To the editor:



I am amazed at the misinformation and potential harm that comes through my e-mail account.

I often send the sender a link to snopes.com or truthorfiction.com, both of which research these e-mails and determine if they are fact or fiction. 99 percent of the time, they are fiction.

Smear e-mails and other negative political marketing threaten to undo our political system. I don't care if you are a Democrat, Republican or an Independent, please use your judgment and don't perpetuate lies.

Disbelieve everything first and please do some real research before sending it on. Don't accept that the e-mail says that someone has looked it up on snopes or another fact finder. That is generally part of the lie.

Let's honestly look at issues and hear what our candidates have to say.

In an interview published in Christianity Today magazine in January 2008, (Barack) Obama said regarding his beliefs, "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful."

In the same interview Obama said, "There is one thing that I want to mention that I think is important. Part of what we've been seeing during the course this campaign is some scurrilous e-mails that have been sent out, denying my faith, talking about me being a Muslim, suggesting that I got sworn in the U.S. Senate with a Quran in my hand or that I don't pledge allegiance to the flag. (Neither of which are true.) I think it's really important for your readers to know that I have been a member of the same church for almost 20 years, and I have never practiced Islam. I am respectful of the religion, but it's not my own."

Obama, who is currently a U.S. senator from Illinois, also served eight years in the Illinois State Senate, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review.

If you disagree with Obama's policies or where he falls on the issues don't vote for him, but don't perpetuate lies about him or any other candidate, either. Most importantly, don't accept political e-mails at face value.



Jane Hill Riley

Elkin