http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-111

The article talks about "The RAAF will replace its F-111s with 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets in 2010."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008

Talks about things that 'are going to happen'

I can list many more examples. It is problematic to maintain such issues that 'will happen'. Eventually they do happen and article still talks in the future tense.

A function that checks current date with the passed date and uses the appropriate tense

Something like

value1=future tense
value2=present tense
value3=past tense
value4=date of event

This may be done via a template perhaps but mediawiki support for it would be the better approach on the long run.

Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement