Mini Poll survey summary for April: How long the recession will last

Here is a summary of the Mini Poll data for March as compared to December, January and February.

First the question.
How long do you believe this recession will last?

Data for December, then January, February, March and April:
Mid 2009 4%, 17%, 10%, 12%, 4%
End 2009 35%, 25%, 24%, 21%, 25%
Mid 2010 15%, 13%, 12%, 3%, 33%
End 2010 15%, 10%, 4%, 18%, 15%
Mid 2011 12%, 17%, 10%, 3%, 4%
End 2011 8%, 0%, 10%, 3%, 4%
Mid 2012 0%, 0%, 2%, 3%, 2%
End 2012 0%, 0%, 2%, 0%, 0%
Much Longer than the choices you have provided 0%, 0%, 10%, 12%, 0%
We are going to be in a Depression 12%, 19%, 18%, 24%, 13%

If I summarize by Year:
2009 39%, 42%, 34%, 33%, 29%
2010 30%, 23%, 16%, 21%, 48%
2011 20%, 17%, 20%, 6%, 8%
2012 0%, 0%, 4%, 3%, 2%
Depression 12%, 19%, 18%, 24%, 13%

Sample size for December was 26, for January 48 votes, for February 51 votes, for March 39 votes and for April 48 votes.

The largest change in the data shows that many now believe that the recession will end in 2010, which is more optimistic than it was last month where many saw us going into a Depression. This may account for the latest market move up this past month.

I have cleared the data accumulated from the Mini poll so feel free anytime this month to enter again when you believe the recession will end. We can all see how the results change over time. I am appreciative for those of you who do vote, so thanks!

Price of war and incompetence: U.S. Fatalities for April

U.S. fatalities in Iraq for the month of April reached 104 as of this last day of the month at 10:00am P.S.T. So here's the run down for this month and previous months:

April 104
March 82
February 80
January 83
December 112

5 Month Total = 461

How does this compare to last year:

2006
April 76
March 31
February 55
January 62
December 68

5 Month Total = 292

In addition, April 2005 had only 52 Fatalities, or half that of this month. So the trend is going up fast.

As you can clearly see from the numbers above, things are not getting better in Iraq, if you use U.S. Fatalities as the benchmark. This most likely will result in the summer months being the worst of the entire war. I hope this does not come to pass, but this does not bode well for our soldiers, their families. and our country. And we have President Bush and VP Cheney that both separately remind me of that picture of the 3 monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil, and speak n evil! How true it is. Denial is a permanent state for these 2 supposed leaders. They need to be held accountable and as Rep. Murtha said on Face the Nation, IMPEACHMENT is an available tool to deal with them.

U.S. Casualties for April: Crying for humanity

On this sad, tragic day in the Iraq war, we have reached 86 deaths so far this month, with still one week to go. The chart shows that there is an ever-increasing death rate, from the very beginning of the war, to now. This fact reveals similar conditions were shown in the Vietnam war. It proceeded a significant increase in troop levels then, and God forbid, this Administration uses similar thinking and strategy. They are becoming more desperate to show they have the answers by even more increases in troop levels.The chart shows that the fatalities are increasing steadily with Al-Quaida using suicide bombers to show their determination. There appears to be an infinite supply of these individuals willing to give up their lives for what they see as their just cause.

What a tragedy for every human life lost. Has the species gone mad? It appears so. My wife has said to me many times that the signals are all there, we may have over extended our welcome on planet earth and may become as extinct as the dinosaurs. The earth is reacting to our presence by presenting us with a result of our collective actions: Global Warming. Scientists say we have only 10 years left to reverse the tend before it can't be stopped and Mother Earth melts its Polar Ice packs and floods wipe out millions of us, saving us from ourselves. What a tragedy. And the real tragedy is that most of us humans are asleep to see how we personally are all connected in causing these problems.

But, most of us believe someone else is doing it, not me. And for many on this planet, the solution is killing; killing themselves through solitary suicide, others through murder and wars, and still others by suicide bombing and blowing themselves up to join God. They believe in a heaven and believe these actions will get them there sooner, rather than later. The so-called religious clerics commit sins against God and nature by supporting and encouraging this behavior. Evidently, they don't believe as their "good" book tells them that there is also a hell. If you believe in a God, ask yourself are we humans fit to be in their presence when we are gone given our support for war, killing, murder, access to guns not for their need to kill game for our food needs but for the "sport" of it. And be sure to look yourself in the eye in front of your mirror without looking away, when you answer that question.

Now the data:
Dec. to April 2005 U.S. Fatalities were 324
Dec. to April 2006 U.S. Fatalities were 292
Dec. to April 2007 U.S. Fatalities were 443 (so far with one week remaining for April)

Do you still see the "surge" working?

April first 2 week total of fatalities in Iraq equals 51

U.S. fatalities in Iraq now total 51 for the first 2 weeks in April. There were 24 the first week in April, so this second week shows and increase in the rate. We are now losing 3.64 soldiers per day in Iraq. This means that by month's end, we can expect that we will have had 109 fatalities.

U.S. Fatalities for the first week in April

U.S. Military fatalities for the first week in April totaled 28. On a Monthly basis this would equate to about 112. Compared to the previous month, March had 24 fatalities, as I reported in my post titled, "U.S. Fatalities for the 1st week in March 2007".

U.S. Fatalities
For the entire month of April 2005 a total of 52

For the entire month of April 2006 a total of 76

Projected from data for the first week we are on our way to 112 for the month of April, 2007.

Let's see how good your math is. For the same month, If we had 52 in 2005, 76 in 2006 and are on our way for 112 for 2007, does this show that things are getting better or worse? If you guessed worse you are correct. President Bush, VP Cheney and now Senator John McCain and Senator Joe Lieberman think things are getting better. They must have done poorly in Math too, as we knew and have been reminded quite often that Bush has no command of English either. Someone investigate what is being taught at Yale please. Maybe that is why Bush pushed “No child left behind”, as he would have been left behind, if they had standards and exams for professors and teachers when Bush was getting his education. Check into his Elementary school too, which was Sam Houston Elementary School in Midland, Texas. as maybe they didn't have standards for teachers there either. Something has to explain his poor use of the English language. He must have done poorly in Civics as well or wouldn't have trashed the Constitution so easily and so often.

Oh, and we had 7 U.S. Contractors killed in Afghanistan which are not counted nor kept track of by the media and Department of Defense. This compares to only 2 in March and 1 in February of this year. Still think things are getting better. Let's stop this useless war, which was started on lies and reasons no longer valid, otherwise blood will be on your hands too for not speaking out to stop the war! Saddam has been removed from power and is dead but apparently Osama Bin Laden lives. Go figure.