Time’s Mysterious Black Protestors

Time Magazine announced it’s “Person of The Year” today. Determined to prove everyone right who said they’d jumped the shark by selecting “You” back in 2006, they went with “The Protestor” this year.

While the selection of “The Protester” is stupidly vague and essentially a pass by Time’s editorial board, what is ridiculous is the photo that accompanies the article.

From the center moving right, we have an angry young Arab making like he’s about to kill us (possibly for making fun of his fashionably questionable leather jacket), a homely #OccupyWallStreet chick straight out of Zacatti Park and a ninja(origin unknown, those guys are everywhere…and nowhere).

What is strange is the two individuals on the left side of the photo. Any coverage of the Occupy protests regarding African-Americans has simply mentioned their absence from the cause. There are almost no Africans in Russia and there is no evidence that they are part of the protest against Putin’s suspected election tampering. They could be anti-austerity protesters in Greece, but their wardrobes are a bit too urban-American.

We have to admit, we’re stumped. If you, our readers, have any ideas, please leave them in the comments section!

#OccupyWallStreet Needs An Elevator Pitch That Isn’t #GiveUsEverythingForNothing

In the last decade or so, the elevator pitch has become more and more important, regardless of whether you were large corporation, a salesman looking for a new client or a political movement about to take on Washington.

After the Enron debacle, many companies couldn’t find investors unless they could concisely say what the company did in a few sentences.

For salesmen, the “elevator pitch”, has been a staple of their arsenal since companies started using elevators. Once again, the ability to concisely answer “Why am I talking to you?” Of course, the elevator pitch isn’t just for salesmen. Apple engineers are rumored to have needed one, just in case they ran into Steve Jobs and needed to justify their existence.

As for political movements, the message must be even simpler. Only a sentence will do. “We are here to…(end a war, stop a pipeline, end abortion, kill the unborn or whatever).” The Tea Party was pretty textbook for a movement with a simple aim. They stood for reduced spending and smaller government. A vast array of individuals could speak to why they were at a protest and it would be an expansion on that simple theme.

The Left has suffered from a “Tea Party Envy” ever since the GOP’s 2010 election results were so long, hard and throbbing and Obama’s approval ratings started to do an impression of an Alcapulco cliff diver.

So despite this simple precept for movements, the Far Left has never been able to distill its dozens of demands into a coherent message, which is why their demands haven’t evolved much since their 1990s anti-globalization protests/riots. If you come across a reasonably well trained Alinskyite, they might be able to use such terms as “social justice”, which are just undefined macros for a government whose scope and power was unlimited, except in matters of national defense.

Now, the Left as a whole can be forgiven for thinking that a simple message is passé. After all, their two greatest successes, the election of Barack Obama and the health care bill, were left largely undefined. At the time, a friendly press corps filled the emptiness as needed. Today, however, that press corps has decided to do its job with such headlines as “Occupy Wall Street Protests Spread Across the Country With No Unified Message”.

After almost three years of the Obama administration, the American people won’t get fooled again. The gaps left by #OccupyWallStreet is being filled by right-wing bloggers poking fun at either the vaccuousness of their demands or the hypocrisy of their champions.

Of course, the problem that #OccupyWallStreet is really facing is that they can’t think of another way to say “We want everything for nothing”.

Pedophile Terrorist Naser Jason Abdo Tries, Fails To Mug Liberals With Reality

The latest devout follower of the Religion of Peace, Naser Jason Abdo, was arrested Tuesday after arousing the suspicions of a Killeen, Texas gun shop employee. Abdo was already a star of the Far Left, having somehow convinced the Army that the Muslim religion he shares with such well-known pacifists as Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein made him a conscientious objector, unable to serve his country in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Why a Muslim would join not only the Army but the infantry, in a time of war and then suddenly realize, “wait, this job involves killing Muslims?” indicates that Abdo had to be, if you’ll pardon the military jargon, some kind of ASVAB-waiver.

Now, to be considered a conscientious objector, not only do you have to demonstrate that you oppose the current war you’re being asked to fight in, but all wars. So, according to CNN, Abdo ran with the kind of malarkey that our liberal friends love to hear from Muslims.

