There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.
Yes, let us know, so we can send our Americorps army in lederhosen out to "re-educate" them or "encourage" them to change their minds, ala the great missionary attempts of the Daleys in Chicago, or the Hitlers of Germany, or the Stalins of Moscow. Are you kidding me? Nope.
And, this may indeed, be illegal, but who cares? The law is like living and breathing and able to be crushed and corroded, right? Check it out:
According to 5 U.S.C. § 552a, United States agencies, including the Executive Office of the President shall, “maintain no record describing how any individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute or by the individual about whom the record is maintained or unless pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity.”
The White House may take the position that certain of its offices aren’t subject to the Privacy Act (that is a longstanding Office of Legal Counsel position, see here), but most Presidents instruct their staffs to comply. This will be a the first significant time the White House has ignored the Privacy Act and may open President Obama up to litigation.
This is another example of the Obama administration ignoring long time precedent when it is no longer convenient for them. And ignoring this precedent lets them collect data on and potential harass individual American citizens.
We better be working on our legs because Barry has lederhosen for all of us....
Some people are standing against this invasion, like John Cornyn:
I am not aware of any precedent for a President asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens to the White House for pure political speech that is deemed ‘fishy’ or otherwise inimical to the White House’s political interests,” Sen. Cornyn wrote. “You should not be surprised that these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program. As Congress debates health care reform and other critical policy matters, citizen engagement must not be chilled by fear of government monitoring the exercise of free speech rights.
But wait...even the internet may not be safe...RedState continues:
Imagine, if you would, cross referencing those forwarded emails to the White House with another database the Obama Administration has ordered set up.
Congress adopted the Broadband Data Improvement Act in 2008 to compile of map of the nation showing which areas have broadband and which do not. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is getting the information, but the Obama Administration has decided to use the NTIA to get more than the law requires.
Beyond the general data on which parts of the nation have high speed internet access and is it cable or DSL, Obama wants to know down to the individual what the individual has and how much the individual pays. Specifically, the NTIA is now requiring internet provides to give the government “average revenue per end user and data regarding type, technical specification or location of broadband infrastructure,” i.e. your home address, IP address, how much you pay, and where the connection is at your house.
The law does not require it. Congress does not want it. The NTIA admits the information will not be used to compile the map of national broadband, but Barack Obama still wants it.
We have a White House asking neighbors to turn in neighbors by forwarding emails — some of which will contain IP address information. And we have the White House demanding internet providers provide them with the home addresses corresponding to those IP addresses. Lastly, we have a White House that has thus far been extremely opaque despite pledges of transparency and a White House that has not hesitated to use private citizens information when it benefits them.
But blessed be the Holy One Mao TseAnythingtoGetElected Obama. So much for hope and change. More like "resistance is futile" and "you will service us."
Folks, we need to be ready. However, as with our forefathers, we must be careful. Speaking your mind is not en vogue. It is not cool to tell the truth or to challenge the authority, now that statists are in control. We must be truthful, honest, direct, and peaceful. The first crackpot who does something stupid will spoil it for all of us. I am reminded of the scene from the Grapes of Wrath where the displaced workers watched for "ringers for fighting" who came to the camps to stir up trouble so the displaced would be kicked out. Be watchful, be ready, stand firm.
