Wed, 04 Apr 2007

3230 Americans dead in Iraq

Newsweek reports over 3230 dead American service personnel as a result
of Bush’s Iraq war.

EPA slapdown

From slashdot: In a 5-4 decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, saying that the EPA’s reasons for not doing so in the past were ‘arbitrary, capricious or otherwise not in accordance with law.’ The ruling does not require the EPA to regulate carbon. But concerns about global climate change and its ties to human activity did appear to be deciding factors in the case. About bloody time the EPA started Protecting the Enviroment. What a concept, eh?

Mexico’s Poverty

I just got back from Mexico, and this one story illustrates just how poor the people of Mexico are. I walked into a 7-11 (a real 7-11, not some generic bodega/convenience store) in Mexico City around 11AM on a Saturday, and got a drink from the cooler (it’s 90F out in March). I walked up to the counter. The drink costs 8 Pesos (a peso is about 9 cents US, so the drink costs about $0.72 US). I offered the clerk a 20 Peso note (worth $1.80 US). He didn’t have change. For a $0.75 cent drink out of a $2 bill. Q.E.D.