The Post & Email Responds to Examiner Writer Bill Bowman

IS THIS JOURNALISM OR SLEAZE?

by Sharon Rondeau

(Feb. 14, 2011) — The Post & Email has been made aware of an opinion piece by someone named Bill Bowman who writes for a publication named “The Examiner.”  He apparently calls himself the “Birther Movement Examiner” and has written a series of articles on “the Birthers.”  A full listing of his articles as presented by The Examiner is here.

Bowman’s article today refers to the editor of The Post & Email as a “hobby seditionist.”  Bowman is reportedly “an award-winning journalist” and author of a book entitled Savage Lies: The Half-Truths, Distortions and Outright Lies of a Right Wing Blowhard which allegedly “fact checks the first three political books by radio commentator Michael Savage.”

As Mr. Bowman has never contacted The Post & Email via email, our office telephone number, nor by standard mail, he knows nothing about this writer or whether or not I write for The Post & Email as a “hobby.”  In fact, his statement is completely inaccurate, because  as editor I am paid for my work, rendering his term “hobby” completely false.

The Post & Email was founded by John Charlton in August 2009 to expose government corruption, particularly in light of the questionable eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to serve as President of the United States.  No one, whether liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat, Independent, nor Libertarian, should object to the exposure of corruption in government; not even Mr. Bowman, who states that he supports the U.S. Constitution.

The Post & Email also supports in their entirety the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the U.S. Constitution.  The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights deals with freedom of speech, of the press, and “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  That is the point behind exposing corruption in government:  making it known to the public, contacting our elected officials about the corruption, petitioning them to correct it; and if they fail to do so, bringing them to account, which means voting them out, bringing them up on charges if indicated, and meting out fair punishment according to the provisions of the aforementioned founding documents.

In a previous article, Bowman stated, “Sharon Rondeau is a professional harpist and full-time America hater. As editor of the Web-based Post & Email, she has plenty of opportunity to display her anti-Americanism through her own writing and by publishing screeds written by other America haters.”

But what about Bowman’s “screeds” which are full of falsehoods?  Is he not also availing himself of “plenty of opportunity” to express his own opinions without impunity?

The Post & Email has never exposed any individual’s personal information, whether or not he or she agrees with our viewpoint, to the public.  We have never revealed IP addresses, occupations, first or last names, or places of residence, although we have this information on many of our political opponents.  We do not pick fights  with nor slander writers with opposing viewpoints.  We believe there are more important things to do.  Apparently Mr. Bowman  does not employ the same high standards.

If Mr.  Bowman is an award-winning author, why is he spending his time denigrating LCDR Walter Fitzpatrick, Dr. Orly Taitz, Ron Ewart, Dr. Lyle Rapacki, this writer, or anyone else, for that matter?  He fails to provide links to support the claims he makes, instead preferring to editorialize and ridicule people, complete with obscenities unpublishable at The Post & Email due to our editorial policy.

Bowman provides as one of his “preferred links” the website “Fogbow,” about which The Post & Email wrote several weeks ago after it came to light that Fogbow took the database of another like-minded website, Politijab, in violation of Politijab’s promise to its subscribers not to share personal information with a third party.  If Bowman considers Fogbow a “preferred” site, then it is not surprising that he would employ the same questionable tactics.

It would seem that an “award-winning” author would at least be able to express another publication’s title correctly.  We are not “the Post and Email;” but rather, “The Post & Email.”  That is a detail that a good journalist should have gotten right, in this writer’s humble opinion.

Since Bowman states that he can be contacted through The Examiner despite the lack of an email address, The Post & Email has sent the following communication to The Examiner using the contact form on its site:

From: Sharon Rondeau
To: contactus@examiner.com
Date: Monday, February 14, 2011
Re: YOUR WRITER BILL BOWMAN – POSSIBLE LEGAL ACTION FOR DEFAMATION

I am the editor of The Post & Email, an electronic newspaper incorporated in the state of Wyoming.

Your writer Bill Bowman has named me as a “hobby seditionist,” and as the owner of a corporation, I plan on using the full force of law to refute his defamatory remarks in his column today here:  http://www.examiner.com/birther-movement-in-national/orly-taitz-walt-fitzpatrick-and-the-post-and-email-axis-of-anti-americanism

I am demanding a retraction of the term “hobby seditioninst.”  I believe in enforcing the provisions of the U.S. Constitution, which hardly makes me a seditionist.

If I do not receive a retraction from you or Mr. Bowman within the next 72 hours, I plan on consulting our corporate attorney about legal action against your publication.

From the lack of editorial ethics apparent in Mr. Bowman’s piece today, your publication appears to be nothing but drivel.  Publishing personal information about anyone defies proper journalistic standards.  The Post & Email has never given out personal information on anyone, whether or not the person agrees with the views expressed by our newspaper.

I will be awaiting your response.

Sharon Rondeau
Editor
The Post & Email, Inc.
www.thepostemaoil.com

We also left a message for The Examiner staff by telephone.

Opinions are not facts.  Mr. Bowman is entitled to his opinion on any matter, but if he insists on labeling people “seditionist,” “crazy,” and “traitor” when they are not, then we will take action.  The Post & Email supports Mr. Bowman’s right to free speech, but we will not tolerate speech directed against our staff or persons whose cases we have covered which is false or defamatory.

I am contacting our attorney in the morning.

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