Officers Lose 243 Homeland Security Guns 125
In a screw up so big it could only be brought to you by the government or a famous athlete, 243 guns were lost by Homeland Security agencies between 2006 and 2008. 179 guns, were lost "because officers did not properly secure them," an inspector general report said. One of the worst examples of carelessness cites a customs officer who left a firearm in an idling vehicle in the parking lot of a convenience store. The vehicle was stolen while the officer was inside. "A local law enforcement officer later recovered the firearm from a suspected gang member and drug smuggler," the report said.
Statistics (Score:5, Informative)
So, over 3 years, 179 / 188,500 weapons went missing, 0.09%, only slightly higher than the percentage eaten by beavers or flattened by steam rollers.
What a travesty. How could they have been so careless with our tax dollars. Let's impeach Obama.
=^P
Re:More Proof of Government Incompetence (Score:3, Informative)
You must have a personal problem with the Canadian health care. The Canadian government does not directly control the health care. What they do have is a Canadian Health Act [hc-sc.gc.ca], which stipulates the minimum required coverage per province. The individual provinces then create their own modifications to the Canadian Health Act to utilize the tax money allocated for that purpose. The provinces have to give at least the minimum care required.
What's interesting is Canada has an average increased life expectancy of ~2 years more than the U.S. [wikipedia.org].
In addition, the individual tax burden for Canada, as a whole [wikipedia.org] is lower than the cost for health care in the US paying piece meal.
I appreciate your cynical view of Canadian health care, however, I would still rather get seriously sick (or be seriously injured) in Canada as a Canadian citizen than in the US as a US citizen.
spelling nazi (Score:1, Informative)
grammer nazi
That would be grammar, son.
Re:Uh.. what? (Score:3, Informative)
It's still a bad joke that he was dying to get out, but at least it makes slightly more sense.
Re:Too big to fail (Score:4, Informative)
...because the alternative is a ravenous beast that feeds on the sick to generate monstrous profits. Socialized medicine has been shown to work* in countries all over the world. I (a non-American) don't have to worry that changing jobs will mean a loss of health insurance, nor that a catastrophic illness/injury will make my family paupers.
*work in the sense that decent healthcare is enjoyed by all residents of a country, instead of having superb care for the rich, generally adequate for the middle class, little or none for the working poor.
Lost? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:More Proof of Government Incompetence (Score:4, Informative)
The goal here is an irrational rant. Preferably in wall-of-text format. Why bother actually forming an informed opinion when we can spume and froth at the mouth and work up a good outrage?
So please, quit confusing the issue with stuff like "facts" and "details" like the following.
Infant Mortality Rate and Life Expectancy, by Sex: Canada
Year: 2010
IMR Both Sexes: 4.99
IMR Male: 5.34
IMR Female: 4.63
Life expectancy both sexes: 81.29
Life expectancy male: 78.72
Life expectancy female: 84.00
Infant Mortality Rate and Life Expectancy, by Sex: United States
Year: 2010
IMR Both Sexes: 6.14
IMR Male: 6.81
IMR Female: 5.44
Life expectancy both sexes: 78.24
Life expectancy male: 75.78
Life expectancy female: 80.81
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.
United States - Latest Data Used in the Estimates and Projections
Reference years: 2007
Data source: vital registration
Data collection years: 2007
Notes: Preliminary data on total registered deaths.
Citation: National Center for Health Statistics. 2008. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_21.pdf [cdc.gov].
Canada - Latest Data Used in the Estimates and Projections
Reference years: 2004
Data source: vital registration
Data collection years: 2004
Notes: Registered deaths by age and sex.
Citation: Statistics Canada. 2006. Annual Demographic Statistics: 2005. Ottawa.
Note: Infant deaths are approximated as IMR times births in the year and may not add to totals due to rounding.
U.S. data are based on official estimates and projections. Population estimates for 1950-1999 are based on the resident population plus the armed forces overseas. Population estimates for 2000-2008 are for the resident population and are based on Census 2000. Population data in the IDB for 2009-2050 are projections of the resident population. The U.S. population components shown in the IDB for 2000-2050 may not match the official population components for the United States, due to differences in how they are displayed (calendar year versus midyear estimates). Revised official population estimates are released each year (see http://www.census.gov/popest/ [census.gov]). Therefore, the U.S. population estimates (official compared with IDB) may not match due to differences in the timing of their releases.
Re:Uh.. what? (Score:3, Informative)
Odd. The story reads "government or a famous athlete" here.