Q: Did Obama accuse veterans of “selfishness” and whining? Would he have forced them to “pay for their war injuries”?
A: This chain e-mail contains fabricated quotes and misrepresents a budget idea that the White House scrapped. The quotes were intended as satire.
We had plenty to say recently about a misleading health care ad from a group called Conservatives for Patients’ Rights. We criticized the ad on its merits — but another organization has taken a different tack.
Health Care for America Now released this TV spot, titled "Shady," on May 7, attacking the character of the chairman of CPR, Rick Scott. The ad says that Scott’s former company (that’s Columbia/Hospital Corporation of America) "pleaded guilty to 14 felonies" in a Medicare fraud case that involved "overbilling"
On July 16, 1914, a U.S. record of 7 inches of rain in 30 minutes fell in Cambridge, Ohio.
Source: NOAA’s National Weather Service
Advocates of gun rights often argue that in World War II Japan was deterred from invading the U.S. mainland by a fear of American citizens with guns in their closets. They frequently quote Japan’s Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as saying: "You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass."
But this quote is unsubstantiated and almost certainly bogus, even though it has been repeated thousands of times in various Internet postings.
In 2007, California exported about 214.5 million pounds of fresh strawberries and 31.9 million pounds of frozen strawberries, with the majority going to Canada.
Source: California Strawberry Commission
Last year, 16.1 percent of U.S. imports came from China, and 16 percent came from Canada.
Source: Census Bureau
Q: Did gun control in Australia lead to more murders there last year?
A: This ‘Gun History Lesson’ is recycled bunk from a decade ago. Murders in Australia actually are down to record lows.
In 2008, the U.S. exported $71.5 billion worth of goods to China and imported $337.8 billion in goods from China.
Source: Census Bureau
In 2008, Canada was the United States’ top trading partner, with $596.9 billion worth of goods traded between the two countries.
Source: Census Bureau
Q: Has a “smoking gun” been found to prove Obama was not born a U.S. citizen? Did he attend Occidental College on a scholarship for foreign students?
A: This chain e-mail is a transparent April Fools’ Day hoax. It fabricates an AP news story about an nonexistent group, and makes false claims about Obama and the Fulbright program.