“Islam is a much more peaceful and tolerant religion than it is an aggressive religion,” he said. “I don’t believe that Islam allows me to operate in any kind of warfare at all, including the U.S. military and any war it partakes in. I believe that our first duty as a Muslim is to serve God.”

So it looked like Abdo was going to get free an clear of his military obligation until May 13th, when he was arrested after child pornography was discovered on his computer.  After a legal hearing recommended that Abdo face a court martial, the Muslim soldier-cum-pacifist-cum-pedophile decided to add deserter to his resume and went AWOL.

Now, it appears that Abdo loves peace the same way he wants to love children after he was arrested and bomb-making materials, guns,  military uniforms and jihadist literature were found in his hotel room.

Over at Death & Taxes, Andrew Belonsky‘s first concern is “How Will Right Respond To Fort Hood Plot?” That’s right, a second incident of a Muslim serviceman trying to kill his fellow soldiers at the Fort Hood, where Nidal Malik Hasan first voiced opposition to the war and then opened fire on American soldiers, killing 13 and wounding 29…and the view through the liberal lense is one of fear that people might look at Muslims with suspicion.

…we’re seeing an uptick in politically expedient Islamophobia, and it’s entirely conceivable that GOP leaders and their adherents will use Abdo’s Muslim heritage to rally their troops. I mean, just look at Herman Cain, a socially conservative pledge blasting Sharia law and Rep. Peter King’s “Muslim radicalization”hearings.

Would “Islamophobia” be so politically expedient if American Muslims were a little more eager to serve and protect the country and a little less willing to side with our enemies and kill us?

Mothers hide your daughers, when Daily Kos comes out…

According to Mediate.com, Andrew Breitbart did not run a story involving two underage girls, while Markos Moulitsas of Dailykos.com overtly let their identities be exposed in a douchebag attempt to destroy them, all in an attempt to protect Rep. Anthony Weiner(D-NY), a liberal Democrat whose belief in moral standing is so high that he had Bill Clinton, of all people, preside over his wedding.  Forgive the analogy, but having Bill Clinton preside over your wedding is like…having Bill Clinton preside over your wedding. In fact, Mediate columnist Tommy Christopher BEGGED Markos to remove the names of the teenage girls involved, in the name of all that is holy (to liberals) and was absolutely rebuffed:

VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 9:22 PM
subject VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

They are sources of mine, and scared shitless, please call me. xxx-xxx-xxxx

from Markos Moulitsas
to Tommy Christopher
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 9:26 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

Email me the info.

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to dkos
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 9:29 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

These are confidential sources. If you can’t call me, at least have this blog taken down, or redact the DM screenshot, including the names (redacted) and the name (redacted), and the girl’s picture. And any reference to those names in the comments or story

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to dkos
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 9:58 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

Please let me know what’s going on. I will be posting these girls’ story pretty soon, with proper protection. They just don’t want all these bread crumbs out there. They are 16 years old.

from Markos Moulitsas
to Tommy Christopher
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 10:34 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

That’s a community member’s post. Not my staff. I don’t exert editorial control over what the community writes absent legal imperatives or deeply offensive material. Right now, I’m seeing neither.

I’m not sure I get why you want me to pull that. Those DMs appear relevant to the story. As I understand it, those two individuals injected themselves into a political smear effort, why should they be protected now?

Open to a counter argument that has nothing to do with protecting your source.

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to Markos Moulitsas
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 10:37 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

They are both minor children and (redacted) was not involved. Will discuss further if you need, not on email. There could be legal implications, I’m not a lawyer. I’m going to post their story fairly soon, but will discuss off the record by phone if you need.

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to Markos Moulitsas
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:20 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

I’m prepping my story now. Are you going to leave it as is? These girls are afraid. Here’s a redacted version, if you want to drop it in. That’s all I ask. You’re a father, think about it for a sec.

from Markos Moulitsas
to Tommy Christopher
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:35 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

If they’re so afraid, why are they talking to you?

from Markos Moulitsas
to Tommy Christopher
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:35 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

And to be clear, no, I’m not getting involved. I see no reason to protect your scoop.

