Only YOU Can Prevent Thought Crime

When you know that the favorite rhetorical tool for criticizing politics is making comparisons to George Orwell's "1984," you'd think that you would go out of your way to avoid doing overtly Orwellian things. But not our fearless leader. Not, as my brother calls him, The Manchurian Messiah. Yeah, Barry O has made it clear that he doesn't give a damn just how much he makes himself look like Big Brother.

Two days ago, the Whitehouse posted to its blog stating, basically, that President Obama was disturbed by the abundance of information and opinions that were being shared about his intended health care travesty. He warned that "Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet" about it. If you ignored the fact that it is scary, I guess there might be something wrong with the emails. However, even if the emails are denying the holocaust or telling me that electricity doesn't exist, Barry's prescribed course of action is downright terrifying, and straight from the pages of Orwell:

"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."

Are. You. Serious.

So, to recap, if our friends say something that isn't directly from the teleprompter notes of one of Obama's slippery, fact-avoiding speeches, you are to report them directly to the Whitehorse. I mean, at least with the Patriot Act, which I also despise, it's people you already distrust spying on you. Now, our Big Brother in Chief is promoting an atmosphere in which no one can feel comfortable engaging in discourse in which they disagree with or question their government. Yeah, that sounds conducive to liberty.

I mean, I see no way to spin this in a positive light. No way whatsoever. And, since I fully suspect some goofbag in a "Hope" t-shirt with a copy of "The Audacity of Hope" tucked under his arm to report this to the Thought Police, let me just say something directly to the Führer himself: Eff you and your gestapo tactics. Shame on you for emulating the tactics of this past century's biggest despots and douchebags.

Not to mention the fact that the President's blog post skirts around real issues, and only criticizes the straw dummies that it creates. The biggest of which is this. The blog post goes out of its way to state that:

"For the record, the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them. He has even proposed eight consumer protections relating specifically to the health insurance industry."

However, one of the biggest problem with the wording of his plan are the potential provisions made to keep people from signing up for new private plans. The Whitehouse has carefully worded this post to avoid even addressing that concern.

The president's rhetorical methodology seems to be this:

1. Find out what the actual thing that you're doing is that's pissing people off.
2. Accuse people of claiming something else.
3. Prove that what you accused them of saying is false.

That's great. Absolutely great. I can't believe this is happening in my own country. What the hell.