The National Archives has records dating back to 1775. Its holdings include about 9 billion pages of textual records; 7.2 million maps, charts, and architectural drawings; 20 million photographs; billions of machine-readable data sets; and 365,000 reels of film and 110,000 videotapes.
Source: NARA
December 9, 2009
The National Archives and Records Administration keeps 1 percent to 3 percent of all the documents and materials created by the federal government.
Source: NARA
Obama’s Economic Speech
We’re always alert for signs that the president (any president) is overselling his programs. Here’s what we heard in President Obama’s speech on Tuesday announcing new efforts to create jobs: He highlighted a Congressional Budget Office estimate that “up to” 1.6 million jobs …
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Dec. 1-Dec. 7
This week, readers sent us comments on health care (no way!), Obama’s "gaffe" and the proper stance during the national anthem.
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.
December 8, 2009
On Dec. 8, 1941, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress, saying that Dec. 7 would be "a date which will live in infamy."
Source: National Archives
We’re in the Record
Saturday’s Senate debate on the health care bill included a few mentions of yours truly, FactCheck.org.
Our work was cited on Dec. 2 by Sen. John McCain, who quoted from our Oct. 20, 2008, article. Three days later our article made the Congressional Record yet again. This time, it was prompted by Sen. John Kerry who said this on the Senate floor, quoting from a Wall Street Journal news story from last year:
Kerry,
Extras: Allentown, Palin, E-mails
This round-up of political tidbits includes an ad pegged to the president’s visit to Allentown, Sarah Palin on Obama’s birth certificate and more chain e-mails.
Working Where in Allentown?
When President Barack Obama traveled to Allentown, Pa., Friday morning to discuss job creation, the Republican National Committee welcomed him with a radio spot questioning the effectiveness of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Unfortunately, by Friday the ad was a day late and a few hundred thousand jobs short.
December 7, 2009
Parts of Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Vermont and Maine have a greater than 90 percent probability of having a white Christmas.
Source: NOAA
December 6, 2009
The greatest daily snowfall on record in the U.S. between 1893 and 2006 is 63 inches, which fell in Georgetown, Colo., on Dec. 4, 1913.
Source: NOAA
Robocall Rumble
It’s the battle of the voice mail messages.
First, Sen. John McCain launched a robocall this week, claiming that spending cuts to Medicare in the Senate health care bill would eliminate “vital Medicare coverage for our seniors” and promoting his amendment to strip the bill of all those Medicare cuts. He recorded a similar call for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Thursday night, the liberal group Americans United for Change launched a counter-call, which tells recipients: "You may have received a political call that tries to frighten seniors —