Posted on 06/28/2008 7:59:39 AM PDT by plangent
The e-mail landed in Danielle Allen's queue one winter morning as she was studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds. The missive began: "THIS DEFINITELY WARRANTS LOOKING INTO."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
and the fact that his family has outed him as a Muslim doesn’t matter, we of FR continue to spread “baseless” rumors that he is a muslim, when in fact he really is! Lefties, the biggest liars in the world. Free speech means nothing to these people, unless of course it is their free speech.
Yeah, they’re starting to hunt us down now. Nice. Let them come for me, and they’ll get more than they bargained for.
Jim, have you seen this yet?
And if Obama gets elected. FReeRepublic will be on their "Enemies List".
Many here feel McCain will hunt us down as well.Based on this WaPo story is it still possible to believe there is no difference betwen the two?
Obama believes in Obama. It as foolish to think he’s a Muslim as it is to think he’s a Christian. No one with an ego that size believes in any God.
Hey Danielle Allen read my tag-line.
Start with the Clinton War Machine...Genius
I was raised a Catholic. Would it be fair to speculate about the effect of Catholicism on me? I think it would be. For Obama to simply say he’s a Christian shouldn’t render the issue closed.
(snip from original article)
Poring over these early articles on the topic, Allen noticed what she thought was an important pattern. In each instance, someone had posted the articles on the Free Republic Web site, prompting a discussion involving the same handful of people, with several expressing a desire to spread the word about Obama's supposed faith.
Keeper of the Obama File
Of the file folders that are spread in neat rows across Allen's desk, only one is bulging. It holds printouts of the reams of conversations about Obama's religion appearing on Free Republic. Since its start in 1996 by Jim Robinson of Fresno, Calif., the site has grown into a home for discussion of all types -- though it is particularly noted for spirited political discussions dominated by conservatives and libertarians. Freepers, as they're called, converse with a varying degree of transparency. Most remain anonymous.
Allen counted 23 freepers among those engaging in regular discussions about Obama's religion, and isolated a handful whom she began to suspect as having a role in the e-mail. Sifting through hundreds of postings, she began to piece together their identities. There was "Beckwith," whom she pegged as a veteran from Boston, old enough to vote for John F. Kennedy, in uniform by 1964, and host of a Web site that devotes considerable space to an "Obama file" that says the senator is "by birth, blood and training, a Muslim."
Allen found Beckwith discussing the matter in a Jan. 13 clip from a Web-based conservative radio show based in San Diego. In his thick Boston brogue, Beckwith told hosts Jeff Lynch and Mike Howard that Obama's "relationship to Islam is the big question. When one investigates the background of Obama's conversion, I can find no record of his baptism."
"Wow! Interesting!" Lynch gasped.
"This guy could easily be the Muslim Manchurian candidate," Howard said.
As Allen scanned his postings on Free Republic, she noticed that Beckwith repeated several phrases that also surface in the e-mail. Beckwith called Obama "an apostate Muslim, educated in madrassas." And when Beckwith later repudiated the "madrassa" claim -- after it was debunked by the mainstream media -- the term disappeared from subsequent versions of the chain e-mail. The Post located Beckwith in a Boston suburb, and he agreed to be interviewed under the condition that he not be identified because "I get a lot of really nutty stuff and some of it's threatening." The 69-year-old said he is retired as a software engineer and lives alone, but for brief stints babysitting for his grandchildren. He said he started a Web site in 2005 "because I don't play golf." His initial goal was to take swats at the liberal left. "Then this new guy comes along called Obama," he said.
Beckwith said he built a Web site that features hundreds of pages of material intended to undermine Obama. "If 20 percent of what's on my Web site is true, this guy is a clear and present danger," Beckwith said. (He later added, "I try very hard to be accurate.") But while Beckwith speaks with pride about his research -- much of which he credits to an unnamed "colleague" in Europe -- and to his extensive Obama files, he rejects outright the suggestion that he authored the chain e-mail. "I've never been involved with any e-mailings. Period," he said.
Another Free Republic participant who attracted Allen's interest went by the handle "Eva." She was one of the first to write on the site about Obama's religion -- in November 2006 she began repeating the phrase "Once a Muslim, always a Muslim," when discussing Obama.
