2007 October « Capri

October 25, 2007

ConsumerFreedom Memo To Congress: The Physicians Committee Isn’t One

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 11:57 am

A { COLOR: #093266; TEXT-DECORATION: none; outline: none } A:visited { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:active { COLOR: #888; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A:hover { TEXT-DECORATION: underline } STRONG { FONT-WEIGHT: bold } B { FONT-WEIGHT: bold } P { MARGIN-TOP: 20px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; COLOR: #000000; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 20px } UL { PADDING-LEFT: 5px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; COLOR: #000000; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px; LIST-STYLE-TYPE: square } OL { PADDING-LEFT: 5px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN-LEFT: 15px; COLOR: #000000; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px; LIST-STYLE-TYPE: decimal } LI { PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px } BLOCKQUOTE { MARGIN-TOP: 20px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; COLOR: #000000; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px } IMG { BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } INPUT.button { BORDER-RIGHT: 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: 0px solid; FONT-SIZE: x-small; BORDER-LEFT: 0px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px solid; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef } .titleBig { MARGIN-TOP: 5px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 24px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 1px; COLOR: #a51e1e; LINE-HEIGHT: 26px; FONT-FAMILY: “Times New Roman”, Times, serif } .titleBig A { COLOR: #a51e1e; TEXT-DECORATION: none } .titleBig A:hover { COLOR: #a51e1e; TEXT-DECORATION: none } .cartoon { BORDER-RIGHT: 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: 0px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px solid }

—– Original Message —–

From: Center for Consumer Freedom

To: Consumer Freedom Group List

Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 9:49 AM

Subject: ConsumerFreedom Memo To Congress: The Physicians Committee Isn’t One

This email was sent to you by the Center for Consumer Freedom. To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add info@consumerfreedom.com to your address book.


October 25, 2007


Memo To Congress: The Physicians Committee Isn’t One

You’re receiving this Email because you are subscribed to the Center for Consumer Freedom’s daily news list. If you want to change your email preferences, click here. If you want to be removed from our news list, click here. Or you can send a brief response to: info@consumerfreedom.com.

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October 11, 2007

Missing Kid Hoaxes Started by the Kids Themselves

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 12:09 pm

Missing Nanaimo Teen Email is a Big Hoax

http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/nanaimo/story.html?id=4f7749de-8e18-487b-948e-8b30bf42b78a

Furthermore, it's also a rip-off of the Evan Trembley hoax.

http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/evantrembley.html which was started as a
sick joke on Myspace by the real and not missing Evan Trembley himself.

It borrows content from the Ashley Flores hoax
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/ashleyflores.html
which was started by one of the real and not missing Ashley's friends on Myspace
as a sick joke, and borrows heavily from the Penny Brown hoax
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/pennybrown.html
which is a mutation of the Kelsey Brook Jones chain, which was true for the two
hours that kelsey was thought missing. Kelsey was found playing, and unharmed
two hours after her mother's initial panic.
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/kelsey.html

http://www.breakthechain.org/missing.html

People who start hoaxes like that should be penalized, because they are getting
very sick kicks at others' expense!
It's manipulative, attention-seeking behavior on a level that is so low and
disgusting because people are getting jerked around just so a few childish teens
can get their haw-haws.

Ignorance or lack of forethought as no excuse.

Playing pranks on your friends in a social network like Myspace is bad enough,
but when it's in the form of a chain letter, it's not going to stay just among
the friends of the hoaxter. This is because your circle of friends also has
their own circles of friends, which in turn, have their own circle of friends,
so, you start a hoax about yourself as missing or dying or whatever, and your
friends might think it's funny, but somebody else who is listed as one of their
friends but not listed as your friend, looks at this friend's profile and
bulletins, and this stranger looking at your friend's profile, sees your
missing/dying hoax and assumes it's for real, and compulsively passes it along
to their friends, who pass it on to theirs.

So, yet more reasons chain letters really stink, and why starting a hoax might
get you the controll over the masses and the attention you desire, but it could
also land you and those associated with you in a pile of inconvenience if not
trouble.

I'm very sorry for anyone these hoaxes have hurt, from those who were taken in
by them, (hopefully they'll know better than pass on chain email from now on) to
those who are friends of or related to the hoaxter and suffering fallout because
of the hoax.

