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Harper's Canada: secrecy, control and the Obama memo
2008-05-28 05:44:00 Barack Obama is promising to bring greater transparency and accountability to the business of government if elected president of the US. In Canada we seem to be headed in the opposite direction.Like Obama, Stephen Harper campaigned on a promise of great transparency and accountability, but the reality has turned out to be the polar opposite. In Harper's ship-of-state the hatches have been firmly battened down - journalists side-lined, bureaucrats gagged and cabinet ministers put-on-notice that they must get the okay from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) before speaking to the press. Harper has centralized the apparatus of government, in effect making MP's more answerable to the PMO than to their constituents, especially if speaking out entails some perceived conflict-of-interest.Federal Liberal leader, Stephane Dion, contends that Harper is running "the most secretive government in our history." David Taras, a professor of communications and culture at the University of Calgary...
By: Aidan Maconachy
Italy: new law issues information as a ?state secrecy?
2008-05-20 00:46:00 Italy 6 months ago was in a critical situation: today Italy is totally in danger, its own political system of Democratic Republic is almost demolished. From Beppe Grillo’s Blog, State Secrecy on Energy Sites for the disposal of nuclear waste, new civil installations for energy production, nuclear power stations, ?rigassificatori?, incinerators/ ?termovalorizzatori? (different types of waste-to-energy technologies} ...
FLDS compound in Black Hills shrouded in secrecy
2008-05-17 16:52:00 The possibility that a raid on a Texas polygamist compound stemmed from hoax calls to a shelter makes local law enforcement here more cautious about what would trigger a response to allegations of abuse at the sect's ranch in South Dakota's Black Hills.
Under the Pledge of Secrecy - The convoluted Line
2008-05-13 15:11:00 Unter dem Siegel der Verschwiegenheit sind es die Illuminaten, die seit jeher ihre Drogen in’s Trinkwasser der Kreisstadt Aachen mischen. Ziel des Vereins ist es, wie könnte es auch anders sein, die Weltherrschaft an sich zu reißen. Doof nur, dass die Nebenwirkungen dieser Psychostimulantien zunächst zu außerordentlicher Hirnkapazität führen (”64k brain in a 128m world”) ...
Bush issues new secrecy directive
2008-05-11 09:07:00 On Friday afternoon, with George Bush in Texas for his daughter’s wedding, the White House finally released its new Executive Branch rules for designating and disseminating what used to be known as “sensitive” information. The most common term in the past for such material has been “Sensitive But Unclassified” (SBU), though there was an alphabet ...
How to Know When Government Secrecy is out of Control
2008-05-06 02:43:00 When Joe Lieberman is actually trying to pry information out of DHS, you know we’ve got a serious problem: WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., are seeking detailed explanations from the Department of Homeland Security regarding a new initiative to secure federal information technology ...
The Bush Administration?s Shroud of Secrecy
2008-05-01 15:41:00 Sudhan @15:40 CET Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic Government By Sen. RUSS FEINGOLD | Counterpunch, April 30, 2008 More than any other Administration in recent history, this Administration has a penchant for secrecy. To an unprecedented degree, it has invoked executive privilege to thwart congressional oversight and the state secrets privilege to shut down lawsuits. It ...
By: Suzie-Q
Council Secrecy over Bute Park Road fiasco!
2008-04-25 12:15:00 Info Request - Bute Park New Access etc. Appln 07/02649/CJeff Salmon, Group Leader (Strategic Services)Dear Mr Salmon, Representation under Reg.11(1) of the EIR 2004--------------------------------Thank you for your e-reply of 2nd April. It appears you have failed to comply with the requirement of these Regulations for disclosure of information. As you say, the planning officer's report was prepared and e-mailed to the Council's committee services division by 2pm on the 12th March inpreparation for printing / distribution.Later that day, a meeting was called on the initiative of the Council's Chief Executive to "review the report", which led to it being withdrawn from the Agenda by the Chief Strategic Planning and Environment Officer, prior to its publication, "in order that the applicant be allowed to respond to Cadw's comments". As you have not supplied a written request from the applicant to that effect [nor claimed exemption under Reg.12(4)(e)], I presume the withdrawal req...
