This week, readers sent us comments on (what else?) health care legislation, cap and trade, and FactCheck.org as spam blocker.
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.
Stories by FactCheck.org
December 1, 2009
On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Ala., for disobeying state law by refusing to surrender her seat on the bus to white passengers.
Source: Library of Congress
November 30, 2009
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) was born on Nov. 30, 1835, in Florida, Mo.
Source: Library of Congress
November 29, 2009
President Truman’s "The Buck Stops Here" sign, which sat on his desk, was made in the federal reformatory in El Reno, Okla., and mailed to Truman on Oct. 2, 1945.
Source: Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
November 28, 2009
In its pure form, tryptophan can induce sleep, but turkey’s tryptophan doesn’t cause drowsiness. Other foods, including beef and soybeans, have higher concentrations of the substance.
Source: National Geographic
November 27, 2009
The Truman Library cannot confirm the rumor that President Truman pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey in 1947, starting the White House tradition. According to the library, its staff has found "no documents, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, or other contemporary records" to back up the story.
Source: Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
November 26, 2009
In the first half of 2009, 99.3 percent of U.S. imports of live turkeys came from Canada, at a value of $9.2 million.
Source: Census Bureau
November 25, 2009
AAA estimates that 38.4 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more over the Thanksgiving weekend, the bulk of them (33.2 million) traveling by car. The total is a 1.4 percent increase over last year.
Source: AAA.com
November 24, 2009
President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving 1939 would be held not on the last Thursday of the month, but the fourth Thursday. The declaration, which moved the national holiday up to Nov. 23 that year, was made at the request of business owners who wanted more shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Source: FDR Presidential Library
November 23, 2009
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that Thanksgiving would be a national holiday, observed on the last Thursday of November, in 1863.
Source: Census Bureau