The Anatomy and Dissection of Right Wing Propaganda – The Michelle Obama Edition
I got an email today from Spouse. He got it from a family member. That family member had gotten it from a friend who had also sent it to his wife and two other friends. That friend got it from another family member who had received it as part of a large group email of 13 friends and acquaintances. That’s as far back as I could read, as all the emails before that had been erased. But the article that spawned the email was written back in July, so presumably it’s gotten around.
The family member who sent it was a little hesitant. He knows the political leanings of our household, and knew that we wouldn’t like the contents. Did we want to hear the other side of the equation, he asked? He didn’t want to offend, but said he’s worried about the country and his kids’ future. He thought this email sounded a little over the top, but wasn’t sure what to make of it. What did Spouse think?
Let me preface this by saying that the person who sent the email, as well as several in the long chain of forwards, is intelligent, and caring and can hold a conversation. He loves his country and his family, and he’s a pretty great guy. He has a sense that something is terribly wrong with the country, like many people do, but he is not a “wingnut” and neither are the others I know in this chain who forwarded this email along. He also has access to a computer, and presumably knows the basics of how to do basic Google searches. Basically, he’s a lot like many people we know and like.
So here’s the email:
The Queen is in her parlor…and we don’t mean London! Never in the history of the White House has a First Lady spent so much on so many “personal assistants”, all paid from taxpayer dollars.
Hilary had three; Jackie Kennedy one; Laura Bush one; and prior to Mamie Eisenhower, social help came from the President’s own pocket.
Michelle Obama has 26 – from makeup artist Ingrid Miles and hairstylist Johnny Wright to her “chief of staff” Susan Sher, whose salary is $172,200.
The First Lady does not get paid to serve as First Lady, and she doesn’t perform any official duties. But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to every whim and satisfy every request in the midst of a great Recession.
Sort of makes one think the White House has been mistaken for the Versailles Court of Marie (let ‘em eat cake) Antoinette, doesn’t it?
Don’t believe it…see this: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/12652
I guess the Democrats really do identify with the poor people, right? Right…. Reckon the press would jump on this if it were the other way around and Laura Bush had had this many “servants”?
Can’t you Kool-Aid drinkers take responsibility for your own votes and do something about these continuing daily atrocities? Or are you so far gone, you’re not responsible anymore? Maybe you think she “deserves it cause she’s ….. (fill in the blank)”??? Right? Whatever…gimmeabreak. This is atrocious!
The email then goes on to list members of the First Lady’s staff and their salaries. The list is 22 names long. Needless to say, one’s first reaction is likely to be, “Laura Bush, our previous First Lady, had ONE assistant and Michelle Obama has TWENTY TWO?” That IS outrageous!”
It is here where the reader of this email must make a choice. How will they respond?
1) Do nothing and believe the email.
2) Do nothing and assume the email is inaccurate.
3) Forward the email on the spot, and share your outrage with family and friends.
4) Read the part that says “Don’t believe it? See this:” and actually click the link.
I chose option 4, and it resulted in a wild ride that took more than five hours, and ate my entire Sunday afternoon and evening. I will now share with you the fruits of my labor, and condense those 5 hours into 10 or 15 minutes.
So, I invite you to sit back, relax and join me for a ride on the right-wing propaganda crazy train. All aboard! You may feel free at any time when the need arises to visit the snack car for an adult beverage, or a large tumbler of ice water to throw in your own face. Here’s our first stop. We’re going to click that link in the email we received – the one that says “Don’t believe it? See this!” Ready?
((CLICK)) Canada Free Press
We are now at the website of Canada Free Press. “Canada” “Free” “Press.” Sounds like it’s an objective, maybe a little left-leaning newspaper. There’s a nice red maple leaf on the top of the page, but things rapidly begin to take a strange turn. Next to our happy maple leaf is a countdown clock ticking off the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the end of Obama’s term. Below that is an ad with praying hands that says “A Prayer for our Time – Deliver us from Obama.” “Obama” replaces the word ”evil” in this snippet of the Lord’s Prayer. Suddenly it’s not looking much like an objective news source any more.
Who runs this place, and what’s it all about? And now to our next stop – the “About Us” page.
((CLICK)) About Us
“Canada Free Press (CFP) is a proudly independent, 24-7 electronic newspaper, updating several times–and sometimes several hours– a day. [snip] Espousing Conservative viewpoints, cornerstone of which contain love of God, love of family, love of country, CFP maintains a loyal and growing readership.”
Well, they seem to be somewhat grammatically challenged, but we now know without a doubt that the site is not, nor does it claim to be objective. They have a conservative slant, and they’ve said it right there in black and white. But let’s go further. Who are the people running the place? There are three.
Judi McLeod, Editor of CFP is an “award-winning journalist.” Her Wikipedia page is a fabulously entertaining read.
Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor is a Canadian lawyer, author and columnist whose work has appeared on Newsmax, Drudge Report, Fox News and Glenn Beck.
Chase Clift, the Social Network Editor is a 9th grade student “attempting to write but have [sic] started as a social network editor along with CFP as well as pushing the Southern Secessionist movement in which he is a mere volunteer. Chase is currently working with the Confederate Liberation Society and Canada Free Press.”
This is not looking good.
We’ve got a little background. Now it’s time to look at the article that is the source for the email.
((CLICK)) First Lady Requires More than Twenty Attendants
The first thing we notice, of course, is the use of language, calling the First Lady’s staff “attendants” in the title, and subsequently “servants” and “lackeys” in the body of the article. Then we see a picture of the Obamas, and notice that it has been Photoshopped to show the First Lady with an extremely exaggerated backside, and the President with his neck angled forward, hunched over at the shoulder like the silhouette of the second-to-last guy in the evolution profiles that go from monkey to man.
One thing we do NOT see in the article is any mention of Laura Bush or Jackie Kennedy having one assistant, Hillary Clinton having three, or anything about any other First Lady or her staffing needs. These were all things added in by one of the many people that got this email and thought it needed a little more punch before it was forwarded to the next group. This is easily verified by this article in the National Journal which shows Laura Bush having fifteen staffers with the words “First Lady” in their title in 2006 - the same number as Michelle Obama. And yet it continues to be forwarded, proving that it’s a lot easier to spread negativity than to check and see if it’s real.
So, that assertion – that Michelle Obama has more than twenty staffers and Laura Bush had only one – we can consider debunked. Another quick Google search reveals this link with some interesting facts about First Ladies’ staffs and the evolving role of the First Lady and her office. Jackie Kennedy, by the way, had a staff of 40. Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush (who had a staff of 24 at one point) continued the tradition of “The Office of the First Lady” which was officially named as such during the Carter administration. Go figure.
We could get off the train here, now that we know the email is bunk, but let’s ride on a little while longer and see what the next stop brings. There’s got to be some reason that this assertion about Michelle Obama, that is so easily proven false, was put out to discredit her and make her the object of anger and resentment. So let’s check out who actually wrote the article in Canada Free Press. His name is Dr. Paul L. Williams. And he has his own website. His wikipedia page says that he is currently being sued for upwards of $2 million by McMaster University for claiming that Islamic terrorists had managed to steal 180 pounds of unspecified nuclear material from the McMaster nuclear reactor. He is also the author of the book The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World. Interesting.
I’m going to pause here for a second and allow you to hit that snack car if you have not done so already. You may need it for this next stop.
(pause)
((CLICK)) CRUSADER CALL – The Last Crusade
We’ve now pulled in to the station at the author’s website. The graphic in the header of this site is a sword. No maple leaf here. The title reads “The Last Crusade – Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34″
And the agenda of the “Michelle Obama Has Too Many Servants” email is revealed in all its glory. It’s not about fiscal responsibility. It’s not about Michelle Obama. It’s not about the staffing needs of the First Lady. It’s about this:
Islam, America and the Coming Apocalypse
Bring the Last Crusade to your church, synagogue, or civic gathering. Dr. Paul L. Williams and his crusaders are available to address your group to stir spirits and to renew faith. Contact the holy warriors at (email).
There’s an audio clip available that you can listen to, so you can get an idea of what a presentation to your group might sound like. Below, I have a transcript of this audio for the brave of heart. That’s where the better part of my afternoon went.
And the crazy train has pulled into the station. Thanks for coming along on the ride.
But, here’s the greater message, and the lesson we obviously still need to learn. Don’t believe chain emails, no matter where they come from. Just as you wouldn’t look at graffiti on a bathroom stall and think to yourself “Hey, look! I bet if I call that number, I’ll have a good time!” don’t believe email. Completely false and misleading content could have been added by Uncle Joe’s boss’ cousin’s neighbor to emails that might have actually had some legitimacy at the beginning. If the email gives you a source, CHECK IT. Find out who wrote it, and what their agenda is. It may not be what you think. The big wide internet is just like our train ride. Click and click until the mystery reveals itself to you.
It only took us four clicks to find out that “Michelle Obama’s staff” has nothing to do with Michelle Obama’s staff, but really means that Islam is taking over the world and the Apocalypse is near. Good people who are concerned about fiscal responsibility, by forwarding an email full of untruths, have allowed themselves to become unwitting tools of a radical evangelical Christian group that thinks the president is a Muslim and the rapture is coming. And they have helped that group perpetrate a lie because they decided to blindly forward it on to their friends and family, instead of actually checking to see if it’s true.
And if you do get an email like the one I did, send it back to everyone on that list with links to the truth. Nobody likes to sound like a fool, or realize that they’ve been had. Nobody likes to think that two simple clicks would reveal this nonsense for what it is and they didn’t do it. After all, they trust the person who sent it. Save the people you love from looking like idiots in the future. If they’re called on it once, they may think twice before doing it again. And who knows, they might even check for themselves next time.
Now here we go. For those of you with the stomach for it, you can stay on the train for its last insane runaway downhill ride. Remember, this is the guy that wants you to get all mad at Michelle Obama.
