There's a column being circulated around the globe via e-mail that was supposedly written by 60 Minutes essayist Andy Rooney. It lists a bunch of things that are pretty much anti-minority (I haven't gotten the e-mail myself, I've only read news reports about it. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I get it). The only problem? Rooney didn't write it.

This isn't the first time that this has happened. In his new book, Out of My Mind, he talks about a column about women that was being circulated via e-mail. It had his name on it but he didn't write that one either. He talks about this e-mail hoax in the book too, so this has been going on for a couple of years. The same thing happened to George Carlin (Carlin even put something on his web site telling fans he didn't write it). I guess anything can happen in this age of anonymous e-mails and web sites.

[via TV Newser]