New at Reason.tv: Sending Our Fishy E-Mails to the White House!

August 6, 2009

In an effort to push back against criticism of its health care reform plans, the Obama administration is sending one of the many former journalists in its employ onto the digital airwaves of Youtube to attack Matt Drudge and other critics for spreading "disinformation" and "lies." Since "we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House," health reform Communications Director Linda Douglass says, "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 [e-mail]."

Reason.tv's Dan Hayes is nothing if not patriotic, and with a good nose for fish, so he took his camera in the dead of night and went hunting for perpetrators. The results, as shown in this two-and-a-half-minute video, should scare every American who cares about truth and health care.

Comments

kilroy|8.5.09 @ 9:06AM|#

He's right about one thing. Suderman is a tool.

|8.5.09 @ 9:10AM|#

That video was so damn good that it almost made up for "Obama, you're no stranger to the bong." Seriously, 50 million talented stoner-musicians in America and y'all came with that lame shit?

Kilroy, you're just jealous b/c the dude is marrying Megan McArdle. We're all sad but that's no reason to be a little bi-yotch about it.

led|8.5.09 @ 9:14AM|#

What are they going to do with this knowledge? Are they going to form some sort of database of chain letters?

<strike>strike through</strike|8.5.09 @ 9:17AM|#

That lady seems to be going for the Babs Boxer look, if not the actual philosophy.

Rich|8.5.09 @ 9:17AM|#

Well, I did hear some people were blogging that omega-3 might be good for your health. But I never checked them out and certainly did not repeat that nonsense.

kilroy|8.5.09 @ 9:23AM|#

j.j.,

The line of Suderman fanboys forms at the rear.


led,

I'd imagine that somewhere within the "Communications Decency Act", "Patriot Act", or "Do Something Right Fucking Now Act" is a law they can put you away with. Only if you're 'lying' on the wrong side though.

|8.5.09 @ 9:30AM|#

So, the political party currently in control of the executive and legislative branches is asking private citizens to help them develop a list of their most vocal opponents?

Sounds just fine.

|8.5.09 @ 9:32AM|#

I sent some emails to my congress critters earlier and since they are democrats I'm on some white house email list now and get occassional Obama spam, so I sent his email back to the flag email address. I'm sure I'll be added to some government watch list but it felt good.

|8.5.09 @ 9:36AM|#

Disagreeing with the administration equals lies and misinformation. What's particularly interesting about this is that most of what is being challenged involves forecasts and predictions based on myriad assumptions.

|8.5.09 @ 9:39AM|#

I've been sending links to H&R posts since hearing about this. Also all the herbal viagra spam ... cuz it's healthcare related and I think their fishy.

zero|8.5.09 @ 9:40AM|#

The major problems are gonna come when people make a typo and accidently send all their fishy helth care emails to Barney Frank.

Michael|8.5.09 @ 9:56AM|#

My neighbor has been putting up something of a fuss about this health care business lately and yammering on about his daughter's bone marrow or whatnot. Can I use the same email address?

|8.5.09 @ 10:00AM|#

i've no issue with people quoting figures from CBO OR using someone's prior quotes against them; however, I do draw that line at some douchebag sending my mom a fake email letting her know that the government is going to require euthanasia counseling every 5 years.

kilroy|8.5.09 @ 10:04AM|#

tim,

But she knows that's not really a Nigerian prince, right?

|8.5.09 @ 10:19AM|#

Dumbass woman; she said "farther from the truth" when it is further.

|8.5.09 @ 10:43AM|#

So, if we see inaccurate or fishy numbers from the White House web site we should send this information to the White House e-mail address. How does this help?

|8.5.09 @ 10:44AM|#

Dumbass woman; she said "farther from the truth" when it is further.

They need to hire hack to be her senior communications consultant.

[and do something about the haircut - not flattering]

Warty|8.5.09 @ 10:49AM|#

*emails goatse to [e-mail]*

|8.5.09 @ 11:07AM|#

Warty wins!

I hope you took advantage of anonymity bot's services, though, Warty.

Warty|8.5.09 @ 11:15AM|#

That's my first win in quite some time. Thank you, thank you.

Tim Worstall|8.5.09 @ 11:45AM|#

Me? I emailed this to [e-mail].

