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May 21, 2005
The Truth About Michael Crook
THIS POST WAS ALTERED ON OCTOBER 2, 2006, AND AGAIN ON OCTOBER 20, 2006.
AND AGAIN ON DECEMBER 21, 2006, AND AGAIN ON DECEMBER 22, 2006.
AND FINALLY, AGAIN ON FEBRUARY 11, 2007
THE EXPLANATION OF WHY THE POST WAS ALTERED IS BELOW:
The truth comes out at last, as it always does. Guess what?
Premier troop hater Michael Crook tried and tried to get into the army, and the army didn't want him. Yep, he washed out of boot camp on a medical discharge. Either that, or he had a little legal problem that disqualified him from service. Depends on which of his stories you decide to believe.
So, it would appear that the pathetic little putz has a grudge against the military, do you suppose he was feeling a little inadequate?
Yes, it would appear so, and, it would appear that Michael Crook's demented way of dealing with his inadequacies is his pathetic and disgusting attack on our brave soldiers who are out there defending America, doing what he is unable to do.
Like many others, when I first saw his website bashing our troops, I wanted to explode but now that I know who and what Michael Crook is, now that I know what his motivations are, I really don't give a crap about it. In my opinon, Michael Crook is a pathetic little shit.
In 1999 under the name Silent Mike, Michael Crook wrote two essays about the United States Military and posted them on his website. There were discrepancies in the two stories, contradictions about why the army ultimately rejected his commission, in one essay Mike claims medical problems and in the other... some sort of legal problem. The truth about his discharge may never be known.
In my original post, I quoted directly from Michael Crook's essays that were hosted directly on Michael Crook's website, but in October of 2006, my host received a demand from Michael Crook to remove the quotes, claiming that my post violated his copyright. I believe using the quotes fall under fair use, as I only used a few sentences from Michael Crook's essays, they were fully credited to the writer and I provided links to the full essay posted on Michael Crook's website.
Its certainly worth noting that Michael Crook did not say that the quotes I posted here and attributed to him were not his words. Oh no. What Michael Crook said was that he wrote those words and since he wrote those words, they were subject to his copyright and that I violated that copyright by reproducing them here. Michael Crook demanded that the excerpts from essay, words Michael Crook wrote himself, be removed from my website.
Michael Crook obviously does not want the world to know that what he wrote in 1999 as it completely contradicts the things he says today and he is scouring the web to remove any and all references to those essays. Michael Crook would have you believe that he joined the army for the money even though he hated the army. Yeah right.
So, because he's threatening me with lawsuits, I can't quote him directly and I had to change this post to remove the direct quotes from Michael Crook's essays. But, I can tell you what Michael Crook's essays said, having read them myself.
In those essays, Michael Crook talked about how much he wanted to serve in the United States Military and what an honorable thing it is to do so. Michael Crook talked about the countless men and women who have served and how valuable their service is. He mentioned all branches of the U.S. Military. Michael Crook talked about what a privilege he thought it was to salute the flag and Michael Crook talked about feeling pride and respect when he saluted a military officer. Michael Crook wrote about how Michael Crook felt sad because he didn't get to finish his training and that Michael Crook felt jealous of those who did complete military training. In those essays, Michael Crook claimed that he stopped those who were serving when he saw them to remind them of what a privilege it is to serve this country. In his essays, Michael Crook urged the reader to look beyond the day off from work that we get on Veterans Day and Memorial Day and to remember those who have served.
Michael Crook at first lied about his attempt to join those who serve with honor in our Military and lied about being rejected. Now, he admits his lie but Michael Crook just wants to hide the evidence of why, Michael Crook wants to keep the truth a secret.
Michael Crook will lie and contradict himself for attention, any kind of attention, even negative attention. If you were in on this from the beginning, you would know that after the first general outcry about his disgusting troop bashing website, Michael Crook took it down, pretending to be an outraged webhost and made apologies for the website. Later of course, he put it back up.
When things calmed down and people lost interest, Michael Crook then faked his own death, posting on his site that two "military type men" who disagreed with his opinions had beaten him to death. Crook went so far as to claim that the two attackers were “taken into police custody.” Those claims were proven false by the police in his home town.
Michael Crook once claimed to have found a soldier's camera and offered to sell it back to him for $1,000. Except... he didn't have the camera after all.