On Muslims and Christian Persecution
Look, I hate Muslims. I hate Muslims. I hate the Muslim faith more than I hate anything. But let me tell you something. What’s happening in Iraq isn’t worth the spilling of one drop of that precious blood of our troops, and I’m going to tell you why. This new democracy that was established in Iraq, and this has me hoppin’ mad… The very first stipulation in this new democracy, the very first article in this new constitution is the imposition of sharia, Muslim law on every inhabitant in Iraq. Everybody now, not under Saddam Hussein, never before in history, every inhabitant right now is under sharia. Do you know what that means? Christian churches are being burned down to the ground. Do you know what that means in Iraq right now? Christians in the outskirts are being crucified while our troops occupy the country.
Do you know in Syria right now… God help us… God forgive us for allowing this to happen! In Syria right now there are over 250,000 Christian refugees who have been driven out by Iraq. That’s what we have caused there. Is that what we’re fighting for? Sharia?! It’s madness. We have permitted this. We have allowed this. Nobody except for the southwest radio ministry people are speaking out against this. Christians are being persecuted as never before, even in this country. Even in this country. Lookit, I’m a Christian. I’m a born-again Christian. I am a miserable rotten sinner….not anymore… I’ve been washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, but beLIEVE me, I was not worth a dime, and not only not worth a dime, but I was puffed up because I had these degrees, and I thought, “Oh, I’m really smart.” I was worse than a snake. And lookit, the Lord lifted me up and he cleansed me, and he cleansed me and I’m leading the good life and I’m a Christian and a professing Christian and I have the right credentials, and I’ve written 20 books that have been international best-sellers, and I cannot be employed by any major university in this country. I can’t be. Once you say you’re a Christian, they immediately assume you’re a nutcase. (Shouts of “Amen!” ” Yes! Praise Jesus!” “Hallelujah!” ”Amen, brother!” “Preach on, brother, preach on!” “God bless you!”) Hallelujah. That is the truth. You look at … every night I’m looking at TV programs. You don’t think we’re persecuted in this country? You don’t watch the sitcoms every night, and the person who is the real idiot, the person who’s really obnoxious, the person who everyone hates, the person who’s the real joke is the minister, or the Christian. That goes from the Simpsons on down. The real person who has everything wrong and you want to grab by the neck and throttle is the Christian.
On Being Thrown Out of Prisons and Nursing Homes
Look in our prison systems, this is the truth. Lackawanna County Prison. I used to go visit there, to visit with the prisoners, and they say, “Oh, you’re too fiery. We can’t allow you in the prison.” I was even kicked out of a nursing home. You know why? This is the truth. Honest to God, I was kicked out of a nursing home for preaching the word of Jesus Christ and that Christianity is the only way to salvation. And they said, “Oh, no. You can’t do that. You can’t say that. You can’t say that Jesus is the only way. We have people here who are Jewish. We have people here who don’t want to hear that.” And so they said, “You can’t come back.” Same thing in the prison systems. Don’t tell me Christians are not being persecuted in this country. Don’t tell me this. There’s not one Christian image in any public gathering any more. Any public forum. You’re not allowed! Christians will be persecuted as never before.
Illegal Aliens Will Cause the End of the World
“You know the end is near,” Jesus says, “when lawlessness prevails over all the land.” Right now, in rural sections of Virginia, this is Rappahannock (?) County… Rappahannock County. Lookit, you want to take a picture postcard of the country you’d take it in Rappahannock County. It’s beautiful! Bucolic, OK? It’s just like you would see in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” OK? Rappahannock County is now one of the centers, one of the murder centers of the United States. Kansas City a murder capital. Lawlessness as never before, throughout the land! How bad is it? Well we have over 30 million illegal aliens – you talk about lawlessness. OK? 30 million. 30 million and we are unable to address the problem. Unable! I mean, what is the problem, guys? Let’s get a fleet of buses, put them all on the buses and send ‘em back! What is the problem? I don’t get it. “Oh, we can’t handle this. We can’t handle this problem.” These people are draining our systems of education, of welfare, our hospitals. 43%, and this is why I need my notes, 43% of food stamp recipients are now illegal aliens. 41% of the unemployment checks in this country go to illegal aliens. 60% of all welfare benefits are consumed by illegal aliens. 60% of public housing in the United States is occupied by illegal aliens. Ten million Americans every year are killed by illegal aliens. And we can’t handle it. We can’t handle it. Our Lord says that when lawlessness prevails over all the land, you will know the end is near.
Our prisons are packed, PACKED, packed to overflowing, and the prison population in the last four years, follow me, has increased by 200,000. We don’t have room for them. In the state of California right now, we have 660 on death row and we can’t execute them. Do you know why? Because they are protected by the ACLU.
You know, I study philosophy, as I said. A hundred years ago there was a philosopher named Neitzche. And Neitzche said this, and I want you to remember this, that when a country is incapable of excreting its waste… when a country is incapable of excreting its waste it is sick unto death. We are sick unto death.
The Albanian Mafia Will Cause the End of the World
The number one crime family, and I told you this yesterday, is not the Italian mafia, it’s the Albanian mafia. These people are radical Muslims. They control the ports of entry, they control the harbors. Do you remember the old movie, “On the Waterfront” where you had the mob controlling, you know…the Italian mob controlling what’s happening… you no longer have the Italian mafia. Now, it’s the Albanians. They’re Muslims. Look, go to the FBI website, the number one crime family in the United States is the Albanian mafia. These people are Muslims. They commit more murders than anyone else. They control the prostitution rings, the uh…the uh…drug rings , the arms that are coming into the country. They control all the freight that’s coming in at the airport. Alright? Lawlessness as never before.
And we are incapable. We are…we can elect…oh, let’s face it. We can elect more Republicans. Lookit, I hate somebody that would vote for a Democrat in a national election. I’m sorry guys, maybe you did. I…I…I cannot… I can’t….I don’t like people who vote for… but I’m gonna tell ya, I don’t know who to vote for. Because who will fight? Who will really really address these problems? Who will address the lawlessness? The illegal immigrants? Who will REALLY address these problems. You know who? No one. When lawlessness prevails, (shouting) AND YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN TROUBLE! AND THE END IS NEAR!
Wickedness Will Cause the End of the World
And let’s remember, when Jesus is saying this, I mean good heavens, we’re going back 2000 years… Jesus said that you’ll know when the eschaton, the end is at hand when many turn from the faith and hate and betray each other. And I want to get these statistics right. In the last year, church attendance among Protestants is down 10%. Among Catholics – get this – it’s down…you ready?… 60%! (snickering) You can say “Praise the Lord” but listen to me. They took a survey…they took a survey. Christians, Christians…CHRISTIANS – people who call themselves Christians, and they asked them – this is a Gallup poll – “Name the first four books of the New Testament, and guess what? 85% of them couldn’t name one. With the decline in church attendance of course – the decline in morality. 40% of the births in this country right now are from unwed mothers. Now, this is even worse. This is by the same survey of Christians. 60% of the Christian husbands in this country admit that they cheat on their wives. Are you listening to me? 40% of the Christian wives cheat on their husbands. Remember what Jesus said, “All those who say ‘Lord, Lord’ will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.” You will know the end is near with the increase of wickedness – when you have road rage as never before, assaults as never before, lewd conduct in public places as never before.
The F-word, and Beating Up Teenagers in the name of Jesus
You know, right now, I’m gonna tell you – my wife will tell you this – when I used to go like, to the movies or to a play – I’m crazy, though , this is the truth – and somebody who is around me like teenagers, and they said the “F” word – my wife will tell you this – I used to grab them. I used to grab them and shake them and pound them. I’m not kidding. I couldn’t take it. Right now, if I did that, I’m gonna tell you, I’d spend every free waking second slugging somebody. We have grown immune to lewd conduct. It doesn’t offend us any more.
Look at on “The View” the other day. On The View the other day,… I mean I wouldn’t watch that stupid thing, but I,…I, I heard it on the news and in, in ….in in three minutes the “F” word was heard on – now this is a prime time program for women during the day – that in in in in in…in like three minutes the “F” word was… was… was said on the air sixteen times. And the audience loved it.
The Internet Will Cause the End of the World
You will know the end is at hand when the gospel is preached to all nations. And now, for the first time in history, thanks to the internet, thanks to satellite TV – you see with satellite TV you can broadcast programs where you could never broadcast before. So, now we have Christian programs, and Christian messages being received in the most remote areas of China! You will know the end is at hand when the gospel is proclaimed to all nations. My friends, it has been proclaimed to all nations.
Main Line Christianity Will Cause the End of the World
And finally, you will know the end is at hand when you see the abomination, OK? standing in the holy places. Main line denominations - and if you go to a main line denomination right now, you gotta STOP. You gotta get out of there. Main line denominations – The United Methodist, the United Presbyterians, the American Baptist, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopalean Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church condone the ordination of gays and same sex marriage. They condone this! They approve it! Even their bishops are homosexual. What does the word of God say about homosexuality? It says that it is an… (waits for the audience who say in unison “Abomination!”) Let me hear that again. It is an… (Abomination!) When you see the abomination in the holy places, you will know that the end is near. Right, brothers? When you see it… You have these same churches saying that they approve of abortion on demand, including….including, uh… what do you call it… term, when you’re in your late terms? (Partial birth abortion.) Partial birth abortion. Yeah. Approving of that. What does the word of God say about an abortion? It is an…. (Abomination!) SAY IT LOUDER! (ABOMINATION!) You have these same churches, along with President Bush saying that we all, the Christians and the Muslims, we all worship the same God. Saying that the God of Moses, and the God of Mohammad, and the Monkey God of the Hindus are all the same God.
And there it ends. You made it.
So, if this guy was that worked up about President Bush, ask yourself what was going through his mind when Obama got elected. This “Christian” only said he “hated” two things in his speech – Muslims and people who vote for Democrats in national elections. Nice. Think there’s a good chance he believes Obama is a secret Muslim? And how close does he think the “end” is NOW? This is the author of the email “First Lady Requires More than 20 Attendants.” What do you think of that email now? And what do you want to tell the person who added this part:
Reckon the press would jump on this if it were the other way around and Laura Bush had had this many “servants”?Can’t you Kool-Aid drinkers take responsibility for your own votes and do something about these continuing daily atrocities? Or are you so far gone, you’re not responsible anymore? Maybe you think she “deserves it cause she’s ….. (fill in the blank)”??? Right? Whatever…gimmeabreak. This is atrocious!
Kinda makes you want to send something back up that email chain, doesn’t it?
