| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
16 Jan 2007 01:10:42 PM |
| Object: |
Must-see short video about Americans |
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20070115_are_americans_ignorant/
______________________________________________________________
USA is different than other industrialized countries in many ways:
- USA has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Half of all
pregnancies are unintended, and, of those, half end in abortion.
It has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five
percent of the world's prison population. The leading cause of
on-the-job deaths in workplaces in America is homicide.
- More than half of all American adults (53%) do not know
that the Earth goes around the Sun once a year.
Nearly half (48%) do not have a sense of what percentage
of the Earth's surface is covered by water.
And 42% can't answer correctly when asked if the earliest
humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
Even college graduates did not fare well, just over a third
(35%) were able to respond correctly to all three questions.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20010327213804data_trunc_sys.shtml
- 20% of Americans think that the sun orbits around the Earth.
- One in three American adults firmly rejects the concept of
evolution, a significantly higher proportion than found in
any western European country... evolution has become highly
politicized in the United States, with the Republican Party
in particular often using it as a litmus test for possible
candidates for office. There is no major political party
in Europe and Japan that uses opposition to evolution as a
part of its political platform.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20060713235109data_trunc_sys.shtml
- U.S. president is a religious fundamentalist. The best
selling U.S. fiction are religious potboilers.
- 2006 elections: "...white evangelicals and born-again Christians
made up about 24 percent of those who voted, compared with 23
percent in the 2004 election. And 70 percent of those white
evangelical and born-again Christians voted for Republican
Congressional candidates nationally, also little changed from
the 72 percent who voted for such candidates in 2004."
source: http://tinyurl.com/y6vfrx (New York Times)
- USA has the lowest tax on gasoline of any industrialized country:
about 15 percent. (The Dutch tax is 158 percent.)
- It leads the world in the number of people in prison - more than
two million.
- USA spends far more on health care than any other country (16 percent
of GDP) but gets only mediocre care in return for its investment:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14928778/
It does not have universal health care. Infant mortality is higher
than in Cuba. (Look it up in the CIA web site if you do not believe
it:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html)
It is not uncommon to wait 9 hours for service in a hospital
emergency
room. Some hospitals are as dirty as hospitals in Bangladesh or
Bolivia.
- It has the lowest voter participation rate of any Western democracy
and yet Americans are more proud of their system of government than
any other Western democracy. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13577802/)
- American voters ignore facts (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379/).
- In a State of the First Amendment Survey conducted by the University
of Connecticut in 2003, 34 percent of Americans polled said the First
Amendment goes too far, 46 percent said there was too much freedom
of the press, and 28 percent said that newspapers should not be able
to publish articles without prior approval of the government.
- 25 percent of passenger cars are SUVs.
- It is the most obese country in the world. 16% of active-duty US
military
personnel are obese and it is the biggest reason for the discharge of
soldiers.
- It has the most acute income disparity in the world.
- Its cell phone networks are exceptionally unreliable and they cannot
handle electronic money transactions.
- Most industrialized countries, including France, have better and
cheaper Internet broadband service.
- As of April 2006, a total of 163 countries have ratified have
ratified
the Kyoto Protocol. Notable exceptions are USA and Australia.
- One half Americans believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.
- With very few exceptions, nude female breasts are outlawed.
- Metric units are less common than non-metric of units.
- Death penalty is most popular in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and U.S.
- Its government supports tobacco industry.
- According to 2004 Gallup poll only 6% of Bush supporters and 13%
of Kerry supporters cared about "agendas/ideas/platforms/goals."
- One third of public schools are dysfunctional.
- Some men own military weapons. When law and order
breaks down, they earn a living as armed looters.
- Americans work hard rather than smart. Their workday is long,
their vacation is short, but their productivity in terms of
GDP per hour is lower than productivity of workers living in
Norway, France, Belgium, Ireland, and Netherlands. sources:
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/41404
http://www.tekes.fi/eng/publications/A_technopol/Productivity.PPT
____________________________________________________
Another unique country is Singapore. Singapore has
the most efficient and the most innovative
government in the world.
