Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Surge Protection

Percentage of Americans opposed to sending more troops to Iraq, according to a Gallup poll taken Jan. 5-7 (compared to 36 percent in favor): 61 percent 

Friday, January 5, 2007

Repercussions

Number of children who have hanged themselves after watching video of Saddam Hussein's execution: 3

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Who Watches The Watchmen?

Value of Justice Department grants federal auditors found to have improperly resolved legal or compliance issues: $726 million

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The Most Dangerous Game

Number of journalists killed in Iraq in 2006 (the highest one-year total for a single counter ever): 32

Friday, December 15, 2006

Oil Futures

Projected percentage increase in U.S. oil imports by 2030, despite Bush's calls for energy independence, according to a new DoE report: 29 percent

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Who's Vision For The Country?

Percentage of Americans who want President Bush to take the lead in setting policy  (compared to 59 percent who want a Democratic Congress to lead): 21 percent

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Spying Numbers

Percentage of Americans who believe the U.S. government spies on its citizens: 66 percent

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Iraq: Not Worth It

Most current poll results (and record high) showing the percentage of Americans who say the Iraq War "isn't worth it": 62 percent

Monday, December 11, 2006

Food Safety

Percentage drop in full-time positions at the FDA's Center for Food Safety, 2003-2006 (estimated number of food-borne illnesses doubled from 1998-2004): 15 percent

Friday, December 8, 2006

Gitmo 2.0

Cost of the new "maximum security" facility opened at Guantánamo Bay designed to "improve the quality of life" for 42 detainees: $37 million

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Richest 1 Percent

Percentage of planet's wealth owned by the richest 1 percent according to a new U.N. report: 40 percent

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Contractors In Iraq

Number of government contractors operating in Iraq, not counting subcontractors, (compared to 140,000 U.S. troops): 100,000

Friday, December 1, 2006

The Secret Killer

Percentage of Americans infected with AIDS who don't know it: 25%

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Incarceration Nation

Number of Americans behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of 2005, according to a Justice Department report released yesterday:    1 in 32 (7 million)

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Cost Of War

Approximate cost of Army and Marine Corps equipment that must be replaced due to wear and tear or destruction every month in Iraq: $2 billion

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Dealing With Illegal Immigrants

Percentage of American voters who want illegal immigrants to be allowed to work towards citizenship, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll: 69 percent

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

They Want Us Gone

Percentage of Shia Iraqis who say they want the United States to leave within one year (compared to 91 percent of Sunni Iraqis): 74 percent

Monday, November 20, 2006

Wal-Mart CEO Pay

The factor by which Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott Jr.'s compensation of $15 million is greater than that of an average “associate" on a superstore floor: 850 times more

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Polar Bears Are Dying

Current survival rate of polar bear cubs past one year, compared to the survival rate 20 year ago (65 percent): 43 percent

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Census Consensus

Median income for black households in 2005, according to census data released yesterday (compared to $50,622 for white and $36,278 for Hispanic households): $30,939

Monday, November 13, 2006

Afghanistan, Iraqified

Number of insurgent attacks per month in Afghanistan at the end of September, 2006 (up from 300 in March, 2006 and 130 per month in 2005): 600

Friday, November 10, 2006

New GI Bill

Amount veterans pay out of their pension for every $1 of disability pay they receive (a cost eliminated in the New GI Bill proposed by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.V.): $1

Thursday, November 9, 2006

Youth Vote Ratio

Percentage of Americans under the age of 30 who voted on Tuesday—up 2 percent from 2002: 24 percent or 10 million people

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Corruption Rankings

Ranking of the United States in Transparency International's annual corruption perception index (down from 17th least corrupt last year): 20th

Monday, November 6, 2006

The New Sinosphere

Worth of trade deals agreed to at the end of a summit of nearly 50 African countries in Beijing (plus a Chinese pledge of over $5 billion in loans): $1.9 billion

Friday, November 3, 2006

Indy Candidates

Number of independent candidates running for House, Senate, or governor's seats this election: 425