I’m sure actually fact checking this 10 minutes of misinformation from our “Christian” friend will provide many hours of entertainment for whomever is up to the task. But frankly, I’m going to hit the snack car and leave it at that.
a.k.m.!!! i am speechless. rendered mute. ‘jeez louise.’
I’m tired from reading this.
Well, AKM, this shows why you are the journalist and I am but a responder
I got the same email from a dear friend of mine, and sent her a response: “You may want to check this out – http://factcheck.org/2009/08/michelle-obamas-staff/ – it provides a different perspective.” along with the suggestion that we do not share political stories as we are in opposite ends of the spectrum here but we’ve been friends for over 40 years and I’d hate to lose our friendship. She has so far followed my suggestion.
But I digress – here is the difference between you and me. I just googled the story to find a rebuttal while you actually delved deeply into the sources of the information. Thus we have all received a better education from you than from me. Thanks for the depth of study you take.
OT – where did Levi go on The Early Show today? It appears that he pulled a Palin and failed to show.
These are sick people, I couldn’t even get through all of it. It made my stomach churn just reading the first part. Thanks AKM for suffering through all that nonsense.
i must admit, i have not received this particular email …… yet.
no doubt it will eventually get forwarded to me by some well meaning soul.
thanks for debunking it. i will forward your reply to everyone on the chain if someone sends this to me.
how these so-called christians think they are going to fare on judgment day is beyond my ability to parse. does god really forgive lying in order to supposedly bring people to god???????? you cannot lie your way to the truth, or so i was always told. a lie is a lie is a lie. and short of setting your tongue on fire, i guess god only has the recourse of not letting you into heaven when you die. so at least, most of us will not have to deal with these loons for all eternity. that may be the only blessing to come out of this biblical mess.
I have spent many hours “discussing” this subject on wingnut sites over the last few months.This has even been covered by Glen Beck!! ,yet never got much traction in the media,so they have resorted to furtive email and word of mouth distortions. It never ceases to amaze me that people who get their false information from the internet,seem incapable of using Google to check simple facts.
This subject alone has been the one most likely to get me “outed” on the wingnut sites where I go to try and spread the truth and counter lies and propaganda.
Great coverage,and I think this merits a place on Huffpo,don’t you??
Thank you so much for spending your Sunday uncovering the truth. Your experience highlights a very real problem: the internet is great for sharing information but it also is a fast way to spread propoganda and lies. Unfortunately many people just don’t have the time to fact check everything they read. I guess it’s easier to assume everything you read and hear is true. Last summer I had an experience with the secretary at work, a die-hard Repub and Fox viewer. Remember when they were releasing th Uigher prisoners from Gitmo? They moved them to Bermuda after determining they were never terrorists (the Iraqis turned them in for the reward money). Anyway I went in to work and the secretary was all worked up: “Did you hear what they did with the terrorists? They moved them to Bermuda and bought them restaurants! They bought businesses for the terrorists!” I took a deep breath and in a calm voice tried to explain: “Now, you have to think about this a minute. Does it make any sense at all that the United States government would buy restaurants for terrorists, for people that tried to harm our country?” I’ll never know if I got through to her. I guess the point is that it’s up to all of us to try as best we can to shine the light on these hateful lies. It’s too easy to manipulate people through their fears and emotions, and apparently there are some who are very good at it. If people won’t seek out the truth on their own, we need to try to bring it to them. I know that is so much easier said than done, but AKM’s hard work this weekend has inspired me.
The really amazing part is that I could debunk it in less than two minutes. The first few clicks managed to do that. The bulk of the time was going to deeper places and transcribing the audio. AKM
AKM:
Thanks for the great piece, and the transcript of the “muslim hater”.
Very scary indeed.
I was struck by your opening lines – because I too have “nice friends and family” who do NOT engage that “critical thinking and analysis” part of their brains.
They choose to blindly read and accept, and never question the source.
You have been a great help in trying to debunk the massive, smelly piles of “information” out there.
Even as it seems to be a Sisyphusian task, we must push upward and onward!
Keep up the great work.
I am going back to ride the train a 2nd time in order to catch the bits that I missed while I was rubbing my eyes really hard.
But – AKM – in the meantime – I offer this train for your next trip. I have a feeling you could use it . (just g’head and eat around those meat dishes tho)
http://africanadrenalin.co.za/BlueTrain/services.htm
(would make for a good mudstock train , yes ? )
We’ve have been getting e-mails from right-leaning “family” and “friends” that are false. It’s scary that a) they have no idea they are false and b) they are really angry because they believe them. I try to gently guide them to Snopes.com, because they are usually proven fake or are hoaxes. Snopes has a great way of pointing out how the e-mail cannot be correct (ex. a petition where you put your name and city down and forward to everyone you know….hello! your name ends up getting repeated and multiplied after every forward = not effective). Regardless, many friends and family do not want to be pointed to the truth, and are often offended when it is pointed out to them. Anyway, sorry to go on, its been a sore point for me, and actually kind of scares me that certain people readily believe all the e-mail rumors, but in turn the same people distrust the “mainstream media”. Ughhh!!
Here are some recent ones I got: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/petition.asp
http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/soupkitchen.asp
Critical thinking, if I recall correctly, was taught in 4th grade. Who is the source, are they credible, does what they saying make sense, what is their agenda, who is paying them, what are the verifiable facts?
Most articles today, claims the facts are from some unnamed source which raises a big red flag. Stop…. don’t waste your time.
Even liberals (on Huffington Post) are chastising the President but, certainly Obama has a game plan and strategy that he is not revealing. Even water can break the hardest rock.
Editorial, commentary, articles, news stories, have become distractions for an uneducated populace. The powerful have hoodwinked the people in discussing personality of officials in office, instead of policy and their track record on issues of importance.
This applies to Palin, also too. We should focus on what she did or didn’t do in her very short attempt at being a Governor.
While the slow train ride may have been fun, some of us with time constraints just take the Snopes TGV :
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/firstlady.asp
Snopes is definitely worth checking, but they don’t present the whole picture. It was fairly easy to debunk the lie, but for me, the more interesting part is where the article originated, and the agenda of the author. But I say, whatever works!
AKM
Holy cow, I think I might get myself a bucket of popcorn and visit that website for the chuckles. It’s better than any movie in the theaters right now.
A quicker way to check out these types of e-mails is to go to factcheck.org as was mentioned above or snopes.com. Here is what snopes.com says about the initial point, i.e. the size of the staff.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/firstlady.asp
He “ministered” at a Lackawanna prison? As in a county in pennsyltucky up by Scranton?
Sheesh… pennsyltucky has more hate groups and individuals espousing their bits of hatred than any other state in the union.
Please don’t tell me Paul L. Williams’ PhD is anything more than his ego piling higher and deeper upon hisself.
Yes, McLeod’s wiki page is very entertaining.
Here’s the good parts: “Conservative writer Kevin Michael Grace has described McLeod’s writing as that of an “emotionally incontinent ninth grader,” [8] while Toronto Star columnist Antonia Zerbisias describes her as “eccentric” and the Canada Free Press as a “whacko news site.”"
… incontinent 9th grader, indeed.
My sister (hard core republican fox watcher) sent this to me a few months ago when we were still emailing and speaking to each other. I couldn’t find anything to debunk it quick enough and ignored it. Thanks for your afternoon to debunk this and after reading all of it, I just shake my head. I won’t bother to forward your page to her in a link. I don’t want to expose you to her limbaugh induced hatred and comments.
I have a few other ‘fundies’ that have learned not to send this b.s. to me anymore. I always reply, politely to just the sender, while I laugh at them. I thank them for the hysterical laughter from reading it, which has ended one ‘email’ friendship completely. Not such a loss anymore.
For the life of me, I can’t get over how mean these so called Christians have become. Mean, hostile, arrogant, racist and homophobic. The golden rule escapes them.
RLS, thanks for the snopes link. It wasn’t up when I looked for it last summer.
Thanks, AKM.
It’s stunning to contemplate how many of our social conflicts would simply cease to exist if born-again bull$hit ceased to exist.
Wait-what? No mention of Roswell, Men in Black Suits, The FBI or anal probes?!
These types of “Christians” and their sick rantings seem to have full blown schizophrenia. The bogeyman-fear-one-true-savior tactics are unsetteling , cue Twilight Zone music.
Has anyone read the Max Blumenthal book yet? Republican Gomorrah
The Albanian Mafia? Crazy train is an understatement. Thanks for taking the time to go all the way back to the original sources.
@ #5 mommom, I agree, this debunking would be a great first page on HuffPo
(what’s up with Arianna and too much face time on teevee? She really got pie on her face w/ballonboy)
Beautifully done AKM!
You know my mom used to send me these ridiculous e-mails during the run up to the election. I would also debunk them or explain them and send them back.
However my mother seemed to have a never ending source of these damn things, and after awhile I asked her not to forward any more of them to me. Many of them were so idiotic on their face that it seemed completely unnecessary to have to debunk them.
“Can’t you read that for yourself?” I responded back once.
It will never stop because it WORKS. Many of the people who get them, get them from trusted friends and family, and will NOT ask the important questions that AKM did. And before long the incredible, becomes the credible, becomes the truth.
You are now entering the Twilight Zone……………..
Excellent, excellent follow-ups on these absudities, AKM. This makes me all the more eager to see your work regarding Going Rogue. You may outdo even Going Rouge!
First let me say, F him.
I got an email a few weeks back -so wacky I cannot even recall the details, and what really poed me was the email started from a women whos email was from the CSIU (a public special education dept) and her title was Direcor of Adult Services.
I didn’t debunk the email, but I did write her and ask her “Is this what you do while you’re at work, on the public dime, in a tax payer paid position?” That freaked her out ;-0 Maybe she’ll hit delete next time.
Media Matters has an email checker where they have already fact checked, and prepared responses that you can use to reply to these types of emails. I have used it so far three times. There is not one on there exactly like the one you received AKM, but there is apparently another version of this email they did address: http://mediamattersaction.org/emailchecker/200910070012
Wow. What a bunch of yuck. I never get those emails, but if I did I would do exactly what you have done AKM then send it back to every one of those people who forwarded it on.
