Government Informers, on the next Episode of the Obama-pranos

I thought informants or street-snitches were only good for dirty cops and Batman. But as it turns out, the government thinks they'd be useful, too.

Now, were this a communist country, or a third-world pisspot, I'd probably expect this. I'd be watching my tongue every time I spoke because I'd never be totally sure that government stool pigeons weren't around the corner. But this is America.

In times past, America has elected some leaders it regretted giving any power to, or at the very least thought were handling things wrong. They were free to speak out. This was AMERICA, where the government served at the will of the people, rather than tried to force its will upon the people. Be it Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton or Bush Jr. (some might say especially him), all those presidents had their naysayers. They all had to put up with some things they said or did being unpopular with the people.

But President Obama apparently holds himself to a higher standard.

You see, since taking office, Obama has done almost none of the things he said he would do that caused people to vote for him. Despite his claim of having the troops home by March of this year, they're still out there, and no closer to home, despite it being almost September. The Patriot Act, which the left villified Bush for, is still in effect, and Obama hasn't even talked about rescinding it. Gay people still can't get married, but I had to laugh at all the gay people who voted for Obama on the hopes that he would legalize gay marriage, because that, at least, is one promise Obama never made.

But that's just what Obama has not done. Now what about what he has?

Well, he rushed through a bill that raised the level of government spending to unprecedented levels, trying to claim that it was to stimulate the economy. Not only hasn't it, but many who were promised stimulus money haven't gotten it, even though ACORN and other special-interest groups already firmly in Obama's pocket have gotten theirs. He managed to slip this bill through Congress without even giving anyone the time to read it, claiming that it was time sensitive and needed to be done now! And then he took his sweet time signing it himself.

Then he appointed numerous cabinet members, each of whom turned out to be a tax cheat.

Then he tried the same rush job through Congress on a cap-and-tax energy plan that would cause the cost of energy to skyrocket. Americans, even those who voted for Obama, stood up and took notice. Some of them may have thought the stimulus bill was an abberation. Turns out that it's BO's modus operandi.

Now he's trying to rush through a "public option" healthcare bill, which is supposed to bring costs down and make healthcare available for everyone. Folks, I've lived under a system like the one Obama's proposing. It's not cheap, it doesn't make healthcare available for everyone, and it doesn't even cover most stuff you'd really need.

This article expresses perfectly what's wrong with Obamacare, as the right-wing media has dubbed it. These reasons are the reasons most Americans do not want this bill. You heard me: most Americans. That Obama has to stoop to name-calling and derision to try and claim that all these dissenters to the bill are being paid by insurance companies or that it's all just a race issue is deplorable.

But now he's gone too far. He has removed free speech from the people. I'm frankly shocked that there hasn't been a march on Washington about this. Perhaps there will be.

For those of you who haven't heard about this, the White House is afraid of anyone talking about Obamacare in anything less than glowing tones. One would think that if their claim of "misinformation" being spread were true, that they would encourage public debate, that they would show up at Town Hall meetings and assuage fears. That they would invite people to read the bill, or read the relevant sections of it themselves in an attempt to show private citizens what the plan really entails.

But instead, they've offered vague, happy-sounding answers that don't really say anything. They tell you that they have all the facts, and you don't need to read the bill to know that. They tell you that the president himself has not read the bill, but it doesn't matter because you should just trust that he knows what's in it. And then they tell you this:

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.

Wow. Just...wow.

Now, here's the thing. Whether you trust Obama or not, whether you think the American people need to lighten up or not, this should scare the daylights out of you. The White House, the home and office of the President of the United States, is asking private citizens to inform upon each other.

The thing is, this cannot merely be a way to fight the spread of misinformation. This is hardly the first time a sitting President has had to fight misinformation. The response is usually something like "If you have any questions or anything you are not sure of, please contact your congressperson."

But that's the problem. The congresspersons are more or less in hiding from their constituents, and when they show their faces, they refuse to take questions, talk on their cell phones while questions are being asked, tell dissenters that if they don't pipe down they'll be escorted out, etc.

So, while the government tries to pretend we don't exist, they're trying to get us in on the act. We are now to "flag" anyone we see spreading "misinformation", which can loosely be defined as "Information that the White House has not given you, not that the White House has been a fount of information on this topic, or is ever likely to become such."

This is suppression of our right to free speech, any way you want to look at it. For Obama, or anyone in his cabinet, to encourage us to report private conversations or emails is the height of despotic dictatorship. What's next? Re-education camps for those that refuse to be silenced? Public trials and executions so that "examples" can be made of those who dare to question the Golden One?

