Excerpts from the July Harper's Index (not yet on line):
• Estimated number of people in the developing world employed collecting virtual resources for online games: 100,000
• Minimum percentage of mortgages in Las Vegas that are currently "underwater": 70
• Chance that an American who earned a bachelor's degree in 2008 will be paying off student loans in 2028: 1 in 3
• Minimum number of times the calculation of the Consumer Price Index has been "improved" since 1980: 20
• Current rate of inflation, officially: 3.2%
• As measured by the "unimproved" metric: 10.7%
• Number of public statues in the United States: 5,193
• Number that depict women: 394
• • • • •
At Daily Kos on this date in 2003:
WMDs: Who will tell the people?
Here's a start.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) calls for a "very thorough investigation into what happened that caused the president to go ahead and proceed with the war", preferably in joint (Intel + Armed Services) Senate committee hearings.
Uber-hawk Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) endorses Rockefeller's call for hearings, while expressing confidence "we will be able to make the case for conflict in Iraq". (Yoicks ... damning the war with faint praise?) McCain is in perfect position to start out loyal and hawkish, but swing around under the weight of evidence if it looks like Bush is going down.
The respective committee chairs -- Warner (R-VA), Roberts(R-KS) -- are less enthusiastic. They've got bases to touch, homework to do, reconnaissance to check out ... but they can't hold off the flood. ...