Bush Hatred and Obama Euphoria

Now that George W. Bush has left the harsh glare of the White House and Barack Obama has settled into the highest office in the land, it might be reasonable to suppose that Bush hatred and Obama euphoria will begin to subside. Unfortunately, there is good reason to doubt that the common sources that have [...]No related posts.

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[Source: RETROGRESSING

Report: Most Citizens Kept in Dark on Govt Spending

by Jim Lobe

The vast majority of the world's governments effectively deny citizens basic information they need to understand how public monies are being spent, according to a new report [.pdf] released Sunday by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), a Washington-based project that works with civil society groups to promote government transparency and improve accountability.

Of the 85 countries surveyed by the IBP, only five governments provided what the study called "extensive" information about their budgets, while another dozen made "significant" information available to their publics.

Best performers – those with scores over 81 on a 100-point scale – included Britain, South Africa, France, New Zealand, and the United States, in descending order.

But 68 of the countries – or 80 percent – do not provide the public with comprehensive, timely, and useful information that citizens need to understand and monitor the use of public funds, according to the "Open Budget Index" designed by IBP to measure budget transparency.

And nearly half of the countries provided so little information publicly as to make it virtually impossible to uncover waste, gross mismanagement, or corruption.

The worst performers – those scoring zero or one on the scale – include Sao Tome e Principe, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria, according to the index.

"[O]verall, the state of budget transparency around the world is deplorable," the 55-page report found. "In most of the countries surveyed the public does not have access to the comprehensive and timely information needed to participate meaningfully in the budget process and to hold government to account."

"This lack of transparency encourages inappropriate, wasteful, and corrupt spending and – because it shuts the public out of decision making – reduces the legitimacy and impact of anti-poverty initiatives," among other government programs, according to the report, entitled "Open Budgets. Transform Lives."

The survey found that more developed countries tended to offer a higher degree of transparency in their budgetary practices than less developed countries, although there were significant exceptions.

Not only did South Africa rank second among all countries surveyed, but Brazil took eighth place, just behind Norway and Sweden. Peru, Sri Lanka, Botswana, Colombia, Papua New Guinea, and India were also ranked among the top 20.

"The high, good, and poor performers include low-, medium-, and high-income countries," said Warren Krafchik, the IBP director. "In other words, being poor or being dependent on aid or oil and gas revenues is not a sufficient excuse to fail to provide adequate budget transparency."

The survey also found that many poor countries that currently provide insufficient information to their publics are capable of doing so at little or no cost because they already produce that information for their aid donors or for internal purposes.

"All these countries have to do is put the information they already have available on the Internet," he told IPS. "The problem is not really the production of information or the capacity to produce it. The problem is the political willingness by the governments to disseminate that information to their publics."

Indeed, he said, many countries have already taken steps to improve their performance, compared to two years ago when the IBP produced its first survey. Among them were Croatia and Bulgaria, whose accession to membership in the European Union (EU) required them to increase transparency; Sri Lanka and Kenya, where new governments proved responsive to demands reforms by civil society groups; and Egypt, where a new constitutional amendment boosted the budgetary powers of parliament.

"Whether the parliament will be able to use those powers effectively or not remains to be seen," Krafchik said about the constitutional change in Egypt, whose government has long been regarded as both corrupt and authoritarian.

The survey is based on a detailed questionnaire of more than 120 questions focused on the contents and timeliness of eight key budget documents that all governments should issue, according to generally accepted good-practice criteria developed by multilateral organizations, such as the World Bank. The documents cover the government's initial budget proposal through the final audit report when the monies included in the budget have been spent. The survey was limited to the budgets of national governments and did not include sub-national units.

The questionnaires were completed by independent researchers in each of the countries surveyed, and their answers were subject to peer review to ensure their accuracy. Each answer was then given a score, and the combined scores determined the final rankings. As the questionnaires were submitted at the end of September 2007, the survey does not cover governments' performance since then.

The worst performers were mostly located in the Middle East and North Africa, followed by sub-Saharan Africa. In the Middle East and North Africa, the best performer was Jordan with a score of 52, more than twice the regional average of 24. The average of sub-Saharan Africa was 25, despite the strong performance of South Africa (87) and Botswana (62). The average score for all 85 countries was 39.

The worst performers also tended to be low-income countries and often heavily dependent on revenues from foreign aid or oil and gas exports. Altogether, 21 oil- and gas-producing countries were surveyed. Their average score was 23, despite relatively strong showings by Colombia, Norway, and Mexico. Of the 13 worst performers, nine – Sao Tome, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Bolivia, and Chad – are oil or gas producers.