And ninth grader? lol Sounds like a mom, pop and child blog. Did the scary speaker list any churches he’s spewed this filth to? and he actually has people agreeing with his crap? wow, that is what’s scary, not what he thinks in his mind, but that he’s able to get others to listen and agree with him. That is very scary indeed. And we wonder why crazies do weird sh*t, like Johnstown and Waco, this guy is why. Just wow.
It’s not even noon and I want a drink, lol. and a long soothing tranquil bath and a hypnotist to take this stuff out of my brain. It makes me sad and very worried, I’d want to know if these people were my neighbors or lived in my communities.
I think you should forward that email and what you discovered behind it to the FBI and Secret Service.
The latest trick by these e-mail liars is to lead off their propaganda with statements like the following: “I know this sounds hard to believe but it has been investigated by factcheck [snopes, etc.] and found to be completely TRUE.”
If you actually then go to factcheck or snopes or etc., you find that they very directly brand the “facts” in the e-mail as FALSE. My mother-in-law was shocked when I pointed this out recently regarding one of her forwarded e-mails: “Guess if you’re going to lie about the political facts [I said] I guess you might as well lie about the fact checking as well.”
On the ‘unnamed board’..I was on for five years..there were a very few who spent their time..listing all of these ‘types’..of storys..and I always took the fact-check route..and yes..I ADORED..Snopes!! Those who were ..all energised and ready n willin’ to fight fer that there untruth..just returned, if possible..with More venom. It showed how seriously some percentage of the human population is..in trying to crumble all that is..exceedingly educated and forward moving. Are they angry at finding themselves..in the wrong? Yes..and they will point, and flail and froth..more..and more..as you attempt to show them what actual truth looks like. The adrenilyn is like a fire released in their systems..and it makes those few..behave as if their ‘cruise control’..was disabled..in the womb. Thank you for probing-back..along the lines of information..the anatomy of a ‘crime in progress’..for that IS what a lie is.
A friend forwarded this to me (ironic, no?). Fascinating. You’ve gained a new follower.
I used to get many email forwards like this from my family members (who are all intelligent) but was able to debunk them by using snopes.com or from stuff I’d been reading… they don’t send them to me any more. But I when I did, I sent the debunk to everyone on the list and ask them to please check with snopes before assuming anything was true, and that it’s not right or Christian to spread untruths. I have also spend hours researching junk emails about health care reform send to me by a friend, even reading about 30% of that 1000-page House bill (it really didn’t take that long), but it’s obvious she doesn’t read what I’ve send, believe me or want to believe me, so I’ve given up. I don’t understand not using critical thinking and skepticism in these matters.
Much of the current anti-Obama junk mail is believed because the believers just somehow ~know~ that Obama was born in Kenya, that he’s a secret Muslim, that he’s too exotic, that he’s a commie, a nazi, etc. When you either believe those things full out or they are in the back of your mind… well, then you are susceptible to the lies that come in the form of emails from “experts” and “award winners”. It’s truly vile. I told my mom, you get all these internet emails on your computer, yet you don’t use the *power* of the internet to research whether or not they’re true. It’s sad.
Thank you, AKM, for spending your Sunday to enlighten the rest of us! I am truly appalled that anyone calling himself a Christian would write this garbage… but I’m not surprised. I belong to one of the Protestant group the author rebukes in his screed (doesn’t he sound crazy like Glenn Beck?) so I guess I’m doing OK by my faith.
Head, desk; head, desk.
You are one brave lady!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for your hard work. I too have received many like this from friends and I usually do a fact check and respond back, but your going all the way back to the author was no easy task. People must start realizing where this hateful stuff comes from. We all know that evil thrives on hate and war and preys on people’s fear to foster it. Keep up the good fight.
All I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW! These people have an agenda and that is to discredit President Obama. Never before have I seen such hatred, lies and pure evil. It takes alot of hard work to do the investigating and thank you for all your hard work. I can’t get over it. What do these people want? A civil war?
“About half the correspondents are regressives, most of them from right out of central casting on the set of the movie “America Neanderthal”. They rarely cease to astonish me. The level of thuggishness, hypocrisy, ignorance, proud ignorance and ad hominem insult from those quarters is staggering. It’s the capacity to simply make things up out of whole cloth, and then just have it become ‘truth’. Period.”
http://counterpunch.com/green10262009.html
Thank you AKM for your zealous efforts to uncover the truth and debunk they myths. Geez, some people believe anything. You get 4 Gold Stars for this one.
I would suggest that, after receiving such an email, it should forward it to the hate crime division at the FBI or at least brought to their attention. I’m sure they are aware of most of them already but maybe not all. They may be able to track down the original IP addresses associated with the authors and at least monitor their activity. Let us not forget that there have been several murders over the last few months and those responsible were avid believers in the vile rhetoric of these emails. Let’s also remember that the level of threats against the Obama have markedly spiked over the last year (which began with Palin’s hate speeches during the election for which she has never backed away from). Too many lives have been put at risk by the attitudes represented by these frightening people.
The email you received was deceptive and a lie, and that is what we have to tell those who distribute such propaganda. People who hold those extreme conservative beliefs need to know the beliefs are viewed as ignorant and extreme by the majority of our community.
That gave me indigestion.
i sometimes wonder if the ‘friends’ who insist on sending this garbage to us are really ‘friends’ or if they are really passive- aggressive enemies. if they are truly friends would they not know where your sympathies lie? would they not know that you are an intelligent, aware, loving and caring towards your fellow Americans? that you support the president in his endeavors to bring change to a corrupt health insurance system? that you want to see lobbyists who agitate for the status quo reined in? that you refuse racism in all its’ nasty forms? my take here is that when you separate yourself from their influence and so called friendship you free yourself to embrace others who are willing to help in making our country wonderful place for all of us
Well, AKM, you really got yourself worked up there, huh? I needed to but skim through some passages to see what was obvious from the original email–that the entire thing was bunkum made up by Obama haters.
That the guy turned out to be a honest-to-goodness hater of all others besides himself and the Jesus he thinks he knows but is sorely mistaken about, is pretty unsurprising.
I thought it priceless that Mr. Wms thought that the remedy for some teenage kid using the word “f*#@” was to grab them and cause them bodily harm. Maybe we should all do that for “damn” and “dagnabit” and “shoot” too, maybe even if it’s an adult using those awful words. Maybe even if the adult is really really muscular and huge. I’m definitely sure that God would say it was OK.
I’ve received this email too — and sent a reply back to everyone it was forwarded to with the information I found proving it to be false. I do this with every single email like this my family member forwards to me — and she keeps sending them to me. I’m beginning to think she sends them to me in the hopes that I will educate the rest of her conservative contacts — because I check them out, email the answer and she isn’t involved other than forwarding the initial scum stuff. I’ve even received “thank you” notes from some of those receiving the emails.
Hopefully we all will continue to fight the good fight. Thanks for all you do and share with us AKM!
As to Levi having to delay, due to a “friend’s family emergency”:
Being who I am, I immediately think his friend is Bristol, and the family emergency is Sarah is wigging out about his interview.
I’m sure I’m wrong, but that was my first thought.
I always check Snopes right away when I get this kind of crap. In this case, the Snopes page would be http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/firstlady.asp
But your post is ever so much more entertaining, & also informative on who the rightwingies behind this are. so if anyone sends me this crap, the URL of your post is what I’ll send ‘em back.
lexky*********i have a suspicion that i been in the twilight zone since 1975….love bubs
Thanks AKM,
I no longer receive these kinds of emails from anyone. I used to but I would reply with facts to de-bull the bull in the emails.
More times then not the emails are forwarded to many people several times over and by the time I would receive them you would have to scroll through several blocks of groups these emails had been forwarded to before even getting to the comments. It is very easy to copy and paste all that so that a reply can go out to every name and address it was sent out to.
After several hundred people received my responses (which I will admit were not always polite), the friends and family who sent me this garbage stopped.
One time I got an email back from some irate woman asking me who I was and how dare I send her an email, I responded that I must have received it from a friend of hers and hit reply all and she got my email. I told her it might be a good idea to teach her friends, when forwarding an email to delete all the previous address and send emails out blind carbon copy.
God this stuff makes me so sick! Last night on CNN (I think) they showed the tea bagger bus at another town with another rowdy, brainwashed crowd carrying “Obamacare” signs and “Give Us Our Country Back”, with all their hate and glory. I just wish someone would whip out a bullhorn and ask “If you lost your job, would you turn down unemployment benefits?” “Do you or your relatives over 65 receive Medicare coverage?” and “If your city was flooded and FEMA came in to help rebuild your city and provide funding would you send them away?”
These are all government sponsored programs that have been in place for decades, but the government haters should be denied those benefits if they’re so against the government, then watch them cry “unfair!”
My mother in law used to send this crap to us…after suggesting Snopes and Fact Check to her several times I finally blocked her. I first I sent her an email saying that is she has any family news to relate she should call because I had blocked her email…boy, was she mad. I’m a lot happier though.
Ok – done with my 2nd (and partial 3rd) reading. There were a number of angles I wanted to process. (they’re in there now, simmering )
My fount of this type of email my well meaning Auntie. She’s the last one left on my Mom’s side and I do try to be kind. And by “kind” I mean that I never respond with , ” WTF?!?!?!? What is WRONG with you ?!?” . I gently debunk, link my references and then tell her to say hello to the cousins for me. Now mind you, I don’t know why I bother. This is the same woman who “took me on vacation” to a Salvation Army camp week of “saving souls” at the Jersey Shore and forcibly baptised me and gave me to Jesus. Sadly tho, the water back then must’ve been mighty toxic because I grew up to be a gay, liberal activist fighting against the religious right.
AKM – excellent lesson in how to respond and try to quell these viral lies. I know for myself I’ve been guilty of posting something I’ve not checked fully enough and have had to go back to make corrections or apologies. You’ve reminded me to be responsible.
There’s still more to think about but these are my initial responses. Thank you!
I think the folks who buy into this stuff hook line and sinker are some who are only recently politically aware. This presidency has brought people who probably never voted or had much of an idea what the difference is between a R or a D, but now since we have a President who does not look like them, they are all suddenly political experts. I find calling my friends and family out on this BS does not change any minds, but instead causes them to feel the same thing we feel about them, that they have no idea what they are saying.
