Battle of the Bilge

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” -Sun Tzu

Another TFL & Medicare Email

An article that appeared on January 9th on GOPUSA has been picked up by Tea Party sites and forwarded as a viral email raises once again the issue of TFL and retiree health care. Unfortunately, the piece contains scare tactics and assumptions, and paints military organizations in a bad light. The MOAA response is listed below in full from our Director of Government Relations.

The Email

Subject: TriCare For Life & Medicare
Military Retirees, Victims of a Congressional Shell Game

Military piece by Thomas D. Segel Harlingen, Texas, January 9, 2010

Military retirees are very close to losing their hard won Tricare for Life health insurance…and it is their own fault. The sad truth about military retirees is they usually fail to respond when their rights are violated or their futures placed in jeopardy. When viewing voting constituencies, the most dossal and inactive people are found among the retired military members and their dependents.

Any politician engaged in the deceitful practices of Washington D. C. knows one of the easiest targets to attack is the retired military community. Politicians view this group as the least harmful of any who make up the ranks of the voting public. They place those who served in uniform at the top of their least harmful list, thus making them political targets whenever there is a search being conducted to show the public what the political elite call meaningful dollar savings.

There are some strong military retiree advocates who are speaking out on the dangerous situation facing their former comrades-in-arms. One of these is Colonel Wayne Morris, USMC (Ret), who says, “We know that nothing is safe right now when considering the ongoing efforts of the current administration especially in any and all areas aligned with health care! Military retirees will quickly become a ‘soft target’ for those who would take away from one group and give to another.

I personally see a marked effort on the part of the current administration to divide us on this issue – to cause those who are NOT military retirees, (even those now on active duty) to eventually play against us and the benefits we have thus far been able to retain.”In support of this idea, the colonel points out there are some ‘so-called’ veteran support organizations already advising retirees to calm down and not worry about our health benefits.

These groups are telling the veterans that Tricare for Life benefits are safe and that retirees have nothing to worry about. The falseness of such statements can be understood when it is realized that under current legislative plans Medicare will be cut by $500 billion and Tricare for Life is linked solidly to Medicare.

Doing the math anyone can see that such a devastating cut in services and benefits to Medicare would mean similar cuts in Tricare for Life.Additional searching into this healthcare legislation will reveal that, as now drafted, new healthcare rules would require our advanced aged military retirees on Medicare and Tricare for Life to pay the fist $525 of medical costs for the beneficiary and identical costs for any dependent.

The retiree would then pay 50% of the next $4,725 of medical charges up to a total of $6,301 per year. This is the additional financial load our Congress will place on those who have already given twenty and more years of service to their country. Many of who left their blood and body parts on the fields of battle.The Washington version of the old Shell Game has already started. This is a confidence trick where three shells and a pea are used in what is claimed to be a gambling game.

Actually, as the shells are shifted from position to position, the pea is removed from the table…and the player ends up picking NOTHING. In the 2,000 plus page Obamacare health insurance bill, congressional lackeys tell us time and again that Tricare for Life is protected. But hey keep shifting those shells. The service organizations have already swallowed the snake oil and are echoing administration claims that TFL is safe. They have already bought into the Shell Game.

We also know everyone in the Democrat Congress is keeping those shells moving and not letting us see that pea. The end result will be another case of “nothing is too good for those who served in uniform”…and that is what they will get. NOTHING!

Response from MOAA’s Legislative team

Much of the specific information in his message is patently untrue. The TFL changes he mentions are not, repeat NOT, in the current health care reform bill.

What he describes was one option in a list of options prepared by the Congressional Budget Office more than a year ago…well before the current administration took office.

That idea didn’t go anywhere – as we predicted it wouldn’t. It never appeared in any legislation anywhere on the Hill, and was never supported by anyone in the Administration or Congress.

Further, we would never say there’s nothing to worry about on military health care. Of course there is. The ongoing budget pressures (which will only get bigger with mounting deficits) will create tremendous pressures in 2010 and beyond to cut all kinds of federal spending. There’s a lot of talk about setting up an entitlements commission to review changes needed to preserve the financial viability of Medicare and Social Security when millions of baby boomers become eligible for those programs in the coming decade.

I believe there will be such a commission, and once it starts reviewing possible Social Security and Medicare changes, it will inevitably lead to review of possible changes for military and federal retirement, military and federal health care, military and federal survivor benefits, VA benefits, etc., etc., just as we saw during the last budget/deficit crunch in the early and mid-90s. We had a huge fight to dodge most of those proposals back then, and it will be a much bigger challenge in light of the much bigger deficits we face now.