But as for the hoaxters themselves, I wish they would get a lot more than just a
slap on the wrist for their self-serving, inconsiderate and just plain sick
actions.

Evan Trembley was exceedingly stupid to start a hoax about himself, as was the
friend of Ashley Flores. The guy who mooched off the Trembley hoax and made it
about himself as a missing kid in Nanaimo is just as guilty. Shame on them!

Full article about the Nanaimo prank:

http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/nanaimo/story.html?id=4f7749de-8e18-487b-948e-8b30bf42b78a

Missing Nanaimo Teen Email is a Big Hoax

Nanaimo Daily News Missing teen e-mail is a big hoax
Plea urging people to look out for Nanaimo boy is a prank that first began in
Texas
Derek Spalding , Daily News
Published: Thursday, October 11, 2007
Nanaimo RCMP say its unfortunate that someone is circulating a fake missing
person notice through e-mail accounts.

Thousands of Harbour City residents have recently received a message in their
inbox about a missing teenager from Nanaimo, but the chain mail is nothing but a
hoax. The message asks recipients to please "pass this to everyone in your
address book" in hopes that someone will have seen 15-year-old Evan Trembley.
After a simple Internet search, however, the real story behind the prank is
revealed.

Evan Trembley of Wichita, Falls, Tex, created a fake Amber Alert with himself as
the missing person. He then sent it out to his friends on MySpace.com. Then a
few people who didn't know it was a joke, sent the e-mail out to everyone on
their list. Police exposed Trembley who said he thought his "friends would
recognize it, get a laugh out of it" and delete it, he told reporters in
Wichita.

****But then people who weren't his friends took it seriously and continued to
e-mail all their friends. Trembley and his mother Tammy said they do not expect
any criminal charges.

It appears someone in Nanaimo decided to localize Trembley's prank and
distributed it throughout the city. Using the same photo and similar
information, Trembley now appears to be a missing Nanaimo boy. This week, the
e-mail reached Robin Dutton, owner of Arrowsmith Bikes, who then forwarded it to
more than 300 people on his mailing list.

"I just thought, if somebody's missing, it doesn't take a whole lot for me to
send it out to everyone in my address book," he said before expressing his
disappointment in the hoax. "I just think it's really unfortunate. I'd like to
think that people have a bit more to do rather than waste people's time."

DSpalding@nanaimodailynews.com

250-729-4231

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October 10, 2007

ConsumerFreedom Obesity Bandwagon Careening Toward Economic Crisis?

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 1:56 pm

From: Center for Consumer Freedom

To: Consumer Freedom Group List

Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 9:06 AM

Subject: ConsumerFreedom Obesity Bandwagon Careening Toward Economic Crisis?

This email was sent to you by the Center for Consumer Freedom. To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add info@consumerfreedom.com to your address book.


October 10, 2007


Obesity Bandwagon Careening Toward Economic Crisis? America is caught in the middle of an “informational cascade” where subsequent scientists build new premises on the claims of previous researchers. If the first scientists in the line of research got it right, then well, there’s nothing really to discuss. But if the initial findings were flawed, every theory built on that conclusion is also kaput. Welcome to obesity research. Yesterday, New York Times science reporter John Tierney outlined this “cascade” phenomenon as it relates to “expert” diet recommendations: The notion that fatty foods shorten your life began as a hypothesis based on dubious assumptions and data; when scientists tried to confirm it they failed repeatedly. The evidence against Häagen-Dazs was nothing like the evidence against Marlboros. Tierney sought out “the most rigorous meta-analysis of the clinical trials of low-fat diets” and discovered that it found no significant impact on mortality. More recent research has also broken away from the group-think. A study in the prestigious Lancet medical journal found that people with low BMIs, not the overweight or obese, had the highest risk of heart disease and early death. But the media didn’t widely cover these findings that contradicted the party line. Instead, the report covered by multiple news outlets found that Cuba’s economic downturn had led to a substantial drop in average calories eaten (aka “famine”) and a decrease in obesity rates (aka “starvation”). The researchers recommend that the U.S. look to Cuba’s “successful” experience as a dietary standard. (Never mind that premature death rates among the elderly actually inched upward and there was an epidemic of degenerative nerve damage as a result of widespread malnutrition.) These reduced-fat, low-salt, no-food recommendations — besides being unjustified — may well have unintended consequences as severe as those observed in the Cuba study. If Americans hope to avoid the lemmings’ fate, they should tune out the latest nutrition survey and fad diets. Rather, heed the advice of Dr. Edward H. Ahrens Jr., a distinguished researcher who spoke out against the erroneous 1970s Congressional report that advised Americans to eat less fat: This is a matter of such enormous social, economic and medical importance that it must be evaluated with our eyes completely open. Thus I would hate to see this issue settled by anything that smacks of a Gallup poll. Breaking News Here’s a sampling of other stories that have caught our interest today. To see a one-week archive of these items, click here. The Philadelphia Inquirer asks: “Should the city, like Mom, tell you what’s good to eat?” … and Boston Globe readers hear our take on the “couch potato crisis” CCF gives Florida Sun-Sentinel readers a reality check about E.coli & animal “rights” Attention global-warming vegetarian agitators: Sub-Saharan Africa would like a word with you…