I hope the American people make their voices heard loud and clear on this. So far, the opinion polls are plummeting, but it's not enough. Obama is trying to convince you that the movement against his plan does not exist. If you are against it, and you're not on some insurance company's payroll, then you have been duped, and had better cross over to his side immediately.

Don't buy it. It's time for America to show Obama that we're not frightened of him, and if he wants to play mafia boss and have us report on one another, then we will stand up proudly and say "I'm a dissenter, and you work for us, not the other way around."

This is not the kind of hope and change America voted for. Let's wake up before Obama has altered all the rules and truly has turned into a dictator.

The New Racism

I've been hearing that word an awful lot recently. Particularly since Obama began his run for President, and even more now that he has taken office. The cry of "racist!" or "racism!" is so strong now that nobody on the Left questions the absurdity of labeling thousands of people (people of numerous and varied ethnical backgrounds) as racist just because they showed up at a meeting protesting unwise govn't spending.

"Racism" is real. I grew up around it, and so did my mother. I went to school and church with children who tossed the word "nigger" around as if it were the technical term for "person of color"...and actually believed it was. When I took a childhood friend to task about using the word, she told me that it wasn't a put-down; that's just what they were called.

My mother, as a child, went on a shopping expedition with an aunt. After nearly hitting a young black woman with her cart, my mother said "Oh, excuse me." Her aunt pulled her aside and casually admonished "We don't say 'excuse me' to niggers."

However, despite being raised around it, neither my mother nor myself was raised to think it was normal, or good. My grandmother taught my mother to treat everyone equally, regardless of their skin color. And in turn, my mother taught me the same. My mother was shocked at her aunt's casual dismissal of another person based on nothing but skin color, but as a result she was able to warn me that my friends, and possibly even adults in authority over me, might behave in the same way. And they did.

I had childhood friends show me their KKK membership cards. I lived in a town where it was a big joke to shout race-baiting trigger words at black people from your car. (Where I lived, the trigger word was "Rayfield", which I think was the name of a prominent racist family, or something.)

Trust me, I know racism. I not only have witnessed it, I've been the victim of it. And I'm white.

From ages 0-9, I lived in the southern US, in very small, isolated towns with the exception of Memphis, Tennessee, where I arguably encountered less racism than in the smaller towns I lived in. One of the smallest towns was a little redneck paradise called Holly Grove. This was the place where the friends I made used the word "nigger" as casually as they would "blonde" or "freckled." It was also where I was placed on the receiving end of racism.

Most of the white families in town, even those who couldn't afford it, sent their children to a prestigious private school in the next county. My parents couldn't afford it, either, but wouldn't have sent me to that school even if they could afford to, as the only reason the other parents did so was because this school didn't let black children in. Oh, they didn't state this outright, but they had a screening process, and they always found ways to deny black students admission. So the black students, and the poorer white ones, went to the same public school that my mother taught in. The school was 90% black. The teachers were about 50% black. I was one of two white students in my class, the other being a boy whose parents managed to get him transferred to the private school before year's end. I'll confess it felt intimidating to be the only white kid surrounded by black students, but it was less their skin color that I was afraid of and more the fact that being the lone student who is noticeably different is never a comfortable experience.

I didn't care about my classmates' skin color, or my teacher's (who was also black) but you better believe they cared about mine. I recall once that when my teacher was teaching us about adjectives, she used an example by using three adjectives to describe a female student in our class: "Latonya is tall, sweet and beautiful." She then decided to move on to another student to make an example of: me. "Josh is long, fat and white." I didn't even realize that I was under verbal attack then, but I can remember the incident as if it were yesterday.

Another time, several students in my class, boys I had always treated with respect and considered most of them to be friends, gathered around me and started demanding that I call them "sir." I didn't understand what was going on, and couldn't fathom why they would want me to call them that, but I could tell this was not friendly and went the principal about it. The boys were made to apologize, but before that they tried to accuse me of saying things I did not say. What saved me, besides the fact that my mother worked as a teacher at that school, was that the principal had gotten to know me and understood that I would never talk that way.

Oh, yes, I'm very familiar with racism. From both ends. Which is why I can't understand why the word "racism" has been warped and twisted and no longer resembles anything like the kind of racism that has existed previous to the reign of His Majesty Obama.

In the age of Obama, asking a presidential candidate to release his birth certificate, which all presidential candidates before him have also been required to produce, is racist. So to is protesting giant tax increases to fund reckless government spending, a police officer asking a man seen forcing open a door to produce ID, speaking up at town hall meetings because you don't agree with nationalized health care, and voting Republican. At all.

