Obama lie travels across the world

A. Vic Poillucci’s letter to the editor (published on July 11) questioned Senator Obama’s patriotism and quoted as proof a statement by him that, among other things, suggested he would be willing to
accept “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” as a substitute for our National Anthem.

Mr. Poillucci neglected to mention that the origin of Senator Obama’s “statement” was a satirical article written by John Semmens in his “Semi-News” column that appeared on the Web site of The
Arizona Conservative newspaper. 

Apparently Mr. Poillucci is not the only one who failed to note that the article was satirical and not factual as it has been widely disseminated on the Internet. Unfortunately, as a famous American once
observed, “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”  If he could have known about the Internet, Mark Twain would probably remove the words “half way” from his
comment.

RICHARD STABLEFORD

Dumfries