With the help of Allen's biographical sketch, The Post located Eva in rural Washington state. She is Donna Shaw, 60, a teacher who said Obama's ability to captivate audiences made her deeply uneasy because his "tone and cadence" reminded her of the child revivalist con-man preacher Marjoe Gortner.
Did you see this? Has anyone pinged you?
Well, it’s another reason why some of us need to stop spreading this BS about Obama being a Muslim. This is the sort of misinformation the left intentionally sends out in an attempt to discredit legitimate stories. Anyway, just because someone is a Muslim doesn’t mean they can’t still love America and be patriotic. Look at the millions of Muslims we have freed around the world. I’m sure many of them, as well as their relatives here in the States, are appreciative of this. Obama, on the other hand (the left one), is surrounded by people who DO hate America. Many are actually revolutionary communists to this day and are completely open about it. Please see my 10:30am ET post from today.
“the attacks on Obama are different”
So are Obamas attacks on the citizens of the US. He’s a highly captivating, smarmy and unrelentent flip-flopper(or liar) who’s defensive maneuvers always call for falling back and whining about racist atttacks on him. If it’s something he can’t explain, he or his surrogates pull out the race card to silence his critics.
There’s no evidence that he’s a Muslim, unless you buy into the Muslim lie that anybody who is born to a Muslim parent and/or in a Muslim country and/or who has ever been converted to Islam even against their will or without their knowledge, is a Muslim (and thus must be killed if they ever “renounce” Islam). There’s plenty of evidence, however, that he was knowingly affiliated with a racist, Marxist, hate-mongering “Christian” church for many years, and only disaffiliated from it under extreme public pressure and for the benefit of his political career.
Frankly, there are lots of Muslims whose beliefs are more peaceful and rational and consistent with the Constitution, than the vile stuff spewed by Reverend Wright.
Obama’s aides have made the smears a top target. They recently launched FightTheSmears.com to “aggressively push back with the truth,” said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor, and go viral with it.
***So it looks like Obama’s aides have been sitting down on the job when it comes to his birth certificate forgery.
As an Obama supporter — (Allen) had met the senator while she worked as a dean at the University of Chicago — it made her angry. And curious. “I started thinking, ‘How does one stop it?’ “
***It’s good to see the bias right up front.
Her eyes fell on this untrue sentence: “ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Kuran (Their equivalency to our Bible, but very different beliefs).” The use of “their equivalency” and the spelling of “Kuran” instead of “Koran” made the sentence her point of departure. That search showed that the first mention of the e-mail on the Internet had come more than a year earlier. A participant on the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com posted a copy of the e-mail on Jan. 8, 2007, and added this line at the end: “Don’t know who the original author is, but this email should be sent out to family and friends.”
***Ahh, Free REpublic. I’m so proud. I wonder which Freeper gets the credit on this one?
Poring over these early articles on the topic, Allen noticed what she thought was an important pattern. In each instance, someone had posted the articles on the Free Republic Web site, prompting a discussion involving the same handful of people, with several expressing a desire to spread the word about Obama’s supposed faith.
***Oooh, she’s keying up on FR!
Keeper of the Obama File
Of the file folders that are spread in neat rows across Allen’s desk, only one is bulging. It holds printouts of the reams of conversations about Obama’s religion appearing on Free Republic. Since its start in 1996 by Jim Robinson of Fresno, Calif., the site has grown into a home for discussion of all types — though it is particularly noted for spirited political discussions dominated by conservatives and libertarians. Freepers, as they’re called, converse with a varying degree of transparency. Most remain anonymous. Allen counted 23 freepers among those engaging in regular discussions about Obama’s religion, and isolated a handful whom she began to suspect as having a role in the e-mail. Sifting through hundreds of postings, she began to piece together their identities. There was “Beckwith,” whom she pegged as a veteran from Boston, old enough to vote for John F. Kennedy, in uniform by 1964, and host of a Web site that devotes considerable space to an “Obama file” that says the senator is “by birth, blood and training, a Muslim.”
***I suppose that answers my last question.
Another Free Republic participant who attracted Allen’s interest went by the handle “Eva.”
***OK, pinging Eva and Beckwith. Very cool article.
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