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-14795-Page-One-Examiner~y2009m8d5-Lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-from-the-CEPR

The latest report from the CEPR tries to say that there are fewer small companies in America because America doesn't have national health care.

The notes to the statistics they used to "prove" this at the OECD say that larger economies will naturally have fewer small companies in them.

Last I looked, the US was the world's largest economy so naturally has fewer small companies than other countries.

Just the sort of lie, scare or falsification they should be interested in, right?

|8.5.09 @ 11:53AM|#

This is what they do in Cuba, too. Have neighbors spy on neighbors.

This Hope and Change is so refreshing!

<strike>strike through</strike|8.5.09 @ 12:21PM|#

"If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to [e-mail]."

Well, if she wants "fishy," I suggest that each of us copies a different page from the "reform" bill and forwards it to that address. This would require a bit of coordination, of course, and I'm way too lazy to do it myself, but I offer this idea free of charge. In fact, I promise to send at least one page. Who will join me? Umm, anyone know where I can find a current copy of the bill?

<strike>strike through</strike|8.5.09 @ 12:28PM|#

Here it is (pdf):

http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/aahca.pdf

Now, to look for a nice fishy page...

wingnutx|8.5.09 @ 12:41PM|#

1. make new email account

2. sign up on Sea Kitten mailing list

3. auto-forward * to [e-mail]

<strike>strike through</strike|8.5.09 @ 12:45PM|#

I just sent her pages 54 and 55. Only 1016 to go. Do your part. Get with the spirit. Find the fish!

Dear Ms. Douglass,

I just found this "fishy" information regarding "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009" and I thought you'd be interested in seeing it.

Regards.

54

1 ''SEC. 2714. ENSURING VALUE AND LOWER PREMIUMS.

2 ''(a) IN GENERAL.-Each health insurance issuer

3 that offers health insurance coverage in the small or large

4 group market shall provide that for any plan year in which

5 the coverage has a medical loss ratio below a level specified

6 by the Secretary, the issuer shall provide in a manner

7 specified by the Secretary for rebates to enrollees of pay8

ment sufficient to meet such loss ratio. Such methodology

9 shall be set at the highest level medical loss ratio possible...

(It goes on and on.)

TallDave|8.5.09 @ 1:14PM|#

Everyone should repeatedly send Linda a link to her own video with the title "This seems fishy..."

And use tinyurl so they have to check each one.

alan|8.5.09 @ 1:16PM|#

Warty | August 5, 2009, 11:15am | #
That's my first win in quite some time. Thank you, thank you.

We like you. Warty. We really, really like you. Congrats.

i've no issue with people quoting figures from CBO OR using someone's prior quotes against them; however, I do draw that line at some douchebag sending my mom a fake email letting her know that the government is going to require euthanasia counseling every 5 years.

I smell a false flag burning in the wind there! I'd have to see who is advocating that before I believe it, and then see the checks they are cashing. Not paranoid, just been around Washington enough to know a SOP when I see one.

Meta4|8.5.09 @ 1:18PM|#

Last night on TV I heard Sen. Boxer (I think it was her) railing against the people turning out at these town hall meetings. She said she knew they were all Republicans by the very expensive clothes. And I thought wait a minute, I thought Republicans were backward hicks in overalls and seed caps. Surely they cant be both.

But here's the deal, everyone in the crowd was at least 60. It was a veritable sea of senior citizens.

JB|8.5.09 @ 1:35PM|#

There's something fishy alright and it's that cunt Obama in the Whitehouse.

<strike>strike through</strike|8.5.09 @ 1:42PM|#

But here's the deal, everyone in the crowd was at least 60. It was a veritable sea of senior citizens.

That explains how those people "who don't even live in that community" were so easily rounded up by the evil tea-baggers and forced to attend the meetings.

|8.5.09 @ 3:48PM|#

How a gov't subsidized and gov't regulated insurance industry counts as "private employer-provided" health care is beyond me.

jtuf|8.5.09 @ 5:20PM|#

At Obama's first online town hall meeting, web users put a question about legalizing marijuana on the top of the list. Obama hasn't held another online town hall meeting since. Now, he's asking people to send him videos. Excellent. How about making videos about using marijuana to reduce health care costs and flaging those videos?

ellipsis|8.5.09 @ 5:55PM|#

Did anyone send in lonewacko yet?