The top personal and corporate income tax rate is
about 20%. All cars and motorcycles in Singapore must
be equipped with a special transmitter, which beams
information to authorities on the location of the
vehicle. Possession of a national ID card equipped
with digital thumbprints is mandatory. By 2008,
Singapore will be the world's first cashless society,
where coins and bills are replaced entirely by
electronic money transactions, all instantly linked
to government databases. These innovations lowered
crime and made Singapore more efficient society.
Singapore has the lowest infant mortality rate in
the world. Infant mortality in the USA is 3 times
higher! Singapore has the best anti-obesity policy.
Fat children are separated from their classmates
and ordered to do more exercising until they lose
weight. Its airport - Changi Airport has been
voted the best airport in the world for more than
10 years. Its airline - Singapore Airlines has been
voted the best airline in the world for more than
14 years. Its housing policy is the best in the
world - about 95% of its citizens own a spacious
house. It is the only country which does not have
traffic jams. Besides numerous flyovers and
expressways, a limited quota of vehicles is issued,
keeping the vehicle population in check. It has
also been voted the freest economy in the world
- a hassle free, no-red-tape country.
.
|
|
| User: "Frank Arthur" |
|
| Title: Re: Must-see short video about Americans |
16 Jan 2007 01:23:03 PM |
|
|
<simple_language@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1168974641.545424.211920@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20070115_are_americans_ignorant/
______________________________________________________________
USA is different than other industrialized countries in many ways:
- USA has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Half of all
pregnancies are unintended, and, of those, half end in abortion.
It has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five
percent of the world's prison population. The leading cause of
on-the-job deaths in workplaces in America is homicide.
- More than half of all American adults (53%) do not know
that the Earth goes around the Sun once a year.
Nearly half (48%) do not have a sense of what percentage
of the Earth's surface is covered by water.
And 42% can't answer correctly when asked if the earliest
humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
Even college graduates did not fare well, just over a third
(35%) were able to respond correctly to all three questions.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20010327213804data_trunc_sys.shtml
- 20% of Americans think that the sun orbits around the Earth.
- One in three American adults firmly rejects the concept of
evolution, a significantly higher proportion than found in
any western European country... evolution has become highly
politicized in the United States, with the Republican Party
in particular often using it as a litmus test for possible
candidates for office. There is no major political party
in Europe and Japan that uses opposition to evolution as a
part of its political platform.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20060713235109data_trunc_sys.shtml
- U.S. president is a religious fundamentalist. The best
selling U.S. fiction are religious potboilers.
- 2006 elections: "...white evangelicals and born-again Christians
made up about 24 percent of those who voted, compared with 23
percent in the 2004 election. And 70 percent of those white
evangelical and born-again Christians voted for Republican
Congressional candidates nationally, also little changed from
the 72 percent who voted for such candidates in 2004."
source: http://tinyurl.com/y6vfrx (New York Times)
- USA has the lowest tax on gasoline of any industrialized country:
about 15 percent. (The Dutch tax is 158 percent.)
- It leads the world in the number of people in prison - more than
two million.
- USA spends far more on health care than any other country (16 percent
of GDP) but gets only mediocre care in return for its investment:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14928778/
It does not have universal health care. Infant mortality is higher
than in Cuba. (Look it up in the CIA web site if you do not believe
it:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html)
It is not uncommon to wait 9 hours for service in a hospital
emergency
room. Some hospitals are as dirty as hospitals in Bangladesh or
Bolivia.
- It has the lowest voter participation rate of any Western democracy
and yet Americans are more proud of their system of government than
any other Western democracy. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13577802/)
- American voters ignore facts (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379/).
- In a State of the First Amendment Survey conducted by the University
of Connecticut in 2003, 34 percent of Americans polled said the First
Amendment goes too far, 46 percent said there was too much freedom
of the press, and 28 percent said that newspapers should not be able
to publish articles without prior approval of the government.
