During Nelson Mandela's funeral service today in Johannesburg, President Barack Obama challenged those who supported Mandela's struggle for freedom but "do not tolerate dissent from their own people" is an amazing piece of hypocrisy given the Obama administration has aggressively gone after dissenters at every turn, from targeting Tea Party groups via the IRS to the ridiculous prosecution of whistleblowers
"There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba's legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality/ There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba's struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people"-stated Obama
This is really rich on his part when Time Magazine reported how the administration has a "record as the most aggressive prosecutor of alleged government leakers in U.S. history"
The war on whistleblowers is disgusting for example reporter James Risen is being threatened with jail time unless he gives up his sources while the Obama administration has charged a huge amount of whistleblowers under the Espionage Act than all presidents before him combined
Obama's Department of Justice also illegally spied on the Associated Press and Fox News in pursuit of alleged leakers or in other words "dissenters' trying to expose government corruption. Conservative groups who politically dissented against Obama's policies have also found themselves under the gun. Earlier this year, it was revealed that the IRS had targeted political groups for applying for tax exempt status based on their names or political persuasion.
Reported USA Today: "IRS documents show the agency flagged political groups based on the content of their literature, raising concerns specifically about "anti-Obama rhetoric", inflammatory language and "emotional" statements made by non-profits seeking tax exempt status"
Not only have the Tea Party been targeted by the IRS but critics of Obamacare have also found themselves at the receiving ends of audits after speaking out against the Affordable Care Act
2 weeks after appearing on Fox News to relate how he could not afford the drastic rise in health care premiums thanks to Obamacare(and revealing he would rather leave the money with his family and die) Cancer victim Bill Elliot was told he would be facing an IRS audit(that is just plain wrong)
After his appearance on Fox News however a Chicago insurance broker and Obamacare critic C.Steven Tucker helped Elliot get assistance and Elliot thanked him publically for doing so, After doing this kind gesture Tucker himself got a letter from the IRS telling him he is going to be audited in 2014
SO Obama goes after leaders for not allowing dissent from their own people oughta take a damn good look at himself as His administration has been nothing more than intolerant of dissent at every level you can imagine from targeting those who speak out against his policies and his prosecution of national security issues- tactics that have created this climate of intimidating other whistleblowers and dissenters from airing their concerns to not only the American people but the entire world as well
