(Mark Steyn)
DISSENT IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF PATRIOTI... No, wait, that
bumper sticker expired January 20th. Under the stimulus bill, there's a
new $1.3 trillion bills-for-bumpers program whereby, if you peel off
old slogans now recognized as environmentally harmful
("QUESTION AUTHORITY"), you can trade them in for a new
"CELEBRATE CONFORMITY" sticker, complete with a holographic
image of President Obama that never takes his eyes off you.
"The right-wing extremist Republican base is back!" warns the
Democratic National Committee. These right-wing extremists have
been given their marching orders by their masters: They've been
directed to show up at "thousands of events," told to "organize,"
"knock on doors" ...
No, wait. My mistake. That's the e-mail I got from Mitch Stewart,
Director of "Organizing for America" at BarackObama.com. But that's
the good kind of "organizing." Obama's a community organizer. We're
the community. He organizes us. What part of that don't you get?
When the community starts organizing against the organizer, the
whole rigmarole goes to hell. Not that these extremists showing up at
town hall meetings are real members of the "community." Have you
noticed how tailored they are? Dissent is now the haut est form of
coutur ism. Senator Barbara Boxer has denounced dissenters from
Obama's health care proposals as too "well-dressed" to be genuine.
Only the Emperor has new clothes. Everyone knows that.
Thankfully, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has seen
through the "manufactured anger" of "the Brooks Brothers brigade."
Did he announce this in a crumpled suit? He's a Press Secretary who
won't press. Apparently, the health care debate now has a dress code.
Soon you won't be able to get in unless you're wearing Barack Obama
mom-jeans, manufactured at a converted GM plant by an assembly
line of retrained insurance salesmen. Any day now, Hollywood will
greenlight a new movie in which an insane Sarah Palin figure picks
out her outfit for spreading disinformation (The Lyin', The Witch And
The Wardrobe).
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, added her own
distinctive wrinkle to the Brooks Brothers menswear. She disdained
the anti-Obamacare protests as fake grassroots. "I think they're
AstroTurf," she declared. "They're carrying swastikas and symbols
like that to a town meeting on health care."
Is this one of those Chinese Whispers things? Obama told Gibbs to
tell Boxer to tell Reid, and by the time it reached Pelosi, it came out as
uniforms night: Brooks Brothers. Mel Brooks. Springtime for Hitler.
Swastikas. Or is the Speaker right to sound the alarm about this army
of goosestepping dandies? A veritable Garbstapo jackbooting down
the Interstate like it's a catwalk in Milan.
Fortunately, this president doesn't fold like a Robert Gibbs suit. He
won't give in to the attire pressure. So, on Monday, the official White
House Web site drew attention to the alarming amount of
"disinformation about health insurance reform." "These rumors often
travel just below the surface," warned Macon Phillips, Chief
Commissar of the Hopenstasi ...whoops, I mean White House
Director of New Media, "via chain e-mails or through casual
conversation."
"Casual conversation," eh? Why can't these "dissenters" just be like
normal people and read off the teleprompter?
"Since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House,
we're asking for your help," continued Commissar Phillips.
"If you get an e-mail or see something on the Web about health
insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."
Reporting dissent is the highest form of patriotism! Is your neighbor
suspiciously "well-dressed"? Is he mouthing off about cancer survival
rates under socialized medical systems while wearing a cravat? Give
us his name, and we'll give you his spats! Just go to
flag@whitehouse.gov, not to be confused with
flagging@whitehouse.gov., which is the e-mail address for reporting
President Obama's latest approval rating. Go to flay@whitehouse.gov
if you'd like Speaker Pelosi to walk across your back as a whip-
wielding SS dominatrix barking "Vee hoff vays of making you tokk
less casually, dumbkopf!" Go to flange@whitehouse.gov if you need
parts for your new government car, or your new government hip
replacement. Go to flaunt@whitehouse.gov if you'd like a special
preview of President Obama's latest bare-chested pictorial for Vanity
Fair. Go to flatulent@whitehouse.gov if you'd like to report your
neighbor's cow for excessive CO2 emissions.
Better yet, just send everything on everyone to the White House.
Unsure about that old hippie artist across the street? The one who
said, "Yeah, I voted for Obama 'cause I thought it'd be cool to have an
African-American president. But, since the economic downturn, the
bottom's really dropped out of my hemp tapestry market." He seems to
be starting to entertain impure thoughts about the Dear Leader's plans
for us, doesn't he? And yet, with the best will in the world, one
couldn't really describe him as a snappy dresser, could one? It's a
tough call. So best be on the safe side, and report everyone. The
Administration can hire people to sift through it all, and that will
stimulate the economy even more than the new cashmere-for-clunkers
program: Are you an angry right-wing fop? Why not trade in your
frankly effete sweater for an evening with Joe Biden?
The Washington Post's Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite (not, as far as I
know, a Brooks sister to the Brooks Brothers) says "the town hall
demolition derby" is "cynically designed and carried out in order to
destroy real debate in the public square over health insurance reform."
Decrying the snarling, angry protesters, liberal talk-show host Bill
Press (no relation to the Corby Trouser Press) says that "Americans
want serious discussion" on health care. If only we'd stuck to the
President's August timetable and passed a gazillion-page health care
reform entirely unread by the House of Representatives or the Senate
(the world's greatest deliberative body) in nothing flat, we'd now have
all the time in the world to sit around having a "serious discussion"
and "real debate" on whatever it was we just did to one-sixth of the
economy.
But a sick, deranged, un-American mob has put an end to all that
moderate and reasonable steamrollering by showing up and yelling
insane, out-of-control questions like, "Awfully sorry to bother you,
your Most Excellent Senatorial Eminence, but I was wondering if you
could tell me why you don't read any of the laws you make before you
make them into law?"
The community is restless. The firm hand of greater organization is
needed.
© Mark Steyn

