Is it too late….

…to turn it around? The right needs some of these disturbing numbers in order to stay in power….and the rest reveal the true cost of letting them be in power....

http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1264/article12985.asp

• The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).

• The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

• Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).

• "The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, p.78).

• Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!

• "The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D) expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).

• "Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).

• Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).

• Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore.

• The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. ...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80). Pay more, get lots, lots less.

• "The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the world that do not provide health care for all their citizens" (The European Dream, p.80). Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a "developed" country? Anyway, that's the company we're keeping.

• Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. (That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11.) (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)

• "U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81). Been to Mexico lately? Does it look "developed" to you? Yet it's the only "developed" country to score lower in childhood poverty.

• Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004).


I need a drink….maybe 10…

kept barely alive by the corporatists so that they can descend upon it and feed at their own will. They are vampires and we are the souls upon which they feast.

we are rapidly becoming the richest third world nation in the world.

GO USA!!!!

Fuedalism worked since most people were illerate and uneducated. Republicians want to return to those days.

Really, that we as a species would allow our own to go hungry when it is within our power to feed them is a badge of shame for the entire human race, but as far as America goes - all the red white and blue bullshit in texas can't cover it up.

Making sure all our people, all Americans, are fed must be one of the most fundamental responsibilities of our government. Jesus.

And the "pro-life" party rules.

:puke:

I sent it to everyone in my address book.

gays can't marry. That's the important issue. :eyes:

And I would add, that although this President may be the most arrogant, elitist, warmongering, untrustworthy leader ever, at least we know where he stands. And that too, is all that matters.

I had no idea it was SO bad.

:kick:

Keep them ignorant and unthinking, while they rob this country in the light of day, and take us into wars of empire. An intelligent populace is difficult to control, and prone to democratic ideals. An ignorant populace can be led around by the nose, and actually welcomes their fascist overlords with open arms.