I was canvassing in Louisiana in favor of the restoration of the Gulf Coast.  While doing so, I encountered certain ordinances or other restrictive regulations that restrict access to housing in certain areas, like closed subdivisions or limit access at certain times.  I believe that having an executive government in place at the federal level that tries so hard to keep information from its citizens, allowing these type of restrictions that negatively impact canvassers's ability to disseminate information to the public is very bad.  Since it seems to be local government bodies and public officials that have either put these restrictions into place directly or else have allowed them to be adopted, we need to take a closer look to see if these actions run afoul of the First Amendment.  On the surface it seems that these rules restrict access to public streets where free speech has traditionally been practiced in this country. 

On another disappointing note regarding the issue of access to information, the Washington Post has an article on its webpage, "Rove ignores subpoena, refuses to testify on Hill". regarding former Presidential adviser, Karl Rove's refusal to appear before Congress today, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07.... Rove claiming "Executive Privilege" today disobeyed a subpoena from Congress (a so called co-equal branch of government) in connection with Congressional hearings on the possible improper use of partisan political influence in the Justice Department under President Bush to determine who gets prosecuted.  The "hear no evil, see no evil, say no evil" monkey style of government apparently does not want its citizens to be able to inquire, much less learn anything about this matter. 

Don't hold your breath however waiting for the Democrats in Congress to lead the charge for public accountability.  There are few Profiles in Courage in this Congress.  To top off this sad situation the Democrats in the Senate caved-in yesterday and passed a so-called compromise FISA legislation pushed by the White House to legalize after the fact the executive branch's warrantless wiretapping of US citizens.  The three monkey style of government can now eavesdrop more easily on its citizens. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/07/.... Since the new legislation is specifically intended to give immunity to the telecommunications companies that opened their circuits so that Big Brother could more effectively conduct surveillance on the people, pending law suits all over the country which might have helped get to the bottom of this mess will now be thrown out of court.  The three monkeys are now your Big Daddy and you have no right to know, or to sue to find out, just "trust your government".  Where is transparency?