Lifestyles of the Rich and Heartless
Belief:
Introducing ChristianChirp, the Evangelical Right's Alternative to Twitter
Allison Kilkenny
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Real Recovery Is Easy to Spell: J-O-B-S
Jim Hightower
DrugReporter:
Drug Policy Alliance Conference Comes at a Crucial Moment for Drug Reform
Anthony Papa
Environment:
Whistleblowers Say Oil Reserve Numbers Deliberately Inflated to Avoid Panic, Appease the US
Matthew McDermott
Food:
Quitting Meat Is a Process -- Almost Impossible to Do All at Once
Jonathan Safran Foer
Health and Wellness:
Does the House Bill's Public Option Kill Off the Senate's?
Booman
Immigration:
Two More Legal Residents Caught in the Maw of our Immigration-Security-State
Seth Hoy
Media and Technology:
Relentless Pressure from Progressive Groups Pushes Hatemonger Lou Dobbs Out of CNN
Tana Ganeva
Movie Mix:
The Yes Men: Pranksters Out to Fix the World
Mark Engler
Politics:
How Catholic Bishops Threw the Health Care Debate into Turmoil with Anti-Abortion Maneuver
Adele M. Stan
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
"Precious" Star Claims the Spotlight
Emily Wilson
Rights and Liberties:
Muslim-Americans Have Good Reason to Fear Fort Hood Backlash
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Sex and Relationships:
9 Silly Things People Say When They Hear You Don't Want Kids (And Ways to Counter Them)
Liz Langley
Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
Laura Flanders
Water:
Radioactive Wastewater in New York Raises More Concerns About Oil Drilling
Abrahm Lustgarten
World:
Whistleblower: There’s a Lot Less Oil Than We Think and U.S. Has Been Trying to Cover It Up
Terry Macalister
A look at this week's festivities by the numbers:
$40 million: Cost of Bush inaugural ball festivities, not counting security costs.
$2,000: Amount FDR spent on the inaugural in 1945 ... about $20,000 in today's dollars.
$20,000: Cost of yellow roses purchased for inaugural festivities by D.C.'s Ritz Carlton.
200: Number of Humvees outfitted with top-of-the-line armor for troops in Iraq that could have been purchased with the amount of money blown on the inauguration.
$10,000: Price of an inaugural package at the Fairmont Hotel, which includes a Beluga caviar and Dom Perignon reception, a chauffeured Rolls Royce and two actors posing as "faux" Secret Service agents, complete with black sunglasses and cufflink walkie-talkies.
400: Pounds of lobster provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the exclusive Mandarin Oriental hotel.
3,000: Number of "Laura Bush Cowboy cookies" provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the Mandarin hotel.
$1: Amount per guest President Carter spent on snacks for guests at his inaugural parties. To stick to a tight budget, he served pretzels, peanuts, crackers and cheese and had cash bars.
22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.
1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.
$15,000: The down payment to rent a fur coat paid by one gala attendee who didn't want the hassle of schlepping her own through the airport.
$200,500: Price of a room package at D.C.'s Mandarin Oriental hotel, including presidential suite, chauffeured Mercedes limo and outfits from Neiman Marcus.
2,500: Number of U.S. troops used to stand guard as President Bush takes his oath of office.
26,000: Number of Kevlar vests for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be purchased for $40 million.
$290: Bonus that could go to each American solider serving in Iraq, if inauguration funds were used for that purpose.
$6.3 million: Amount contributed by the finance and investment industry, which works out to be 25 percent of all the money collected.
$17 million: Amount of money the White House is forcing the cash-strapped city of Washington, D.C., to pony up for inauguration security.
9: Percentage of D.C. residents who voted for Bush in 2004.
66: Percentage of Americans who think this over-the-top inauguration should have been scaled back.
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| More News and Analysis: | ||
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Relentless Pressure from Progressive Groups Pushes Hatemonger Lou Dobbs Out of CNN Media and Technology: Groups like BastaDobbs have done in Dobbs, who used his media platform to stir up racist, anti-immigrant hysteria for years. By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet. November 12, 2009. |
Two More Legal Residents Caught in the Maw of our Immigration-Security-State Immigration: Opponents of reform say the system's fine as it is ... are they serious? By Seth Hoy, Immigration Impact. November 12, 2009. |
Muslim-Americans Have Good Reason to Fear Fort Hood Backlash Rights and Liberties: Though anti-Muslim hysteria has leveled off somewhat since September 11, Muslims still routinely get the blame for anything that even remotely smacks of a terrorist act. By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media. November 12, 2009. |
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