Category: Daily Life

* want to chill for a few and just my luck, my lenses have popped out of my glasses. I use them only when my eyes are tired and man are they tired!

I received this in email today and have not personally verified the number but have no reason to doubt them either.

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Greetings all,

This is a long list, but if you don’t read through to the end you’ll miss some of the most alarming figures. Here’s a prayer that we all may unite behind the the necessity of regime change here in the good ole U.S. Of A.

peace,

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George W Bush and the real state of the Union

Today the President gives his annual address. As the election battle begins, how does his first term add up?

20 January 2004

*232:* Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004

*501:* Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war – so far

*0:* Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945

*0:* Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed

*0:* Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq

*100:* Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003

*13:* Number of meetings between Bush and Tony Blair since he became President

*10 million:* Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, setting an all-time record for simultaneous protest

*2:* Number of nations that Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into the White House

*9.2:* Average number of American soldiers wounded in Iraq each day since the invasion in March last year

*1.6:* Average number of American soldiers killed in Iraq per day since hostilities began

*16,000:* Approximate number of Iraqis killed since the start of war

*10,000:* Approximate number of Iraqi cililians killed since the beginning of the conflict

*$100 billion:* Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to American citizens by the end of 2003

*$13 billion:* Amount other countries have committed towards rebuilding Iraq (much of it in loans) as of 24 October

*36%:* Increase in the number of desertions from the US army since 1999

*92%:* Percentage of Iraq’s urban areas that had access to drinkable water a year ago

*60%:* Percentage of Iraq’s urban areas that have access to drinkable water today

*32%:* Percentage of the bombs dropped on Iraq this year that were not precision-guided

*1983:* The year in which Donald Rumsfeld gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs

*45%:* Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US

*$127 billion:* Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001

*$374 billion:* Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003

*1st:* This year’s deficit is on course to be the biggest in United States history

*$1.58 billion:* Average amount by which the US national debt increases each day

*$23,920:* Amount of each US citizen’s share of the national debt as of 19 January 2004

*1st:* The record for the most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57 million) was set in 2002

*10:* Number of solo press conferences that Bush has held since beginning his term. His father had managed 61 at this point in his administration, and Bill Clinton 33

*1st:* Rank of the US worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita

*$113 million:* Total sum raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, setting a record in American electoral history

*$130 million:* Amount raised for Bush’s re-election campaign so far

*$200m:* Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004

*$40m:* Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003

*28:* Number of days holiday that Bush took last August, the second longest holiday of any president in US history (Recordholder: Richard Nixon)

*13:* Number of vacation days the average American worker receives each year

*3:* Number of children convicted of capital offences executed in the US in 2002. America is only country openly to acknowledge executing children

*1st:* As Governor of Texas, George Bush executed more prisoners (152) than any governor in modern US history

*2.4 million:* Number of Americans who have lost their jobs during the three years of the Bush administration

*221,000:* Number of jobs per month created since Bush’s tax cuts took effect. He promised the measure would add 306,000

*1,000:* Number of new jobs created in the entire country in December. Analysts had expected a gain of 130,000

*1st:* This administration is on its way to becoming the first since 1929 (Herbert Hoover) to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office

*9 million:* Number of US workers unemployed in September 2003

*80%:* Percentage of the Iraqi workforce now unemployed

*55%:* Percentage of the Iraqi workforce unemployed before the war

*43.6 million:* Number of Americans without health insurance in 2002

*130:* Number of countries (out of total of 191 recognised by the United Nations) with an American military presence

*40%:* Percentage of the world’s military spending for which the US is responsible

*$10.9 million:* Average wealth of the members of Bush’s original 16-person cabinet

*88%:* Percentage of American citizens who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of 2003 cut in capital gains and dividends taxes

*$42,000:* Average savings members of Bush’s cabinet are expected to enjoy this year as a result in the cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes

*$42,228:* Median household income in the US in 2001

*$116,000:* Amount Vice-President Cheney is expected to save each year in taxes

*44%:* Percentage of Americans who believe the President’s economic growth plan will mostly benefit the wealthy

*700:* Number of people from around the world the US has incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

*1st:* George W Bush became the first American president to ignore the Geneva Conventions by refusing to allow inspectors access to US-held prisoners of war

*+6%:* Percentage change since 2001 in the number of US families in poverty

*1951:* Last year in which a quarterly rise in US military spending was greater than the one the previous spring

*54%:* Percentage of US citizens who believe Bush was legitimately elected to his post

*1st:* First president to execute a federal prisoner in the past 40 years. Executions are typically ordered by separate states and not at federal level

*9:* Number of members of Bush’s defence policy board who also sit on the corporate board of, or advise, at least one defence contractor

*35:* Number of countries to which US has suspended military assistance after they failed to sign agreements giving Americans immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court

*$300 million:* Amount cut from the federal programme that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes

*$1 billion:* Amount of new US military aid promised Israel in April 2003 to offset the “burdens” of the US war on Iraq

*58 million:* Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building, logging and drilling

*200:* Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has attempted to downgrade or weaken

*29,000:* Number of American troops – which is close to the total of a whole army division – to have either been killed, wounded, injured or become so ill as to require evacuation from Iraq, according to the Pentagon

*90%:* Percentage of American citizens who said they approved of the way George Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 26 September, 2001

*53%:* Percentage of American citizens who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 16 January, 2004

“Come, my friends! ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world!” said the poet Tennyson…We realize that we have this moment in time and space where we can change the outcome! Where we are not stuck!…this alternative vision of peace,… that this shall be a vision through which the creativity, and through which the transformational energy that will bring us this new world, can be achieved.

