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Dardedar
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Breaking News

Post by Dardedar »

Years ago (around 2003) we had a local FM radio show filled with rightwing paranoia. Frank Whalen on 104.9. He bashed the UN and had an unending stream of unbelievable lunatics on his show. Doug and I went on his show once and gave him a good roast (and that was before he got really crazy). I called in a couple times and he quickly banned me for quickly correcting him on a couple really obvious basic facts. These guys even staged a protest at a UN Day event put together by OMNI. You can do this when you have a radio show with a prime time morning slot. I decided to go to war with them and I recorded several of his shows and put a CD together along with a hand out sheet debunking all of the assertions. It had 99 tracks. I still have a copy of it around here somewhere. I was able to get Frank shut down by hand delivering a letter, exposing him, to about 20 of his advertisers.

One of his regular guests was a fellow named Matt Lerch. Frank called him one of the "most knowledgeable people in the area" on the UN (all conspiracy claptrap). Here is an excerpt from my handout sheet (which accompanied the CD and debunked the audio clips from the show). The numbers are for the tracks on the CD. This gives you a good taste of the insanity.

***
(3) Sept ’03 UN Free Zone spokesperson Matt Lerch provides a typical source for much of his material that follows. A “non-descript person” from a “Yahoo newsgroup” who he thinks is being interviewed by a “Mr. C.”

(5) Sept. ’03 Matt Lerch claims UN troops will round us up to concentration camps, with one million foreign troops in the US right now. 2,000 Russian tanks seen unloaded in Mississippi. We can look forward to North Korean troops walking down business 71 arresting and executing people.

(6) That Sounds bad. Realize these claims come from such reliable sources such as a “non-descript” “Mr. C” speaking in a “Yahoo newsgroup.”

(9) Sept. ’03 Matt Lerch claims FEMA only spends 3-4 million on disaster relief and the rest goes to build concentration camps which you stay in “until you die or get executed.”

Reality: No evidence for this assertion provided, just consider the source. Frank calls Mr. Lerch the most knowledgeable person about the UN, in the area. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was created to help Americans when large disasters occur and they have helped millions of Americans. Take a look at where over $721 million of their 2001 budget went: http://tinyurl.com/v24u
DAR
These are very paranoid people. Why am I mentioning this now? The evening news just had segment on how Mr. Matt Lerch is holed up in his house, with a gun, on Lake Sequoyah Dr. in Fayetteville. He shot at his wife, she left. Now he's shooting at police. Swat teams are there, the mayor is there, the whole bit.

News article:

***
According to Today's THV's sister station, KFSM, Fayetteville police, along with SWAT team members are several hours into a standoff with a shooting suspect they say has barricaded himself into his home.

Police say 34-year-old Matthew Lerch is armed, and has both a pistol and a shotgun in his house.

Fayetteville Police say at 10:42 this morning they received a call from a woman claiming to be the wife of Lerch.

According to police, Lerch's wife told them they were having a verbal argument this morning that escalated. She allegedly told police he shot at her, and she left the home, alerting police.

When police and the Washington County Sheriff's Department arrived on the scene, they found Lerch had barricaded himself inside his home, and would not respond to law enforcement's efforts to make contact with him. Instead, they say Lerch fired several shots from the home.

Police have evacuated neighbors and have blocked off the street to residents and drivers. Police say they have set up a wide perimeter around the home that includes SWAT Team surveillance, paramedics, and the Fayetteville Fire Department.

Police say as a result of threats made by Lerch concerning possibly using the gas in his home as an explosive, gas lines have been cut to the home and surrounding houses.

At this time, police do not have a motive for Lerch's actions, but do say they have been called to his home before when Lerch attempted suicide last year. They say his wife told them Lerch is on medication for mental stability and had not been taking his medication, over the holidays.

Because police say they do not believe this is a hostage situation, right now it's a waiting game, and they're hoping Lerch will exit his home on his own, without force.

Police say the Lerchs have several small children, but could not confirm that the children were inside the home or not.