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October 9, 2007

Stupid Fanatical Food Cops: Not Worth Their Weight In Salt

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 12:28 pm

From: Center for Consumer Freedom

To: Consumer Freedom Group List

Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 11:34 AM

Subject: ConsumerFreedom Food Cops: Not Worth Their Weight In Salt

This email was sent to you by the Center for Consumer Freedom. To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add info@consumerfreedom.com to your address book.


October 9, 2007


Food Cops: Not Worth Their Weight In Salt Food-police activists have compared trans fats to arsenic, cupcakes to contraband, andmost recentlysalt to the plague. Over the weekend, the Chicago Tribune quoted one nutrition “expert” who likened the effects of salt to “AIDS, malaria, terrorism, obesity, high cholesterol and tobacco.” This epidemic of hyperbole is nothing new. Over the past decade, nutrition zealots at the Center for Science in the Public Interest have repeatedly petitioned the FDA to revoke salt’s “generally recognized as safe” status and treat it as a food additive for the purposes of regulation, which would allow strict limits on the salt content of processed foods. For many activists spreading these food fears, the facts seem largely irrelevant. There’s no scientific consensus on the issue, let alone concrete evidence of a universal relationship between salt intake and hypertension. In fact, only a small minority of peopletagged as “salt-sensitive”respond to changes in dietary sodium. For the rest of us, studies have shown that the consequences of too little salt can be deadly. Common sense dictates that we can’t simply cut salt out of our diets. For thousands of years people have used it for currency, medicine, and preservation of food. Unlike the self-important food cops, salt is truly essential for life itself. Breaking News Here’s a sampling of other stories that have caught our interest today. To see a one-week archive of these items, click here. Nobel prize goes to researchers who fight disease with (drum roll, please…) lab rats. Sorry, PETA. UK experts still looking for proof that in-school food bans actually work Attention western anti-biotech activists: Africans gush over the economic advantages of GM crops Research indicates strong link between sleep deprivation and obesity (A new “S” in CSPI?) Put down the remote! SC researchers find only 45 percent of local students in after-school sports HSUS commits less than 1.8 percent of its Katrina fundraising to build a pet shelter. Whoopee.

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October 7, 2007

Urban Legends Reference Pages Update #331

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 10:29 am

From: update@snopes.com

To: ChristiansUnchained@googlegroups.com

Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2007 8:21 PM

Subject: CU24: Urban Legends Reference Pages Update #331

snopes.com

Urban Legends Reference Pages:
Update #331
Hello again from snopes.com, where we shed light on the wild tales you’ve heard! This e-mail gives information about new articles recently added to the Urban Legends Reference Pages and provides pointers to older pieces about rumors and hoaxes still wandering into everyone’s inboxes. Our last update mailing was September 29, 2007.

If after this update you are left wondering about something newly arrived in your inbox, our search engine stands ready to assist you. Bookmark that URL — it’s a keeper!

An RSS feed for our What’s New page is available at the following URL:
http://www.snopes.com/info/whatsnew.xml

And now to the legends, the mayhem, and the misinformation!

New Articles

Jamba Juice freebie!
E-mail purports to describe an attempted abduction rape in Vacaville, California.
Open letter to the Atlanta NAACP protests the chapter president’s support of Michael Vick.
Update: Another Internet-circulated appeal about abandoned puppies needing adoption, these ones Labrador mix.
More monetary mayhem: E-mail warns that a proposed redesign of the Lincoln Cent will omit the motto “In God We Trust.”
Photographs show a bear rescued from the ledge of a bridge.
Yohana Ravelo: missing child or Internet hoax?
E-mail decries the Red Cross for providing supplies to marchers in Jena, Louisiana.

