Job creation
Under George Bush, the economy produced 3.7 million new jobs from January 2001 through December of last year based on nonfarm payroll figures collected by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. *
When Bill Clinton was in the White House, the economy generated 17.6 million jobs during the corresponding period -- from January 1993 to December 1998. Under Ronald Reagan, 9.5 million jobs were created from January 1981 to December 1986.
Some 2.6 million jobs were created during the four-year term of Bush's father. *
Saddam needed more yellowcake?
The record begins with a Feb. 13, 2002, memo from a CIA briefer who had been "tasked" by Cheney on the uranium issue: "The VP was shown an assessment (he thought from DIA) that Iraq is purchasing uranium from Africa. He would like our assessment of that transaction and its implications for Iraq's nuclear program." The CIA briefer responded the next day with a comment that should have aroused skepticism on whether Iraq needed to buy any more uranium: Iraq already had 550 tons of "yellowcake" ore -- 200 tons of it from Niger. But the CIA, eager to please, asked Wilson a few days later to go to Niger to investigate the claim. **
Somebody's lying
F.B.I. agent, Deborah Bond, a 19-year veteran, described the bureau's interview with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Oct. 14, 2003. Asked where he first learned of Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, he had told the FBI then -- from the vice president, on or about June 12 that year, in a telephone conversation.
Dick Cheney, September 14, 2003. on Meet the Press, “I don’t know Joe Wilson,. “I’ve never met Joe Wilson. And Joe Wilson—I don’t ..who sent Joe Wilson. He never submitted a report that I ever saw when he came back... I don’t know Mr. Wilson. ..." ***
Why would Pepsi want Coke's recipe?
A jury found former Coca-Cola administrative assistant Joya Williams guilty of trying to sell secret information on new Coke products to rival Pepsi, the Atlanta Attorney General's office said.
In a verdict which could land her in jail for 10 years, Williams, 41, and two co-conspirators and ex-convicts, Edmund Duhaney and Ibrahim Dimson, were arrested in July for scheming to collect 1.5 million dollars from PepsiCo for Coca-Cola secrets. (Coke sucks!)
Herding the Sheep
The polling, conducted by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks, also reveals that the frequency of these misperceptions varies significantly according to individuals’ primary source of news.
Those who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely to have misperceptions, while those who primarily listen to NPR or watch PBS are significantly less likely. **
It's getting more crowded
In 8,000 BC there were 5 million people living on Earth. In 1800, there were 1 billion, and today there are over 6 1/2 billion.
San Francisco Values?
'In a recent online fundraising pitch, Newt Gingrich asked supporters, "Will everything you've worked so hard to accomplish be lost to the San Francisco values of would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi?"
Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, a native of San Francisco, have been married for over 40 years and have five children and six grandchildren. Pelosi was a 'stay at home' mom until the age of 46, when she ran for political office.
....vs. what Newt, 'Georgian values'?
'Newt' married his first wife, Jackie, who happened to also be his high school geometry teacher, at 19. They had two daughters and after 19 years of marriage, Newt told Jackie, while she lay in her hospital bed recovering from cancer surgery, that he needed a new wife because she wasn't "young enough or pretty enough to be the President's wife." That very same year, 1981, Newt married his second wife, Marianne, who he dumped, after being caught cheating with his soon-to-be third wife, Callista, who is 23 years his junior, and whom he married in 2000. Newt has not yet announced when he will be trading up for number four.
Today a long time ago
On February 4, 1783, Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America, ultimately ending the American Revolutionary War.
What are the odds of that?
Laying it down in today's Super Bowl XLI
-The Colts are a 7 point favorite over the Bears
-Indianapolis scores first and wins: 1-2
-Chicago scores first and wins: 4-1
-Over-under on the distance of the first punt is 43 yards.
-Colts receiver Marvin Harrison is at 9-2 to score the first touchdown
-Odds are 5,000 to 1 that the Colts will finish with four points
-How long will it take Billy Joel to sing the national anthem? Over/under is 1 minute and 44 seconds.
Hope you didn't spend that tax cut
Keeping troops in Iraq for another year and a half will cost nearly a quarter-trillion dollars - about $800 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. - under the budget George Bush will submit to Congress Monday.
Foresight
-John McCain -“I believe that the success [in Iraq] will be fairly easy." 9/24/02
-Hillary Clinton - "...Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program" 10/10/02
-Russ Feingold - “I am increasingly troubled by the seemingly shifting justifications for an invasion at this time. … When the administration moves back and forth from one argument to another, I think it undercuts the credibility of the case and the belief in its urgency."- 10/9/02 - On why he voted 'no' on Bush's free pass.
