Friday, December 20th, 2013
Stephan: Although more polemic than I would like this piece about the South is based solidly on facts. I am publishing it to illustrate how the Schism Trend is gathering steam and splitting the country.
Even though conservatives and right-wing extremists tout America as an exceptional nation, it is fairly common knowledge there is nothing about this country that is exceptional except it has more guns and gun deaths, highest incarceration rate, food insecurity on par with Indonesia, highest first day infant mortality rate, infrastructure behind every developed country in the world, 33rd in life expectancy, highest percentage of adult-onset diabetes, 2nd highest child poverty rate, and the highest proportion of low-wage workers in the developed world. It is true America is the richest nation on Earth, but by every other measure America is a third-world nation.
One of the reasons America has become a third-world nation is three decades of Republican trickle-down economics, the monopolization, privatization and deregulation of industry, and decimation of labor protection has sent 50 million Americans into wretched poverty while all the wealth has risen to the top 1% of income earners instead of investing in America. In fact, the destruction of labor has gotten so bad that real first-world nations offshore their jobs to the American South making this country the new Indonesia because foreign corporations look at America as having one of the world’s cheapest labor forces on the […]
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Friday, December 20th, 2013
GREG SARGENT, - The Washington Post
Stephan: Here, potentially at least, is some good news about climate change. I hope this story is true and that Podesta can push real remediation through.
Republicans are rightly outraged this morning because new White House counselor John Podesta compared the GOP to a ‘cult worthy of Jonestown
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Friday, December 20th, 2013
JORDAN WEISSMANN, - The Atlantic
Stephan: Here is yet another facet of the Schism Trend. The Red value states in the American South are more violent, more obese, sicker, more Fundamentalist, and on and on. And, now, it is clear that part of the problem is that they are also the least educated. States like Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana are increasingly more like developing countries than American states. It is one of the country's greatest tragedies, and one of the least discussed. This Atlantic piece is heartbreaking, and this trend just becomes more intense year by year.
Click through to see the very important maps that illustrate this story.
Are Americans educated enough? How you answer that question-which seems to obsess certain newspaper editorial boards-really depends on where in the country you look. Some states compete with the best school systems in the world. Some seem to be racing for the bottom. Today, I wanted to offer up three vivid illustrations of how educationally balkanized we really are, courtesy of the Census Bureau’s delightful new interactive data-mapping tool.
First, high school. This map shows the percentage of adults over 25 who have earned a diploma or finished an equivalency program across each county in the lower 48 states. The darker the shade of orange, the higher the graduation rate. Notice the giant pale underbelly stretching below the Mason Dixon line from the Southeast through Texas. That’s our Southern dropout belt, where completion rates are largely below 85 percent. The national average, for reference, is about 87 percent.
Still, in the majority of the country, most adults have at least earned a high school diploma or a GED. Not so when it comes to college.
Bachelor’s degree holders cluster on the coasts, in major urban centers, and in Colorado. The Northeast’s Acela corridor is especially full of them. So while, […]
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Friday, December 20th, 2013
, - Agence France-Presse (France)/The Raw Story
Stephan: We have endless money to spend on war, but no funds to assure that our food is safe. Yet another example of how in the U.S. profit for corporate interests trumps wellness.
Almost all of the raw chicken sold in the US contains potentially harmful bacteria such as salmonella and E.coli, according to an analysis by Consumer Reports published Thursday.
The magazine tested 316 raw chicken breasts in 26 states and ‘found potentially harmful bacteria lurking in almost all of the chicken, including organic brands,
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Friday, December 20th, 2013
Stephan: This has just come out concerning Fukushima. The source is Arnie Gunderson who, to my mind, is one of the few reliable sources on what is going on. As time passes it becomes ever clearer that the story is more horrible than we thought, and the implications for Japanese national wellness are profound. What it is going to mean for the U.S. is still murky, although the story I did the other day about children in California suggests we are going to have problems.
Click through to see the video, which adds depth to the story.
Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds: The Japanese parliament has just passed the state secrets law. It’s really an information ‘iron curtain’ that’s preventing people in Japan from learning just how bad the exposures were that they received after the accident at Fukushima. [
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