In the February 12 issue of Artvoice, David Cohen wrote a letter to the editor criticizing my February 5 column entitled “The Truth,” for citing James Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, which Cohen described as an out-of-date source. Cohen argued that most of the misinformation cited in the book is no longer taught by public school teachers. The problem is that Cohen was referring to an earlier out of date edition of Lies. The book that I cited was “completely revised and updated” in 2007, when it became a national bestseller that should be on the radar of any history teacher. The underlying message of the new version of Lies is that public schools are still teaching the same basic myths despite over a decade of new scholarship in the field that has debunked as fiction much of what is being published in new texts.

I read today that John McCain opposes President Obama’s stimulus package, calling it “generational theft”—huge federal deficits for years to come. How come he didn’t complain when the Bush administration was pouring untold billions of dollars into Iraq, much of which can’t even be accounted for? Surely he must consider that “generation theft,” because our great-grandchildren will certainly be paying for that one!