I am not a Rush Limbaugh fan
I'm really not. He's brash, offensive, skirts the law, and just plain ticks me off.
However... he had a story earlier this week that I find rather interesting.
Did you know that Columbia has more violent deaths per 100,000 people than Iraq? So do pre-Katrina New Orleans, all of South Africa, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Atlanta, Jamaica, and Venezuela. The violent death rate in Iraq is 26/100,000, as compared to Columbia's 62/100,000 rate. At 46/100,000, our nation's capital, Washington D.C. nearly doubles Iraq's rate.
If these statistics are true, you are just as safe in Ramadi or Fallujah as you are browsing The Mall in DC,looking at national monuments such as the WWII Memorial and The Wall.
Michael Yon has an interesting article up about the Green Gator Phenomena. If asked, most people would say that gaters are green, when in fact they are either black or grey, depending on whether they are wet or dry. They've even asked people looking at real gaters what color they are, and they'll tell you "Green". We have been so conditioned to believe that alligators are green, that we can look at one, which is obviously black, and tell you straight up that it's green.
Now that's what I call "drinking the Kool-Aid".
We are doing the same thing when it comes to analysing the violent death rate in Iraq versus our own cities. I don't mean to say that Iraq is my next vacation destination, but I am saying that we need to do a little self-examination about getting all pissy about our guys dying at war. I am NOT belittling their deaths- I hope you realize that. But I when I listen to the news at night and hear about all of the men and women dying in Iraq, we need to put this into perspective. According the to study Rush references, our Soldiers have a better chance of dying in our nation's capital than they do in Iraq's capital.
Perhaps when we shout "Bring 'em home safe!", we should make sure they have a safe place to come home to, eh?
However... he had a story earlier this week that I find rather interesting.
Did you know that Columbia has more violent deaths per 100,000 people than Iraq? So do pre-Katrina New Orleans, all of South Africa, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Atlanta, Jamaica, and Venezuela. The violent death rate in Iraq is 26/100,000, as compared to Columbia's 62/100,000 rate. At 46/100,000, our nation's capital, Washington D.C. nearly doubles Iraq's rate.
If these statistics are true, you are just as safe in Ramadi or Fallujah as you are browsing The Mall in DC,looking at national monuments such as the WWII Memorial and The Wall.
Michael Yon has an interesting article up about the Green Gator Phenomena. If asked, most people would say that gaters are green, when in fact they are either black or grey, depending on whether they are wet or dry. They've even asked people looking at real gaters what color they are, and they'll tell you "Green". We have been so conditioned to believe that alligators are green, that we can look at one, which is obviously black, and tell you straight up that it's green.
Now that's what I call "drinking the Kool-Aid".
We are doing the same thing when it comes to analysing the violent death rate in Iraq versus our own cities. I don't mean to say that Iraq is my next vacation destination, but I am saying that we need to do a little self-examination about getting all pissy about our guys dying at war. I am NOT belittling their deaths- I hope you realize that. But I when I listen to the news at night and hear about all of the men and women dying in Iraq, we need to put this into perspective. According the to study Rush references, our Soldiers have a better chance of dying in our nation's capital than they do in Iraq's capital.
Perhaps when we shout "Bring 'em home safe!", we should make sure they have a safe place to come home to, eh?
posted by AFSister at 9:51 AM | 
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