We’ve received a number of queries about a photograph purporting to show President Obama at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, listening to the national anthem without his hand over his heart.
Anyone who saw news coverage of Obama on Veterans Day might have smelled a rat right away: He didn’t wear a red tie that day, as he does in the picture, but a blue one, and he wore a winter coat over his suit.
At noon on Nov. 18, 1883, the U.S. Naval Observatory changed its telegraphic signals to correspond to the four standard time zones that were created in the continental U.S. The railroads were responsible for prompting the introduction of time zones.
Source: Library of Congress
This week, readers sent us comments on the federal health plan, our Just The Facts! vidcast and the H1N1 vaccine.
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.
Would the House-passed health care bill make a tough economy worse and wipe out more jobs, as claimed in a TV ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? Or would it help small business and encourage economic growth, as claimed in an ad sponsored by a big labor union …
California’s American Indian and Alaska Native population, the highest of any state, was 738,978, as of July 1, 2008. Oklahoma’s population, 406,492, was the second highest.
Source: Census Bureau
As of July 1, 2008, 4.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives were living in the U.S. That’s 1.6 percent of the total population.
Source: Census Bureau
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush was the first president to designate November as "National American Indian Heritage Month."
Source: Census Bureau
The poppy was known as the flower that grew over the graves of soldiers in the Napoleonic Wars. After World War I, the poppy sprouted in France and Belgium in lime-rich soil due to rubble.
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada
Q: Could somebody be imprisoned for not purchasing health insurance under the House health care bill?
A: Both House and Senate bills would levy a tax on persons who refuse to obtain coverage. Willfully evading that tax could result in jail time under the bill passed by the House – but not the bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee.
Hurricane activity in October for the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico was below the month’s average, which is one hurricane. There were two named storms, but neither became hurricanes.
Source: National Weather Service National Hurricane Center