Worth a Second Look

A lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a skyscraper crashed through a pane and plunged to his death.

Still Haunting the Inbox

15-year-old Evan Trembley of Wichita Falls, Texas, isn’t missing – it’s a hoax.
Dialing #77 or *677 is not a surefire way of reaching the local highway patrol — the service is in place in some regions, but not in others. If in need of assistance, dial 911 instead for the sure thing.
We look at two eraser sponge rumors, that they contain formaldehyde or have caused chemical burns when rubbed on skin.
While it’s true a consortium of wireless providers is planning to create a 411 (directory assistance) service for cell phone numbers, you need not register your cell phone with the national “Do Not Call” directory to prevent your number from being provided to telemarketers.
The missing child alert about 13-year-old Ashley Flores of Philadelphia is a hoax.
Petition advocates buying/not buying gasoline from Citgo. And no, Citgo did not change its name to Petro Express.
No, the new dollar coin doesn’t omit “In God We Trust” – that phrase has been stamped into its edge.
The entreaty to aid 7-year-old Amy Bruce who is dying of lung cancer and a brain tumor by forwarding an email and a sappy poem titled “Slow Dance” is a hoax.
E-mail compares George W. Bush’s eco-friendly ranch with Al Gore’s energy-expending mansion.
E-mailed petition advocates denying social services to immigrants.
Will pressing #-9-0 on your telephone allow scammers to make long-distance calls and charge them to your phone bill?
No, Johns Hopkins Hospital has not issued a “cancer update” detailing how cancer spreads and recommending methods for treating the disease.
Is Illinois Senator Barack Obama “ideologically Muslim”?
809 area code scam: Unsuspecting phone customers have been gulled by con artists into placing calls to area codes in the Caribbean that result in hefty charges.
While the FDA health advisory regarding drugs containing PPA (phenylpropanolamine) is the real thing, it’s outdated.
While actor Lee Marvin did fight in the Pacific theater during World War II, earned a Purple Heart, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, he and Bob Keeshan (TV’s “Captain Kangaroo,”) did not fight together in the battle for Iwo Jima.
There was no letter to Starbucks from coffee-seeking G.I.s serving in Iraq, so no response from the coffee retailer saying it didn’t support the war and anyone in it. As for Oscar Mayer refusing troops free hot dogs, the 2004 Starbucks e-mail was altered in 2007 to aim it at the blameless hot dog maker.
No, Jay Leno did not write the “Hits the Nail on the Head” essay — it was Craig R. Smith.
There’s no abductor prowling the Target parking lot in Wheaton, Illinois, who is using an old lady who appears to be in distress to lure victims.
E-mail claims Jane Fonda betrayed U.S. POWs during the Vietnam War.
During the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings, Oliver North did decry that a certain terrorist was “the most evil person alive” and that “an assassin team [should] be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth,” but he wasn’t talking about Osama bin Laden.
Images do show the USS New York, which is being built with steel from the Twin Towers.
No, robbers are not luring female victims into sniffing ether-laced perfume in parking lots.
While it is true that in 2004 a man in India was electrocuted when trying to use his cell phone as it recharged, it is safe to use your cell phone while it is charging.
Hillary Clinton is the subject of many e-mailed items, and our “Clintons” section contains write-ups about a number of them.
No, Bill Gates is not sharing his fortune with everyone who forwards a specific e-mail on his behalf. This tired leg-pull continues to romp through everyone’s inbox, the most widespread incarnation swearing “This took two pages of the Tuesday USA Today!”
Virus announcement and virus hoax e-mails are afoot! We try to keep current on them and do our best to point readers to authoritative links confirming or debunking them.

