In my book, I wrote a chapter called "What's The Matter With Zanesville, Ohio?" detailing how the fear of terrorism trumps the fear of actual threats like poisoned water and air.
Along those lines, DemFromCT documents the disparity between federal funding for the war on terror versus federal funding for chronic disease prevention and the CDC.
An estimated 553,400 Americans died from cancer in 2001. The number of Americans killed by terrorism in 2001 -- including 9/11 -- was, you know, fewer. That's not to say the 9/11 fatalities were any less tragic. It's just that the funding for preventing each threat is staggeringly lopsided.