Secrecy makes a comeback in Mexico - Los Angeles Times [Furl]
2008-04-23 02:32:00 Este articulo publicado hoy en el Los Angeles Times por Zack Bookman -uno de mis companeros de la maestria- habla de los retos de la transparencia en Mexico. Esta bueno...
By: Ciudad Posible
More Adventures in the Parallel Universe: Journalism, Secrecy and Getting I
2008-04-22 18:45:00 Journalism and official counterterrorism are in many ways similar. They each have important functions - journalism, to keep us informed, and counterterrorism, to keep us safe. They each have the dual goal of getting the facts right, and protecting their sources and methods. Viewed this way, you would think that there would be mutual respect between the two industries, even if they occasionally clash. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Despite the fact that journalists rely on confidential sources...(read more)
Nelson and Hastings Criticize DNC's "Secrecy" Regarding FL Delegation
2008-04-22 04:37:00 This one from Marc Ambinder. Senator Ben Nelson and Congressman Alcee Hastings sent a letter to the Rules and Bylaws Committee criticizing them of the secrecy regarding the validity of their state's appeal on Florida's participation in the nominating process.Here is a quote from the letter:If the Rules and Bylaws Committee does not pro actively and openly resolve the issue of how to honor Florida's primary and seat the state's delegates, the entire nominating process will continue to unfold under a cloud. This only serves to perpetuate division instead of unity as we move toward the convention and general election - something on which we agreed yesterday is not in the best interest of the party or the nation.So far, the DNC has been slow to move along the process of seating at least a portion of the FL or MI delegations. At this point, it looks like they are aiming at a June decision after everyone has voted.
The drug industry's long and ignoble history of secrecy
2008-02-28 17:41:00 By Jeremy Laurance, Health EditorWednesday, 27 February 2008Discovering, testing and bringing a new drug to market can take more than a decade and cost as much as £500m. Over the past 30 years, as the costs have mounted, so have the pressures to protect new chemical agents which could become potential blockbusters.Secrecy became the pharmaceutical industry's watchword as it sought to control publication of trials and even manipulate results. Cancer drugs introduced in the 1990s claimed to offer major benefits which later turned out to be more apparent than real. Evidence published in The Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 38 per cent of independent studies of the drugs reached unfavourable conclusions about them, compared with just 5 per cent of studies funded by the pharmaceutical industry.In 2004, UK researchers commissioned by Nice to develop guidelines for prescribing antidepressant drugs to children tried to obtain unpublished trials from the drug compani...
The Bank Secrecy Act for Beginners
2008-02-15 03:48:00 The Counterterrorism Blog has carried some excellent commentary on terrorist financing. Posts by Matt Levitt, Mike Jacobsen, Dennis Lormel and others have provided some good perspective on the challenges of preventing it. An unrelated website, the Terror Finance Blog , is devoted to the issue. I thought it would be a good time to get out some basics, so more of our readers might be able to understand the field and the terms that are thrown around in commentary, and form their own opinions. I want...(read more)
McCartney?s Divorce Shrouded in Secrecy
2008-02-12 05:26:00 Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda Mills, from whom he’s separated, returned to court today to reach a financial settlement. Rumours have it that McCartney could have as much as $1.6 billion dollars in assets while others say that it is closer to $390 million. But really, who’s counting after the first hundred million? Or ...
Bush signs the Open Government Act in semi-secrecy
2008-01-02 17:50:00 George Bush has signed into law S. 2488, a bill that strengthens the Freedom of Information Act. There are a lot of signs that Bush did not much like this Open Government Act, so it’s significant that he didn’t veto it. What are the signs of Bush’s displeasure? For one thing, the WH published a description ...
