my reply

(i sent the following to every idiot who had forwarded this particular email)

subject: Regarding the e-mail you forwarded with supposed quotations from Barack Obama's book

I was recently forwarded an e-mail from a friend who wanted to know the validity of the claims made within it. She knew I was an Obama fan and that I had read both of his books and wanted to know the validity of the e-mail's claims.

To begin with, you are free to vote for whomever you wish and I am not advocating anyone in this e-mail. The upcoming elections this fall are of the most importance for our future, and in order to have a thriving democracy governing this great nation, it is crucial that we have an educated electorate making informed decisions as they cast they're votes. E-mails and gossip, such as the one you forwarded hurt our democratic process by spreading lies and misinformation.

If you had read the books (as I have), you would have quickly realized (before ignorantly forwarding on the e-mail), that EVERY supposed claim in your e-mail was either taken out of context, reworded, or not even from the books the e-mail claims they are in.

Oddly, the proof that these supposed quotations are in fact taken out of context, reworded, or fabricated is presented at the very beginning of the e-mail you sent. Your e-mail begins with:

"The link below is a fact checking website that supports the following text.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp"

If you had bothered to actually go to this link, you would find that the fact-checking site actually refutes the e-mail. It says, "However, these cherry-picked statements are all presented devoid of context, and some of them are reworded from the original (or apparently non-existent)." The website then proceeds to show how each claim in your e-mail is a lie. Check it out yourself. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp .

Here is just one example, what your e-mail calls "the Most Damming one of ALL of them!!!"

Your e-mail claims that Obama says in The Audacity of Hope, "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'"

Before I go on to show what Obama actually says in his book, I must say that I find this unfortunate that you find this fabrication "damming" (it's actually spelled 'damning'). Is it really all that wrong to stand by the aid of a religious group. Islam is a global religion whose general membership does not support the minority of radical violent jihadists in the Middle East. If Obama said "I will stand with the Christians should the political winds shift in an ugly direction", would that be as damning? What if he said he would stand with Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, Catholics, or those who lack faith? Would you find that as damning statement as well?

Anyways, this is all beside the point as Obama doesn't even say what your lying e-mail attributes to him. On page 261, Obama writes that he would defend immigrants who have felt threatened following 9/11:

"In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

Your e-mail is a deliberate attempt to spread lies to hurt our democratic process. For our country and for an honest election, I hope that you no longer forward this. Furthermore, I hope that you may find the courage to e-mail those you forwarded this e-mail to to correct and assuage any further spreading of lies. As I said earlier, it is crucial for our democracy that our electorate be educated in making the best of decisions. In order for this to happen, these sorts of e-mails need to end and corrections to those who may have been affected need to be made.

Thanks,

Loyd

an e-mail my friend received

**(i removed the annoying colors and font sizes)**

The link below is a fact checking website that supports the following text.

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

PEOPLE: More stuff on OBAMA. Quotes directly from his book. HIS THOUGHTS you need to know what is behind that smooth talk...

Do some serious thinking!!!

�Think you know who this man is?

This possible President of the United States?? Read Below and

ask yourselves, is this REALLY someone we can see as the

President of our great nation!!!!

Below are a few lines from Obama's books; In his words!

���� �����

From Dreams of My Father: 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'

�From Dreams of My Father : 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.'

�From Dreams of My Father: 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'

�From Dreams of My Father: �'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'

�From Dreams of My Father: 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself , the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'


And FINALLY the Most Damming one of ALL of them!!!

From Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'


* If you have never forwarded an e-mail, now is the time to Do so. We CANNOT have someone with this type of mentality running our GREAT nation. I don't care whether you're a Democrat or a Conservative. We CANNOT turn ourselves over to this type of character in a President.

today's lesson

a while back i decided to push out my 'doodies' as quickly as i could so that i would have more time to fit into my day. unfortunately this unnatural pushing of the poop has resulted in some uncomfortable bumps on my bumhole.

yes, i am unashamed to admit that i have hemorrhoids. a pain in the ass indeed.

the moral of this tale and why i post it here: enjoy each and every pile you drop, else your ass may itch like hell. take time to breathe and enjoy that stay on the toilet. 'tis a great time to write poetry, think up a blog post, or scratch a limerick onto the wall beside you. tubes of preparation h cost way too much.

loyd the racist

*obligatory politically correct warning* this post uses the 'n-word'

today out of the corner of my eye i saw a wrapper for 'hershey's nigger' chocolate. i thought to myself, wow. that's a racist candybar. that can't be right. i then looked at the wrapper again, saw that it actually said 'nugget', and realized that it is i who is apparently the racist.

ghost falls

nobody knows: the untold story of black mormons

check out the trailer for this new documentary here.

"mormonism's negro doctrine: an historical overview"

here is a link to lester e. bush's important essay, "mormonism's negro doctrine: an historical overview." originially published in 1973, this article was the first in depth study of the priesthood ban and was influential in the discussions leading up to kimball's revelation reversing the ban.

mormonism and blacks - a timeline

i found this on an excellent article in the salt lake tribune this morning.

