(Hold the presses and get me Re-write, quick! What follows is a greatly abridged version of the original ill-conceived post, which was published for about 5 minutes before I took it down. One of the many benefits of having a good wife is that she's not shy about calling me out when I'm really out of line. Thank you, dear!)
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Man, I love the internet more and more all the time. There is literally nothing you can't find out there somewhere on the web. Of course, this includes a lot of rumor, legend, and outright lying. And some of this misinformation goes viral (and is occasionally shared and spread by people I know). Facebook speeds the process along.
Regarding two current internet rumors that are seemingly everywhere all of a sudden, it's Mythbuster time, True or False-style:
TRUE or FALSE? President Obama has allowed Islamic prayers to be read to open the daily proceedings in the U.S. Senate. FALSE. Just hasn't happened. Wouldn't hurt a doggone thing if it had happened, but it hasn't. And it isn't the President's call anyway. The Senate Chaplain does organize regular prayer meetings for a variety of faiths, including Christian, Jewish and, yes, Muslim. These groups meet in the Senate office building and other government offices. Nobody's kneeling and facing Mecca on the floor of the Senate. Now, back in July 2007 the Senate opened its day on one occasion with a Hindu prayer, and some redneck Christian soldiers got all chap-assed about it. That was when Dubya was top dog, not Obama. And by the way, the U.S. has no official religion.
TRUE or FALSE? President Obama has cancelled National Prayer Day. FALSE. This internet legend popped up last year and it's back again. National Prayer Day was started in the late 1940's by Harry Truman, as a symbolic gesture. It's traditionally in early May. This year it will be May 6th. Since Truman, all Presidents have acknowledged the day in some small way. Until George W. Bush, that is. Dubya saw fit to turn it into a big White House ceremony -- a dog and pony show for the religious right celebrating (endorsing?) conservative, fundamentalist, Evangelical Christianity. Holy shit, it was a wonder they didn't start handling snakes and speaking in tongues! All Obama did was end the White House ceremony and return the thing to the way it always was before -- we'll note the day and then let everybody be as spiritual as they care to be in their own personal fashion, privately. Nothing was cancelled.
OK, that's two internet myths shot down, and about two hundred million to go. Stay tuned.
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