Michael Crook once claimed responsibility for a despicable death-wish greeting card received by injured soldier Joshua Sparling at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Except, boy did that backfire, the end result was that Michael Crook's despicable card triggered an out pouring of love and good wishes sent to all of the soldiers at Walter Reed.
On his website, Mike brags about how he is known for various accomplishments nationwide, and brags that he is hated all across this great country of ours. Got news for you Mike, no one is wasting any time hating you, in fact, most of us are laughing at you. Try as you might to cover up the truth, still, you will be forever known as the little wanna be soldier who couldn't make it in the army and who then tried to piss in the pool, and, you will be mocked and laughed at all across this great country of ours.
btw... I also removed the photo of Michael Crook that was in the original post, although he didn't complain about it. If you want to see what he looks like, I would recommend viewing the ass-kicking he got on Hannity & Colmes. Now that's entertaining. Even Colmes kicked his ass! I wonder what that interview would have been like if Hannity had seen this post. And that could be reason behind Michael Crook's attempts to hide what he said in 1999.
But, I guess the real reason Michael Crook is trying to hide what he said in 1999 is because of the claims (lies) he is telling on his new bash the troops site about why he got booted out of the army. First he admits he lied and denied the truth and now he admits to joining the army. In 1999, Michael Crook talked about how sad he was that he was booted out of the army, and how much he admires our troops and veterans. But today he says otherwise and he's trying to hide the evidence.
For more information about Michael Crook, well, you could do a googe for the "truth about Michael Crook." You could google Michael Crook and Joshua Sparling. You never know what you might find.
UPDATE OCTOBER 20, 2006: Today I was contacted by YouTube, who reports that Michael Crook contacted them, demanding that all of the Hannity & Colmes videos from his infamous appearance be removed from YouTube as they violated HIS copyright. Bwahahahahaha! Obviously, Michael Crook is trying desperately to erase all evidence of his appearance on Hannity and the ass kicking he received. So, all of the videos of Michael Crook's appearance on Hannity and Colmes have been yanked from YouTube and the link above no longer works.
Funny that Michael Crook tried to have the videos taken down from YouTube only after I altered this post and linked to it, that link was not in my original post.
Except, if Michael Crook claims to own the copyright to his appearance on Hannity and Colmes, then Michael Crook is a liar, because the copyright is not owned by Michael Crook, its owned by Fox News.
So, I've contact Hannity and advised that I have made the video available on my website and, unless and until the owner of the copyright, Fox News that is, complains of copyright violation, the video of Michael Crook's appearance on Hannity and Colmes will be available right here on lindasog.com.
I've also advised my host as to who owns the copyright to the video of Michael Crook's appearance on Hannity and Colmes. Any false claims or accusations will be dealt with accordingly.
UPDATE DECEMBER 21, AND 22, 2006: Internet attention whore, and army reject, Michael Crook, has set his sites on my humble little blog for exposing his various lies and pathetic little attempts to be somebody in this post. But, it's not just me. Michael Crook has been running all over the internet making demands and threats. One such threat has resulted in a lawsuit being filed against him by EFF over this picture:
Despite his threats, I refuse to take down this post, although as indicated above, I was forced to remove direct quotes made by Michael Crook himself. I removed his picture. And, later, I added the video of his appearance on Hannity & Colmes.
Now, Michael Crook is claiming ownership to the video of his infamous slap down on Hannity & Colmes, which happens to be material copyrighted by Fox and shows Michael Crook in all his eye rolling glory, even Colmes beat the crap out of him. Michael Crook wants to erase all evidence of his humiliation and has demanded that I take down the video.
He has sent a series of DMCA notices to my host, demanding that my site be suspended for violation of his copyright. Since he does not own the copyright he is claiming, no response is necessary to these false claims. I became aware of the situation when he sent a DMCA notice directly to me, titled "Fourth Demand."
Michael Crook and I exchanged a few emails last night about this, and in addtion to his false claims of ownership of Fox's copyright, he attacked my Jewish heritage and made racial slurs against me. He denied hosting material on his website that promotes hatred of Jews. He also falsely claimed that my website is an anti-Christian website.
and of course, Michael Crook threatened me with a lawsuit. Michael Crook is very free and easy with threats.
