Battle of the Bilge

“I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.” – Pietro Aretino

Introduction

The end of the year gives everyone a chance to look back and see what we have experienced during the most recent trip around our star. In the grand scheme of things, human events over twelve months are microscopic when witnessed over the course of history. But they invoke passion and appear visceral to us while they are occurring. 2009 was a year of extreme passion, from the continuing wars abroad to the deepening divide at home; there was no shortage of memorable moments. These ten stories are ones that are better left forgotten, however.

In determining the top ten articles that we have tackled this year, we looked at comment rate, page views and most importantly, the durability of the issue. How many times we received the email in question and how long after the initial swarm of emails came in helped rank their saturation into the internet world. Not surprisingly, most of the stories centered on President Obama. Virtually all of the emails regarding the president that have been received and analyzed have been false, and this is a normal pattern in the electronic world. We saw some of the same rhetoric about President Bush and Clinton, and we don’t expect the onslaught to lighten anytime soon. It is inherently the nature of people to speak out in opposition rather than in support. But when that opposition is not exactly based on fact, we’re here to dispute it.

Without further ado, here are 2009’s top bilge articles, a month early because who has time to wait for the end of the year? The subject header links back to the original articles so you can see the full details.

#10 – Did the Pentagon Order Bibles to be Burned in Afghanistan?

A true event takes on a life of its own on the web, when the Pentagon ordered the destruction of a number of Bibles that were printed in languages native to Afghanistan and sent to a soldier by his church. The email came out just days after a damaging video was released by Al Jazeera showing a Chaplain urging soldiers to ‘hunt people for Jesus’ (a metaphor of course for souls). However, the events depicted in the email happened a year before it claimed, and was standard operating procedure. The email blamed President Obama, without mentioning the fact that this happened under President Bush’s tenure.

#9 – Military to Pledge Oath to President Obama?

This highly forwarded email cites a source that claims the Department of Defense is concerned about White House requests for military recruits and officers to make their pledge to President Obama, instead of the Constitution. However, the piece appeared in a blog entitled ‘Jumping in Pools‘, and was clearly stated as satire.

#8 – Tiger Woods Tribute to the Military

An excellent speech in deference to the military delivered by the notably a-political Tiger Woods at the inauguration of President Obama was twisted into an email that made it seem like he was against the president. Woods is the son of Colonel Earl Woods, who instilled a sense of pride and honor for the military in his son that carried through to his adult life, and that was more than apparent in his speech.

#7 – New Restrictions on Servicemen Speaking at Faith Based Events?

Presented as ‘Another freedom gone’, this story about a highly decorated U.S. Army Green Beret being denied the chance to speak at a fund raising event was spun as an attack on President Obama restricting military appearances at faith based events. While some comments pointed out that the restriction had rarely been enforced, there was no evidence that President Obama had anything to do with it, as the email reported.

# 6 – Fabricated Quotes About Obama and the Military

This one has had resurgence in recent weeks and we plan on featuring the email again soon, especially because the tone and introduction has changed enough that it can be classified as a new iteration of the original. The Obama quotes:

“Look, it’s an all volunteer force,” Obama complained. “Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn’t compute.” “I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their country. I wasn’t asking for blood—just money. With the country facing the worst financial crisis in its history, I’d have thought that the patriotic thing to do would be to try to help reduce the nation’s deficit. I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans.”

are directly from a 28 March blog post from John Semmons, whose column Semi-News — A Satirical Look at Recent News appears in the Arizona Conservative, a web community of bloggers. The quotes in question were made up, of course, and the writing is nothing but satire.

#5 – President Obama and the Eid Stamp

Still going strong, this email first appeared after the September 3rd re-issue of the Eid stamp, which was an update with the 44 cent first class mail designation. Re-issue is definitely the right word, because this stamp has been in existence since it was first released in 2001. This was one of several viral emails attempting to link President Obama with the idea of him being submissive to the Muslim world.

#4 – VA Screening Vets to Remove Concealed Carry Permits

Another viral email about President Obama taking away your guns, this time focused on veterans and VA screening. The earliest web indexed article regarding the email is from May 17, 2009 and it was the TruthorFiction article that clearly carried a ‘Fiction’ verdict.

