The bunk stops here

In addition to my blogging here I have a real life, and in real life of late I’ve been getting some chain emails (“urgent forward this to all your friends”) that are filled with false information, and interestingly enough it is all of a conservative bias, even though I don’t usually gravitate towards that group. People who send me chain emails quickly learn that I “REPLY ALL” with some pretty strong debunking. Usually they stop sending them.

Since Barack Obama usually gets blamed for everything, I find a little justification for making this article, which is a list of some of the bunk floating around. Commenters will no doubt know of lots more, and I anticipate adding to the article over the next few days.

  • Obama told veterans stop whining about having to pay for their own health care. Never happened. Debunked at PolitiFact.com.
  • ObamaCare includes a 3.8% sales tax when you sell your home. It’s a gains tax that will apply only a few very wealthy homeowners. Debunked at FactCheck.org.
  • ObamaCare is the largest tax increase in history. Only if you ignore inflation and population growth. Discussed at FactCheck.org. Rated “pants on fire” at Politifact.com.
  • Obama is going to ban all guns in the US through a UN Treaty. Not true. Debunked at FactCheck.org.
  • President Obama has doubled the size of government since he took office. Not true. Debunked at Politifact.com.
  • Obama signed “in secret” a law restricting free speech. If it was a secret, how do they know he signed it? Debunked at Politifact.com and also at FactCheck.org.
  • Obama canceled the National Day of Prayer. Nope. Debunked everywhere including Snopes.com.
  • Obama will cancel the 2012 election. Debunking of this will be available on November 7, 2012.

The items listed above are just a few of the many that I found are out there once I started looking. The links below have many more.

Readers may note the conspicuous absence of Snopes.com from my article until this most recent update. That’s mainly because the professional journalistic sites I mentioned I consider more authoritative, although Snopes certainly does good work too. One of the rejoinders I get when doing my “REPLY ALL” debunking using any of these sources, is that they themselves are biased or part of the disinformation conspiracy. Attacking Snopes is almost a reflex for some people, and attacking FactCheck is common for Obama denialists who have their  own conspiracy theories about connections between Obama, Bill Ayers and FactCheck – all nonsense, but we’re talking about birthers here.

Related links:

About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
This entry was posted in 2012 Presidential Election, Debunking, Misc. Conspiracies and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

21 Responses to The bunk stops here

  1. Norbrook says:

    Well, and as I just saw over at CNN, apparently he’s going to bring in UN troops to take over after he’s reelected. At least, according to a judge in Texas, who is apparently off his medications.

  2. What’s bizarre about the story is that the judge wants to raise taxes to meet the apocalypse.

    Norbrook: Well, and as I just saw over at CNN, apparently he’s going to bring in UN troops to take over after he’s reelected. At least, according to a judge in Texas, who is apparently off his medications

  3. G says:

    The only thing consistent about GOP beliefs and practices is their utter inconsistency…

    Dr. Conspiracy: What’s bizarre about the story is that the judge wants to raise taxes to meet the apocalypse.

  4. sfjeff says:

    “•Obama signed “in secret” a law restricting free speech. If it was a secret, how do they know he signed it? Debunked at Politifact.com.”

    This reminds me of another claim I saw- that a Russian submarine cruised undetected for a month in the Gulf of Mexico.

    And the Obama haters all missed the obvious question- how on earth would anyone know that if the submarine was ‘undetected’?

  5. misha says:

    Black helicopters. Don’t forget the black helicopters. And UN troops on a highway in Montana.

  6. The only chain mails I ever received (and they all stopped after I sent a couple of them back in tiny little pieces) were from regressive authoritarians seeking validation for hypotheses that in most cases inhabited the gray area between implausible and utterly ludicrous. I cannot recall ever receiving a chain email from a progressive or self-identified person or group.

  7. Thrifty says:

    Norbrook:
    Well, and as Ijust saw over at CNN, apparently he’s going to bring in UN troops to take over after he’s reelected.At least, according to a judge in Texas, who is apparently off his medications.

    He can’t just use the huge standing army he already has?

  8. Dave B. says:

    I was listening to a radio preacher on WWCR some years back going on about the Clintons and the New World Order and all that jazz, and he started talking about Chinese frogmen invading from Mexico and how we were in just a world of hurt. Well that kind of rang a bell with me, and I started digging through my old copies of the Weekly World News, and about the time I found it, he started reading the story, will full correct attribution, on the air. He really had the Holy Spirit that day.

  9. The Magic M says:

    sfjeff: And the Obama haters all missed the obvious question- how on earth would anyone know that if the submarine was ‘undetected’?

    I suppose their explanation was something like “the Russians admitted it later”.

  10. brygenon says:

    Well, if one sets out to find Democrats/liberals espousing stupid/hateful positions, yeah that happens too. I tend to be a lib Dem, and I think the previous president was a travesty and an embarrassment, but let’s not kid ourselves: 9-11-inside-jobbers are about as nutty as birthers.

    That said, what we’re actually facing today is far from an even split. I recently read an article about the Obama and Romney campaigns blaming each other from the low-road negative tone that we’re seeing. Are they kidding? Is history all forgotten? Obama and Romney have run campaigns before. One of them tends toward the high road and the other to the low. Here in harsh reality, they’ve dragged each other toward the compromised middle.

