Chain e-mail on Gabrielle Giffords doesn’t hold up

A reader recently forwarded us a chain e-mail with a rather striking claim about Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who is recovering from a brain injury after an assassination attempt in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 8, 2011.

Among other things, the e-mail charges that Giffords, in an exchange with Gen. David Petraeus, suggested that the Army “put more emphasis on less environmentally damaging methods, like stabbing or clubbing enemy forces in order to minimize the carbon output.”

We put this claim to the Truth-O-Meter and found that it actually stemmed from a blog post that was clearly labeled as satirical. In fact, we’ve reported on two previous instances which satirist John Semmens’ spoofs have been passed along by others as truth. So we rated the item Pants on Fire!