or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
February 17, 2010
New Tomdispatch
Hold Onto Your Underwear
This Is Not a National Emergency
By Tom EngelhardtLet me put American life in the Age of Terror into some kind of context, and then tell me you’re not ready to get on the nearest plane heading anywhere, even toward Yemen.
In 2008, 14,180 Americans were murdered, according to the FBI. In that year, there were 34,017 fatal vehicle crashes in the U.S. and, so the U.S. Fire Administration tells us, 3,320 deaths by fire. More than 11,000 Americans died of the swine flu between April and mid-December 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; on average, a staggering 443,600 Americans die yearly of illnesses related to tobacco use, reports the American Cancer Society; 5,000 Americans die annually from food-borne diseases; an estimated 1,760 children died from abuse or neglect in 2007; and the next year, 560 Americans died of weather-related conditions, according to the National Weather Service, including 126 from tornadoes, 67 from rip tides, 58 from flash floods, 27 from lightning, 27 from avalanches, and 1 from a dust devil.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at February 17, 2010 09:34 AMHow do you die from a dust devil? I suppose the biggest ones can have strong winds, but still.
Gotta look this up.
Posted by: Donald Johnson at February 17, 2010 09:43 AMWhat Engelhardt is leaving out is that it was an ISLAMIC dust devil. Far more vicious and cruel than the ones we're used to in the west.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at February 17, 2010 09:45 AMActually, come to think of it my wife could have been killed by a dust devil, though it was over a lake and was presumably a waterspout. But it wasn't a tornado--no thunderstorm or anything, but it was strong enough to pick up a rowboat and toss it over the dock. This happened when she was a kid--the whole family saw it.
Posted by: Donald Johnson at February 17, 2010 09:47 AMSo one of those damn Islamo-fascist vortexes nearly took out my wife's entire family. Bastards.
Posted by: Donald Johnson at February 17, 2010 12:11 PMThe Tom Dispatch link keeps coming up "error." Do you know anything? Is someone messing with his site?
If so, damn them.
Posted by: catherine at February 17, 2010 01:31 PMBoth links should work now. The second wasn't before, in a way that seemed like it was my fault but actually was the work of the damned Islamic dust devils.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at February 17, 2010 04:42 PMWhen some students are stuck with term paper essays writing, thus I would recommend to buy essay online from some good media essay service under such circumstances.
Posted by: Konnieio28 at February 17, 2010 07:34 PMThat dust devil was an inside job.
Posted by: N E at February 17, 2010 09:13 PM
