Shell games and curtains

The White House's flag@whitehouse.gov's address that was designed to collect information about people disseminating 'fishy' information (to the rest of us, that would be those pesky things called facts) regarding the health care reform bill, has now been shut down due to questions regarding how the data collected would be used, if the information came under the aegis of the Privacy Act, etc. According to the bounce message, they are now accepting 'feedback' at http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck. Still fishy to me but at least a step.....

eta: The White House is apparently spamming people with missives from David Axelrod urging support for the health care reform bill. They say that organizations were adding people to these mailing lists without the person's knowledge. Another shell game--wasn't us, don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain.... (ht: breitbart.com)

In any case, kudos to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, for actually bringing the flag@whitehouse.gove issue to the White House and not letting it drop. I don't think my mother ever heard back from her Representative about this......

Kudos also to Rep. Issa R-Calif., the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee., who, although a bit late to the party wrote:

"I am concerned about the possibility that political e-mail address lists are being used for official purposes," Issa wrote to White House counsel Greg Craig. "This, again, raises questions about this administration blurring the lines between political and official business."