Federal Gestapo Services ask good citizens to report any emails about health insurance reform that seem "fishy" to flag@whitehouse.gov

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Did anyone report the topics on this forum yet?

[mawilson 2,133]

Reagan was against Medicare, but now you won't find a Republican saying they want to end Medicare. You know why? Because they know that it works. That's all true conservatives want...is the tried and true.

Wrong - they know it doesn't work. They would love to end Medicare, but can't afford to lose the senior vote.

[natty bumppo 297]

Its not a very useful way to go about it, IMO.

Why not? Imagine if it were a corporation like Monsanto and people were going around distributing misinformation about one of their products...they'd take them to court in a heart beat. There's no intrusion whatsoever of any constitutional protections in the attempt to address deliberate misinformation that is being disseminated by political operatives. In the business world, this would be libelous.

yea ... the owners of the gov't (the citizens) are gonna be taken to court for speaking out .

can't wait to see how this will play in peoria

Go start your own blog site making libelous allegations against say Blue Cross and Blue Shield and see how long that lasts before you are hit with a lawsuit. Nobody is suing anyone in this. This is more like BC/BS countering your libelous allegations about them on their own website. You get to still post your stupid sh!t, but they'll answer back on their own site. Everybody wins...except the sore losers who don't like to fight fair. Pieces of sh!t.

bcbs is a business that operates to make a profit. the gov't isn't a business. it's only a black hole that sucks the money from it's citizens and spends more than it takes ... then wants more.

wonder how long bcbs would be a viable business using the gov't budget?

[mawilson 2,133]

wonder how long bcbs would be a viable business using the gov't budget?

Name one viable business run by the government.

Even the Postal Service is going bankrupt.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Its not a very useful way to go about it, IMO.

Why not? Imagine if it were a corporation like Monsanto and people were going around distributing misinformation about one of their products...they'd take them to court in a heart beat. There's no intrusion whatsoever of any constitutional protections in the attempt to address deliberate misinformation that is being disseminated by political operatives. In the business world, this would be libelous.

yea ... the owners of the gov't (the citizens) are gonna be taken to court for speaking out .

can't wait to see how this will play in peoria

Go start your own blog site making libelous allegations against say Blue Cross and Blue Shield and see how long that lasts before you are hit with a lawsuit. Nobody is suing anyone in this. This is more like BC/BS countering your libelous allegations about them on their own website. You get to still post your stupid sh!t, but they'll answer back on their own site. Everybody wins...except the sore losers who don't like to fight fair. Pieces of sh!t.

bcbs is a business that operates to make a profit. the gov't isn't a business. it's only a black hole that sucks the money from it's citizens and spends more than it takes ... then wants more.

wonder how long bcbs would be a viable business using the gov't budget?

The federal government is proposal a public option of health insurance, so in effect, that is a business. They are not suing for libel, just answering back against libel via the internet. The sore losers need to stock up on Kleenex and cry themselves a river.

[Peikko 1,575]

wonder how long bcbs would be a viable business using the gov't budget?

Name one viable business run by the government.

Even the Postal Service is going bankrupt.

That's very disingenuous. The postal service is not going bankrupt because of anything the postal service did wrong. Providing mail to all citizens was always expensive, but when there was massive volumes of mail, the super expensive routes (boonies) could be mitigated by the super profitable routes (urban conglomerations). People simply are not sending the volumes of mail that are required to make the system work any more.

There is no shortage of citizens requiring health care though - and not likely to be moving forward.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Its not a very useful way to go about it, IMO.