- 25 percent of passenger cars are SUVs.
- It is the most obese country in the world. 16% of active-duty US
military
personnel are obese and it is the biggest reason for the discharge of
soldiers.
- It has the most acute income disparity in the world.
- Its cell phone networks are exceptionally unreliable and they cannot
handle electronic money transactions.
- Most industrialized countries, including France, have better and
cheaper Internet broadband service.
- As of April 2006, a total of 163 countries have ratified have
ratified
the Kyoto Protocol. Notable exceptions are USA and Australia.
- One half Americans believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.
- With very few exceptions, nude female breasts are outlawed.
- Metric units are less common than non-metric of units.
- Death penalty is most popular in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and U.S.
- Its government supports tobacco industry.
- According to 2004 Gallup poll only 6% of Bush supporters and 13%
of Kerry supporters cared about "agendas/ideas/platforms/goals."
- One third of public schools are dysfunctional.
- Some men own military weapons. When law and order
breaks down, they earn a living as armed looters.
- Americans work hard rather than smart. Their workday is long,
their vacation is short, but their productivity in terms of
GDP per hour is lower than productivity of workers living in
Norway, France, Belgium, Ireland, and Netherlands. sources:
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/41404
http://www.tekes.fi/eng/publications/A_technopol/Productivity.PPT
____________________________________________________
Another unique country is Singapore. Singapore has
the most efficient and the most innovative
government in the world.
The top personal and corporate income tax rate is
about 20%. All cars and motorcycles in Singapore must
be equipped with a special transmitter, which beams
information to authorities on the location of the
vehicle. Possession of a national ID card equipped
with digital thumbprints is mandatory. By 2008,
Singapore will be the world's first cashless society,
where coins and bills are replaced entirely by
electronic money transactions, all instantly linked
to government databases. These innovations lowered
crime and made Singapore more efficient society.
Singapore has the lowest infant mortality rate in
the world. Infant mortality in the USA is 3 times
higher! Singapore has the best anti-obesity policy.
Fat children are separated from their classmates
and ordered to do more exercising until they lose
weight. Its airport - Changi Airport has been
voted the best airport in the world for more than
10 years. Its airline - Singapore Airlines has been
voted the best airline in the world for more than
14 years. Its housing policy is the best in the
world - about 95% of its citizens own a spacious
house. It is the only country which does not have
traffic jams. Besides numerous flyovers and
expressways, a limited quota of vehicles is issued,
keeping the vehicle population in check. It has
also been voted the freest economy in the world
- a hassle free, no-red-tape country.
.
|
|
|
|
| User: "Frank Arthur" |
|
| Title: Re: Must-see short video about Americans |
16 Jan 2007 01:25:12 PM |
|
|
Please tell me why people from all over the world are flooding into the
United States and pleading to
become citizens?
Could it be the Freedom? Opportunity? Higher Standard of Living?
<simple_language@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1168974641.545424.211920@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20070115_are_americans_ignorant/
______________________________________________________________
USA is different than other industrialized countries in many ways:
- USA has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Half of all
pregnancies are unintended, and, of those, half end in abortion.
It has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five
percent of the world's prison population. The leading cause of
on-the-job deaths in workplaces in America is homicide.
- More than half of all American adults (53%) do not know
that the Earth goes around the Sun once a year.
Nearly half (48%) do not have a sense of what percentage
of the Earth's surface is covered by water.
And 42% can't answer correctly when asked if the earliest
humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
Even college graduates did not fare well, just over a third
(35%) were able to respond correctly to all three questions.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20010327213804data_trunc_sys.shtml
- 20% of Americans think that the sun orbits around the Earth.
- One in three American adults firmly rejects the concept of
evolution, a significantly higher proportion than found in
any western European country... evolution has become highly
politicized in the United States, with the Republican Party
in particular often using it as a litmus test for possible
candidates for office. There is no major political party
in Europe and Japan that uses opposition to evolution as a
part of its political platform.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20060713235109data_trunc_sys.shtml
- U.S. president is a religious fundamentalist. The best
selling U.S. fiction are religious potboilers.
