The first rule of the Federal Budget is, Don't talk about the Federal Budget

Once upon a time, Your Federal Government, under the auspices of the President of the United States, published an annual document called the Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget, which is exactly what it sounds like: a publication that makes it somewhat easier for citizens to look at what the government's doing with their taxes, among other things.

I say "Once upon a time", because President Bush's White House has decided that publishing the Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget just isn't that important. Of course, citizens can still read through the actual Federal budget, but no more nice help understanding it all from our wonderful, open, respectful-of-access-to-information Administration.

"We'll provide only the information we're required by law to provide, and you gotta figure it out yourself. And even in those cases, we'll be working to change the law about what we gotta provide you, or we'll use those handy Executive Orders to bottle up information we don't want you to have in the first place." Yup, the grown-ups sure are in charge -- the grown-ups who were always kicking the kids outside or going into the den and locking the door when it came time to balance the family checkbook.

(via Incurable Insomniac; post not permalinked.)