Making the Case for Increased Involvement in Libya

President Obama has stated that it is the goal of the United States to remove Colonel Muammar Gadhafi from power. Despite NATO and opposition efforts, the fight seems to be at a stalemate. It appears that if the US is to reach its goal, it may be necessary to increase military involvement. With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, would the American people have the fortitude to increase involvement in Libya?

The way it is being pitched is:

The United States and its NATO allies need to step up involvement in the war in Libya. Firing hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles and enforcing a no-fly zone with Hornet, Tornado, and Mirage aircraft has only been enough to stop the advance of Gadhafi's forces. It is uncertain what the affect of arming the opposition and utilizing unmanned Predator Drones, armed with Hellfire missiles, will be on the situation, but it will likely require more to reach our end goal.

This either sounds bad-ass or frightening, depending on your side of the debate. If you want to be able to sell the idea that more needs to be done, you need to make it sound friendly. First, war has such a negative connotation. Why not call it a game? Everyone likes games. We're just going to go referee the game to make sure that both sides play fairly and that breaking the rules (such as being a dictator) is penalized. Tomahawks were a weapon used by Native Americans. Native Americans also used peace pipes. Instead of Tomahawk cruise missiles, why don't we call them Peace Pipes? As for the fighter jets, hornets are very aggressive, and no one wants to have hornets around. Why not call them Butterflies? Tornadoes are very destructive. Instead of a tornado, I would rather have a light breeze, so we'll call them that. A mirage isn't even really there, so we'll just stick with that. Giving arms to opposition groups has come back to bite us in the past. Instead of arms, why couldn't we give them another body part? Like hearts? Who would object to us giving them hearts? Predator is also a bad word. Either you think of an animal that hunts and kills things, or you think of a pedophile or rapist. Neither gives you warm, fuzzy thoughts. Why not call them Kittens? Cats are predators, but no one is afraid of a kitten! Hellfire missiles obviously need a new name. Hellfire is definitely not a good thing. However, everyone likes a bonfire, so we'll call them Bonfires.

The new pitch for increased involvement would look something like this:

America and friends need to take a stricter referee role in the freedom game in Libya. Sending hundreds of Peace Pipes and having Butterflies, Light Breezes, and Mirages flying over Libya has resulted in a tie, and we need to ensure that rule infractions are penalized during overtime. It is unsure whether giving the good guys hearts and sending Kittens to light Bonfires for the Libyan people will be an adequate penalty for breaking the "oppression" rule. It is likely that further penalization will be necessary.

Wording his argument like this would certainly enable President Obama to get the majority of Americans behind him, regardless of the level of force he wants to use in Libya.

Wisconsin - Outdrinking Your State since 1848, Unless You Are from New Hampshire, Washington D.C, Nevada, or Delaware

When I moved to Erie, Pennsylvania for graduate school, I experienced somewhat of a culture shock. There were many reasons for this, but it was largely due to cultural attitudes towards alcohol. I am from a state where we sell beer at the concession stand at Little League games, so you can imagine my surprise when we were told to put our beers away at a men's rugby tournament. In addition to Pennsylvania's asinine alcohol laws (even more asinine than Wisconsin's) and the level of difficulty in stocking your favorite beverages (you have to go to two separate stores to buy liquor and wine and beer, and you have to buy beer by the case from a beer store. I know, asinine.), the people of Pennsylvania just don't drink like the people in Wisconsin. They don't tailgate at baseball games, they can't take their kids to bars, and their drink specials at bars end by midnight and everyone goes home. I wanted to see which states can keep up with Wisconsin, and which ones can't even keep up with Pennsylvania, as well as see where the US's drinking habits compare to the rest of the world.

I collected 2007 data on alcohol consumption annually per capita for each state, based on alcohol sales, from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The figures were given in gallons, but I have converted them to liters to make it easier to compare internationally.

The number one drinking state by a long shot is New Hampshire, where the average person purchases 4.22 gallons (15.97 L) of alcohol per year. If New Hampshire were a country, this would put it in second place in the world. The rest of the top five includes Washington D.C. (3.95 gal. / 14.95 L), Nevada (3.61 gal. / 13.67 L), Delaware (3.23 gal. / 12.23 L), and Wisconsin (2.98 gal. / 11.28 L). If all of the states and the District of Columbia were countries, Washington D.C. would rank third in the world. Nevada would rank fifth in the world. None of the other states would break the top 10. Wisconsin would be tied in 23rd with Denmark and Palau.

The top five driest states are:

1. Utah (1.34 gal. / 5.07 L)
2. West Virginia (1.76 gal. / 6.66 L)
3. Arkansas (1.84 gal. / 6.97 L)
4. Kentucky (1.85 gal. / 7.00 L)
5. Tennessee (1.89 gal. / 7.15 L)

Pennsylvania ranked 37th (including Washington D.C.) at 2.16 gal. / 8.18 L.

For the international rankings, I got 2005 data from the World Health Organization. The top 10 biggest drinkers are:

1. Estonia (16.2 L)
2. Czech Republic (14.8 L)
3. Ireland (13.4 L)
4. France (13.2 L)
5. Andorra (12.8 L)
6. Austria (12.7 L)
7. Saint Lucia (12.7 L)
8. Croatia (12.5 L)
9. Hungary (12.5 L)
10. Lithuania (12.5 L)

Germany ranked 15, tied with Luxembourg at 11.7 L. Switzerland ranked 32, tied with Serbia at 10.1 L. the United States ranked 46, tied with Ukraine at 8.5 L.

