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It's approaching that time of year again when everybody puts up a best-of, worst-of list. Eager, apparently, to ace out the coming deluge, Buzzfeed is displaying what it calls the 45 Most Powerful Images of 2011. I'm posting a few here. Got some you like better? Maybe one you took yourself? The comment thread is open for you.
An aerial shot of the damage immediately following the Japanese tsunami. (Reuters / KYODO)
Members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1. (Reuters)
A monstrous dust storm (Haboob) roared through Phoenix, Arizona in July. (danbryant.com
A University of California Davis police officer pepper-sprays students during their sit-in at an "Occupy UCD" demonstration in Davis, California. (Jasna Hodzic)
On this date in 2003 at Daily Kos:
While it may seem trite to say that authoritarianism thrives in an environment of government secrecy, it’s important to remember the reverse: Only by narrowly defining what is legitimate for our leaders to hide from us can we ensure that our interests as citizens are met and that we aren’t being hoodwinked into bad policy, including the worst bad policy of all, unjustified warfare.
Politicians and generals, as well as crony contractors and other camp followers have every reason to keep as many of their doings secret as possible. T’was ever thus. Better for a ruler to hide documents than to explain them. Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing into the ‘80s, citizen pressure to pry open secret files had good success. The Freedom of Information Act, passed in 1966 and amended to make it truly effective in 1974 and subsequent years, has helped shine a great deal of light into shadowy government corners. ...
Since 9/11, the Bush Administration has worked diligently to increase government secrecy, aided by congressional and citizen fears that terrorists may take advantage of open records.
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