Obama Administration: Privacy is a Privilege, Attacks First Amendment

Denis McDonough explained on Face The Nation that the President does not view his illegal surveillance program to be a privacy violation. Obviously, Barack Obama has a different view of what privacy is:

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough defended the Obama administration’s sweeping surveillance efforts Sunday, saying President Obama does not believe the tactics have violated the privacy of any American, as he signaled the president will be elaborating on the issue in the coming days.

“Well, I think you’ll hear the president talk about this in the days ahead,” McDonough said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.” He later added: “You’ll hear what he said when he responded to reporters last week on this question, which is we do have to find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting.”

“Does the president feel that he has violated the privacy of any American?” asked CBS’s Bob Schieffer.

“He does not,” responded McDonough.

Unless, of course, Bush was president. . . then they left would be up in arms, and Obama would be speaking out against it.

Rights? What Rights?

In the wake of recent events, many people of a variety of persuasions are coming to agree that the First Amendment, which protects and ensures our first freedoms, is facing an all-out attack.

The IRS has been bullying groups who sought to advance a message and perspective that the government didn’t like or want around. The latest example includes startling audio of an IRS agent lecturing a non-profit organization about placing boundaries on her religious activities if she wants to gain a tax exemption. Far from the “live and let live” attitude feigned by many in leadership today, the government’s deliberate, targeted scrutiny and intimidation of groups who aren’t favored by the current political regime demonstrates their true feelings about respecting all viewpoints. At the altar of a particular government agenda, freedom of speech is sacrificed.

But the attack on First Amendment freedoms does not end with intimidation to suppress speech or control the press. Instead of advancing a culture of diversity and pluralism, as it would like to claim it is doing, the government has engaged bullying tactics to disintegrate the First Amendment’s freedom of religion.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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