Finally, the press corps steps up and demands transparency from the administration
by digby
No, this isn't from The Onion:
Ed Henry, the Fox News correspondent and president of the White House Correspondents Association, released a statement Sunday evening in which he said the press corps had been given no access to the president, who was joined on his outing by star golfer Tiger Woods, and that the WHCA would fight for greater transparency in the days ahead.
"Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association, I can say a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend," Henry said in a statement, relayed in a White House pool report. "There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency."
The good news is that the Villagers don't waste a lot of time and energy worrying about transparency when it comes to trivial information that is only interesting to gossip columnists. For instance, nobody's issuing any ultimatums over silly issues like this:
For a country exhausted after more than a decade of war, remote-controlled drones—unmanned machines that deliver swift death to terrorists—are undeniably tempting. President Obama has ordered hundreds of strikes on “high-value,” as well as medium- and low-value, targets in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The administration says these killings have decimated al-Qaeda’s top ranks and done significant damage to the Taliban but refuses to say much more. Obama has yet to explain the basics of the broader policy: how decisions are made to send drones across sovereign borders; how officials determine a target is dangerous enough to merit assassination; what oversight is in place; and what is done to limit civilian casualties
I'm awfully relieved that the fourth estate has its priorities straight.
Update: Remember this?
Saturday, May 01, 2010
The Big Story
by digby
Ok, you might think that there's some serious news today. There's this, which people ar beginning to think might turn out to be the biggest man made environmental catastrophe in history:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Satellite images show the surface area of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is three times larger than it was a day or so ago. Meanwhile, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen says it's impossible to pinpoint precisely how much oil is leaking from a ruptured underwater well.
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — Experts are cautioning that if the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues growing unchecked, sea currents could suck the sheen down past the Florida Keys and then up the Eastern Seaboard. President Barack Obama will travel to the Gulf Coast tomorrow to assess the situation.
There's this:
Angered by a controversial Arizona immigration law, tens of thousands of protesters — including 50,000 alone in Los Angeles — rallied in cities nationwide demanding President Barack Obama tackle immigration reform immediately.
"I want to thank the governor of Arizona because she's awakened a sleeping giant," said labor organizer John Delgado who attended a rally in New York where authorities estimated 6,500 gathered.
From Los Angeles to Washington D.C., activists, families, students and even politicians marched, practiced civil disobedience and "came out" about their citizenship status in the name of rights for immigrants, including the estimated 12 million living illegally in the U.S.
And then there's this monumental event. (That's Kim Kardashian with Ed Henry at the White House Correspondence Dinner also known as "nerdprom.")
He's not the only one. Everyone in DC seems to be furiously tweeting about this like a bunch of teenagers at the Twilight premier. All the cable gasbags can hardly contain their boredom with these stupid environment and immigrant stories. I originally saw that Ed Henry picture on CNN, which did a ten minute segment on "the prom" and is now on non-stop coverage.
Let's have a round of applause for your guardians of democracy, ladies and gentlemen.
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Angered by a controversial Arizona immigration law, tens of thousands of protesters — including 50,000 alone in Los Angeles — rallied in cities nationwide demanding President Barack Obama tackle immigration reform immediately.
