Stop that!!!

lol, it was just a joke

I always question the accuracy of a report like that.
Not counting the Dictatorships and communist Nations, who always fudge their reports about the quality of life, I can only think of maybe 3 countries that could claim a higher quality than us.
Switzerland, Norway, and maybe Finland or Scandinavia!!

Even then who determines the definition of "Quality"?

OK,
I just checked.
The UN has us ranked 12th-2007
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s
quality-of-life index has us ranked 13th!-2005
and infoplease.com has us ranked 8th-2006!

This site, http://www.il-ireland.com/il/qofl2008/
has us ranked 3rd-2008

Michael Moore has us rated behind Rwanda

Education rankings, I suspect, are another farce.
Once upon a time I was trying to separate the 50 states as different entities, and rank them in comparison with the rest of the world that way, to see what difference it would show.
I was going on the premise that as a whole some States were lowering our total average and that with the size of the country verses the States, and considering most states are larger than most European countries. I would find some States that far surpassed the rest of the world. It proved more time consuming than I had to spare, and I stopped.
However, what research I did find SUGGESTS that if Massachusetts was a country all by itself, it would be ranked #1, and that a few other Northern States would be ranked in successive order, 2,3,4,! Interesting aye?
Mind you my research is incomplete, but one day I plan on finishing it!

Our country is so large, with such a wide range of ethinic groups and backgrounds that to rank them with the small European countries is not fair.
Either separate the States, or compare them to Europe as a whole (say the EU) and you will get entirely different result!

Like I said the other day,
London to Baghdad-2576 miles,
NY City to Los Angeles-3000 miles

Lets keep the perspective and dont be so hard on ourselves, and never, ever let anyone else be!!

my mistake we are ranked 27 th in terms of health care......thanks for the correction Fanta but I do suspect we will be dropping further down the list in the near future

Could be....

I love anything that is presented by the un as fact. The un sits by and watches genocide in countries, with boots on the ground and does nothing. The u.n. is as corrupt as any body in the world, if not more so. They are a joke, we should stop all support of this agency, and kick the hq out of ny

Yep, when they start talking about sending UN troops to the US its getting deep.
Id almost like to see them try!!

I hope Bush and his cronies burn in hell for what they have done

again...congress sat around and did nothing mirror. it's not one person. the democrats didn't do anything

something I thought of today while in testing...why is the US getting all the bashing for the war???? correct me if I am wrong...but wasn't England somewhere in there??? If I'm not mistaken, also, other countries offered some form of support

the other countries didnt just actualy line up they were bribed or coerced and most of them were simply US client states anyhow and didnt offer much in the way of actual support in a significant way, its mainly been England and america, mostly america. I think England is now in a much diminished role . There isnt one country of signifcance among the so called "coalition of the willing"

Because you all like copy and paste so much here is something that is worth actually reading...and possibly for a change THINKING about.

By Jay Leno

"The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air
conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is theability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the
Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire,a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have , and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats
safe from terrorist attacks?

The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

Think about it......are you upset at the President because he
actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way......Insane!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

We are among the most blessed peoples on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative."

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides,
flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Jay Leno

Again i admit it is copy and paste...but hey it has a damn good point.

Jay Leno is not a great spokesman for the middle class or working class in fact he is part of those who benefited from the huge tax cuts for the wealthy. the majority of americans fall into the catagory of middle or working class so that is were the statistics come from.

You completly missed the point. Which is has anything that the president done affected you personally? have you lost your house? have you been drafted? are you standing in bread lines? The answer to most of these is probably no. So by that consequence you form your perceptions of the president based on articles from the media..and news stories. We have a saying in the Navy...Stay withinn your paygrade. Meaning that sometimes the upper chain has information that you might not by privy too and they make choices based on that information. So it is my personal opinion..unless you are sitting at the desk in the white house helping our president make choices based on the information that he has...you should just keep your mouth shut. Unless of course it starts affecting you personally than you can do something about it. But i'll issue you a challenge...go visit india for a few weeks...than come back to the U.S. I'll bet you will see things in a new light. Better yet go visit our troops in Iraq. JMHO

every time I fill up my gas tank the bush policies effect me. I make choices weekly on how to stretch my now nearly worthless dollars due to the bush policies my soon expected tax rebate will help shore up my checking account against future gas increases and will mostly go to the oil companies in the end. How lame to pick one of the poorest countries on the planet and compare it to ours as if that makes your argument valid its shaky logic at best. This country is blessed with an educated working class and natural rescources unlike india and many other former colonies it didnt spend a hundred years of being exploited and under developed. If I had to choose about visiting troops in Iraq I think I would rather visit the halliburton crowd or KBR crowd since they are paid far more than our troops and live much more well off.