Comments on: Snopes and CPSIA

By: H.R. 875, Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

H.R. 875, Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:59:12 +0000

[…] about the bill found in a widely circulated chain email, and seeming to guide readers to the Snopes-like conclusion that concern about the bill can therefore be dismissed). John Cole/Balloon Juice […]

By: CPSIA: “What’s so sad is that books aren’t dangerous”

CPSIA: “What’s so sad is that books aren’t dangerous” — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:04:03 +0000

[…] Central, which took out after the offending Snopes.com on the books issue a couple of weeks ago, follows up today with a post entitled, “Snopes […]

By: Heather Idoni

Heather Idoni — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:41:06 +0000

“People BELIEVE what we say, yes they do!
Whatever we say they’ll believe that it’s true!

They won’t check their own facts; they’ll rely upon us —
We’ll lull them to sleep and they won’t make a fuss!…”

http://www.easyfunschool.com/snopes_is_wrong_about_the_cpsia_spoof_seuss_story.html

By: CPSIA chronicles, February 19

CPSIA chronicles, February 19 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:26:18 +0000

[…] My favorite line from the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan was one about how when institutions fight each other for long enough they come to resemble each other. When I went over to Amy Alkon’s comments section and saw yet another “but Snopes said there’s nothing to this fuss about CPSIA” comment, it hit me: Snopes is now in the business of perpetuating urban legends. […]

By: Advice Goddess Blog

Advice Goddess Blog — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:26:29 +0000

Congress Orders Up A Beatrix Potter Bonfire…

Did you ever lick a book as a child? Tear a page out and eat it? Then eat all the rest of the other pages? I loved books as a child, but I digested them the metaphorical way. And a good thing that was, too, because, back then, we didn’t have the Feder…

By: seething

seething — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:21:31 +0000

Why not try to update their Wiki entry or at least get this into the “discussion” page of Wiki?

Better yet, get into their message board and help them out http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=40752&highlight=cpsia

By: Todd Rogers

Todd Rogers — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:43:16 +0000

Snopes it appears, is going the way of Wikipedia.

By: Anonymous Attorney

Anonymous Attorney — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:26:57 +0000

I third L.C. and E.C.

Snopes has gone from near-infallible to hobbled by its own left-wing bias in the minds of many, and not for no reason. As an example of its preachiness, just read the intros to its “racial rumors” section…

http://www.snopes.com/racial/racial.asp

By: E.C. Gendron

E.C. Gendron — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:17:02 +0000

“Barbara and David Mikkelson are dyed in the wool lefties.”
This I’ve found to be true, true to the point of their ignoring the truth.

Their FOCA article is astonishingly inaccurate, insisting that PBA would remain illegal under the new legislation. No way. The third provision of FOCA is the right to terminate pregnancy AFTER viability when necessary to protect her right OR HEALTH. “Health” as defined by Roe and Doe include any reason, such as “Our family would be better off with a male child, not a female child.” This has held up in court. Post-viability abortions land in the D&X, PBA arena. FOCA easily puts the health clause above the PBA ban.

Look at their FOCA page, and imagine a similar page of predicted negative outcomes from the Patriot Act (and notice there isn’t such a page on this urban legend site). If the Mikkelsons were to refute predicted consequences of the Patriot Act with the loaded wording of the Act itself (“protection, freedom, terrorism”), the PA would look benign, too.

An urban legend website is not the place for confirming or denying potential outcomes of political policy, no place to assure the public, “Hitler very explicitly stated that we’re just relocating the Jews. Relocating. Those scary rumors are false.”

By: L.C. Burgundy

L.C. Burgundy — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:06:42 +0000

John, spend a little time on the snopes forums and you’ll understand what I mean.

And the fact that they are lefties is important because their simultaneous affinity for the extension of state power and willingness to obfuscate about it leads to the sort of “errors” that you see in this entry that they just can’t be bothered to fix.