Another dip into the Quinn collection of random facts and figures acquired from various credible sources:

Tea partiers? A total of three congressmen responded to a suggestion that Congress give up some portion of their 2010 salary to aid in debt reduction.

What’s really important: In 2010, National Public Radio received $2.7 million in federal funds. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University received $446 million.

Prayer nourishes: Young adults with high religious participation are 50 percent more likely to become obese than those who have less concern for the afterlife.

Go team go: In the last 10 years India has added 181 million people.

Disease prevention: For the Rio Carnival this year, the Brazilian government handed out 84,740,000 condoms.

Pardon me, ma’am? In many states, the chance is 1 in 4 that an American teenage girl will have a sexually transmitted infection.

Self-awareness: The average age in which woman consider themselves as “old” is 29. Men wait until they are 58.

Collect calls: Cell phones may not cause brain cancer, but they do confuse bees and cause them to act erratically.

Sin City: In early 2011, 70 percent of Las Vegas mortgages were underwater (worth less than the loan balance).

Two out of three? In Mississippi, 27 percent of the citizens are “unhappy with the outcome of the Civil War.”

Cut more taxes: 62 percent of U.S. workers with pension plans in 1979 had defined benefits. In 2011, that percentage had dropped to 7 percent.

Relative costs: In 2000, lobbying cost $1.6 billion. In 2010 it was $3.5 billion.

Relative danger: In 2010, there were 10 confirmed terrorist plots against the United States by groups with Muslim connections. There were 25 by non-Muslims.

Could a crooked pol be sniffed out? A Belgian shepherd dog has been trained, with 91 percent accuracy, to smell prostate cancer in the urine of patients. A black Labrador has been trained, with accuracy exceeding standard screening, to smell colorectal cancer in feces.

Tea Party listen up! At least 64 percent of Americans oppose any cuts in Social Security, Medicare or education.

Minimum wage: Annual income for a typical Englishman (adjusted for inflation) at the beginning of the Black Death in the middle ages was $1,300. For a Haitian during the recent cholera epidemic, it was $659.

Giveth and taketh: Including Maine, 26 states have challenged the constitutionality of the Health Care Act. All 50 have applied for funding under the act.

Calling all shrinks: Last year 455 soldiers died in combat and 407 committed suicide.

Patriotism: 17 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 believe violence against the government is justified.

Air traffic control: In New York City, at least 100,000 birds die annually from crashing into glass windows.

The changing economy: In 1970, the difference in wages for a first- year lawyer in New York City and a school teacher was $2,000. Today it is $106,900.

Comparative economies: In 2002, the average law-firm lawyer in Canada earned $64,000. In the United States, the same lawyer made $191,000.

Where the money is: Last year in the United States, $170 billion was spent on lawyers.

Problems with IDs: At least 607 people were killed by drone attacks in Pakistan last year – only two of whom appeared on America’s list of “most wanted” terrorists.

Music soothes the savage beast: Last year the U.S. military spent $317 million on military bands.

Behavior-detection: Homeland security officers flagged 288,600 people for examination last year. The arrest rate was 0.7.

Farm subsidies: The Bachmann family farm (as in Michelle) has received $154,755 in federal subsidies since 2001.

Efficiency rewarded: Since 1972 the productivity of U.S. workers has increased 114 percent. During that same period wages have declined by 6 percent.

Devil’s Dictionary Quote

Incest: In many parts of the south, the most popular form of dating.

Rodney Quinn, a former Maine secretary of state, lives in Gorham. He can be reached at rquinn@maine.rr.com.