Building upon the movement that started on a cold January morning in Illinois almost two years ago, Barack Obama today announced the creation of "Organizing for America," a grassroots organization that will help ordinary citizens get involved in the legislation-making process.

USA Today:

While President-elect Barack Obama continues on his train trip to Washington, his transition team has just released a video in which he announces the creation of "Organizing for America."

"I'm asking people like you who fought for change during the campaign to continue fighting for change in your communities," Obama says.

The goal is to take those who volunteered during the president-elect's campaign and organize them to "work for change" in communities.

Is this guy serious about changing the way this country works, or what? Check out BarackObama.com and get involved. The election of the 44th President of the United States was but only the first step. Now the real work begins.

Keeping with his campaign pledge of running the most open and accessible government in American history, President-elect Obama will hold the first White House open house January 21st, the day after he is officially sworn in.

AP:

Barack Obama plans to open his White House doors to the public on his first full day of his presidency, Jan. 21.

Obama aides on Friday announced plans to have an open house at his new home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The idea is to keep Obama's administration the "most open and accessible" in history by inviting hundreds of supporters inside and encouraging them to stay involved.

Call me a government geek, but there is something about this that I just love. You can fill out an application here.

Bushsecrecy.org

Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix...President Harry S. Truman

Harry Truman understood the importance of open government in a free society.

George W.Bush does not.

From the first days of his administration, President Bush has taken steps to tighten the government's hold on information and limit public scrutiny of its activities. Expansive assertions of executive privilege, restrictive views of the Freedom of Information Act, increasing use of national security classification, stonewalling in response to congressional requests for information - all these were evident even before the September 11 attacks. Since then, the clamps on information have only tightened.

Here, Public Citizen chronicles and documents the administration's obsession with secrecy, as well as the steps we, and others, are taking to fight it. By clicking on the links provided here, you can reach up-to-date summaries of each of the administration's major secrecy initiatives, with additional links from those summaries to key documents, such as executive orders, congressional materials, judicial decisions, and legal briefs filed by both sides in the court battles raging over these issues. We'll also provide links to other resources on the web, as well as information about how you can use the Freedom of Information Act to take on government secrecy yourself.

In the long run, we don't think Americans will put up with a government that operates on the principle of keeping them in ignorance. The more light we shine on these, the better. More

CQ Homeland Security: Iraq intelligence horror stories shouldn't be old news

Mercury Rising: Former US Attorney, Tom Heffelfinger, is reacting to Monica Goodling's testimony

TPMCafe: No website, no employees, a disconnected phone and a lapsed corporate registraton. Without the 990s, you would be hardpressed to know the GOP funneled $2.8 million through the Free Enterprise Coalition to fund election-related legal expenses between 2004 and 2005.

Secrecy News: An unidentified Republican Senator placed a 'secret hold' on the Open Government Act. I'm not joking...

Norbizness: Ax Da President, remixed by The Left

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