Fraud Afoot

Seems like everyone has become the recipient of mysterious e-mails promising untold wealth if only one helps a wealthy foreigner quietly move millions of dollars out of his country. The venerable Nigerian Scam has discovered the goldmine that is the Internet. Beware — there’s still no such thing as “something for nothing,” and the contents of your bank account will end up with these wily foreigners if you fall in with this.
Likewise, look out for mailings announcing you’ve won a foreign lottery you don’t recall entering.
Or that because you share the surname of a wealthy person who died without leaving a will you’re in line for a windfall inheritance.
And be especially wary if, while trying to sell or rent anything online (car, boat, horse, motorcycle, painting, apartment, you name it) you’re approached by a prospective buyer/renter who wants to pay with a cashier check made out for an amount in excess of the agreed-upon price and who asks the balance be sent to a third party.
Aspiring work-at-homers promised big bucks for acting as intermediaries for international transactions wherein they cash checks for other parties or reship goods to them have been defrauded by con artists. Don’t you be next.
If someone telephones to announce you can have a $200 Wal-Mart shopping spree or $200 in gasoline coupons in return for a $3.49 processing charge to be debited directly from your bank account, hang up. You’re being set up via the promise of “something for almost nothing” into authorizing a swindler to help himself to the contents of your bank account.
If someone calls to announce you’ve failed to appear for jury duty and will be arrested, do not give the caller your personal and financial information in an effort to prove he’s sending the gendarmes after the wrong guy. You’re being tricked into giving up this information to an identity thief.

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October 6, 2007

Shoddy Writing

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 12:31 pm

Every so often a story write-up comes along that has such a glaring error in
judgement and phrasing; an error so bad that it begs for a re-write.

Such was the case of an article whose summary showed up in my Google alert
emails for two days in a row.

–
Beauty Queen Takes on Predators, Spammers

It'sa sign of the times: The current Miss America **doesn't want to
save the world from hunger or work for world peace.** No, she wants to
help keep the kids safe on the Internet. Lauren Nelson, 20, will help
launch the new Miss America …
–

http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=135495 appears to be the original
offending site and http://www.first.org/newsroom/globalsecurity/157241.html has
a link to that site, -plus the quote above.

Just because Miss America may not have actually listed world hunger and world
peace in her speech, or maybe didn't donate to these causes does NOT mean she
"does not want to" end world hunger or help achieve world peace!

One can put their efforts into fighting spam and keeping the net more
kid-friendly while still wanting to end world hunger and work to achieve world
peace!

This article could've been far better written if it simply stated that Lauren
Nelson added a unique cause to those of all the collective Miss Americas, and
then went on with the rest of the article, explaining her current project and
why.

But stating that Lauren Nelson "doesn't want to save the world from hunger or
work for world peace" judges her as just that – "not wanting" to end world
hunger or work for world peace. It gives the impression that she must be somehow
less caring because she is working on a different project than the usual!

How would that make her feel?

Probably not too good!

Intended or not, this is a shoddy, offensive judgement call that does not belong
in what is supposed to be a professionally written story!

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October 4, 2007

Scientific Establishment Smacks Down Mercury-In-Fish Fear Mongers

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 2:23 pm

From: Center for Consumer Freedom

To: Consumer Freedom Group List

Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 11:58 AM

Subject: ConsumerFreedom Scientific Establishment Smacks Down Mercury-In-Fish Fear Mongers

This email was sent to you by the Center for Consumer Freedom. To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add info@consumerfreedom.com to your address book.


October 4, 2007


Scientific Establishment Smacks Down Mercury-In-Fish Fear Mongers We hate to say we told you so, but…well, we told you so. Today, a coalition of some of the nation’s most prominent women’s health experts publicized its recommendations for maternal seafood consumption. Their verdict: Pregnant and breast-feeding women need to eat at least 12 ounces of fish a week to ensure healthy brain development in their kids. And what about the trace levels of mercury found in exceedingly low levels in some fish? Spokeswoman Dr. Ashley Roman put it best in an interview with MSNBC: A lot of the concern about mercury or consuming mercury in fish products is unfounded. To date, there’s not a single case of fetal toxicity linked directly to fish intake. Finally, some common sense in the mercury-in-fish debate. As we’re telling the press today: Green groups including Oceana, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Working Group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Mercury Policy Project owe millions of American moms and their babies a sincere apology. And the Environmental Protection Agency should join in that chorus … Sadly, a public health tragedy still awaits us, but not from the fish on our plates. The real danger will come from unintended consequences of alarm bells, as moms deny their children the vital health benefits of seafood because of unfounded mercury fears. For three years, we’ve been saying that the proven health benefits of eating fish far outweigh the hypothetical risks. Serious science clearly doesn’t support the prevailing panic, and we’re glad to see mainstream nutrition experts telling moms that the Great Mercury Scare belongs in the dustbin of history. Breaking News Here’s a sampling of other stories that have caught our interest today. To see a one-week archive of these items, click here. Ohio coalition aims to counter animal-rights propaganda Could everyone have been wrong about obesity? Really? Texas student columnist chides Microsoft for $100K donation to HSUS Fired vegan-evangelist teacher changes his tune, claims PETA lessons were just another art class… Fired vegan-evangelist art teacher wants his job back. (Will he eat crow?) We’re not sure if this is a spoof, but we hope it’s not.

