And yes, it would appear that for whatever reason my correction didn't make it in. Where I got busy was a networking issue here in the office, and likely that would account for my post not making it in. As I said in that post, sorry for the error.

Yeah, I sometimes wish we could save "draft" comments that we don't want to post yet, but don't want to discard either. I sometimes use Tomboy for that. No such luck when I'm on Windows though.

And since the Chicago numbers are so high for that weekend, I suppose we can ignore Philly for the moment, though I will note the numbers of shootings ahve been rather high down there, too of late.

The Chicago numbers on their own are not enough to validate your statement though, for either last weekend or the one before.

And yes, it would appear that for whatever reason my correction didn't make it in. Where I got busy was a networking issue here in the office, and likely that would account for my post not making it in. As I said in that post, sorry for the error.

And since the Chicago numbers are so high for that weekend, I suppose we can ignore Philly for the moment, though I will note the numbers of shootings ahve been rather high down there, too of late.

Still, at least you're attempting to defend McCain's quote on its "merits". Others who have attempted to whine about how the quote was "taken out of context" have failed to make any kind of sense.

Bithead got his butt kicked.

Gotta read 'em all, Mike. I corrected myself saying weekend BEFORE last.

Where? I'm not seeing any comment with that correction. Perhaps it was caught in the spam filter?

How many of our guys got kille din Iraq through the period, Mike? Comon, this stuff isn't rocket science.

Even not minding the fact that your numbers are BS, it's kind of striking that you first talk about "less people being killed in Iraq" and then about "how many of our guys got killed". Did it ever occur to you that Iraqi people are people? Judging by your words, it didn't.

Otherwise, it's absurd to compare the numbers of people killed without taking into account the total population. If one follows your logic, if you send 5 people daily on a mission which has all of them killed, there is nothing wrong with that mission, because, say, "more people die of choking up on a restaurant food in the whole world daily".

How many of our guys got kille din Iraq through the period, Mike? Comon, this stuff isn't rocket science.

Which period? You claimed "last weekend", your quote says "Since April 18", which is not just last weekend, since the article was written on April 28. It does say that for last weekend (Friday - Sunday), only 3 people were killed.

You haven't given me any numbers on Philly though, so we still can't measure how many deaths you were referring to, or over what time period.

Here is what I could come up with on Iraq:

"Last weekend" being April 25 - 27: 127 people killed.

"Since April 18", through (but not including) April 28: 413 people killed.

Once you supply some number on Philly, we can finally calculate whether or not your statement is true.

Citing the recent spike in shootings in the Chicago area, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama have requested a meeting with Justice Department officials to discuss the inclusion of the Chicago area in the department's Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative—a program created to enhance gang prevention across the country.

"Chicago is home to some of the largest and most violent gangs in the country, but has been left out of one of the most highly touted federal anti-gang initiatives," Durbin said in a news release Monday.

Since April 18, at least 54 shootings have taken place in the Chicago area, resulting in at least 15 deaths. Law enforcement officials have expressed concern that as the weather warms, gang violence will worsen.

How many of our guys got kille din Iraq through the period, Mike? Comon, this stuff isn't rocket science.

I understand that 78.3 percent of all statistics are completely made up.

40% of people know that.

Well, let's see.

Try looking at the FBI crime reports... they still keep them, you know... and compare them with the reports from Centcom.

All very publicly available.

Which of course you already did, so as to know for a fact that your statement was true before posting it.

So you can simply post the numbers that you found, and if I don't believe them, then I will verify.