Welcome to Thursday! This is my weekly column where I take a look at the numbers mentioned in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary (sometimes tainted with just a little sarcasm).
PLEASE NOTE: By reading this column you will probably gain some knowledge not found on other websites! You can use this information to impress your family, friends, and co-workers. The information might even be life changing – so consider yourself warned…
This week I write about our National Debt, football, food stamps, Romney’s tax records, unemployment, buying bullets, Tweets Per Minute, moving inside, Denny Rehberg, Bill Clinton, no bounce, Denise Juneau, Still Got a Crush on Obama, Raquel Welch, God and Jerusalem, Pink Floyd, and much more!
16,000,000,000,000
Our National Debt went over $16 trillion dollars this week. That adds up to about $51,000 per citizen and $140,000 per taxpayer.
Our elected officials are doing nothing to stop the madness except blaming each other…
2,100,000,000
The Dallas Cowboys have an estimated worth of $2.1 billion according to Forbes making them the NFL’s most valuable franchise. The value of other teams can be seen HERE.
How ‘bout those Cowboys (last night)…
46,670,373
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food-stamp use reached a record 46.7 million people in June 2012.
It’s sad so many people need food stamps, but at least we live in a country where we are able to help those in need…
17,000,000
According to this story, “Penn State’s costs for legal fees, consultants and public relations firms hired to help deal with the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal have reached nearly $17 million.”
1,000,000
According to CNN, “An anonymous group says it stole copies of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s tax records and will release them unless the company it stole them from pays $1 million.”
I thought Harry Reid said that Romney did not pay taxes…
365,000
That’s how many new claims for unemployment were filed last week according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
It went down from the revised numbers from week before which is good. The monthly job report comes out Friday morning. Watch out…
174,000
The Social Security Administration (SSA) posted a notice saying they were purchasing 174,000 rounds of hollow-point bullets. The nut jobs went wild crying conspiracy! Actually, the rounds were for SSA agents who investigate fraud and threats.
You can all stand down and head back to your underground bunkers now…
100,000
Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock announced that “The Montana 24/7 Sobriety Program hit an important milestone this weekend: While not yet a year old, the program aimed at reducing repeat drunken driving has administered more than 100,000 portable breath tests to Montanans facing a second or subsequent DUI charge – and more than 99 percent of the tests are clean.”
Sadly, only 20 counties are participating in the program so far – the remaining ones need to get off their behinds and get the program started…
79,786
As of this morning, that’s how many views the music video, “Still Got a Crush on Obama” has received since it was released on Monday. Yesterday the video had less than 1000 views. It’s available on iTunes!
Maybe the Democratic National Convention organizers should play this before Obama speaks tonight…
74,000
Due to the possibility of severe weather, President Barack Obama’s speech tonight is being moved from the 74,000 seat Bank of America Stadium to the enclosed Time Warner Cable Arena, which holds about 15,000. Republicans contend it was because they could not fill the stadium.
I thought Obama could stop the rain…
28,000
According to a report from CQ Roll Call Daily Briefing, “Michelle Obama’s speech went profoundly viral, peaking at 28,000 TPM (Tweets Per Minute) just before she finished speaking. That compares to a 6,200 peak during Ann Romney’s speech — and a 14,300 peak during the Mitt Romney speech.”
Michelle Obama is the real deal…
6,558
That’s the approximate number of words in the feature story, “Who is Denny Rehberg, really?” published in the High Country News on September 3.
It’s a very interesting story about the Rehberg family. The sidebar even contains graphics showing the Rehberg family subdivisions!
72
Actress Raquel Welch turned 72 years old Wednesday.
Can we ever forget Raquel’s Space-Girl Dance? I think not…
69
Roger Waters, founding member of the rock band Pink Floyd, turns 69 today.
It’s time to enjoy Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)…
50
Former President Bill Clinton spoke for almost 50 minutes last night at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It was classic Clinton – the man who Democrats love and Republicans loathe. Clinton helped Obama significantly during his speech last night.
46
According to a new Gallup poll, “Mitt Romney received no bounce from last week’s Republican National Convention, as the 46% of registered voters who supported him in Aug. 31-Sept. 3 Daily tracking is essentially the same as the 47% who preferred him in Aug. 24-27 tracking, the four days preceding the convention.”
Romney’s candidacy reminds me of the kid on the playground who is picked to play on a team not because of his skills, but because he owns the football the teams are playing with…plus his mother brings better treats…
6
Denise Juneau, Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, spoke for about six minutes at the 2012 Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.
Juneau did a fine job; Montanans should be proud of her…
3
On Wednesday afternoon the Democratic National Convention delegates voted to amend the party platform to include the word “God” and name Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. According to ABC News, it took three votes to change it. I watched the votes and it was very awkward.
The Republicans have to be jumping with joy as they have been given a gift to use in the next sixty days. Fox News has been playing the video of the votes over and over since then. This is a nice change for Fox News, as they won’t be playing the video of Obama saying, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that” video several times per hour now…
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The Western Word 