30 years

quite silently, the 30th anninversary of the revelation ending over a hundred years of a racist priesthood policy passed today. after having read gregory prince's wonderful biography, david o. mckay and the rise of modern mormonism, i feel even stronger that teh ban was not from divine will, but was a unjust and ungodly ban begun by brigham young and perpetuated by other unfortunately racist church leaders. i was hoping so much that this anniversary and the new leadership of president monson would initiate an official apology for all the pain and oppression caused by this ban. perhaps it is still to come...

i doubt it though.

what's wrong with the world today?

two posts today! my treat for you.

a 78 year old man in hartford, connecticut was hit while crossing the street today. while the hit-and-run was disgusting enough, the complete apathy of those who witnessed it is even more disheartening. watch the reaction (or lack of it) by others following the hit.




and a related little somethin' to lighten the post...


Man's lying on the street
Some punk's chopped off his head
I'm the only one who stops
To see if he's dead
Mmm...
Turns out he's dead.
And that's why I'm singing
What...what is wrong with the world today?
What is wrong with the world today?

it's true. obama does hate america.

i was really excited about obama getting the democratic nomination (and clinton's upcoming concession), however, i have decided that i can no longer support him. a few months ago, erroneous e-mails have been circulating using this picture to show that obama is unpatriotic and hates america.


the email claimed that the photo shows obama refusing to place his hand over his heart during the pledge of allegiance. needless to say, i was infuriated. it was terrible enough that he didn't always wear his flag lapel (not wearing one is usually a clear sign that somebody hates america - which is why i usually wear two and always carry at least three spares). this unabashed display of repulsive unpatriotism and america-hatred, however, was going too far though. as soon as i finished reading that e-mail, i placed my hand over my heart and made an oath that i would never support barack HUSSEIN obama again.

a few weeks later though i discovered that the photo was not taken during the pledge of allegiance. rather, obama and his fellow candidates were photographed during the singing of the national anthem. i further found video that showed obama actually singing along with the national anthem while this photo was taken. my support for obama returned that day.

. . . until now.

just today i was having a conversation with bryant about holding one's heart during the national anthem. upon some research, i discovered that it is a national law, written into the united states code, that the right hand should be held over the heart during the national anthem.*

title 36 chapter 3 section 301b states:

(b) Conduct During Playing. - During a rendition of the national anthem -
(1) when the flag is displayed -
(A) all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart;
(B) men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and
(C) individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note; and

(2) when the flag is not displayed, all present should face
toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the
flag were displayed.

wow. i was right the first time i rescinded my support for barack HUSSEIN obama. he is clearly violating national law when he is unpatriotically and america-hatingly refuses to place his right hand over his heart during the national anthem. i once again and forever am rescinding that support.

however, upon searching for more information about our anthem (and in the spirit of mccarthyism), i have discovered more and more unpatriotic citizens of our country who hate america:

kelly clarkson hates america

the los angeles lakers hate america

veterans and your neighbors hate america

city councilmen hate america (the guy in the circle especially hates freedom)

mormons hate america

older men hate america
some children hate america (future terrorists?)

this hispanic guy hates america

even george w. bush hates america**

*until 1942 the proper way to acknowledge the american flag was with the bellamy salute. however, this was changed because it resembled the nazi salute.

**it could be the case that he does not hate america, but rather simply does not know where his heart is - or has a serious tummy-ache. either is highly probable.

a tale of two posts

it was the best of blogs. it was the worst of blogs. . . .

i decided to bypass a diatribe against the recent onslaught of mommy-blogs that have flooded the internet and sullied the good name of blogging, and instead decided to do some navel gazing posit something i have been thinking about lately concerning my own blog.

almost 5 years ago when i began project mayhem, blogging was a relatively new and unknown internet activity. in fact, i knew of nobody else who had a blog at the time. it wasn't until another year or so that my writing took on the shape, personality, and (occasional) thoughtfulness that it does today. before that, it was simply a semi-private journal with occasional book reviews and ponderings.

back now to the title of this post and the related dilemma. in the last several months the quantity (and probably quality) of my writing has dropped somewhat significantly. this is due to a combination of a lack of interest, a lack of readers, and the lack of time. as the number of posts has dropped, i have noticed something significant. while i get the occasional complaints from certain family members and complete strangers when my posts take on a more caustic/rude/offensive nature, when i try to write something more thoughtful, professional, and family-friendly, nothing happens. while the former posts receive numerous comments, personal attacks, occasional phone calls from complaining parents, and a public berating from a concerned grandparent, the former posts get virtually no response. it's almost as if they were written at all, leaving me wondering whether or not anybody is even reading what i have to say.

so i call west virginians retards and racists (which they are) and suddenly i'm popular again.

so which is it?

my blog's biggest moment of fame was the aftermath of my post making fun of utah's current first lady.

when i write as the complainers would have me, i feel like i might as well be writing to illiterate west virginians (who according to vice-president dick, are also inbred).