...more recent posts
OECD report
Here are the US rankings out of the 30 OECD countries (1 is best; 30 is worst -- worst as in Somalia-like). The names of the countries even more Somalian than the US appear in parens.
Infant Deaths: 28 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey).
Life Expectancy: 24 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Czech & Slovak Republics).
Health Expenditures: 1 out of 30.
Poverty Rates: 28 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey).
Child Poverty: 27 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey, Poland).
Income Inequality: 27 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey, Portugal).
Obesity: 30 out of 30.
Incarceration: 30 out of 30.
Work Hours (ranked in ascending order): 30 out of 30.
Height (women): 25 out of 30 (Mexico, Turkey, Korea, Portugal, Japan).
Height (men): 24 out of 30 (Italy, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Korea, Japan).
catty bastard
canary emerges from pennsylvania coalmine with black lung, blacker conscience. i guess we should take it to the hospital?
I honestly didn't think things would move this fast. It still may well come to nothing, but some of our former asshole leaders and their asshole legal staffs must be starting to sweat. That's a good start. And maybe I'm just naive, but it also looks like Obama might be ready to really put the screws to the Israeli government, vis-a-vis the Palestinian situation. I'm still pissed about Summers and Geithner and Bernanke , but man, there's a bunch of good stuff going down too!
hannity/grodin into watersports
I really didn't think he was going to do it, but Obama came through and released all the torture memos. How weird is it to be pleasantly surprised by the President?
Here be insanity.
Yeah, no, really. The dude in nucking futz.
Old Man Yells at Clouds
“I have to admit,” he said, “that I’m one of those people that still thinks the dishwasher is a miracle. What a device! And I have to admit that because I think that way, I like to load it. I like to look in and see how that dishes were magically cleaned.”
‘Today there is much focus on our rights. Indeed, I think there is a proliferation of rights.”
“I am often surprised by the virtual nobility that seems to be accorded those with grievances. Shouldn’t there at least be equal time for our Bill of Obligations and our Bill of Responsibilities?”
"And what's the deal with these pocket Victrolas I keep hearing about? How do you keep the needle from skipping?"
Okay, I made up the last one.