You may have read this in an e-mail or on the Internet. It is five years old but still circulates today. The sender claims Andy Rooney from &8220;60 Minutes&8221; said:

&8220;I like big cars, big boats, big motorcycles, big houses and big campfires.

&8220;I believe the money I make belongs to me and my family, not some governmental ass with a bad comb-over who wants to give it away to crack addicts for squirting out babies.

&8220;Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

&8220;I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts!&8221;

Well, it goes on even longer, with racist remarks and overtly mean statements, so we won&8217;t run the entire thing.

It&8217;s false. Rooney never said it.

The things you read on Internet forums, in e-mail messages and across cyberspace are like raw hamburger. Nobody has prepared the meal for you.

Newspapers and credible media sources work hard at verifying information with trustworthy sources. We serve you a prepared meal.

Sure, now and then you might read news in a untrustworthy cyberspace location before you read it from a typical media source, but you sure have to read a lot of lies, rumors and falsehoods before you get to a shred of truthful breaking news.

It is a positive step to see how Internet users are becoming more and more discerning as the Internet ages.

And for the record, here is what Rooney in 2003 about that piece falsely attributed to him:

&8220;About a year ago I became aware of a more serious theft of my name and it is so hurtful to my reputation that it calls for legal action against the thief. Hundreds of people have written asking if I really wrote the 20 detestable remarks made under my name that have had such wide circulation on the Internet.

&8220;Some of the remarks, which I will not repeat here, are viciously racist and the spirit of the whole thing is nasty, mean and totally inconsistent with my philosophy of life. It is apparent that the list of comments has been read by hundreds of thousands of Americans, many of whom must believe that it accurately represents opinions of mine that I don&8217;t dare express in my column or on television. It is seriously damaging to my reputation.&8221;