Court Strikes a Blow Against Excessive Secrecy
2007-12-18 07:39:00 And it'll be hard for the right wing noise machine to claim the presiding judge is judicial activist this time. Why? Because in order to do that they'd first have to admit that Reagan was wrong.From the AP:WASHINGTON (AP) ? White House visitor logs are public documents, a federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting a legal strategy that the Bush administration had hoped would get around public records laws and let them keep their guests a secret.The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration, which has fought the release of records showing visits by prominent religious conservatives.Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.But U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence remain Secret Ser...
By: Dyre Portents
Secrecy and Laws - Offshore Banking in Panama Posted By : Meredith Piaget
2007-11-30 15:29:00 Panama uses different methods of security to meet the needs of those clients who want to do their banking anonymously. These methods include the formations of foundations and corporations. These financial structures can only be done by lawyers, hence increasing the security by including the lawyer/client confidentiality agreement.Panama's offshore banking sector no longer uses numbered accounts. In fact, there are no longer any numbered bank offshore bank accounts in any offshore jurisdiction in the world, they are not allowed. But someone has to be a signatory on the bank account, so how do you know that your name is safe at the bank? That is because Panama has strong Banking Secrecy Laws, which they up hold strictly. Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit. It addresses the ways in which individuals or families obtain, budget, save and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account v...
Free Publicity Tips To Unlock Google?s Top Search Ranking Secrecy
2007-11-28 14:37:00 The biggest grief from many companies is their Google search engine ranking. Learn how using free publicity can land any company at the top of Google’s radar. Making it on Google’s front search page results is like kicking it with the cool kids when you were in school. Remember it was even harder to stay ...
Britney Spears Begs For Secrecy On Custody Case
2007-11-27 22:07:00 An attorney for Britney Spears has pleaded with a court commissioner to prevent Los Angeles county authorities from viewing court filings in the pop star’s ongoing custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline - fearing intimate details of the case could be leaked to the press. Read more!
By: Celebrity News
Passion, Politics, and Secrecy
2007-10-30 19:40:00 If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. Benjamin Franklin Flyball is a game of much passion whether it?s playing in the ring or discussing it as evidenced from recent comments on this forum. There are many people that have strong opinions and a personal attachment to this sport. Others, outside of North America are most ...
By: The Flyball Blog
Secrecy Still Surrounds Israeli Strike in Syria
2007-10-26 20:05:00 A cloud of secrecy still hovers around the Israeli airstrikes in Syria on September 6. However, two interesting developments have occurred over the past week, one that may soon help to provide answers to numerous unanswered questions, and one that may make those answers more elusive. The IAEA has begun an investigation into the bombings, and Syria has begun dismantling the targeted facility. Before and after satellite images of the site (photo from the Institute for Science and International Security) Though the U.S. confirmed on September 11 that Israel did in fact launch airstrikes in... [This is a content summary only. Click on the above link for the full post.]
By: Nukes of Hazard
The Crunch Still Has Legs ? and too much secrecy for confidence
2007-10-18 05:00:00 Peter Eavis has a good update on why folks ought to still be concerned about the credit bubble problems that many assume are water under the bridge. Share This
Bush Administration Ramps up Secrecy
2007-09-10 17:10:00 by William Fisher The Bush Administration is continuing its campaign to keep the public in the dark about the federal government’s policies and decisions and to suppress discussion of those policies, their underpinnings, and their implications. This is the conclusion reached in the latest annual “report card” on government secrecy compiled by Open the Government.org, a coalition of consumer and good government groups, librarians, environmentalists, labor leaders, journalists, and others who seek to promote greater transparency in public institutions. Summarizing developments during the past year, the report card says, “Government secrecy, particularly in the Executive Branch, continues to expand across a broad array of agencies and actions, including military procurement, new private inventions, and the scientific and technical advice that the government receives.” But the authors of the report also see “glimmers of progress toward more openness and examples of ...