The Libertarian Guy|8.5.09 @ 6:34PM|#

"This is what they do in Cuba, too. Have neighbors spy on neighbors.

This Hope and Change is so refreshing!"

Loose change we can believe in, comrade.

Do yourself a solid, and turn yourself in for daring to oppose every single thing Obama proposes. It's sedition now.

And while you're at it, just take yourself out back, dig a hole, and shoot yourself in the head. Bullets cost bucks, and we're strapped for cash. Those trillions don't print themselves, y'know.

AND... you'll be reducing your carbon footprint at the same time. Pope Albert will be pleased by your sacrifice.

Gosh, there are so many possibilities to help the common good here!

EscapedWestofTheBigMuddy|8.5.09 @ 7:14PM|#

[e-mail]

I just can't help but think of the MASH character Colonel Flag...

The Libertarian Guy|8.5.09 @ 7:26PM|#

Maybe [e-mail] was already taken?

|8.5.09 @ 7:49PM|#

You guys need to get your facts straight.

The call for "fishy" emails isn't coming from Linda Douglass. The original blog entry on http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/ was posted by Macon Phillips, White House Director of New Media, and his blog used a Linda Douglass clip as an example of fishiness.

That being said, though I am an Obama supporter, I share Senator Cornyn's concerns over this. It smacks of a new McCarthyism. http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ForPress.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=ebc2c77d-802a-23ad-4ae4-6ccf4c7a255c

BeesInTheBrain|8.5.09 @ 8:40PM|#

Dang it, don't they know that viewing an email is like driving a car 1.5 feet. How will we ever combat CO2 with these kind of policies?

link

Hacha Cha|8.5.09 @ 10:34PM|#

I hope it gets spammed to death with false and useless information.

|8.5.09 @ 10:38PM|#

How did Bush and Co. get back into the White House? Okay that was cheap - even THEY didn't get people to inform on others.

|8.5.09 @ 11:04PM|#

Introducing the next Czar: "Fishy Communications".

Mr. Orwell, call home!

|8.5.09 @ 11:04PM|#

After centuries of suppression and oppression, we women have finally shattered that glass ceiling, after Sarah Palin blasted that glass ceiling a few times with her moose rifle.

For decades and I will not say how many decades, constantly pounded into my pea brain, "Big Brother Is Watching" over and over. Even read a book about this back in 1984 year.

Not so today! We women are victorious! Old big brother has been giving the boot! Today, this is "Big Sister Is Watching".

Hooray for women!

Okpulot Taha
Choctaw Nation

Ratdog|8.6.09 @ 1:16AM|#

Great, my shipment of little personal address books just arrived, now they'll never sell.

sports wife|8.6.09 @ 1:56AM|#

Today, my government acused me of being "a hired angry mob" because I disagree with the direction they are taking on the health care policy. Since when is speaking up for what you believe in illegial. I thought it was part of my 1st Amendment Rights! To make matters worse, the White House has asked any citizens to report anyone, like me to their tip line who was spreading "things that sound fishy" ....unbelieveable...

SO...for starters, below are just a FEW things that are really in the bill. If any of them scare you, don't take my word for it, open the bill and check it out for yourself. Our congressmen might not be able to get away without reading it, but we can't afford it. Please read...if you dare..and if you really dare, pass it on.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.3815/pub_detail.asp

Obama Health20Care Details
HR 3200
currently under consideration in the
House of Representatives

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit the books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED

Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your benefits for you. You have no choice

Pg 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access to individual's finances & a National ID Health care card will be issued

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access to your banks accts for electronic funds transfer.

Pg 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange to bring priv HC plans under Govt control.

Pg 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private Health Care plans in the Exchange

Pg 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!

Pg 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates li nguistic appropriate services. Example - Translation for illegal aliens.

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan

Pg 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Ben Levels 4 Plans. #AARP members - Your Health Care WILL be rationed

Pg 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Individual will be automat.enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

Pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue Govt on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monopoly.

Pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public opt plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not prov. pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll

Pg 150 Lines 9-13 Biz w payroll btw 251k & 400k who doesnt provide public opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll

Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesnt have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.

Pg 170 Lines 1-3 Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay).

Pg 195 Officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans financial and personal records.

=0 APg 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that.

Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected.

Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors, doesnt matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same.

