for 20 July 2000. Updated every WEEKDAY. |
![[Tim Cavanaugh]](/fish/staff/images/tim.gif)
Tim Cavanaugh Special Guest Editor 
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Phillip Bailey Production Editor 
Joey Anuff Publisher 
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Hit & Run
While reading your piece on Tim Noah and the Declaration of Independence spam, I was sure I'd see this link somewhere: http://www.snopes.com/spoons/glurge/ Then again, not everyone is a fan of snopes.com. Just thought I'd pass it along. Also, thanks for addressing what would be the only possible outcome for FM2030's thawed body. Unless science finds a way to pull a Lazarus, that pancreas will remain stupid, dumb and wretched. Alexia Henke <alexia_henke@ exchangeny.deutschinc.com> Thanks for your continuing support, Alexia. I have no feelings one way or another about snopes.com, but I'm not sure the Declaration Signers spam qualifies as an "urban legend." It's more in the way of a heedless nationalist exaggeration. For example, the spam says that some signer was tortured to death. New Jersey signer Richard Stockton's health deteriorated while he was in prison; he never recovered, remaining an invalid until his death a few years later. It's reasonable to speculate that his imprisonment was at the very least not salutary. It may be a fib to say that he was tortured to death, but that's all it is — not an urban legend on the order of the peritoneal Barbie heads, the sphinctral gerbil, the infested beehive wig, or the microwaved prom date. Wishing you the very best, tim 
It seems obvious from reading Noah's columns that he was referring to five signers being captured and tortured before they died as erroneous, not disputing the fact that five signers were captured during the war. That's clear in the July 6 column; you're basing your argument on the phrase "the 'five were captured' factoid" from the next column, which could be interpreted either way and definitely should be taken in context to the previous article. I'm not defending Tim Noah; I don't even know who he is. I'm just amazed that you'd use an obvious editorial slip to attack someone you clearly don't like, considering the bungled apostrophe's later in the column and the fact that Polly |