News by the Numbers - December 2008

• Only 3% of our oil demand last year was met by U.S. ethanol production even after 30 years of ethanol mandates, according to Seldon B. Graham, Jr., a longtime oil industry attorney and petroleum engineer.


• 4 huge turkey-processing plants shut down this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The closures were part of the ripple effect of corn’s being funneled to ethanol production instead of turkey feed.


• 50% of the coal that powers our electric power is American, according to the National Mining Association


• 50 African children have been accused as witches and subjected to emotional and physical abuse, including torture and murder, during a recent five year period in London.


• 292 Arab children have been killed while taking part in terrorist attacks over the past eight years, a new study conducted by Palestinian Authority researcher Mahdi Jaradat has revealed, according to The New Media Journal


• 1978, November 9 - President Jimmy Carter started the ethanol subsidy


• 1980, April 2 - Jimmy Carter signed the oil windfall profits tax putting in motion an anti-oil policy that has existed for over three decades and precipitating a 59% decline in U.S. oil production.


• 2,000% - the amount the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has grown since 1913 when the Federal Reserve Bank was created, meaning the typical item that cost $20 back then would now cost more than $400, according to Richard W. Rahn, Cato Institute.


• 2,000+ FDA-approved clinical trials are underway in the U.S. deploying stem cells. All are using adult sources of these tissues. None involve the killing of embryos. Additionally, there are no FDA approved trials for stem cells derived from embryos, according to Tony Perkins, Family Research Council Action


• 11,000+ attacks have been carried out by Muslims since 9/11, all in the name of Islam and Muhammad, according to Alan Caruba


• 11,500 years - the length of a cyclical interglacial period, according to Robert W. Felix, author of Not by Fire, but by Ice


• 11,500 years - the length of time it has been since the last ice age, i.e. it’s time for another cycle… with glaciers this time


• 700,000 illegal alien absconders who have ignored orders from immigration judges to leave the country, according to Michelle Malkin


• $700,000 - the amount Citigroup, which recently received $25 billion in federal bailout dollars, paid former President Bill Clinton for four speeches he delivered on the company’s behalf between 2004 and 2007, according to U.S. Senate financial disclosure statements filed by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) according to Matt Cover, CNSNews.com. Clinton was paid $150,000 each for three speeches and $250,000 for a fourth which he gave in Paris. No word yet on what his hot air was worth in 2008. Nice work, if you can get it though.


• 56,378,316 individuals voted against Barack Hussein Obama on November 4, 2008


• $745 million - the amount spent by Obama and the Democratic National Committee to buy the election


• $3.3 billion in taxpayer subsidies were distributed to ethanol producers in 2007, providing less energy, poor mileage and more carbon dioxide per mile.


• 12.3 billion bushels of corn were expected to be harvested this year, according to USDA projections. One-third of the harvest is destined for gas tanks as ethanol.


• $100 billion in taxes, on the average, are paid by the few remaining oil companies operating in the U.S.