Now, I am not feeling my best, and in fact, I'm suffering from the flu. I was tired and grouchy and not in the mood. So, at first, I took the easy way out and took video down.
But this is the bottom line:
Michael Crook's DMCA complaint is invalid on its face (i.e. he does not own any copyright in the Hannity & Colmes television show), and there is no need for any entity to respond to such a blatant false claim. Second, In order to assess "statutory damages" for a copyright violation, Crook would need to establish ownership of the Fox video, which he has not done. And third, Michael Crook's claims that a violation of 17 USC 201(a) has occurred is ridiculous. One cannot "violate" 17 USC 201(a). That section merely defines co-ownership of a copyright. While Michael Crook is trying to assert that this section entitles him to rights in the Fox video, no court has ever agreed with that interpretation and Michael Crook's claim directly contradicts the FAQ on the United States Copyright Office website.
So, the end result is that the Fox video of Michael Crook's appearance on Hannity & Colmes is back up and fully accessible on my website. Click the screen shot below to have a peek:
And that's that.
UPDATE: FEBRUARY 11, 2007:
The loser lost, and was forced to withdraw his DMCA Notice, and apologize:
February 9, 2007
To Whom it May Concern:
This is in regards to a DMCA complaint that was issued to you as the webmaster, OSP, or administrator, in reference to the following URL(s):
Any and all complaints pertaining strictly to images and videos from the 2005 FNC appearance on Hannity and Colmes.This content has been re-enabled, and this withdrawl is being sent to comply with the terms of a settlement, and as a formality:
http://www.lindasog.com/public/crook2.mpg
http://www.lindasog.com/pics/1206/crookdork.jpg
http://www.lindasog.com/public/crook_hannity.mpg
At this time, I would like to withdraw the DMCA complaint, strictly as pertains to the above URL(s), which regard
a 2005 appearance on the Fox News Channel.
I request that the content therefore be restored, and the DMCA complaint withdrawn, and would like to at this
time apologize for any extra work or problems that this complaint has caused.
I certify that the above information is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, and may be reached via telephone at (xxx) xxx-xxxx, or via postal mail at xxx xxxx Road, xxxxxx, NY 12345. E-mail is xxxxx@xxxx.com.
Thank you,
Michael Crook
Hopefully, that will be the end of my personal dealings with Michael Crook.
Posted by LindaSoG at May 21, 2005 03:51 PM
Comments
Found you via Vince aut Morire. Great article. What a weasel this guy is.
Posted by: Buckley F. WIlliams at May 22, 2005 04:47 PM
Thank you, I agree that this sad excuse for an American is a failure, a wanna be. My husband proudly served our great country for over twenty years and I couldn't be prouder of him!
Posted by: Amy B at May 23, 2005 11:55 PM
This guy is a idiot.nuff said
Posted by: matthew at May 24, 2005 01:01 AM
It's a shame this guy couldn't have learned from others mistakes. Almost 40 years ago Jane Fonda thought she'd express her voice too. She has spent nearly the past 40 years trying to live it down, ultimately with little success. Micheal, I'd say you've created a legacy you will never be able to recover from either... Congratulations on ruining your life. Hope it was worth it.
Posted by: GHL at May 24, 2005 11:03 PM
Awesome. When I was going through AIT, I was Platoon Guide. We had this shitty little effeminate freak that was addicted to anime. He'd shirk all PT and details. As corrective action, we'd take his anime collection...he'd cry like an autistic 4 year old. (no offense to autistic kids). One day I pushed him too far towards 'standard', he snapped and ended up in the psych ward for a week. Army, for some reason refused to flush this guy. So this Crook shitbag must be a real freakin' winner.
Posted by: Dorman at May 25, 2005 12:59 PM
yeah you think this guy is a problem now, let me take you back to 3 years ago on a little known internet radio network that had a caller that bragged about rapeing and underage girl because it is every mans right to have sex with any woman he wants. "Just cause I am married doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to get some younger ***** on the side!" He is a truely disturbed man!
Posted by: Rye Seronie at May 25, 2005 09:14 PM
I think he is thriving on all the attention his pathetic website received. I stopped reading when he said that military members make too much money... he's delusional, too!
