Quote below starts at 1:20.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), on Tuesday, in the Congressional equivalent of Open Mic Nite:
And now we find out in the past few days that the government apparently is going to require everybody in America to have a body mass index, because the federal government wants to know how fat everybody in America is. And it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that once the federal government knows what your body mass index is, then they'll be able to make decisions based on that information.
Now, I have been belittled. I've had blogs take all kinds of shots at me. I've had people on the other side of the aisle belittle this comment I'm about to make, that I've made over the last year and a half, but boy, is it turning out that I was right, and the naysayers simply hadn't read the bill and could not see what was going to be allowed unto the federal government.
Here's what I would say. Think about it. The federal government has all of your personal medical records. We've been told that the federal government has the capability of monitoring every credit card purchase, every debit card purchase that anyone in America makes. We're also told it doesn't do that, but it has the capability.
But once the federal government through tax dollars is paying for people's health care, then it will proclaim the right to know what you're spending your money on. Because, for example, if you have too high of a cholesterol rate, you have too high of a body mass index, then it's quite conceivable at some point, you get a letter, you get an e-mail, from the federal government saying, "We noticed your cholesterol was 160 and we noticed that you bought bacon at the grocery store this weekend. Accordingly, since you are on a federal program, we are going to have to increase the amount that you pay to participate in the federal Obamacare program."
While we're having open mic, two questions: First, is the problem the bacon spying or being asked to pay more for Obamacare? And second, like a lot of seniors, my grandmother gets her health care from the federal government and she always serves me bacon -- though she is careful to drain off the extra grease. Should I be concerned?
(H/T @stoner_mc)
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Cue the posting of every awesome bacon meme EVER.
Glad to know Gohmert is worried that Americans will be forced to give up pork. I take it that he's talking about the eatin' kind, not the spendin' kind...
lol
they can take my bacon when they can pry it out of my cold, dead hands... and at the rate i've been eating bacon lately, that won't be long! ;o)
Aptly named Gomert, the bacon police are commin' for ya! Better stockpile the ham, bacon, ribs and buy land for pig farms!
Six degrees of Gandma's bacon?
Where was Gohmert when Bush was running illegal wiretaps? Wasn't he concerned about privacy at that time? Or how about when the Pentagon was contracting out for a system of data mining that would be far more intrusive than any bacon spy ring that his fevered imagination could conjure up?
Repubs are all for privacy---unless it is their party and their president that wants to take it away. The Patriot Act and other related legislative abortions have done more to erase American's privacy than anything the healthcare bill will do. For that matter, private companies already have more data about you than most government agencies, and they regularly seem to LOSE that data! But I guess that's ok for repubs, because corporations are FAR more trustworthy and honest than the government. Right BP, Goldman Sachs, Toyota?
Afternoon Uff.
Breaking news:
After endorsing Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Sarah Palin asks her trainers where Old Hampshire is......
I believe it is between Old York, East Virginia, and Old Orleans!
It still amazes me that anyone actually WANTS Caribou Barbie to endorse them or even appear next to them. I'd be afraid to even stand next to her, for fear some of the stupid would rub off on me.
Clearly an attempt to impose Sharia law.
Not sure why Louie is so worried about bacon, though. It clearly says in the bible that eating bacon is a big no no. Technically, since he thinks it's okay to tell people they can't be married because of what the bible says, he really shouldn't be getting his panties in a bunch about the government monitoring his consumption of bacon, either. That is of course, unless Louie is a giant hypocrite.
Rep. Louie Gomer, must have stock in "PORK BELLIES". You got to hand it to the Republicans, they take STUPID to a higher level every day.
too late! see what comes fm NOT making our stand against fluoride! u betcha...
First, they want to tell us were fat (using their tool of measurement)
second, they want to sue fast food joints for luring children to eat "fast food"
If they are telling us what we can't eat...whats to stop them from telling us what we have to eat...sounds like socialism to me.... but, hey, its for the collective good of our ailing health care nation....
Wow, I have to give them my Social Security number! Conspiracy?!?! I heard something from conservative/republicans about a national I.D. card that seems a bit redundant, plus a bit "big brother".
I just have to wonder how many if they lost health care insurance at age 65, would they refuse Medicare because they will "over reach and/or know my food sources or tell me what to eat".
I recall in the 60's the Presidential fitness program, it is to promote a more healthful citizenry. Nobody forces them to do it, but for the greater good. Just like the Polio vaccine....