The 10 driest countries are:

1. Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Bangladesh at 0.0L
2. Pakistan, Niger, Myanmar, Mauritania, Kuwait, Iran, Indonesia, and Afghanistan at 0.1 L.

It makes sense, most of those are Islamic nations, and Muslims aren't supposed to drink. I can personally vouch that Niger has some good beer (Biere Niger and Flag), but it's so damn hot there that unless they are one of the few rich people who can afford refrigeration, they have to drink it, well, piss-warm would be an understatement, which would be a deterrent.

As you can see, Americans probably would not win a real-life Beer Fest, although New Hampshirites or New Hampshirians, or whatever they're called might have a shot, and for that matter, the Germans probably wouldn't either. Watch out for the Estonians though, they are by far the world's heaviest drinkers.

Trimming the Fat

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not a single state in the United States had an obesity rate (obesity is defined as 30% body fat or greater) over 15% in 1990. According to the 2009 statistics, less than 20 years later, only Colorado (18.6%) and Washington D.C. (19.7%) have an obesity rate less than 20%. There is even a neat slideshow you can watch on the website where you can watch all the states in the country change from white/light blue to orange/red (http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html#State).

Where else can you go to find skinny people besides Colorado and Washington D.C? Connecticut (20.6%) came in third place, Massachusetts (21.4%) came in fourth place, and Hawaii (22.3%) came in 5th place.

If you like more cushion for the pushin', the places to go are Mississippi (34.4%), Louisiana (33.0%), Tennessee (32.3%), Kentucky (31.5%), and Oklahoma (31.4%).

Wisconsin, which according to my memory was ranked in the low to mid 20s of the skinniest states in 2008, fell to the 36th skinniest state (including Washington D.C.) in 2009. Way to go, Wisconsin. I know we like our cheese, beer, and bratwurst, but come on, have some pride!

We know where the fattest and skinniest people live within the United States, but what about the whole world? I found 2009 data from the World Health Organization, and apparently, more people care how many women are fat than men because there is data for women in 130 countries, but only data for men in 88 countries. I will list the countries on the extremes, and then also list the US, Germany, and Switzerland, since most of my readers are from these countries. If you are interested in another country, let me know and I will tell you where it ranks.

So where can you find the skinniest women? The top 10 countries are:

1. Vietnam (0.6%)
2. Ethiopia (0.7%)
3. Nepal (0.9%)
4. Madagascar (1.0%)
5. Rwanda (1.1%)
6. Chad, Cambodia (1.5%)
7. Bangladesh (1.7%)
8. Malawi, Congo, Cameroon, Burkina Faso (2.4%)

The Asian and African countries are no surprise. Have you ever seen a fat Asian or a fat black person outside of America? Probably not.

Where are the fattest women? The top 10 countries are:

1. Tonga (74.9%)
2. Tuvalu (67.6%)
3. Samoa (66.3%)
4. Cook Islands (65.7%)
5. Kiribati (58.9%)
6. Nauru (56.0%)
7. Kuwait (47.9%)
8. Saudi Arabia (43.8%)
9. Egypt (39.5%)
10. Iraq (38.2%)

The Pacific Island countries are expected, but the Middle Eastern countries are interesting. I do remember seeing a lot of fat women in Iraq though. It was like the moment they got married, their weight quadrupled. They also seemed to skip from age 15 to age 70, which is probably because they seem to do all of the manual labor, which you would think they would keep them skinny, but apparently not. The United States ranks number 14 on the list at 33.2%. Germany is number 36 on the list at 21.1%. Switzerland is number 91 on the list at 7.8%.

How do the countries with the skinniest men compare to the skinniest women?

1. Vietnam (0.3%)
2. Laos (0.7%)
3. Indonesia (1.1%)
4. India (1.3%)
5. Eritrea (2.3%)
6. China (2.4%)
7. South Korea (2.8%)
8. Japan (2.9%)
9. Philippines (3.0%)
10. Thailand (3.3%)

Again, Asians are the skinniest people. What about the fat men?

1. Cook Islands (57.4%)
2. Tonga (56.1%)
3. Nauru (50.3%)
4. Tuvalu (46.6%)
5. Samoa (44.9%)
6. Kiribati (41.7%)
7. Kuwait (36.4%)
8. Nicaragua (33.1%)
9. United States of America (31.1%)
10. Saudi Arabia (28.3%)

Again, similar to the women, but with the US breaking the top 10. Germany is number 23 at 20.5%, and Switzerland is number 64 at 8.7%.

I had a discussion about this with my dad a few days ago, and he commented on how many more fat people, not just overweight, but obese people, there are than there were when he was younger. He seemed to think that it has to do with a lack of pride, which I can definitely see.

You definitely still see plenty of people who are proud to be American, but their reasons for being proud of American are lacking. Once upon a time, America was a nobody and had a chip on its shoulder. Being American meant you had to work your ass off because you had something to prove to the rest of the world. Americans have inherited the fruits of our ancestors' labor and just take for granted that that's just how it is. There's a saying, "If you don't use it, you lose it." I'm pretty sure it is meant for foreign languages, but it can be applied to anything, including greatness. If you want America to be great, make it great, don't just let it be great, because it won't make itself great.

The moral of the story is, the US is in the top 10 fattest countries for men, and not far behind for women. I could get into our ranking in education and other areas too, but those are for a different post. Get your lazy ass up and work. Not just to get it done, but like you have something invested in it. Take pride in yourself and all that you do.