WTF? I thought to myself. He must be out of his tiny little less than average IQ mind. Apparently he wasn’t alone. Many posters were agreeing with him. The mind (well, mine at least) boggles that anyone in this day and age thinks that a civil war is the answer to America’s problems. I would hazard a guess that most, if not all, of these gung ho wankers have never actively been involved in any war let alone a civil war.

Ask anyone, anywhere in the world, who has been involved in a civil war whether they thought it was great idea that cured their county’s problems and I very much doubt you will get an affirmative answer.

Stupid doesn’t even begin to cover this one. This really is a case of danger in the gene pool.

Just what the hell is this country coming to?

Fortunately for us we have a log fire and a reasonable supply of logs which meant that we weren’t totally without heat. It wasn’t great – we could get the den up to about 62F – but it was certainly better than the rest of the house which very quickly dropped to 40F. We always have food and water on hand for emergencies and thanks to a camping gas stove we could at least cook after a fashion.

We also have a small radio (also for emergencies) and so we tuned in to try and find out what was happening. There’s half a dozen local stations so we didn’t think that would be too hard. Boy, were we ever wrong. What we needed to know were details of the power outages (and what steps were being taken to repair the downed lines) and whether our area had even been reported as out and of course what Verizon were up to as regards downed phone lines. With the phone out we couldn’t report the power out. Cellphone coverage where we live (a whole 25 miles from the state capital) is non-existent.

Every station told us that it was snowing and going to snow some more. Really? I’d never have known that. Unless, of course, I’d looked out the window. Only one station had anything about power outages – a recording of some jerk saying they’d spoken to the power company who said they didn’t know when power would be restored for anyone. This information was deemed so useful they repeated it every hour. Nothing about the phones at all. That was Saturday.

On the Sunday even that “useful” bit of in formation had disappeared. In it’s place we got a really, really, really useful list of churches that would be closed and that was it. Nothing else at all. What the fuck? We were relatively ok but undoubtedly there were people out there actually in danger. How about (at the very least) some useful info for them? Like… oh… I don’t know… oh yeah! Emergency shelters so they didn’t freeze to death?

One broadcast that caught my attention was the governor “calling for answers.” Aha! maybe he’s not impressed either I thought. Apparently though he only wanted answers as to why the turnpike hadn’t been closed resulting in many motrists being trapped. Of course, not a word that they were dumb-ass enough to be on the turnpike with a snowstorm forecast. And not a word about the shitty infrastructure. I guess Joe had heat and phone service in his mansion.

To cut a long sad saga short it was Christmas Eve (6 days after the outage) that we got power back and 9 days after the outage that we got the phones back. I am not for one second criticizing the guys out there doing the repair work – that’s a hard-assed and very cold job. I do criticize the companies behind them though. Not enough staff for dealing with something that happens every winter here.

As for Verizon, when we could finally get off the mountain and into a cellphone area with coverage, my wife reported our phone out and was told it would be a further 8 days before the line got fixed. Our line was actually fine it was a trunk line that was screwed. We rent two lines through Verizon and it’s far from cheap. We also both work from home and Verizon’s incapacity to cope had already cost us a $1000 and so she complained saying that wasn’t good enough. The Verizon rep immediately replied with an extremely snotty “Do you realize it snowed ma’am?” No shit Sherlock. Like we didn’t know.

I have lived in Canada where the snowfall makes West Virginia’s “storm” look like a brief flurry. Did the power go out there? No. Did the phone lines go out? No. I have also lived and worked in Iceland. Same thing only they get 50MPH winds as regular as clockwork to go with the snow. Same story. No interruption to service.

If power lines hadn’t been done on the cheap here (as in most of the US) and had been buried (there’s a novel concept) as many countries have done the power wouldn’t have gone out would it? Phones yes. Power no.

As for the radio stations I consider their contribution to the community to be the crappiest I have ever experienced any time, anywhere. They were about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. God help this country if the weather ever truly causes the wheel to come off.

I have always been somewhat pertubed by the willingness of some to “end their suffering” as there’s “no hope of recovery.” I wonder just whose suffering is actually being referred to. I am even more perturbed when organ harvesting is being touted by the doctors. 

I was surprised this morning to read about the case of a Belgian man – Ron Houben – who spent 23 years in a so-called persistent vegetative state after having been paralysed in a car crash in 1983. Apparently he was aware of everything going on around him the whole time. Can you imagine that? The frustration? The pain? Being aware and not being able to communicate?

