I've been working my way through a piece of right-wing email propaganda, pointing out the techniques used (buried assumptions, conflation, etc.) and the subtle lies it manages to convey.

Last time, we examined a series of jokes, light-hearted on the surface, which together contributed to a false and simplistic political world-view:

All of this has been accomplished so subtly that it leaves the reader with very little to object to.

It's hard to see, if we only look at the surface, what could be wrong with sharing some heart-warming pictures of our troops playing with, and kissing, Iraqi children.

The captions to these pictures have managed to imply a false world-view, while merely sounding like cute jokes that are supportive of our troops.

Before continuing, let's break the false picture down a bit, and broaden it by adding a column for the truth:

Now watch as the email builds on the conflation above.

After the photos comes an (apparently) heartfelt plea:

May the good Lord bless every one of our troops wherever they are!

Suddenly, religion is injected into the picture.

This is designed to add to the conflated picture outlined above. The goal is to tie religion into the "us" side of the equation, and to imply that "they" are irreligious.

Never mind that there are a great many liberal believers in this country—many of them liberal because that's what they believe God wants.

The idea, once introduced, is immediately reinforced by the pledge of allegiance:

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ,
AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS,
ONE NATION UNDER GOD,
INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

No sooner has religion been added to the "us" category then we are treated (without any explanation) to the pledge of allegiance, which neatly ties religion to patriotism, and, of course, both to "us".

So the implied conflated picture has now been expanded to:

But we're not through yet...