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Re: the "6 black lab (mix) puppies" Chain email

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 5:04 am

The chain letter is out of date, the dogs have homes…

I received this chain letter email from one of my friends but deleted everybody’s email and work info that appeared in this particular branch of the chain to hopefully keep this thing and everybody’s email and info from being spread any further via this forward. As chain emails spread, they become more out of date and more distorted and inaccurate, also, they are a way people unwittingly give out their work info and email addresses, phone numbers etc. to complete strangers. Work place emails often or usually have full signatures with phone numbers, cell numbers, email addresses and position descriptions attached. There were quite a few of these in this particular branch of the chain email by the time it got to me.

For help preventing the spread of email chain letters and the unnecessary emotional distress or rush they often cause, and for further info that proves, disproves, and gives history on all kinds of chain letters and why it is not a good idea to send them on, there are:

http://www.BreakTheChain.org

http://www.TruthOrFiction.com

http.www.snopes.com

A couple of excellent articles are at

“C’mon, What Can it Hurt?” at

http://www.breakthechain.org/reasons.html

and the Psychology of Forwarding 101 at

http://www.breakthechain.org/psych.html

Snopes.com dealt with two similar “homeless puppies” chain emails on one page, so I’m just including what they said about the current one in this email. I inserted a couple of little things.

snopes.com

Update: In September 2007 the following “adoption” appeal for black
labrador puppies began circulating:

Forwarded from a friend – please forward to anyone you know that may
be able to help or is interested in adopting.

Scott (sometimes replaced with the first person of “I” everybody wants to be an animal hero) rescued 6 black lab (mix) puppies out of the middle of the

*Cut rest of chain email*

      This appears to have been a genuine appeal that began as a Craigslist
      posting, but although the person whose name and phone number were listed
      on the earliest e-mailed versions has stated that all puppies have since
      been “adopted”, the same message and picture continue to be forwarded with a
      number of different names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and locations
      now attached to them.

Last updated: 2 October 2007

         Sources:
            Powell, Larry.   “E-mail Plea Spreads.”
            The Dallas Morning News.   24 May 2003   (p. 40).

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October 3, 2007

PETA Gets Schooled

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 12:38 pm

High 5 to the CCF for trying to teach PEta anything, and all the best of luck and success educating the public about PEta and the animal rights/welfare movements in general with this article!

