our elected President in honoring his most important duty: To protect and defend the Constitution. Which is nothing without we the people.

Cross Posted @ ARS

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