Some selections from the September Harper's Index (not yet on-line):
• Average annual government expenditures since 2005 on military research and development: $77,000,000,000
• Average expenditures on energy research and development: $5,000,000,000
• Number of federal environmental-impact study exemptions granted to oil and gas companies in the Gulf since the BP oil spill: 33
• Chances that a public school district plans to increase class sizes in the coming school year: 3 in 5
• Percentage of American 16- and 17-year-olds who use text messaging who say they do so while driving: 34
• Percentage of adults who do: 47
• Price that Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, charges for a two-day "Home Defense" course: $400 |
• • • • •
At Daily Kos on this date in 2009:
A new report finds that after a ten year lull, armed militia groups are growing rapidly, and officials worry that full blown domestic terrorism could soon follow:
The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration.
Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most growth he's seen in more than a decade.
"All it's lacking is a spark," McEntire said in the report.
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