Missouri Makes a Very Dark List

Wow.

Missouri not only made the top, worst 10 on a new survey of the 50 states in America, it actually made the top, worst 5.

America's 10 worst states to live in 2017 

- CNBC.com

"These are the 10 worst states in the US for quality of life, including crime, health, social tolerance and the environment."

So check out what they say about our own Show Me state:

5. MISSOURI

Show Me how to stay safe in Missouri, where violent crime in all categories has been rising, in some cases by double digits. Missouri also lacks statewide protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, marital status, and gender identity. And the state is near the bottom for public health funding.

2017 Quality of Life score: 99 out of 300 points
Weaknesses: Crime rate, health, inclusiveness
Strength: Attractions
2016 Quality of Life rank: No. 49

Note that last statistic, too.  2016 Quality of Life rank:  49.  Out of 50, of course. Only one state worse than us, whoever that is. 

Even on this list, we're worse than Mississippi, for God's sake. 

WORSE THAN MISSISSIPPI.

Let that sink in.

I know I personally take no comfort whatever in learning that neighbor state to the South, Arkansas, is ranked 4th worst or that, again, neighbor state Oklahoma is ranked number 3.

We should no way be on this list. This is horrible.

We must do better. We have to.

And we start by getting Republicans out of public office.

Let's get started.

On the whole "Win an iPad!" thing

If one more organization promises me that I "...could win an Apple iPad" if I simply take their survey, I'm going to choke somebody.

An encouraging political survey

Check out these results from a Pew Research Center survey (click for full view):

If you examine all the groups, most say the Democrats are "more concerned with people like me", more say they think the Democrats can "bring about needed changes" and, finally--and perhaps most tellingly to me, more people believe the Republicans are "more extreme in their positions". It's enough to give a person hope, you know? Link: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/03/141984787/generation-gap-how-age-shapes-political-outlook?ft=1&f=1001

Pres. Obama: 15th best president ever. So far

I love this:

Scholars Rank Obama the 15th Best President

A group of presidential scholars has ranked President Obama as the 15th best U.S. president of all time, a new survey shows...

Mr. Obama also has an advantage in the rankings over President Ronald Reagan, who came in 18th, but President Bill Clinton beats them both in 13th place.

The Siena College Research Institute's Survey of U.S. Presidents, which has been conducted five times since 1982, asked 238 presidential scholars to rank the 43 U.S. presidents on a number of characteristics.

The presidents were given rankings for six personal attributes (background, imagination, integrity, intelligence, luck and willingness to take risks), five forms of ability (compromising, executive, leadership, communication and overall), and eight areas of accomplishment (economic, other domestic affairs, working with Congress, party leadership, Supreme Court appointments, executive branch appointments, avoiding mistakes and foreign policy).

But here's the best part--the favorite part, for me, on top of Obama getting a good, solid ranking:

"his predecessor, President George W. Bush, is relegated to the bottom five.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

God I love that.

It gets better, too:

While he has only been in office a year and a half, Mr. Obama was rated highly in areas such as imagination, communication and intelligence.

By comparison, Mr. Bush was ranked 23rd when the survey was conducted in 2002, after his first year in office. This year, Mr. Bush was ranked 39th after receiving poor ratings in communication, foreign policy, intelligence, the economy and his ability to compromise. 

But wait, there's more!

Mr. Bush's best ranking came in the category of "luck," for which he was rated the 18th best president.

The four presidents who were ranked more poorly than Mr. Bush were Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce.

That is some strongly negative company he's got there.

Give him time, too.  Ol' Dubya' may well get to the bottom yet.

(Thanks and a hat tip to friend Dave H for bringing this to my attention).

Link:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20009531-503544.html

Don't "shoot the messenger" (no pun intended)

I was just sent this chart from the "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" campaign which, naturally and of course, I'm a big fan and from which I get emails.

Look at those statistics above, folks. Apparently, it is from a their own poll and it seems to show, and clearly, that maybe all the NRA truly has is a bunch of people with money, opinions and the desire to send letters. It seems the American people want strongly to reduce the number of shootings and killings in the country, doesn't it? And it looks as though they'll support programs to make this happen.

