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The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

Cars Or Terrorists?

By The Daily Dish
Dec 31 2009, 7:45 AM ET

A reader writes:

I think Maher's point about how we aren't declaring war on cars in order to stop automobile deaths is an excellent one (and one I've been making for years now).

In 2008 there were 34,017 deaths (and nearly 100,000 major injuries) related to automobile accidents in the United States.  Terrorists would have to blow up 113 Boeing 777-200s each year in order to kill that many people!  That is, they'd have to blow up all but six of the 777-200's (which hold 301 people in a 3-tier international setup) currently owned by American Airlines, United Airlines and Continental Airlines (together they own 119 777-200s) and would have to do so every single year, which is probably faster than they can be built.

And yet there is hardly any talk of defending the American people from their Buick!



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