Research has apparently shown that nearly 20% of patients thought to be in a persistent vegetative state or irreversible comas eventually awoke.

I am somewhat hesitant to pronounce a verdict on all those people responsible for switching off machines and allowing victims like Mr. Houben to die as I am not privy to individual case histories, but it makes you think doesn’t it?

Perhaps people and the doctors who advise them won’t be quite so quick to pass a death sentence now.

Out of those 15, 14 mandate paid sick leave, 13 guarantee paid maternal leave, and 12 provide paid paternal leave. And these rights are guaranteed by law. A further 11 also provide paid leave to care for sick children and 8 provide paid leave to care for adult family members.

Looking at slightly less competitive countries the report found that out of 190 countries, 163 guaranteed paid sick leave and 164 guarantee paid annual leave. 177 guaranteed paid maternal leave and 74 guaranteed paid paternal leave. 157 countries guarantee workers a day of rest each week.

Can you guess which country doesn’t guarantee its workers any one of these rights? Not a single one?

That’s right! It’s the good old USA!

I have to be honest, this comes as no surprise to me. When I asked my wife about her working conditions when I first moved over here I was absolutely staggered by her answers. Everything in the US is geared towards employers and not employees. Now this article is only about paid rights, it doesn’t touch on other issues such as contracts, job descriptions and protection. Workers here can be fired on any old whim – try that in a European country and see what happens. Industrial tribunals just love companies that do shit like that.

Everywhere else in the world that I have lived and worked employees have rights. They don’t here. Perhaps one of my American readers can tell me why they put up with this?

My second thought was: Do I trust a politician to tell the truth?

Bugger! 2012 is going to be a bitch.

Per the FDA’s press release:

“Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, a substance added intentionally to food (such as caffeine in alcoholic beverages) is deemed “unsafe” and is unlawful unless its particular use has been approved by FDA regulation, the substance is subject to a prior sanction, or the substance is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS).”

Now personally I wouldn’t buy any of these energy drinks. I don’t need them and I doubt you do either.

The FDA obviously has our best interests at heart. Doesn’t it make you feel safer to know they’re being so vigilant on our behalf?

It’s just a thought but don’t you think they’d be better off (and we’d be safer) targeting stuff that lists such side effects as lymphoma and death and getting the companies that market them to prove that they are safe instead?

1.Afghanistan
2.Antigua/Barbuda
3.Bahamas
4.Bahrain
5.Bangladesh
6.Barbados
7.Belarus
8.Belize
9.Botswana
10.Burundi
11.Cameroon
12.Chan
13.China
14.Comoros
15.Congo (Democratic Republic)
16.Cuba
17.Dominica
18.Egypt
19.Equatorial Guinea
20.Ethiopia
21.Guatemala
22.Guinea
23.Guyana
24.India
25.Indonesia
26.Iran
27.Iraq
28.Jamaica
29.Japan
30.Jordan
31.Kazakstan
32.Korea (North)
33.Kuwait
34.Lebanon
35.Lesotho
36.Libya
37.Malaysia
38.Mongolia
39.Nigeria
40.Oman
41.Pakistan
42.Palestinian Authority
43.Qatar Saint Christopher & Nevis
44.Saint Lucia
45.Saint Vincent & Grenadines
46.Saudi Arabia
47.Sierra Leone
48.Singapore
49.Somalia
50.Sudan
51.Syria
52.Taiwan
53.Tajikistan
54.Thailand
55.Trinidad & Tobago
56.Uganda
57.United Arab Emirates
58.United States
59.Viet Nam
60.Yemen
61.Zimbabwe

For “extraordinary” crimes there are also:

1.Bolivia
2.Brazil
3.Cook Islands
4.El Salvador
5.Fiji
6.Israel
7.Kyrgyzstan
8.Latvia
9.Peru

There are some thirty odd countries that still have the death penalty on the statute books but do not practice it. So… take a look at the company you keep America and then tell me that you’re at the forefront of society.

He will also be telling leaders who apparently weren’t too happy with America acting unilaterally in the world that it is time for a true global response to global challenges including climate change, terrorism, endless conflicts and poverty.

Right…

“Climate change.” Good one! What about the Kyoto protocol? Still unratified (and hence non-binding on the US – or in other words America doesn’t have to do squat about greenhouse emissions – we don’t want to interfere with profits now, do we?) despite having been signed by the US. Talk about lip service and not meeting your responsibilities.

