Sounds familiar

From a CNN Money article ("CBO chief: Budget outlook 'daunting'"):

The gist of his testimony went something like this: The outlook is bad under current law and daunting if many current policies are extended as expected. And even that may understate the fiscal problem the country faces, because it doesn't factor in potential effects of debt on economic growth.

Where have we heard this before? From a variety of places such as those 'angry radicals' in the Tea Party movement, the 'unpatriotic' Libertarians and the 'racist' conservatives. My only question is: why would the administration suddenly be so transparent with their assessment? Oh, that's right, because they only have so much control over the CBO. Well, that too will change...

Ignorance is Strength

It comes as no surprise that the current incarnation of big brother, having ridden the wave of technology into the White House, is now descrying the evils of those same media and the information they provide: Obama bemoans 'diversions' of IPod, Xbox era.

When I heard the line "information becomes a distraction" I could think only of the title of this post which, of course, shares the same origin with the term "thought criminal". To be fair, Mr. Obama's quote is partly an attack on entertainment diversions of the Xbox and PlayStation variety:

"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.


"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," Obama said.

Had he limited his comments to entertainment, he might have had a valid point. Instead, he pointed out that we are bombarded with content that is often not true. Of course, being a man of unquestioned integrity and considerable intellect, he would be happy to perform his big brotherly duties by shielding us from those things which he believes not to be true. He proves once again that the First Amendment to the Constitution was written for a specific reason: to ensure our ability to speak out against those who would exceed their constitutional mandate. What's next on his hit parade, "Freedom is slavery"?