Current Events assignment for Feb 24

We discussed the skill of "Fact Checking", or being able to independently research a fact in order to confirm or deny a claim.  These days this can usually be done with google searches.  It is a good skill to develop, so I have asked that we try to do a fact check for their blog entry this week.  Usually this involves finding a dubious or controversial claim someone has made and researching it to see if it is true or false.

A couple examples I used in class are:

* The US borrows 40% of the money it spends. 
True.  (40% in 2009 budget from wikipedia,  34% in 2010, final 2011 numbers not in yet.)

* Oil from keystone pipeline will be exported.
Mostly false (about 1/3 true).  About 1/3 of the oil we refine becomes diesel fuel, and we do not consume that much diesel in America, so we export the surplus to other countries.  On the other hand, the oil company (Valero) is trying to increase the percentage of diesel it refines, apparently because exporting it is profitable.  (mostly from Valero's January presentation to investors)

Here are a couple other examples of fact checks I have blogged:
http://sscurve.blogspot.com/2011/11/fact-check-usa-support-of-egyptian.html
http://maxilla-asini.blogspot.com/2011/10/rand-pauls-fuzzy-math.html

And here are a couple websites which specialize in doing fact checking.
http://factcheck.org/
http://www.politifact.com/

Assignment for this fortnight are:

1. Read chapter 3 of Understanding Power, by Noam Chomsky

2. Fact check something you read about in the news, and blog about what you find out.  You should give the claim (and link to it), explain what you found out about it (and link to your sources), and decide if it is true or false or partly so.