Come, my friends. ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Dennis J. Kucinich

Excerpted from his 2003 Gandhi Peace Award Acceptance Speech

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Daily Political Funny

Dishonest Dubya Action Figure

* Back from IEP. Boy was that ever a group of people happy to see us! Hate looks and tense air.

* IEP took 15 minutes to get started and lasted 15 minutes. The school system obviously does not have these children’s interest at heart.

* Went to Knoxville Vistor’s Center for the 10yr old’s cultural project. Then home.

-Now preparing to go to the inlaws and work on a fax.

* I want the ability to buy some nice dress clothes.

* The 10 yr old got me going when I put the baby down for a nap and got in the tub he began playing his guitar loudly. We had a confrontation and I spoke strongly too him using some poorly chosen words like “you better damn well find out” in response to his “I didn’t know” Which was a good lesson topic and I didn’t over talk it and I didn’t really yell at him. I spoke firmly. The lesson topic specifically said was “There will be many times in your life where you ‘don’t know’ but you’d better damn well find out.”

* Day quickly going to hell. If you use the Covey planning approach, you’ll recognize that I struggle to be in Q2, live most of life in Q1 and too often slip into Q4–I’d say this is typical of most people. Q1 is killing me!

* Grabbed that powernap—oooohh so nice!

* Helped bathe the baby and put her down for her “not nap” (ie. she’s not napping)

* Some tech support to father-in-law

* Time to get freshened up for the meeting with the school system–a bunch of politically correct pain in the butts that realize all they have to do is talk crap to us a lot and we eventually move on. I debate taking this on as a pet project to bring change to the system. It would not impact us but would certainly make things better for future special needs children. Ah, that’s not the real reason–I’d just like to see a couple of idiots shit canned.

* No rest for the weary. Baby awoke as I began craving a powernap. May try to steal one anyway as wife is asleep on the couch and the 13 yr old is in his room on his Gameboy SP

A New Day!

Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

This Morning

* Up at 1:30 to check on the fire

* Up at 4:30 to check on the fire (still going and I didn’t need to get out of bed)

* Alarm at 6:45, got out of bed at 6:10 to get the kids up. The 13 yr old is wide awake and asking for schoolwork! Is this his last minute attempt to prove he doesn’t need to be put back in the school system?

* After getting the kids going and brewing coffee, I refueled the fire

Today’s goals: IEP at the school, PHP work to be completed and uploaded, Phone calls to all other web developers, calls to potential employers

Last Night

* Worked on the fire and got it going again. It’s a miracle considering I had no fire starters and only wet wood.

* Watched arrested development with wife and fell asleep.

The secret to the morning

I’ve finally come to realize the secret of morning hours. For our sake let’s consider the wishful morning hour 4am and the realistic one 6am. Here’s the progression:

Teens

Mornings are necessary for a good parking space at school. 1 hour of flirting guaranteed. The shower helps wake up.

early 20s

Too hung over. The morning hours are when you stumble home from the bars and passout

late 20s

Mornings are once again social time…only now its at the gym and you feel great. Much work gets done because you get to the office before anyone else. You think you’ve discovered the elixir of life!!

Post 20s

Mornings are an unachievable goal where you dream of getting to have some quiet calm time to yourself where you can do something like read the newspaper before it gets thrown away. Instead, mornings mean rushing around trying to get the kids ready for school.

* Time to help my 7 yr old memorize a speech at the last minute.

Hahaha! I just got a spam titled “Great Deal on ’84 Models!” Weeelll. Let’s assume they were legal in ’84 at, what?, 17 years old and that would make them….47 oops. 37 (I must have been tired thanks for the comment)! So yes, you are going to get them for a steal!!

* Been putzing on the computer for the last hour playing with blog tools. Found a friend has linked his blog to mine using Technorati. That was very exciting! I begin to regret putting such a negative twist on it to begin with now that I’m starting to enjoy it so much. This has been fun but my eyes are watering and although this was relaxing, I feel I should have been doing something like cleaning.

* Wife and baby are trying to sleep. Wife fighting migraine; baby screaming to get out of crib (I will rescue in a second).

* Spoke with mother and father on the phone. I think they are going to save my butt for a couple of weeks but I’ve got to get a job immediately!

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* Whew! Debts calculated. Files in better order. Office starting to improve. Now if I can get the mess a little more under control and can get an income, things will be much better.