I recently watched “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” a classic movie starring James Stewart is showing in TCM. In the movie, Stewart plays an idealistic and naïve junior senator who is selected for those reason. No one expects that he will do much but keep his chair warm. But he introduces a bill, and in the process, Stewart is slandered, set up, and he finds that political hanky panky has been facilitated by a senator for whom Stewart has had great respect. Of course, this senator finally comes clean and the scandalous political machine is shown for what it really is. Don’t you wish that kind of thing would be true today, but we all know that it isn’t.
Today lies and hanky panky are the rule, and idealism and integrity are rare commodities obscured by those who are willing to do, and to say anything for those who buy them. For example, one email that has apparently made its rounds through right wing channels has found itself in the mail boxes of two family members. It alleges that President Obama cancelled the National Day of Prayer. In short, this message didn’t pass the smell test, so I investigated and found that snopes.com had already deemed it a lie. Snopes states, “In 2009 and again in 2010, items were circulated claiming that President Barack Obama had “cancelled” that year’s National Day of Prayer. These claims were false…” (See the link below.)
This bald faced lie was spread throughout the Christian community with the intention of demonizing the President. I am a Christian and I am furious that some conservative liar would hijack the Christian community with such a venomous lie.
If this was the only lie, I might have seen it as an overzealous oversight; bit it isn’t the only lie. How about these? “Death committees,” Obama was not born in the United States, Obama is a Muslim. The list goes on. Here’s my warning: If we don’t stop swallowing everything the conservatives tell us, we will lose this country.
CrowMac Heights 