Thursday, November 2, 2006

October Deathcount

Final count for number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq during October 2006, the second-highest month for casualties since the war began: 105

Primary Spender

Percentage of the 2006 major party primaries where the candidate who spent the most money won: 92

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Hurricane High Schools

Fraction of students in one New Orleans high school whose parents have left the city since Katrina, leaving them to "fend for themselves": one-fifth

Monday, October 30, 2006

Guns Over Baghdad

Percentage of guns given to the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense by the U.S. government whose registration numbers were properly recorded: 2.4%

Thursday, October 26, 2006

The Cost Of Rendition

Amount two CIA agents spent during a three-week stay at a luxury hotel in Milan during an operation to illegally kidnap and render an Egyptian citizen: $18,000

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Driving While Fat

Increase in U.S. gasoline consumption in 2006 compared to 1960 due entirely to heavier drivers and passengers: 938 million gallons

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Ore Maybe Not

Amount of iron ore China imports from North Korea daily, a number that has not decreased since North Korea detonated a nuclear bomb on Oct. 9: 1,800 tons

Monday, October 23, 2006

Escape Route

Amount of land in Paraguay President Bush is rumored to have recently purchased , according to Paraguayan media reports : 100,000 acres

Friday, October 20, 2006

Liberal Non-Voters

Percentage of U.S. citizens not registered to vote who identify as liberal (compared to 17 percent conservative): 29

Thursday, October 19, 2006

The Universal Language: Basketball

Number of U.S. basketball players who play for teams in Iran (down from 20 before U.S. started pressuring Iran over its nuclear program last year): 2

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

U.S. Deaths In Iraq

The number of  U.S. troops killed in October—a pace, that if continues, would make it the deadliest month for U.S. forces since January 2005: 68

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

ProcrastiNation

Estimated cost of climate change damage to the global economy if nothing is done to halt it: $9 trillion, annually

Monday, October 16, 2006

The Highest Fight

Height of the marijuana forests in which Taliban fighters are successfully hiding from Canadian soldiers: 10 feet

Friday, October 13, 2006

Impact Of HIV/AIDS On Black America

Portion of U.S. population newly infected with HIV/AIDS each year that is African American : 50 percent 

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Armed Children

Number of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are members of armed groups or are still missing despite demobilization efforts, according to a new report by Amnesty International: 11,000

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Burmese Blues

Number of days  democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spent under house arrest by the military dictatorship of Burma: 4,000

Thursday, October 5, 2006

Waterboarding Japanese

Number of years of hard labor a Japanese soldier was sentenced to for waterboarding a U.S. civillian in 1947: 15 years

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Fattening Them Up

Number of calories provided daily to detainees at Guantánamo Bay (around twice the recommended daily minimum): 4,200

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Supreme Court Numbers

Number of cases the Supreme Court rejected for appeal since end of last term: 1,900

Monday, October 2, 2006

Why Try When You Can Just Detain?

Percentage of those men, women and children detained in Iraq since the start of the war to be tried for any crime as of 2005: 2

Friday, September 29, 2006

Abramoff And Bush, Sitting In A Tree...

Number of contacts criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and associates claim to have made with White House officials during the first Bush term: 485

Thursday, September 28, 2006

How Many Law Professors Does It Take To Stop A Bad Bill?

Number of law professors who signed a letter to Congress denouncing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 this week: 609

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Bounty Hunters

Number of prisoners Pakistan has turned over to the United States for suspected links to al-Qaida in exchange for "millions of dollars" in bounty: 369

Monday, September 25, 2006

Do-Nothing

Percentage of required spending bills that may yet pass before Congress ends sessions (zero have been approved so far): 18%

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Ney's Pension

Annual  congressional pension Bob Ney would still be qualified to receive after serving up to 27 months on felony bribery charges: $132,000

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

DI: Photographic Detention

Number of months the U.S. military has been detaining an AP photographer in Iraq without charge: 5

