My Response to Right Wing Chain Mail Re; Clintons

[Dems2002]

Hi everyone,

Early last week I requested some assistance in responding to a Right-wing Chain message I had received that made me climb the walls. At the time, I knew my work schedule would not allow me to carve out the necessary time to adequately respond. Your assistance was invaluable.

Below is my response and I offer it up for anyone who'd like to copy it themselves to quickly respond to right-wing propoganda. Notice, I worked hard to stay friendly and pleasant and not to incite. (Difficult, believe me..)

Dems
__________________

Chain messages are a dime a dozen, and many are vastly amusing, entertaining and informative. The problem, however, is that there is an inherent assumption of truth when one receives one that is not always warranted.

Nearly every item listed in 'The Clintons' below is factually inaccurate or at the least misleading -- one of the most egregious is item #14.

Here's the message from Snopes.com, which assists in fact checking these types of messages...

Claim: A convicted terrorist released by Israel at the insistence of the United States participated in the September 11 terrorist attacks on America.
Status: False.

Click here for the full details of its origin-- http://www.snopes.com/rumors/atta.htm


But, since everyone is so concerned with the idea of gross abuse of political power, I'd like to turn your attention to a recent report that came out just over a week ago. It hasn't been on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, but it is a 350 page, annotated report, filed by a member of congress who is the Ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Conyers Issues Report Identifying 26 Laws Broken by Bush Admin
By BuzzFlash
Created 08/04/2006 - 5:00pm
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

....<Snip> Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) released "Constitution in Crisis," a report identifying 26 specific laws and regulations implicated by the Bush Administration.

The 350-page document is divided into sections on Iraq and civil liberties and supported with more than 1,400 footnotes.

"The situation we find ourselves in today under the administration of George W. Bush is systemically worse than previous scandals such as Watergate and Iran-Contra," Conyers said. "The alleged acts of wrongdoing my staff has documented -- which include making misleading statements about the decision to go to war; manipulating intelligence; facilitating and countenancing torture; using classified information to out a CIA agent; and violating federal surveillance and privacy laws -- are quite serious."

Conyers proposed a series of recommendations based on the report's findings, many of which are based on passing some of the many bills he and others have introduced to improve oversight and accountability.

Click here to see the report <1>. Below is an outline of the laws broken laws:

Deception of Congress and the American Public
Committing a Fraud Against the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371)
Making False Statements Against the United States (18 U.S.C. § 1001)
War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148)
Misuse of Government Funds (31 U.S.C. § 1301)
Improper Detention, Torture, and Other Inhumane Treatment
Anti-Torture Statute (18 U.S.C. § 2340-40A)
The War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. § 2441)
The Geneva Conventions and Hague Convention: International Laws Governing the Treatment of Detainees
United Nations Convention Against Torture, and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment: International Laws Governing the Treatment of Detainees
Command Responsibility (for known illegal acts of subordinates in the military)
Detainment of Material Witnesses (18 U.S.C. § 3144)
Retaliating against Witnesses and Other Individuals
Obstruction Congress (18 U.S.C. § 1505)
Whistleblower Protection (5 U.S.C. § 2302)
The Lloyd-LaFollette Act, or "anti-gag rule" (5 U.S.C. § 7211)
Retaliating against Witnesses (18 U.S.C. § 1513)
Leaking and other Misuse of Intelligence and other Government Information
Revealing Classified Information in Contravention of Federal Regulations (Executive Order 12958/Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement)
Statutory Prohibitions on Leaking Information (18 U.S.C. § 641, etc.)
Laws Governing Electronic Surveillance
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (50 U.S.C. § 1801, et seq.)
National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. chapter 15)
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. § 222)
Stored Communications Act of 1986 (18 U.S.C. § 2702)
Pen Registers or Trap and Trace Devices (18 U.S.C. § 3121)
Laws and Guidelines Prohibiting Conflicts of Interest (28 U.S.C. § 528, etc.)

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept2/fullreport.pdf

We are in a Constitutional Crisis -- One that is dealing with the very foundation of our Country, who we are and what we stand for. It is something that we should all be willing to stand up and die to defend. Our Constition is a document that, with slight amendments throughout time, has led us to be one of the greatest nations ever.

But, history has shown that all nations eventually fall. We are on the precipice of such a fall. The direction we go depends so much on the people who weren't willing to stand for a President lying about a blow job, but seem to tacitly support the current adminstration.

Please, I beg of all of you, PAY ATTENTION, and hold your own party leaders as accountable as you'd hold Democratic ones.

We cannot have government of one party, by one party and for one party. We cannot have Congressional Leaders who refuses to investigate charges against their own party. That's not a democracy. (Read the following if you'd like to know more about the republican 'power grab') http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19092

Thank you for your time,

Dems
____________________

[Maestro]

1. Excellent information!

I usually don't respond to these either but sometimes I do when they are just so over-the-top. Way to turn their attention to the actual crook in office.

[blue cat]

2. I think that it is important to respond

when you can or it just perpetuates this bullshit. I have to hear it all the time from my family, yet they are incredibly offended if anyone says anything negative about Bush because it is disrespecting our president.

[Maestro]

4. I do from time to time.

But there is so much of this B.S. out there I choose my battles carefully.

Here's one from a while back.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Maestro/1

[blue cat]

6. same here

We don't need to burn out. I agree, we need to pick our battles.

[RangerSmith]

3. I know that

the RW nuts aren't going to change my mind with their rants and I get the feeling they would look at pretty much anything I wrote back as the same... a rant.

When you got Snopes debunking something, I like to just leave it at that since it blows them out of the water so completely and thats what they will remember... the embarrasment of being someone who doesn't check the validity of email forwards...

But, it is a good response!

[DeeDeeNY]

5. I hope you don't mind if I copy this

I'd love to use it the next time I get an email extolling W's virtues

[man4allcats]

7. Many thanks for this.

In fact I just received the email chain letter in question and so used the information you provided to quickly respond. Talk about good timing!
:hi: :thumbsup: