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The Waking
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I cannot go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree, but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
--Theodore Roethke
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Joy's Updates - Straight from the Horse's Mouth.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Another Article
Posted on November 25, 2003, Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, wrote an amazing editorial in the latest issue of the magazine pointing out some of Bush's most dubious accomplishments during his tenure as president. Here are just some of the many facts Carter puts forth.
2 - Number of nations George W. Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into office. 10 million - Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, setting an all-time record for simultaneous protest.
$100 billion - Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to U.S. citizens by the end of the year.
104 - Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May, 2003 (when Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and declared an end to the open conflict) and the middle of October.
0 - Number of American combat deaths in Germany following the Nazi surrender in May, 1945.
0 - Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed - presumably to keep the spotlight off fatalities in Iraq.
53 - Percentage of Americans who doubt that the Iraq war was worth the cost.
$28 billion - Amount of proposed cuts to veterans' benefits in the congressional Republicans' budget resolution for fiscal year 2004 (In the end they cut only $6 billion).
$6,000 - Amount of proposed increase - opposed by Bush - in benefits to families of soldiers who die in combat.
$127 billion - Amount of U.S. budget surplus in fiscal year 2001, the year Bush became president.
$374 billion - Amount of U.S. budget deficit in fiscal year 2003.
#1 - Record for most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57 million) set in 2002.
#1 - Set record for biggest two-year point drop in the history of the stock market during the first half of a presidential term.
$200 billion - Approximate aggregate amount of state budget gaps in the past three years, the highest figure since WWII.
1.6 - Percentage increase in economic growth since Bush took office, the slowest rate of increase over the equivalent period for any administration in 20 years.
58 million - Number of acres of public lands Bush as opened to road building, logging and drilling.
200 - Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has worked to downgrade or weaken since taking office.
2.4 million - Number of Americans who lost their jobs during the first two and a half years of the Bush administration.
9 million - Number of workers unemployed as of September, 2003.
#1 - The administration is well on its way to being the first since Herbert Hoover's to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office.
0 - Number of Bush Court of Appeals nominees who have endorsed the legal foundation of Roe vs. Wade.
#1 - Has assembled the wealthiest cabinet in U.S. history.
$10.9 million - Average wealth of the members of Bush's 16-person Cabinet.
$42,000 - Average savings members of Bush's Cabinet are expected to receive this year as a result of cuts in capital-gains and dividends taxes.
$42,228 - Median household income in the U.S. in 2001.
$116,000 - Amount Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to save each year in taxes.
9 - Number of members of Bush's Defense Policy Board who also sit on the corporate board of, or advice, at least one defense contractor.
43.6 million - Number of Americans without health insurance as of 2002.
$300 million - Amount cut in December 2002 from the federal program that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes during the winter.
#1 - First American president to ignore the Geneva Convention on warfare (by refusing to allow inspectors access to U.S.-held prisoners of war).
90 - Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on September 26, 2001
50 - Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on October 15, 2003 (I have since read that that number is down in some polls to 45% approval).
12:59:00 PM
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