Bush Administration "dissappears" numerous records from public view

[RedEarth]

Bush Admin: What You Don't Know Can't Hurt Us

Just how many different ways has the Bush Administration tried to hide once-public information sources from the public record? Thankfully, Steve Benen at the Carpetbagger Report has started us off on that goal.

List of information products "disappeared" by the Bush administration which appear to have contradicted its policy preferences.... up to 28 now.......

Here's Steve's list:

* In March, the administration announced it would no longer produce the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, which identifies which programs best assist low-income families, while also tracking health insurance coverage and child support.
* In 2005, after a government report showed an increase in terrorism around the world, the administration announced it would stop publishing its annual report on international terrorism.

* After the Bureau of Labor Statistics uncovered discouraging data about factory closings in the U.S., the administration announced it would stop publishing information about factory closings.

* When Bush’s Department of Education found that charter schools were underperforming, the administration said it would sharply cut back on the information it collects about charter schools.

.......recent additions to the list........

The latest:

* For more than a year, the Interior Department refused to release a 2005 study showing a government subsidy for oil companies was not effective.

* The White House Office of National Drug Policy paid for a 5-year, $43 million study which concluded their anti-drug ad campaigns did not work -- but it refused to release those findings to Congress. (Thanks to skeptic)

* In 2006, the Federal Communications Commission ordered destroyed all copies of an unreleased 2004 draft report concluding that media consolidation hurt local TV news coverage, which runs counter to the administration's pro-consolidation stance. (Thanks to Jim Tobias)





http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002175.php

[Sturmrabe]

1. And to think..

I almost had the thought: What MORE could this admin do to turn my stomach?

[Old and In the Way]

2. War on Truth.

This administration has devoted much time and efforts fighting this. The latest casualty is the EPA and their public libraries...it will take us 20 years to get back to responsible and open government.

[lpbk2713]

3. Not so much hiding them from the *public's* view .....

but hiding them from any future Grand Jury's or Special Prosecutor's view. The people who sell paper shredders to the White House are going to make a bundle between now and January '09.

[Hissyspit]

4. So much for democracy.

[cdnwannabe]

5. Just one more item that makes me think.....

what will happen to BushCo once he no longer has a mile-wide security perimeter around him? Could this be why we've heard speculation on land purchases in Paraguay?

[me b zola]

6. .