Sometime we get a comment that belongs in the circular file. Comment enough, and you will write one. We all make mistakes. So we all have a good reason to be forgiving souls. Nonetheless, I believe I am obligated not to let folks use my website to spread false information. So here is a comment on a comment that belongs in the circular file.

What comment? This one here.

Check out “Your Social Security”:https://partneringwitheagles.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/your-social-security/
A Ponzi scheme; Grrr… If succeeding DEMOCRATIC administrations had left it the !!!! alone, it would still be solvent. PLUS:http://partneringwitheagles.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/social-security-fdr-would-roll-over-in-his-grave/ Call it a ponzi scheme and I can find other grizzly facts on how Dems have derailed its spolvency. If they paid back all the monies that were stolen from the fund, there would be NO legitimate excuse for this accusation. “X” (from here)

The links in this comment point to posts that contain misinformation.

Social Security Changes at Snopes.com says the first link contains a mixture of  true and false information. Debunking Some Internet Myths at the Social Security website also refutes the claims.

Refugees Earn More Than Retires at TruthorFiction.com says the nonsense on the second link is fiction. This link, Benefits For Children, at the Social Security website, explains why. I found that Social Security link here.

For all I know the guy who posted those posts at partneringwitheagles thinks he is doing a great public service. Unfortunately, he may as well rename his blog partneringwithcrows. When we post stuff or email stuff, the facts in that stuff become our facts. If those facts are not true, then we smear our own reputation.

Various Conservative blogs have been publishing some variation on the following piece. Even though they reference Snopes.com, they still have it wrong. Oops!

What do WE THE PEOPLE think is FAIR PAY for those who stand on the front lines of combat in uniform? Many of the lower ranked service members qualify for food stamps and other “low income” programs. How can this be???

SNOPES.com -verified

“Help me to be, to think, to act what is right, make me truthful, honest and honorable in all things: make me intellectually honest for the sake of right and honor and without thought of reward to me.” (Prayer carried by Gen. Robert E. Lee)

CINDY WILLIAMS (not the actress, but a different Cindy Williams,) was appointed by Obama
As an Assistant Director for NATIONAL SECURITY in the Congressional Budget Office…..

Military Pay

This is an Airman’s response to Cindy Williams’ editorial piece in the Washington Times about MILITARY PAY, it should be printed in all newspapers across America .

Ms. Cindy William wrote a piece for the Washington Times denouncing the pay raise(s) coming service members’ way this year citing that she stated a 13% wage increase was more than they deserve.

A young airman from Hill AFB responds to her article below. He ought to get a bonus for this.

“Ms Williams:

I just had the pleasure of reading your column, “Our GI’s earn enough” and I am a bit confused. Frankly, I’m wondering where this vaunted overpayment is going, because as far as I can tell, it disappears every month between DFAS (The Defense Finance and Accounting Service) and my bank account. Checking my latest earnings statement I see that I make $1,117..80 before taxes per month. After taxes, I take home $874.20. When I run that through the calculator, I come up with an annual salary of $13,413.60 before taxes, and $10,490.40 after.

I work in the Air Force Network Control Center where I am part of the team responsible for a 5,000 host computer network. I am involved with infrastructure segments, specifically with Cisco Systems equipment. A quick check under jobs for “Network Technicians” in the Washington , D.C. area reveals a position in my career field, requiring three years’ experience in my job. Amazingly, this job does NOT pay $13,413.60 a year. No, this job is being offered at $70,000 to $80,000 per annum………… I’m sure you can draw the obvious conclusions.

Given the tenor of your column, I would assume that you NEVER had the pleasure of serving your country in her armed forces.

Before you take it upon yourself to once more castigate congressional and DOD leadership for attempting to get the families in the military’s lowest pay brackets off of WIC and food stamps, I suggest that you join a group of deploying soldiers headed for AFGHANISTAN; I leave the choice of service branch up to you. Whatever choice you make though, opt for the SIX month rotation: it will guarantee you the longest possible time away from your family and friends, thus giving you full “deployment experience.”

As your group prepares to board the plane, make sure to note the spouses and children who are saying good-bye to their loved ones. Also take care to note that several families are still unsure of how they’ll be able to make ends meet while the primary breadwinner is gone. Obviously they’ve been squandering the “vast” piles of cash the government has been giving them.

Try to deploy over a major holiday; Christmas and Thanksgiving are perennial favorites… And when you’re actually over there, sitting in a foxhole, shivering against the cold desert night, and the flight sergeant tells you that there aren’t enough people on shift to relieve you for chow, remember this: trade whatever MRE’s (meal-ready-to-eat) you manage to get for the tuna noodle casserole or cheese tortellini, and add Tabasco to everything. This gives some flavor.

Talk to your loved ones as often as you are permitted; it won’t be nearly long enough or often enough, but take what you can get and be thankful for it. You may have picked up on the fact that I disagree with most of the points you present in your open piece.

But, tomorrow from KABUL, I will defend to the death your right to say it.

You see, I am an American fighting man, a guarantor of your First Amendment right and every other right you cherish…On a daily basis, my brother and sister soldiers worldwide ensure that you and people like you can thumb your collective noses at us, all on a salary that is nothing short of pitiful and under conditions that would make most people cringe. We hemorrhage our best and brightest into the private sector because we can’t offer the stability and pay of civilian companies.

And you, Ms.. Williams, have the gall to say that we make more than we deserve?

