When it comes to the big picture, everyone knows that the winners get to tell the tale. Sure, you can dig around and eventually uncover some self-excoriating deconstructed revisionist perspective on an issue, but it'll have "Birkenstock" stenciled all over it; no one takes that kind of thing seriously. Or do they?

This morning we've found a few history-related items that show how badly some people want to be invested in the past for the leverage that'll give 'em over the future. You want to watch these guys closely, because just as knowing the truth is a prerequisite for a free society, those who would sell you a bogus bill of historical goods intend to limit your perceptual freedom and lower your resistance to other parts of a mysterious and paranoid agenda.

The League of Tin-Foil Hats

You've met these folks. They think that aliens crash-landed at Roswell, and that the government is covering it up. The problem with conspiracy theorists is that every time something is unknown, they think it's evidence of deliberate obfuscation. Which leads us to a story at CNN this morning about NASA's difficulty in responding to those who maintain that we never went to the moon.

For three decades, NASA has taken the high road, ignoring those who claimed the Apollo moon landings were faked and part of a colossal government conspiracy.

Indeed, the National Science Foundation's Pollak says two of her colleagues, after watching the Fox special, thought it was possible that NASA faked the moon landings. "These are people who work at NSF," she stresses.

Mass Confusion

Personally, I think the majority of people prefer to be presented with facts and allowed to make up their own minds about things. But the National Park Service doesn't see it that way. Case in point is the visitors center and museum at Gettysburg, now undergoing a major upgrade. The purpose of the $95-million overhaul is to "completely change the way the conflict is presented to visitors." That pesky Civil War business is so complicated, doncha know. It'd be so much better if it were presented in clear, ah, black and white terms, no?

"For the past 100 years, we've been presenting this battlefield as the high watermark of the Confederacy and focusing on the personal valor of the soldiers who fought here," said Gettysburg Park Superintendent John Latschar.

Personal History

As long as we're cleaning up the past, might as well fix up our resumes while we're at it. Over at Forbes, the "Ask Annie" column takes on the curriculum vitae and makes some good points without rehashing the usual advice, which is refreshing. Look at the first item:

1. Poor formatting. "If a resume is not formatted properly, it is immediately thrown in File 13 (in other words, the trash can)," says Mark King, a recruiter at MRI Atlanta.

"After answering the first few questions, the candidate picked up his cell phone and called his parents to let them know the interview was going well."

11:38:34 AM