But there’s a vast difference between being (a) alert to potential coming threats and (b) claiming that those threats are embodied in current legislation – which they’re not. There are some smoke and mirrors issues in the current legislation – as there is in almost any big bill Congress passes, and there are some things to keep an eye on in the future (such as assumptions that Medicare and its providers will achieve some pretty optimistic “efficiency” goals in the coming years). But most of the changes to Medicare in the current health reform legislation are actually relatively modest and pretty doable ones. The real problem is that those savings will be used to fund health care for the current uninsured rather than to build the Medicare bank to meet the coming expenses of the baby boomers. So when the boomer tide hits, Congress will have to come up with far more significant cuts or tax increases to meet that need, because the relatively easier savings options will have been used up.

So there’s a reason to be worried, but it’s difficult to put much stock in most opinions being passed around the internet about the health care bills, because most start from a highly partisan standpoint, and many just pass on pieces of misinformation that have long since been proven untrue – as in this case.

Unfortunately, once such things get out on the internet, they acquire a life of their own, and well-intentioned people pass them on and help perpetuate the misinformation.

Steve Strobridge
Colonel, USAF (Ret)
Director, Government Relations

Discussion

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“From a pound of talk, an ounce of understanding” - Yemeni Proverb

Security Failure and Luck

Following the Christmas day attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to take down Delta Air flight 253 on approach to Detroit, the Obama administration has been meeting with top security and intelligence members to figure out what went wrong in the process. Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian citizen who received bomb making material and training in Yemen, was unsuccessful in what would have been a disastrous act of terror when the powder/liquid mixture he was carrying in his underpants failed to ignite. A Christmas miracle, to be sure, but a complete breakdown in screening procedures and common sense. The flight originated in Amsterdam and Abdulmutallab carried no luggage and bought a one way ticket in cash. President Obama said that the U.S. “Failed to connect the dots” and that “We dodged a bullet but just barely. It was averted by brave individuals, not because the system worked and that is not acceptable.” The incident, in addition to increasing airline precautions and re-sparking the debate over full body scans and profiling, has also caused the world to take a close look at Yemen, where Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula reportedly provided the training for the mission and are planning more attacks. Nearly a decade after the attack on the USS Cole which took the lives of 17 U.S. sailors, a look at the current situation in Yemen shows a deeply troubled nation and one that has the potential to become the next major focus in the war on terror.

Modern Yemen’s Violent History

Although it is one of the poorest countries in the world, Yemen is in an extremely important geographical location when it comes to shipping lanes and oil exports.



The nation we know of as Yemen has only existed in its current state since 1990, when North Yemen, which had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire until 1918 and became a republic in 1962, formally merged with South Yemen, which had until 1967 been occupied by Great Britain. North Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh became president of the nation and remains in power today, following two democratic elections. The unification process has not been a peaceful one, however. The nation fought its first civil war in 1994 between the northern and southern factions, with the south receiving significant support from Saudi Arabia. The south seceded from the country and formed the Democratic Republic of Yemen, but failed to gain international recognition and the fighting dissipated.

Yemen’s Battle with Militants

Internal relations were shaky until 2004 when the second civil war broke out. This time, Yemeni government forces were fighting a minority Shiite rebel movement called the Houthis, named after their leader Hussein Al Houthi, in northern Yemen. The war started when the government attempted to arrest Al Houthi, a leader of the Shiite sect (actually he is a member of an offshoot of the Shiite sect called Zaidi). This battle continues to rage today, with the Houthis dug in to mountain positions and occasionally striking out against the government. On top of the rebel fighting, a southern secessionist movement has been a constant problem for the government, although the issue has died down some recently due to the northern war. During this time, Al-Qaeda has supported the Houthis and sent hundreds, if not thousands, of their militants into the region. With the nation on the verge of collapse (unemployment is over 40% and popular support for the central government is eroding), the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh is finding it increasingly difficult to fight an insurgency and maintain order. This has led to several nations getting involved through various channels, including military action. This threatens to turn an internal war into a regional one.

Proxy War?

Saudi Arabia has been the nation most directly affected by the second Yemeni civil war. In August of 2009, Muhammad bin Nayef, a member of the Saudi royal family and ironically the country’s top counter-terrorism official, was injured in a suicide bombing attributed to a member of the Houthi movement. On November 3rd, Houthi rebels briefly captured two villages in Saudi territory. The Saudi response has been strong, with numerous air strikes and ground operations taking aim at the Houthis in support of the central government and out of fear of further incursions or attacks. The Saudi attacks have been starkly criticized by Iran, whose leaders have spoken out feverishly against the Saudi involvement. Iran has been accused of providing tactical and military assistance to the Houthis, raising the tensions across the region. With a growing U.S. involvement in the war, these tensions will only continue to rise. Iran’s objection to Saudi actions are based on their disgust of Muslims spilling the blood of other Muslims, in an obvious attempt to make Saudi Arabia’s influence in the Arab world reduced as Iran continues in its efforts to become the regional superpower.

The majority Sunni Saudi Arabia is in a difficult position. They face internal strife from elements of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups that are opposed to the royal family’s grip on power, and have seen in the past decade a rise in Iranian influence in the region, from Shiite majority Iraq and Iran’s sponsorship of Hizbollah in Syria and Lebanon. A Shiite state to its south would not bode well for the Kingdom.

American Military Actions

On December 17th and again on the 24th, cruise missiles struck Al-Qaeda bases in rebel provinces and caused considerable loss of life to the militants (as well as civilians, according to Yemeni sources). Admiral Mike Mullen praised the strikes but did not say that the U.S. had any active role in the operation. After the Christmas day attempted terrorist attack, President Obama stated that “our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred”, and that Al Qaeda in Yemen “will be held to account”. This will mean more support for the Yemeni government in the form of more than doubling the amount of aid sent to the nation to use to fight terror (a figure that could run as high as $150 million), continued drone air attacks, deeper intelligence cooperation and special forces operations. The New York Times ran a story on December 27th detailing America’s expansion of the war on terror to Yemen:

A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country, according a former top agency official. At the same time, some of the most secretive Special Operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces in counterterrorism tactics, senior military officers said.

President Obama laid out his intentions on December 28th:

“We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the US homeland,” Mr Obama said.

As the center of operations for Al-Qaeda shifts to Yemen, we can expect more U.S. involvement in overt and covert operations to help the government there rid the scourge of terrorists in the strategic nation.

The Outlook

Yemen has all of the ingredients and hallmarks of a growing terrorist safe haven. An active rebellion against a weak central authority, a poor population base to draw in new recruits and access to some of the most critical shipping lanes in the world. The potential for another terrorist attack originating from Yemen is extremely high, and as the 2000 attack on the USS Cole and the Christmas airline plot have demonstrated, Americans are the prime target. While the Houthi movement and Al-Qaeda may have differing immediate objectives, their cooperation represents a clear and present danger to American interests. With our overstretched military engaged in multiple locations around the world fighting Muslim terrorists, the importance of regional engagement by Yemen’s Arab neighbors has never been more pressing. If the government falls, the safe haven will expand and become much like Afghanistan in the late ’90′s. That can not be allowed to happen.

Additional Resources

Qatar’s Peninsula Online
Qatar’s History (wikipedia)
Reuters Analysis
Washington Post’s Report of President Obama’s Statement
Center for American Progress

Discussion

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“Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.” – – Alfred Lord Tennyson

Truth Sandwich

It is a commonly used managerial technique – if you have a piece of bad news to tell someone, you first fit the bad part in between two notes of praise. Truth on the internet can sometimes be like this technique. Give some misinformation, ground it in an actual event that you can link someone to, then hammer home the intended message. This new email is about a true event – an update to an Executive Order which granted full diplomatic immunity status to members of INTERPOL – turned in to a propaganda platform that plays loose with reality.

The Email

Read and Weep For Your Country . .

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 17, 2009

Executive Order — Amending Executive Order 12425
EXECUTIVE ORDER
- – - – - – -
AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words “except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act” and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.

BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 16, 2009.

In the dead of night on December 17, 2009, President Barack Hussein Obama placed the United States of America under the authority of the international police organization known as INTERPOL, granting the organization full immunity to operate within the United States.
Last Thursday, December 17, 2009, The White House released an Executive Order “Amending Executive Order 12425.” It grants INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) a new level of full diplomatic immunity afforded to foreign embassies and select other “International Organizations” as set forth in the United States International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945.
By removing language from President Reagan’s 1983 Executive Order 12425, this international law enforcement body now operates – now operates – on American soil beyond the reach of our own top law enforcement arm, the FBI, and is immune from Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
What, exactly does this mean? It means that INTERPOL now has the full authority to conduct investigations and other law enforcement activities on U.S. soil, with full immunity from U.S. laws such as the Freedom of Information Act and with complete independence from oversight from the FBI.
In short, a global law enforcement entity now has full law-enforcement authority in the U.S. without any check on its power afforded by U.S. law and U.S. law enforcement agencies.

