White House “Flagged” List May be Illegal– it is Time to Investigate
I have written about the White House website’s blog in which people are being asked to report other citizens who spread anti-healthcare emails and even those who engage in casual conversations in which they claim to oppose the president’s healthcare plan. I have even turned myself in to the White House’s “flagged” list, so far I am still here.
This attempt to stifle free speech and debate on the issues by the administration is coming under heavy fire by legal experts.
This is a very troubling attempt to stifle the free speech of Americans who have the constitutional right to express their opinion and concerns about health care,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice.
This move is an attempt to intimidate those who have legitimate concerns about the health care plan,” Sekulow said. “And, worse, it turns the White House into some sort of self-appointed ‘speech police.’ This new White House reporting program strikes at the heart of the First Amendment and has no place in this important debate about health care.
Even the ACLU chimed in, although with a rather tepid response.
The ACLU said in a statement to FOXNews.com that the White House blog is a “bad idea that could send a troublesome message.”
But the organization added, “While it is unclear at this point what the government is doing with the information it is collecting, critics of the administration’s health care proposal should not fear that their names will end up in some government database that could be used to chill their right to free speech.”
It the ACLU was really looking out for us they would demand to find out what the White House is doing with the information that it is collecting.
But the White House could have actually committed a crime by setting up this “flag” list, it is illegal for the government to collect data on people who oppose the administration.
The White House is in bit of a conundrum because of this privacy statute that prohibits the White House from collecting data and storing it on people who disagree with it,
This is a violation of a law that was signed after Watergate and if you think about it this is in the same vein as Watergate. The government may be trying to collect data on people who oppose the administration, sounds a little similar doesn’t it? The only difference here is that in this case we have the administration trying to turn every willing American into spies.
It is also a crime for the administration to delete the emails it receives so these emails to the “flagged” list must be there somewhere. The question is where? It is time that we found out. There needs to be a full investigation into what the administration is doing with the emails of their opponents.
There is the very real possibility that a crime has been committed by the Obama administration and if this is so somebody has to be held accountable. All communication between the White House blogger that posted the “flag” department and the White House itself must be seized. We need to get to the bottom of this. The rights of the people may have been violated by an over-reaching power hungry president. Or at least by somebody in the administration, we need to find out who knew what and when they knew it.
If it has been found that President Obama had anything to do with this and if it is found that the White House has indeed been collecting data on political appointments than it will be time to start impeachment proceedings.
If it is found that the White House has been flagging people who oppose the administration than the first amendment rights of all those who have been reported to the White House have been violated by the very man who swore an oath to uphold the constitution. If this does not merit removal from office I would guess that nothing does.
America's Watchtower 
Great post Mr Pinkeyes. Obama and staff knew that when they requested people to send them emails on what they call suspecious charges that the law requires they to keep such information once it has come into the White House. They can now call for this to stop but the damage is done.
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Thank you. Maybe they did know this was illegal and that is why they had it set up through a blogger, so that he wouledn’t appear to be directly responsible. We need an investigation to find these things out.
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A little paranoid?
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No, I turned myself in to the list. But if Obama broke the law, and it certainly seems as if he did than he needs to pay the price.
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Well, I am now!
For years I have thought that those who opposed the government’s efforts to assure our freedom and security were just a bunch of paranoid nut jobs. And I’m not saying that they aren’t, it’s just that now I know how they felt. As an outspoken, fiercely patriotic conservative, I am now the enemy of the State. I am now considered a threat and my privacy and liberties can be infringed upon freely. I once was of the opinion that those who opposed the Government spying on criminals were worried about nothing. I mean hey, I have nothing to hide. Why do I care if the Government taps my phone or intercepts my correspondence? Well, now I know. Because this administration considers my opinions to be dangerous and will twist them to use against me. So, as an optimist, I can see the good in having the other side in charge for a while. It has reminded me of the the dangers to us all of allowing the Government, Liberal or Conservative, too much power. So I think of it as a wake up call.
I still don’t like the Liberals in charge though and am very concerned about the damage being done and how long it will take to correct said damage.
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Very well said!
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Nothing seems to stick to that teflon-coated asshole. It should, but I doubt it will.
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We will get him eventually Joe, his arrogance will be his downfall.
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Characterizing the request as a “request to report other citizens” seems pretty disengenuous. That’s hardly the way the request was worded, though all morning on talk radio that’s the way it’s being talked about. Right wing organizations have a justly earned reputation for “twisting” the truth and launching attacks against whatever person or issue they don’t agree with. It was evident in the campaign against Kerry, against Obama, now against healthcare reform (that’s right, I didn’t call it government take over of healthcare). Asking people to let them know what kind of lies are showing up in email, or on answering machines seems perfectly reasonable to me. How this has been turned into “turning in your neighbor” is beyond me. Just more right wing desperation. I’m more worried about posting to this website than sending an email to the white house.
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The site specifically mentions “casual conversations.” What else could that mean if you report a casual conversation between two people?
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Are you kidding me? What hypocrisy! Far at least the last eight years the liberals have been the champions of twisting the truth and launching attacks against whatever person or issue with which they disagree. Where exactly has your head been for the past eight plus years of twisting absolutely everything the was done under the Bush administration? Talk about twisting the facts and disagreeing just to be obstructive! I, and many other conservatives, may not have agreed with everything that the Bush administration did, but at least we knew that the security, sovereignty and benefit of the United States of America and it’s people where at the heart of it all. And then have the likes of Hillary stand up for them and call it American to disagree with any administration, well until it’s the administration that she and the other liberals support. Then it’s just plain divisive and unpatriotic.
Why is it desperation when we conservatives dissent, but progressive when the liberals disagree. If this website request had been made under the Bush, or any other Republican administration, the Liberals would still be burning their own neighborhoods over it.
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And I quote “If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.” Hardly reporting your neighbor. The reference to casual conversation on the website was talking about the way that these rumors get spread around.
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