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["David R. Matusiak" <dave AT matusiak.org>]

anyone catch that "State of What Dubya's Speech Writers are Thinking" 
thing the other night?

i've gotta say, it was pretty well written -- and he only flubbed a few 
minor lines.  those diction lessons are paying off in spades.  anyway, 
i think there were some neat and fantastical accounting practices going 
on in the midst of all that killing Iraqi people stuff.

$200,000,000,000  -- amount needed to fully destroy, rebuild and manage 
Iraq
                     for 3 years (re-double this amount every 3 years)
+
$ 15,000,000,000  -- amount needed to cure AIDS in Africa so America 
looks
                     like a "Big Sweetie"
+
$  1,200,000,000  -- smokescreen appeasement "hydrogen car" program to 
get the
                     noisy anti-car lobby to STFU
+
$    450,000,000  -- to teach kids to read while *still* not raising 
teacher
                     salaries or getting parents to take responsibility
+
$    600,000,000  -- to continue to single-out druggies for "special 
government
                     programs" (weak cover for giving $$ to faith-based 
groups)
+
$  6,000,000,000  -- for bioterrorism countermeasures (instead of 
finding out
                     "why" someone would want to "bioterror" the US)
+
$ 16,000,000,000  -- in secret funding for suped-up cyber-spying 
initiatives to
                     be used against its own citizens
----------------
$239,250,000,000  -- that is almost 240 BILLION DOLLARS we will have to 
come up
                     with in order to prove that we are the only 
superpower.

and, just out of curiosity, what was our national deficit *before* 
this??  i don't really know, but if i had to guess, i'd say somewhere 
around:

$6,406,007,777,245.04

THAT is 6.4 TRILLION DOLLARS.

SO, 6.4 trillion plus 240 billion -- jeez, i can't really count that 
high.

anyway, the GOOD NEWS is that Americans no longer have to be weighted 
down with such HIGH TAXES!!  that's right!!  with the new 
Republican-controlled Congress and One World Government, US Citizens 
will now get an (almost) FREE RIDE!!

Suppose you paid $1,450.00 in taxes last year;  this year, you will 
only have to pay $45.00!!!  HOW IS THAT FOR A TAX PLAN?!?!?!?

and if you are already SUPER-RICH, you won't have to pay ANY TAXES on 
ANYTHING!!  you can buy extra homes, priceless jewels, dozens of SUVs 
-- ALL TAX FREE!!  and don't you know that BUYING THINGS helps the US 
economy??

maybe if we are lucky, they will outsource all this accounting to 
Pakistan, 'cause they seem so goddamn stable with their NUKES and all.  
i'm sure there are some good consulting firms in Syria that could help 
us find ways to protect our US Citizens and Borders.  Shoot!  with the 
way Slick Dick Cheney and co. charter deals, those Al-Queda "baddies" 
of today could be our technical infrastructure "buddies" of tomorrow!!

Just IMAGINE the outsourcing possibilities!!
sleep tight!
/drm

bibliography:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-14.html
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/