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to Markos Moulitsas
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:35 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

Because I have promised to protect their identities.

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to Markos Moulitsas
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:37 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

It’s not my scoop I’m protecting, it’s these young girls. Jesus, all I’m asking is that you redact the names of these children. Please.

from Markos Moulitsas
to Tommy Christopher
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:37 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

So did @goatsred.

Again, not my responsibility to protect your sources.

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to Markos Moulitsas
date Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:40 PM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

Dude, it is your responsibility to protect the identities of minors, sources or not. I can’t believe you. This gesture will cost you nothing, and it will save these girls being subjected to fuck knows what. As a father, I beg you, please redact these girls’ names.

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to Markos Moulitsas
date Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 12:17 AM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

This is the last I’ll say on the subject, and you can take it for what it’s worth, like I said, I’m not a legal expert, but this girl’s parents are livid and talking about legal action. Obviously, you didn’t know it was posted, but you know now.

from Markos Moulitsas
to Tommy Christopher
date Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 12:56 AM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

Wish them luck going after @goatsred.

from Tommy Christopher tommy@mediaite.com
to Markos Moulitsas
date Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 1:08 AM
subject Re: VERY Urgent you call me! One of your bloggers is compromising identities of two minors

Well, he has removed it from his YFrog. Probably not out of decency, but now, you’re the only obstacle to their safety. I really can’t believe you’re doing this. I hope you think better of it.

This is hardly the first time that Markos Moulistsas (DailyKos) has revealed himself to be an utter douchebag, devoid of the decency that usually divides us humans from the more reptilian species we share the planet with, but it is somewhat exceptional that a man who is a father in his own right chose to let some naive teenagers be exposed on his own website to suite his own political aims. Is this completely surprising? No. If pedophiles are known to molest their own children, then sacrificing other children in the name of liberalism is small fry for a “man” of such moral decrepitude. Are we at the Douchebag Report suggesting that you shouldn’t leave your children alone with Markos? No, but we do feel that the world is a riskier place for them with him out and about.

BTW, check out our new FACEBOOK PAGE!

Dems to Bieber: Save Our Asses

It’s no surprise to anyone that the Democrats are desperate – looking for any angle to get a leg-up in the November elections. This is partly why I was not surprised to learn that the Dems are leveraging the Internet popularity of none other than Justin friggin’ Bieber.

Where is the logic here? First of all, Bieber is 16 years old (so, that means he can’t vote). Second of all, Bieber is Canadian (again, can’t vote). Oh wait, I know… let’s make that our really lame, convoluted message:

“This isn’t your standard election year video of celebrities asking you to vote. . . It’s us asking you to vote for celebrities who can’t, celebrities like Justin Bieber. . . So tell your parents, your grandparents, your Facebook friends . . . of they won’t do it for you, ask them to do it for Bieber.”

WTF. Really? Well, here’s the video anyway:

OK Republicans, it’s time for a counter-strategy:  From what I recall, Gary Coleman was something of an Internet icon as well. And, due to his untimely passing this May, he will be unable to vote in the midterms. So… get the word out – Do it for Gary Coleman!

How Many Times Will Auntie Zeituni Vote?

BOSTON — Zeituni Onyango, illegal immigrant aunt of President Barack Obama and current resident of Massachusetts may just have an opportunity to vote in today’s Senatorial run-off election. If so, will she take MSNBC’s Ed Schultz’s advice and cheat / commit voter fraud?

Auntie Zeituni, you go girl! Ten votes are in your court — will you keep the Democrats fillibuster proof???

Douchebag In Decline

We all saw it coming, but did we see it coming this quickly? 50 percent of the country now disagrees with the Obama Administration on political issues. And guess what, kids? CNN agrees.

For the first time since he took over in the White House, Americans don’t see eye to eye with President Barack Obama on the important issues, according to a new national poll. But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey does indicate that a majority approve of how Obama’s handling his duties as president.

