BY THE NUMBERS

$4,500,000,000: Average annual amount the U.S. will spend on
nuclear-arms programs through the year 2008

$3,700,000,000: Average annual U.S. spending on nuclear-arms programs
during the Cold War

1/3: Portion of the Defense Department's ``critical'' computer systems
that are not vulnerable to the year 2000 bug

+460: Percentage change since 1991 in total Microsoft contributions to
the Democratic and Republican parties

+1,863: Percentage change since then in Microsoft contributions to the
Republican Party alone

4:3: Ratio of political contributions made last year by the
consumer-credit industry to those made by tobacco companies

23: Percentage of Americans who are in favor of outlawing cigarettes
$7,000,000,000: Estimated amount Americans spent on marijuana last
year, according to the federal government

$7,500,000,000: Minimum amount federal, state, and local governments
spent combating marijuana, according to NORML

47,000: Estimated number of American senior citizens who played tackle
football last year

8:1: Ratio of miles of logging and other roads in U.S. national
forests to the total length of the interstate highway system

0: Number of months since January that have not broken a record for
average global heat

Checked-by: Patrick Henry