The House will vote tomorrow on an important amendment that would limit the NSA's ability to engage in secret, bulk surveillance. It will be the first such piece of legislation to be voted upon since Edward Snowden's revelations.

Surprisingly, its passage seems possible as bi-partisan support grows, which has prompted the Obama administration to officially register its opposition.

And what logic has the White House offered to explain its opposition in the face of mounting public opinion against the NSA's secret spying on Americans?

Enjoy:



WH opposes Amash amendment on NSA. "This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open, or deliberative process." — Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) July 24, 2013

The irony of this statement is so bombastic that it's difficult to take it as anything other than intentional self-parody. Either that, or the Obama administration is attempting to simultaneously kill irony and Americans' right to privacy.

For it's the DOJ and NSA which have used a "blunt" approach in establishing a massive surveillance infrastructure behind closed doors, a process that, with its rubber-stamping FISA court is anything but "deliberative," anything but "open."

And the public continues to be anything but "informed."

The amendment to be voted upon tomorrow, authored by Republican congressman Justin Amash and supported by his Democratic colleague, John Conyers, would aim to end the NSA's authority to engage in the vacuuming of digital data under the Patriot Act.



The amendment would prevent the NSA, the FBI and other agencies from relying on Section 215 of the Patriot Act "to collect records, including telephone call records, that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215."

That the Obama administration would be opposed to the amendment, given the administration's war on whistleblowers and investment in the state's growing surveillance powers, is not surprising.

What is surprising? That it appears to be at war with irony as well.

Follow @David_EHG

