News The Morning News
120: Number of days by which an Alaska-based Army brigade’s tour in Iraq was extended just as they were preparing to return home, prompting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to snap, “I’d love to be Santa Claus. I’m not.”
45: Percentage of US gross domestic product represented by wages and salaries in 2006, the lowest level in US history.
49: Number of passengers and crew killed when a Comair commuter plane crashed in Kentucky yesterday after taking off from the wrong runway.
Two: Number of days remaining before New Orleanians must “gut or otherwise clean up” their wrecked homes, according to city officials.
25, 40: Percent by which rents and home prices, respectively, have risen in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina one year ago.
50:Minimum number killed in attacks across Iraq yesterday. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says his country “will never be in a civil war,” adding: “The violence is in decrease.”
Eight: Number of states with anti-smoking initiatives on the ballot this fall, including tax hikes and workplace smoking bans.
250,000: Number of photographs taken of Earth from the International Space Station, as of the end of August 2006.
I don't believe in hell, but I wish it existed only for Dummy Rumsfeld. He doesn't even have the decency to act concerned.