I remember Sgt, Joe Friday, no not Sgt Joe Six Pack, asking the witness to give "just the facts".  Facts, a wonderful word that has but one meaning. A fact is something that is true, real, existent, not something one makes up or bends to fit one's point of view.

It is a fact that the sun appears each morning in the east and sets each evening in the west, or that clouds make shadows on the land, or that if you have not enough oxygen, you will die.

It is a fact that 750,000 people have lost jobs since January, 2008. It is also a fact that many people previously on the unemployment rolls have not been counted as unemployed. You may disbelieve these to be true, but the facts are there to show you they are indeed true. After that, if you disbelieve, then you are ignoring the truth in order to believe a lie.

It is a fact that most fish will die out of water and that eating spoiled food will make you sick. If you jump off a very tall building you will most likely die.

We can all pretty much accept these as facts. If you disagree, try eating some spoiled, rotton food and see how long you can go before your bowels begin to ache. Or try jumping off the Sears Tower and see how you feel when you land.

I think you get the idea.

Then we come to the topic of political "facts" These are usually half-truths bent to fit a point of view, an opinion or a smear about one's opponent. These may also include topics that can't really be dis-proven, such as "Senator A is a Fascist." OK, how can one disprove such a statement?

Might he or she say, "I don't go to Fascist meetings." or "I don't write for Fascist newspapers." ?  Will this be believed?  And what if it is true?

Or how about the "political fact" that Democrats are tax and spend Liberals? How true is that?

Some things politicians say are really just opinions which people either agree with or don't. They are flexible and can be used for one purpose or another. Just as people believe that numbers and percentages can also be manipulated to fit any scenario, people believe opinions can also be facts.

How many people still believe Obama is a Muslim? How many people still believe Palin's son is really her grandson? How can these things be proved or disproved? How many people listen to a 20 second soundbite of rev. Wright and conclude that he was damning America because he hates this nation? How many people believe that he preached this same kind of sermon for 20 years?

Unless we find a way to play back every sermon he preached, we can never state that this is a fact or merely an opinion. But, unfortunately, it has been put forward as fact.

Those ads you see on TV - are they fact, or half-truths? I venture to say that just about every one of them is opinion, not fact. Did Obama really vote 94 times for tax raises? By using the same logic, can it be said that McCain then must have voted over 500 times for tax raises?

Fact Checking is an important duty for all people who plan to vote in the U.S. election this year. And it is important to check the "facts" of all political ads, statements by politicians, and most especially statements and ads put out by surrogates, those wonderful people who can say anything bad about anyone and get away with it.

the good news is that it is easy enough to check facts made during a campaign, if you know where to go; Here is one site I use most of the time to check the facts in ads and speeches, etc.

Well, I have yet to find any major error in it, and if they have made a misprint or other error such as that, they are quick to correct and acknowledge the error.

Also, the major news organizations use factcheck.org as their primary source. They use others, as well, especially for local politics which may not always be included on Fact Check. Major newspapers and TV stations in your area may have such sites on their websites. It's s good idea to check them out.

But the most important lesson I have learned from using Fact Check and other sites is that things are not always as they appear. Believe it or not (he said, tongue in cheek) politicians often lie or bend the truth to fit their agendas! Who would have thought it possible!?!?

OK, so from here on out I expect us all to be good citizens and check out things before we put them out there are either the "truth" or a "lie". I am certain that once we do this George Washington and all the other founders of this nation will be smiling down at us for performing our responsible civic duty.

Oh, by the way, just fact checking out the many half-truths, etc, is a very entertaining way to spend an afternoon!  I recommend it highly!