Obama Administration Institutionalizing Lying (Literally)

While anyone who's honest would have to admit that the Barack Obama administration has engaged in its share of lying, in a sane world, it would be laughable for any president to actually institutionalize lying. Yet, that appears to be the case with a new rule that is going into effect regarding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. When documents are proven to exist and government agencies / departments neither can't deny that fact while not wanting to release said documents, they've often had an extremely difficult time explaining the stonewalling. Obama apparently has a solution; deny they exist.

Via LA Times:

At present, if the government doesn't want to admit the existence of a document it believes to be exempt from FOIA, it may advise the person making the request that it can neither confirm nor deny the document's existence. Under the proposed regulation, an agency that withholds a document "will respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist."

This policy is outrageous. It provides a license for the government to lie to its own people and makes a mockery of FOIA. It also would mislead citizens who might file an appeal if they knew there was a possibility that the document they sought was in the possession of a government agency. Such an appeal would allow a court to determine whether the requested document was covered by an exemption in FOIA.

Even without the new rule, federal law enforcement agents have denied the existence of important documents. In a lawsuit involving surveillance of Muslim organizations in Southern California, the FBI was reprimanded by a federal judge. "The Government cannot, under any circumstance, affirmatively mislead the court," wrote Judge Cormac J. Carney. The FBI justified its misrepresentation by citing national security.

It's good to see the LA Times take this position, which it does with this nameless editorial but I find it interesting that this is the same newspaper that mocked those who demanded the release of a video just prior to the 2008 election that showed Barack Obama with Rashid Khalidi. Some of us had more than just a sneaky suspicion that Obama was going to be bad for the country. It's good to see the LA Times might be realizing it now.

This strategy on the part of the administration may very well be tied to the increase in heat as a direct result of the Fast and Furious investigation. Let's hope it's an act of desperation that does more harm than good to these corrupt and wicked bureaucrats.

Read entire editorial.

Video: Michael Moore Refuses Questions about his $50 Million

What does Michael Moore do when a heaping helping of his own hypocrisy is shoved in front of his face? Well, he runs away, actually. Apparently, he doesn't find it as appetizing as practically everything else. While at Occupy Portland, Moore responds to a question from some dude in the crowd by calling on the richest 400 people to each give back $1 Million. Then, when asked how much of his $50 Million he's going to give back, Moore pretends the question wasn't asked. I'm sure Moore likes pickles but I'm equally sure he doesn't like being in one. The left has decided to pit the richest 1% of Americans against the other 99%. Putting aside the fact that the richest 1% pay the lion's share of the taxes, Moore is part of that 1% and the guy in this video calls him on it.

Perhaps even more amazing is the crowd's defense of Moore. It proves once again that this class warfare business is not about 1% vs. 99%. It's about common sense vs. some twisted ideology that's completely devoid of logic.

Once again, the Occupy crowd simply cannot see how utterly foolish it is.



h/t Weasel Zippers

Senate Judiciary Hearing on Fast and Furious November 8th

Make no mistake; this is a preemptive strike by the Obama administration's Justice Department. It came out late last week that Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to be in front of House Judiciary committee, chaired by Republican Lamar Smith, on December 8th. Now it's been announced that Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, head of the DOJ's criminal division, will be testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary committee on November 8th. This is significant for a few reasons. First, the chairman in the Senate is Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who is certain to do all he can to help Breuer set a new narrative for the DOJ.

Another reason why this is significant is that it is likely intended to provide a layer of protection for Holder when he appears in front of the House Judiciary committee, which will certainly include Darrell Issa and other Republicans like Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Rep. Trey Gowdy, who have been bull dogs when it comes to Fast and Furious.

So what is the new narrative going to be? It looks like Breuer is going to attempt to fall on the sword and hope he won't be held accountable. According to Sharyl Attkisson's new report at CBS, Breuer is likely going to be apologetic about not informing his superiors about the Fast and Furious operation. Just for good measure, there's an element to Breuer's testimony that is likely going to include a 'blame Bush' angle, regarding Operation Wide Receiver.

Via CBS: