Facebook Twitter Tumblr Close Skip to main content
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Dec. 29-Jan. 4

This week, readers sent us comments on our Whoppers story, our mailbag, our bias and Climategate (but it’s not what you think!).
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.

MoveOn.org: Starved for Facts

Would you believe that one in six Americans is "going hungry"?
You shouldn’t, because it’s not true.
Nevertheless, the liberal group MoveOn.org claimed something close to that in an end-of-the-year appeal for donations to Feeding America, the national anti-hunger charity. MoveOn’s message said: "This winter, a record 49 million Americans are going hungry because of the economy." (To read the whole fundraising appeal, click the link below.)

Dear MoveOn member,
"I’m sure we’re going to run out of food today,

January 5, 2010

Risk for fractures from osteoporosis or low bone mass will affect one in two Americans aged 50 and older by 2020. 
Source: CDC

January 4, 2010

The Census Bureau projects that this month net international migration will add one person every 37 seconds to the U.S. population.
Source: Census Bureau

January 3, 2010

The mathematical formula for determining which college teams will play in the Bowl Championship Series was first created in 1997.
Source: Bowl Championship Series

January 2, 2010

This month, the Census Bureau projects that one birth will occur every eight seconds and one death every 12 seconds in the U.S.
Source: Census Bureau

January 1, 2010

The Census Bureau has projected that the U.S. population on Jan. 1, 2010, will be 308,400,408, an increase of 0.9 percent from New Year’s Day 2009.

Source: Census Bureau