So, if the government wants to advise you to be healthy, that's bad, but when the company you work for can fire you because you refuse to quit smoking, or you refuse to lose a few pounds, that's ok? Companies can and do force employees to do such things all the time, under the guise of reducing insurance costs and lost time due to illness, (although they rarely provide benefits for preventive care). As for suing the fast food joints....if you look, the recent threatened suit against McDonalds and the Happy Meal did NOT come from the government. It is the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a citizens watchdog group, that is involved in that. Before you start ranting about the evil government, perhaps you should get your facts straight.
Uffda - the right wing doesn't find facts a needed commodity in an argument, as proven over the last couple of years "Their coming to take you freedom....and bacon"
UNLUCKY PUPPIES
Ha hahahahahh (re bacon and body mass bullsh*t) meanwhile corporate interests are targeting children in their campaign to manipulate perceptions about the use and abuse of animals for biomedical research. James Ridgeway, as usual, is doing the dirty work and bringing forward information that matters:
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/07/puppy-protection-act-offers-slim-hope-some-abused-dogs
Call your congressmen and urge them to pass the bill.
Contact your local SPCA and if you are a parent the NEA
This is another goood hook for a segment. The bill wallowing under the radar and the PR campaign targeting children being waged by the North Carolina Association of Biomedical Research
DISGUSTING
Since when is a cholesterol count of 160 bad? That is actually quite healthy for a total cholesterol count.
You gotta tell 'em! Oscar Meyer Turkey Bacon is people!
This information from a person that voted against health care reform; it seems rather self-serving for him to use supposition to propose what "might happen" vs what "actually happens now" when a person (with no health insurance) gets ill or has an accident.
Another member of the Party (of No) trying to justify his vote against a program that would help many of his constituents. He is coming up with this ridiculous scenario to try to scare people. Let me tell you, even with medical insurance, it is scary to think how my income is going to be affected if myself, husband or daughters get sick.
If he wants scary, he should be in my shoes; I will be retiring soon and have several years before I turn 65 and can qualify for Medicare. My co-pay to continue my current group insurance would take my Whole Retirement Check and my pre-existing condition (melanoma survivor) will cause any individual medical policy to be even greater.
Now that is a SCARY situation that I can relate to......
What next? A tax on Southern Sweet Tea (oh boy, would THAT get them up for a 2nd Amendment Solution around here!) to fund dental clinics for the poor? Maybe an anti-bedbug campaign featuring PSA's with MarcoPoloRubio music, funded by Obamacare? I can think of lots more stupid stuff with which to scare the stupid.
You forgot about the FEMA concentration camps that everyone is worried about...be scared, be very scared...and then vote Red.
I think that it is important not to miss the essential point in this discussion.
The essential point is that Gohmert is an idiot.
Well Senator, I have been told by reliable sources that if you put magnets in your pockets before you leave your house in the morning and walk on the right side of the street only, you can defeat the gubmit's tracking of your electronic paid for purchases.
The reliable source also passed along that were you to go and purchase aluminum pie tins and string and hang the tins from various parts of your body above the waist and spin around there are alien craft flying overhead all the time that view such an action as a signal that you are looking for a ride and they will transport you anywhere in the known universe. The only restriction is the "known universe". Bummer ha? We can only hope that someday they will expand too the unknown universe! Hope/Change is always alive.
Was anyone actually able to make it through the 10 minutes of dribble? At a certain point I just couldn't take any more Mr. Rogers style speech. It shocks me how this is who represents us in congress, scary; but it is East Texas. Hide the bacon, Obama is coming for ya!
No, I read the transcript only. It's no wonder CSPAN makes people nod off, but it gives insight into what people say on the record.
I just put an article up on the newsvine about a crack Limbaugh made concerning the Sherrod case. It's been seeded by the mods. Come and vent some steam about Limbaugh.
(Sound of law officer over bullhorn) "PUT THE BACON DOWN AND STEP AWAY WITH YOUR ARMS IN THE AIR" Lol!
Liberals want to further emasculate American men by not letting them bring home the bacon.
It's such a double standard! We want to penalize fat people and smokers by making them pay more for health insurance. But we won't let them pay less into social security and pensions because they die sooner. And if you die at 55 of lung cancer, vs. at 90 in a nursing home after 5 years with Alzheimer's disease, who really had the higher lifetime medical costs?
Gomert is truly a stupid man...
Actually, I've met the bacon police, and couldn't fight 'em, so I joined 'em. But I think the people in my care will live long-er and prosper.
I want a bacon police cap!!!!!!!!!!!
You tell 'em Louie!
"You can have my bacon when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers!"
Don't worry. We'll know when Grandma's sneaking the Double-thick, hickory-smoked stuff. That's when "Negro-phobia" comes in. The Negroes are coming to steal your white Grandmother's bacon.
Somebody revive Jimmy Dean immediately.