Some context that the propapunditgandists of the "US
mainstream news media" will not provide for you in the
post-mortem for tonight's SOTU...
Independent/UK: Today the President gives his annual
address. As the election battle begins, how does his
first term add up?
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
$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
$1.58 billion: Average amount by which the US national
debt increases each day
Restore the Timeline, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0120-01.htm
Published on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 by the
lndependent/UK
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?
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 civilians 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 (Record holder: 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
recognized 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 defense policy board
who also sit on the corporate board of, or advise, at
least one defense 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 program 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
© 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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