American Dead

It has been a busy week for me. I had to leave the house once or twice and my agoraphobia kicked in pretty heavy. Well, there was a good sale at the grocery store and I just had to make it out. And then there was all that political stuff, what have you.

In the meantime, I've neglected a few readers who have sent clippings and fun pictures.
First, let me get to one story, and it's right up Blasphemes's alley way.
In fact, I'm fairly sure I've put these stories up before, but they get buried by Brown Noise and static.

From Chris:

Hey Cap,
Wow, and this is only 1 American city!
I somehow doubt this will make the evening news:
Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer
Total Is About Double The Death Toll In Iraq

CHICAGO (CBS) ― An estimated 123 people were shot and killed over the summer. That's nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.
In May, cbs2chicago.com began tracking city shootings and posting them on Google maps. Information compiled from our reporters, wire service reports and the Chicago Police Major Incidents log indicated that 123 people were shot and killed throughout the city between the start of Memorial Day weekend on May 26, and the end of Labor Day on Sept. 1.

According to the Defense Department, 65 soldiers were killed in combat in Iraq. About the same number were killed in Afghanistan over that same period.

In the same time period, an estimated 245 people were shot and wounded in the city.

Okay, great story Chris, but one question. So what? I mean, no one is talking about this. It isn't an issue since the Republicans claimed victory on it. And we're talking about dead Americans, right? Not dead Al Queda/Cobra Troops or Iraqi civilians - Right? I mean, lets make that clear.

I do, however, get your point Chris. As I'm sure other readers do as well. If memory serves, I think when I first ran a story like this I had to do all the homework, not the local Chicago CBS team... I compared the two numbers on my own. Here the story actually had the nuts to do that work.

But my point then was that dead American soldiers in Iraq - statistically - were more important than dead Americans in Chicago. For some reason the number of dead children killed by random stray bullets didn't matter either, since they were not white teenage girls. (Harsh, yes, but remember that chick who got killed in Aruba was still in the 'news').

My point still stands. What is a life worth?