Friday, September 15, 2006

Shrinking Ice

Percentage of the permanent ice cover over the Arctic Ocean that has disappeared over the past two years: 14 percent

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

DI: Cluster Bombs

Number of cluster bombs the IDF now admits were dropped on Lebanon during recent fighting: 1,800, containing 1.2 million bomblets

Monday, September 11, 2006

The Cost So Far

Estimated minimum number of deaths worldwide caused directly by the Bush administration's "War On Terror" since 9/11: 62,006

Thursday, September 7, 2006

DI: Equal Disasters

Number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq and the "war on terror" as of Sunday (one more than the total number of deaths caused by terrorists on 9/11): 2,974

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Digital Color Divides

Percentage of minority students who use the Internet , compared to 67 percent for white students: 44 percent for Hispanics, 47 percent for blacks

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Increasing troops

The increase in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq in the last five weeks: 13,000

Friday, September 1, 2006

DI: Media Matters

How much the U.S. intends to pay a PR firm to monitor American and foreign media coverage of the occupation of Iraq : $20 million

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Fewer Female Clerks

Comparative number of female to male Supreme Court law clerks for the new term: 7 to 37 

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Americans Getting Fatter

Number of states in 2005 that, according to a new study by the Trust for America's Health, show an increase in adult obesity rates: 31

Monday, August 28, 2006

Working Harder For Less

From 2000 to 2005, percentage increase in worker productivity compared to increase in wages and benefits: 16.6 to 7.2 percent

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Children in Poverty

The increase between 2000 to 2004 in the number of children in households that live below half the poverty line: 758,000

Monday, August 21, 2006

Katrina One Year Later

Portion of Katrina victims in USA TODAY poll who say their lives are back to normal one year later: 16 percent

Friday, August 18, 2006

Birth Control Refusal

Percentage of voters who feel less favorable toward candidates who support pharmacists who refuse to dispense birth control: 65 percent

Monday, August 14, 2006

Explosive Detection

Amount the Bush administration tried to remove from the budget for developing new explosives-detection technology last week:$6 million

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Rental Increase in New Orleans

The percentage that rental prices have increased in New Orleans since August 2005: 39 percent

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Law Firm Bias

Percent of women of color at law firms who say they were denied desirable assignments compared to 2 percent of white men who say they were: 44 percent

Monday, August 7, 2006

Pregnancy Rates Among Poor

Percentage increase in the rate of unintended pregnancy among poor women in the United States between 1994 and 2001: 29 percent

Thursday, August 3, 2006

Emergency contraception

Percentage of U.S. women who are aware of the existence of emergency contraception: 20 percent

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Small Businesses?

Value of the contracts designated for small businesses given by the federal government actually awarded to large corporations in 2005: $12 billion

Monday, July 31, 2006

Arresting Illegals

Criminal arrests of employers hiring illegal immigrants in 2002 compared to the number of arrests so far this year: 25 to 445

Thursday, July 27, 2006

DI: The War On The Judiciary

Number of threats received by the U.S. Marshals against the nation's 2,200 federal judges so far in 2006 (up from 201 in 1996): 822

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

DI: Child Soldiers

Number of child soldiers participating in armed conflicts around the world, according to the UN: 250,000

Monday, July 24, 2006

Detainee Abuse Ratios

Number of U.S. military personnel sentenced to prison time for detainee abuse in Abu Ghraib: 40

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Bush Vetos

Number of bills Bush has vetoed compared to number of bills he's challenged in signing statements: 1 to 130.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

DI: Save Lebanon

Ratio of civilian Lebanese deaths to civilian Israeli deaths since outbreak of violence on Wednesday: almost 20 to 1

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

DI: Mandela

Number of representatives who voted, with Wyoming Rep. Dick Cheney, against calling for Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1986: 176

Monday, July 17, 2006

Housing Short Fall And Falling

Percentage of public-housing budget cuts, in addition to the $1.7 billion that has already been eliminated since President Bush took office: 14.5 percent.

