IT IS NO SECRET

The question has been asked of me (paraphrased), "What do you expect to come out of the investigations of the Senate, and specifically, what do you think the testimony of Karl Rove will bring out into the open?

The true answer is I don't know. The Bush administration has clouded itself in a heightened sense of security since day 1 of its administration. The fact that they continually use 9/11 and the continuing fear of terrorist threats to do so, well, sickens me. But it obvious, at least to me and my fellow liberals that this administration is capable of the most nefarious deeds, up to/and including going to the hospital bedside of the (sedated) Attorney General hoping to get him to sign off on illegal wiretapping. A true class act. Here is a very short history of the first few years of the Bush secrecy agenda, courtesy of U.S. News and World Report...

Key Dates: Secrecy and the Bush Administration
Inauguration Day (1/20/01)

Administration freezes Clinton-era regulations, without allowing for public comment.
10/12/01

Attorney General John Ashcroft, reversing Clinton policy, encourages agencies to deny Freedom of Information Act requests if a "sound legal basis" exists.
10/26/01

President Bush signs U.S.A. Patriot Act, expanding law enforcement powers and government surveillance.
2/22/02

Congress's General Accounting Office sues Vice President Dick Cheney for refusing to disclose records of his energy task force; the GAO eventually loses its case. A separate private case is pending.
3/19/02

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card directs federal agencies to protect sensitive security information.
11/25/02

Bush signs Homeland Security Act. Its provisions restrict public access to information filed by companies about "critical infrastructure," among other matters.
01/3/03

Administration asks, in papers filed before the Supreme Court, for significant narrowing of the Freedom of Information Act.
3/25/03

Bush issues standards on classified material, favoring secrecy and reversing provisions on openness.

How about some more?

The "accidental" deletion of e-mails in the Rove offices.

The 911 report, parts of which are still not public

The strange relationship between the bush and Bin laden families

The doctoring of U.S. intel to justify going into Iraq

U.S. secret torture facilities in foreign lands

The millions of "missing" funds appropriated for the war

The strange relationship between Halliburton and Cheney / Bush

The airplane cockpit tapes from 911

The visitors logs from Bush and Cheney offices

and my list goes on and on...

It is obvious that the administration wants to operate in the black of night, without any freedom of information and/or public scrutiny. The Freedom of Information act has been weakened, as has habeus corpus and individual rights through the patriot act.

We have a right to know, don't we?

The bottom line for me is, "What are they hiding?