Why not? Imagine if it were a corporation like Monsanto and people were going around distributing misinformation about one of their products...they'd take them to court in a heart beat. There's no intrusion whatsoever of any constitutional protections in the attempt to address deliberate misinformation that is being disseminated by political operatives. In the business world, this would be libelous.

yea ... the owners of the gov't (the citizens) are gonna be taken to court for speaking out .

can't wait to see how this will play in peoria

Go start your own blog site making libelous allegations against say Blue Cross and Blue Shield and see how long that lasts before you are hit with a lawsuit. Nobody is suing anyone in this. This is more like BC/BS countering your libelous allegations about them on their own website. You get to still post your stupid sh!t, but they'll answer back on their own site. Everybody wins...except the sore losers who don't like to fight fair. Pieces of sh!t.

bcbs is a business that operates to make a profit. the gov't isn't a business. it's only a black hole that sucks the money from it's citizens and spends more than it takes ... then wants more.

wonder how long bcbs would be a viable business using the gov't budget?

The federal government is proposing a public option of health insurance, so in effect, that is a business. They are not suing for libel, just answering back against libel via the internet. The sore losers need to stock up on Kleenex and cry themselves a river.

[natty bumppo 297]

Its not a very useful way to go about it, IMO.

Why not? Imagine if it were a corporation like Monsanto and people were going around distributing misinformation about one of their products...they'd take them to court in a heart beat. There's no intrusion whatsoever of any constitutional protections in the attempt to address deliberate misinformation that is being disseminated by political operatives. In the business world, this would be libelous.

yea ... the owners of the gov't (the citizens) are gonna be taken to court for speaking out .

can't wait to see how this will play in peoria

Go start your own blog site making libelous allegations against say Blue Cross and Blue Shield and see how long that lasts before you are hit with a lawsuit. Nobody is suing anyone in this. This is more like BC/BS countering your libelous allegations about them on their own website. You get to still post your stupid sh!t, but they'll answer back on their own site. Everybody wins...except the sore losers who don't like to fight fair. Pieces of sh!t.

bcbs is a business that operates to make a profit. the gov't isn't a business. it's only a black hole that sucks the money from it's citizens and spends more than it takes ... then wants more.

wonder how long bcbs would be a viable business using the gov't budget?

The federal government is proposal a public option of health insurance, so in effect, that is a business. They are not suing for libel, just answering back against libel via the internet. The sore losers need to stock up on Kleenex and cry themselves a river.

the fed suing a USC for libel ... imagine that would be easily covered under squelching free speech (as this is a political topic).

don't you find it strange how little information is being published and shown to the public by the obama administration? if people dig hard enough they can find some information. why isn't obama broadcasting the wonders and costs of his package from the highest mountain tops for all to easily review? guess he has something to hide .....

[GaryC 7]

Its not a very useful way to go about it, IMO.

Why not? Imagine if it were a corporation like Monsanto and people were going around distributing misinformation about one of their products...they'd take them to court in a heart beat. There's no intrusion whatsoever of any constitutional protections in the attempt to address deliberate misinformation that is being disseminated by political operatives. In the business world, this would be libelous.

yea ... the owners of the gov't (the citizens) are gonna be taken to court for speaking out .

can't wait to see how this will play in peoria

Not very well I can tell you. This is SO funny to watch. I thought Obama was going to be the great uniter. I heard predictions that everyone would join hands because of him. This makes Bush look good by comparison. The good news is the flower is off the bloom and it looks like very little more will get done. If Obama can't get this health care through with super majorities in both houses and a "mandate" from the people I doubt if it will never happen. It also does not bode well for the chances for cap and trade. Just watch what happens when that issue is brought to the front. This is the best possible outcome. I can't wait to see what happens next year when the next elections begin.

[GaryC 7]

Its not a very useful way to go about it, IMO.

Why not? Imagine if it were a corporation like Monsanto and people were going around distributing misinformation about one of their products...they'd take them to court in a heart beat. There's no intrusion whatsoever of any constitutional protections in the attempt to address deliberate misinformation that is being disseminated by political operatives. In the business world, this would be libelous.

Well for one, it makes an assumption that members of the public following the administration are actually fully informed on the issues to recognise misinformation in order to pass it on. That immediately calls into question how useful it is.

