Some a unno love put America pon pedestal

[Willi]

I want you to know that the planet is huge and America trails in many spheres!

Some foolishness weh gwaan in America would not be tolerated in many places.

[Willi]

America No. 1?

America by the numbers

by Michael Ventura

02/03/05 "ICH" - - No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character than the notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the greatest." Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous advertisements for the brand name "America Is No. 1." Any office seeker saying otherwise would be committing political suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise will be labeled "un-American." We're an "empire," ain't we? Sure we are. An empire without a manufacturing base. An empire that must borrow $2 billion a day from its competitors in order to function. Yet the delusion is ineradicable. We're No. 1. Well...this is the country you really live in:

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.7.
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. [was]...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).

The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder (CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).

"Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.

"Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European Dream, p.66). "In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European Dream, p.69).
"Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today are European.... In the chemical industry, the European company BASF is the world's leader, and three of the top six players are European. In engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are European.... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American engineering and construction company is included among the world's top nine competitors. In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever, two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world. In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies...are first and second, and European companies make up five of the top ten. Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream, p.6.

The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).
U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14, 2005).

Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of unemployment insurance last year; 1.8 million--one in five--unemployed workers are jobless for more than six months (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).

Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40 percent of our government debt. (That's why we talk nice to them.) "By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004). Read that twice. We owe our housing boom to China, because they want us to keep buying all that stuff they manufacture.

Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as the world's largest agricultural producer. Brazil is now the world's largest exporter of chickens, orange juice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. (Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?) As a result, while we bear record trade deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

Bush: 62,027,582 votes. Kerry: 59,026,003 votes. Number of eligible voters who didn't show up: 79,279,000 (NYT, Dec. 26, 2004). That's more than a third. Way more. If more than a third of Iraqis don't show for their election, no country in the world will think that election legitimate.
One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).

"Americans are now spending more money on gambling than on movies, videos, DVDs, music, and books combined" (The European Dream, p.2.
"Nearly one out of four Americans [believe] that using violence to get what they want is acceptable" (The European Dream, p.32).

Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified, according to a PEW Poll (Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2004).

"Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).

"The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).

No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10 anymore. Not even close.

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

Reprinted from the Austin Chronicle. http://www.citypages.com/databank/26...ticle12985.asp

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

[Jawge]

So these international dunces
are still able to make the best weapons Hmmm. Be very careful in trying to play them Willi, you wouldn't want to rub these guys the wrong way (best weapons in the hands of a dunce) be very careful I would advise delay in playing them off against China.

[Mosiah]

I really hope HL don't see this. He might have to relocate to...Scotland?

[Mosiah]

Who said anything about "best" weapons?

[Jawge]

Oh sorry I guess No1 means
last. Silly me, living here too long. My apologies.

[Willi]

Ever hear bout Russia? Dem have plenty plenty weapons and better troops. China have more troops than all combined. Dem all have more nukes than them need, so who cares which are better when we all dead? Steeuupps.

What does ignorance in one area necessarily have to do with another anyway?

You love talk about slavemaster etc, but you advocate NATINAL slavery to the US and dont see the irony?

Man, is a big world, Korea, Brazil, China, EU, India, Japan, Emirates....all can be partnered with. Free your mind man.

[Willi]

You mean like M16 versus AK47? Ask the gunmen which is best.

Colt, H&K and S&W are great, but Walther, Glock and Sig-Sauer rule.

[Mosiah]

No. 1 could mean in quantity, no?

Forget what I said, Jawge. I returned to Jamaica and lost all intelligence doing so.

DUH!

[Shatta]

They no longer have the best weapons Jawge, if they did they would have run up in Iran a long time ago. Whatever America has so does Isreal and we saw what Hezbollah did to the mighty Isreali army

Dem run up in a Lebanon and had to run back out with their tails between their legs as the man dem tek it back to dem wicked(the only language they respect)

Its all propoganda as China shot down one of its own satellite to show them that if you run up over here with your "integrated" battlefield we won't be wasting time shooting your tanks and planes we will be just disrupt your communications.

trust mi its Art of War at its highest peak and mi love it

You can't get no better than this

America is on its way down just like its written in Revelations as its dying from within as the so-called Jews suck it dry.

Its like these amoral people have no limits on their greed and so even the medical field is up for grabs so now people are dying of cancer from all this processed food, e-coli in the greens, kids dying of type 2 diabetes, 9 year old seeing their menstrual, 30 something women have a hard time conceiving etc. etc. but we are blinded by their propoganda and lies

Man stop fraid a dem long time ago, a full time dem read this and start fear me

We have something fi dem and dem time up, dem a pretend like dem no know it and all this wasn't written.

Wait till Iran get the bomb and see what ago happen and right now make dem fight as a the two a dem enslave black people(see how dem a run we out a Sudan) so when dem distracted a fi we time fi rise.

Mek dem fight over Africa and come with dem tribute, for years Europe underdevelop us now dem a suffer because commodities price a rise because of China and dem a try stop it

How you mean China tek it to dem wicked yes. A Sun Tzu write Art of War and a him say the best way to win is without fighting

[Gamma]

it's difficult whenyuh tek up things yuh don't uderstand...btw willi can you enlighten us on african aristocracy?

methinks the empire of benin under mansa musa would have been front and center.

[Mosiah]

Yes, but for every Glock made, S&W pushing out 100 stick-prone guns.

[Gamma]

glock...don't forget the israeli's.....uzi a dweet!

[Mosiah]

Unnu breaking HL's heart!

Watch HL come and ask where Jamaica rank in all of this.

[Mosiah]

Jawge suddenly became quiet. Must be googling like crazy.