Loved this. Thanks for all of your research. I hate email forwards and never believe them, but are constantly having to refute them to my mother who passes them on in the same way this email was passed on to you. Thank God for Snopes.com as I don’t have the time to research each and every one!
Oh, and the one I got it from added this to prove the reasons why they are so appalled:
This has nothing to do with race but has to do with greed, egotism, and spending of over $1,500,000 PER YEAR in personal salaries by the first lady in a time of severe financial problems in the U.S. This is amazing!!
AKM, I think you are missing a letter in the title of an EXCELLENT post that should be sent back to people who send idiotic emails like that one. I second Mel Green on that idea.
From the Counter Punch link from Ryan H: “I’ve noticed that Obama pretty much never does the same, even with Udickuitous Cheney running around practically begging for a good whack, or six, upside the haid.”
I think that might be my new name for Cheney. Does anyone know if he had taxpayer-paid heart surgery recently?
AKM.
I admire your courage, fortitude and strength in weeding thru that garbage. And thank you very much for the presentation to us of all that you found. I, too, have received emails from some family and friends espousing this type of gunk, though none expressed with as much detail and hatred.
What has concerned me the most about these emails, along with the urgency that the senders expressed, is the complete acceptance of this garbage and absolute fear being generated among people. To me, the Republican party is in back of all this hate activity, just as they were regarding their efforts to demolish Clinton, the gerrymandering of legislative districts in Texas during Tom DeLay’s time, and all the Karl Rovian tactics during Bush’s 8 years. They do not care about their country, about the welfare of the people whom they are supposed to represent. They care only about their own power and benefit. They will do ANYTHING to achieve those goals….. regardless of the destructive end result.
I remember seeing this email over 10 years ago when the Clinton’s were in the White House and this email was concerning Hillary Clinton as the First Lady.
I too have had many incidents of such emails coming to me, and I have replied politely or sometimes snarkily, depending on my mood, debunking them. Now, my family mostly doesn’t send me them, but a few will send it to me and ask if its true because they are too lazy to figure it out for themselves!!
You’ve got a stronger stomach and a longer fuse than I do, but if I get any of this foolishness from anyone I know, I’ll cheat and send them the link to your wonderful detective work. You are the best.
I also have friends and family members who have no understanding of where I am coming from in my support of President Obama. And, even more disheartening is the fact some of them support Palin. They are completely oblivous to the proven facts of her wrongdoing in Alaska even ‘before’ spewing her lies and racist tones while on the campaign trail for national office. The national and State of Alaska political scenes have certainly been a divider, there is no doubt!
(((((((((((((((((((buffalogal)))))))))))))))))) good for you.!! when i was a teen my mom allowed me to spend a whole year with my dad and stepmother. stepmother was a pentecostal adherent and every week she made it her business to force me to the front of her church to ‘get saved’ and every week the Lord smiled and said nothing. i didn’t speak in tongues. i didn’t do the holy dance. i didn’t do anything except when i got tired of her preaching and laying hands on me, i called my mamma in nyc. mamma said “put that (b#$@h) on the phone” and that as they say WAS THAT. the Lord has been smiling on me for many years and i have come through many trials and tribulations. i still don’t speak in tongues or holy dance. i just do the best i can to do good and be good and smile while i am at it…bubs
“… when a country is incapable of excreting its waste it is sick unto death”.
Since our great nation is so constipated (what could possibly be worse?), the end of the world is going to come as a big relief (and not soon enough!)
These emails are the social version of the misinformation spewed by Fox, Drudge, etc. Those “in the loop” believe them implicitly; when those of us on the outside are hit with these “facts,” we’re blindsided because we don’t know what they’re talking about and don’t have the truth at our fingertips to dispel the lies.
I went through this when my sister visited me during the election. She was spewing all this stuff I’d never heard of and had no idea where she was getting it. I’d sit up at night finding “proof” to show her the next day, but she’d just sneer and say, “Oh, that’s the NYT, who believes them?” Or, snicker, “The Guardian? The Economist? what do you expect? Everyone knows they print nothing but lies.” I finally gave up. This from an intelligent, successful woman with a masters in journalism from George Washington.
This is racist garbage. Why link anti Muslim bigotry with Michelle Obama? She is not Muslim. However, she does look like the other. These pinheads are the same type of folks who would verbally (maybe even physically) attack Sikhs because they “looked” like Muslims to these morons. That is why we went to war in Iraq. Far too many Americans accepted war in Iraq because Iraqis looked enough like the 9/11 hijackers. Guilt by ignorant association.
These bigots engage in the basest kind of tribalism when they fear the “other.” It doesn’t matter a damn whether the “other” is Muslim, Jewish, black, Latino, or whether anybody looks like they might fit into one of these categories.
AKM, you were being far too charitable when you characterized the chain letter participants as, “intelligent, and caring” and “loves his country and his family” and that “he’s a pretty great guy.” Nope. He’s not a great guy. Slandering people with racist gossip is not a mark of greatness, it is the mark of pettiness and ignorance.
I don’t know this guy from Adam, but I’ve seen many like him for my entire life. These are the folks who tell n*gger jokes, or Jew jokes, or jokes about wetbacks, spics, wops, Pollacks, etc. These are folks who are quick to believe imbecilic b.s. about the “other” even when they know it to be garbage. Note your friend’s acknowledgement that the e-mail “sounded a little over the top, but wasn’t sure what to make of it.” He knew damn well that it was bunkum, but because it fit into a bigoted view of blacks and Muslims, he passed it on.
I would, and have, sent back a very detailed rebuttal citing factual evidence to the contrary to this kind of nonsense. Those who are not hard core bigots might actually read the links and pry their minds open a bit more. If not, they might at least pause before forwarding bigoted tripe like this in the future. The wingnuts will go bonkers if they get stuff forwarded back to them that doesn’t agree with their world view. A win, win, win scenario in my book.
This is a big downside of the internet; it can be an unchallenged bastion for idiocy and bigotry. We should mock and attack these fools every chance we get. If not, theirs is the only voice that some will hear.
Wow AKM, Thanks for putting on those chest waders to get through the muck to find the “source”. Yes, Snopes & Factchecking sites are excellent for quick rebuttal – but I agree that finding the source buried in the toxic muck makes fantastic insight.
I don’t believe a majority of the people that forward this type of trash without fact-checking are stupid or lazy, or even gullible but it because it has an “impressive or reliable sounding author” . If this Dr Williams character had sent out his own views – instead of slamming the First Lady, we would have deleted it without a 2nd thought.
It’s like gossip – if you can’t verify it yourself – don’t pass it on.
So is this crack pot drumming up more propaganda? We need a list of wackos to watch.
http://www.chroniclewatch.com/2009/10/26/newt-gingrich-endorses-leftist/
Gasman @ 60 – I’ve got an Aunt from the South who prior to the election sent me every internet assertation on Palin’s splendor, and other wing-nut nonsense. I did as you said; started sending her all sorts of left-wing stuff right back at her. She did go bonkers. She could dish it out, but sure got offended when I “right back atcha-ed” her. She finally emailed me and asked if I could stop sending her the political stuff. I know I didn’t change her mind any, but it sure stopped her from sending her crazyness into my reality bubble!
EEEWWWWWW……… go look at his picture! I’m trying to find proof he was ever on media programs like he claims.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/members/12652/Dr.%20Paul%20L.%20Williams/
http://www.snopes.com and http://mediamattersaction.org/emailchecker/ are the two best debunking sites around.
Candy Knight Says “Oh, that’s the NYT, who believes them?” Or, snicker, “The Guardian? The Economist? what do you expect? Everyone knows they print nothing but lies.”
Exactly, I’ve been experiencing the same.
My college educated friend believes global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the mainstream media (doesn’t matter that its backed up by science). But believes every piece-of-junk email she gets (not sourced by anyone). She does not get the disconnect.
In all of Bush’s eight years, I never recieved one piece of false information through e-mail. Apparently our side plays by the rules, or can’t be fooled like the other.
When I use to go to the ADN site and they had a forum feature similar to the one here, anybody could start a new topic at anytime. One of the dudes on there use to upload a lot of trash from Canada Free Press. I took a great deal of delight in debunking and challenging his articles and his assertions. All it took was a little time and some fact checking to discredit most of his postings. I had a lot of fun doing it, too.
huh? he claims to be ……….
Paul L. Williams is a former consultant to the FBI on organized crime and terrorism.
Since then, he has become an award-winning investigative journalist and written several books. In his new book, “The Al Qaeda Connection,” he claims Osama bin Laden has obtained nuclear weapons and smuggled them into the U.S. through Mexico for use in a plot known as “American Hiroshima.”
I too had a “friend” who would forward anything that he received to me and everyone else in his address book. After receiving one about everything that the Republicans had done for Blacks I fired off an email to him telling him not to forward the stuff to me. Well….the next day he called me and talked to me very pleasantly, never once mentioning my email to him.
Strange…
Then he forwarded another email full of hate to me. I replied to him and asked if he ever READ what he forwarded to people and did he not know that there IS a DELETE button on the email page. I also advised him that there are viruses attached to some emails and that if my computer crashed because of his silly s&#$ I was going to hold him responsible.
And then I realized that he actually….CAN NOT READ. Or at the very least….he can not comprehend what he reads.
But I put everything in capital letters and I am sure he had someone read my email to him….because I have not received another stupid email from him. I’m sure it would have taken him ALL DAY to find the KEYS on his computer to compose an answer…..and I suspect that many of the people who blindly hit the forward button….do so because they did not/could not understand what they read and are totally unfamiliar with fact checking anything.
Then I realized that I do know someone who CANNOT READ!
Excellent work, AKM. I have bookmarked your post on my computer, in Delicious, and will put links out elsewhere. Your work provides a wonderful example of the process of fact checking and critical thinking. Because of this post, you are making a difference in my life today, and hopefully, in the lives of many others. I echo previous comments on this thread–can you get this onto Huffington Post?