Friday, July 14, 2006

DI: Bastille Day

In honor of Bastille Day: The number of detainees held without charge by the U.S. government at Guantánamo Bay:  "about 460"

Thursday, July 13, 2006

DI: Real World Standards

Number of barrels of oil saved if automakers updated mileage standards to "real world" driving conditions, according to a new report: 710 million 

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

FOIA Requests

Median response time for backlogged FOIA requests at the National Archives: 1,631 working days

Monday, July 10, 2006

Gay Marriage

Number of gay marriages since May 2004 licensed in Massachusetts : 7,000

Friday, July 7, 2006

Frogs Extinction

Percentage of the planet's 5,743 amphibian species that are threatened with extinction: 32.5%

Thursday, July 6, 2006

Ending Retiree Benefits

Percentage of employers who said they believed the best way to solve their rising retiree health cost problem is to  stop offering benefits altogether: 40 percent

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

DI: African American Income

Percentage difference between median white family income and median black family income : 38 percent (a 1.5 percentage point increase from 2000)

Friday, June 30, 2006

DI: Afghan Aid

International aid to Afghanistan per person (compared to $679 for Bosnia and $206 for Iraq): $57 

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Hamdan

Number of justices who voted against allowing President Bush to set up "military tribunals" for detainees: 5

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

DI: Statistics In Poverty

Number of Americans living in poverty in 2004 compared to number of Americans receiving welfare: 37 million to 4.4 million

Monday, June 26, 2006

DI: Energy Increase

The amount world energy consumption is projected to increase from 2003 to 2030: 71 percent

Thursday, June 22, 2006

DI: The War In Gaza

Number of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel in Gaza since June 9th, according to UNOCHA: 32

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

DI: Minimum Wage

Percentage of minimum wage earners over age 25: 46 percent

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

DI: World Refugee Day

Number of Iraqi refugees counted by the World Refugee Survey 2006, contibuting to the first increase in international refugees since 2001:  650,000

Monday, June 19, 2006

DI: "Real" Unemployment

The "real unemployment " rate of the United States: 13.3%

Friday, June 16, 2006

DI: Medicare Gap

Number of people every month whose Medicaid drug coverage runs out before their Medicare coverage starts : "Between 10,000-70,000"

Thursday, June 15, 2006

DI: Death Tax

Actual percentage of all U.S. estates that will be affected by the so-called "death tax" in 2006: 0.27%

Friday, June 9, 2006

DI: More Halliburton

Amount by which Halliburton earnings are expected to increase over the next three to five years: Double

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

DI: The New State Department

Members of the State department's office on nuclear diplomacy who have left or are leaving after a "botched" reshuffling of the bureaucracy: 7 (of 12)

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

DI: Verizon

Number of current and former Verizon female employees who received compensation due to their lawsuit alleging pregnancy discrimination: 12,326

Friday, June 2, 2006

DI: DC And Baghdad

Annualized murder rate for Baghdad last year (more than twice that of Washington, D.C.): 95 per 100,000 people

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

DI: Abortion Providers

Percent decline in number of abortion providers in the United States since 1982: 87 percent

Friday, May 26, 2006

DI: Hedge Funds

Average  take-home income of the 26 top-earning hedge fund managers in 2005, a 45-percent increase from 2004:  $363 million each 

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

DI: Lobbying

Senators receiving the most in gifts from lobbyists in 2006 election cycle: Clinton and Santorum

Friday, May 19, 2006

DI: Guantanamo

Number of detainees who tried to commit suicide at Guantanamo Bay on Thursday:  4

Thursday, May 18, 2006

DI: Immigrant Debate Or Hate Speech?

Percent increase in number of hate groups operating in America since 2000, possibly connected to a rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric: 33%

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

DI: IDAHO

Number of countries that outlaw homosexuality (six enforce a death penality for homosexual relationships): 80

Monday, May 15, 2006

DI: Chinese Currence Gains

Amount the Chinese allowed the yuan to rise to against the dollar, under U.S. pressure, from its traditional strength of 8 to the dollar: 7.9976

Friday, May 12, 2006

DI: Slender Threads

Number of jurors who voted against giving Zacarias Moussaoui the death sentence: 1

Tuesday, May 9, 2006

DI: Hurricane Halliburton

Amount Halliburton's first-quarter profit would have to be cut to if held accountable for overcharges and disputed billing in Iraq: "Less than half"

Monday, May 8, 2006

DI: Hayden's MZM Tie

Amount Gen. Michael Hayden's top aide at the NSA and MZM chief Lt. Gen. James King contributed to Mitchell Wade's criminal defense contracting bribery: $8,000

Friday, May 5, 2006

DI: Killed In Iraq

Number of people killed in Iraq the day U.S. forces released a video making fun of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: 28

Thursday, May 4, 2006

DI: Terrorists On A Plane

Number of  complaints filed with the TSA that individuals have been wrongly identified as terrorist suspects and searched at airports: 28,000

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

DI: FISA Statistics

Number of FISA wiretaps and searches approved in 2005 by the secret court, out of 2,074 submitted: 2,072  

Monday, May 1, 2006

DI: Addicted To Signing Statements

Number of signing statements issued by President Bush for laws he believes conflict with his legal interpretation of the Constitution: 750

Thursday, April 27, 2006

DI: Exxon Profits

Exxon Mobil's daily profit, according to their quarterly profit report released today: $93,000,000

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

DI: Green Computers

Percent efficiency of the power supply in the average computer CPU: 47%

Monday, April 24, 2006

DI: Torture Continues

Number of joint U.S.-Iraqi inspections of detention centers in Iraq that have found evidence of torture (out of six inspections conducted since November, 2005): Six

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

DI: IDP Worries

Number of internally-displaced refugees in the world who are not protected by the 1951 Refugee Convention: 25 million

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

DI: Dirty Money

The amount of money that a Jack-Abramoff-headed independent group received from the Apartheid government in South Africa for propaganda and lobbying: $1.5 million per year

Monday, April 17, 2006

DI: Post Roe v. Wade

Number of states likely to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade were overturned, according to a USA Today analysis: 22

Friday, April 14, 2006

DI: Shi'ite Refugees

Number of families displaced by sectarian violence since the Samarra bombing, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent: 6,600

Thursday, April 13, 2006

DI: Housing Discrimination

Percentage of African-Americans and Latinos testers discriminated against by real estate agencies across the country, according to a new report: 20

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

DI: Deaths Rise

Number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this month in Iraq, as opposed to 31 in all of March: 36

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

DI: Illegal, Or Just Unethical?

Percentage of Americans who think President Bush acted illegally or unethically in leaking intelligence matters to reporters, according to a new Gallup poll: 63 percent

Monday, April 10, 2006

DI: Targetting Iran

Approximate number of targets that would have to be hit to destroy Iran's nuclear program:  400

Friday, April 7, 2006

DI: Latest Death Toll

Latest estimates of the number killed when multiple suicide bombers exploded at a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad: 79

Thursday, April 6, 2006

DI: The DHS Sex Crime Ring?

Number of DHS officials suspected of sex crimes involving minors, including the former head of the "Predator" sex-crime surveillance program: 3

Wednesday, April 5, 2006

DI: Delay's Connection

Amount of money Tom DeLay recieved personally from Jack Abramoff and his wife, Pam: $40,000

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

DI: The Delay Rule

Number of members of the House Republican Conference who confirmed voting in November 2004 to rewrite the rules to allow Tom DeLay to remain in leadership after being indicted by a grand jury: 63

Monday, April 3, 2006

DI: Poetry In A Dark Place

Number of lines of poetry Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost claims were confiscated from him by the U.S. Army while he was a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay: 25,000

Friday, March 31, 2006

DI: Mistakes, We've Made A Few

Number of tactical mistakes Condoleezza Rice admitted that the United States had probably made in Iraq: "Thousands" 

Thursday, March 30, 2006

DI: Death In Uganda

Rate of violent deaths per 10,000 people per day in Uganda due to the 20-year insurgency (three times the rate of death in Iraq): 0.17 or 146 deaths per week

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

DI: Chinese Pollution

Number of spots on the "10 Most Polluted Cities In The World" list held by China: 10

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

DI: Peace Partners

Number of Arab states who have said they will offer a full peace to Israel in return for Israel's withdrawal to the 1967 borders:  22

Monday, March 27, 2006

DI: Earmarks

Dollar value of the 12,852 earmarks the Congressional Research Service counted in this year's spending bills: $64 billion

Friday, March 24, 2006

DI: Katrina Calling

Percentage of African-American residents of New Orleans who are still displaced from their homes: 80 percent

Thursday, March 23, 2006

DI: Journalists Killed In Iraq

Number of journalists killed in Iraq (the most deadly war for journalists since World War II): 86

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

DI: Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old...

Amount of time current House Majority Leader John Boehner has spent on lobbyist-funded trips in the past six years: 6 months

Monday, March 20, 2006

DI: The Pentagon Needs A Prius

Amount of money the U.S. military spent for the 128.3 million barrels of fuel it consumed in 2005: $8.8 billion

Friday, March 17, 2006

Daily Indicator: No Money For You!

Amount of funding for port security and disaster preparedness House Republicans voted out of a new budget amendment:  $1.25 billion

Thursday, March 16, 2006

DI: Just Do It!

Percentage of voters who favor a Senate  resolution "censuring President Bush for authorizing wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining court orders": 48 percent

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

DI: Blowing Your Retirement

Number of customers that H&R Block fraudelently steered to invest in IRAs where 85 percent of them lost money, according to a new lawsuit: 500,000

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

DI: Lady Liberty's Energy Independence

Number of kilowatt hours from windmills used to power the lights in the torch of the Statue of Liberty, according to a new contract with Pepco: 27 million

Monday, March 13, 2006

DI: Abortion Polling

Percentage of Americans who feel that abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to a new AP poll: 52 percent

Friday, March 10, 2006

DI: Gale Norton

Amount of money donated at the request of Jack Abramoff to the Gale Norton-founded Council Of Republicans For Environmental Advocacy: $250,000

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Data Mining Doesn't Work

Bruce Schneier

Number of federal intelligence data-mining programs after Congress removed funding for the proposed Total Information Awareness program: 122

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

DI: The Cost Of War

Total cost of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the fiscal year ending September 30 (an 18 percent increase from last year):  $117.6 billion

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

DI: Charging Terror

Amount of credit card debt that will make the U.S. government suspicious you are a terrorist if you pay it all at once:  $6,522

Monday, March 6, 2006

The Cost Of Living

Grist Magazine

Average cost of one asthma-related hospitalization for a child:  $7,538

Friday, March 3, 2006

Spendthrift

Amount Treasury officials have told Congress that they need to increase the  $8.2 trillion national debt by to cover expenses:  $781 billion

Thursday, March 2, 2006

Jails Not Homes

Amount requested to build new prisons in Iraq by the State Department, the only planned construction for 2006 and 2007: $100,000,000

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Is It Clear Bush Broke The Law?

Number of states where a majority of those surveyed feel that it is clear that Bush did not break the law when ordering warrantless wiretapping of Americans: 0

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Slowly Sinking Deeper

CBSnews.com

Percentage of Americans who approve of how President Bush is handling the Iraq war, a new low according to a CBS poll: 30

Monday, February 27, 2006

Guantanamo But Worse: #s At Bagram

Average length of stay of the approximately 500 prisoners kept in wire cages at Bagram Air Base , without any legal representation or ability to challenge their detention, in conditions described as "more bleak" than Guantanamo: 14.5 months

Friday, February 24, 2006

Oil Price Increases

Factor by which oil prices have increased since 2002, as a result of instability in areas such as Nigeria, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia: 3

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Abortion clinics in Mississippi

Ratio of abortion clinics to people in the state of Mississippi: 1 : 2,844,658

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Seniors Unsure About Medicare

Percent of seniors still uncertain about signing up for the Medicare prescription drug benefit: 23

Thursday, February 16, 2006

New Orleans Money

Amount of additional funding Bush is earmarking for Louisiana, after facing complaints that he has not done enough to rebuild Hurricane Katrina damage: $4.2 billion

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Free Oil

Cost of the royalty-free pumping of natural gas and oil from federal land that the governnment will allow companies to do in the next five years: $65 billion

Monday, February 13, 2006

Failure of Initiative

Number of people who died as a result of the Bush administration's "failure of initiative" during Hurricane Katrina: 1,300

Thursday, February 9, 2006

Secretive Social Security Costs

Seven-year cost of private Social Security accounts, which President Bush slipped into the 2007 budget this week: $712 billion

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Katrina Refugees To Be Expelled

Number of Katrina evacuees who face expulsion from FEMA-funded hotel rooms today: 5,000

Monday, February 6, 2006

2007 Budget

Number of programs President Bush is proposing to shrink or eliminate in his 2007 budget: 141

Friday, February 3, 2006

Super Bowl Poverty

Median household income in Detroit (where $300 million in revenue is expected to be generated by the Super Bowl this weekend): $27,871

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Iraqi Opinions On U.S. Plans

Percent of Iraqis who believe that the United States intends to maintain a permanent military presence in the country: 80

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

2005 Wage Increase

Average percent increase in employee wages and benefits in 2005 (smallest increase in nine years): 3.1

Monday, January 30, 2006

Projects Per Lawmaker

Number of requests for home-district project funding, per lawmaker, that the House Appropriations Committee received for one spending bill alone last year: 25.4

Friday, January 27, 2006

Second-Term Failure

Percent of Americans who think President Bush's second term is a failure so far: 58

Thursday, January 26, 2006

British Troops To Afghanistan

Number of additional troops Britain plans to send to Afghanistan this summer (while the United States cuts troops): 4,000

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Closed-Door Insurance Deal

Amount of money that a closed-door deal made in the House and Senate will save the health insurance industry over the next 10 years: $22 billion

Monday, January 23, 2006

Ford Cuts

Number of jobs expected to be cut by Ford Motor Company in a massive "Way Forward" restructuring: 25,000

Friday, January 20, 2006

A Failing Grade On Repro. Rights

Number of states that received a grade of F in a report on women's reproductive rights nationwide: 19

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Insurance Industry Profits

Amount that the insurance industry's marketing and profits will add  to the cost of Medicare drug programs between 2006 and 2013: $38 billion 

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Bird Flu Money

Amount of money wealthy nations have pledged for fighting avian flu: $2 billion

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Illegal Immigration Bill

Number of illegal immigrants who would be classified as felons if a bill passed in the House last week clears the Senate: 11 million

Thursday, January 12, 2006

A Smaller NOLA

Proposed population of a rebuilt New Orleans , based on a plan released yesterday (compared to a population of  500,000 before Katrina): 250,000

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Public Opinion Of Alito

Percent of Americans who say they are "undecided" or "haven't heard enough to form an opinion" about Samuel Alito: 77

Monday, January 9, 2006

New Medicare Patients

Percent of physicians accepting new Medicare patients, despite congressional cuts to Medicare reimbursement fees: 73

Thursday, January 5, 2006

Louisiana's First Bill

Amount of Lousiana's first bill from FEMA (with a 30-day due date) for the state's share of federal hurricane relief: $155.7 million

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Abramoff's Web

Number of lawmakers who could be ensnared by information Jack Abramoff will provide in his plea bargain: 60

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Greenhouse Gas Control

Number of states that just adopted California's tough greenhouse-gas control law: 8