Here's That "American Exceptionalism" For You

Here you go.

Just one more way we are "exceptional" as a nation.

There is an article out just now on countries with the best life expectancy.

Countries with the best life expectancy

And get this.

The top countries are all Democratic Socialist nations…

And they all have universal healthcare.

We, the US, are at---wait for it--the number 34 position.

34

Cuba is in the number 33 position. They live longer in Cuba, freaking Cuba, than we do here in the States.

We also have a worse life expectancy than Slovenia.

Coincidentally, Israel, to whom we give millions of dollars, has a far higher life expectancy than we in the US. They are #14 on the list. And yes, it really is true they have universal healthcare, too. We don't but they do.

People in the Republic of Korea have a longer life expectancy, at number 9.

Singapore is number 4---number 4---on the list. Far better, far higher than the US.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what lots of guns and money and zero universal healthcare gets us.

Enjoy that exceptionalism, folks.

That Bible We Base So Much On?

We ought to know the source(s).

Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

Could We All Give Up On This Idea Now?

Different people, different organizations, all with the same idea, the same "solution."

Maybe we all should try a new strategy.

It's Looks To Be A Busy, Even Great September

Just glimpsing into what this September is going to bring us, besides Autumn and cooler temperatures, which is always welcome, it seems there's not just a lot of things that are going to take place but a lot of good to great things. Some examples:

--The Iran Deal. Agree or disagree, like it, love it, hate it, whatever, we're very likely now going to get the negotiated Iran deal which we--everyone--need so badly. Sure, disagree if you wish but scientists, military advisers actually in the military and experienced in the region as well as hundreds of Rabbis all came to the same conclusion, that this is a good and smart move. It's good for Iran, good for the region, good for the US, heck, good for the world. (see links, below).

--On a lot lighter side, we get Stephen Colbert back. This has, all of a sudden, become Stephen Colbert's week and even month, what with his Late Night talk show beginning this Tuesday. I don't know anyone brighter or any funnier than Mr. Colbert nor full of more energy and what appears to be downright, welcomed intelligence.

--Also lighter on subject, football. The NFL. And normally I wouldn't mention this but this year, especially the first game of the year, is especially poignant since the New England Patriots and their quarterback/leader Tom Brady will be highlighted. Coming off that rather auspicious win, what with his/their/our "deflategate" seeming scandal and the belief on so many people's part that the game looked rather shady, at least, if not out and out stolen, it should be interesting. Then there was all the courtroom drama this Summer and not that long ago---weeks---when a judge threw out the case of the NFL and commissioner Tom Goodell against Mr. Brady and his Patriots. Heck, the commentary alone on that opening football night and game should be interesting. Fun, even.

--On a far more local, Kansas City note, there's always the Fall art shows--Westport Art Festival next weekend and the Plaza Art Fair--and the UnPlaza Art Fair, of course--the 3rd week.

And that's just a short list. Heaven knows it will be a busy month. Enjoy, y'all.

Links:  Dozens of retired generals, admirals back Iran nuclear deal

29 US Scientists Praise Iran Nuclear Deal

340 rabbis urge Congress to support Iran nuclear deal

This is an astoundingly good Iran deal

Quote of the day -- on violence and war

On Israel and Palestine, too

The Way to Israeli, Palestinian Peace

I think the only way there could or would be peace between Israel and the Palestinians is if the following things--four rather simple things--could and would happen and as soon as possible.

First, the Palestinians must stop firing mortars on Israel.  They must also stop tunneling the area. Both, immediately and forever.

Second, Hamas and all Palestinians must recognize Israel and must formally recognize Israel's right to exist. Immediately.  Permanently.

Tbird, Israel must withdraw from Gaza. Again, immediately.

Fourth and finally, Israel must stop its attacks on the Palestinians and must allow Palestinians to trade and function, naturally. Again, immediately and permanently.

Simple. Easy.

Not that simple and unfortunately, likely impossible. At least impossible until minds are opened and changed, anyway. Impossible until the desire for peace and intelligence trumps the desire for war, fighting and revenge, as we have now.

