Punching Stupid and Evil in the Face Since 1986!

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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Using healthcare to stifle free speech

Buried in the Bacus Healthcare Bill is the demand that insurers not engage in "propaganda". That might be OK, but as we have seen in recent weeks "propaganda" as defined by this Administration is unfortunately what's known as "truth" to the rest of the world.
Its first appearance on page 236 prevents nonprofit health insurance issuers from using any funds appropriated under the CO-OP Program for "carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation." It does not specify which legislation so we must assume it applies to all legislation. I do agree with the concept. It prevents these nonprofit health insurance issuers from using these appropriated public funds for lobbying. But the hypocritical reality is that publically funded propaganda is the strict domain of this administration, which sees no problem in using the publicly funded National Endowment of the Arts to further its own general agenda or in hiring AKPD Messaging and Media (formally associated with David Axelrod) with $12million dollars of taxpayer money to tout the president's healthcare platform. Clearly some people are more equal than others.

The second appearance on page 245 is more nefarious. It says that nonprofits will lose their exemption status just for "carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation" (publically funded or otherwise). It further stipulates that the organization must "not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

Nothing like using the rule of law to force people to believe something........Communism anyone?

American Thinker has the details.

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