- 2006 elections: "...white evangelicals and born-again Christians
made up about 24 percent of those who voted, compared with 23
percent in the 2004 election. And 70 percent of those white
evangelical and born-again Christians voted for Republican
Congressional candidates nationally, also little changed from
the 72 percent who voted for such candidates in 2004."
source: http://tinyurl.com/y6vfrx (New York Times)
- USA has the lowest tax on gasoline of any industrialized country:
about 15 percent. (The Dutch tax is 158 percent.)
- It leads the world in the number of people in prison - more than
two million.
- USA spends far more on health care than any other country (16 percent
of GDP) but gets only mediocre care in return for its investment:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14928778/
It does not have universal health care. Infant mortality is higher
than in Cuba. (Look it up in the CIA web site if you do not believe
it:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html)
It is not uncommon to wait 9 hours for service in a hospital
emergency
room. Some hospitals are as dirty as hospitals in Bangladesh or
Bolivia.
- It has the lowest voter participation rate of any Western democracy
and yet Americans are more proud of their system of government than
any other Western democracy. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13577802/)
- American voters ignore facts (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379/).
- In a State of the First Amendment Survey conducted by the University
of Connecticut in 2003, 34 percent of Americans polled said the First
Amendment goes too far, 46 percent said there was too much freedom
of the press, and 28 percent said that newspapers should not be able
to publish articles without prior approval of the government.
- 25 percent of passenger cars are SUVs.
- It is the most obese country in the world. 16% of active-duty US
military
personnel are obese and it is the biggest reason for the discharge of
soldiers.
- It has the most acute income disparity in the world.
- Its cell phone networks are exceptionally unreliable and they cannot
handle electronic money transactions.
- Most industrialized countries, including France, have better and
cheaper Internet broadband service.
- As of April 2006, a total of 163 countries have ratified have
ratified
the Kyoto Protocol. Notable exceptions are USA and Australia.
- One half Americans believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.
- With very few exceptions, nude female breasts are outlawed.
- Metric units are less common than non-metric of units.
- Death penalty is most popular in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and U.S.
- Its government supports tobacco industry.
- According to 2004 Gallup poll only 6% of Bush supporters and 13%
of Kerry supporters cared about "agendas/ideas/platforms/goals."
- One third of public schools are dysfunctional.
- Some men own military weapons. When law and order
breaks down, they earn a living as armed looters.
- Americans work hard rather than smart. Their workday is long,
their vacation is short, but their productivity in terms of
GDP per hour is lower than productivity of workers living in
Norway, France, Belgium, Ireland, and Netherlands. sources:
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/41404
http://www.tekes.fi/eng/publications/A_technopol/Productivity.PPT
____________________________________________________
Another unique country is Singapore. Singapore has
the most efficient and the most innovative
government in the world.
The top personal and corporate income tax rate is
about 20%. All cars and motorcycles in Singapore must
be equipped with a special transmitter, which beams
information to authorities on the location of the
vehicle. Possession of a national ID card equipped
with digital thumbprints is mandatory. By 2008,
Singapore will be the world's first cashless society,
where coins and bills are replaced entirely by
electronic money transactions, all instantly linked
to government databases. These innovations lowered
crime and made Singapore more efficient society.
Singapore has the lowest infant mortality rate in
the world. Infant mortality in the USA is 3 times
higher! Singapore has the best anti-obesity policy.
Fat children are separated from their classmates
and ordered to do more exercising until they lose
weight. Its airport - Changi Airport has been
voted the best airport in the world for more than
10 years. Its airline - Singapore Airlines has been
voted the best airline in the world for more than
14 years. Its housing policy is the best in the
world - about 95% of its citizens own a spacious
house. It is the only country which does not have
traffic jams. Besides numerous flyovers and
expressways, a limited quota of vehicles is issued,
keeping the vehicle population in check. It has
also been voted the freest economy in the world
- a hassle free, no-red-tape country.
