From the webpage:
The Socrata Open Data API allows you to programatically access a wealth of open data resources from governments, non-profits, and NGOs around the world.
I have mentioned Socrata and their Open Data efforts more than once on this blog but I don’t think I have ever pointed to their developer site.
Very much worth spending time here if you are interested in governmental data.
Not that I take any data, government or otherwise, at face value. Data is created and released/leaked for reasons that may or may not coincide with your assumptions or goals. Access to data is just the first step in uncovering whose interests the data represents.