    The 2008 presidential election was a testament to America’s greatness. Two outstanding candidates stood up and argued their cases. Wish it could always be like that.

  11. JL from Sherman Oaks says:

    As a 100 percent authentic Valley Girl, I’d like to note that Snopes originally was a site about the San Fernando Valley and what they called, “Folklore.” It evolved into a debunking site almost immediately. So, other than being the Porn Capital of America, The Valley is also responsible for the best debunking site there is. And, btw, it’s so apolitical that when it is called Liberal by OrLena and her ilk, it’s laughable.

  12. G says:

    Interesting tidbits to learn. Thanks for sharing!

    JL from Sherman Oaks: As a 100 percent authentic Valley Girl, I’d like to note that Snopes originally was a site about the San Fernando Valley and what they called, “Folklore.” It evolved into a debunking site almost immediately. So, other than being the Porn Capital of America, The Valley is also responsible for the best debunking site there is. And, btw, it’s so apolitical that when it is called Liberal by OrLena and her ilk, it’s laughable.

  13. Rickey says:

    Another fable which I frequently hear is the claim that Obama has cancelled the National Day of Prayer.

    http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/prayerday.asp

  14. Sudoku says:

    Thank goodness, that will be his foil. Texans will not vote for a tax increase.

    Dr. Conspiracy: What’s bizarre about the story is that the judge wants to raise taxes to meet the apocalypse.

  15. Sudoku says:

    Logic is not their strong suit. Like all the poo about Obama threatening the Clintons, etc. He was able to silence the Clintons, no small feat, yet he is powerless against all the birther suit and websites. Same with the whole “BC is a forgery” extravaganza. The Hawaii Dept. of Health is in on it, but they had to faked their own certificate? And not well, apparently.

    sfjeff: “•Obama signed “in secret” a law restricting free speech. If it was a secret, how do they know he signed it? Debunked at Politifact.com.”

  16. aarrgghh says:

    Sudoku: Same with the whole “BC is a forgery” extravaganza. The Hawaii Dept. of Health is in on it, but they had to faked their own certificate? And not well, apparently.

    the HI DOH definitely were in on it, but they clearly weren’t down with it. the brave and still-patriotic forgers left breadcrumbs any real american could see, but the vain, incompetent and drug-addled usurper couldn’t.

  17. Sudoku says:

    Of course! The folks at the HDOH are double agents! Why didn’t I see that!

    aarrgghh: he HI DOH definitely were in on it, but they clearly weren’t down with it. the brave and still-patriotic forgers left breadcrumbs any real american could see, but the vain, incompetent and drug-addled usurper couldn’t.

  18. Pastor Charmley says:

    Over on a 9/11 Truther debunking site I frequent it was noted that the Truthers were saying that George W. Bush would cancel the 2008 election. When that did not happen, they said he would annul it and declare martial law after a false-flag terror attack before Obama’s inauguration. I challenged the Truthers who posted there to apologise should none of this come to pass. Instead one had the gall to say, after Obama was duly sworn in, “Obama is the false flag.” I of course retorted that the man was being flagrantly dishonest and should admit that they had been wrong. No apology was forthcoming.

    I am therefore highly amused to see the same hysteria arising about Obama this time around. Folk, if it did not happen then, it will not happen now.

  19. G says:

    There seems to be a certain segment of paranoid conspiricists out there that are what I call the “black helicopter crowd”. Every election cycle, no matter who is in charge or what else is going on, they crawl out of the woodwork as prophets of doom – claiming that martial law will be declared and elections will be annuled.

    I’ve been hearing these same kook claims in EVERY election cycle I’ve been old enough to vote (1992 was my first)…and they NEVER seem to give it a rest. It is the same tired nonsense over and over and over again. Only the names and parties change. But in their world, we are always only one step away from gloom and doom and imprisonment in FEMA camps…

    Pastor Charmley: I am therefore highly amused to see the same hysteria arising about Obama this time around. Folk, if it did not happen then, it will not happen now.

  20. Keith says:

    Pastor Charmley: Over on a 9/11 Truther debunking site I frequent it was noted

    Are they still going? Wow.

  21. donna says:

    Pastor Charmley :

    speaking of bush, i recall an AP report in 08 which mentioned an unusual directive which perhaps saved obama’s aunt from deportation days before the election:

    Another interesting question, of course, is how information about Onyango made its way to the media within days of the election.

    As the AP reports:

    Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcment official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release. ..

    … Onyango’s case — coming to light just days before the presidential election — led to an unusual nationwide directive within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement requiring any deportations prior to Tuesday’s election to be approved at least at the level of ICE regional directors, the U.S. law enforcement official told the AP.

    The unusual directive suggests that the Bush administration is sensitive to the political implications of Onyango’s case coming to light so close to the election.

    One of the sources acknowledged he was not a supporter of Obama or John McCain and said he has no plans to vote on Tuesday. He said that was not a motive for releasing the information.

    http://thedailyrepublican.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2065&Itemid=2

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.