I hope you can forgive one politics-related post - This one is worth it I think.

Supposedly (and as far as I can tell thus far) non-partisan, FactCheck.org is a decent online resource for doing a reality check when new ads and other communications come out in the political campaigns. Certainly we've seen a recent wave of ads that have caused quite a stir of controversy. FactCheck.org examines the known facts as they are available and simply compares and contrast those facts to the hype.

The site is run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania (with offices in Washington DC), and I recommend it for anyone trying to get past the noise and down to brass tacks. That's coming from an admittedly somewhat-conservative person, but several of my friends who range politically anywhere from middle-of-the-road to ultra-liberal agree it's a fair and welcome look at reality. It should not be your sole resource for information, of course, but it's one that's worth using, IMHO.

I just wish they had a RSS feed - can't find one though. UPDATE: Oops, wait, spoke too soon, sort of - MyRSS.com (there's a whole other blog entry to write, heheh) has factcheck.org feeds already available!

From the APPC/factcheck.org mission statement:

We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We 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. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.