Snopes.com is my go-to for quick urban legend and spam email fact-check. I had the pleasure of posting to Dan Fagan’s FB page a couple of weeks ago a link to Snopes about a looks-kinda-spendily-produced little video that purports that a young Einstein argued against an atheist professor for the existence of God. He didn’t. After a lot of oooohing and thank-you-that-was-so-inspirational replies, mine was the last comment. Don’t know how many of his readers troubled to hit the link, but I hope it was lots. Wouldn’t you think a *professional journalist* would fact-check just a little? Take two, maybe three minutes?
This particular myth, about MO’s staff, is effectively dealt with at:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/firstlady.asp
I just had an email tiff with a cousin who sent me the Joe Legal – Jose Illegal email. I sent back some mild critism about how she should already know it was false.
You cam eback with a comment about my father, a union man, lumpiong him in with CA builders who hire illegals and cheat workers of wages and benfits! of course I was mad..
Then she says “Oh I thought he was honest and hardworking – I guess I was wrong..”
and so a stupid chain email from a republican breaks a tenuous family tie…
this was completely depressing to read because I actually HERE this tripe from educated people in my area all the time.
One night, after ranting about about overwhelming ignorance, I came up with a saying that DH insisted I write down:
“Some people would just rather be frightened than enlightened.”
sigh… HEAR = HEAR….
I got into a “tiff” over the weekend with “bob beers” from that Canadian Website. He and I went back and forth about Palin and Obama. These people are nuts. I felt dirty after I had answered him a couple of times.
I pointed out in one of my posts that “their” country is gone and gone forever. No more “white majority” in a few years. So go with the times. I also pointed out how bad a shape our country is now in after eight years of Bush/Cheney.
At the end of the day, do NOT tell me these people are not racists. They are. They hate it that a black man – with a gorgeous black family – is our leader. These people all think Palin is the answer. It’s really scary how they go on and on. They are going to be really disappointed when her true colors show.
justa…..dh is a smart man and that saying is truly worth remembering
AKM….Unfreakin believeable…
Oh NOOOOO…the Albanian Muslims are coming!!!! Run for your lives!!!!!
Seriously??????????????????????
This little tidbit of over-the-edge paranoia is just another example of how the far right wingnuts have nothing to offer but fear and anger…but, hot damn, are they good at stirring up those two emotions!! I would bet money that the vast majority of people who believe this garbage have never actually MET a Muslim or may know one but don’t even realize it. All they know is that there are people who don’t look, talk or pray like them and it scares the bejeezus out of them. Sorry folks, but welcome to the future!
Thanks AKM for the monumental job of digging through that cesspool of nuttery to find the truth. I am fortunate that the few political emails I get are from family and friends who lean in the same direction as I do and have the same snarky sense of humor. However, over the years, I’ve gotten emails from friends who feel the need to forward all those scary internet hoaxes. I always check them out and respond with a rebuttal AND a link to Snopes with the polite suggestion that they do a little factchecking before they hit the forward button the next time. I’ve received several emails back from very embarassed and/or relieved friends who discover that their dire warning was, in reality, a steaming pile of moosepucky!
Am still reading AKM’s article, only one quarter there……CFP’s site has a sidebar of Patricia King, who is a prophecy “christian” author, who is always advertised on “The Elijah List”, who IMO seems of the Kingdom Now/Dominionist persuasion. Smart christians stay away from this crowd.
I admire your fortitude. I sometimes get stuff like this from some members of my family. The first thing I do for efficiency’s sake is to go to http://www.snopes.com
It does not dig as deep as you have done. However, it does deal with the direct topic. I have found it a quick, reliable research source. And it’s a simple way to respond by sending the snopes page back to the person who sent such an irresponsible posting. Oh, and I always hit ‘reply all’ to get maximum effect.
Thank you to everyone posting ( and folks who will post on this thread today) I have a feeling I’m not alone in wanting to respond every post that resonates. I have laughed, teared up and have “high fived” in response to any number of posts today ( as well as many other days )
Just wanted to say “Thank You” to all.
#68 SayNo
> Paul L. Williams is a former consultant to the FBI on organized crime and terrorism. <
———————
Why do I get the feeling if he was with FBI – It would have been during one of the BUSH admins???
AKM, once again shows she is a Muckraker par excellence.
How do you wash your brain out after mucking with that #(* ?
Mental Lysol?
Cleaning out a pig sty would be less offensive than mucking through this guys’ mental illness.
At least pig poo’s organic and doesn’t hate anybody.
Interesting he doesn’t approve of a Muslim theocracy that, he says, persecutes Christians, but would undoubtedly think an End of Timer-ocracy that hates Muslims would be great.
Even assuming that his figure “over 250,000 Christian refugees who have been driven out by Iraq” is correct that’s 250K Christians of over 4M total Iraqi refugees, almost all of whom are Muslim.
Its RepoBushie Christens that have made the 250K Christian refugees, refugees, isn’t it? So what’s his problem?
I love it. This guy is a riot. I sent off a comment to his page that he will like.
My dear, I think you are a Saint!
I thank you soooo much for your time spent teaching us what’s not on the surface, but what lies below in the depths of this rapidly changing country.
Well, o.k. then…but are you sure we can relax about that Albanian thing?
I love it when AKM goes all mavericky and researches her widdle brains out!! Great job,AKM I vote for you as Queen of the debunker squad!!
Srsly!
Wow, I am glad I live in Ireland. I would find it so hard to have relatives and friends with that extreme right wing point of view. I don’t think many people here would send emails to people with a different political point of view. It just isn’t the accepted thing. But it is nowhere as polarized as in the US at the minute.
All of my friends in Ireland would be Democrats if they lived in the USA. My father, who died 3 yrs ago, hated Bush. My one regret is that I didn’t get involved in American politics before he died. We would have had some great discussions.
6 mommom Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 7:10 AM
Great coverage,and I think this merits a place on Huffpo,don’t you??
Absolutely. Give Mr. Williams the large international audience he craves and deserves.
His first rant was on july 7 after it was fact checked he revised on aug. 17 (why wait so long? lol) to reflect that dang it was even worse than he originally stated, he also chewed out and came down on Laura Bush, for not being conservative enough, lol. He ends the revised post by saying Michelle’s expenses still by far out shadow Laura’s, as if to say he was still correct. His writing reminds me of how they write a ocean of urine. And as a writer does he not do his own fact checking? He’s got a bunch of books out. But now he’s going to devote the rest of his life to defending Jesus as the one and only way to the one and only God. Gah, why do religions do this? Our way or no way, we’re right you’re wrong.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/13827
BTW, I live in an apartment complex which is home to many of these Iraqi refugees. I took an informal poll of my neighbors and the majority if them are muslim, not Christian. The reason they are here is because they had the nerve to work for or assist the U.S. and were targeted for persecution by the insurgents. Dig even deeper, ala AKM, and some have very gory persecution stories which have since been proven fictitious. Ergo, We have some Christian Iraqis, some Muslim Iraqis and a few enterprising fiction writers who are making the most of their opportunity to grift their way into the top tier of players in the “Land of Opportunity” I love muckraking!!
Thanks for diciphering the information for us, AKM. He sounds like a person full of hate and violence.
Their latest e-mail smear campaign…………………..Snopes is a hoax owned and run by a radical leftist husband and wife duo that decide what is fact and what isn’t.
A friend forwarded to me last wk, not because she buys the garbage, but instead to let me see the latest nonsense her right wing relatives are sending her.
Unfortunately I deleted it since I knew I didn’t have to debunk to her. Everyone uses Snopes as the place to check so of course now they must and need to attack and smear Snopes. They already try to dismiss Media Matters as a liberal organization rather than doing the research where they’d discover a Conservative founded MM and still runs it today because of behavior just like the GOP is participating in now. Behavior that made him embarrassed to be a member of the party and embarassed that the MSM wasn’t bother to vet stories clear back to the Clinton presidency.
I’ll post the text of the anti-snopes e-mail on an open thread once I get another copy so all can see the wording/text being used. It was actually quite long.
I no longer recieve these othe types of e-mails but my friends & family know exactly where I stand, that I am heavily informed, quick on the research and stand up for what I believe in so they know what my response would be. Thankfully the majority of my fam & friends are as progressive in the their thinking as I and as the majority of Americans.
When all seems crazy we must remind ourselves that WE, the majority demanded change and we will see it through until the end, even if it means they get kicked off the train and have to walk behind us, we’ll be full speed ahead to the future. In GW’s words they’re either with us or against us. With or against, we’re moving forward.
Another great post AKM. I posted your entire post in an e-mail and sent to my friends with a link to the flats so they can come read/share comments. I asked them to send the e-mail as they would any of these crazy forwards.
I wondered what you were doing yesterday, AKM. Seemed really quiet here. Now we know just how busy you were.
That nitwit that is so afraid of everything should really spend a little time in those mainline denominations to find out what is actually being said. While some have taken a more liberal stance, many have not. Just yesterday we chose to go to a different Presbyterian church, not because of doctrinal differences, but just because we prefer a more traditional service. But that difference aside, I’ve not heard any of the things in our current church that go along with what this nut is saying.
Interestingly enough, the sermon we heard yesterday was based on Matthew 24 – that’s the one that talks about eschatology. The pastor did a good job of explaining what it means, as well as the different points of view. This guy definitley falls in the last category, the one that I find scary. it’s the one that includes people like Sarah Palin.
So, for a little perspective on what he’s talking about, this is from the sermon notes:
Premillennialsm (includes people like Church Fathers, Moody, and Billy Graham) There is the Church Age, the time when God’s people are called to obedience prior to Christ’s return. Then there is Christ’s return, either at that point or after the Tribulation, which is a time of great trouble or distress – social, political, and ecological. After that is the Millenium – a thousand years. Satan’s power is sharply curtailed and Christ is ruling with those who have entrusted themselves to him. Some hold this to be a literal reigning on earth, while others think it is a spiritual reigning in heaven. Following that is the Eternal State, which is the resurrection of believers and unbelievers to be judged by Christ and his eternal reign where there will be no more death, nor pain, nor tears.
Now, the difference between that belief system and the mainline denominations which terrify this guy is that there is the Church Age, then Christ’s return and then the Eternal State. No Tribulation, no Milennium.
The result of following this guy’s beliefs is that one is constantly living in fear and sees evil in everything in the world. They sometimes also choose to do nothing about the things in the world that are wrong – once the world is headed toward the end, they don’t see a reason to try to make anything better for the time that is left.