A bit of background is in order here, and Hot Air provides it:
During his presidency, Ronald Reagan granted the global police agency Interpol the status of diplomatic personnel in order to engage more constructively on international law enforcement. In Executive Order 12425, Reagan made two exceptions to that status. The first had to do with taxation, but the second was to make sure that Interpol had the same accountability for its actions as American law enforcement — namely, they had to produce records when demanded by courts and could not have immunity for their actions.
Barack Obama unexpectedly revoked those exceptions in a change to EO 12425 last (week)…
Thus, Interpol now can conduct its operations on U.S. soil with ZERO accountability to anyone in this country.
And you beginning to understand now just what the ‘end game’ is on the part of those who are currently running the U.S. Government?
Let’s go a step further in fleshing out exactly what this means in practical terms. It gets ugly…and scary. Again, from ThreatsWatch:
Section 2c of the United States International Organizations Immunities Act is the crucial piece.
Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.
Inviolable archives means INTERPOL records are beyond US citizens’ Freedom of Information Act requests and from American legal or investigative discovery (“unless such immunity be expressly waived.”)
Property and assets being immune from search and confiscation means precisely that. Wherever they may be in the United States. This could conceivably include human assets – Americans arrested on our soil by INTERPOL officers.
Why would INTERPOL be arresting American citizens on our own soil, without oversight from our own law enforcement agencies? And remember, citizens who are thusly arrested would have no legal authority to demand full documentation from the International Police concerning the charges brought against them.
Andy McCarthy at National Review asks these crucial, sobering questions of the secretive Obama order:
Why would we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files which, therefore, will be beyond the ability of Congress, American law-enforcement, the media, and the American people to scrutinize?
At least one answer to these questions is very clear. A coup is underway in the United States of America, the goal of which is to establish complete, unquestioned authority over the citizens–a ‘fundamental change’ to the United States where citizens have no legal recourse against an authoritarian central government.
Don’t believe me ? From the White House website http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-amending-executive-order-12425

Continue Reading »

BotB Verdict

Summary

Although the words attributed to President Obama in the chain email below are completely false and have already been debunked here, there has been a new iteration with additional packaging that has gained some traction. While the commentary is new, the quotes are still just a fabrication, originally written in a satirical column.

The Current Iteration

THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENT EVER MADE BY A PUBLIC OFFICIAL LET ALONE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. AND THIS GUY IS OUR “COMMANDER IN CHIEF”. HE IS A DISGRACE.

UNBELIEVABLE PRESIDENT??? HERE IS HIS RESPONSE WHEN HE BACKED OFF FROM HIS DECISION TO REQUIRE THE MILITARY PAY FOR THEIR WAR INJURIES.

WHAT AN EMPTY HEADED PERSON HE MUST BE….

Bad press, including major mockery of the plan by comedian Jon Stewart, led to President Obama abandoning his proposal to require veterans carry private health insurance to cover the estimated $540 million annual cost to the federal government of treatment for injuries to military personnel received during their tours on active duty. The President admitted that he was puzzled by the magnitude of the opposition to his proposal.



“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, “Obama continued “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.”

Please pass this on to every one including every vet and their families whom you know. How in the world did a person with this mindset become our leader? I didn’t vote for him!!!

REMEMBER THIS STATEMENT… “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?”



If he thinks he will ever get another vote from an Active Duty,Reserve, National Guard service member or veteran of a military service he ought to think it over.. If you or a family member is or has served
their country please pass this to them.

Please pass this to everyone. I’m guessing that other than the 20-25 percent hardcore liberals in the US will agree that this is just another example why this is the worst president in American history. remind everyone over and over how this man thinks, while he bows to the Saudi Arabian king.

Origins

As previously reported, the quotes attributed to President Obama 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. Here is the direct link

Alterations from Original Email

Besides the fake quotes, the only thing that remains from the original email is the paragraph that starts with ‘Bad press, including major…’. Everything else, from the ‘Outrageous statement’ to calling the president ‘an empty headed person’, to the call for action of sending the email to everyone you know is new. Also new are the two pictures, obviously intended to accentuate the snobbish persona that he has been saddled with since he was a nominee for president.

One iteration also added the following to the article as an intro:

Most people will say this article is BS, so do me a favor and let your fingers do the walking over the key-board and research this, don’t be surprised at what you find.

Please do. In addition to our article, and the link to the obviously satirical piece, here are some additional resources that will help you find the truth of the matter:

Snopes Page
TruthorFiction Page
Fact Check Page
Media Matters Page

If you search Google using only the quotes only, you’ll find the above pages plus a ton of message board and blog postings that repeat the lies, most without any dissent or corrections. Unfortunate, but that’s the way the internet works…

No matter what your personal views of President Obama are, he is no doubt a clever politician. And the golden rule of politics is never insult the troops. Common sense should come in to play here.

Discussion

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“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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