Have you subscribed to FactCheck.org?

From Ruth Wahtera:

I recommend that everyone subscribe to FactCheck.org

Here's a video from them (they publish one a week) about spam.

If you're not familiar with them, they are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in US politics. They are sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Here's an update they sent today about the political chain emails we all receive. They also analyze all the speeches, ads, debates, etc. from every candidate in all parties. Recently they added coverage of important court elections.

That Chain E-mail Your Friend Sent to You Is (Likely) Bogus. Seriously.

March 18, 2008

by Lori Robertson

We’ve noticed that chain e-mails, particularly those about politics, have a lot of things in common: urgent and frightening messages; spelling errors; a tendency to blame mainstream media for not telling the real story; and false, misleading, utterly bogus, and completely off-base claims.

If there was ever a case where readers should apply a guilty-until-proven-innocent standard, this is it. We at FactCheck.org ask the public to be skeptical about politicians’ claims. With these e-mails, outright cynicism is justified. Assume all such messages are wrong, and you'll be right most of the time.

Note: This is a summary only. The full article with analysis, images and citations may be viewed on our Web site: