I received one of THOSE emails from an old friend last month (you will be able to peg the date when you read it). Rather than yack about what and why - just read on.
The email I received:
Kris,
While you may not agree with the implied or stated conclusions, the questions raised are legitimate. The answers deserve careful consideration.
--------------------------------
The Jihad Candidate - by Rich Carroll
Conspiracy theories make for interesting novels when the story-line is
not so absurd that it can grasp our attention. 'The Manchurian
Candidate' and 'Seven Days in May' are examples of plausible chains of
events that captures the reader's imagination at best-seller level.
'What if' has always been the solid grist of fiction.
Get yourself something cool to drink, find a relaxing position, but
before you continue, visualize the television photos of two jet
airliners smashing into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan and remind
yourself this cowardly act of Muslim terror was planned for eight
years.
How long did it take Islam and their oil money to find a candidate for
President of the United States ? As long as it took them to place a
Senator from Illinois and Minnesota ? The same amount of time to create
a large Muslim enclave in Detroit ? The time it took them to build over
2,000 mosques in America ? The same amount of time required to place
radical wahabbist clerics in our military and prisons as 'chaplains'?
Find a candidate who can get away with lying about their father being
a 'freedom fighter' when he was actually part of the most corrupt and
violent government in Kenya 's history Find a candidate with close
ties to The Nation of Islam and the violent Muslim overthrow in
Africa , a candidate who is educated among white infidel Americans but
hides his bitterness and anger behind a superficial toothy smile.
Find a candidate who changes his American name of Barry to the Muslim
name of Barak Hussein Obama, and dares anyone to question his true
ties under the banner of 'racism'. Nurture this candidate in an
atmosphere of anti-white American teaching and surround him with
Islamic teachers. Provide him with a bitter, racist, anti-white,
anti-American wife, and supply him with Muslim middle east connections
and Islamic monies. Allow him to be clever enough to get away with his
anti-white rhetoric and proclaim he will give $834 billion taxpayer
dollars to the Muslim controlled United Nations for use in Africa .
Install your candidate in an atmosphere of deception because
questioning him on any issue involving Africa or Islam would be seen
as 'bigoted racism'; two words too powerful to allow the citizenry to
be informed of facts. Allow your candidate to employ several black
racist Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan followers as members of his
Illinois Senatorial and campaign staffs.
Where is the bloodhound American 'free press' who doggedly overturned
every stone in the Watergate case? Where are our nation's reporters
that have placed every Presidential candidate under the microscope of
detailed scrutiny; the same press who pursue Bush's 'Skull and Bones'
club or ran other candidates off with persistent detective and
research work? Why haven't 'newsmen' pursued the 65 blatant lies
told by this candidate during the Presidential primaries? Where
are the stories about this candidate's cousin and the Muslim butchery
in Africa ? Since when did our national press corps become weak, timid,
and silent? Why haven't they regaled us with the long list of
socialists and communists who have surrounded this 'out of nowhere'
Democrat candidate or that his church re-printed the Hamas Manifesto
in their bulletin, and that his 'close pastor friend and mentor' met
with Middle East terrorist Moammar Gaddafi, (Guide of the First of
September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya) Why isn't the American press telling us this candidate is
supported by every Muslim organization in the world?
As an ultimate slap in the face, be blatant in the fact your candidate
has ZERO interest in traditional American values and has the most
liberal voting record in U.S. Senate history. Why has the American
main stream media clammed-up on any negative reporting on Barak
Hussein Obama? Why will they print Hillary Rodham Clinton's name but
never write his middle name? Is it not his name? Why, suddenly, is ANY
information about this candidate not coming from main stream media,
but from the blogosphere by citizens seeking facts and the truth? Why
isn't our media connecting the dots with Islam? Why do they focus on
'those bad American soldiers' while Islam slaughters non Muslims daily
in 44 countries around the globe? Why does our media refer to Darfur as
'ethnic cleansing' instead of what it really is; Muslims killing non
Muslims! There is enough strange, anti-American activity surrounding
Barak Hussein Obama to pique the curiosity of any reporter. WHERE IS
OUR INVESTIGATIVE MEDIA!?
A formal plan for targeting America was devised three years after the
Iranian revolution in 1982. The plan was summarized in a 1991
memorandum by Mohamed Akram, an operative of the global Muslim
Brotherhood. 'The process of settlement' of Muslims in America , Akram
explained, 'is a civilization jihad process.' This means that members
of the Brotherhood must understand that their work in ' America is a
kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western
civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their
hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and
God's religion is made victorious over all other religions.'
There is terrorism we can see, smell and fear, but there is a new kind
of terror invading The United States in the form of Sharia law and
finance. Condoning it is civilization suicide. Middle East Muslims are
coming to America in record numbers and building hate infidel mosques,
buying our corporations, suing us for our traditions, but they and the
whole subject of Islam is white noise leaving uninformed Americans
about who and what is really peaceful. Where is our investigative
press? Any criticism of Islam or their intentions, even though Islamic
leaders state their intentions daily around the globe, brings-forth a
volley of 'racist' from the left-wing Democrat crowd.
Lies and deception behind a master plan - the ingredients for 'The
Manchurian Candidate' or the placement of an anti-American President
in our nation's White House? Is it mere coincidence that an
anti-capitalist run for President at the same time Islamic sharia
finance and law is trying to make advancing strides into the United
States? Is it mere coincidence this same candidate wants to dis-arm
our nuclear capability at a time when terrorist Muslim nations are
expanding their nuclear weapons capability? Is it mere coincidence
this candidate wants to reduce our military at a time of global jihad
from Muslim nations?