By contrast, the 34 countries in the survey that are heavily dependent on mineral wealth, such as gold, platinum, and silver, averaged a score of 44.

The survey also found a correlation between transparency and democratic systems, with all of the 17 countries that provided either extensive or significant budget information assessed as either "full" or "flawed" democracies by the Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracies. Most of the worst performers, on the other hand, were classified as "hybrid" or "authoritarian" regimes.

The report called for governments not only to publish more information about their budgets, but to also produce "Citizens Budgets" that would be easily understandable to the public. Seventeen governments, including Angola, Ghana, India, and Uganda, currently produce them, although they vary considerably in how much information they provide.

The report also urged donor agencies to do more to encourage governments to inform their citizens both by increasing the transparency of their own aid and avoiding funding that is not included in the recipient's budget.

"Wherever possible, aid should flow through country budgets," said Krafchik, who added that this would not act as leverage for increased transparency, but also ease the burden on governments themselves that receive aid from multiple sources and must account to each of them. "This would reduce the incredible strain on the monitoring and reporting capacities of the recipient governments," he said.

Donors should also increase technical assistance for civil society, legislatures, and audit institutions to improve accountability and oversight, the report said.


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The Stimulus Shopping List: $1.17 Trillion in Pork Goodies

The Stimulus Shopping List: $1.17 Trillion in Pork Goodies
Having trouble putting down that cigarette? The stimulus bill has $75 million for programs to help people quit smoking. Only 42 percent of Americans now think the bill is a good idea, accordin...

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[Source: Ron Paul forum

Tobbaco Users (and others against unfair burden and regulation)... Take note

A friend of mine got a "roll your own" machine recently, because it's dramatically cheaper than buying packs of cigarettes. They are easy to use, and you can control what goes into your cigarette (getting tobacco with no additives or organic tobacco, e...

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[Source: Ron Paul forum

H.R. 612, To amend section 1922A of title 38, United States Code, to increase the amount of supplemental insurance available for totally disabled veterans

H.R. 612 would amend section 1922A of title 38, United States Code, to increase the amount of supplemental insurance available for totally disabled veterans….Vote on This Bill: For | Against

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[Source: vote tags: Tracking the Vote

H.R. 600, To revise the requirements for seller-financed downpayments for mortgages for single-family housing insured by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under title II of the National Housing Act

H.R. 600 would revise the requirements for seller-financed downpayments for mortgages for single-family housing insured by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under title II of the National Housing Act….Vote on This Bill: For | Against

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[Source: vote tags: Tracking the Vote

The Militarization Of Law Enforcement Continues: See the latest toys

Police-Only AmmunitionThe ongoing militarization of the police was a major segment of the SHOT Show, with huge floor space dedicated to weapons and gear the public cannot get. Gnarly looking tough hombres with rippling muscles bulging in skin tight black tactical t-shirts roamed around booths like the tremendous Blackwater recruitment center and outfits selling gear [...]No related posts.

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[Source: War On You

Why War?

Excerpt: One of my morning rituals is to have a latte at the Java Shack and spend some time solving all of the world's problems with a crew of regular friends.

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[Source: AntiWar.com

Martial Law In California

BART serves nine Bay-Area counties in Northern California that together comprise the fourth largest population center in this country. People in these nine counties are now under Martial Law; at least when they board a BART train. The Bay Area Rapid Transit District is not a transportation agency it is a commuter service, owned [...]No related posts.

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[Source: War On You

Kissinger Again Shills Obama and the New World Order

Kurt Nimmo InfowarsIts too bad war criminal and Rockefeller minion Henry Kissinger is not a few decades younger. If he was, he might be turning somersaults and slapping high fives over the current state of the global economy. Instead, Kissinger has penned an ebullient for Kissinger editorial lauding the coming depression for the [...]No related posts.

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[Source: War On You

Kissinger: Obamas Opportunity To Form A New World Order

Former secretary of state,Henry Kissinger talks to MSNBC news about the situation inside Gaza and how Obama should take this opportunity to forge a New World Order.No related posts.No related posts.

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[Source: RETROGRESSING

You are being lied to about pirates

Who imagined that in 2009, the world’s governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder [...]No related posts.

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[Source: War On You

Blagojevich Says He Has No Plans to Resign

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/19/blagojevich-pardons-people/



Blagojevich Pardons 22 People
The Democratic governor rarely acted on pardon applications during his six years in office, until now.

FOXNews.com

Friday, December 19, 2008

SP...

