On Feb. 13, ThinkProgress reported that facing a faltering U.S. economy, the Bush administration was attempting to hide economic data by shutting down the award-winning website EconomicIndicators.gov. As Forbes explained when it awarded the site one of its “Best of the Web awards, Economic Indicators is a “necessary” portal because it provides easy access to aggregated economic data across government agencies. More significantly, people can sign up to receive e-mails as soon as new data becomes available. Yet recently, the Bush administration announced the site would be shut down on March 1 because of “budgetary constraints…. ThinkProgress spoke with a Commerce Department spokesman today who said, “We heard from the users of the website, and they liked being able to receive the e-mails with the news releases.” A new announcement on the Economic Indicators notes that the “decision has been made to continue the site and improve its functionality”
A couple days ago, I wrote about the Bush Administration’s plans to take down an important government web site that tracks US economic indicators. My post even got a link on the Houston Chronicle’s opinion page. I’m not arrogant enough to claim responsibility for this one, but it appears that the blinding white light of outrage has caused the denizens of BushWorld to reverse course. I suppose it goes to prove that even Bushies have to listen to public opinion. It’s not that most American are aware of, much less even care about Economicindicators.gov or what it does, but even the American sheeple understands that hiding “bad” information is beyond wrong. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that the closure of Economicindicators.gov was about a lack of money. When we can spend millions of dollars a day on a pointless, immoral war in Iraq, it should stand to reason that our government can spend a few bucks to provide needed economic information.
This episode is yet another indicator the Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © cares nothing about serving the American sheeple. His primary concern lies in doing whatever it takes to make himself look good and protect his legacy. He IS, after all, a resolute man of God, no?
The sad thing is that this small victory is exactly that- small. Far more frequently, the Bush Administration has succeeded in bending information to their whims of their agenda, because no one’s paying attention. The damage that’s been done over the past eight years is virtually incalculable, primarily because of the stealthy manner in which it’s been accomplished. Liberty isn’t destroyed by sledgehammer blows; it’s tirelessly nibbled at by rubber mallets. Eight years later you wake up, and you discover that your liberties have gradually but inexorably been whittled away.
STILL GLAD YOU VOTED REPUBLICAN? Don’t you wish everyone did?