:: Bluestarblog ::

:: Friday, December 31, 2004 ::

2004: Good year or bad?

According to this article from Fox news, things look pretty good:

—America is healthier. Life expectancy in the U.S. is at an all-time high among men and women, black and white. People at every age can expect to live longer than anyone at their age in U.S. history. Heart disease, cardiovascular disease and stroke have fallen dramatically in the last 15 years. Incidence of, and deaths from, cancer have dropped every year since 1990.

—America is cleaner. Concentration levels of every major air pollutant have dropped dramatically since 1970, even as we drive more, consume more, and produce more. According to data analyzed by the Pacific Research Institute, U.S. water has been getting steadily cleaner for the last 20 years.

—The world is freer. According to the United Nations, as of 2002, 70 percent of the world’s nations were holding multi-party elections. Fifty-eight percent of the world’s population lived under a fully democratic system of governance. Both of these figures are at their highest points in human history.

The Freedom House think tank gave 89 countries containing 46 percent of the world’s population a ranking of “free” in the 2003 edition of its annual Freedom of the World report. Both figures are at their highest in the 30-year history of the survey. Freedom House also reports that countries moving toward more freedom have outpaced countries moving away from freedom by three to one.

—The world is less poor. Yale University’s David Dollar has pointed out that since 1980, the total number of people living on less than $1 per day has actually fallen by 200 million, despite the fact that the world’s population increased by 1.8 billion. It’s the first time in recorded history that that has happened. The UN’s 2004 Human Development Report notes that real per capita incomes in the developing world have more than doubled since 1975. In some provinces in China, incomes are doubling every few months.

—The world is healthier. Between 1960 and 2000, life expectancy in developing countries increased from 46 to 63 years. Mortality rates of children under five are half of what they were forty years ago.


A Christmas card from my brother lent even more optimism:

- the death of Arafat
- the unemployment of Carolyn Parrish
- a democratic election in a Middle Eastern country
- the re-election of George W. Bush
- shame and humiliation for Dan Rather
- the resignation of Colin Powell

Not a bad year at all.

:: Scot 4:20 PM [+] :: ::
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Irresistable Delusions of Grandeur

Milli Vanilli's Rob Pilatus: Musically we are more talented than any Bob Dylan. Musically we are more talented than Paul McCartney. Mick Jagger, his lines are not clear. He don't know how he should produce a sound. ... I'm the new modern rock and roll. I'm the new Elvis.

Libya's Muammar Gaddafi: America was very worried that Libya might get a mass destruction weapon, so they were very happy about our decision. It has been a winning hand in the past election. Fifty percent of the US elections depended on Libya, on Libya's withdrawal of its nuclear project. It was Mr Bush who promised to reward Libya if we got rid of this programme. The withdrawal of this programme was pro Mr Bush. We know that with this withdrawal we contributed by 50 percent to his electoral campaign - to the campaign pro Mr Bush.

:: Scot 3:49 PM [+] :: ::
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