Transparency
Funny quote from Radley Balko, discussing the lack of any real information at the new White House web site:
Good to know they're at least working hard to make flattering photographs of the president "more accessible" to the public. Who says Obama has dropped the ball on transparency?
nom de guerre:
of course, balko fails to mention anywhere that he repeatedly stated his support for obama in the election. not in the cynical 'this guy's so bad, he'll bring the whole rotten mess tumbling down' sense, but because he actually believed a statist, big-government loving, immensely corrupt chicago politician would really change things for the better. a full-grown man, brutally hard on rogue cops and power-mad prosecutors, and deeply mistrustful of government power, fell for a con any half-bright 4-year-old could see through.
which is fine - it's his blog and he can write what he wants, as he (now) routinely snaps at impudent rascals who dare to call him on the irony of a self-professed libertarian voting for jimmy carter junior. "this is my blog, and i'll write what i want to. if you don't like it, don't come here" is his now standard response to any commenter who dares question him or disagree with him. then, of course, he bans them: it's a longstanding libertarian tradition that 'dissent will not be tolerated', right? no...wait....it must be something about living in the washington DC area that turns people into control-freak autocrats. it *certainly* turned his politics leftward - read and compare his old stuff to more recent posts: especially the recurring 'sarah palin is evil and must be destroyed' theme he spent so much time on, while completely ignoring the biggest gaffe-prone idiot in government, joe biden. a pity, really - i once thought he was the last best hope of reining in our burgeoning police state. and then he somehow morphed into chris matthews lite. his gentle jabs at obama on no way compare to his GW bush broadsides, despite obama trashing the constitution just as much as bush did. and bush had a better excuse than obama does.
so i, like quite a few others, took his suggestion and no longer read him.
June 28, 2009, 2:50 pmDr. T:
Mr. Balko has been fighting police and prosecutorial abuses for a long time. My belief is that he was so tired that his skepticism went into a coma during the election campaign. Without his skepticisim, he believed the Obama speeches that touted openness and ethics in government, and he believed that under Obama, the behaviors of the DoJ, FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS, etc. would be better.
After a few months of Obama government, Mr. Balko's skepticism awoke from its coma. He now realizes that abuses of justice will be worse under Obama than any president since Nixon. It must be quite a shock to rediscover your skepticism and learn that you supported a monster. I hope he returns to his former self and regains tolerance for differing opinions.
June 28, 2009, 3:49 pm