Change for America ? What change? To become another 'nation of Islam'?
COULD IT BE THE REASON OUR COUNTRY HAS NOT BEEN UNDER ATTACK SINCE
9-11 BECAUSE THE MUSLIMS HAVE AN AGENDA TO TAKE OVER OUR GOVERNMENT
BY PLACING A MUSLIM IN THE PRESIDENCY. IT MAY COME TO PASS IF
AMERICANS DON'T WAKE UP!
Now - this is one of those situations where this person has been sending me (and 100 other people in her address book) this kind of crap for a while, and I have usually replied ALL and gently pointed her to Snopes etc. to not only teach her to educate herself, but to publicly humiliate her into doing so. After a while, she learned to research before sending these things to me. I don't know why this time was different, maybe it's the sort of truthiness quality this letter has for someone who doesn't know any better. Well - whatever! Here was my response, and please understand some of my approach here is to make her see this in a level-headed way, not beat her over the head with my leftist fist - she is a friend, and I want her to remain so (a reply ALL, of course!):
Dear Mindy and the rest of you,
I will wholeheartedly admit right here and now that the first sentence in this often-forwarded piece from Rich Carroll contains the absolute truth:
"Conspiracy theories make for interesting novels when the story-line is not so absurd that it can grasp our attention."
That's pretty much where the reality ends and the Jihad fantasy begins.
For those of you who aren't ingrained in the ins and outs of web blogging, Rich Carroll is a well-known fear-mongering spammer. This piece (of crap) was written in June of this year and continues to make the rounds into middle class Christian homes, like yours, to scare everyone away from examining the truth.
Let me be CLEAR: I don't give a hoot who you vote for, and I would be just as concerned and passionate if this email were an unintelligent fabrication about the meaning behind George Bush's Skull and Bones membership at Yale, or a fantasy that explains how John McCain was brainwashed by the Viet Cong in order to be re-planted back into American power. Come to think of it, that is a MUCH more plausible scenario: McCain was under communist control for what? Five years? Who knows what they planted in his body or his mind? Wow - now THAT would make a great novel.
Oh my God... How could I say such a thing about an American Hero? Blasphemy!
It's FANTASY. Pure and simple - just like Rich Carroll's tale of Jihad plants in U.S. Government and name changing to hide their plan. Why - of course John McCain isn't a planted Manchurian Candidate whose mind was twisted by the Viet Cong! For the love of Pete - he is a fantastic American Senator from Arizona who has devoted his life to the betterment of the USA. He has stood up for America and performed selflessly as a Senator and Presidential Candidate. He has a wonderful family, who have real-life problems just like us. But HE IS A POLITICIAN, and this is an ELECTION we are deciding. Let's not get mired in all of this nasty Un-Christianlike name-calling and hate-mongering. It's SO un-American it makes me want to scream.
Are you people SO mistrusting of the U.S. Government that you believe that the Republicans (who have been in control of the presidency for 8 years) would never see this kind of conspiracy? Are the Republicans that asleep at the wheel? This kind of crap does NOTHING for the Republican party but make it look ignorant, and makes God-fearing Christians look gullible. Don't believe any of this hogwash! Do research! Google is your friend!
Why would anyone who is a PLANT for the "Jihad" use the name Barack Hussein Obama? That's as dumb as one of the other pieces of spam I've seen that says that Obama's REAL middle name is "Muhammad", but he changed it to Hussein. Oh yeah - now that's slick and smart. Much safer name. No one will EVER suspect anything with a name like that. Those Harvard grads are clever - eh?
Now - back to the REAL world people:
In closing, I ask for you to please examine this ridiculous closing comment of Mr. Carroll's, in all caps, with bad grammar and punctuation just the way it is in the email:
"COULD IT BE THE REASON OUR COUNTRY HAS NOT BEEN UNDER ATTACK SINCE
9-11 BECAUSE THE MUSLIMS HAVE AN AGENDA TO TAKE OVER OUR GOVERNMENT
BY PLACING A MUSLIM IN THE PRESIDENCY. IT MAY COME TO PASS IF
AMERICANS DON'T WAKE UP!"
It would be so nice if that were true, but in case you are all asleep at the wheel yourselves, the U.S. was attacked just last night - in Yemen. You can find out about that at any one of the news web sites you like.
Barack Obama is not a Muslim, he was sworn into the senate using his family Bible. He wears a flag pin - though not 24x7 - and in fact, HE was wearing one and John McCain wasn't - at the Saddleback Forum. Does that mean McCain is not a patriot? Of course not! I could go on and on, but I won't, because this is not high school and we are all grown-ups.
DO NOT LET PEOPLE WHO YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT, AND WHO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT YOU, TELL YOU HOW TO THINK. If you do, YOU are then being the Manchurian Candidate. YOU are then being influenced from the outside and used by people who think you are stupid and gullible. USE THE BRAINS GOD GAVE YOU. DO THE RESEARCH. I will give you ONE link here to get you started:
http://www.factcheck.org/...
Off my soapbox now, and with great respect to all of you regardless of who you vote for in November - JUST VOTE!
Kris
... and I haven't received another one of these things since.
Happy Halloween, fellow Kossacks!