Archive for August, 2006
Glenn Reynolds has more on the WaPo article that discusses statistics comparing the death rate of US troops in Iraq to that of civilians in the United States.
One point the article (which I didn’t bother mentioning) was the death rate in Philadelphia in 2002. It showed that the death rate for black men in the city was actually higher than it was for US troops during the first three years of the campaign in Iraq.
The reason I didn’t mention this was that people would come out of the woodwork denying the comparison. Reynolds posts this response from a reader:
Among my other duties in Iraq, I was a convoy gunner. I am also a native of inner city Philadelphia who has spent almost all of my life in some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. I can say from direct experience that combat duty in Iraq isn’t as easy or as safe as walking down the street in Philadelphia. This is a simple fact that the statistics you’ve linked to attempt to obfuscate…If the proper statistics were referenced (or even available) I’d bet my next paycheck that they would back up the obvious reality: Iraq is a warzone that is vastly more dangerous than even the deadliest sections of Philadelphia.
The reader points out that most US troops spend most of their time in protected camps and that they receive the best medical attention that money can buy, making a comparison to Philadelphia pointless.
But what’s going on here is an attempt to disprove a point that was never made.
No one is trying to say that Philadelphia is “more dangerous” than Iraq. (Well, okay, I’m sure someone somewhere is. But I’m not, Glenn Reynolds wasn’t, and the Washington Post article didn’t…)
Let me repeat: The point wasn’t that Philadelphia is “more dangerous” than Iraq. The point was that the death rate in Philadelphia among black men was 11% higher in 2002 than it was in Iraq among US troops during the first three years of the campaign. For the purposes of the point at hand, the statistics referenced were, indeed, the “proper” ones and they’re very clear.
I think that nearly everyone realizes that Iraq is far, far more dangerous than Philadelphia. But let’s not pretend that it’s more dangerous than it is. The statistics show how many people died in Iraq and they showed how many black men died in Philadelphia.
The ultimate point is that the numbers, when compared to each other, will probably surprise you.
Glenn Reynolds notes the case of the mysterious Senator who has put a “secret hold” on legislation that would authorize the creation of a searchable database of government contracts and grants.
In the Washington Times:
The bill has the support of the Bush administration and activists on widely divergent sides of the political spectrum. It also passed a Senate committee without any objections, so the unknown senator is annoying many people.
Sponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, and Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat, the bill would require the administration to create a searchable Web site that would list the name and amount of any federal grant, contract or other award of money amounting to $25,000 or more.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, tried to win speedy passage just before the Senate left for its summer break, but at least one senator objected anonymously.
Porkbusters.org is leading an effort to unmask the mysterious Senator. I think they’ll eventually prevail, and I hope it’s before election season. Especially if the Senator in question is up for re-election.
Read the whole thing at Instapundit.
Is it me, or does Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan never get old?
Bonus points if your kids are watching it for the first time.
UPDATE: Okay. It seems that not everyone likes Khan as much as I do. Let’s take a poll:
If we watch the news, we all know how terrible things are in Iraq. When milestones such as the 2,000th and 2,500th deaths are reached, we celebrate observe the passing in the headlines.
So just how deadly, statistically, is the quagmire? Why not compare the death rates of soldiers in Iraq to the death rates of civilians in America?
How much more deadly is Iraq? Five times as deadly? Ten? Twenty? More?
Well, okay, to be honest the death rate among US civilians is twice as high as the death rate for US military personnel in Iraq.
Now, obviously, the US civilian death rate includes all sorts of people dying from all sorts of things, including disease and natural causes. Since no one serving in Iraq is a senior citizen with a worn-out body susceptible to just about anything, the comparison isn’t really very fair. Worth noting, but not very fair.
So let’s look at the death rate in Iraq compared to US civilian men ages 18-39. This pretty much encompasses the range of combat soldiers in Iraq, and a large portion of the support personnel as well.
How much more deadly is Iraq? Five times as deadly? Ten? Twenty? More? (Remember, we’re comparing relatively healthy young men at home in the States to men who go out of their way to get shot at and blown up by terrorists and insurgents.)
The answer, believe it or not, is that Iraq is just over 2.5 times as deadly as America. See Service in Iraq: Just How Risky? in the Washington Post.
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I’m staggered.
I do NOT question Russell Shaw’s patriotism one damn bit. His loyalty appears to be complete. However, I don’t know what nation, ideology, or false god he is loyal to. In any case he’s clearly an ENEMY OF AMERICA.
This must be read to be believed.
I Hope And Pray We Don’t Get Hit Again-BUT…..
Here’s a taste:
What if another terror attack just before this fall’s elections could save many thousand-times the lives lost?
I start from the premise that there is already a substantial portion of the electorate that tends to vote GOP because they feel that Bush has “kept us safe,” and that the Republicans do a better job combating terrorism.
If an attack occurred just before the elections, I have to think that at least a few of the voters who persist in this “Bush has kept us safe” thinking would realize the fallacy they have been under.
