Free Republic

Security: A Senate bill lets the president "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "nongovernmental" computer networks and do what's needed to respond to the threat. Didn't they just collect our e-mail addresses?We wish this was just a piece of the fictional "Dr. Strangelove" that fell to the cutting-room floor, but it's not. It is a real piece of disturbingly vague legislation sponsored by Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Senate Bill 773 would grant the administration emergency powers (where have we heard that before?) in the event of a cyberemergency that the president would have...

Since launching three weeks ago, the White House Reality Check website on healthcare reform has been updated several times to debunk a growing number of alleged myths about the Democrats' plan. But the site is still silent on conservatives' charge that the plan will use taxpayer money to cover abortions. It's a stunning omission, given how much the government-funded abortion allegation has dominated this month's congressional town hall meetings on healthcare reform—and given that President Obama himself has called the charge a myth. "You've heard that this is all going to mean government funding of abortion," he said recently. "Not...

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.” The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) and the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) have filed suit in...

A doctors' group and an organization that advocates for the interest of the inner-city poor have joined forced to sue the Obama administration, charging that its abortive effort to collect criticisms made by those opposed to President Obama's plan to change the U.S. health care system infringed on their First Amendment rights. In a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education said the White House had attempted to "unlawfully" collect information on protected political speech when it asked Obamacare supporters to report any negative comments...

It started with a series of straightforward questions from Fox News correspondent Major Garrett to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.  Garrett’s bottom-line inquiry: How did thousands of Americans, who had never contacted the White House previously, receive unsolicited political emails authored by top administration strategist David Axelrod?    In response, Gibbs and his press office colleagues undertook a strategy of dismissing the core issue, impugning the questioner, shifting blame, and vaguely pledging to change White House email policy.  Still, the basic question of exactly how the White House came to possess countless private email addresses remains unanswered.  The public deserves a...

The White House hired a private communications company based in Minnesota to distribute mass e-mails, helping to shed light on how some recipients received e-mails in support of President Obama's health care plan without signing up for them, FOX News has learned. The company, Govdelivery, describes itself as the world's leading provider of government-to-citizen communication solutions and says its e-mail service provides a fully-automated on-demand public communication system. The confirmation comes after the White House acknowledged this week that people were receiving unsolicited e-mails from the administration about health care reform and suggested the problem was with third-party groups that...

Although the White House has downplayed their ObamaCare opposition "snitch" program and redirected "fishy" claims to their new "Reality Check" site, let's remember that this fiasco has been part of their downfall. This humorous article offers more than three dozen sample email letters to send to the Big Brother's House. Most are hilarious; a couple of them are serious. Part 5and its related predecessor (equally humorous): Part 3

The White House may have thought that the controversy ended this week when it disabled its electronic tip box, but at least one GOP senator is keeping it alive. In a letter to President Barack Obama Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) says the decision to disable the e-tip box -- flag@whitehouse.gov to monitor "fishy" claims about health care -- only raises more questions. Cornyn says he wants the White House to eliminate all the data it received in the 13 days the program was in effect and wants to know whether any information has been shared with the Democratic National...

They have theories, mind you. But the theories don’t add up. The White House told FOX News that third-party groups sending online petitions to the official administration Web site could be to blame for a rash of e-mails that have gone out to people who never requested them. The theory is that these groups are including the names and e-mails of members and petition-signers along with the petitions themselves, in turn embedding those e-mails into the White House distribution list… Griffith, who works for the American Association of Christian Schools in Washington, D.C., said she got the e-mail in her...

Can you celebrate the Obama presidency at NBC? Yes you can.

White House Blames E-Mail Controversy on 'Sinister Conspiracy Theories' After confirming to FOX News over the weekend that third-party groups could be responsible for official White House e-mails that have been sent to people who never signed up for them, President Obama's new media director took to the official White House blog to "clear up" the confusion, and pointed the finger at "outside groups of all political stripes." FOXNews.com Tuesday, August 18, 2009 The White House is blaming the controversy over its Web site and mass e-mails on viral rumors, "fear-mongering" and "sinister conspiracy theories" even as it acknowledges problems...

The W.H. web address flag@whitehouse.gov, set up for the public to report 'fishy' information regarding health care reform, has become inactive today...

A little less than two weeks ago, the Obama administration announced a program asking American's to spy on their neighbors. The call for an army of spies was announced in a White House’s internet site blog: 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...

"The White House for the first time Sunday somewhat acknowledged that people across the country received unsolicited e-mails last week on health care from the administration, suggesting the problem on third-party groups it claimed placed the recipients' names on the distribution list...." "If an individual received the e-mail because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the e-mail, we hope they were not too inconvenienced." http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/16/white-house-e-mail/

Is White House liable for Spam under Washington State's Anti-Spam Laws? Can't I sue them?

Who should be fired over the ill-conceived (and possibly unlawful) FLAG@whitehouse.gov scandal? Emanuel? Axelrod? Douglass? Sebelius? Are any news outlets asking who should be fired? Are any Republican leaders calling for any firings? Steele? McConnell? Boehner?

White House Blames Political Groups for Spam Emails on Health Care Bills Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The White House is blaming political organizations like pro-life groups for the unsolicited emails people have ben receiving promoting the pro-abortion health care restructuring bill. Thousands of people have emailed LifeNews.com and other media outlets complaining about the spam emails from the Obama administration. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5361.html

Healdine only at Drudge