Would that this all already took place, a year ago, two years, three, ten.

It would be nice--great, in fact--if it took place today.

It could happen.  It should.  It won't, it seems.

Ah, well, we can dream, can't we?



Link:  Gaza needs the world's help

The Gaza strip is now unlivable. For the sake of humanity, the international community must require Israel to end this disaster

Quote of the day -- on war

Like

Your religion? Geographic

Aren't you special?  (click on picture for easier reading)

A thought

Buddha
Jesus
Mohammed
Ghandi
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
etc.

"Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

More data on the US standard of living vs. the rest of the world

We Americans have been pretty well trained, thought to believe "We're number one!" in all things, I think it's safe to say. Of course, what we're finding out is that it's not really true, especially when you consider things like our mortality rates, the cost of our health care, etc.

Another place where, we find, we really aren't "number one!" is in pay.

Did you know there are plenty of other countries where the minimum wage is higher--in some cases, far higher--than ours?  Check it out (click on picture for easy reading):

Data:

Among OECD nations, every single country that pays a higher minimum wage than the U.S. pays upwards of $9.00 U.S. dollars per hour.

Australia, the nation with the best minimum compensation on the list, has a minimum wage equivalent to $15.75 in U.S. dollars.

Japan, which is the lowest paying country to beat the U.S. pays U.S. $9.16 per hour.

All told, the U.S. falls toward the bottom of the pack near Greece, Spain and Israel.

Nice, huh?

Makes a guy proud.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-united-states-is-very-different-from-its-neighbors-when-it-come-to-minimum-wage-2013-2#ixzz2PiANuHwm

9 Countries With A Higher Minimum Wage Than The U.S.

The biggest and most under- or un-reported story of the year?

Have you seen anything on or about this story?:

Israel accused of air strike on Sudan munitions factory

1,000-mile air raid on Khartoum seen as signal to Iran of ability to attack nuclear facilities

Sudan has complained to the UN security council that Israeli planes bombed a munitions plant in Khartoum, an attack that has been widely interpreted as a warning to Iran over its nuclear programme.

Israeli military commentators said that the Yarmouk facility in the Sudanese capital was owned by Iran and had been used to supply weapons to Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip. The "impressive" reach of the secret operation was said to have demonstrated an ability to hit Iran's nuclear facilities — a similar distance from Israel.

As reverberations continued from Tuesday's 1,000-mile attack, Israel would neither confirm nor deny it was involved. Ehud Barak, the defence minister, said : "There is nothing I can say about this subject." But one of his most senior officials praised the country's air force and called Sudan a "terrorist state".



Get that?

Israel--or someone--flew in, blew up a nation's nuclear facilities LAST TUESDAY, flew out and there has been precious little news coverage of it here in the States.

I was told about it earlier in the week by a friend but hadn't seen or heard anything of it and I'm a rabid news hound. I had to do a Google search to find these links and stories.

This has got to be one of the biggest stories of the year, to date, and simultaneously, one of the most unreported or under-reported of the year, I believe. It has huge implications and potential ramifications for the world, really, since it deals so much with the Middle East.

The scary part--the really scary part--is that naturally Sudan has already said they will "retaliate," of course. Naturally.

Oh, boy.

It's a huge, huge story with incredible international implications but I--a newshound--haven't heard a thing about it. That is freaking weird. It's also grossly irresponsible on the part of the American news media, I think, unless I've only just missed it.

"Hang on to your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

Links: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/25/israel-accused-sudan-munitions-air-strike

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/25/israeli-sudanese-factory-secret-war

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/24/world/la-fg-sudan-airstrike-20121025

Israeli military: above the law, decency, humanity and international law

An Israeli judge ruled today that their nation's military was in no way responsible for the death of a protester he bulldozed because the Israeli government wanted to destroy homes in the Gaza Strip. The news and headline today:

Israel judge rules Rachel Corrie responsible for her own death

Parents of American activist Rachel Corrie fail in their attempt to place blame on Israel after their daughter was killed by a bulldozer in Gaza at a protest

JERUSALEM — Nine years after their daughter was crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, the parents of American activist Rachel Corrie lost their legal bid Tuesday to hold Israel responsible for her death and force authorities to reopen the investigation.