—– Original Message —–

From: Center for Consumer Freedom

To: Consumer Freedom Group List

Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 12:01 PM

Subject: ConsumerFreedom PETA Gets Schooled

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October 3, 2007


PETA Gets Schooled The animal rights zealots at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are engaging in some very public back-patting after wrapping up a day-long “cruelty to animals” seminar with disgraced NFL quarterback Michael Vick. PETA loves to play the part of enlightened humanitarian for the press, and the Vick scandal has proved to be the perfect opportunity for these save-the-chickens extremists to generate sympathetic media coverage. Which got us thinking: Given PETA’s well-documented history of cruelty to humans, its staff would certainly benefit from a similar seminar (at our headquarters). Suggested schedule: 9:00 am: “Human Beings Have Feelings” — Recent scientific breakthroughs show definitely that members of the homo sapiens species consciously experience the world, and have negative emotional reactions to adverse external stimuli. Activities proven to cause stress in humans include harassment at work, physical assaults, death threats, and verbal abuse. 10:30 am: “Don’t Exploit Human Misery” — For reasons still not completely understood, most people find the insensitive exploitation of human tragedy to be offensive. Examples include viciously criticizing a recently deceased and widely beloved naturalist, mocking the cancer diagnosis of a big-city mayor, and comparing farm animals to victims of the Nazi Holocaust. 12:00 pm: Lunch break (hot dog cart provided) 1:30 pm: “Science is Good” — Scientific investigation into the causes and cures of human illness has reaped untold benefits to society. Obstruction of medical research through criminal activities or misinformation campaigns is inhumane and wrong. 3:00 pm: “Preying on Children is Bad” — Children are psychologically vulnerable and should not be used as pawns in activist campaigns. Examples of reprehensible treatment of children include distributing disturbing comic books at schools and lying about the health effects of kids’ favorite foods. 4:30 pm: “Things Cost Money” — Most stuff isn’t free. If you destroy something, it costs money to rebuild or replace it. Instances of costly behavior include burning down medical laboratories and vandalizing restaurants. 6:00 pm: “Many People Take Their Religion Seriously” — Most Americans subscribe to one organized religion or another, and they can become offended by insensitivity toward their chosen deities and holy books. Examples of callous disregard for religion include deliberately misquoting scripture, ascribing vegetarianism to a clearly omnivorous religious figure, and mocking church leaders by portraying them as livestock. Breaking News Here’s a sampling of other stories that have caught our interest today. To see a one-week archive of these items, click here. Former PETA nut: Dairy calves are mistreated. (Actual animal scientists say No way, vegan freaks) Op-ed: “Is junk-food ban in California schools half-baked?” Study: Overemphasis on diet and weight-loss leads teens to eating disorders Brilliant European TV ad promotes exercise: “Get out of your armchair” Chicago editorial: Let’s tax the heck out of soda pop The San Francisco Chronicle loves the book PETA and HSUS hope you won’t read Animal rights groups roll out California plan to make meat and eggs more expensive (Thanks, HSUS!) Could eggshells save the planet? (Somebody should tell the vegans) Pot? Meet kettle. Kettle? Meet pot.

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Well Said!

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 2:26 am

From a Snopes message board, here's a great response to that awful canned
friendship chain email I received yesterday.

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=002384;p=1

Friendship glurge
jw
posted 26 November, 2006 07:19 AM
——————————————————————————–
An acquaintance of mine has started forwarding this type of glurge rubbish to me
recently. The excessive capitalisation rounds it off.

Hello There Nice Person
Did Anyone Ever Tell You,
Just How Special You Are
The Light that You Emit
Might even Light a Star

*rest of awful sappy phony friendship chain email snipped out*

How do I politely get them to stop?
I'm sure many of you have dealt with this before, so I would appreciate your
input.
——————————————————————————–

Ariadne

posted 26 November, 2006 07:50 AM
——————————————————————————–
Hello There Person I Barely Know,
Did Anyone Ever Tell You
Just How Annoying it can be
To Get this Crap you Send
To Poor Old Busy Me?
I Have Better Things to Do
Than Read your Silly Junk.
It Does Not Make Me Happy,
It Puts me In a Funk.
I already Know I'm Special;
I Don't Need Your Awful Rhyme
Or Your other Email Glurge
To waste My Precious Time.
For you See I am Too Busy
Spending Time With Those I Know
To Send this Tripe Back to You
And Help Raise Your Ego.
Because the Test of Friendship
Is Not Based on what one Sends
But Rather it is the Delete Key
For Non-Forwarders are Friends.

If you care, delete this message!
Friends do not let friends clog up inboxes!
YOU MUST DELETE THIS IMMEDIATELY!!
OR RISK LOSING AT LEAST 4 FRIENDS!

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October 1, 2007

McCann Case – Police and Media Bumbling Way Off the Map!

Filed under: 2946 — capri @ 6:26 am

The police and the media are making complete idiots of themselves over the
Madeleine McCann case. I have a few comments on these site summaries.

Site 1.
McCann's hire car examined by experts
Brisbane Times – Brisbane,Queensland,Australia
A team of forensic scientists have reportedly made independent tests on a
hire car rented by the parents of missing British girl Madeline McCann. …
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/mccanns-hire-car-examined-by-experts/20074630-11s5.html

-Okay, summary looks good, it's probably one of the more sensible writeups in a
while.

Site 2.
Girl in photo not Madeleine McCann
Melbourne Herald Sun – Australia
PARENTS of missing British girl Madeleine McCann were being consoled by
friends last night after being given the devastating news that a holiday
snap …
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22493955-663,00.html

-The stupid media should not have splashed little Bushra's picture all over the
world and assumed she was Madeline in the first place! Not only have they wasted
a lot of people's time and attention on a claim that isn't real, they added to
the torment of Maddeleine's family! Gads, but you police and news reporters are
inconsiderate, bumbling idiots!

