No one seems to be writing opinion pieces quite the way I would, so I decided to do it myself.

The name? Taverns are places where one goes to discuss the interesting events and things in the world, so this is my tavern.

I will offer my views on politics, economics, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I will occasionally publish the entire article from another journal for purposes of causing discussion.

The Bush Administration is Secret Government

Rep. Henry A. Waxman has released a comprehensive examination of secrecy in the Bush Administration. The report analyzes how the Administration has implemented each of our nation’s major open government laws. It finds that there has been a consistent pattern in the Administration’s actions: laws that are designed to promote public access to information have been undermined, while laws that authorize the government to withhold information or to operate in secret have repeatedly been expanded. The cumulative result is an unprecedented assault on the principle of open government

Report by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee.

Essentially the Bush administration has been acting as though there should be no "transparent government" and also that even the Congress has no right to learn what the Executive Branch is doing. This is clearly a major step twoards authoritarian government, since it requires that Americans simply accept any decision made by the President or his administration with no possibility of question.