Keep in mind, too, that all it's saying is that it is to "stop criminals, drug abusers, the mentally ill and other dangerous people from buying guns", etc. It's not to take away "your" gun, okay, Mr. and/or Ms. law-abiding gun owner? So chill.

Then, again this morning, I saw a link on my blogroll to another survey on the same subject:

"...a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday...indicates that (a) majority of the public favors restrictions on semi-automatic guns and high-capacity ammunition clips, as well as background checks and limits on the number of guns that can be purchased."

According to the survey, several restrictions, however, are widely accepted. More than nine in ten Americans favor background checks to determine whether a prospective buyer has been convicted of a felony. Six in ten favor a ban on semi-automatic assault guns, and on the kind of extended ammunition clips which Jared Loughner allegedly used in Arizona. Fifty-five percent questioned say they also favor limiting gun purchases to one per month.

I'm loving this, folks, I gotta' tell you.

Now all we need to do is get organized and the mayors seem to be helping that along, don't they?

Have a great day, y'all.

Links:  http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/home/home.shtml

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/17/cnn-poll-no-change-on-gun-law-opinions-after-arizona-shootings/

America's biggest problem?

US shut out of "Top 10 Cities" ranking

US "the best"?

The Economist Intelligence Unit doesn't think so.

Their survey "ranked 140 cities on 30 factors such as healthcare, culture and environment, and education and personal safety, using research involving resident experts and its own analysts" and decided the US doesn't have one city in the top ten.

Ouch.

Following is a list of the top 10 most liveable cities as ranked by The Economist:

1. Vancouver, Canada

2. Vienna, Austria

3. Melbourne, Australia

4. Toronto, Canada

5. Calgary, Canada

6. Helsinki, Finland

7. Sydney, Australia

8. Perth, Australia

9. Adelaide, Australia

10. Auckland, New Zealand

Neighbor Canada, however (you know the one--"Socialist Canada", the one with mass transit and national health care for all?) has 3 cities in the "top ten."

More ouch.

Between this and health care (we rank 37th in mortality rates, internationally, folks), we just keep getting put in our place, so to speak, don't we? So much for that "we're number one!" crap, huh?

The good news?

We didn't have any cities in the "bottom 10", either.

Thank goodness for that silver lining.

Kansas--32; Missouri, 38. 'nuff said

From Yahoo! News, just now:

Happiest U.S. States Pinned Down

By Jeanna Bryner, Managing Editor

17 December 2009 02:00 pm ET

A new study found that a person's self-reported happiness matches up with objective measures of state-level happiness.

The results are based on an examination of two data sets, one that included personal reports of happiness for 1.3 million Americans and the other that included objective measures, such as how crowded that state is, air quality, home prices and other factors known to impact quality of life.

Click here to learn more about the survey and what it means.

Here are the 50 U.S. states (and the District of Columbia) in order of their well-being:

1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. Mississippi
7. Montana
8. South Carolina
9. Alabama
10. Maine
11. Alaska
12. North Carolina
13. Wyoming
14. Idaho
15. South Dakota
16. Texas
17. Arkansas
18. Vermont
19. Georgia
20. Oklahoma
21. Colorado
22. Delaware
23. Utah
24. New Mexico
25. North Dakota
26. Minnesota
27. New Hampshire
28. Virginia
29. Wisconsin
30. Oregon
31. Iowa
32. Kansas
33. Nebraska
34. West Virginia
35. Kentucky
36. Washington
37. District of Columbia
38. Missouri
39. Nevada
40. Maryland
41. Pennsylvania
42. Rhode Island
43. Massachusetts
44. Ohio
45. Illinois
46. California
47. Indiana
48. Michigan
49. New Jersey
50. Connecticut
51. New York
______________

Don't get me wrong, I like Kansas City and Missouri but could we maybe work on this?

I also have to say, I think that getting the Performing Arts Center downtown will help our area a great deal and, secondly--and not connected at all to the first thought--I get some solace in knowing New York state is 51--worst in the country, by this comparison, while sunny Southern California is--believe it?--46th?, oceans, mountains and all? Yikes.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Links: http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091217/sc_livescience/happieststatesrevealedbynewresearch