At the very least, I think it’s important that we pay attention to people like this. We should never ignore them – that’s how they manage to get their nutty messages out there.
AKM thank you for exposing this email for what it is. And for the reminder that we should never take things like this at face value.
And your suggestion to return the goofy false emails or to call out the people who forward them does work, at least a little. Hubby’s brother was awful about sending this stuff and hubby always took the 5 minutes to check snopes.com and then return it with the link that debunked it. So his brother now does his own fact checking, most of the time. There are a few other well-meaning family members that just don’t send us anything anymore. And that’s not a bad thing either.
Isn’t he the guy who claimed he was a ‘former consultant’ for the FBI, but it turned out he’d had a desk job (maybe in accounting?) that in no way made him privy to any kind of privileged information…?
It wasn’t all that long ago.
Wow…. AKM, you are a brave woman. Thanks for wading through that pile of garbage. I couldn’t do it.
I’m just amazed at the level of hatred and lies being spewed by “Christians” today in the name of Jesus.
I could be thinking of someone else, though. Still checking.
Blast-forwarding of nonsense like this makes you wonder how any vestige of civil society survives. To me, the real problem is not the psychotic weasels that generate the lies, but the vast number of folks who are “intelligent, and caring and can hold a conversation [and] loves his country and his family, and he’s a pretty great guy”; and who nevertheless forward crep to all and sundry without making any attempt to verify it. (Some of the above-referenced folks are related to me, BTW).
I mean, for most of these emails, you don’t even have to remember the name of a fact-checking website — if you type the first few words of the first sentence into Google, the debunkers show up.
In some cases, like this one, I doubt that the forwarders even believe the entire steaming pile — seriously, what adult believes that Laura Bush had a paid staff of one? Or that Hillary Clinton had only three? They just send it on because it’s a slam, and because they don’t have to take responsibility for it.
Despite the many redeeming characteristics that such people may have, the act of forwarding an email slam — without at least rudimentary fact-checking — is an act of intellectual chickenbleep that is just about as destructive to the continued health of our political society as is the act of creating the lies in the first place.
Say No to Palin in Politics said @ Oct 26th, 2009 at 1:00 PM His first rant was on july 7 after it was fact checked he revised on aug. 17 (why wait so long? lol) to reflect that dang it was even worse than he originally stated, he also chewed out and came down on Laura Bush, for not being conservative enough, lol.
I don’t plan on going over to this character’s Canada Free Press (you’d think Canada itself would have an objection to him using their name) website, so maybe you, SNtPiP, or someone else can tell me what that wingnut thinks of Nancy Reagan?
I sorta think she’s even too liberal for him, and Sarah Palin and their ilk, too, if I were to just go by Palin’s waffling and refusal to commit to that Republican Women’s soiree at the Reagan Library last August…
“The Internet Will Cause the End of the World”
“You will know the end is at hand when the gospel is preached to all nations. And now, for the first time in history, thanks to the internet, thanks to satellite TV – you see with satellite TV you can broadcast programs where you could never broadcast before. So, now we have Christian programs, and Christian messages being received in the most remote areas of China! You will know the end is at hand when the gospel is proclaimed to all nations. My friends, it has been proclaimed to all nations.”
The illogic of that statement, regardless of whether it comes from the Bible or not is so screamingly obvious, how can any believer in Christ’s words do anything but laugh it off.
God sacrificed his only son to save us, so that God could kill us all off as soon as everybody has had even the remotest chance of hear about him?
Yup, I’m convinced.
So the way to save mankind is not to become Christian, but to insure that there will always be at least one human somewhere who never hears the name of Christ.
Wow AKM – what an experience.
I have had this kind of conversation with several people about checking the facts before re-forwarding such things.
Unfortunately, I am no longer in contact with these people. CAN YOU GUESS WHY ? Of course, as sad as it is to lose friends, sometimes it takes a sacrifice.
Keep up the good work!! If all of us do it, the world, eventually, will be a better place.
@72 justafarmer
I love that message and I AM TAKING IT WITH ME WHERE EVER I GO.
LOVE IT
Don’t be frightened be enlightened!!!
This is what Snopes has to say about it:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/firstlady.asp
Irishgirl@85, your message about your father brings to mind my own father, who also died about three years ago. He was a life-long Democrat and a fervent political historian. He hated Bush – actually all Republicans – and he still had all his wits about him when he died at the age of 91. He and my sons – also fervent Democrats and historians – loved to talk about this campaign or that one.
My only regret now about his death was that he missed this last political season. He would have LOVED it. (He did get to vote for Obama because he lived in Illinois and he voted for him for Senator in 2004).
If this country doesn’t start putting religion back where it is suppose to be this country will be doomed. As a catholic I am deeply offended by my church and many others getting involved in politics. That is why I stopped going and I pray at home and I sunday I watch mass on TV. I can’t take it anymore. What damage religion is doing to the political landscape.
As far as the first lady have so many attendants, she needs them, she’s taller than the other first ladies. The attendants take turns getting on each others shoulders to make sure our first lady looks good from the neck up. =)
I usually try to stay out of the political venue on my facebook page, but this had to be linked there.
chuckle… I recieved and de-bunked with Factfinder the same OBAMA Attendents a couple of weeks ago with my Republican Aunt in AZ….She’s admitting to thinking about switching parties now ( she hates McCain due to selling out NRA) !! She sent a new one for me to work on, about Obama signing over US soverignty with the enviromental treaty…haven’t started researching it yet, will keep ya posted…
Funny this came up. Had a high school reunion this summer and didn’t go… was sorta kinda regreting it until I somehow got on theclassmate email loop, and this email shows up with several others, much discussion and high-fiving among the people who responded while I hit delete… Moral of the story is: It’s a good thing I didn’t go. My class mates have not aged gracefully and have lost their minds, and I probably would have hurt myself had I listened to this crap in person.
Some of the exchanges can be wonderfully productive, too!
The offspring of a dear couple I know posted a video on her Facebook that was so rampantly anti-Obama I was really taken aback. There were Bible quotes from Jeremiah mis-attributed to (Jeremiah) Wright, there were outright lies concerning a church service, even.
It only took about two minutes of searching to find plenty of places where it was debunked. It took longer, I’m ashamed to say, for me to decide I had no choice but to speak up. So I politely pointed out some of the most easily checked things, gave the pertinent Chapter & verse to the Jeremiah quote, as well as links for them to see for themselves.
When all was said and done, both the daughter and her dad apologized on that facebook page for not having checked it out better themselves, and for having contributed to furthering a falsehood. Bless ‘em. That post has since disappeared.
Now I know this couple will never support Obama, but I can be grateful to know that there are still people on that “other side” who are upright and honest enough to call out a lie, no matter where it is.
I did receive this e-mail thru my daughter who received it from someone at her work place and from another e-mail so called friend.I sent back please don’t send me any more of this garbage because I just go garbage in garbage out. I still get a few snide remarks,Jokes but nothing as radical as that e-mail.The right always claims that fact check is biased and that’s why they agree mostly with things instead of the fact that they prove things are untrue> Reading about this man.He seems to denounce almost every religion,I did not see catholics included but for sure he is not a catholic so which religion does he believe in if any?
dreamgirl I have read Republican Gomorrah
and one started could not put it down until finished and I don’t usually read non fiction.Very well written and fact checked
And at bottom of the original issue is the Presidential Budget, and how it is allocated to the various WH staff.
Yes it is tax payer money, but Congress determines the WH budget and the President’s income.
It is unlikely that Michelle had any input into how much the First Lady should be budgeted. That allocation and the positions to be filled are probably exactly the same as Laura’s were last year.
After all she gets no income. How can it then be wrong for her travel, her secretary, her professional wardrobe etc. to be covered by the government that she is working for for free. Maybe she should be expected to pay for all of this out of her grocery money, and meet foreign dignitaries in a house coat and slippers with her hair in rollers. That would make the US look impressive.
This white guy just can’t stand the idea that a black woman is a boss to white employees, and can be good at it and is classy enough to – say give a hug to a Wasp Queen, and have the Wasp Queen liking it. That image is so completely contrary to their “reality” they can’t deal with it except to assume that what they can’t deal is some how inherently wrong and therefore worthy of hate.
AKM, I spent some hours, recently, just like you, researching a certain video that was being distributed by a prayer site about our president not being an American. While it did not take long to find the originator of the video, I did go down a wild road, finding out he had been in prison for insider trading, and made money afterwards as a “Send me your Money Preacher” on local tv in Florida until his show was cancelled due to racist comments he made about Muslims. I actually emailed the idiot afterwards and told him I was praying for him. The email I received in return was that he was sure I was going to rot in hellfire, and that he was praying for me too.
It is truly sad that some of these folks believe with all their heart that they are passing on the “truth” as they see it. I am also glad that the rest of us have the ability to find the real truths.
I see he likes palin so I suppose he is pentecostal????
My hat is off to you, AKM, for following this hateful email to it’s hateful source.
When I receive these kinds of email from my family, I just delete them, and feel sad. Unfortunately, I do not feel they are really interested in correct information.
BenLomand, feel free to refer your AZ relative to the AZ mudpuppies for hugs and reality. Like Shannyn in Alaska, we are turning AZ Blue, one mudpuppy at a time. Granted we have two Senators who act like Roman Senators(Kyl and McCain) and two of the three remaining Republican Reps. competing for CEO of Wingnuts R Us. The third, Jeff Flake(aptly named) takes vacations on deserted islands and flaunts his buffedness on MSM. We Progressives have nowhere to go but up.We have gained two seats since 2004,and the other three are in our sites!!
Whoops. Sent a comment and did a mispell on my name, so it got waited in moderation.
Like I posted before, noticed the CFP’s site had a Patricia King Ministries ad. Have never read any of her books, she is a christian author who is on the fringe, IMO, deals more with supernatural manifestations than biblical teaching. Her teaching seems to be similar to the prosperity, Kingdom on Earth teachers. I found a site, called the “Elijah’s List” that promotes books by many authors whose focus is to sell as many books and get rich and powerful. Names among them are Rick Joyner, etc. This group is not a mainstream christian group. This is a fringe.
