Please vote — but not until you've checked your facts

I don't much care what people's politics are, as long as they have some. Apathy concerns me far more than conservativism or liberalism.

What concerns me more than apathy, though, is lies.

This was brought to mind today when someone repeated that old canard about how, as a boy, Barak Obama attended "terrorist school" (the other person's words, not mine).

Well, naturally, I had to point out that this has long since been disproved, and sent the individual in question the link to one of my favorite stomping grounds, Snopes.com, which has a whole section on politics. Obama gets his own subsection, as do the Clintons.

Don't take this as an endorsement of Obama. I'm only encouraging people to get facts before they speak, rather than regurgitate gossip and lies. Besides, a candidate's position on foreign policy or health care is far more important than religion or schooling.

The success of our democratic republic depends upon an educated electorate. The repetition of half-truths and outright falsehoods is the opposite of education.

I love using lower-case "republic" and "democratic" together.