Neighbor Has the Wrong Idea? Turn Them In to the Whitehouse!

I have been making an effort to focus on and post primarily photography, music, poetry and the like lately. However, I read an article by Macon Phillips on the White House blog (Ironically titled "Facts are Stubborn Things") on Tuesday and have been stewing over it since. Macon is the White House Director of New Media.

(Photo:Zbigniew Bzdak/McClatchy News)

According to comrade Phillips:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

Silly me. I had no idea it was the White House's responsibility to track all opposition to their programs. What if it is something other than fearing corporate health care designed by those we accuse of destroying the current system? Are there other addresses for other offenses? What if I disagree with bombing a country that our Congress and Senate never authorized? What if I ask about the destruction of the product life cycle? How many dissenters are being tracked? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

(photo:NiceDeb)

Since people opposing this plan are "spreading disinformation", we should turn them into the White House staff? Macon and his buddies can't keep up with everyone who is opposing it, so we need you to report your friends, relatives and neighbors to the White House so that we can knock down any dissent. The "New Media" policy appears to be to turn in fellow citizens who have dissenting political opinions from the White House.

Debates about health care, finance, defense, security and privacy will continue to rage. I just hope that our leaders find a way to participate in the discussion without spying on constituents or asking them to turn each other in for their beliefs. (My civics teacher in high school had called Russia's (1980s) government tyrannical and overreaching for instituting such policies.)

First Shot in the Revolution?

The Ron Paul Revolution has been quite interesting to follow. I have loaded pictures from the Ron Paul Boston (Austin) Tea Party fund raising rally in Austin, Texas. There were people from many walks: Businessmen, soldiers, hippies, parents, students, different races and socio-economic backgrounds.

I feel the picture below is the right cover shot for today's event.

Click on the photo below or here to see today's photos.

(Photo by Erik Kuykendall)

You can see the graph of donations as they came in through the day. It appears he broke another record. Actually another record was broken for him as he wasn't involved.

The video was taken by a young man named Jimmy and I thought some might like a video peek at the event, too:

Spy Cameras in Bagdad

Cameras have been placed throughout Baghdad to help track "insurgents".
I suppose this is what democracy looks like, as the only way you can tell this isn't the U.S. is the lettering on the street sign. We have tracking cameras throughout our "free" country and are apparently applying this technology in our "War on Terror".
(image courtesy of Yahoo)

The application in Iraq is exactly the type of usage that privacy advocates have feared in the United States. I suppose we will only use our technology against insurgents, speeders, anti-war activists, terrorists and other select "evil-doer" groups.

(Thanks to Seattle DOT and Edmunds.com for the other pictures above)