NEW HAVEN, Conn., 8:44 p.m. — A long-debunked attack on Senator Barack Obama is making the rounds via e-mail in this area, with an unusual twist: it is now being attributed to a non-existent official at Yale.

The message — which was forwarded to the News on Wednesday night — has been passed around the Web for over a year. But, lately, the e-mail has a new author: William H. Shay, who claims to be in the procurement office at Yale University. Mr. Shay even provides a Yale phone number in his e-mail.

Mr. Shay, it turns out, is a fabrication. So are the claims in the e-mail.

Neither the Yale Phonebook nor the staff listing for the Yale Procurement office shows any employee named William Shay. And the phone number he provided, though in the form of a Yale number, is not a working number.

A quick Google search shows that copies of the e-mail, attributed to Mr. Shay, have been received elsewhere in the country in recent months, and an earlier copy of the message has floated around since 2006. (It is debunked here.)

But the e-mail forwarded to the News had been making its way around offices and among friends in New Haven County in recent days.

The e-mail is below. We’ll check tomorrow with the Office of Public Affairs to see if the University has received any complaints about the supposed Mr. Shay and his opinions about Senator Obama.

SUBJECT: WHO IS BARACK OBAMA?

(You’ve got to read this written by William H. Shay at Yale University.)

Probable presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in

Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from

Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHEIST from Wichita,

Kansas.

Obama’s parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two

years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother

then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia.

When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama

attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a

Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim.

He is quick to point out that, “He was once a Muslim, but that he

also attended Catholic school.”

Obama’s political handlers are attempting to make it appe ar that

Obama’s introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence wa! s

tem porary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon

after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son’s

education.

Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham,

introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi

school in Jakarta.

Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim

terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the Western world.

Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN, when seeking Major

public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama joined the

United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim

background.

Let us all remain alert concerning Obama’s expected presidential

candidacy.

The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out.

What better way to start than at the highest level – th rough the

President of the United States!

ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office – he DID NOT use

the Holy Bible, but instead the Kuran

(Their equivalent to our Bible, but very different beliefs.)

Please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading

our country?……NOT ME!!!

William H. Shay

Yale University – Procurement

(203) 432-4656

— Thomas Kaplan