I'm so sick of forgetting myself to remember who I am.

If you can't get through this list without wanting to throw up, I'll understand. But pass it around anyway. This is the nail in the Iraq War's coffin for any sane, thinking individual, regardless of their political stripe. (Thanks to Tom Paine.com and the Center for American Progress.) To get some perspective, here are some real-life comparisons about
what $87 billion means:

$87 Billion is more than the combined total of all State budget
deficits in the United States. The Bush administration proposed
absolutely zero funds to help states deal with these deficits, despite
the fact that their tax cuts drove down state revenues. [Source:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities].

$87 Billion is enough to pay the 3.3 million people who have lost
jobs under George W. Bush $26,363.00 each! The unemployment benefits
extension passed by Congress at the beginning of this year provides
zero benefits to workers who exhausted their regular, state
unemployment
benefits and cannot find work [Source: Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities].

$87 Billion is more than double the total amount the government
spends on Homeland Security. The U.S. spends about $36 billion on
homeland security. Yet, Sen. Warren Rudman (R- N.H.) wrote, America
will fall approximately $98 .4 billion short of meeting critical
emergency responder
needs for homeland security without a funding increase. [Source:
Council on Foreign Relations].

$87 Billion is 87 times the amount the Federal Government spends on
After School Programs. George W. Bush proposed a budget that reduces
the $1 billion for after-school programs to $600 million cutting off
about 475,000 children from the program. [Source: The
Republican-dominated
House Appropriations Committee].

$87 Billion is more that 10 times what the Government spends on all
environmental Protection. The Bush administration requested just $7.6
billion for the entire Environmental Protection Agency. This included
a 32 percent cut to water quality grants, a 6 percent reduction in
enforcement staff, and a 50 percent cut to land acquisition and
conservation. [Source: Natural Resources Defense Council].

There you go. In black and white. A few million of you will receive
this letter. Please share the above with at least a half-dozen people
today and tomorrow. I, like you, do not want to see another approval
rating over 50 percent.

Yours,
Michael Moore
Filmmaker