I'm sitting her catching up with my usual spate of political blogs and am again struck by how powerful misinformation is. I'm referring to the "death panels" and how according to some polls half or nearly half of most Americans believe the misinformation and outright lies. Here is a link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/19/poll-nearly-half-of-ameri_n_263065.html

A quick shout out to Canadians, this is not to say that Canadians or any other citizens of other countries are immune to misinformation. I am not casting aspersions on Americans and even as an American, I can occasionally be introspective!

On a related note, the town halls this month have been a veritable circus--free speech in action, yes, but healthy democracy? We'll definitely chat about that in 313A next month. I'll end noting that current political events really makes teaching 313A engaging. Hope to see you (UVIC students) in the class. In 103 Democracy is the main topic of examination.

And, have no fear, based on the high enrollments and equally high wait list, I will be teaching the course during the Summer 2010. The term will be May/June--most likely the three days a week session: Mon, Tues, Thurs at two hours each day.