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[Source: WAR ON YOU FORUMS

US DOT Report Confirms Speed Not Major Accident Cause

US Department of Transportation study finds only five percent of crashes caused by excessive speed.As lawmakers around the country continue to consider speed limit enforcement as the primary traffic safety measure, the most comprehensive examination of accident causation in thirty years suggests this focus on speed may be misplaced.National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigated [...]

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[Source: War On You

Father of the Amero Herbert Grubel speaks about a common North American currency

This is a scene from a new documentary I am producing by director Bryan Law.The Father of the Amero, Professor Herbert Grubel speaks about his 1999 publication, The Case for the Amero and talks about the economic benefits of having a common North American currency. He also speaks about a necessary catalyzing event required, in [...]

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[Source: War On You

The Diplomacy of Lying

In 1992, Mark Higson, the Foreign Office official responsible for Iraq, appeared before the Scott inquiry into the scandal of arms sold illegally to Saddam Hussein. He described a "culture of lying" at the heart of British foreign policymaking. I asked him how frequently ministers and officials lied to parliament.

"It's systemic," he said. "The draft letters I wrote for various ministers were saying that nothing had changed, the embargo on the sale of arms to Iraq was the same."

"Was that true?" I asked.

"No, it wasn't true."

"And your superiors knew it wasn't true?"

"Yes."

"So how much truth did the public get?"

"The public got as much truth as we could squeeze out, given that we told downright lies."

From British involvement with the genocidal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, to the supply of warplanes to the Indonesian dictator Suharto, knowing he was bombing civilians in East Timor, to the denial of vaccines and other humanitarian aid to the children of Iraq, my experience with the Foreign Office is that Higson was right and remains right.

As I write this, the dispossessed people of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean await the decision of the Law Lords, hoping for a repetition of four previous judgments that their brutal expulsion to make way for a U.S. military base was "outrageous," "illegal," and "repugnant." That they must endure yet another appeal is thanks to the Foreign Office – whose legal adviser in 1968, one Anthony Ivall Aust (pronounced "oarst" and since knighted), wrote a secret document headed "Maintaining the fiction." This advised the then Labor government to "argue" the "fiction" that the Chagossians were "only a floating population." Today, the depopulated main island, Diego Garcia, over which the Union Jack flies, serves the "war on terror" as an American interrogation and torture center.

When you bear this in mind, the U.S. presidential race becomes surreal. The beatification of President Barack Obama is already under way; for it is he who "challenges America to rise up [and] summon 'the better angels of our nature,'" says Rolling Stone magazine, reminiscent of the mating calls of Guardian writers to the "mystical" Blair. As ever, the Orwell Inversion Test is necessary. Obama claims that his vast campaign wealth comes from small individual donors, yet he has also received funds from some of the most notorious looters on Wall Street. Moreover, the "dove" and "candidate of change" has voted repeatedly to fund George W. Bush's rapacious wars, and now demands more war in Afghanistan while he threatens to bomb Pakistan.

Dismissing the popular democracies in Latin America as a "vacuum" to be filled by the United States, he has endorsed Colombia's "right to strike terrorists who seek safe havens across its borders." Translated, this means the "right" of the criminal regime in that country to invade its neighbors, notably uppity Venezuela, on Washington's behalf. The British human rights group Justice for Colombia has just published a study concerning Anglo-American backing for the Colombian regime of Álvaro Uribe, which is responsible for more than 90 percent of all cases of torture. The principal torturers, the "security forces," are trained by the Americans and the British. The Foreign Office replies that it is "improving the human rights record of the military and combating drug trafficking." The study finds not a shred of evidence to support this. Colombian officers with barbaric records, such as those implicated in the murder of a trade union leader, are welcomed to Britain for "seminars."

As in many parts of the world, the British role is that of subcontractor to Washington. The bloody "Plan Colombia" was the design of Bill Clinton, the last Democratic president and inspiration for Blair's and Brown's new Labor. Clinton's administration was at least as violent as Bush's – see UNICEF's report that 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the Anglo-American blockade in the 1990s.

The lesson learned is that no presidential candidate, least of all a Democrat awash with money from America's "banksters," as Franklin Roosevelt called them, can or will challenge a militarized system that controls and rewards him. Obama's job is to present a benign, even progressive face that will revive America's democratic pretensions, internationally and domestically, while ensuring nothing of substance changes.

Among ordinary Americans desperate for a secure life, his skin color may help him regain this unjustified "trust," even though it is of a similar hue to that of Colin Powell, who lied to the United Nations for Bush and now endorses Obama. As for the rest of us, is it not time we opened our eyes and exercised our right not to be lied to, yet again?