Dissent. Even with a change of the party in power, it’s still a good thing.

Regardless of your views on the healthcare issue . . .

[H/T Instapundit]

There’s plenty of both heat and light in what’s being posted on the web these days about the healthcare debate. I don’t intend to get into it here, so much, but – and this is old news – does anyone else think this bit on the White House’s website is . . . irritating?

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.

I said “irritating”, not “ominous”. I don’t think it’s ominous, just yet. But what’s with this note about “flagging” things that look “fishy”? Are the ears of the white house really as tin, politically and PR-wise, as this makes them appear?

We’re having a vigorous debate in this country right now. At times really vigorous. I’ll save my thoughts on the whole thing (maybe) for the aftermath, once the President’s legislative goal is either dismantled or voted through. But these are interesting times. For the first time in, well, forever I kind of feel like picking up a sign myself.

The inestimable Mark Steyn has this to say:

DISSENT IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF PATRIOTI- . . . No, wait, that bumper sticker expired January 20. Under the stimulus bill, there’s a new $1.3 trillion bills-for-bumpers program whereby, if you peel off old slogans now recognized as environmentally harmful (“QUESTION AUTHORITY”), you can trade them in for a new “CELEBRATE CONFORMITY” sticker, complete with a holographic image of President Obama that never takes his eyes off you.

“The right-wing extremist Republican base is back!” warns the Democratic National Committee. These right-wing extremists have been given their marching orders by their masters: They’ve been directed to show up at “thousands of events,” told to “organize,” “knock on doors” . . .

No, wait. My mistake. That’s the e-mail I got from Mitch Stewart, Director of “Organizing for America” at BarackObama.com. But that’s the good kind of “organizing.” Obama’s a community organizer. We’re the community. He organizes us. What part of that don’t you get?

. . .

Fortunately, this president doesn’t fold like a Robert Gibbs suit. He won’t give in to the attire pressure. So, on Monday, the official White House website drew attention to the alarming amount of “disinformation about health insurance reform.” “These rumors often travel just below the surface,” warned Macon Phillips, Chief Commissar of the Hopenstasi . . . whoops, I mean White House Director of New Media, “via chain e-mails or through casual conversation.”

“Casual conversation,” eh? Why can’t these “dissenters” just be like normal people and read off the teleprompter?

The President (finally) sends a message of support for the beleaguered citizens of Iran to their brutal government. It took a while, but I’m glad he has come out with this:

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said – “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow – I get to take a rare telecommuting day. Pajamas are the clothing I was made to work in.

I’m so thankful to have a job. I don’t always feel that way when I’m there, but I know that’s foolishness. There is a real temptation to feel like the job is just a means to an end, and that life really doesn’t begin until I get home. Of course, there is a lot of truth there. What’s most important to me, humanly speaking, is at home: my family. But I know that there’s a calling for me at work too, and it’s more than just earning a paycheck (even one that I am very, very grateful for).

I’m working through this, and I pray I get it before I’m too old to make a difference where I’m at. Each day, no matter where one is, should be greeted with thankfulness, purpose, and rejoicing. Oh, to live that. Each day is a gift.

On a side note: My better half, eldest daughter and sophomore daughter, along with my parents in love, are going to Baylor to visit eldest son. I have to stay home. Wait, let me rephrase that. I get to stay home. I will get some one on one time with young Blake: time for Ci Cis, the Rockets game on TV, and to see him take to the field in a soccer match on Saturday.

I’m blessed.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men

– Colossians 3:23

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

– Philippians 4:4