A Haifa judge rejected the parent's negligence lawsuit, calling Corrie's death an accident that she brought upon herself by refusing to leave what had been declared a closed military zone. "It was a very regrettable accident and not a deliberate act," said Judge Oded Gershon.

And sure, people will take sides--the driver did see her, he didn't, whatever.

As you can tell here--and as you would guess if you know me--I'm on the side of the protester and her family. I find it at least extremely difficult to believe that the driver of the bulldozer didn't see her or know she was there. She "was wearing a fluorescent orange jacket and standing just a few feet away" from the bulldozer and driver at the time.

In fact, I'll go one step further on this. I feel sure the official order from the Israeli government was to go forward with the destruction of the homes no matter what. It may well have been only spoken but I feel strongly that was their position.
This flies in the face of decency and of humanity, as I said in the title, above, but it also goes against international law. A nation and its government isn't supposed to tear down anyone's home, regardless.

Was the young lady--Rachel Cory, 23--pushing her luck?

Apparently the answer to that is yes.

Did the right thing happen? Should she have been killed so a nation's government could tear down homes they didn't want?

Absolutely not.

Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-corrie-verdict-20120829,0,4476903.story

Yet more examples--ugly ones, this time--of how the US is not "Number 1"

"The United States ranks 31st of the 34 countries that make up the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in terms of the percentage of our population that qualifies as poor. Of the 34 member states, only Mexico, Chile and Israel are worse off than we are. The UK (at 11%), Germany (8.9%) and France (7.2%) are all much lower. The OECD average is 11%." And there are many, many more statistics within this video, making Mr. Zakaria's point. The thing is, this kind of reporting is an example why Conservatives, the Right Wing, Republicans and others say American media is "Liberal." It reminds me, once again, of the now-famous quote from one Helder Camara: "When I fed the poor, they called me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a Communist." Links: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/12/zakaria-mitt-you-need-to-worry-about-the-very-poor/; http://www.oecd.org;

We--the US--pay for what??

Listening to KCUR/NPR yesterday, I learned we--the US--pays millions of dollars per year (not that much in the ultimate scheme of things) so "Sesame Street" is produced and played in Israel and Palestine. I thought it stunning and rather silly, really. I'm all about education and exposure to the wider world but I don't think it's the US' duty to "save the world" in this respect. But that's me. Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/17/145340572/f-is-for-funding-which-palestinian-muppets-lack

Fighting. At the Church of the Nativity. In Bethlehem. At Christmas. Just as Jesus would have wanted

Can you believe these people? Here's the description of the video from YouTube: "A fight broke out at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem after rival groups of Orthodox and Armenian clerics clashed over the boundaries of their jurisdictions inside the church." Nice. So much for that "turning the other cheek" stuff, eh? WWJF? (Who would Jesus fight?) Then, not to be outdone, the Jews got into it: Israelis Clash Over Strict Religious Codes

Seriously, does it not seem as though the whole world has gone mad? (I must say, however, that I love that smiling, laughing kid in the middle background of the picture. He's totally loving it. I hope he's not a brat.) Link: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/28/144364324/israelis-clash-over-strict-religious-codes

