Odds of Airborne Terror

But if you listened to the party of bedwetters, you'd be convinced there was a mooslim under every bed. Via Taegan-

Nate Silver notes that from October 1999 through September 2009 there has been one terrorist incident per 16,553,385 airplane departures.

Furthermore, "the odds of being on given departure which is the subject of a terrorist incident have been 1 in 10,408,947 over the past decade. By contrast, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are about 1 in 500,000. This means that you could board 20 flights per year and still be less likely to be the subject of an attempted terrorist attack than to be struck by lightning."

Disturbing Health Care Statistics

Brad over at the Cheapskate Blog compiled a scary list. There's a dozen of them, but these are the ones that stuck out. The RAM one is particularly eye opening.

More than 12 Number of states where lawmakers are currently trying to pass legislation outlawing any requirement that everyone must have health insurance or be subjected to fines.

38 Percentage of unemployed Americans who are eligible and who signed up for health insurance through COBRA after Congress began subsidizing 65 percent of COBRA premiums in 2009. Before the subsidy, only 19 percent of those eligible signed up.

(snip)

$6,000 Amount that one journalist who used to cover the insurance business estimates he'll save this year by not buying health insurance.

$2,821,383 Dollar amount of health care provided free of charge recently at the Forum in Los Angeles by Remote Area Medical, a nonprofit operation that's based in Tennessee and staffed by volunteers. During the eight-day visit to L.A. over the summer, health care workers extracted 2,274 teeth, saved 5,438 teeth, made and gave out 1,984 pairs of eyeglasses for free, and took care of 8,775 general medical visits.

(snip)

9,000,000 Estimated number of self-employed workers who essentially pay a tax on insurance premiums because they are not eligible for the kinds of deductions that workers employed by big corporations get on their health insurance policies.

13,000,000 Approximate number of Americans ages 19 to 29, or roughly one-third of all in this age bracket, who do not have health insurance. This group has the highest uninsured rate, by far.

$1.1 Trillion The high end of the estimated amount (one-third to one-half of $2.2 trillion) that is spent annually in the U.S. on unnecessary medical tests, treatments, and doctors' visits.

Numbers don't lie: Devastator-in-Chief Bush 2008

By GottaLaff

Cold statistics make it a little tougher for BushCo to squirm their way out of the devastation they've inflicted on this country:

To mark the passing of Bush’s last full year in office, ThinkProgress rounded up statistics on some of the most significant effects of Bush rule in 2008:

– Number Of U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq: 322.
– Number Of U.S. Troops Killed in Afghanistan: 151.
– Number Of Jobs Lost: 1.9 million.
– Number Of Banks Federal Government Now Owns Stock In: 206.
– Number Of Uninsured Americans: 47.5 million.

– Change In Housing Prices: declined 18 percent.
– Change In Health Insurance Premiums: increased 5 percent.
– Change In Number Of Delinquent Mortgages: increased 75 percent.
– Change In Use Of Food Stamps: increased 17 percent.
– Change In Dow Jones Industrial Average: declined 35 percent.
– Change In Bush Approval Rating: declined 9 percent to 29 percent.

Of course, this is all Bill Clinton's fault. And in about 3 weeks, it will become all Barack Obama's fault. Bush had nothing to do with it. It was out of his control. All he could do was stand by and watch it unfold.

Poor guy. I hope it doesn't affect his twinkly, unblemished legacy.