Relative vs. Absolute
While perusing the January 22d, 2007 issue of U.S. News & World Report, I came across a five-page article about the "heavy price" that the State of Vermont has paid in war dead in Iraq. The article's hook was that, as of Jan. '07, the per-capita number of Vermont deaths was far higher than that of any other state, at around 3 deaths per 100,000 residents, very nearly double the median for the ten-highest states.
But what was the total number of Vermonter deaths ?
Twenty - about what you'd get in a bad bus crash, but spread out over more than three and a half years.
Further, as of the time of publication, no Vermonter had died in Iraq for nearly six months.
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Unrelated, but also in the same issue of the magazine, pollster John Zogby reports that, among Democratic Presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton appeals most to Americans who would like to see a Reaganesque or FDR-ian person elected in '08 - and that about a quarter of Americans would like to see a new Reagan, and another quarter a new FDR, combining for a slim majority.
But what was the total number of Vermonter deaths ?
Twenty - about what you'd get in a bad bus crash, but spread out over more than three and a half years.
Further, as of the time of publication, no Vermonter had died in Iraq for nearly six months.
+=+=+=+=+=+
Unrelated, but also in the same issue of the magazine, pollster John Zogby reports that, among Democratic Presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton appeals most to Americans who would like to see a Reaganesque or FDR-ian person elected in '08 - and that about a quarter of Americans would like to see a new Reagan, and another quarter a new FDR, combining for a slim majority.
posted by Oroborous at 12:08 AM
2 Comments:
Hillary Clinton appeals most to ... Americans [who] would like to see a new Reagan [or] FDR ...
Illustrating with exquisite clarity that those polled have absolutely no idea what Hillary, Reagan or FDR are about.
Good for Vermont.
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