Secrecy over the new Audi A4
2007-09-03 14:03:00 Secrecy over the new Audi A4The site has published the first picture AutoWeek.nl Audi A4 sedan, which very soon will be seen on the Frankfurt motor show. The car, developed with caution on recently withdrawn A5 coupe, in the next year will be in dealers' showrooms official German company.The new A4 slightly podros-length machine is 4.7 m and a width of 1.83 m. New computers, advanced modular platform Audi, which means that a new generation of mid sedan will be more impressive performance, as compared to the current generation, thanks to an improved distribution of weight.Ruler gasoline engines at the very beginning will be a 1.6-litre TFSI 160 litres capacity. With. The strongest become 260-strong FSI V6 engine of 3.2 litres. For diesel engineers prepared three versions of the machine-2.0-litre 140-strong engine, 2.7-litre V6 (190 litres. C). And the 3.0-litre V6 (240 litres. C)If New York,go to GMC
By: Audi blog
Secrecy over lost White House e-mails continues?
2007-08-31 15:10:00 31 Aug 2007 // Remember the mystery surrounding the potentially millions of "missing" e-mails exchanged by top White House aides like Karl Rove? More» DON'T SETTLE FOR THIS SNIPPET, CLICK THROUGH FOR THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering: Notification on the Release of the
2007-08-26 00:00:00 On August 24, 2007, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released the revised Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Examination Manual.Read MoreTags:
NY Court on Patriot Act, ?Democracy Abhors Undue Secrecy?
2007-08-23 23:57:00 From FedAgent.com PATRIOT ACT?S NATIONAL SECURITY LETTER PROVISION IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL, ACLU TELLS COURT The American Civil Liberties Union appeared before a federal district court last week to argue that the reauthorized Patriot Act?s National Security Letter (NSL) provision is unconstitutional. The law permits the FBI to gag those who receive NSLs from disclosing that the FBI has ...
Secrecy of Voting Machines Ballots At Risk
2007-08-23 02:30:00 JimBobJoe writes “On Monday, Cnet published the findings I made as an Ohio poll worker regarding a major oversight in my state’s election’s system: Using a combination of public records, plus the voting machine paper trails, you can figure out how people voted. Though most agree that voting machine paper trails are a necessity, they ...
By: Technology Blog
Secrecy Needs In Exposing A Top Global Cult
2007-08-19 10:22:00 Former followers of Sai Baba and his other critics have found a vital need to exercise a certain, and indeed regrettable, secrecy. Of course, a lot of our secrecy evaporates when we deal with bona fide, respected media like law firms, the BBC, Times of London, Telegraph, UNESCO, etc., etc. But only - I hasten to ...
Algeria: dangerous nuclear secrecy
2007-07-27 18:17:00 With the world’s attention focused on the Iranian nuclear program, little heed is being paid to a new wave of nuclear development plans on Europe’s doorstep, exemplified in moves to expand Algeria’s nuclear program, which many believe is intended to create a nuclear weapons capacity. As Algeria emerges from over a decade of internecine bloodshed, prospects ...
By: 1913 Intel
Bush and Cheney's Tortured Secrecy
2007-07-12 05:13:00 (CLICK CARTOON FOR LARGER VIEW)David Cole | Salon.com : Can the White House win a constitutional showdown with Congress over executive privilege after shredding the nation's trust?"...The Bush administration has lost the confidence of the American public, nowhere more so than on claims of unchecked executive power and privilege. Its chief proponent of executive supremacy, Vice President Cheney, now has an approval rating of 13 percent, the lowest of any vice president in the nation's history. With these circumstances, the Bush administration may ultimately prefer a resolution through the courts. At least it has a majority there...."Technorati tags: Bush, Cheney, Salon, Secrecy, Executive Privilege, news
Nothing to Hide - Secrecy & Privacy by Evan Palmer
2007-06-30 20:34:00 The apparent struggle between privacy and secrecy is one of the trickest of knots to undo for a democracy. Paradoxically, as the demand and mechanisms for more secrecy (or government and corporate "privacy") increases, there is a corresponding argument and pressure to decrease personal privacy.Ultimately, all secrets come down to individuals because it's individuals who identify what's secret and what's not, individuals who record and categorize the data, individuals who must interpret and act on various data and secrets.We can classify privacy as concerned with secrets about an identifiable person or persons (usually related or associated in some way such as a family). Therefore, data which identifies a person is personal data; data which identifies a person and which is not data that would normally be available to a stranger or which can be used against that person and about which they would typically be guarded is private data, sensitive information. In this proposition, all p...
