Just the facts, ma'am.

Alright. Remember in elementary school, when people tried to establish their coolness by making someone else look less cool? Totally how I feel about election years.

I read this yesterday, written by an immigrant. And that made me think a little more. I wish everyone would read it and think about the things he mentioned.

SO. Here's what I would like to see happen. You know, in my little perfect world where there's a Starbuck's in my kitchen. Or at least out my back door.

What if we all researched both candidates? What if we didn't buy the spin? What if we stopped passing on the negative rumors about either candidate? What if we stopped automatically believing the negative rumors?

With the way things are now, it's difficult to discern what is true and what's a rumor. How can we do that? One party says one thing, the other denies, etc, etc, etc. HA! There's a website. Fact Check. Guess what? NOT PARTY AFFILIATED. Their goal is to educate voters, and hold politicians accountable. ALL. OF. THEM. Am I alone in thinking that might be a good idea?

I don't think we can really rely on news media to give us the straight story. The big news stories right now aren't something I can base my vote on. It's not like they're all sitting around saying, "What does the public need to know to make a wise and informed decision for our country?" No. More like elementary school again, "Oh my gosh -- did you hear? It's totally true, because I heard it from so and so."

I'd really encourage everyone to give it a try. Otherwise elections are like a giant game of telephone. We're all just passing things on that we think are true, and it's getting a little skewed every time. Check out the website. You can even get email updates, or subscribe to the RSS feed.


On a side note, all I kept hearing in my head while writing this was the episode of Friends where Ross finds out Marcel is no longer at the zoo. The janitor saying, "Do you believe everything the zoo tells you?" Cracks me up.