Hope And Inform. (UPDATED)

You see a lot of things posted on the 'Net as "fact," so you have to always keep some grains of salt handy. Case in point: There is a story circulating today about the White House asking for people to report directly to the White House on opposition to Obama's health care efforts. While this seems to be something right out of conspiracy-theory central, it turns out to be true:

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.

(Emphasis mine.) In other words, the White House is soliciting informants to report on political activities and conversations. If the Bush White House had posted something like this, the howls would be heard from here to The Lubyanka. Further, just what is the White House going to do with this information?

I recommend you go now to see the post for yourself. Because when this starts to get some press, I have little doubt it will disappear down the memory hole.

UPDATE: Facts are indeed, stubborn things. So here are a few:



Let's see how long it takes for someone to turn me in to our new MiniTrue.