A1C Michael Bragg, Hill AFB AFNCC

I have no desire to embarrass anyone, but according to Snopes.com (Shirley, You Jest!), Cindy Williams actually worked for Congressional Budget Office, not the executive branch. In addition, she had the job during the Clinton administration. So there is no point in blaming Obama for Cindy Williams.

Here is a link to the article Ms Williams wrote, Our GIs Earn Enough (H/T to Cindy Williams Military Pay Article Gets New Life and that Snopes.com link, of course). Surprise! Surprise! It is in the Washington Post.

I doubt Ms Williams actually intended to offend military personnel. What she wrote is more stupid than anything else. What the Ms Williams could have said is that military pay is like any other government expense. If we use more money than we have to use to get the job done, then we are wasting the taxpayer’s money. Then she could have thanked the people who serve us for being willing to serve their country without being paid the high wages the job might otherwise demand.

Apparently, Ms Williams has another concern. She primarily aimed to cut defense spending so good Democrats could invest the “windfall” or “peace dividend”, and she is still at it. Surprise! Surprise! What she writes now is in The New York Times.

• The Value of Restraint
• Good Luck to the Mayors!

Think about it. The vast bulk of the Federal Budget is spent on social programs, and what do the Libs do. They talk about about cutting the windfall and peace dividend and spending the money on infrastructure. Why don’t they suggest cutting their precious social programs?

Where is Ms Williams today? Apparently, she is safely sconced away in academia => Cindy Williams. Undoubtedly, Ms Williams enjoys her share of that social spending. And nope! That Cindy Williams is not the actress named => Cindy Williams.

I got the following nonsense in an email.

Great history lesson. Some things we learned in school, and some we learned in church…

Near the bottom–the part highlighted in green–will give you GOOSEBUMPS!!!

You don’t want to miss this! ((*_*) )

VERY INTERESTING-

1. The Garden of Eden was in Iraq .

2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!

3. Noah built the ark in Iraq ..

4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq .

5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq ..

6. Isaac’s wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq …

7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq .

8. Jonah preached in Nineveh – which is in Iraq …

9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel .

10. Amos cried out in Iraq ..

11 Babylon , which is in Iraq , destroyed Jerusalem ..

12. Daniel was in the lion’s den in Iraq .

3. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq (Jesus had been in Iraq also as the fourth person in the Fiery Furnace!).

14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the ‘writing on the wall’ in Iraq .

15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq .

16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq ..

17. The wise men were from Iraq ..

18. Peter preached in Iraq .

19. The ‘Empire of Man’ described in Revelation is called Babylon –which was a cityin Iraq.

And you have probably seen this one: Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible.

But do you know which nation is second?

It is Iraq !

However, that is not the name that is used in the Bible.

The names used in the Bible are Babylon , Land of Shinar , and Mesopotamia … The word Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly between the Tigris And Euphrates Rivers .

The name Iraq means country with deep roots.

Indeed Iraq is a country with deep roots and is a very significant country in the Bible.

No other nation, except Israel , has more history and prophecy associated

with it than Iraq.

And also, this is something to think about:

Since America is

typically represented by an eagle.

Saddam should have read up on his Muslim passages …

The following verse is from the Koran, (the Islamic Bible)

Koran (9:11 ) – For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah;

And there was peace.

(Note the verse number!) Hmmmmmmm?!

The reference to the Koran, verse 9:11, is a big fat lie. That makes any statement in this email unworthy of our trust.

Snopes.com, for example, calls the reference to Quran 9:11 “FALSE“. Here is one translation of that verse.

But if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they are your brethren in faith; and We make the communications clear for a people who know. (from here)

Obviously, even a bad translation of verse 9:11 would have nothing to do with eagles.

Why people pass on emails like the above is not hard to understand. The email says what we want to believe. However, just because an email says what we want it to say does not make it true; it just makes it easier to be taken in.

No soldier of Christ Jesus should spread such lies. Lies do not build up His church. Lies cannot strengthen the faith of His people. Therefore, we must verify the content of such a message BEFORE we pass it on to others. When it is so easy, we have no excuse. If you know how to forward an email to your family, friends, and neighbors, you can figure out how to use a Google, Yahoo, Microsoft… search engine. You just have to take the time. Please do so.

My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you’ll join with me as we try to change it. (from here)

It is amazing how many people pay attention to our public embarrassments — at least so it seems when we get caught.   And our first reaction is to dump the fool who put us into such an embarrassing situation.  However, I am certain most of us eventually realize the futility of doing that.  Otherwise, we would long ago have isolated ourselves from each other, and the human race would have ceased to reproduce and exist. 

So what is my excuse?  When I received Lingamfelter’s newsletter (see here), I noted the quote and laughed.  I merely thought Obama had misspoken.  Since it came from Lingamfelter, I figured he would know enough to check the quote.  I should have known better, but I got lazy.  I imagine Lingamfelter did too.  I imagine he too got the quote from someone he trusted to check it out.  That is how these silly things spread. 

So I did not check out the quote until I got this comment on my website.  In the process of checking out the quote, I turned up a really funny — and worrisome — article by Mark Steyn (Here it is on his website.).  In this article, Steyn explains how the fake quote took off and spread around the Internet.  While the Snopes article referenced by Ampersand is more popular, the article written by Steyn is definitely more informative.

Anyway, I appreciate the comment by Ampersand.  Thanks for correcting my oversight.