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dbrashear: Really? Sure looks like factcheck's error. They did correct it later.

Indeed. So, it looks like Kerry and factcheck both made the same error. Easy enough to do. Unless, of course, Kerry's debate-trainer pulled that number right off factcheck without cross-checking it himself before drilling Kerry on it....

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FireFox31: But can we really trust factcheck.org?

Apparently not.
Seriously, though, they appear not to have a specific political axe to grind, and are apparently somewhat self-correcting. However, as Kerry's debate-trainer may have found out, relying on a single source is always dangerous. (Note: the Pentagon should perhaps take heed of this as well....)

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FireFox31: Can we really trust any information we receive about politics? The burden of voting is actually a tough one.

Yes it certainly is. And no citizen is really fully up to the task. But we all do the best we can.

Some of us dig around for multiple sources, weigh countering opinions, and decide the most appropriate tradeoff on our personal views on taxes, privacy, pre-emptive war, defense, gay marriage, abortion, character, big/small government, environment, flag-burning, stem cells, space funding, supreme court appointees, national debt, etc. etc. etc. Others of us run to the polls and fire off a vote based solely on emotion, hatred, or a single hot-button issue. But that's just the way it is.
Some people get all their news from right-wing talk radio, others entirely from whatever's posted on their back-to-nature commune's mess hall bulletin board. And many more probably get no real news at all, other than what Britney and J-Lo are up to this week.

Hmmmm, I wonder what percentage of the vote is actually "informed vote." Probably quite impossible to tell. We all think we're "informed."

This leads to my mixed feelings about "get out the vote" and voter registration efforts.
I'm certainly all for efforts in high school civics classes to pound into people the importance of voting. But if you're in already in your 20's or older and are just too lazy to grab a registration card one of the 10,000 times you're at the post office or DMV, I'm not sure I trust you to spend the much larger amount of time required to come to a good decision. Just stay at home, eat Cheetos, and watch Jerry Springer on election day. I don't want your poorly considered vote gumming up the works anyway. (Unless, of course, you agree to vote exactly as I say. Then just sign right here on this clipboard. ).

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time: Given the complexity of most 401K packages or mutual funds I'm certain I'm involved in a lot of companies I'd want nothing to do with...

Well, it's easy enough to invest in various "socially responsible" funds that avoid RJR-Nabisco and Big Tobacco, (but they probably also avoid a bunch of stuff you might not have any problem with or are even in favor of).
Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to find funds that avoid, say, certain tech companies with multi-decade patterns of unethical behavior.