Obama Administration Steps Back from Attack on the First Amendment

In a stunning defeat for an administration which is still in the first year of it’s term, the Obama administration was forced to back down from it’s most recent assault on the First Amendment.

The administration had issued a gag order preventing insurers from discussing the administrations planned nationalization of the health care system with their customers.

The Department of Health and Human Services had threatened Humana with removal from existing and future government-sponsored healthcare programs.  The government ordered Humana to immediately stop mailing information critical of the administration plans to their customers, and to remove such information from their web site.

Humana, like most major corporations, simply rolled over to government pressure.  Fortunately, word of this extortion leaked out and the American public strongly disapproved of this extreme misuse of government power.

In backpedaling from their untenable position, the administration used a minor bureaucrat to issue their partial surrender. Teresa DeCaro, the Acting Director of the Medicare Drug and Health Plan Contract Administration Group, issued this statement:

“While we feel it is important to protect Medicare beneficiaries from potentially unwelcome marketing and other communications, we also recognize plans’ interest in contacting their enrollees on issues unrelated to the specific plan benefit that they contract with CMS to provide to those enrollees.”

How about “we feel it is important to protect the constitional rights of the American people” — it seems that Teresa missed that part of her civics education.

Barry Obama, who swore to protect and defend the Constitution, also appears to have little respect for our nations most hallowed document.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Both of these power mad bureacrats should be fired for their clearly anti-Constitutional behaviors.  To do anything less is to leave our nation in jeopardy.