Debunking e-mail rumors today seems to require that one be an image analysis expert. We regularly get requests to say whether pictures are real or a result of Photoshop. While some of the photos are obviously fabricated, like the one of the president and first lady in stereotypical "pimp and ho" getup, others are more subtle. For instance, we found that the picture being circulated as "Obama’s crotch salute" was a real photo, but that the circumstances were being grievously misrepresented.
February 3, 2010
In a 2009 survey, half (51 percent) of adults under age 65 said they had used the Internet to look up health information during the previous 12 months.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Jan. 26-Feb. 1
This week, readers sent us comments on Dr. Koop’s health care ad, FactCheck merchandising, and word choice in articles and letters. 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.
February 2, 2010
The Groundhog Day tradition was brought to the United States by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania, and it has its roots in the Christian Candlemas Day.
Source: Punxsutawney Groundhog Club
Sunday Morning Stumbles
A lot of talking gets done on the Sunday morning shows, so it's no surprise that a verbal mishap or two might turn up.
For instance, yesterday on CNN's "State of the Union with John King," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky dissed the Democratic health care overhaul bills, saying the American people don't like them either.
McConnell, Jan. 31: We know the public is overwhelmingly against the bill. In the NPR poll last week,
Koop’s False Claims
Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop claims that the United Kingdom’s health care system would consider seniors “too old” to qualify for the artificial joints, heart pacemakers and coronary stent that he’s received in the U.S. U.K. guidelines make clear …
A Texas-size Whopper
Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, at a nationally televised meeting of House Republicans in Baltimore, accused President Obama to his face of running up deficits a dozen times greater than the GOP’s. The president said, "That’s factually just not true, and you know it’s not true," and he invited "any independent fact-checker out there" to assess which man got the facts right.
OK, we will.
We have to score this one for Obama. Hensarling told a Texas-size whopper —
February 1, 2010
Oxfam International, founded in 1995 by nongovernmental groups, has 13 member organizations based in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Quebec, Spain and the United States.
Source: Oxfam International
January 31, 2010
Chikungunya fever is caused by a virus spread by infected mosquitoes. In recent years, cases have been reported in parts of Asia and the Indian Ocean.
Source: CDC
January 30, 2010
Any donations to Haiti relief efforts made this year (by Feb. 28) can be taken as a deduction against 2009 taxes.
Source: IRS