According to the poll, which was released Tuesday, 48 percent of people questioned say that they agree with Obama on the issues that matter most to them, with 51 percent saying no. That’s a switch from April, when 57 percent said they agreed with the president on important issues, with 41 percent disagreeing.

While this may be considered great news, there is still one rather unsettling aspect: half of the country continues to agree with the song-and-dance put forth by this administration. Half of the country agrees with the bloated bailout packages. Half of the country agrees with socialization of health care. Half of the country refuses to acknowledge that Obama has not really accomplished much of anything. The reality is that this disapproval number should be much, much higher.

It’s no wonder that the administration continues a full-frontal assault on conservative television and radio news outlets. It’s not surprising that Obama is pushing hard for the Net Neutrality act, which will serve as a controlling mechanism for Internet based news sources. The administration wishes simply to keep the majority of Americans uninformed, and in the dark about so that we can gleefully skip towards socialism.

Dr. Tax-and-Spend or: How Robert Reich Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Deficit

According to former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, when, in 2002, he warned Dick Cheney that the budget deficit was expected to top $500 billion, Cheney retorted, “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”

Apparently, Robert Reich, midget Labor Secretary under Clinton, has mixed batches of Cheney- and Obama-flavored Kool-Aid (probably spiked with Marxist Everclear) and chugged it all. Then he chased it with some of Biden’s Buckler beer.

In a column titled “Why the deficit hysteria?  I only wish we’d borrow more” Reich lays out that deficits don’t matter because we’ll outgrow them anyway and that Obama should be spending even more.

Pay close attention, in particular, to the debt-to-GDP ratio. True, that ratio is heading in the wrong direction right now – it’s likely to reach 80% by the end of 2010. That’s high, but not compared with the 119% it reached in 1945, after the ravages of depression and war.

That’s right.  We’re not in trouble because we’re not as far in debt as we were at the end of World War Two.  Then we’d engaged in great power warfare against two major world powers and one minor one and supplied most of the free and Communist worlds to do it. Now, well…you see, the schools in California need more money…

Every expert who has looked closely at America’s crumbling infrastructure knows how badly it suffers from decades of deferred maintenance: bridges collapsing, water pipes bursting, sewers backed up, highways impassable, public transport in disrepair. Many schools are also falling apart, literally and figuratively. Schools in my new home state of California have laid off teachers, shredded their curriculums and shortened their school days, all for want of tax revenue during this deep recession. And unless this nation reduces its greenhouse gases, it and the rest of the world are heading for lots more trouble.

Reich then channels Biden.  Those of you who have been keeping up on current events will remember the last time Obama let him out in public, Joe Biden had some interesting things to say about the administration’s financial plans.

We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.
“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”

Here’s our undersized Labor Secretary’s take:

In this respect, national budgets are like family budgets. It’s dumb for an indebted family to borrow more money to take a world cruise. But it’s smart even for an indebted family to borrow money to send their kids to college. So too with the Obama budget. Public investments, just like family investments, build future wealth. They allow faster growth. They make the debt-to-GDP ratio even lower and more manageable over time.

The problem with the Democrats is that they think that it’s a given that college makes people more productive, while we at the Douchebag Report found that college is geared towards creating more Democrats, which only makes people bigger whiners.

Fortunately for the country’s financial health, the Republicans have somehow convinced the Democrats that they actually matter, politically.  How a completely demoralized and unorganized GOP managed to distract the Left’s drunken sailors from the nation’s open vault, after they’d grabbed everything in the tills, we’ll never know.  Maybe they were just laughing to hard at the midget trying to outspend them.

Ted Kennedy: Massachusetts’ Useful Idiot

Senator Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy passed away on Tuesday, August 25 after suffering from a malignant brain tumor.  Media coverage of his death has taught conservatives how liberals felt in the wake of President Ronald Reagan’s death, as the national media lionizes the “Lion Of The Senate”.

Unfortunately, coverage has scrubbed Kennedy’s image and leaves out Kennedy’s treachery in the early 1980s, when Ted Kennedy sought Soviet assistance to defeat Reagan in his 1984 re-election attempt.  In May 1983, the KGB detailed the offer in a letter to the Secretary General of the Soviet Union, Y.V. Andropov.

