CIVIL LIBERTIES

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION GETTING LESS FREE

MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS - Citizens, groups and corporations
are putting in fewer requests for information from the federal
government, but it's taking longer to get an answer and they get turned
down more often, a study reported Friday. In a study of 13 Cabinet
departments and nine agencies, the Coalition of Journalists for Open
Government found that the number of unprocessed requests rose from
104,225 at the end of fiscal 2004 to 148,603 at the end of fiscal 2005
on Sept. 30, 2005. Meantime, the number of requests that were processed
between 2004 and 2005 dropped from 522,817 to 477,937. As a result,
unprocessed requests rose from 20 percent of the total processed to 31
percent. Full or partial releases of the information requested declined
from 67 percent of all requests in 2004 to 63 percent in 2005. "This
study paints a very bleak picture for the Freedom of Information Act,"
said Rick Blum of the Sunshine in Government Initiative. "The law is
having a mid-life crisis at age 40."

STUDY
http://www.sunshineweek.org/files/cjogfoiarpt06.pdf

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VET ARRESTED FOR WEARING ANTI-WAR T-SHIRT AT VA HOSPITAL

MIKE FERNER, COUNTERPUNCH - Yesterday afternoon, drinking a cup of
coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's
south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, "OK,
you've had your 15 minutes, it's time to go."

"Huh?", I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about.


"You can't be in here protesting," Officer Adkins said, pointing to my
Veterans For Peace shirt.

"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned,
thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier
duties of guarding against serious terrorists.

Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're
protesting and you have to go."

Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my
coffee."

He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I tried
one more approach to reason.

"Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here
not talking to anybody, having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and
you can't kick me out."

"You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.

"Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange
land I was now living in.

You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security
office past people with surprised looks on their faces, read my rights,
searched, and written up. . .

http://www.counterpunch.org/ferner07012006.html

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