Posted by: Jen at May 26, 2005 03:54 AM
When we first found out about this site here in my office, we all had the intuition that this guy was probably just a military reject and is pissed off and jealous now because he can't be a part of our great "club". I loved seeing him on Hannity and colmes too, we all huddled around my computer and laughed our asses off at that wacko jacko wanna be. It's funny how the only real defense he has for his "cause" is the allowances and base pay...well please...if you know anything about the military we do not get paid all that much, sure dfas will make it seem like we do, also he doesn't like the fact that we get tax free income when in combat zones and some areas overseas...well guess what too bad thats the privilege we get for going over there, and little did he know that contractors and civilians working in the same areas get the same damn privilege...I hadn't even talked or thought about this puke until hannity and colmes came up then i found this place and his "essay" sad story, well i tried to expose him on his weblog but how funny it wouldn't let me
Posted by: Proud Airman at May 26, 2005 09:34 AM
Hey, this is some good info. I was writing about this guy and didn't know any of this stuff. Thanks for this! I'll add some of this info to my latest column.
Posted by: Davey at May 30, 2005 10:09 AM
I was told his website disappeared - http://www.forsakethetroops.info. Unfortunately it has reappeared under http://www.forsakethetroops.net.
Can't someone get this one closed down as well?
Posted by: Mandy at May 31, 2005 02:18 PM
Hey, thanks for the info about that dirtbag. I figured he was a reject from the Army. Knew thats what it had to be. It seems as though he's jealous and bitter. It cracked me up watching him on Hannity and Colmes. What a loser! Hannity and Colmes pretty much summed it up! He's a loser, waste of oxygen and a waste of time. LOL He needs to go, and his site needs to go. As a Soldier, I find him to be a pathetic disgrace and I hope someone does beat his tail if and when they get the chance. Perhaps then he'll wake up, but I find myself doubting that as well. He doesn't have many brain cells to begin with, that would only make him worse lol.
Posted by: armyavncowgirl at June 9, 2005 07:50 PM
Let me be clear: I oppose the Bush/Blair stupidity of starting an unnecessary war; and I condemn our "leaders" for telling lies to get us in there. All the same, I respect those who have, in good faith, stood up and agreed to serve – to death if need be – the proper duties our muppets-in-charge are meant to uphold. That the muppets in question have abused their position is a disgusting abuse on their part: that the troops have done their duty (despite suspecting the above) is commendable loyalty.
So let us all celebrate the dutiful service of our soldiers: but let us also scrutinize without mercy the bullshit our politicians spin. When a gutless piece of shit like the aptly-named Crook spouts drivel at the expense of the honest soldier – and his drivel serves no more credible purpose in this world than to justify the jerks-in-command cutting back on funding for veterans and those who serve today – so let us all roundly condemn a Crook who so utterly deserves to be handed over to his nation's enemies, arse-raped at their leisure for as long at they like and dumped in some random sea from which no decent soul will waste the time needed to recover its corpse.
Posted by: Eddy at November 5, 2006 12:55 AM
What the fuck is wrong with his eyes?
Posted by: d24 at December 13, 2006 10:40 AM
its hard to believe that any one person could possibly be that stupid, it makes you wonder if his mommy dropped him on his head.
Posted by: Sowhat at December 23, 2006 08:20 AM
Linda,
You go girrrl!
Crook - What a waste of oxygen.
Posted by: Melissa In Texas at December 28, 2006 10:14 PM
Does this guy have a Ph.D. in Dullardism or what?!
Posted by: Kevin M at December 29, 2006 01:12 PM
You should read what he said about a highschool student who died suddenly in his class room. The whole article and all the responses from the friends and family are enough to make you sick. I have sent in a few responses and now have been denied acceess to the sight. He's nothing but a big mouth coward that can't handle the reprocussions of his behavior.
Sincerely,
Deborah
Posted by: Deborah at January 16, 2007 10:38 PM
he is an asshole. my fiance is in the navy and hearing what he's said about the military makes me sick. i don't like him bashing on my man much less any other soldier/sailor/airman, etc. he should rot in hell.
Posted by: Cecelia at August 10, 2007 05:18 PM
The guy is a washout, short and simple (refering the the term washout, althugh short and simple probably would do for him too). I'm a service man and this guy needs a wakeup call. If anything watching the vid made me think he's the poster boy, not troops.
Posted by: Tim at November 4, 2007 12:58 PM