Author Archives: Jess Henig

Some “Climategate” Conclusions

In November 2009, private e-mails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia were stolen and made public. Climate change disbelievers called it "Climategate," saying that the e-mails proved collusion and conspiracies that would discredit man-made global warming. We found that there was no solid evidence of wrongdoing …
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April Fools’… Still

In view of today’s date, we’d like to pay tribute to the longest-running and most successful April Fools’ hoax we’ve yet encountered. In the spring of 2009, a chain e-mail started circulating with claims of a "smoking gun" proving President Obama was a foreigner. AP- WASHINGTON D.C. – In a …
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Overstated Stats

Congressional Republicans appearing on CBS’ "Face the Nation" repeated a couple of false claims we’ve talked about before. The first guest, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, inflated some statistics when he talked about opposition to the health care bill. His claim, that 60 percent of Americans support repealing the bill, …
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Misleading on Military Pay

Q: Did Obama propose a 1.4 percent pay increase for the military, the lowest since 1973? A: Yes. Military pay raises are based on the Employment Cost Index, which grew very little this year.

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Rove Vs. Brokaw, and Other Sunday Squabbles

Republican strategist Karl Rove and NBC’s "Meet the Press" guest host Tom Brokaw got into a tussle on that program Sunday over whether the Bush administration had planned to use oil money to partly fund the Iraq war. Rove also overstated opposition to Democratic health care legislation. We’ll start with …
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Breast Cancer Ballyhoo

This ad from Americans for Prosperity caught our eye because of the sheer number of falsehoods it hits on, both new ones and old faithfuls. The group, whose president helped organize the Tea Party protests, is spending $750,000 to run this very misleading ad in nine states. In the ad, …
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Ad Serves Up a Dose of Exaggeration

The Washington Post reported on March 9 that Employers for a Healthy Economy, a coalition of business groups that includes the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, plans to spend up to $10 million running an ad about the effects of health care legislation on the …
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Pelosi’s Party Plane?

Q: Has Nancy Pelosi spent $100,000 on food, booze and "partying" during her air travel? A: No. Pelosi’s congressional delegations do eat well and drink pricey alcohol. But the costs are not as high as critics claim, and they’re comparable to those of her Republican predecessor, Dennis Hastert.

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Health Care Summit Squabbles

We tuned in to watch the president’s health care summit at Blair House today — all six-plus hours of it. And we weren’t surprised to hear some factual missteps in the discussion: Sen. Lamar Alexander said premiums will go up for “millions” under the Senate bill and president’s plan, while President Barack Obama said families …
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Climate Science Slipping?

In our article on Climategate, we cited overwhelming scientific consensus — represented in part by the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — pointing to a global rise in temperatures. But the IPCC’s credibility has been challenged since we wrote that article, with several situations coming to light …
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