U.S. agency is target in Cheney fight on secrecy data
2007-06-22 12:15:00 '); E-Mail Article Listen to Article Printer-Friendly 3-Column Format Translate Share Article Text Size For four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has resisted routine oversight of his office's handling of classified information, and when the National
By: Get rich
Abused Elder's Family Tries in Vain to Break Through DCF's Veil of Secrecy
2007-04-27 13:40:00 Please click to enlarge
By: Elder Abuse
Another Look at Pay Secrecy
2007-04-16 12:31:00 Government officials and the top highest paid executives in a publicly traded corporation have at least one thing in common – their pay is a matter of public record!Pay gurus, including Ed Lawler of USC’s Center for Effective Organizations, have long argued that keeping pay secret does more harm than good. They cite research results that suggest people have a tendency, in the absence of public information to the contrary, to underestimate or to overestimate the pay of others. Limited empirical research suggests that pay secrecy leads to lower employee motivation and higher dissatisfaction. Some however, including Gary Charness and Peter Kuhn at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have also argued the opposite: equity perceptions do not appear to influence the expenditure of effort. Other compensation experts have argued that readily accessible pay information unintentionally fuels a continuous spiraling of executive pay because many organizations chase the 50th ...
By: Cenek Report
In the Public Eye: A Question of Secrecy
2007-04-03 08:07:00 To be or not to be public. That is the question every magical group must answer at some point in its existence. It is a difficult decision that can raise such drama as to sometimes end with the permanent fracture of the group. It is an art to navigate these difficult magical waters. ...
Politics: House overturns Bush order on papers secrecy
2007-03-16 04:12:00 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brushing aside a veto threat, the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to overturn a 2001 order by President George W. Bush that lets former presidents keep their papers secret indefinitely. The measure, which drew bipartisan support and passed by a veto-busting 333-93 margin, was among White House-opposed bills the House passed that ...
By: What a Weenie!
Why So Much Secrecy?
2007-01-26 10:34:01 The New York Times' Adam Liptak reports that secrecy is at issue in lawsuits opposing Bushie's domestic spying program. Liptak writes: "The Bush administration has employed extraordinary secrecy in defending the National Security Agency's highly classified domestic surveillance program from civil lawsuits. Plaintiffs and judges' clerks cannot see its secret filings. Judges have to make appointments to review them and are not allowed to keep copies. Judges have even been instructed to use computers provided by the Justice Department to compose their decisions.But now the procedures have started to meet resistance. At a private meeting with the lawyers in one of the cases this month, the judges who will hear the first appeal next week expressed uneasiness about the procedures, said a lawyer who attended, Ann Beeson of the American Civil Liberties Union...." So, what could the administration possibly have to hide? My guess is it has nothing to do with national security and every...
Pentagon: China?s military secrecy may threaten Asia?s stability
1999-11-30 08:00:00 “The lack of transparency in China’s military and security affairs poses risks to stability by increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation,” the report said. “This situation will naturally and understandably lead to hedging against the unknown.” The military buildup in China has increased in recent years, the Pentagon said. “China’s expanding and improving military capabilities are ...
By: 1913 Intel
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