Pg 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr's time, prof judg, etc. Literally value of humans.

Pg 265 Sec 1131Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries.

Pg 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.

Pg 272 SEC. 1145. Treatment of certain cancer hospitals - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!

Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals for what Govt deems preventable readmissions. (Incentives for hospital to not treat and release.)

Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Drs, treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission-Govt will penalize you.

Pg 317 L 13-20 PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells Drs. what/how much they can own.

Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand.

pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can you say ACORN?!!

Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Govt mandates established of outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing.

Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans (Part B), HMOs, etc. Forcing people into Govt plan.

Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people!

Pg 379 Sec 1191 Govt creates more bureaucracy - Telehealth Advisory Committee. HC by phone/Internet?

Pg 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance [Death] Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life.

Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!

Pg 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Gov't provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death.

Pg 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program for orders for end of life. The Gov't has a say in how your life ends.

Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An "adv. care planning consult" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates.

Pg 429 Lines 10-12 "adv. care consultation" may incl an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOV

Pg 429 Lines 13-25 - The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.

PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life

Pg 469 - Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs. Hello, ACORN Medical Svcs here!!?

|8.6.09 @ 4:22AM|#

I will send the Red House fishy emails when Obama quits smoking. For a healthcare advocate it is true irony that he is a closet puffer.

Jim Treacher|8.6.09 @ 4:52AM|#

Linda Douglass is a GILF (Government-Instituted Lie Factory).

Art-P.O.G.|8.6.09 @ 6:57AM|#

For a healthcare advocate it is true irony that he is a closet puffer.

Could you have maybe used a less "fellatious" euphemism for "smoker"?

|8.6.09 @ 11:39AM|#

Jim Treacher quips, "Linda Douglass is a GILF (Government-Instituted Lie Factory)."

Linda Douglass smells fishy, a bit of a Starkist aroma.

Hey! I am a girl, I can get away with a comment like mine. You boys cannot.

Okpulot Taha
Choctaw Nation

William|8.6.09 @ 2:47PM|#

The video is such sophomoric shit. The country is moving left, you blathering right-wing ninnies. Get over it.

|8.6.09 @ 2:56PM|#

With the crazy (if not scary) idea of the administration creating an "enemies list" and this was the best shit you could come up with??? WTF Reason? You can do better.

Trey|8.6.09 @ 2:56PM|#

Don't be esnitchin'.

SpongePaul|8.6.09 @ 2:58PM|#

just send them back all the lies and socialism they are spreading, would it not be funny if 10 million people all e-mailed obamas plan bacfk to him as fishy! i would LOVE IT!

Enyap|8.6.09 @ 3:18PM|#

"Last night on TV I heard Sen. Boxer (I think it was her) railing against the people turning out at these town hall meetings. She said she knew they were all Republicans by the very expensive clothes. And I thought wait a minute, I thought Republicans were backward hicks in overalls and seed caps. Surely they cant be both."

The republicans in expensive suits are the ones who trick the overall wearing hick republicans into voting against their own interest. Are atleast that what the DU and DailyKos crowd seems to think.

Emails Will Be Saved by the Na|8.6.09 @ 3:23PM|#

"Nobody is collecting names," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at today's the White House press briefing. "Nobody's keeping anybody's email."

Asked later by THE WEEKLY STANDARD if the White House is required by law to save all correspondence it receives, Gibbs acknowledged, "Obviously, the National Archives documents correspondence with the White House." Gibbs also said he didn't know how many emails the White House has yet received yet.

So remember: "Nobody is keeping anybody's email," except the federal government at the U.S. National Archives

axiomata|8.6.09 @ 3:24PM|#

There's something fishy about these Viagra email claims that it can double my penis size.

Therefore I have been forwarding all my Viagra emails to help out the government.

No lawyer|8.6.09 @ 3:28PM|#

I've downloaded the .pdf and have started paging through it. Nice that they won't allow you to save it to your desktop (the wads). Maybe to keep me from editing it and having some fun.

I'm against this whole thing on principle but is it my imagination or is sports wife reading a little more into it then is there?

Lawyers, please comment.

StinkPipe|8.6.09 @ 3:29PM|#

"just send them back all the lies and socialism they are spreading, would it not be funny if 10 million people all e-mailed obamas plan bacfk to him as fishy! i would LOVE IT!"