#3 – The Curious Case of Major Stefan Cook

One of our most highly commented on articles of the year was the issue of Major Stefan Cook’s refusal to deploy to Afghanistan on the basis of his belief that the president was not qualified to be in office due to his supposed Kenyan birth. With time, it became obvious by looking at Major Cook’s actions (his deliberate request that he be activated for deployment, his association with ‘birther’ lawyer Orly Taitz, etc.) that this was a matter of publicity and in league with the thoroughly debunked issue of President Obama’s citizenship.

#2 – $50 Tax Penalty for Gun Owners

A recycled email myth that originally made the rounds in 2000 has been reformatted for a new Congress and a new President. The email states that you must act urgently to stop a bill that would levy a $50 tax on your 2009 filing for any handgun that you own. Additionally, the bill would make you list all handguns and, just for good measure, make you provide a sample of your fingerprint identification. Although it has long since been discredited, the myth continues to swirl around the internet and has generated a good number of comments far past its posting date.

#1 – The CBO/TRICARE Email That Won’t Die

The bane of the MSC’s existence since the first version of the email came out at the end of last year, this email centered on Congressional Budget Office recommendations to the president that would significantly cut military health care and possibly spell the end of TRICARE for Life. Although repeated attempts by MOAA and other organizations to end the fears generated by the email have been made (we’ve reported on the email in four separate articles), the circulation has not stopped. It is still received an average of ten times per day here at MOAA headquarters despite the fact that the president never included the recommendations in the budget and no part of the health care reform discussion has considered the CBO’s recommendations.

Discussion

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BotB Verdict

Summary

The events of November 5th at Ft. Hood were tragic, and have shaken the Army to its core. There is a great deal of soul searching, policy review and investigations that still need to take place before we fully understand the motives and actions of Major Nidal Hasan. But the worst thing we can do as a nation is to assign blame and politicize the tragedy before all the facts are known. Unfortunately, people are starting to do just that, and in the email below we see their efforts in full form. Not only do they try to tie President Obama to Major Hasan, they get their facts wrong in magnificent fashion.

The Email

Ft Hood Shooter Advised Obama’s Transition Team
Obama appointed Ft. Hood murderer advisor to Homeland Security Team

Ft. Hood murderer appointed by Obama Home Security team.

Check out page no. 29.
I checked it out and there he is. Nidal Hasan, was Homeland Security advisor on Obama transition team (He was a participant and is listed on Page 29.)

Now we have a little insight into why Obama said to not jump to conclusions about Nidal Hasan.

This murdering Muslim who killed and wounded the people at Fort Hood , Texas was an advisor to Obama’s Homeland Security team.

Look on page 29 of the Homeland Security Institute link below.
http://www.gwumc.edu/hspi/old/PTTF_P…t_05.19.09.PDF

Origins

The majority of the ‘facts’ in this email come directly from an article written by Jerome Corsi for WorldNetDaily. You may recall that Corsi is the author of The Obama Nation, an attempt to smear the president and raise concerns over his legitimacy for the office. WorldNetDaily likes to promote book sales so it keeps up stories that have been debunked to push items in their store. This article looks to be pushing the book Get “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America”, which you can purchase an autographed copy of, from WND’s Superstore. There is no better sales tactic than fear, and they have it down to a science. Their presentation methods alone should make you think twice about the ‘information’ they are providing to you.

The Facts

First of all, Major Hasan was not in any way ‘appointed by Obama’ for this group’s efforts. The ‘transition team’ was created well before the election outcome was determined and had nothing to do directly with the Obama administration. Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) at George Washington University, held a series of round table discussions regarding Homeland Security and brought together over 300 participants from all across the government. Hasan was one of those people, but he was only a participant. He had no interaction with the Obama campaign or transition team, a bald faced lie presented as fact in the email. He did not even give any briefs or presentations at the events, which were open to the public.

A statement from HSPI on their site states:

“In his capacity as Disaster & Preventive Psychiatry Fellow at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine, Nidal Hasan registered (RSVP’d) to attend as an audience member a number of Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) events in the period June 2008 to February 2009. All of these events were open to the public.

Our Presidential Transition Task Force Events are open to the public and invitations were shared with numerous government departments and agencies, including senior officials at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). These senior leaders at USUHS in turn shared the invitation with their subordinates, including Hasan.

