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Vote Smart
Here’s a site that was recommended to me by a friend of mine who is more politically active than most of us. We often talk about how difficult it is to get a clear picture of the candidates we are choosing based on the “sound bites” presented in the ads. Vote Smart provides almost everything you want to know about your elected representatives and current candidates. It’s a lot to get through, and not all of it is likely to be of interest to you, but it is straightforward and unbiased (as far as I can tell). Check it out.
Dad • Recommendations • 06/02/04 • 4 comments
Comments
Dad • 06/02/04 • 11:25 PM:Here’s another site devoted to checking the things politicians say. Basically they all lie (or at least “half truth”). I haven’t checked to see if Ralph Nader lies too, but I wouldn’t be surprised anymore. I think he’s been politicized/corrupted too.
David • 06/03/04 • 4:48 PM:Way to start off the site with a fragment.
“Thousands of candidates and elected officials.” … are on this site? … are a part of our representative democracy? … are corrupt? … wear boxer, not briefs? … floss daily? … there must be thousands of possibilities.
Dad • 06/03/04 • 5:40 PM:Yes, the site could use some editing. Even it’s title, “Vote Smart” is incorrect. It’s like the “Drive Friendly” sign that Patrick deplored. Both phrases call for an adverb. Vote Smartly, Drive Friendlily. Having said that, I can understand why they did it the way they did.
Patrick • 06/04/04 • 1:51 PM:Actually, Dad, friendly can be used as an adverb, so the “Drive Friendly” sign is not incorrect, but since the “rule” in English is to add -ly to the adjective form of a word to get the adverb (sad-sadly, happy-happily, etc.), the few -ly adjectives make things sticky (not to mention the few -ly adverbs that don’t mean the same thing as their apparent adjective siblings: present-presently, hard-hardly, etc.). So I don’t quite “deplore” the sign, I just like to laugh about it, thinking how language grows up and beyond our best efforts to regularize it and make it logical. But, true, it’s gotten to the point where “Drive Friendly” sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard to me (even though it’s technically correct).
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