 ”Terrorism.” Another good one. Thanks to Gog and Magog (with a little help from Bushy) Iraq is a ruined country with hundreds of thousands dead. And for what? Not to mention Blackwater of course. Who have still not been given the boot (in fact I believe Obama has extended their invaluable service to the United States) and if you don’t know what they’ve been up to in America’s name then shame on you.

“Endless conflicts?” Iraq. Afghanistan. Enough said really.

“Poverty?” I get begging letters to help Americans in need every week. Best cure poverty in your own back yard before criticizing other countries.

And now the biggie…

“The United States cannot solve all the problems of the global community by itself.”

Indeed…

Name one thing the United States has done on the current world stage that has solved anything.

The number of so-called experts (almost everyone I meet apparently) who feel qualified to pass judgment is quite staggering. Which is really quite strange as not many Americans as a percentage of the population have ever actually been there and of those who have I wonder just how many of them had to use our medical services. Funnily enough 65% of Americans can’t even find the UK on world map. Actually if you think that’s bad 20% of Americans can’t even find America on a world map.

As I said the number of lies spouted as fact has finally pissed me off. American health care sucks in comparison. And yes I do have knowledge of the system here. And in the UK of course, and also Canada, Iceland and New Zealand.

I really felt like banging my head against the wall over all this – I can’t believe that Americans can be so dumb as to fall for all the crap being talked about health care. As for a protester carrying a placard saying “get your government hands of my medicare” well, words failed me.

Still, on a lighter note (at least to me anyway – it stopped my feeling quite so angry at all the morons), the following statistic illustrates quite nicely why the “experts” can safely be ignored (and why the gene pool is in such danger) -  18% of Americans think the Sun revolves around the Earth.

I kid you not.

I guess this is good news if you’re American. Many other countries wouldn’t be so happy if their life expectancy suddenly dropped to that level.

I was also somewhat perturbed at the naivite and lack of world knowledge of some Americans in the blog that followed the article when such comments as…

Well, it’s probably because the U.S. has the best health care in the world? I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

… appeared. Yes… Of Course America has the best health profit system in the world. Oh, and while I’m at it that hoary old chestnut about America subsidizing the rest of the world also surfaced. Ye gods. I really can’t believe that anyone here still falls for that one as the reason for the highest medical costs in the world. That particular little factoid has been debunked so many times it’s beyond a joke.

Anyway, for all my American friends here is a league table of the top 50 countries life expectancy rates. So before you get too excited at the extra time you now have, take a look and see where you rank.

1 Macau 84.36 
 
2 Andorra 82.51 
 
3 Japan 82.12 
 
4 Singapore 81.98 
 
5 San Marino 81.97 
 
6 Hong Kong 81.86 
 
7 Australia 81.63 
 
8 Canada 81.23 
 
9 France 80.98 
 
10 Sweden 80.86 
 
11 Switzerland 80.85 
 
12 Guernsey 80.77 
 
13 Israel 80.73 
 
14 Iceland 80.67 
 
15 Anguilla 80.65 
 
16 Cayman Islands 80.44 
 
17 Bermuda 80.43 
 
18 New Zealand 80.36 
 
19 Italy 80.20 
 
20 Gibraltar 80.19 
 
21 Monaco 80.09 
 
22 Liechtenstein 80.06 
 
23 Spain 80.05 
 
24 Norway 79.95 
 
25 Jersey 79.75 
 
26 Greece 79.66 
 
27 Austria 79.50 
 
28 Faroe Islands 79.44 
 
29 Malta 79.44 
 
30 Netherlands 79.40 
 
31 Luxembourg 79.33 
 
32 Germany 79.26 
 
33 Belgium 79.22 
 
34 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 79.07 
 
35 Virgin Islands 79.05 
 
36 United Kingdom 79.01 
 
37 Finland 78.97 
 
38 Jordan 78.87 
 
39 Isle of Man 78.82 
 
40 Korea, South 78.72 
 
41 European Union 78.67 
 
42 Puerto Rico 78.53 
 
43 Bosnia and Herzegovina 78.50 
 
44 Saint Helena 78.44 
 
45 Cyprus 78.33 
 
46 Denmark 78.30 
 
47 Ireland 78.24 
 
48 Portugal 78.21 
 
49 Wallis and Futuna 78.20 
 
50 United States 78.11 

Now if you’re not quite so happy with your new life expectancy as you were before, do a little research and see how many countries above you have universal health care. You know… countries where health care is a right and not a privilege.

And by the way… the US only made it to #50 because the CIA’s figures were higher than the CDC’c.