People who offer political opinions in print (me) get mail storms. Until it gets to "you already sent that," I like seeing what's up coming down. I get a skift from the left. The blizzard, however, comes in bullying brown drifts from what I call the poopflake right. The intent -- no matter the circumstance, no matter how inaccurate -- is to bury the Obama administration. A recent flurry:

A Californian who loves Faux Snooze writes, "All the doctors I talk to say they're gonna leave the country if there's a public option." The truth: 73 percent of M.D.'s nationwide want a public option or a single-payer system..

The Californian's ditto-head 14-year-old sends a link to a story intended to prove that the Massachusetts example is a government takeover of health care which would bankrupt the country -- as it nearly has that state. But Massachusetts does not have a public option, certainly no single-payer system.

Mitt Romney, then Massachusetts governor, admits, "Our plan did not include a government insurance plan. ... Instead, we relied entirely on private market-based insurance plans to help people get insurance." Quoting the New York Times: "... government and industry officials agree that the plan will not be sustainable over the next five to 10 years if they do not take significant steps to arrest the growth of health spending." Doctors there are advocating for a single-payer system -- which would actually save money.

A local e-mailer forwards a chain letter (unsourced, like most) claiming the Cash for Clunkers program grant is taxable income. Nope, ain't so. He adds that dealers jacked up sticker prices after learning of the program. Wouldn't doubt it -- but, gee, would that be the nasty old government doin' some price-gouging? Or would it be some saintly, unregulated private free marketers putting the screws to customers? I report, you decide.

A global-warming denier argues that respected German meteorologist Professor Mojib Latif has reversed his opinion about man-related global warming last year. Well, not really. Here's what the study Latif co-authored actually said, "Our results suggest that global surface temperature may not increase over the next decade, as natural climate variations in the North Atlantic and tropical Pacific temporarily offset the projected anthropogenic warming." Key words: may, suggest, temporarily.

" 'People will say this is global warming disappearing,' Latif told more than 1500 of the world's top climate scientists gathering in Geneva at the UN's World Climate Conference, but 'I am not one of the sceptics.' " (from the BBC)

A dual resident of Kansas and Arizona e-mails, "When I google 'global warming skeptic scientists,' I find over 300,000 entries. When I google 'global warming skeptics' I find over 800,000 entries." I'm not sure what his hot air is intended to prove. I've invited him to trot out two or three specific sources. No luck. In the meantime, I googled "pooper scoopers" and found 59,200 entries. I've ordered one for the next e-mail I get from this guy.

Another gentleman says (after I'd used Snopes to debunk a claim he'd sent) he don't trust Snopes -- no mo'! He sent along an unattributed e-mail saying Snopes was run by stinky liberal, Obama lovin', Democrat crazies. As just one example, the e-mail said Snopes ain't a'takin' the birther business seriously. The gentleman doesn't think I can be "enlightened" (at least by him) so for the straight skinny he's goin' to Truthorfiction.com, dammit. Well... okey dokey.

Truthorfiction condemned the anti-Snopes e-mail. "Snopes.com is an excellent site that has become an authoritative source for information about urban legends and forwarded e-mails. We regard David and Barbara Mikkelson, the founders and operators of Snopes.com, as colleagues and professional researchers who have earned a good reputation for what they do. ... The bottom line is that if you try to report the truth, there will be those who don't like the truth you've reported and who will develop suspicions about why you did." Factcheck.org, another investigative site, adds: "This widely circulated e-mail contains a number of false claims about the urban legend-busting Snopes.com and its proprietors ..."

I just got a letter from a "tenther." (Tenthers are born again birthers.) My correspondent thinks the 10th Amendment to the Constitution forbids the federal government from instituting a public option in health care. Since health care isn't mentioned in the Constitution, he says it's a right exclusively reserved to the states. Of course, for consistency we'd have to roll back Medicare, the National Institute of Health, the Centers for Disease Control -- and a few other things like food and drink standards.

Two years ago, an area resident challenged my saying that the Bush administration lied about weapons of mass destruction. They had been "carted off" to Syria, my critic said, and dang it, Saddam did have significant ties to al-Qaeda -- even though the Republican-chaired (Pat Roberts) Senate Intelligence Committee and administration investigations had then, nor now, found zero evidence supporting those claims.

Last Monday, the same guy wrote the local paper bragging up Glenn Beck, Faux Snooze and fellow winger Jack Krier. Need I say more?

Bob Hooper is a fourth-generation western Kansan who writes from his home in Bogue.

celtic@ruraltel.net