I hadn’t, but when I did…wow.
First, right there on the front page you have a map that details the total dollars announced, available and spent on the both the national and state levels (when you mouse over each graph or state).

But the most impressive feature by far is when you enter in your zip code [...]

Regardless of what you think about the current health care legislation being debated on Capitol Hill, being able to read it before it goes to the floor for a vote is the right thing to do and I’m glad to see a Senator from Missouri calling for it.
But will the Dems listen?
From Politico:
As the health [...]

This was one of those inexplicable policy hold overs from the Bush administration that many Obama supporters shook their heads at.
But now, well, looks like they’ve found their way out of the woods.
From USA Today:
The new policy would begin in mid-September. Electronic visitor logs maintained by the Secret Service would be released three to four [...]

But they promise that detainees won’t be abused. More on why I think that’s nonsense later on in the post.
But first, more from NY Times:
The announcement, by President Obama’s Interrogation and Transfer Policy Task Force, seemed intended in part to offset the impact of the release on Monday of a long-withheld report by the C.I.A. [...]

Not that it’s a surprise, but are we at the point now where we start talking seriously about prosecutions? Because it’s apparent that Cheney directed the C.I.A. to break the law by concealing information and if the guy can get away with anything as long as it was done for national security reasons, well, what [...]

Contrary to popular belief, Stewart takes it to both sides…

I’ve said it before that I think all of these moves are a big mistake, but that’s what happens when you overpromise and underdeliver. You end up looking like you’ve broken promises…which you have.
*sigh*

While the Obama administration has been the most transparent of any so far, he has still broken some pretty specific promises, much to the consternation of those who voted for him.
From New York Times:
“When there’s a bill that ends up on my desk as president, you the public will have five days to look online [...]

2008 Senator Lindsey Graham seems to disagree with 2009 Lindsey Graham.
This is Mike Fritz and David Murdock from ANP.
Senator Lindsey Graham was a passionate critic of the Bush Justice attorneys during this past summer’s Armed Services Committee hearings on interrogation.
Lately, however, Graham seems to have had second thoughts on the matter. At a recent Judiciary [...]

A surprising reversal and one I obviously disagree with. This also seriously undermines Obama’s message of transparency and openness…at least in the eyes of Dems.
From Wash Post:
President Obama has decided to oppose the release of several dozen photos depicting abuse of detainees held in U.S. military custody abroad, reversing his previous position on the grounds [...]

Just for future reference, what you’re seeing above is considered a “pour.” You’ll need that information to weave your way through the mine field presented here by Fox News.
Let the apologizing begin…
A U.S. official with knowledge of the interrogation program told FOX News that the much-cited figure represents the number of times water was poured [...]

When I read the following I have to ask, “Who’s lying here?”
Because haven’t we heard from some pretty high profile folks that these techniques worked, most notably former VP Cheney?
I guess maybe Hillary was right.
First, from NY Times, what traditional interrogation tactics gave us:
Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I [...]

That means he was made to feel as if he were drowning an average of 6 times and day for 30 straight days.
Kind of puts that whole ticking clock scenario to rest.
From Emptywheel:
I’ve put this detail in a series of posts, but it really deserves a full post. According to the May 30, 2005 Bradbury [...]

This could anger a lot of folks on the left, but I think it’s an incredibly dangerous precedent to prosecute folks for following orders.
More from AP:
WASHINGTON -Attorney General Eric Holder says the government won’t prosecute CIA officials for using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects.
The decision comes as the Obama administration releases [...]

Yet another step towards the goal to make the government’s actions more transparent than any other time in our history…
“In late May, Data.gov will launch, in what US CIO Vivek Kundra calls an attempt to ensure that all government data ‘that is not restricted for national security reasons can be made public’ through data feeds. [...]

The site got some meat on it a couple days ago, and here’s what you can expect to find there right now.

A map that details the local impact of the Capital Purchase Program, which is basically the “Don’t Let Banks Fail” program. Some states, like Missouri, haven’t received any money because our banks are sound. [...]

And after the AIG mess, I say we give it to him. How we allowed one company to take down the entire system still feels unreal to me. How on earth could we allow that to go down? Crazy, crazy, crazy.
But it did happen and we are suffering massive fallout as a result, so we [...]

As was the case with many things the Bush administration touched, the federal budget was gamed in such a way to make the deficit problems look smaller than they actually were. But now Obama and his team are set to change that.
Only problem? The deficit is going to get a lot bigger.
How much?
Try $2.7 trillion.
From [...]

No more placeholders.
The site has finally launched and it has some good content, Including links to pretty much anything they have created about the bill and a place to share your story.
There’s also a map that details how many jobs in each state will be created or saved in the next 2 years. Missouri will [...]

For a President to sit down this early and talk about making mistakes is probably a record, but Obama promised to be transparent and this is yet another example of that.
I urge you to watch the whole thing.

My hope is that the Senate Dems can strip as much of that controversial 1% out of [...]

Most the following video is about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, but the big idea here is that along with the passage of the stimulus plan comes a new website (just a landing page so far) that will keep track of where and how tax dollars are being spent.

Obviously this is an unprecedented level [...]