***

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/sto ... 72&catid=2
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Dardedar
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Re: Breaking News

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UPDATE: After six hours Mr. Lerch was captured without incident.
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Betsy
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Re: Breaking News

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holy cow!
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Re: Breaking News

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Darrel wrote:The evening news just had segment on how Mr. Matt Lerch is holed up in his house, with a gun, on Lake Sequoyah Dr. in Fayetteville. He shot at his wife, she left. Now he's shooting at police. Swat teams are there, the mayor is there, the whole bit.
DOUG
When Darrel and I went to one of their anti-U.N. meetings at Cool Water (years ago), Lerch had a HUGE stack of alleged evidence of the tyranny and danger of the U.N. When we asked to see some of the evidence, Lerch handed me a news report about the U.N. I pointed out that the news report said the exact OPPOSITE of what Lerch asserted it said. Lerch rummaged through his stack of "evidence," and confessed that his best evidence was still at home. I asked him why he brought the poor evidence instead of the good evidence. He had no good answer.

The next time Darrel and I roasted Lerch, through the e-mail, we roasted him so bad that he told us to leave him alone and just let him stay home and "self-destruct." I guess he did exactly that.
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
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clinic Closing

Post by kwlyon »

Didn't know the local doc was retiring due to cancer. That is rather unfortunate. He seems like a rather solid fella. At any rate the clinic shutting down is getting a little bit of chatter on the message board:

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/kfsm/ ... S#lastPost

Not really much that is noteworthy however. Some support and some random nasty meanness....
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Re: Breaking News

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Fayetteville Freethinkers co-founder Darrel Henschell is in the hospital, having surgery.

Please make sure to NOT pray for him. Every time intercessory prayer is tested, it fails. So no praying.

But you can keep him in your thoughts.
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
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Re: Breaking News

Post by Savonarola »

Doug wrote:Please make sure to NOT pray for him. Every time intercessory prayer is tested, it fails. So no praying.

But you can keep him in your thoughts.
Has keeping one in your thoughts been shown to have an effect?
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Re: Breaking News

Post by kwlyon »

Savonarola wrote:
Doug wrote:But you can keep him in your thoughts.
Has keeping one in your thoughts been shown to have an effect?
It is exactly the same as prayer. Both can have a very positive effect...on the one doing the praying. And both are a nice expression of concern that I certainly have come to appreciate. However, in keeping with Darrel's wishes, I will not be praying for him. Instead I have gotten my pagan paraphernalia out of the attic and will be preforming acts of dark magick on his behalf....hey anyone know where I can find a couple deralics around town?
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Re: Breaking News

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Savonarola wrote:Has keeping one in your thoughts been shown to have an effect?
DOUG
As Kwylon notes, the effect is the same as prayer, but without the expectation that keeping someone in your thoughts is going to cause the person to get better. It's a more legitimate form of worry and concern than prayer.

When someone says "I'll pray for you," my standard response is "And I'll stand on one foot for you--it has the same effect."
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
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Re: Breaking News

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Okay, update, got out today, doing much better, details later, apparently NOT praying worked (or perhaps it was the science).

Btw, I don't ask folks "not to pray for me" because I know their intent is usually well meant. Like when someone says "Merry Christmas" I usually say "and to you to."
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: Breaking News

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Darrel wrote:Okay, update, got out today, doing much better, details later, apparently NOT praying worked (or perhaps it was the science).
Glad to hear it, Darrel. As we certainly won't credit God, I suggest we credit Doug.

Thank the Doug! What an awesome Doug we have!
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Re: Breaking News

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Savonarola wrote:Thank the Doug! What an awesome Doug we have!
OK, start tithing!
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
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Dardedar
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Re: Breaking News

Post by Dardedar »

Beware of the...

"Demon of Anal Fissures"

But the Arch Demon of Abscess is even a little worse.

After all, who would want to have a Fistula in there?

Oy. I've perhaps had too many Rush Limbaugh oxy-vitamins in the last day. And with good reason.
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: Breaking News

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