.
|
|
|
| User: "Guy" |
|
| Title: Re: Must-see short video about Americans |
16 Jan 2007 04:19:40 PM |
|
|
"Frank Arthur" <Art@Arthurian.com> wrote in message
news:nE9rh.26943$FY2.16956@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
Please tell me why people from all over the world are flooding into the
United States and pleading to
become citizens?
Could it be the Freedom? Opportunity? Higher Standard of Living?
Hey, even I'd want to move to the version of America depicted in movies and
on TV. Reality, as they say, is a totally different thing. And this country
no longer leads in ANY of the measures you cite.
<simple_language@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1168974641.545424.211920@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20070115_are_americans_ignorant/
______________________________________________________________
USA is different than other industrialized countries in many ways:
- USA has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Half of all
pregnancies are unintended, and, of those, half end in abortion.
It has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five
percent of the world's prison population. The leading cause of
on-the-job deaths in workplaces in America is homicide.
- More than half of all American adults (53%) do not know
that the Earth goes around the Sun once a year.
Nearly half (48%) do not have a sense of what percentage
of the Earth's surface is covered by water.
And 42% can't answer correctly when asked if the earliest
humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
Even college graduates did not fare well, just over a third
(35%) were able to respond correctly to all three questions.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20010327213804data_trunc_sys.shtml
- 20% of Americans think that the sun orbits around the Earth.
- One in three American adults firmly rejects the concept of
evolution, a significantly higher proportion than found in
any western European country... evolution has become highly
politicized in the United States, with the Republican Party
in particular often using it as a litmus test for possible
candidates for office. There is no major political party
in Europe and Japan that uses opposition to evolution as a
part of its political platform.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20060713235109data_trunc_sys.shtml
- U.S. president is a religious fundamentalist. The best
selling U.S. fiction are religious potboilers.
- 2006 elections: "...white evangelicals and born-again Christians
made up about 24 percent of those who voted, compared with 23
percent in the 2004 election. And 70 percent of those white
evangelical and born-again Christians voted for Republican
Congressional candidates nationally, also little changed from
the 72 percent who voted for such candidates in 2004."
source: http://tinyurl.com/y6vfrx (New York Times)
- USA has the lowest tax on gasoline of any industrialized country:
about 15 percent. (The Dutch tax is 158 percent.)
- It leads the world in the number of people in prison - more than
two million.
- USA spends far more on health care than any other country (16 percent
of GDP) but gets only mediocre care in return for its investment:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14928778/
It does not have universal health care. Infant mortality is higher
than in Cuba. (Look it up in the CIA web site if you do not believe
it:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html)
It is not uncommon to wait 9 hours for service in a hospital
emergency
room. Some hospitals are as dirty as hospitals in Bangladesh or
Bolivia.
- It has the lowest voter participation rate of any Western democracy
and yet Americans are more proud of their system of government than
any other Western democracy. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13577802/)
- American voters ignore facts (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379/).
- In a State of the First Amendment Survey conducted by the University
of Connecticut in 2003, 34 percent of Americans polled said the First
Amendment goes too far, 46 percent said there was too much freedom
of the press, and 28 percent said that newspapers should not be able
to publish articles without prior approval of the government.
- 25 percent of passenger cars are SUVs.
- It is the most obese country in the world. 16% of active-duty US
military
personnel are obese and it is the biggest reason for the discharge of
soldiers.
- It has the most acute income disparity in the world.
- Its cell phone networks are exceptionally unreliable and they cannot
handle electronic money transactions.
- Most industrialized countries, including France, have better and
cheaper Internet broadband service.
- As of April 2006, a total of 163 countries have ratified have
ratified
the Kyoto Protocol. Notable exceptions are USA and Australia.
- One half Americans believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.
- With very few exceptions, nude female breasts are outlawed.
