I am beginning to question the legitimacy of the Newsmax story I ran on June 2nd. The story seemed unreal, too crazy to be true... and only one news outlet has run this story. This in and of itself does not mean the story isn't true, but NewsMax has been attacked for printing with a careless disregard for the truth. In addition to this, I have read some reports that Ted Sampley has engaged in some pretty questionable behavior. I have made efforts to contact the author of the story and Ted Sampley. I am also going to attempt to contact the Kerry Campaign, but so far they don't seem to be answering questions from me... it could be because I don't know who to ask, though. I want Esoteric * Diatribe to be an honest, fair, and truth driven website. If I run attacks aimed at Kerry that are not grounded in fact, then all of my factual arguments lose their credibility as well. If I cannot verify this story, I will make an official retraction of my comments regarding the matter.

What I am looking to find out is: What was the name of the school district of the children who allegedly witnessed this occurrence, where is a single credible witness (so far it looks like even a snake like Kerry *might* be more credible than Sampley, IF what I have read about Sampley is true), and most importantly, why have no other news sources picked this story up. The press is attracted to a scandal like a vulture to carrion... if this story is true, it would make no sense at all for the other news outlets to ignore it.

I will get to the bottom of this story, one way or the other. If it turns out to be bogus, I will be upset that I didn't do my homework before running the story. I am, however, still thankful to all those who directed me to the story in the first place.

UPDATE: Ted Sampley returned my email and has said "The incident happened in front of about four of five Secret Service agents, several park rangers, a school tour group, and several veterans." I will continue to attempt to contact others who were at the scene of the alleged incident. If this story continues to be verified I would be shocked that the press would continue to ignore it. This story is far to large to be ignored.