More lies from left and right!

Some of the more ludicrous “Pants on Fire “ statements from left and right!

All these statements were made by the indicated person or source. It is likely that many of the mindless recipients believed these lies without validating the source or the material, especially if they were promulgated by a major news service (like “Faux News”). All of these have been fact checked by Politifact and rated as “Pants on Fire”, (as in Liar, Liar, etc).

If you have ever perpetuated one of these baseless canards, take yourself out and kick your own ass!

1.    Rhode Island "didn't ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to pay federal income taxes. So Rhode Island doesn't even have to pay federal income taxes."   R.I. State Representative Charlene Lima (Democrat)  - wrong amendment, wrong interpretation, just plain wrong!

 

2.    "Soldiers Donating to Tea Party Now Face Punishment Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice."   Rhode Island Tea Party – Clearly wrong, also issued by Faux News, wrong then, too!

 

3.    Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is buried "not far" from President Kennedy’s grave. -John DePetro – Ultra conservative talk show host and liar extraordinaire. -  Close?? How about 74 miles away?

                                

4.    "Religious groups like Knights of Columbus have been forced to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies in their facilities, against their beliefs." - National Organization for Marriage – No.  Simply no. Never happened, not gonna  (probably, unless two nice Catholic boys get permission.)

5.    "Switzerland (where the government) issues every household a gun . . . has the lowest gun related crime rate of any civilized country in the world!!!"  - Several NRA related sources in various media.- Switzerland’s gun violence rate  among “civilized” nations is actually exceeded only by Ireland, Greece and the US ! Who knew those Swiss could be so aggressive?  Must be the caffeine in the chocolate.

 

6.    “While CEOs of some large charities have big salaries, the heads of some veterans groups do the job for free.” – a “perpetually forwarded in ignorance” e-mail. – in fact, it’s simply false:

Organization	Top compensation	Fundraising and administration costs
		E-mail says	Actual	E-mail says		Actual
American Legion		$0	$206,661	--		45%
Disabled American Veterans		$0	$328,252	--		30%
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S.		$0	$239,534	--		36%
Military Order of the Purple Heart		$0	$150,626	--		63%
Vietnam Veterans of America		$0	$137,902	--		33%
American Red Cross		$651,957	$1,032,022	--		8%
United Way Worldwide		$375,000	$864,875	--		11%
Salvation Army		$13,000+	$126,920	4%		15%
U.S. Fund for UNICEF		$1.2 million	$472,891	over 95%		17%

 

Especially troubling is that the highest fundraising and salary cost percentage of any of these organizations is the Vietnam Veterans of America. Although VVA reported only 33% of donations went to “fundraising and admin” the BBB determined the figure in 2009 was actually 75%! Of the “veterans groups” listed, only the Disabled American Veterans organization met the better business Bureau’s 20 criteria for certification. Both the VVA and American Legion met less than half of the BBB criteria. Now – where do you want to donate? Salvation Army, Red Cross, United Way, and Unicef  Fund  meet all BBB criteria!

 

7.    Woonsocket needs a garbage-burning power plant because "residents are paying through the nose for electricity that’s fueled by foreign oil, at prices that are skyrocketing." – Rhode Island State Rep. Jon D. Brien, D-Woonsocket. We love to use the words “foreign oil” don’t we? Unfortunately there are two thiongs wrong here. First, RI already has a ;power plant that burns waste, secondly, all other RI power plants burn(domestic) natural gas or (domestic) coal!

 

Apparently you really can, as these stories show, simply make this s**t up, and some people will believe it. Next time you get one of those “unbelieveable” e-mails,  either trash it or check it.