- Metric units are less common than non-metric of units.
- Death penalty is most popular in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and U.S.
- Its government supports tobacco industry.
- According to 2004 Gallup poll only 6% of Bush supporters and 13%
of Kerry supporters cared about "agendas/ideas/platforms/goals."
- One third of public schools are dysfunctional.
- Some men own military weapons. When law and order
breaks down, they earn a living as armed looters.
- Americans work hard rather than smart. Their workday is long,
their vacation is short, but their productivity in terms of
GDP per hour is lower than productivity of workers living in
Norway, France, Belgium, Ireland, and Netherlands. sources:
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/41404
http://www.tekes.fi/eng/publications/A_technopol/Productivity.PPT
____________________________________________________
Another unique country is Singapore. Singapore has
the most efficient and the most innovative
government in the world.
The top personal and corporate income tax rate is
about 20%. All cars and motorcycles in Singapore must
be equipped with a special transmitter, which beams
information to authorities on the location of the
vehicle. Possession of a national ID card equipped
with digital thumbprints is mandatory. By 2008,
Singapore will be the world's first cashless society,
where coins and bills are replaced entirely by
electronic money transactions, all instantly linked
to government databases. These innovations lowered
crime and made Singapore more efficient society.
Singapore has the lowest infant mortality rate in
the world. Infant mortality in the USA is 3 times
higher! Singapore has the best anti-obesity policy.
Fat children are separated from their classmates
and ordered to do more exercising until they lose
weight. Its airport - Changi Airport has been
voted the best airport in the world for more than
10 years. Its airline - Singapore Airlines has been
voted the best airline in the world for more than
14 years. Its housing policy is the best in the
world - about 95% of its citizens own a spacious
house. It is the only country which does not have
traffic jams. Besides numerous flyovers and
expressways, a limited quota of vehicles is issued,
keeping the vehicle population in check. It has
also been voted the freest economy in the world
- a hassle free, no-red-tape country.
.
|
|
|
| User: "Bill Rood" |
|
| Title: Re: Must-see short video about Americans |
19 Jan 2007 01:50:59 AM |
|
|
Guy wrote:
"Frank Arthur" <Art@Arthurian.com> wrote in message
news:nE9rh.26943$FY2.16956@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
Please tell me why people from all over the world are flooding into the
United States and pleading to
become citizens?
Could it be the Freedom? Opportunity? Higher Standard of Living?
Hey, even I'd want to move to the version of America depicted in movies and
on TV. Reality, as they say, is a totally different thing.
Good answer. As the devil said to the newly arrived in hell CEO who was
complaining about the lack of the golf course and exercise room he'd
been promised when he sold his soul in life, "Well, you see back then we
were recruiting you. Now, you're an employee."
And this country
no longer leads in ANY of the measures you cite.
<simple_language@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1168974641.545424.211920@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20070115_are_americans_ignorant/
______________________________________________________________
USA is different than other industrialized countries in many ways:
- USA has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Half of all
pregnancies are unintended, and, of those, half end in abortion.
It has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five
percent of the world's prison population. The leading cause of
on-the-job deaths in workplaces in America is homicide.
- More than half of all American adults (53%) do not know
that the Earth goes around the Sun once a year.
Nearly half (48%) do not have a sense of what percentage
of the Earth's surface is covered by water.
And 42% can't answer correctly when asked if the earliest
humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
Even college graduates did not fare well, just over a third
(35%) were able to respond correctly to all three questions.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20010327213804data_trunc_sys.shtml
- 20% of Americans think that the sun orbits around the Earth.
- One in three American adults firmly rejects the concept of
evolution, a significantly higher proportion than found in
any western European country... evolution has become highly
politicized in the United States, with the Republican Party
in particular often using it as a litmus test for possible
candidates for office. There is no major political party
in Europe and Japan that uses opposition to evolution as a
part of its political platform.
source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/
20060713235109data_trunc_sys.shtml
- U.S. president is a religious fundamentalist. The best
selling U.S. fiction are religious potboilers.
