Equality Chart 2011

Chart by Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin.

Grenade Or Aid?

A massive version of the above chart can be found here.

Canadians Are In Better Shape

Researchers at the CDC say obesity is far less prevalent in Canada than in the United States. And they don't really know why.

About 24 percent of Canadians are obese compared to more than 34 percent of Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Wednesday. Researchers looked at height and weight data taken in surveys in both countries during 2007-09. The two countries have different racial demographics. The United States has more black and Hispanic people, and both have higher rates of obesity. But even looking solely at white people, there was still a big difference — a 26 percent obesity rate in Canada compared to 33 percent in the United States. It's not clear why that is, said study-co-author Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. "We share this border and many other things. It's a question we need to investigate more," said Ogden, whose co-authors included a researcher at Statistics Canada.

Interestingly, the difference in childhood obesity rates in the two nations is "statistically insignificant."

Mandated Paid Holidays By Nation

The above chart depicts the number of paid holidays and vacation days legally mandated by the world's 21 richest nations. The labor movement is completely out of control in America!

EGYPT: Foreigners Begin Evacuation

The United States and many other nations have begun evacuating their embassy staffers and other citizens from Egypt as unrest continues. Americans will be airlifted to "safe haven" countries in the region, from where they must make their own arrangements to get home.

The United States planned to begin charter flights to help Americans leave the country Monday. Other governments and businesses have also said they plan to evacuate citizens amid escalating protests across the country. Canada's government has said it will begin charter flights bound for Europe evacuating as many as 6,000 of its citizens from Egypt Monday. Australia announced Monday that it planned to provide an emergency flight out of Cairo for its citizens on Wednesday. Thai Airways said Monday that it was preparing a special flight to Cairo to bring stranded Thais home at the request of the country's government. And Mexico's government urged its citizens in Egypt to consider leaving the country. Two special EL AL flights with Israelis returning from Egypt landed in Israel Monday morning, Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

There are 380 American embassy staffers living in Cairo with their families. It's unknown how many other Americans are presently in Egypt, but the number is thought to be in the thousands.

Too Butch For Asylum

American immigration officials examining the cases of gays seeking asylum here are often denying such requests if the applicants "don't look gay enough" to be persecuted in their home countries.

“Judges and immigration officials are adding a new hurdle in gay asylum cases that an applicant’s homosexuality must be socially visible,” said Lori Adams, a lawyer at Human Rights First, a nonprofit group, who advises people seeking asylum based on sexuality. “The rationale is that if you don’t look obviously gay, you can go home and hide your sexuality and don’t need to be worried about being persecuted.” Jhuan Marrero, 18, who was born in Venezuela but has lived — illegally — in New York since he was 4, said the immigration officer at his asylum interview last week challenged him about his macho demeanor. “I was brought up by my parents to walk and talk like a man,” said Mr. Marrero, who volunteers at the Queens Pride House, a gay and lesbian center in Jackson Heights. “The officer said: ‘You’re not a transsexual. You don’t look gay. How are you at risk?’ I insisted that if I was sent back to Venezuela, I would speak out about being gay and suffer the consequences.”

Some asylum attorneys have advised their clients to appear as flamboyant as possible during their hearings. Adding to the problem is a surge in applicants falsely claiming to be gay in order to escape economic problems in their home countries.

U.S. Life Expectancy Declines

Newly released data from the federal government show a slight decrease in life expectancy for residents of the United States. According to the report, West Virginia is the worst state for mortality, with a death rate there that is almost 1.5 times greater than Hawaii, where people are living the longest.

Data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics showed that life expectancy for most American men was 75.3 years in 2008, down by one-tenth of a year from 2007. Women also saw a drop in the number of years they can expect to live, from 80.4 years to 80.3 years, the data show. Black men, on the other hand, bucked the trend and reached a record-high life expectancy of 70.2 years in 2008, up by 0.2 years compared to 2007. They were still the shortest-lived Americans, though, with life spans around 10 years less than white women, who have the highest life expectancy, followed by black women and white men. The pattern of white women enjoying the longest lives and black men the shortest has held true for nearly three decades, but life expectancy for all groups has generally increased over those 30 years.

Alzheimer's is now the sixth-leading cause of death. Overall, the United States now ranks 49th worldwide for life expectancy. In 1950, the U.S. ranked fifth.

Utah Executes Man By Firing Squad

Utah has carried out the wishes of convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner and executed him by firing squad. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court refused a request to stay the execution.

Gardner, 49, is only the third person in 33 years to die by firing squad in the United States. He was killed at 12:20 a.m. MST (2:20 a.m. ET), a Corrections Department spokesman said. A hood was placed over Gardner's head and a paper target pinned to his chest. He was heavily restrained as a five-person firing squad took aim at the target and shot him, witnesses said. Journalists who witnessed the shooting said it happend quickly. One reporter said she noticed that Gardner moved after he was shot. "It was over pretty quickly," said Cheryl Worsley, a local radio reporter. "It was cleaner than I expected. It was fast. But he moved. He moved a little bit, and to some degree that bothers me." Outside the prison in Draper Utah, there was a candlelight vigil attended by members of Gardner's family.

As I mentioned here back in April, only two other persons have been executed by firing squad since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Both executions took place in Utah. The death penalty has been abolished in 98 countries.