Date:  Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:52:54 EST 
   From:  Winstonone@aol.com 

What is a 'billion'?  The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money. 

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases. 
    
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. 
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. 
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. 
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. 
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it. 
  
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans   It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division   Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans .  Interesting number. What does it mean? 
 
A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man,      woman, child), you each get $516,528. 

B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787. 
  
C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012. 
  
Washington , D.C . HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??