Im in the USA as of yesterday, and like most people from Europe who come here, Obesity is one of the first things I noticed. I have been here before, and I know how hard it is to not eat too much( as I myself usually come back with a few extra pounds ) But this time I noticed something else. Americans(in general) do no exercise in terms of walking anywhere,especially. One of the first things to notice in US airports, are little electronic carts which, on the whole, carry people who are perfectly able to walk themselves. Sinks have no taps, because they work by a sensor. Everything here is designed to do the least work possible, and I am sure that it is a factor that greatly contributes to being overweight. “Oh,It’s very hard to lose the weight”, “I can’t do anythign abbout it, My family is overweight, so its in my genes” all sorts of comments like these serve to make ridiculous excuses but I know only too well that theyre stupid.I know people who come from families in which most people are overweight and they have made a huge effort to lose the weight. I apologise for the short post, but I do not know how much the hotel charges for internet and do not want to find myself with a surprise on the family bill. More posts on my american adventure soon!

We were all surprised when US president George Bush nominated Paul Wolfowitz for head of the World Bank. The former deputy secretary of defence was one of the driving forces behind the Iraq war, and has always been a strong supporter of George W. This is why the world community was amazed when Wolfowitz took office on june 1st, and even more surprised by the speeches he made during his trip to Africa, where he showed that, not only was he ready for the job, but looked forward to helping the developing nations of the world with aid, etc… The question now is, whether his initial statements have been sincere or a futile way to change public view towards him. A good point is that he has already openly criticised methods that harm developing world agriculture, such as massive subsidies in medc’s (a common tecnique used by George W) We will have to wait for more events to unfold to decide wether Wolfowitz is working at the right place…

in one of the few breaks that the media gave this week with the olympics , london bombs, etc, i got a glimpse on the screen of a new bush plan to give social security for fetuses…this immediately seemed outrageous and funny, and i will try and look more into the subject. maybe they even get official ID cards with a small photo??

Any of you who read this, please take a few seconds to visit the cost of war website by clicking anywhere on this text.it is a scary figure, and it is even scarier to see how quickly the column of the hundreds rises, while people in the US are living on the streets without a job….a very interesting site

The bush administration has taken away the last of their rights. This is why a group of inmates , en route to supermax prisons have sued their state, as to take them to these high security complexes, they receive no right to defend themselves legally, but they lose their right to parole. The issue of prisons in the United States is a controversial one, which divides the country in two< (yet again)>. The facts and statistics are simply too impressive when you realize you are talking about the country claiming to be the most free in the world. In california, more prisons are being built than schools are. Percentages of Americans imprisoned has reached very high levels.
The following extract is taken from Ethan Zuckerman’s blog(link on the right of this page) on his article on the prison blogger:
“According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College, London, the United States leads the world in total prison population, with roughly 2.1 million inmates. 6.6% percent of those inmates are not US citizens - the 1,950,000 American citizens in custody represent 0.67% of our nation. Because so many of the prisoners - 91.6% - are male, 1.33% of American males are incarcerated. The rates can be much higher within certain demographics - one set of estimates finds that 12.9% of black men between 25-29 were in jail or prison in the US in 2002. ”

According to these figures from Ethans Blog(and various others writing about the subject) It would be right to assume that almost 2 million americans are in prisons. To me that means that something is going quite wrong in the home of the brave and free….

posted by nick robinson