Just sent a copy of the House bill to [e-mail]

It's only 2M and can be found here:

http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf

Please do likewise.

|8.6.09 @ 3:30PM|#

I sent them a picture of some fish heads.

StinkPipe|8.6.09 @ 3:32PM|#

I was able to download it to my desktop.

No lawyer|8.6.09 @ 3:36PM|#

StinkPipe,
Thanks, your link was downloadable. As soon as I determine the font and load that in I'm going to have a little fun with editing.

I guess I'm just an agent of change.

|8.6.09 @ 3:40PM|#

I'd be interested to see what the WH does with its "fishy" enemies list, and how it approaches the people named within. Other than people posting their first-person experiences, is there any way to find out?

The interesting thing here for me is that the WH is allegedly wanting to correct disinformation. But it didn't just say "turn in the names of people saying things you know to be false." It said turn in the names of people responsible for "fishy" postings.

In other words, they're going on a "fishing expedition" and casting their nets wide. Although they claim they don't have enough people to track all of the "fishy" activity, it seems to me as if bots or targeted searches could flush out a lot more of the specific type of fraudulent activity they say they are concerned with, as opposed to all the false-alarm reports they are sure go get under their snitch mechanism, which would require a huge army to consider and/or investigate properly. Either they aren't too bright, or their real purpose is simply to chill dissent and enlist thousands of Americans in their official snitch squad, getting them personally invested in the President's organization and success. That's how it looks from here, at least.

Euler|8.6.09 @ 3:40PM|#

It would be horrible if someone signed up this e-mail at various pornographic websites.

StinkPipe|8.6.09 @ 3:41PM|#

"StinkPipe,
Thanks, your link was downloadable."

I strongly encourage everyone to act on SpongePaul's suggestion.

|8.6.09 @ 3:48PM|#

It would be horrible if someone signed up this e-mail at various pornographic websites"

That e-mail will be the e-mail I put down now every time I have to register for something but don't care to hear from the site again. Good idea.

|8.6.09 @ 4:06PM|#

Here in Baltimore, Carmelo Anthony and his buddies have decided to come out with a "Stop Snitchin' 3," video based on this new effort.

Moman|8.6.09 @ 4:26PM|#

Linda Douglass was much more believable as Ellie May Clampett.

What?

|8.6.09 @ 4:34PM|#

She really more of a Miss Hathaway.

|8.6.09 @ 5:02PM|#

FYI: _Donna_ Douglass was Ellie May in the original Beverly Hillbillies on TV. Nancy Kulp was Jane Hathaway.

Wicks Cherrycoke|8.6.09 @ 5:08PM|#

With all response they are going to get at this email address, it will be down by the end of the week, if that long.

Snopes Fan|8.6.09 @ 5:17PM|#

So the Obama administration is trying to put Snopes out of business?

|8.6.09 @ 6:07PM|#

We're all fish now!

|8.6.09 @ 6:15PM|#

i started forwarding all of the obamaspama that i receive after sending El Jefe a drunken psychotic rant one night.

|8.6.09 @ 6:27PM|#

Seventy years ago, Ms. Douglass' name would have been Heinrick Himmler. Good God what have we brought opon this nation?

Anonymous|8.6.09 @ 7:23PM|#

In an effort to push back against criticism of its health care reform plans, the Obama administration is sending one of the many former journalists in its employ onto the digital airwaves of Youtube to attack Matt Drudge and other critics for spreading "disinformation" and "lies."

This is called the "Baghdad Bob Pension Plan".

<strike>strike through</strike|8.6.09 @ 10:33PM|#

Director Linda Douglass is now working in office F-C, Sub-Basement D, Aisle G...No, she doesn't have an email account...We're sorry, but you can't speak with her. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience, but her phone has been disconnected. No, she has no next of kin.

|8.8.09 @ 2:25PM|#

Never mind 1944 chimney smoke. Think 1938-39 and Hitler's Blackshirts outnumbering the regular German army three million to 100K. US Congress OK'd the Kenya Kid's Amerikorps expansion. That means military training and weapons, too. Today the US, tomorrow the world.

|8.8.09 @ 6:15PM|#

Pelosi and Barbara Boxer definitely are fishy. The Obama doctors deny them gyno sevices since they are huge c@nts that will stink no matter what treatment they get...