You’ve almost got it made – just today and Friday and the weekend is here!  Congrats!

My faithful readers know that almost every Thursday, we examine the numbers and the stories behind the numbers here at The Western Word.  This week is very interesting as we take a look at pizza, bears, money lost, vacation days, child poverty, unemployment compensation, and much more – so read on…

360,000,000:

According to the Associated Press, “After examining hundreds of combat support and reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan, the U.S military estimates $360 million in tax dollars ended up in the hands of the Taliban, criminals and power brokers with ties to both.”

War is costly…

408,000:

That’s the number of new unemployment claims filed last week.  This is an increase from the week before.

Somebody in charge or somebody that can make changes needs to understand that the present plan is not working.  HELLO?

150:

That’s the number of pizzas a man from Mississippi purchased from a restaurant in Massachusetts.  He drove about 1400 miles to pick them up.  Read the story HERE.

Once you find that perfect pizza pie, nothing else compares…

61:

That’s the number of “vacation” days President Obama has taken since coming into office.   According to this report from CBS News, “At this point in their presidencies, George W. Bush had spent 180 days at his ranch where his staff often joined him for meetings. And Ronald Reagan had taken 112 vacation days at his ranch. Among recent presidents, Bill Clinton took the least time off — 28 days.”

I don’t really think Presidents have vacation days – it’s not like they shut off the blackberry and disappear from the face of the earth for a couple weeks.  They are working if they “vacation” at Martha’s Vineyard or at a ranch in Texas.

38:

According to a story on CBS News, “Across the nation, the research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009.”

That’s a pretty sad report for our country. 

33:

Lee Newspapers has the Montana results:

Montana received the worst rankings in its five-state region in key child health and well-being indicators, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reported in its 2011 Kids Count Data Book released Wednesday.

Montana ranked 33rd among the 50 states overall in a series of measurements after being 32nd last year.

In contrast, North Dakota ranked 10th, South Dakota 21st, Idaho 22nd and Wyoming 28th.

Montana was 21st in the Kids Count rankings in 2000, but its rankings have steadily declined since then.

We can do better, can’t we?

14:

That’s the number of weeks of unemployment compensation I received.

2:

That’s the number of grizzly cubs going from Wyoming to a zoo in Ohio.

Seems the zoo is a better “sentence” than a death sentence…

0:

That’s the number of weeks of unemployment compensation I have left – might be time for a bake sale…

You should really follow Jack on Twitter @TheWesternWord – hundreds of people are doing just that…