White House scrubs site in attempt to make office 'exempt'

[bridgit]

'The White House has scrubbed its Web site of evidence it has reversed its policies on allowing public access to information to which it is legally entitled. However, a source told RAW STORY that the scrub would have no legal implications.

Sometime over the weekend, White House computer technicians removed from government Web sites any references to the Office of Administration or its previous compliance with Freedom of Information Act requests.

Where visitors once just found information about how to file public records requests or view annual reports on the Office of Administration's FOIA compliance, the White House has appended the following admonition:

"The Office of Administration, whose sole function is to advise and assist the President, and which has no substantial independent authority, is not subject to FOIA and related authorities. However, these pages have been maintained due to the Presidential Records Act."'

http://rawstory.com//news/2007/White_House_scrubs_freedom_of_information_0904.html

[MichiganVote]

1. Cheney smell all over it.

[Coexist]

2. knr

[Lint Head]

3. There is no freedom of information or freedom of anything else

in this country. The criminal pricks in the White House need to go to jail now! :dem:

[bridgit]

4. to The Hauge...

[Solly Mack]

5. I did a screen capture of the original page in question

I figured they would change it.

[bridgit]

6. that's quite a list, thanks for the capture...

"Trade Rep", "Drug Control Policy", "Environ Q" :dilemma:

[Solly Mack]

7. I captured it the day they first claimed it wasn't subject to the FOIA

Welcome! :)

[delirious]

8. Great job capturing this!

These guys are such crooks....

[Solly Mack]

9. Kinda figured they would erase it

Thanks! :)

[Subdivisions]

10. DUer scrubs posts critical of criminal administration...n/t

[Subdivisions]

11. DUer scrubs posts critical of criminal administration...n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Do you have any feeling for how incredibly remarkable this is?

Bush just decided to reinvent government? Just like that?

If they have this little respect for us while running government, imagine how little they had for us while in private business. How these criminals managed to even get one vote, is beyond me.

[blogslut]

13. Google cache, a leetle HTML skill and my web hosting account = voila!

http://shiny911pony.com/oascrub/oascrub.html

[blogslut]

14. morning kick

:kick:

[mmonk]

15. I look forward to more bipartisanship in the glorious

elections of 08. People need not be informed of what their government is doing. Also, making government officials accountable, compliant with the constitution or the laws of this country is a waste of time and keeps politicians from doing the important legislation the American people want. Impeachment would "suck the air out of congress". We have so many good candidates (except for those fringe radical candidates with no chance like Kucinich) for 08 and the great thing is we don't have to be "against" anybody. The surge is working.

[rodeodance]

16. and LOOK-----this is worse:

Two other sites that previously listed the OA as subject to FOIA regulations have since been updated to reflect the opposite position, with similar stark denials of public accessibility at the top of each page.

The White House scrub has no legal implications, a source familiar with the case told RAW STORY. The office previously had a set of FOIA protocols and handled FOIA requests, and the lastest changes don't reverse those positions. Besides, in the digital age, making information disappear down the Memory Hole is not as easy as the administration might like.

The move appears to be a direct response to claims first launched by a private watchdog group that the Bush administration is trying to subvert long-standing open-government policies in order to insulate itself politically.

The White House's attempt to erase the policies was discovered on the same day Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington submitted a new brief in its FOIA lawsuit seeking information on five million missing e-mails sent by the president's advisers on Republican Party-owned accounts.