Why don't you post something positive and intelligent, Josef? This is just stupid shit.

I don't have a clue what he is trying to say.

How about a 3 sentence distillation of all those words.

What are you trying to tell us?

Please give us your words!
I mean it!
What are your words?

I'm willing to listen if you have some positive input to make things better.
I'm too tired of both sides posting endless meaningless junk.

<yawn>

Well... perhaps I just can't resist sharing this stupid shit with my friends. My words... ? Over the last 35 years I've made many attempts for intelligent, fact-based and civil dialogue with nothing but hope in my heart. Yeah... I even risked my own life doing that - but it was all worth it if I could do my little part in helping to get rid of the communist plague ravaging my people.

No, I'm not bitter... I'm thankful everyday for what this country did for me and for so many others around the world. And no... I don't mean to sound melodramatic when I express a certain dose of sadness when I see what's happening on so many fronts to this imperfect but still beautiful country full of honest and trusting people. No... I can't expect those name calling, all-knowing, all-smart, all-funny and all-above it to ever understand my point. And... yes, I plead guilty. Once in a while I do feel a little hopeless about the future of our species in general, thus resulting in sarcasm and cynicism.

I know this forum isn't about venting social-political views... But at the same time I like hanging out with real people. I know there are far more suitable formats for political debates, e.g., over beer, etc... so I'll try to restrain myself a bit more... but I won't bet my house on it.

I guess it's never so bad, that it can't be worse... so much for my words.

When bunch of highly paid PR assholes lie, spread stupidity, hire unsophisticated people to shout down discourse... basically sodomize what's probably going to be the most important domestic policy decision made in the next generation...well, that's a mockery of democracy. There's nothing all-knowing, all-smart, or anything else- it's simply cynical abuse of the freedoms we have.

I assume you are referring to ACORN.

"what's probably going to be the most important domestic policy decision made in the next generation..."

So why did they try to ram it through without even reading it? Don't you think it's outrageously irresponsible? I'm not saying our health care doesn't need fixing... but maybe they should start with Medicare first.

Btw, and then, only after realizing they don't have the votes, Mr. Obama has the audacity to say (while smirking) "there are those who claim we won't even read the bill... let me be clear, we have over six weeks to read it and when Congress comes back from recess, I'll go over it line by line with anyone who has questions"... and now he saved us from a depression by ramming a $800 billion pork bill... give me a frigging break... He's almost as good of a pretender as those from the old communist regimes ....

How much does he think he can insult our intelligence? Oh, I forgot... Bill Maher said the other day "this is a stupid country full of stupid people."

Well at last if nothing else Josef has at least lived in it and can speak from experience.

Most americans speak out of ignorance and fear on both sides. I find it funny that the Reps spin and lie so much and just look ignorant when they know they are lying. Then the Dems lie and spin and then scorch who ever doesnt join them even when caught. This tactic they are employing now is similar to when G Bush acted like I won so I can do what I want. The Dems now have the same attitude as Gavin Newsome - You cant'stop us now - Well we know how that turned out. The American people are funny like that - Don't tell them what to do. If they think the Town hall Meetings are bad now, If they don't start listening to people and acknowledging it, its going to expand.

10 yearz of republicn failure wont go away in 8 monthz