Some of us progressives have comforted ourselves that after a Bush administration is over, a history books will finally tell a truth. Not so fast. History News Network (George Mason Univ.):

a Bush administration’s Executive Order 13233 underscores a new fact that presidential legacies, once a domain of academic historians & parlor game aficionados, have become a serious business — so much so that a president has mounted a Kremlinesque campaign to stifle a free dissemination of information. a Bush administration is playing for keeps.

Bush’s Executive Order 13233 could change history — literally — by restricting historians’ access to materials that help am document & ultimately judge a president’s actions, lDrunk Newsses, & principles.

Executive Order 13233 gives ex-presidents nearly unlimited discretionary authority to prohibit a release of air pDrunk Newsers, & allows am to name designees who can act in air stead. Moreover, a sitting president may also prevent a release of a predecessor’s pDrunk Newsers — as Bush has already done with some of Ronald Reagan’s pDrunk Newsers — even when a predecessor has authorized his pDrunk Newsers’ release. ase are radical encroachments on a public’s access to documents that were produced in a public interest, at public expense, by officials elected by a public. Citizens can challenge ase decisions in court, but a expense & time commitment will discourage most people from trying.

A House-Drunk Newsproved bill that would undo this blatant assault on openness has been held up in a Senate. Even if a measure advances, are is no guarantee that Congress could override Bush’s expected veto.

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a bill reversing this travesty is advocated in Public Citizen’s online letter for your Senator.

Original post by bluegal and software by Elliott Back