Titled: Keeping Promises
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
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President Barack Obama
Vice President Joe Biden
First Lady Michelle Obama
Dr. Jill Biden
The Official Obama Family Picture
First Dog, Bo Obama
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Carol Tucker, MA · 839 weeks ago
On February 14th, 2009, I posted a comment on this website in response to President Obama's weekly address in which I discuss the fact that President Obama's promise of openness, accountability, and transparency in government is still not practiced by White House Staff, Senate Committees, individual elected officials, the US Dept. of Education, and the US Dept. of Justice. In the past two weeks, this has not changed. The status quo is still in force.
In my previous post, I related the rudeness and unprofessionalism I encountered when calling the White House. Since then, when calling the White House, upon asking the switchboard operator to speak to the Appointments Scheduler, I was transferred to that office, but instead of speaking with a staff member who actually works in that office, I was greeted by an impersonal voice mail announcement instructing me not to leave a voice mail message and providing me with an e-mail address of scheduling@who.eop.gov, which was immediately responded to with the following roboresponse:
----- Original Message -----
From: <comments@whitehouse.gov> (Interesting because e-mails SENT to this address bounce back)
To: Carol
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 3:10 PM
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your message. On behalf of President Obama, we appreciate hearing from you. The President has promised the most transparent administration in history, and we're committed to listening to and responding to you.
In order to better handle the millions of electronic messages we're receiving and respond more quickly, we've implemented a new contact form on our website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Please note that this web form has replaced comments@whitehouse.gov. That email address is no longer monitored, so we encourage you to resubmit your message through the link above. Thank you for using the web form and helping us improve communications with you.
Sincerely,
The Presidential Correspondence Team
This is NOT an improvement. This amounts to nothing more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. It matters not if a roboresponse is delivered via voice mail announcement or e-mail; the result is still the same--no substantial acknowledgment or response--only yet another automatic mode of delivery instructing citizens to use the White House webform, again to which I have never received acknowledgment nor response. Business-as-usual.
Florida is currently embroiled in a double-dipping scandal with now-former-because-he-had-no-choice-but-to-resign House Speaker Ray Sansom and Northwest Florida State College, Sansom's hometown alma mater, for whom he abused his political power and influence by procuring double-digit millions of dollars, to profit himself, as the college rewarded Sansom for his corrupt activities with an unadvertised part-time Vice-Presidency position of $110,000 a year, and to profit his Developer-buddy, Jay Odom.
In the entire State of Florida, one citizen, David Plyer, filed a Complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics, which Florida media outlets picked up immediately, and I filed a Complaint with SACS (the accrediting body for all institutions of higher ed in the Southeastern United States), citing violation of SACS Principle of Integrity, that is being ignored by SACS, ignored by the US Dept. of Ed, ignored by the US Dept. of Justice, ignored by Florida media outlets, ignored by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and ignored by the White House. (These complaints, as well as my other blogs and Internet posts, may be viewed on: http://www.courtreformnow.ning.com, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=774939400&... http://www.change.org/profile/view/138267, et al.)
When the Florida Board of Regents was dissolved, Florida institutions of higher ed became nothing more than corrupt, profit-motivated corporations, complete with six-figure lobbyists and administrators. Higher ed in Florida has morphed into a repository for politicians who want those nice, cushy six-figure administrative positions after abusing their power gaining political favors for the institution of their choosing. Higher ed institutions in Florida are quick to feed at the salt-lick of Federal stimulus money, yet like our nation's sorry-excuse-for-bankers, the salaries of higher ed administrators reek of the same arrogant, self-absorbed entitlement and greed that has undermined our economy, our future, quality education for future generations, and our global reputation. Something MUST be done and QUICKLY.
(continued in second post)
Carol Tucker, MA · 839 weeks ago
My e-mails to Arne Duncan are acknowledged with the following roboresponse:
----- Original Message -----
From: Duncan, Arne
To: 'Carol'
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 7:50 AM
Subject: RE: Violation of one's freedom of information act
Thank you for your e-mail to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Your message has been forwarded to the appropriate staff member for review.
Thank you again for contacting us.
Sincerely,
Edgar W. Mayes
Director of Correspondence and
Communications Control Unit
Office of the Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
Washington, DC 20202
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E-mails to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov are met with this roboresponse:
----- Original Message -----
From: ASKDOJ
To: Carol
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:44 AM
Subject: RE: Violation of one's freedom of information act
Thank you for contacting the Department of Justice. This is an automatic acknowledgement that your e-mail was received. It will be reviewed in the order it was received.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yet a friend of mine, upon sending an e-mail to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov was contacted within two days. So much for "the order in which it was received."
SACS has blatantly lied to me in their e-mail responses, refuses to disclose to me the identity of the person handling the complaint and the details of how the investigation is being conducted, then began refusing to open my e-mails, and is now deleting them without being read altogether.
President Obama, if this is your idea of openness, transparency, and accountability in government, then don't count on my vote again in 2012. I voted for you, admire you, and acknowledge what you have accomplished thus far, however, THIS is a deal-breaker.
As an American, President Obama, I have accepted your challenge to hold you accountable, and I now challenge you to live up to the vote I cast for you and acknowledge and respond to me personally, address the corruption and abuses of power in the State of Florida, as it is quite apparent that on matters of corruption in state government, states as perpetrators cannot be trusted--nor should they--in conducting their own investigations, and take appropriate action to ensure that if Arne Duncan and Eric Holder continue to fail to adhere to your policy of openness, transparency, and accountability in government, that you will replace them post haste.
Carol Tucker, MA
Court Reform-NOW
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/equaljusticefora...
http://www.courtreformnow.ning.com