Numbers: Jul. 31, 2006

45% Percentage of the $420 million charged to government-issued credit cards by Homeland Security staff in the wake of Katrina and Rita that wasn’t authorized in advance, according to a government audit

$68,000 Charge for 8,000 dog bootees, which went unused

$7,000 Cost of iPods bought by Secret Service officers for “data storage”

1 Number of bills vetoed by George W. Bush, the fewest of any President since James Garfield, who served for only four months in 1881 and vetoed none

7 Number of Presidents–including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson–who never vetoed a bill

635 Number of vetoes by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the most–by more than 50%–of any President

1.5 million Average number of patients injured a year by medication errors of health professionals, including doctors’ bad handwriting

$3.5 billion Annual cost of treating those drug-related injuries

$51,000 Top bid for Clementine, a pig put up for auction by Lacey Washut, 9, at the Central Wyoming Fair. C&Y Transportation claims its winning $200-per-lb. bid was mistakenly placed

$5 A pig’s typical price per pound

Sources: Government Accountability Office (3); House of Representatives (3); Institute of Medicine (2); Casper Star-Tribune (2)