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
Year: 2010
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
Lawmaker Loopholes?
Q: Is Congress exempt from “many” laws including one against sexual harassment?
A: No. The latest e-mail rant against Congress — proposing a “28th Amendment” to the Constitution — is full of false and outdated claims.
More State of the Union
A section of our story "Obama’s State of the Union Address" was inadvertently dropped when we posted the article Thursday. It shows that Obama spoke a little too sweepingly when he claimed that lobbyists have been cut out of policymaking jobs in his administration. We’ve added the section to the piece, and we include it below:
K St. to the White House: Road Almost Closed
Obama touted his efforts to change Washington’s ways.
Obama: [W]e’ve excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.
January 29, 2010
Thomas Jefferson was the first president to deliver a "State of the Union" message in writing, instead of personally before a joint session of Congress. Subsequent presidents followed suit, until 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson made the speech in person.
Source: Congressional Research Service