To David Barton and Brannon Howse: Put Up or Shut Up

Imagine this, and tell me if you think this came from the real world or conspiracy world?

Claim: Conservatives are being targeted by liberal activist "sting operations," wherein the conservatives are tricked into doing immoral or illegal things on hidden camera.

Evidence: Conservative activists are targeting liberal organizations in "sting operations."

In the world of the conspiracist, contrary evidence and evidence that disconfirms your statement actually becomes evidence for your conspiratorial convictions. As conspiracy theorists go, none is perhaps more frequently cited (certainly in homeschooling circles) than David Barton, who once claimed, and I am telling the truth here, that the Beatles were making your kids retarded and Communist (and not as a joke). And the bizarre syllogism above is actually the case made in his "Warning! The Liberal Left is Trying to Ensnare You!," which appeared at Worldview Weekend.

As some of you may have recently seen, employees of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) have been captured on tape showing others how to break the law. Congress has initiated action to shut off millions of public dollars currently given to the organization, and many other government agencies have severed ties with them.

Alright, we've already shown that this bullshit expose was bunk, that the authorities were already informed of what had happened by the time the tape was released, and that this is a non-story. When you consider that an important reason that ACORN is being targeted is because of the population it empowers (doing much the same type of work that voter registration volunteers did during the Civil Rights Era, to see that disenfranchised Americans are able to exercise their goddamned, fundamental rights), you realize we need to push back against the bullies who are haranguing, harassing, and hamstringing those who help those least capable of fending for themselves.

And here we go. The paragraph of the damned:

The Liberal Left, instead of condemning these illegal and immoral actions, wants to retaliate by showing that it's no big deal because "everybody does it."

No, we're not so stupid as to put up such a weak defense, you feeb. It's no big deal because WHAT YOU ARE CLAIMING FLIES IN THE FACE OF ALL AVAILABLE EVIDENCE.

We have received very credible intelligence that they are now planning their own undercover "sting" operations targeted against conservative political and religious groups and leaders.

Credible? Who? Where? What info? I mean, who are they specifically targeting? That would help you warn the right people! Barton never names an agent, a place, a group...anything at all that could be verified! No source--fuck, not even an anonymous source!

Alright, Professor Pigshit. Two can play at that game. I heard from a very credible source that David Barton knows that he's full of shit, that he doesn't mean a word of what he's saying and that--and this is coming from not just any credible source, mind you, but a very credible source--David Barton is in fact a liberal plant spouting inanities so that conservatives will look bad when they believe him. Really.

Seriously. I just presented the same amount of evidence that he did. You can say some pretty extravagant shit when you don't have to worry about evidence and backing what you are saying up.

FUCK! I felt dirty just saying that. How do you paranoid fucks do this day in and day out and not claw off your own skin to distract yourself from the crushing guilt you should be feeling?

HJ