{"id":920,"date":"2009-08-07T10:08:39","date_gmt":"2009-08-07T15:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/clarksite.com\/?p=920"},"modified":"2009-08-07T10:09:52","modified_gmt":"2009-08-07T15:09:52","slug":"i-dont-like-what-obama-is-doing-nor-the-healthcare-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clarksite.com\/?p=920","title":{"rendered":"I don’t like Obama nor what he is doing – I love the USA though!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sorry, I just wanted to use the freedom we have now before it is taken away. LOL It \u00a0is nice to know my Senator is awake in DC and trying to take care of us. \u00a0I received the below information from the Senator’s mailing list. I mean come one people – you damn idiots that voted for him – look what he is doing. I think he still smokes also….because he is blowing a lot of it up your @$$#$.<\/p>\n

He is definitely a change…wants soldiers to pay for their insurance because it was a voluntary army. What tha!? Wants to socialize the healthcare system. Nobody else does! LOL Now he is trying to collect data on those who oppose him…well add my name Mr. President. <\/p>\n

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Sen. Cornyn appeared on Fox News today to discuss his letter to President Obama regarding the collection of emails and other communications opposing the President’s health care policies. <\/em>Click here<\/em><\/span><\/a> to watch the interview.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a letter to President Obama,\u00a0 Sen. Cornyn expressed serious concern about the White House’s new program requesting Americans to forward email chains and other communications opposing the President’s health care policies. Sen. Cornyn is seeking assurances that the program is being carried out in a manner consistent with the First Amendment and America’s tradition of free speech and public discourse.<\/p>\n

Sen. Cornyn’s letter also inquires about the collection of names, email addresses, IP addresses, and private speech of U.S. citizens that will be reported, which raises the specter of a data collection program.<\/p>\n

“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 \u2018fishy’ 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.\u00a0 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.”<\/p>\n

–The full text of Sen. Cornyn’s letter is below–<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear President Obama,<\/p>\n

I write to express my concern about a new White House program to monitor American citizens’ speech opposing your health care policies, and to seek your assurances that this program is being carried out in a manner consistent with the First Amendment and America’s tradition of free speech and public discourse.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, in an official White House release entitled “Facts are Stubborn Things,” the White House Director of New Media, Macon Phillips, asserted that there was “a lot of disinformation out there,” and encouraged citizens to report “fishy” speech opposing your health care policies to the White House.\u00a0 Phillips specifically targeted private, unpublished, even casual speech, writing that “rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation.”\u00a0 Phillips wrote “If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov<\/span><\/a>.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

By requesting that citizens send “fishy” emails to the White House, it is inevitable that the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and private speech of U.S. citizens will be reported to the White House.\u00a0 You should not be surprised that these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward emails critical of his policies to the White House.\u00a0 I suspect that you would have been leading the charge in condemning such a program-and I would have been at your side denouncing such heavy-handed government action.<\/p>\n

So I urge you to cease this program immediately.\u00a0 At the very least, I request that you detail to Congress and the public the protocols that your White House is following to purge the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and identities of citizens who are reported to have engaged in “fishy” speech.\u00a0 And I respectfully request an answer to the following:<\/p>\n