This is the first administration to fully utilise the internet in its campaign strategy - with great effect as far as campaign donations went; but I don't think that the PR wing of the WH should be in the business of having members of the public do its job for them.

A government of the people, by the people and for the people...imagine that.

If you, a citizen, sends them the link to a site that you think if misrepresenting the facts regarding Obama's health care proposal, they will look at the site and then decide if there are indeed misrepresentations which they would address on their own web site. My God, there is absolutely nothing sinister about this. The Right Wingers are pretending to be outraged because they continue with their partisan hackery. It reminds of when Clinton was in office....to some, he could do nothing right, even when he was doing something they fundamentally were in favor of. Sore loseritis must be a genetic disorder among Right Wingers.

And for the record, they are not true Conservatives. They like to pretend they are, but they are the same neo-cons that put Bush in the WH. The traditional conservative position would be to stay with the what has been tried and true....like Social Security and Medicare. The liberal position is to continuously look for different solutions and the conservative approach is to be resistant to those changes. Reagan was against Medicare, but now you won't find a Republican saying they want to end Medicare. You know why? Because they know that it works. That's all true conservatives want...is the tried and true.

This is rich, you telling us what a "true conservative" is. I don't pretend to understand what makes a true liberal so don't try to tell me what a true conservative is. Thinking like that gave us McCain last year. He was what a liberal's idea of a "good" conservative should be. Nothing could have been further from the truth. We are through letting the opposition telling us what we should be like. That gave us the mess we are in today. You're just mad that we are not rolling over and going along with everything you want.

[HAL 9000 96]

Someone yell fire inside a movie theater and claim free speech too. This is simply insane trying to rationalize those that would rather lie and misinform than stick to what is factual.

[GaryC 7]

Someone yell fire inside a movie theater and claim free speech too. This is simply insane trying to rationalize those that would rather lie and misinform than stick to what is factual.

I think the point here is this is being forced through without a full airing. The lack of understanding by everyone fuels speculation. Fear is a natural outcome. The points that the right are bringing up are a direct result of this. We are unwilling to just accept that we just trust washington to do the right thing. We take inconsistencies and take them to the worst possible outcome and the other side is taking those inconsistencies and saying there is nothing to worry about. Just take the time to get it right and remove the vague language so neither side has the ability to misunderstand.

[natty bumppo 297]

Someone yell fire inside a movie theater and claim free speech too. This is simply insane trying to rationalize those that would rather lie and misinform than stick to what is factual.

I think the point here is this is being forced through without a full airing. The lack of understanding by everyone fuels speculation. Fear is a natural outcome. The points that the right are bringing up are a direct result of this. We are unwilling to just accept that we just trust washington to do the right thing. We take inconsistencies and take them to the worst possible outcome and the other side is taking those inconsistencies and saying there is nothing to worry about. Just take the time to get it right and remove the vague language so neither side has the ability to misunderstand.

this has been stated in many ways ... many times. hopefully this time the message will be understood.

did you happen to notice if anyone has posted a link to the proposed program? with all the details included.

[Ban Hammer 13,333]

wonder how long bcbs would be a viable business using the gov't budget?

Name one viable business run by the government.

Even the Postal Service is going bankrupt.

anyone remember amtrack?

[mawilson 2,133]

That's very disingenuous. The postal service is not going bankrupt because of anything the postal service did wrong. Providing mail to all citizens was always expensive, but when there was massive volumes of mail, the super expensive routes (boonies) could be mitigated by the super profitable routes (urban conglomerations). People simply are not sending the volumes of mail that are required to make the system work any more.

There's a simple solution: raise the price of a stamp. And I mean RAISE it, not just by a couple of cents.

But no... all rate increases have to be approved by the Postal Rate Commission, which holds hearings

on rates proposed by the Postal Service, then recommends the rates to the Postal Service Board of

Governors, which in turn may accept or reject the rates.

Government bureaucracy at its best.