TEXT OF KGB LETTER ON SENATOR TED KENNEDY
_________________________________________

Special Importance
Committee on State Security of the USSR
14.05. 1983 No. 1029 Ch/OV
Moscow

Regarding Senator Kennedy’s request to the General Secretary of the Communist Party Comrade Y.V. Andropov

Comrade Y.V. Andropov

On 9-10 May of this year, Senator Edward Kennedy’s close friend and trusted confidant J. Tunney was in Moscow. The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Center Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov.

Senator Kennedy, like other rational people, is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations. Events are developing such that this relationship coupled with the general state of global affairs will make the situation even more dangerous. The main reason for this is Reagan’s belligerence, and his firm commitment to deploy new American middle range nuclear weapons within Western Europe.

According to Kennedy, the current threat is due to the President’s refusal to engage any modification on his politics. He feels that his domestic standing has been strengthened because of the well publicized improvement of the economy: inflation has been greatly reduced, production levels are increasing as is overall business activity. For these reasons, interest rates will continue to decline. The White House has portrayed this in the media as the “success of Reaganomics.”

Naturally, not everything in the province of economics has gone according to Reagan’s plan. A few well known economists and members of financial circles, particularly from the north-eastern states, foresee certain hidden tendencies that many bring about a new economic crisis in the USA. This could bring about the fall of the presidential campaign of 1984, which would benefit the Democratic party. Nevertheless, there are no secure assurances this will indeed develop.

The only real threats to Reagan are problems of war and peace and Soviet-American relations. These issues, according to the senator, will without a doubt become the most important of the election campaign. The movement advocating a freeze on nuclear arsenals of both countries continues to gain strength in the United States. The movement is also willing to accept preparations, particularly from Kennedy, for its continued growth. In political and influential circles of the country, including within Congress, the resistence to growing military expenditures is gaining strength.

However, according to Kennedy, the opposition to Reagan is still very weak. Reagan’s adversaries are divided and the presentations they make are not fully effective. Meanwhile, Reagan has the capabilities to effectively counter any propaganda. In order to neutralize criticism that the talks between the USA and the USSR are non-constructive, Reagan will grandiose, but subjectively propagandistic. At the same time, Soviet officials who speak about disarmament will be quoted out of context, silenced or groundlessly and whimsically discounted. Although arguments and statements by officials of the USSR do appear in the press, it is important to note the majority of Americans do not read serious newspapers or periodicals.

Kennedy believes that, given the current state of affairs, and in the interest of peace, it would be prudent and timely to undertake the following steps to counter the militaristic politics of Reagan and his campaign to psychologically burden the American people. In this regard, he offers the following proposals to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Y.V. Andropov:

1. Kennedy asks Y.V. Andropov to consider inviting the senator to Moscow for a personal meeting in July of this year. The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA. He would also like to inform you that he has planned a trip through Western Europe, where he anticipates meeting England’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Mitterand in which he will exchange similar ideas regarding the same issues.

If his proposals would be accepted in principle, Kennedy would send his representative to Moscow to resolve questions regarding organizing such a visit.

Kennedy thinks the benefits of a meeting with Y.V.Andropov will be enhanced if he could also invite one of the well known Republican senators, for example, Mark Hatfield. Such a meeting will have a strong impact on American and political circles in the USA (In March of 1982, Hatfield and Kennedy proposed a project to freeze the nuclear arsenals of the USA and USSR and published a book on the theme as well.)

2. Kennedy believes that in order to influence Americans it would be important to organize in August-September of this year, televised interviews with Y.V. Andropov in the USA. A direct appeal by the General Secretary to the American people will, without a doubt, attact a great deal of attention and interest in the country. The senator is convinced this would receive the maximum resonance in so far as television is the most effective method of mass media and information.

If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview. Specifically, the president of the board of directors of ABC, Elton Raul and television columnists Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters could visit Moscow. The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.