Site 3.
A sacked maid seeking revenge is latest suspect over missing …
Times Online – UK
A maid who is alleged to have abducted Madeleine McCann in revenge for
being sacked from the holiday resort where the missing girl was staying is
being …
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2563493.ece

-Whoever came up with this hair-brained theory? Oh, right, the brain-dead police
again! Next thing you know, there will be reports that the Great Pumpkin took
her, then Santa did it, then the Easter Bunny. Please, don't waste any more time
and energy until something has been proven before spouting this unbelievable
dreck!

Site 4.
How the Portugese police say Madeleine in fall on a staircase
This is London – London,England,UK
Madeleine McCann died in a fall down a flight of stairs at her parents'
holiday apartment, Portuguese police claimed yesterday in the latest leak
from …
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23414439-details/How+the+Portugese+police+say+Madeleine+in+fall+on+a+staircase/article.do

-Well, doesn't everybody know how reliable the Portuguese police are by now? You
stupid cops are all over the map, you have no idea what you're doing, and the
gullible media, desperate for a story, any story, truth be damned, will print
anything, not caring how it hurts the McCann family and their friends!

Site 5.
Maddy McCann My Nightmares Part 4
This Gross Nightmare About Maddy McCann with a Horrible Bloody Hand Still Keeps
Periodically Reoccurring. It Really Freaks Me Out.
http://digg.com/world_news/Maddy_McCann_My_Nightmares_Part_4

-Oh, but it's digg.com… You have to click through digg to actually get to the
article – nope, sorry, don't want to read it that badly. Anyway, for the one who
wrote it: try to calm down, okay?

Site 6.
Maid Up Stories, Avoid the Questions
By transfattyacid(transfattyacid)
If this is yet another red herring, in a week of red herrings from the McCann
camp, it does have an advantage over the Maddie in Morocco story. The matter is
being investigated by the British police, and they are unlikely to hurry any …
http://trannyfattyacid.blogspot.com/2007/09/maid-up-stories-avoid-questions.html

-Erm, okay, so we agree about the media being bungling idiots. But I'm not sure
what your take is on the McCanns themselves.

Site 7.
If Madeleine McCann was Black, Would the Media Care?
By ExpatJane(MLH)
If Madeleine McCann was Black, Would the Media Care?Madeleine McCann, who you've
no doubt heard has been missing over in Europe, is a white British four-year-old
whose disappearance has sparked a massive global media focus. …
http://missingminorities.blogspot.com/2007/09/if-madeleine-mccann-was-black-would.html

-What's black and white got to do with Madeleine McCann!? Oh, please, give me a
pickin break!!

The reason the world knows about Madeleine McCann at all is because of a chain
email one of her relatives started – a chain email that, for once, isn't a hoax!

-Yes, if she was black, and it was the same story and it was for real and if a
relative had started a chain email and everybody heard about it, everybody would
care just as much!

-Sheesh! Why in the heck is it that some apparently bigoted attention-hogs with
their own racist agendas always have to go throwing the race card and silly
pity-parties into things!? So now, tell me, should we all of a sudden just stop
praying that Madeleine will be found alive or at the very least, didn't suffer a
horrible death because she's not black? Should we wish she's dead because she's
not black? Should we just forget all about any other missing kids we are told
about if they happen not to be black? Should we only be on the look out for
missing kids if they are black and simply shrug off and refuse to even consider
trying to help out if a picture shows a missing kid who isn't black? Are we
supposed to only care about missing kids if they are "the right color" for you
now? Sheesh! I'm not even going to read your crummy site! This isn't about wite
and black! Stop trying to turn it into that and just please go away if you
aren't interested in helping find missing kids regardless of skin color! ARGH!

Comment on Open Thread: A photo of Madeleine McCann? by TobyRose
By TobyRose
It is odd that Kate McCann announced Madeleine had been abducted before a search
was done for her in the complex. It seems she was trying to convince people of
that. A mother's first reaction to a missing child is that the child has …
http://crimeblog.us/?p=566#comment-64196

-Uhm no, I'd think that would be one of the initial reactions of any parent
whose kid went missing from a motel room!

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