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Send Them the Light—but also Check the Facts As lightworkers, we should see the inner God-source or ground of being (ala Paul Tillich) that each and every being has within—including our current presidential/vice presidential candidates. We need to see all of these people in the light. But we must also remember that every one of us—and often especially those in the public eye—are constantly beset with the temptation of the ego. So, as we consider who we are going to vote for this November, it’s good to know that there are some websites out there that are trying to keep the candidates honest by fact-checking the speeches, the ads, the campaign promises, and the attacks. They are also fact-checking those of us who are busy using our emails in support of our chosen candidates. I, for example, am an ardent Obama supporter. As a PR consultant for non-profits, I saw first hand how Obama was able to help folks on both sides of the aisle to put aside their egos and focus on working together to get things done. In October, I’ll be spending weekends in the swing state of Michigan working for his campaign. But, let’s face it, politics being what they are, each campaign is trying to put a spin on things that builds up their candidate and casts a negative light on the opposition. And then there are all those chain e-mails! Which ones are we to believe and which should we discard? Another admission: Sarah Palin’s ultra-conservatism and fundamental religious views scare me. When I read about a Palin attempt to ban books at the local Wasilla, Alaska, library in that now-famous email by Anne Kilkenny, I wanted to know what books Palin wanted to ban. I did a Google search and found a list, which included such titles as the Harry Potter series. Aha, I thought, I know some people sitting on the fence who should know about this. Fortunately, I did some more sleuthing and found out that the list was a generic list of frequently banned books, not something specific to Palin. I did not send out that email. The extra sleuthing was necessary because I had not yet zeroed in on some excellent sites that are doing in-depth fact checking on campaign 2008. Here are some of those sites: FactCheck.org (www.factcheck.org) You’ll often hear representatives from FactCheck.org (officially Annenberg Political Fact Check) being interviewed about the veracity of the latest speech or ad. FactCheck is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. They monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. APPC is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg in 1994 to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state, and federal levels. Home page postings on September 15, 2008 included: • Energetically Wrong (September 12, 2008): Palin says Alaska supplies 20 percent of U.S. energy. Not true. Not even close. • School Funding Misleads (September 11, 2008): An Obama ad plays fast and loose with McCain’s voting record on education and proposals as a presidential candidate. Each posting is a link to an in-depth fact-check. Another feature is The Fact Check Wire: Faster Than the Speed of Spin. A click on this link led to an article entitled, “Distorting Our Findings, Part II.” It seems that FactCheck.org is so respected that the McCain-Palin campaign has released ads and fundraising letters implying that FactCheck.org criticized Obama for making “completely false” and “misleading” claims about Sarah Palin. The only problem is that FactCheck.org did not criticize Obama who never made the claims, but criticized anonymous Internet rumormongers. The Fact Check Wire states: “The fact is, we have no idea whether the people propagating Palin rumors are Obama Democrats, Barr Libertarians or just plain ol’ anti-Palin Republicans. These things are on the Internet, people. For all we can tell, this could be the work of those dastardly Canadians.”
POLITIFACT.com (www.politifact.com) POLITIFACT.com is a project of the St. Petersburg Times in Tampa, Florida. POLITIFACT.com features include the Attack File, a scorecard checking the attacks on the candidates, the Truth-O-Meter, a scorecard separating fact from fiction, and the Flop-O-Meter that tells you who flipped and who didn’t. The Attack File and the Truth-O-Meter entries are illustrated with little meters with the categories: “Mostly True,” “Half True,” “Barely True,” and “Pants on Fire.” The Flop-O-Meter is illustrated by meters with the categories: “No Flip,” “Half-Flip,” and “Full-Flop.” The “Half-Flip” and “Full-Flop” meters are animated and either flip half way over or all the way over. For example, Joe Biden’s statement, “When George Bush said we shouldn’t investigate why the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina was so incompetent, John McCain stood with him,” is given a “Half True” meter. POLITIFACT.com states that it’s true that on September 14, 2005, McCain joined other Republicans in the Senate to fend off Democratic efforts led by Sen. Hillary Clinton to create an independent commission to examine the federal, state and local response to Hurricane Katrina. Then, on Feb. 2, 2006, McCain joined with 52 Senate Republicans in a vote to kill a Clinton effort to attach a similar amendment to a tax bill. They point out, however, that the vote was on completely partisan lines. McCain and other Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate instead threw their support behind a probe by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. A John McCain ad that states, “Obama’s one education accomplishment was legislation to teach ‘comprehensive sex education’ to kindergartners,” is given a “Pants on Fire” meter. POLITIFACT.com points out: “The bill specifically mentions that instructional material must be age appropriate. It specifically mentions teaching children how to ‘say no to unwanted sexual advances’ and ‘nonconsensual physical sexual contact.’ The legislation was not sponsored by Obama and it didn’t pass, so calling it one of his ‘accomplishments’ is absurd. We rate this claim Pants on Fire!” But what about this book banning business? Both FactCheck.org and POLITIFACT.com provide some balance on this issue. POLITIFACT.com gives the “Pants on Fire” meter to the List of Banned Books rumor. FactCheck.org’s investigation includes this overview of Palin’s book banning requests and the attempt to fire the Wasilla librarian: “It’s true that Palin did raise the issue with Mary Ellen Emmons, Wasilla’s librarian, on at least two occasions, three in some versions. Emmons flatly stated her opposition each time. But, as the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (Wasilla’s local paper) reported at the time, Palin asked general questions about what Emmons would say if Palin requested that a book be banned. According to Emmons, Palin ‘was asking me how I would deal with her saying a book can’t be in the library.’ Emmons reported that Palin pressed the issue, asking whether Emmons’ position would change if residents were picketing the library. Wasilla resident Anne Kilkenny, who was at the meeting, corroborates Emmons’ story, telling the Chicago Tribune that Sarah said to Mary Ellen, ‘What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?’” Palin initially requested Emmons’ resignation, along with those of Wasilla’s other department heads, in October, 1996. Palin described the requests as a loyalty test and allowed all of them (except one, whose department she was eliminating) to retain their positions. But in January, 1997, Palin fired Emmons, along with the police chief. According to the Chicago Tribune, Palin did not list censorship as a reason for Emmons’ firing, but said she didn’t feel she had Emmons’ support. The decision caused “a stir” in the small town, according to a newspaper account at the time. According to a widely circulated e-mail from Kilkenny, “city residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter.” My advice: Before you forward that e-mail and as you attempt to sort out all those campaign ads and speeches, please log on to FactCheck.org or POLITIFACT.org. There are other rational sites out there, of course, (two that I like are www.defendersactionfund.org and www.salon.com). But www.FactCheck.org and www.POLITIFACT.org specialize in in-depth fact checking.
Mary Montgomery is a certified web author and developer. Her company, |
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