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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Medicare board: Unrepealable?

Q: Does the Senate’s health bill contain a provision that can’t be repealed?
A: No. It would create an  Independent Medicare Advisory Board that could be repealed by a vote of three-fifths of the Senate.

January 15, 2010

In Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, only 20 percent of the population lives above the poverty line. 
Source: CIA World Factbook

January 14, 2010

Haiti is slightly smaller than the state of Maryland.
Source: CIA World Factbook

Bay State Battle

In the Massachusetts special election campaign for the Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy, the conservative American Future Fund and Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley’s campaign are on the air with misleading attack ads. AFF’s ad uses a Coakley quote, “We need to get taxes up,” to portray her as a tax-hiker. But …

January 13, 2010

About 25 percent of adults aged 19 to 64 have ever received a pneumococcal vaccination, and 60 percent of adults aged 65 years and older have received the vaccine.
Source: CDC
 

FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Jan. 5-Jan. 11

This week, readers sent us comments on small business lawsuits, climate data, requests for a TV show and high praise from the Army. 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.

Counting Conundrum

We’ve been questioning the Obama administration’s claim that the stimulus bill would "save or create more than 3.5 million jobs" since the president began saying it. In February, we pointed out that although several economists made such a projection, they all said there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding these estimates. Late last year, the administration’s effort to count actual stimulus-created (or saved) jobs was plagued by the reporting of jobs in nonexistent congressional districts. And now,

January 12, 2010

The largest category of salt sales by use in the U.S. is highway salt.
Source: Salt Institute

President Obama’s Vacation Days

Q: Has President Obama taken more vacation time than his predecessors?
A: According to one count, Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush spent more time on "vacation" during their first year than President Obama did. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton spent less time on "vacation."

Mirror Image

The rumor that President Barack Obama refuses, or doesn’t know how, to say the pledge of allegiance just won’t die. Since early in his presidential candidacy, we’ve been getting e-mails with photos that purport to show Obama failing to properly salute the flag during the pledge of allegiance or the national anthem. The photos have reliably been real, but taken out of context. The most recent example, for instance, included a genuine photo of Obama standing with hands folded while everyone else saluted or put their hands over their hearts —