- 2006 elections: "...white evangelicals and born-again Christians
made up about 24 percent of those who voted, compared with 23
percent in the 2004 election. And 70 percent of those white
evangelical and born-again Christians voted for Republican
Congressional candidates nationally, also little changed from
the 72 percent who voted for such candidates in 2004."
source: http://tinyurl.com/y6vfrx (New York Times)
- USA has the lowest tax on gasoline of any industrialized country:
about 15 percent. (The Dutch tax is 158 percent.)
- It leads the world in the number of people in prison - more than
two million.
- USA spends far more on health care than any other country (16 percent
of GDP) but gets only mediocre care in return for its investment:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14928778/
It does not have universal health care. Infant mortality is higher
than in Cuba. (Look it up in the CIA web site if you do not believe
it:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html)
It is not uncommon to wait 9 hours for service in a hospital
emergency
room. Some hospitals are as dirty as hospitals in Bangladesh or
Bolivia.
- It has the lowest voter participation rate of any Western democracy
and yet Americans are more proud of their system of government than
any other Western democracy. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13577802/)
- American voters ignore facts (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379/).
- In a State of the First Amendment Survey conducted by the University
of Connecticut in 2003, 34 percent of Americans polled said the First
Amendment goes too far, 46 percent said there was too much freedom
of the press, and 28 percent said that newspapers should not be able
to publish articles without prior approval of the government.
- 25 percent of passenger cars are SUVs.
- It is the most obese country in the world. 16% of active-duty US
military
personnel are obese and it is the biggest reason for the discharge of
soldiers.
- It has the most acute income disparity in the world.
- Its cell phone networks are exceptionally unreliable and they cannot
handle electronic money transactions.
- Most industrialized countries, including France, have better and
cheaper Internet broadband service.
- As of April 2006, a total of 163 countries have ratified have
ratified
the Kyoto Protocol. Notable exceptions are USA and Australia.
- One half Americans believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.
- With very few exceptions, nude female breasts are outlawed.
- Metric units are less common than non-metric of units.
- Death penalty is most popular in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and U.S.
- Its government supports tobacco industry.
- According to 2004 Gallup poll only 6% of Bush supporters and 13%
of Kerry supporters cared about "agendas/ideas/platforms/goals."
- One third of public schools are dysfunctional.
- Some men own military weapons. When law and order
breaks down, they earn a living as armed looters.
- Americans work hard rather than smart. Their workday is long,
their vacation is short, but their productivity in terms of
GDP per hour is lower than productivity of workers living in
Norway, France, Belgium, Ireland, and Netherlands. sources:
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/41404
http://www.tekes.fi/eng/publications/A_technopol/Productivity.PPT
____________________________________________________
Another unique country is Singapore. Singapore has
the most efficient and the most innovative
government in the world.
The top personal and corporate income tax rate is
about 20%. All cars and motorcycles in Singapore must
be equipped with a special transmitter, which beams
information to authorities on the location of the
vehicle. Possession of a national ID card equipped
with digital thumbprints is mandatory. By 2008,
Singapore will be the world's first cashless society,
where coins and bills are replaced entirely by
electronic money transactions, all instantly linked
to government databases. These innovations lowered
crime and made Singapore more efficient society.
Singapore has the lowest infant mortality rate in
the world. Infant mortality in the USA is 3 times
higher! Singapore has the best anti-obesity policy.
Fat children are separated from their classmates
and ordered to do more exercising until they lose
weight. Its airport - Changi Airport has been
voted the best airport in the world for more than
10 years. Its airline - Singapore Airlines has been
voted the best airline in the world for more than
14 years. Its housing policy is the best in the
world - about 95% of its citizens own a spacious
house. It is the only country which does not have
traffic jams. Besides numerous flyovers and
expressways, a limited quota of vehicles is issued,
keeping the vehicle population in check. It has
also been voted the freest economy in the world
- a hassle free, no-red-tape country.
.
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