If 5% of the “he’s kept us safe” revise their thinking enough to vote Democrat, well, then, the Dems could recapture the House and the Senate
He thinks getting a Dem president who would appoint a Supreme Court justice who would prevent the overturning of Roe v. Wade would justify another major terrorist attack against America.
Other things this Dem president would do that would make another major terrorist attack against America worth it include:
- Universal health care
- Cleaner air standards
- Mass transit
- Gun control
- Stem cell research
- Increasing the minimum wage
Now, I’m not opposed to everything on this list. In fact, I could be convinced to support most of it, at least to some extent. But this guy seems to assume that a Democrat president and Congress would just be able to do all of this, which is a huge leap of faith.
However, before even discussing anything on the list, remind yourself that he thinks another major terrorist attack on America would be a fair price to pay for getting at Dem president and Congress.
I hope that this man is merely a deranged stupid person. Otherwise he truly is an enemy of America and Americans.
Any Democrat/Liberal/Progressives who don’t immediately and unconditionally disavow everything this man wrote in this column have just lost whatever confidence, respect, and trust I ever had for them. (Any chance HuffPo disowns him? No, I don’t think so either…)
I gotta say that it’s one of the most shameful things written by an American citizen that I’ve ever read.
Shaw has his own site. (via Instapundit, who also links to Ace of Spades and Caerdroia).
This should be extensively covered. He wants exposure? Let’s tell everyone. Everyone deserves to know that there are people like this in America. It’s difficult to discuss things like patriotism and loyalty if you pretend that the unpatriotic and disloyal do not exist.
UPDATE: Hmmm…the HuffPo link is down. Did they pull it? Or are they just swamped? In any case, I happened to copy the thing in the event that something like this happened. Not a screen capture, just a simple highlight and copy, then a paste to notepad. I will post it as is in the extended entry section below…
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More Russian Airborne Armor Arrives
Strategy Page has a post on the Russian BMD4:
Weighing 13.6 tons, it has a crew of three and carries five troops as passengers. It is armed with a 100mm low velocity cannon (with a range of 7,000 meters), a 30mm autocannon (range 4,000 meters) and a twin 7.62mm machine-guns. The 100mm gun also fires the 9M117M1-3 anti-tank guided missile. Four of these missiles are normally carried, along with 34 100mm high explosive shells. The BMD4 is basically the body of the BMP3 [BMD3? -ed.], with a new turret. The vehicle includes thermal sights, is amphibious and can be dropped by parachute. Top speed on roads is 70 kilometers an hour, and 10 kilometers an hour in the water.
The numbers look good on this machine, and it’s a bit sad that the US Army has nothing comparable.
Okay…Really, really sad.
Texan foils U.K. burglary via Beatles webcam
Man watching over Internet spots crime in progress, alerts local police
Awesome!
An American helped foil a burglary in northern England whilst watching a Beatles-related webcam over the Internet, police said on Friday.
The man from Dallas was using a live camera link to look at Mathew Street, an area of Liverpool synonymous with the Beatles and home to the Cavern Club where the band regularly played.
He saw intruders apparently breaking into a sports store and alerted local police.
New Orleans mayor Ray “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ School Buses” Nagin was on 60 Minutes and, when asked why there are still so many flooded-out cars on the streets of New Orleans, he compared his plight to that of 9/11′s Ground Zero:
Nagin replied, “You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed, and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair,” according to CBS.
Yes, sir. Hauling away derelict cars, building the world’s tallest skyscraper…what’s the diff?
The citizens of New Orleans deserve a pat on the back for re-electing this guy.
UPDATE:
MSNBC.com features the nutjob:
What a lunatic.
Watching the Watchdog
Bloggers as the Fifth Estate
by Stephen D. Cooper
Early in the year I was contacted by the author of this book. He wondered if it would be okay for some material from my site to be used in the book on blogging and the media that he was working on. Of course I agreed, and the book was recently released.
Here’s the blurb:
Who’s Watching the Watchdog, Anyway? Just ask CBS News. In 2004, the network came into possession of allegedly authentic National Guard documents which claimed that President Bush had failed to perform his duties when he was in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. But the documents were forged, and bloggers, not the mainstream news media, broke that story. From the Introduction: The metaphor of watchdog has long been popular as shorthand for the structural role of the free press in a representative democracy. … But what of that watchdog’s leash? If the people need a watchdog to make sure the institution of government does not abuse the power they have granted it, would there not be a need for a comparable check on the press, as a social institution with power in its own right? … This little book is not intended as either an endorsement or a criticism of the ideological or political views of any bloggers … Instead, this work is intended as an exploration of the distinct types of media criticism which have evolved in the blogosphere … . [W]e might now be seeing the emergence of a Fifth Estate in our social system, a watcher of the watchdog. In one sentence, the thesis of this little book is that the blogosphere is in the process of maturing into a full-fledged social institution, albeit a non-traditional one: emergent, self-organizing, and self-regulating.
The author is an associate professor of communication at Marshall University.
Since yours truly is in it, you know I had to order myself a copy.
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