At no time has Nidal Hasan been affiliated with HSPI or The George Washington University. He has never served as an HSPI Task Force Member, briefer, or featured speaker at an HSPI event.

HSPI’s Presidential Transition Task Force is not and was not affiliated with any Administration; and was created prior to the election.”

So basically Major Hasan attended one or more conferences and his name was listed as a participant in a report. End of story.

Additional Sources

National Public Radio
PolitiFact
Gawker Coverage

Discussion

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_

BotB Verdict:

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Note: In the FDR quote I erroneously placed ‘immigrations’ in place of what he actually said, ‘immigrants’ – Hat tip to my trusted nitpicking sidekick, James “eyebrows” Naughton.

Summary

Although the words were spoken almost a hundred years ago, a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt regarding immigrants coming to the United States has been given new life recently by a chain email that has popped back up in to the cyberverse. The words are correctly attributed to President Roosevelt, but the email misstates the date and circumstance in which they were delivered. The accompanying picture is not one taken while he delivered this speech. In fact, it wasn’t delivered in a speech at all. While the email does not go in to any overt xenophobic rants, the quote has been used as a rallying cry for anti-immigration sites.

This Round’s Most Common Iteration

A 1907 PHOTO

Perhaps this is one email that needs to be forwarded until everyone with a computer receives it.
The year is 1907, over one hundred years ago.
READ THE PRINT UNDER THE PICTURE!

US President Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907:

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American… There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…. and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
Every citizen needs to read this!
KEEP THIS MOVING!

Historical Facts

While it may appear at first glance that the message President Roosevelt was trying to get across was against immigration, in reality the president was only advocating compulsory learning of the English language and a support for the nation at large, above and beyond the immigrant’s home nation. You’ll hear no objection to this point of view from us, but let’s get the facts straight.

First, the words in the email are from a letter that President Roosevelt sent to the American Defense Society in 1919, incidentally three days before he passed away. According to UrbanLegends.com:

“Americanization” was a favorite theme of Roosevelt’s during his later years, when he railed repeatedly against “hyphenated Americans” and the prospect of a nation “brought to ruins” by a “tangle of squabbling nationalities.”

He advocated the compulsory learning of English by every naturalized citizen. “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or to leave the country,” he said in a statement to the Kansas City Star in 1918. “English should be the only language taught or used in the public schools.”

The entirety of the letter can be read at the Snopes.com page regarding the email, by clicking here.

One would be well off to ‘remember, remember always’, the quote at the top of this email from Teddy’s cousin FDR as well. While there is no doubt that to be an American should mean that you embrace and assimilate to better the national cause, we are a nation of immigrants, and that should never be forgotten.

Note: Battle of the Bilge apologizes for the long delay between posts, as I have been out due to sickness and am just now catching up on work

Discussion

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Quick Update on Major Hasan

Following the rampage at Ft. Hood last week, Major Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and will be tried in military courts. Army criminal investigation unit spokesman Chris Grey stated that there may be more charges against the major forthcoming.

The ongoing investigation is focusing on where along the chain of command, if anywhere, the Army failed to act to make sure warning signs were not missed. As discussed in the previous article, it is far too soon to rush to any definitive conclusions, but the signs still point directly towards Major Hasan acting as the sole perpetrator of the deadliest mass shooting on an American base in history.

The Military Officers Association of America is obviously shocked and saddened by the events at Fort Hood. MOAA extends its sincerest sympathy and condolences to the victims of this tragedy and their loved ones.

Update – 11/10

The Washington Post has obtained a copy of a lecture Major Hasan gave to senior Army officers in June, 2007. You can view the entire presentation on their site here. What is particularly striking is that the lecture was supposed to be on a medical topic and instead it was concerning the history of Islam and the dangers of Muslims in the military. A snippet of the report:

“It’s getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims.”

While this is curiously put into quotations in the brief, and while it may hold a certain degree of truth, it appears now that it was Hasan’s own feelings flowing out. Given his actions at Ft. Hood, the following statement, which was presented in the briefing as advice on how to deal with this problem is extremely disturbing:

“Don’t doubt their loyalty to the U.S. – God vs. Country”

Someone should have been doubting Major Hasan’s loyalties.
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