Hume Does Death-Stats Voodoo
From Jesse at Wage Slave Journal (via Six Different Ways) comes word of this fuzzy math by O’Reilly’s Brit Hume: Fair and balanced mathematics. Seems Hume tried to claim that the current death rate of US soldiers in Iraq is no big deal, since Californians average 6.6 murders per day, while soldiers in Iraq are only averaging 1.7 deaths per day. Yeah, but see, as Jesse points out, “There are about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and more than 34.5 million people in California. So if we had as many troops in Iraq as there are people in California, and a comparable number were being killed, we would see 385 deaths per day, as opposed to the 6.6 murders in California.”
That seems like a pretty transparent piece of spin, even for Fox, but maybe I’m assuming too much clue on the part of the “math is hard; let’s go invading” set.
September 1st, 2003 at 11:04 pm
well you are an idiot…you just made humes report even more vivid…evidently you went to public school..what a moron.
September 2nd, 2003 at 8:01 am
Hey Johnnik,
You’re the moron, even if you did go to private school.
No matter how you spin the numbers, doesn’t it strike you as odd that the same neocon chickenhawks who shriek “Support our troops” and “Treason” are now trivializing troop deaths in Iraq?
It’s not just O’Reilley and Hume, but Limbaugh and (shudder) Rumsfeld. Limbaugh in particular was pissed about the death a day reporting and likened troop deaths to traffic accidents, drownings and deaths in fires.
WTF? No one ordered people into those cars or pools, and though the deaths are tragic it’s assinine to liken them to what the troops are going through in Iraq.
I’ll leave it there. Of course I may be a publically educated moron too…but now I have to go off and teach my college freshman class in chemistry (oh yea, I have a Ph.D. also).
October 15th, 2003 at 11:44 pm
How dumb, do you think there are 150,000 people in california in a ongoing war, that leave their house everyday with guns to go fight other people with guns, it doesn’t matter about 34 million people in california, their not in a war stupid
January 12th, 2004 at 11:22 am
Be nice…he has a Ph.D.
July 26th, 2004 at 10:46 am
David,
Before you go calling others dumb, you should spell check your postings. You could also use some work on forming a sentence.
Melissa
“How dumb, do you think there are 150,000 people in california in a ongoing war, that leave their house everyday with guns to go fight other people with guns, it doesn’t matter about 34 million people in california, their not in a war stupid”
February 9th, 2005 at 7:15 am
You all need to go to hell your facts blow and california is the overall foreiner war. Peace Bitches
February 9th, 2005 at 7:18 am
In aboot treece weekendos me will enter the war to shooot gun. My drream is two bee a mexican bull fighter.