RTFA: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/…

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release January 21, 2009

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Freedom of Information Act

…

The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails. The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears. Nondisclosure should never be based on an effort to protect the personal interests of Government officials at the expense of those they are supposed to serve. In responding to requests under the FOIA, executive branch agencies (agencies) should act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that such agencies are servants of the public.

All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government. The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA.

The presumption of disclosure also means that agencies should take affirmative steps to make information public. They should not wait for specific requests from the public. All agencies should use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government. Disclosure should be timely.

I direct the Attorney General to issue new guidelines governing the FOIA to the heads of executive departments and agencies, reaffirming the commitment to accountability and transparency, and to publish such guidelines in the Federal Register.

Speaking as a scientist, free flowing information is the picture of pure beauty.

RTFA: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM…

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama moved to reshape U.S. international policy Thursday, ordering the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp closed within a year and naming new envoys to the Middle East and Afghanistan-Pakistan.

“We have no time to lose,” he said as he welcomed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to help forge what he called “a new era of American leadership” in the world.

It was a day in which Mr. Obama sought to reverse some of the most contentious policies of his predecessor.

“I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture,” he said in a visit to the State Department on his second full day in office.

RTFA: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM…

GENEVA — Former detainees, human-rights advocates and government officials around the world welcomed President Barack Obama’s decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, saying Thursday it helped restore their faith in the United States.

The UN’s torture investigator, Manfred Nowak, said news that Mr. Obama will order the prison closed, review military trials of terror suspects and end harsh interrogations was a sign of goodwill by the new American administration. But he warned that shutting the prison will require difficult decisions and said freed inmates should be allowed to sue the United States if they were mistreated.

“Justice also means to look into the past,” Mr. Nowak told The Associated Press. Mr. Nowak, an Austrian law professor, has previously said he had reliable accounts to indicate that Guantanamo detainees have been tortured.

Pentagon official Susan Crawford told The Washington Post in an interview published last week that the United States tortured one inmate, a Saudi named Mohammed al-Qahtani, in 2002. She was the first senior Bush administration official to make such a statement.

We are emerging from the Dark Ages into the light.

RTFA: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM…

They called it a “virtual nurse-in.”

Earlier this week, 11,000 mothers who use Facebook changed their profile pictures to photos of themselves breastfeeding children to protest against the social networking site’s decency standards.

It’s the latest blow in a continuing battle between Facebook and some of its users since it began removing photos that show breastfeeding.

The single-day protest, known as the Mothers International Lactation Campaign, was organized by Stephanie Muir, an Ottawa woman and mother of five who is one of more than 87,000 members of the group “Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!”

The group is pushing Facebook to change its policies regarding breastfeeding pictures and its regulations surrounding how much of a woman’s breast can appear in photos posted on the site.
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This isn’t the first time Facebook – which boasts 140 million users – has ignited a controversy after pulling breastfeeding photos.

In June, 2007, a San Diego woman named Kelli Roman complained that the company removed photos of her nursing her baby. After Facebook refused to change its policy, she started the protest group on the site that Ms. Muir and thousands of others joined.
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Facebook, however, is standing by its position. Only photos that contain a “fully exposed breast” – which Facebook defines as a picture showing the nipple or areola – are removed, the company said in an e-mail.

Facebook said it takes no action against the “vast majority” of breastfeeding photos, as long as they do not contravene the site’s terms of use.

This is hilarious and great. There’s no question this protest is over a matter of principle, so you just gotta love the humans.

Now, although breast feeding is all well and good (and in fact offers dramatic health and cognitive benefits for the person being breast fed), I have to say that when you pair the protest with the official Facebook response, quoted above, the situation reveals itself as being amazingly hilarious. Facebook does allow images of mothers breastfeeding so long as they do not show the nipple or areola. So, it’s not an issue of Facebook banning breastfeeding pictures … it’s an issue of Facebook banning pictures that involve both breastfeeding and the good old areola. So, are these women posting pictures of themselves just hanging out topless with a kid about to latch on?

Anyway, good times with humans. I highly recommend reading the article, as it closes with statements from a spokesman from the TopFree Equal Rights Association. Classic!

RTFA: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.”

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Of course, this is an astonishing and amazing document. Its aims are rather different than the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but it is clear that nothing in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) conflicts in any serious way with the foundational US documents. Also, because the UDHR was created in 1948, there were ~150 years during which to reflect on the US Constitution, and contemplate relevant updates.

For example, aside from the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, not a great deal is said about individual rights by the founding US documents. In contrast, the UDHR provides for numerous, explicit positive rights for individuals and families, including such ideals as dignity, education, and nationality. Suffice to say, the scope of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is awesome.

The 10th was a celebration of these ideals, but somehow I missed it this year… Instead, I was reading Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”. Ha!