I am an avid reader of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BILL FISHER, a blog written by a man who describes himself thusly:

William Fisher has managed economic development programs for the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development in the Middle East, Latin America and elsewhere for the past 25 years. He served in the administration of President John F. Kennedy.

Mr. Fisher’s post today, entitled: Backdooring the Constitution, is a well-articulated piece on how the Executive Branch shifts all of the power away from the Legislative and Judicial Branches and toward itself.

I was, in particular, enlightened by his note about the Open Government Act, designed to create an independent Federal agency charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and increasing public access to those documents.  President Bush signed it, but then included no new funds for the program.  Hidden in some footnotes, the Executive Branch also shifted the program from the intended location of National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to the Department of Justice (DOJ).  And as Mr. Fisher notes:

The DOJ is the department charged with defending agencies accused of inappropriately withholding documents requested under the FOIA. This gives it a bias in favor of federal agencies, making it both judge and jury.

I highly recommend reading Mr. Fisher’s article in its entirety.  In describing the current state of affairs, only one word comes to mind: arrogance.