I invite you to answer the following 14 questions about Barack Obama and John McCain. Vote on whichever questions you are confident you currently have a deep enough understanding of each candidate to have developed an informed opinion. For what I hope are obvious reasons related to integrity, I have NOT voted on any of these items.

If there are items you don't yet feel informed enough to vote on -- and this is very likely -- here are the most valuable things you can do to become informed in as spin-free a way as possible:

Three Secrets to

Becoming a Spin-Buster

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In a refreshing example of self-policing, even if arguably occurring later than it should have, MSNBC announced that it is replacing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as co-anchors of their political night coverage.

The following video from the non-partisan website, www.FactCheck.org, recaps a number of the key lies and distortions perpetrated by Obama, McCain, Palin and other major speakers during the 2008 Democratic National Convention and the 2008 Republican National Conventions. Some of the lies this video reveals are amazing examples of the callous lack of integrity that pervades our society and must be changed. The Fact Check Project is one of my past Integrity Inspiration Award recipients.

A few blog entries back I wrote about three of the dimensions that separate spin from true education. The article I used to illustrate those three dimensions was written by Gary Loftis and appears on the American Chronicle website.

Relevant Links

My blog entry
www.thenewiq.com/integritywatch-blog/gary-loftis

As part of what will continue to be an ongoing series of lessons in spin-busting, I bring you today a clip from Comedy Central's hit, The Daily Show by Jon Stewart. On this show he provides powerful video clips of politicans and pundits caught in particularly dramatic examples of double standards.

While these clips are from right-leaning individuals, do not think for a split second that there aren't at least as many left-leaning individuals who do this same thing.

Read the following article explaining why there "isn't a single reason" why Senator McCain should not have selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/72785

Seems like a straightforward article, doesn't it?

I was just asked during one of my many radio interviews whether I think that politicans will ever stop spinning & lying.

I replied that as long as the American public tolerates spin and believes lies that of course politicians will continue to use these tactics.

We live in an Age of Spin. My radio host today rightly pointed out how commonplace it is for everyday people to use spin to get jobs, to woo the opposite sex, to get their children to do what they want, and so on.

A story appeared today on Voice of America that shows how the issue of integrity has become so crucial today that U.S. presidential candidates are now using commercial marketing tactics in their campaigns to deliberately position themselves as being the candidate with the most integrity. Consider the following excerpt (I added the bold for emphasis):