Other signs you might be a racist is if you listen to Rush Limbaugh, don't like Keith Olbermann, don't read the New York Times, watch Fox News and don't think the Stimulus bill was a good bill. This is just the tip of the iceberg. You can now be called a racist for nearly any action that might possibly go against the plans of the sainted President Barack Obama. Even mentioning his middle name is grounds for being dismissed as a racist.

Real racism, the kind I was exposed to often as a child, is mostly dead. No, it's not gone away entirely, sad to say. In isolated rural communities you may still find people like those I was raised with, both black and white racists. But they are hardly the majority. They are ridiculous, simple people who wield absolutely no power. And you've probably listened to more Rush Limbaugh and watched more Fox News than they ever will. The only radio they likely listen to is their police scanner and the only thing they watch is their back porch bug zapper.

But I keep hearing about "widespread racism". Where is it? I hear people talk about how racism is still a huge problem, but other than conservative politicians (who can be safely called racist just by virtue of being conservative), nobody can point these racists out, or figure out where they all go when the fingers are pointed. You hear the cry of "racist" every day, fingers pointed at several people, but where is the actual racism exhibited by these supposedly racist people? What is it they're doing to merit the dreaded title?

The simplest answer is: nothing. Because "racism" has lost its meaning. It is no longer a word that can be used to describe someone's beliefs or behavior where race is concerned. It is now an epithet. It is a trump card to be played in any debate wherein the Left is losing. It's an automatic win for those brave enough to play it. There is no way to recover from being called a racist.

You don't have to say anything racist. You don't have to behave in a way that suggests you believe white people to be superior to black people. All you have to do now is be on the conservative side of an issue. Don't like being taxed in order to fund programs that you don't agree with? That's racist. Don't like the idea of a bill that will cause the cost of energy to skyrocket? You're a racist. Don't think socialized medicine will fix the current problems with the health care system, and may in fact make them worse? Well, gosh-darn it, you might as well put a hood on and proudly admit that you're a Klansman.

Yes, this is the age of President Obama, the first black US President. The Golden One. The Dear Leader. The man who can do no wrong. You know he can't do any wrong because he never has, and he always has our best interests at heart, and he's such an eloquent public speaker, and he looks good on a commemorative plate, and he has such a warm personality and dammit, he's black! It's an automatic win for him in any situation. He's the liberal, the Democrat, and he's black. Therefore, he can't be racist, because no blacks are racist, and he can't be anything but a good man, because those racist fascists are all Republicans. In fact, Obama is such a symbol, such an embodyment of all that is good, that to disagree with him on any subject is to reveal yourself as the scum-sucking racist you are.

This is the new racism. It doesn't have anything to do with your actual position on race. You can be a CEO who hires black people by the score, and promotes them into positions of power. You can have as many black friends as you want. You can date, or marry a black person. Heck, you can even be black. It doesn't matter. If you disagree with President Obama, or anyone in his cabinet, you are a racist.

You may be wondering how a black person could also be called a racist. Well, they don't use the word "racist" when it comes to black people who dissent. Instead, they are called "self-loathing", "race-traitors" or "Uncle Tom's" or any combination of the three. It amounts to the same thing.

There are only two reasons to ever disagree with The Golden One.

1. You're a white person, and a racist.

2. You're a black person, and a self-loathing Uncle Tom.

Now, I could point out the juxtaposition of the Left, who scream for racial equality and then demand that all black people think, act and vote the same way or they're "self-loathing race-traitors" who must be suffering some form of Stockholm syndrome, but that's not the main thrust of this argument.

Instead, it's to introduce you to a new era that Obama calls "post-racial." It is a new era, where racism has nothing to do with race and everything to do with undesirable ideals. It is a world where a black professor can pretend to be the victim when he verbally assaults a police officer in the course of his duties, and then be vindicated by the President himself. It is a world where if tens of thousands of people all across the country, of all colors, are gathered to protest government spending, they can be dismissed as a bunch of racist rednecks. It is a world where a black man shows up at a town hall meeting with a gun strapped to his back, and the "news" reports this, after carefully doctoring the footage so that the man's head is never seen, as "white people" showing up to town hall meetings with guns now that we have a "person of color" in the White House. It is a world wherein a man can be called a "nigger" and have the life nearly beaten out of him by Presidential-backed SEIU thugs, and still be thought of as the instigator, when all he was doing was handing out flags that said "Don't Tread on Me."

In short, in Obama's "post-racial" America, "racism" is now defined as being a dissenter, conscientious or not, to anything President Obama has to say or do.

This, supposedly, is progress. Now, instead of white people oppressing black people, we have a black President who is encouraging the oppression of white people who disagree with him, by labeling them with the one epithet they can't fight, no matter what they do.