This is a wingnut internet paper that no Canadian with half a brain reads – here’s their home page (appeared on Glen Beck?? Need one say more?)
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/About-us/
I get one of “those” emails. I quick check “fact or fiction” and/or “snopes” websites. I then compose an email saying it is complete fiction giving the urls and hit “reply all”
This takes all of a couple of minutes.
I loved the wild statistics being thrown around in his diatribe on illegal aliens. 10 million Americans killed by illegal aliens every year???? That one just floored me – we only have 300 million people in the country – that means 1 out of every 30 people is killed by an illegal alien every year? I’d find it hard to believe that 1 out every 30 people in America died every year of all causes, let alone murdered by illegals. But many people would simply accept it as written and start repeating it in their own discussion about illegal aliens.
Now I feel the need to check out all those statistics, just to have the REAL numbers at my fingertips when my mother sends me something this guy has written.
From their “about us” page – read it and laugh until you weep:
“Chase Clift – Social Network Editor
Chase is a 9th grade student living in a suburb of Austin, Texas attempting to write but have started as a social network editor along with CFP as well as pushing the Southern Secessionist movement in which he is a mere volunteer. Chase is currently working with the Confederate Liberation Society and Canada Free Press.”
I think lil Chase Clift needs to take remedial english so he learns how NOT to use single nouns with plural verbs. And “Southern Secessionist Movement”?? Is that a downward-heading free bowel movement?
Thank you for doing the work to discover where this came from. I stop by Leah Burton’s blog occasionally, and this certainly is congruent with her concerns.
http://godsownparty.com/blog/
I think its not that they can’t check the facts,or don’t think to,I think it is a conscious decision to not check because they know it will most likely be false,and not checking allows them to live in their little racist world.
Any parent who allows a kid (or encourages a kid) to join an secessionist movement needs to good swift kick to the backside. And should promptly lose custody of that kid. We already had to go thru one Tim McVeigh… we don’t need any more of those types.
A couple of thoughts:
I used to teach 4th grade and one of the many lessons I taught was the difference between fact and opinion. Fourth graders at first had a hard time with this concept, especialy because mass media so often makes an opinion seem ike a fact. But they did finally get it for the most part.
Evaluation -an opinion based on fact-is considered the highest order of thinking skills.
I think (my opinion) the problem today is often that the fact/opinion line is blurred-no smeared. People everywhere are basing their opinion and others are taking it as fact. Or People are basing their opinion on false information.
The media isn’t helping. I was just discussing with my son who has a blog having to do with airlines. I discovered that he was considered a source for an article by AP. He was shocked! Although he does do his research and only gives his opinion as an afterthought, he couldn’t believe it! I told him that Google News now combines news sources and blogs on their seaches which disturbs me. Athough I think I am careful, most people may think all sources are the same. Anyone who puts down $20 for a website can be considered a “source”!
That’s why I love this blob! Always backs up its stories. Just be careful out there in the internets!!
Wow! This is the longest post I’ve ever written even though I read every day. Thanks AKM for your dedication!
Elizabeth—Like you, I check out all of these junk e-mails and let the person know that I have checked snopes, and it is false.
I can’t believe how many names are on these things.
I recently wrote a letter to Huckabee, and told him I was disapointed in his criticism of President Obama’s religion. And that I thought it was the right as an American to belong to any religion of their choosing. Being a preacher, before becoming a politician , he should know this.
Also, I was sorry that the Fox News people have given him a platform to express this viewpoint.
Media Matters has a great e-mail checker that even provides fact-checked responses to sent out to the sender: http://mediamattersaction.org/emailchecker/200910070012
the link above is the one for the first lady’s staffing problem.
I will not read the whole rant, but the last paragraph or two infiltrated my brain while I was looking at comments (there are disadvantages to reading fast). I have two remarks:
1. I’d love to see the moran cite the part of the “word of God” (I believe that’s the Bible, right?) where abortion is even referred to, much less called an “abomination”. Because the citation doesn’t exist.
2. There is actually a Monkey God of the Hindus (sort of), but El Clowno had better just hope that Shiva doesn’t exist.
I submitted this blog post to Digg. Unfortunately, which researching to check whether someone had beat me to it, I discovered that this forwarded email has been added to numerous online ‘newspapers’. They come up as legitimate articles in searches. Digg does let you vote against such items – you click ‘bury’ and after a certain number, they are moved down the page.
Jennywa…… I’m sure you didn’t mean to refer to this blog as this blob, I too wish there was a ‘edit’ feature here.
The CFP is a laughable pack of buffoons. They also represent a decidedly minority view in Canada. They appear to desire to become imbecilic right wing Republican zealots whose minds are permanently switched to the “off” position. They seem to be suffering from a severe case of “wingnut envy.”
Their banner statement “…Because without America there is no Free World” is definitely not a common sentiment that you would hear voiced in Canada. My wife and her entire family are Canadians and not a single one would subscribe to ANY of the views expressed on the CFP. I think very few Canadians would be willing to show such reverent, obsequious fealty to the U.S.
However, the best thumbnail summation of the validity of the CFP is neatly encapsulated in this:
“Chase is a 9th grade student living in a suburb of Austin, Texas attempting to write but have started as a social network editor along with CFP as well as pushing the Southern Secessionist movement in which he is a mere volunteer.”
What ostensibly serious group of adults is going to post that little bio – one of only three in the “About Us” link – as being representative of their organization? That they would do so tells us all we need to know about the depth of their intellect. These clods are too stupid to comprehend how patently moronic they appear to anyone with a brain.
I would seriously question the intellect of anybody that would forward anything from this little ship of fools.
K8YZ……you said this: “I think the folks who buy into this stuff hook line and sinker are some who are only recently politically aware.”
Ah, I beg to differ with you. Many of these folks, have been voting for years, I mean, all their lives and very proud of it. So when you say politically aware, what are you saying you? Politically aware of what?
I haven’t read the other comments yet, but I was really amused by the made-up statistics regarding “illegal aliens,” especially the line about 10 million people being killed each year by illegals. Eek! Of course, one mouse click revealed that there were about 16,000 murders in the US in 2008. When one uses such highly inflated, unsubstantiated and truly unbelievable numbers, no wonder one has NO credibility. Sheesh!
Obviously I meant blog in the dearest terms
These types of emails are akin to “The Flying Dutchman.”……no safe harbor in my inbox as long as they’re dealing with the devil.
AKM, sorry to be so rude as to not express appreciation for your story methodology. It was brilliant and well done.
You, have a gift, for story telling the truth, expressing it, factually, artfully and I really appreciate it. Thank you and keep going. Please.
jennywa……..very sorry.
I belong to one of those “Main line denominations” because not only am I encouraged to read the Bible for myself, but also to do my own thinking. It is the hypocrites like Paul Williams who give Christianity a bad name and who are driving the followers of Jesus out of churches.
Since when do you need to go to church to be Christian, anyway?
“Just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.”
— G.K. Chesterton
Those who are old enough to remember the Iron Eyes Cody/Keep America Beautiful ads may wonder whether the Lord looks down on us with that same expression these days, sadly shaking His head at the littered Internet landscape where we are carelessly trashing our own rationality and common sense.
Thanks to AKM, snopes, MM and others out there who try to sweep some of this junk up.
And in case we all haven’t gotten the message about Checking The Source, here’s the Republican party creating fake Twitter accounts under the names of Democratic opponents.
http://hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=15188
Talk about slithering …
slithering … hmmm, wrong verb. “Skittering” is better, I think. As in cockroaches.
Back to tattooing on my arm, “Always Check The Source.”
“You know, right now, I’m gonna tell you – my wife will tell you this – when I used to go like, to the movies or to a play – I’m crazy, though , this is the truth – ”
You think he might be a little psychotic? Since the beginning of recorded time, every generation has had it’s ‘end timers’. It seems though, that they get worse and worse each time around.
Thank you for all the work you did in tracing back this raunchy bullsh*t email. And as we all probably agree, the MSM would not have done the job you did. I’m actually surprised that someone like Tweety didn’t pick this email up and run with it. He’s been so, whats the word I’m looking for….disappointing(?) more so lately than usual. I can’t even bare to watch him anymore.
Thanks to MudFlats, Gryphen, Shannyn and Diva, along with Keith and Rachel and HuffPost and KO’s, that’s where I get my news sources.
I know I’ve really strayed off topic here, but I guess this rambling idiot made me ramble on.
I wish they would leave Canada the hell out of this garbage. During the shrub admin there was a huge influx of well funded right wing religious zelots into Canada. They were trying to set up the same Dobson etc type of hate groups. It was talked about in the MSM here (really). This stuff really does’t work here, people tend to think for themselves. They have made some inroads but not to the extent they wanted. If this were done about the PMs wife it would make the national news as an outrage. I don’t care much for the Conservative Party here but they are nothing like the US.
I recently engaged in a series of posts regarding an article published a few days ago in that “newspaper” (Canada Free Press) entitled “In Praise of Sarah Palin”, and was amazed at the kinds of things people wrote in response to the article and my posts. The author himself, Bob Beers, responded several times with extremely insulting comments about me personally, and liberals in general, both homophobic and extremely right wing. I was fascinated. My last two attempted posts were not posted by the editors, despite the fact that they were not insulting, nor vulgar, simply fact based. The Free Press is seriously fact challenged, and more of a cult front than anything else. I encourage people to check out the Sarah Palin article and comments to see what I mean. Thank you for investigating these people and warning us.
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Niko Sotiropoulos Says:
October 27th, 2009 at 8:32 AM
I recently engaged in a series of posts regarding an article published a few days ago in that “newspaper” (Canada Free Press) entitled “In Praise of Sarah Palin”,
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Good job Niko, you have more patience than I. In a different article they were actually trying to convince Canadians that “medical savings accounts” (failed McCain idea) was better than single payer universal coverage. I don’t think too many Canadians look at this site twice.
Soooo… how is it that “love of country” at the Canada Free Press always seems to involve love of Karl Rove’s America. Don’t they have, like, their own sovereign nation to love?
Ya’ gotta’ hand it to ‘em, though – it’s neighbors helping neighbors! How often does that happen? I’m touched that “Canada” Free Press is so solicitous of our living conditions in the U.S. Who needs the CIA when the CFP’s got your back?