according to the national vital statistics reports the ten leading causes of death in 2006 were:

1. diseases of heart
2. malignant neoplasms (cancer)
3. cerebrovascular diseases (stroke)
4. chronic lower respiratory diseases
5. accidents (unintentional injuries)
6. motor vehicle accidents
7. alzheimer’s disease
8. diabetes mellitus (diabetes)
9. influenza and pneumonia
10. nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (kidney disease)
11. septicemia

terrorism is not in top ten list or anywhere else for that matter not because it isn’t tracked (in fact categories were created to track terrorism related deaths in 2001), but because there were zero deaths caused by terrorism in 2006.

i’m sure there are some who would argue that the zero deaths are a result of our fabulous wars on terror but i would contend the zero comes from the fact that dying of terrorism is extremely unlikely.

so as a practical minded person who hopes to know his grandchildren i can see from this list at least ten priorities that should be funded in excess of the war on terror.

i would also vote for any candidate from any party who expressed their plans and priorities in terms like this even if they were from the communist socialist party (a.k.a. the democrats on the fake news network).

our son’s “diploma” from kindergarten is a lesson is capitalism because it demonstrates that the last name on the check is much more important than the last name of the child (my son ethan shares his surname with the domain of this site).

michael lewis the author of “home game: an accidental guide to fatherhood” says his father taught all his children one very important lesson, a lesson that was allegedly inscribed on the family’s coat of arms. this motto was:

do as little as possible and that unwillingly, for it is better to receive a slight reprimand than to perform an arduous task.

and the unwritten corollary:

an awful lot of life’s problems solve themselves if you just leave them be.

on first inspection you may be thinking the lewis family would certainly never have gotten nasa to the moon, but in the context of the philosophy of kung fu panda “the act of preventing an outcome can in fact cause the undesired outcome” it then sounds like great advice.

i love ice cream.

i love samoas.

but edy’s limited edition samoas ice cream is irrefutable proof that two great tastes don’t always taste great together.

our recent north carolina mountain to sea experience.