It all started sometime after the second Haitian earthquake.� I was meeting with a long-time friend who asked me whether I had heard some remark that Danny Glover was alleged to have made.� She had not heard the exact wording but she had been watching something on TV and heard a commentator speak of an �off the wall remark� allegedly made by Danny in connection with the earthquake.� Having known Danny personally for more than ten years, I know that he does not make off the wall remarks, so I promptly put it aside.

The other day I decided to do a search to see what exactly Danny was alleged to have said.� It did not take long to come across attack after attack on Danny for allegedly suggesting that the Haitian earthquake had been the result of global warming.� Right-wing pundits were attempting to show that Pat Robertson�s remarks paled in comparison to those made by Danny Glover.

Interesting, except for one problem:� Danny did not say that the earthquake resulted from global warming.� I would encourage you to take a look for yourself.� Danny made an important point that Caribbean islands were all fragile and that the devastation that Haiti received from its earthquake could be replicated in what may very well happen to Caribbean islands as a result of global warming unless something is done.

Could Danny have made this point differently?� Possibly.� Is it also possible that the brains of the right-wing pundits are too small to understand sophisticated analysis?� Most definitely.

Danny�s point is, to a great extent obvious, or it should be unless someone is trying to deny climate change.� Islands around the world are facing tremendous stresses and challenges as a result of global warming, including, but not limited to, their possible eventual disappearance under the waves.� Haiti�s lack of infrastructure due to global capitalism and foreign interference has made it particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, as is the case with many other island nations (or nations that share islands).� The combination of global capitalism, foreign interference and climate change places much of the global South, including but not limited to island nations, at great risk.

Yet, what is important to note here is less what Danny actually said than the fact that the Right-wing enjoys the politics of disinformation and ridicule�and that many of us fall victim to it.� It is certainly amazing that anyone can make nearly any assertion that they wish and not be called onto the carpet for lies, innuendo and half truths.� There is no media quality control when it comes to commentaries, and the right-wing understands that better than do we on the Left.

So, in this case, it was unsettling that my friend, apparently without checking out what she had heard, was prepared to repeat misinformation.� Now, my friend is very progressive so I know that there was no malice involved.� But the point is that her information was flawed, yet she felt confident believing that Danny had made some off the wall comment.� In this day and age, particularly with Right-wing disinformation and misinformation, we are all going to have to become fact checkers.

My second concern may seem a bit vengeful, so I ask your forgiveness in advance.� I am a bit tired of being told by liberal and Left commentators that we, progressives and leftists, should not make fun of opponents on the Right, such as Sarah Palin, while the rabid Right shoots spitball after spitball (and worse) at us.� I hear the same refrain again and again:� we must respect the views of potential constituents and not mock Right-wing lunatics who play to fear and populist outrage.

I am as much into respecting people and their views as the next person, but I am tired of holding back when the Right makes the most ridiculous assertions.� This is not just about defending Danny.� Why are we not repeating, again and again, the basic fact that someone who is prepared to resign from the governorship of a state because she was being criticized is not fit to be President of the United States?� Why should we hold back?� Why should we not debunk the assertions that in Obama�s healthcare plan there are death chambers?� Why should we not rub climate change deniers� noses into the facts of what has been happening this winter in the climates of California and the US east coast, not to mention the islands around the world that are threatened with extinction?�

The other day I gave a speech where I noted that a recent poll indicated that the majority of the Republican Party believes either that President Obama is not a legitimate citizen of the USA, or that there are sufficient questions as to the validity of his citizenship as to be a matter of concern.� I pointed out that those who believe such things are idiots.� Well, someone in the audience got upset, believing that I was calling all Republicans idiots.� I noted that this was not what I was saying, but that I was making a very different point.� Those who believe stories about Obama�s alleged non-citizenship are not basing their views on any sort of facts, but are engaged in irrationalism, i.e., they are idiots and they should be recognized as such.

I am tired of being in a free fire zone.� It is time to fire back.� I have never liked being a victim.

BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum and co-author of, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice (University of California Press), which examines the crisis of organized labor in the USA. Click here to contact Mr. Fletcher.