Furthermore, with the same purpose in mind, a series of televised interviews in the USA with lower level Soviet officials, particularly from the military would be organized. They would also have an opportunity to appeal directly to the American people about the peaceful intentions of the USSR, with their own arguments about maintaining a true balance of power between the USSR and the USA in military term. This issue is quickly being distorted by Reagan’s administration.

Kennedy asked to convey that this appeal to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is his effort to contribute a strong proposal that would root out the threat of nuclear war, and to improve Soviet-American relations, so that they define the safety of the world. Kennedy is very impressed with the activities of Y.V. Andropov and other Soviet leaders, who expressed their commitment to heal international affairs, and improve mutal understandings between peoples.

The senator underscored that he eagerly awaits a reply to his appeal, the answer to which may be delivered through Tunney.

Having conveyed Kennedy’s appeal to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Tunney also explained that Senator Kennedy has in the last few years actively made appearances to reduce the threat of war. Because he formally refused to partake in the election campaign of 1984, his speeches would be taken without prejudice as they are not tied to any campaign promises. Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988. At that time, he will be 56 and his personal problems, which could hinder his standing, will be resolved (Kennedy has just completed a divorce and plans to remarry in the near future). Taken together, Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic Party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president. This would explain why he is convinced that none of the candidates today have a real chance at defeating Reagan.

We await instructions.

President of the committee
V. Chebrikov

While it might come as a shock to some, Ted Kennedy’s treason only follows in his father’s footsteps.  After all, Joe Kennedy was forced to resign as US Ambassador to Great Britain over his Nazi sympathies.

Perhaps Billy Joel was on to something when he wrote “Only the Good Die Young”.

Obama’s Illegal Warrantless Surveillance Program: Laws “Are Stubborn Things”

Someone in the Obama White House broke the law on Tuesday.  Now, the White House is no stranger to violations of the law, most famously with the Watergate, Iran-Contra, Monica-gate, Plame-gate and Gates-Gate scandals.  What’s interesting about this crime is that it took place on the White House blog.

In a post titled “Facts Are Stubborn Things”, Macon Phillips attacked Internet rumors about Obamacare and asked Obama supporters to snitch on any email or web content that doesn’t tow the party line.

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.

David Hardy posted about this in the blog “Of Arms & The Law”.

Evan Coyne Maloney suggests the request may be illegal under the Privacy Act and the Dept of Justice’s statement about its purpose.

As a recovering bureaucrat, I can point to a much, much, bigger illegality under that Act.

5 US Code §552a(e)(7) commands that any Federal agency

“(7) 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;”

Persons posting to the web or sending emails are exercising First Amendment rights. I can’t see how gathering this information is expressly authorized by statute, nor within the scope of an LE activity. It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

This presents a Catch-22 for the Administration. FOX News analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano explained the trap the White House set for itself.

“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,” Judge Andrew Napolitano, a FOX News analyst, said Friday.

“There’s also a statute that requires the White House to retain all communications that it receives. It can’t try to rewrite history by pretending it didn’t receive anything,” he said.

“If the White House deletes anything, it violates one statute. If the White House collects data on the free speech, it violates another statute.”

The White House claims it is not collecting an “enemies list”, but skepticism is abound.

The White House Thursday denied that it was playing “Big Brother.”

“Nobody is collecting names,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. “We have seen, and as I’ve discussed from this podium, a lot of misinformation around health care reform, a lot of it spread, I think, purposefully.”

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who has called on Obama to end the program, rejected the White House explanation.

“Of course the White House is collecting names,” he said, arguing that anyone with access to the e-mail account has access to private information.

“The question is not what the White House is doing, but how and why,” he said. “How are they purging names and e-mail addresses from this account to protect privacy? Why do they need the forwarded e-mails, names, and ‘casual conversations’ sent to them instead of just the arguments that they want to rebut?

Well, we at Douchebag Report feel that we’re nothing if not fishy (probably not using enough of our namesake), so feel free to send links from our site to flag@whitehouse.gov. We could use the hits.  Or Vodkapundit has another, more creative idea.

Next Page »