Have you ever received one of those chain emails?  You know the hateful half-truth kind.  There is one going around about the British School System that is a total crock but full of just enough truth to make people believe it.  There have been emails about Starbucks (a lie), George Bush, some true and some not, condom hair band (wow) and  Social Security .  I usually go to Snope.com when I get one of these.  I need to know what is true and what is not.  I don't trust email of the sort that seem too far over the edge one way or another.

A few days ago I received one that has been around for a while but has somehow managed to miss me.  It is the one about Barach Obama not placing his hand over his heart during the playing of the National Anthem .  As with all of these hateful emails, there is a grain of truth.  It seems that in October of 2007 someone took a picture of Obama standing with his hands at his side during the playing of the National Anthem.   Many sources say this is perfectly admissible and what I generally do.  To add fuel to the fire, a man named John Semmens wrote and article in   "semi-news...a satirical look at recent news".  In it he sites Obama's non-handoverhisheart stance.  The column went like this:

Obama Explains National Anthem Stance

Hot on the heels of his explanation for why he no longer wears a flag pin, presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was forced to explain why he doesn’t follow protocol when the National Anthem is played.

According to the United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec. 171, During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform are expected to stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.

“As I’ve said about the flag pin, I don’t want to be perceived as taking sides,” Obama said. “There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And the anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all. It should be swapped for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.’ If that were our anthem, then I might salute it.”

Here is where the fun begins.  Someone took this piece of writing, which very obviously pokes fun at Obama, and sent it out into the Internet world re-clad as the truth!  Now the email is circulating for a second time.   The claim is now being made that Obama said this during a TV interview on Meet the Press 8 September of this year.  He did not appear on the show on that day.  It did not happen. Snopes has a very good explanation.

Now, I ask you, what do you do when this happens?  Erase the email?  Read it and pass it on without checking the facts?  Or do you do what I do...I click "reply all",  add a few words of caution about checking the sources, add a link to the correct snope.com page and press send!

I have received emails from the people that I don't know saying thank you...it is a good thing that someone checks their sources they tell me!  I feel better and hopefully someone else will learn to check before they send!

Just a thought!
b