Answers to IC@GHC Poster Questions

Is the truth really out there?  If you were asked to determine the truth of the following statement (s), would you know where to go? Being information competent is essential for every student.  Knowing where to look for information, knowing what to look for, and knowing if sources are reliable are all necessary for students of the 21^st century.

Here are some basic explanations for the poster questions and a website to access further information:

1.   The U.S. national debt is the sum of all debts by U.S. families.

          http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/markets/national-debt.html

No, the national debt is more complex. The term national debt refers to direct liabilities of the United States Government. There are several different concepts of debt that are at various times used to refer to the national debt:

·         Public debt is defined as public debt securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. U. S. Treasury securities primarily consist of marketable Treasury securities (i.e., bills, notes and bonds), savings bonds and special securities issued to state and local governments (State and Local Government Series securities, or SLGS). A portion is debt held by the public and a portion is debt held by government accounts.

·         Debt held by the public excludes the portion of the debt that is held by government accounts.

·         Gross federal debt is made up of public debt securities and a small amount of securities issued by government agencies.

2. The US Constitution includes an Equal Rights Amendment for women.

http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/

No, efforts have been in place for decades now to include an Equal Rights  Amendment, but it has not passed Congress as of yet. The ERA was first proposed in 1923. The ERA has been ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states.  When three more states vote yes, the ERA might become the 28th Amendment. ERA bills were last reintroduced into Congress in March, 2007.

3. Every country in the world has a representative in the United Nations.

http://www.un.org/members/; http://www.worldatlas.com/nations.htm

That depends.  There are 192 member nations out of the 194 nations of the world (including Taiwan). The Charter (or constitution) of the UN states that membership is open to any peace-loving nation. Member nations are recommended by the Security Council and approved by the General Assembly. The General Assembly is the body for all member nations, whereas the Security Council has a limited membership. The 192 members do not include the Vatican, which is an independent nation. It is safe to say that the vast majority of nations are members of the UN.

4. Cases of the Bubonic Plague still occur in the US today.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/index.htm

Yes, cases still occur in the US, mainly in rural areas. They are usually associated with infected rats and rat fleas that live in the home. In the United States, the last urban plague epidemic occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25. Since then, human plague in the United States has occurred as mostly scattered cases in rural areas (an average of 10 to 15 persons each year). Most human cases in the United States occur in two regions: 1) northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Colorado; and 2) California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada.

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