On outlawing war

Here's a thought: let's outlaw war. It's been thought of, down through history, yet to date, it hasn't held. The Romans, I believe, considered it, in their Senate, all those centuries ago. There's a terrific, brief article on doing just this right now at Alternet. It tells of the history in this country of pushing for it, back in 1928 with the Kellog-Briand pact in our own government. It had been pushed for by the people as these things usually have to be, and passed in our government. It's still on the books, for that matter. There is a new book out about it (When the World Outlawed War by David Swanson). I've thought for a long time that this is what President Obama needs to come out for. Coming from him--a Constitutional lawyer, and both the president of the United States AND the first black president of the nation--I think it could and would carry a lot of extra weight and extra strength. Given the way the world economies are going and the fact that we're all so intertwined, at least economically and ecologically, it makes so much sense. With our own national economy at least down drastically (the worst recession in 80 years, since the last, "Great Depression") and the European nations and economy imperiled and China's economy at least questionable, I think the beginning of President Obama's second term would be an excellent time for him to call on the leaders of all others nations to declare war as, hopefully illegal, if not just "not an option" so we don't fall into the same human trap we seem to repeatedly find ourselves in. That is, sending our young people off to kill each other, all because our economies fail. Now is the time. It seems like a brilliant, if obvious, thing to do and call for. Again and again, it seems far too many people assume the world is going to war soon, all because our economies are failing. Even with conventional weapons, war makes no sense and is just far too stupid, let alone destructive. When you consider some people and nations think the use of nuclear weapons are at least a viable option, if not also that they're a "good" option, it makes outlawing war internationally that much more logical, reasonable and sensible. As people on this planet, again, all intertwined in so many ways, it seems to make sense to make a pact, once and for all, for all our futures and all of humankind so we don't fall back on the one ignorant, destructive "option" that is war. Because it really isn't an option. Not anymore. Links: http://www.alternet.org/story/153153/when_the_world_outlawed_war%3A_an_interview_with_david_swanson/; http://davidswanson.org/outlawry; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg_briand_pact

The biggest news of the year, possibly

The American media has finally, finally begun reporting on the Greek/European economic mess. Last evening, CBS had a report from Brian Williams on it. It was brief but it was something. Then, today, NPR had a story. There just hasn't been near the coverage of the story that there should have been, given both the size of the story and its ramifications. But big as that story is, the one story that will be far bigger than that is reflected in the report out today that the UN formally announced that it believes--has proof?--that Iran is working on making nuclear weapons. All bets are now off. With this declaration from the UN, that Iran is doing work specific to make nuclear arms--whether it's true or not (I suspect it is)--it's war for Israel. Or at least it means Israel will attack Iran and likely very soon.. I don't think we have any other conclusion but that it will mean war for the Middle East. As Margo Channing so aptly said in the movie, "All About Eve", "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." For the world, however, it will at least be a bumpy year, once it begins. Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45214845/UN_reports_Iran_work_specific_to_nuke_arms

On Palestinian Statehood

There seems to be one hugely overlooked issue that needs to be addressed on Palestinian statehood and I don't see it mentioned in the conversations. It seems clear that the Palestinian statehood issue could possibly be considered IF, if they officially recognize Israel's right to exist and follow that up with no longer bombing Israel and Israelis. Then and only then, I think it's obvious, the possibility of a Palestinian state can be evaluated and considered. Link: http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=new+york+times+palestinian+statehood&pbx=1&oq=new+york+times+palestinian+statehood&aq=f&aqi=g-v1&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=3093l10488l0l10708l36l21l0l0l0l1l1075l6006l0.7.7.3.2.7-1l20l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=dc9b7cc97129edc0&biw=1440&bih=727

So, the Palestinians want their own state?

This week, the Palestinians said they are going to take the possibility of their own statehood to the UN. Okay, sure. No problem. Let's just all tell them there are only two provisions for it, though. First, they have to recognize Israel's right to exist (which very likely isn't going to happen) and second, that they have to stop attacking Israel in any and all ways, including lobbing mortars at them and all other ways. Deal? Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/world/middleeast/Abbas-Security-Council-United-Nations-Vote.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

How long until the riots start here, if ever?

News today tells of England suffering its third straight day of riots and looting and that it's spreading to other cities, now, too. This on top of other riots across Europe from Greece to Israel (over costs of living), and on. It's an odd thing, isn't it? It makes me wonder if we have that much in common with Europe or not. It makes me wonder how bad things have to get, how much joblessness, how little health care availability, how high the price of gas or food until the US begins such things, if ever. I wonder what it will take and then I hope, whatever that is, that we never get it, that we never get that bad, that low, that desperate. Link: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/647683/london_riot_turns_district_into_war_zone%3A_%26quot%3Bthe_system_is_cracking_and_it%27s_starting_to_show%26quot%3B