"thunder" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:11:36 -0400, Bert Robbins wrote:


There are no more terrorists now than there were prior to 9/11.


Really? And just how would you know that? It seems the State Department
has stopped publishing "Patterns of Global Terrorism" when it found there
were more terrorist attacks in 2004, than in any year since 1985. Of
course, that doesn't mean there are more terrorists, it could mean, the
individual terrorists are just more successful. Either way, the world
*isn't* safer from terrorist attacks.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11407689.htm

Statistics, eh? In Florida, we're in a fight with the Feds (NOAA
specifically) regarding the accuracy of the statistics used to determine the
2004 recreational red grouper catch. The Feds somehow managed to conclude
that twice as many red grouper were caught in 2004 than in 2003...despite 4
hurricanes virtually shutting down the two best months for grouper fishing
last year. Ergo, they've used the flawed data to tighten the recreational
catch limits and season.

Statistics can be easily manipulated in such a way that they don't actually
reflect reality.

Despite being smack dab in the middle of a global war on terrorism, we
haven't had a terrorist attack on US soil in over 4 years. To most
Americans, that's success.