Monthly Archives: November 2009

November 7, 2009

Ninety-three percent of U.S. households with residents considered their neighborhood to be safe, according to 2003 Census data. Source: Census Bureau

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Clunker Claims and Cadillac Plans

The AFL-CIO is running a print ad this week arguing that "the House bill gets it right" on health care. The Senate bill? Not so much, says the labor federation. Its beef is with the tax in the Senate Finance Committee bill on high-cost (a.k.a. "Cadillac") health care plans. Unions …
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Using H1N1 to Sway Health Care Debate

The American Future Fund, a conservative advocacy group, has released a new ad that uses the H1N1 vaccine as the crux of its argument against health care overhaul legislation. The ad asks: "If the government can’t run a flu program, can we trust it to run America’s entire health care …
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The “Government-Run” Mantra

The claim that the House bill would amount to "government-run health care" suffered a blow last week, when the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the so-called "public plan" in the revised bill wouldn’t offer much in the way of competition to private insurers. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from repeating …
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November 6, 2009

Americans consumed 23.8 pounds of candy per capita in 2008. Source: Census Bureau

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Swine Flu Emergency?

Q: Did President Obama declare a national state of emergency because of H1N1? A: Yes, but claims that this is an effort to instill panic in the American population show a misunderstanding of what such a declaration actually means.

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November 5, 2009

The World Series began as a best-of-9 championship in 1903, but was changed to a best-of-7 in 1905. It reverted to a best-of-9 briefly, in 1919-1921. Source: MLB.com

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November 4, 2009

In a 2008 survey of teenagers on their cell phone use, 42 percent of respondents said they could text while blindfolded or without looking at the keypad. Source: Harris Interactive

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FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 2

This week, readers sent us comments on cap and trade, "Obama phones" and insurance coverage for abortions. In the FactCheck Mailbag we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.

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November 3, 2009

The first words stored on a hard drive were: "This has been a day of solid achievement."  Source: Computerworld

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