Don't Spread Lies Like the "Obama's 50 Lies"

If you visit lots of chat groups and blogs like I do, you have probably come across the widely circulated list of "Obama's 50 lies." With this being the season of extreme partisanship, it is easy to believe the worst about your opponent. I researched the list to see if it was something I wanted to repost. I discovered the list is simply not true. In some cases, the person who compiled the list claims Obama said things that there is no record of him ever saying. In other cases, what is claimed to be a lie is in fact true. In some cases the items on the list may be open to alternative interpretations of events, or be opinions, or simply harmless slight exaggerations.

As an example of one of the lies, the list says the following:
"Father was a goat herder- Liar, he was a privileged, well educated youth, who went on to work with the Kenyan Government."

Snopes points out that these attributes are not mutually exclusive and Obama's father was all three of these things at one time. Obama's biography states the his father was the son of a prominent farmer and an elder in his tribe and as a youth he herded goats. But it also says that he won a scholarship to study in Nairobi and then he was selected to attend a university in America. There is nothing to this supposed lie.

The internet is a great thing. It has put more information in the hands of more people than anytime in history. It has changed the political landscape and lessened the influence of the liberal mainstream press. Unfortunately, however, lies and rumors spread like wildfire in the blogosphere. Please, before you pass along something you read in a chat group or something someone emails you, check it out. It is not that hard to do. Here are four sources for verifying almost any thing:
Urban Legends http://urbanlegends.about.com/
Snopes http://www.snopes.com/
Hoax Busters http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBUrbanMyths.shtml
Fact check http://www.factcheck.org/

Please save these as a "favorites" and use them to verify before you pass along a rumor.

I certainly do not want to see Barack Obama elected President, but the truth matters. I think Obama's relationship with 60's radical William Ayers and his radical pastor Jeremiah Wright should be exposed. There is enough to expose about Obama without making stuff up. Just as the left has spread vicious lies about Sarah Palin and her banning of books and other non-sense, some on our side of the political divide have been guilty of spreading lies about Obama. Unfortunately, it seems there have been more liars on our side than on the other side. Both group of liars are to be condemned. Please before you pass on something you get in an email or read in a chat group, check it out. All is not fair in love and war and politics; the truth is important.

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