Welcome to Seattle, the Emerald City!
I accepted a coffee date with a coffee roaster.
***
What I really wanted this entry to be about was BUSH. We all disagree with Bush and his policies. As you all have been in school these two semesters I have been reading at an incredible rate. Here are some real numbers to get angry about. Frankly, you as a tax-paying American citizen have a right to be angry and angry you should be.
1. In his 2007 budget to Congress President Bush did not earmark ONE SINGLE PENNY to Hurricane Katrina relief. Instead, he increased the Defense Budget by $53 billion.
2. In the thirty-one days of January, EIGHT HUNDRED people died as a result of the war in Iraq; soldiers, service people, civilians, eight hundred people. American news reports often only give counts of American soldiers. Even with those counts it is difficult to get a broader sense of the brutality of what is happening as we invade and destroy a country. Monday's New York Times had an excellent graphic on their Op-Ed page that truly spells it out.
3. Leading economists estimate that over the next fours years (through 2010) the DIRECT cost of the war in Iraq will reach 1.2 TRILLION DOLLARS. That estimate does not include indirect costs like continued medical care of vets or housing for reconstruction teams in the country, which would increase that number still further.
3b. To put that number is perspective. The TOTAL COST to provide clean drinking water, a steady food supply, primary education and fundamental health care to EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET costs $80 billion a year. Think about what we could be using that money to do instead. AIDS could be spoken of in the past tense.
4. The cover story in Time magazine this week is about the state of science and science education in America. Scientists from a wide vareity of fields both research and education report bullying or, worse, a complete close-out from this Administration. Our president is IGNORING what some of the brightest minds in the world are telling him about the realities of global-warming, oil dependencies and the state of science education from primary through graduate school.
The more I read the more I find to get angry about. The more I read the more outraged I get. The more I read the more I want to tell everyone I know.
***
What I really wanted this entry to be about was BUSH. We all disagree with Bush and his policies. As you all have been in school these two semesters I have been reading at an incredible rate. Here are some real numbers to get angry about. Frankly, you as a tax-paying American citizen have a right to be angry and angry you should be.
1. In his 2007 budget to Congress President Bush did not earmark ONE SINGLE PENNY to Hurricane Katrina relief. Instead, he increased the Defense Budget by $53 billion.
2. In the thirty-one days of January, EIGHT HUNDRED people died as a result of the war in Iraq; soldiers, service people, civilians, eight hundred people. American news reports often only give counts of American soldiers. Even with those counts it is difficult to get a broader sense of the brutality of what is happening as we invade and destroy a country. Monday's New York Times had an excellent graphic on their Op-Ed page that truly spells it out.
3. Leading economists estimate that over the next fours years (through 2010) the DIRECT cost of the war in Iraq will reach 1.2 TRILLION DOLLARS. That estimate does not include indirect costs like continued medical care of vets or housing for reconstruction teams in the country, which would increase that number still further.
3b. To put that number is perspective. The TOTAL COST to provide clean drinking water, a steady food supply, primary education and fundamental health care to EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET costs $80 billion a year. Think about what we could be using that money to do instead. AIDS could be spoken of in the past tense.
4. The cover story in Time magazine this week is about the state of science and science education in America. Scientists from a wide vareity of fields both research and education report bullying or, worse, a complete close-out from this Administration. Our president is IGNORING what some of the brightest minds in the world are telling him about the realities of global-warming, oil dependencies and the state of science education from primary through graduate school.
The more I read the more I find to get angry about. The more I read the more outraged I get. The more I read the more I want to tell everyone I know.