At first look, "Separatists Claim Responsibility For California
Wildfires" appears to be like any other story on CNN.com. The article claims that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed aradical Hispanic organization has taken responsibility for the fires that raged through southern California this week. The article even says there's photographic proof "of individuals holding Molotov cocktails, then throwing them into dry brush."
After the initial shock of the report, it then becomes obvious that
it's a hoax. To start with, the site's URL is http://www.cnnheadlienews.com (note the headlie instead of headline). CNN's url is cnn.com and the url for its sister network, Headline News, is http://www.cnn.com/HLN/.
Anti-immigrant websites picked up on the story and ran it as fact (follow this url). Before realizing it was a hoax, the author of the site "Americanandproud" declared, "I am going to wait until all the facts are in, but it appears the first major shot of the next Mexican/American war has just been fired."
A domain name search for "cnnheadlienews" shows the site is
registered to a company with a Nashville, Tennessee address called Bleachboy Heavy Manufacturing Concern. The website associated with Bleachboy, BBoy.net, is a homepage that cycles through four different logos. There's no other information on the site except for a warning on sweatshop products, a note that says "thank you for the traffic," and the ever-banal phrase, "spring is in the air."
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