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Binge drinking rates in the U.S. are at a much higher rate than previously thought, according to a report released Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC found that more than 38 million Americans binge drink four times a month—consuming an average of eight drinks each time. And it’s not just young adults. Although it is more common between the ages of 18-34, those 65 and older reportedly binge drink more often—five to six times a month. The frequency of binge drinking is higher in households with an income of $75,000 or more. But the disturbing...

At 15, Jarvis Nelson should be in high school and even thinking about college. Yet Jarvis is in seventh grade, and doesn’t know where he’ll go to high school — or even where he will be living — when he graduates from junior high, hopefully next year. That’s because Jarvis has attended three different schools in the past four months. He’s lived in three different places on the North and South Sides of the city — including his most recent home, a temporary shelter in Lake View. Jarvis, like thousands of other students in Chicago Public Schools, is homeless. He...

China REQUIRES all foreign investors to give up their technology to them for the "right" to build goods there. Obama-seized GM can deny it till the cows come home, but it's still a lie. Dismantling America, chunk by chunk, piece by piece. Anybody see the tyrant-in-chief's body language, facial expressions and hand gestures, not to mention his words, at his Ohio press conference today? He simply can't hide his hatred for America. The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America -- read it. GM deal moves electric car development to China -- a 'shakedown'? USA Today (hat tip Van)...

Last week the 2009-2010 Planned Parenthood annual report was released and it shows that the leading abortion group had suffered a significant decline in private contributions. In 2009 they reported 308 million in private donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations yet in 2010 they saw that number fall to 223.8 million. The chart below illustrates the drop-off:

A prevailing headline from Iowa has been the decline of Newt Gingrich, who attributes the fall in his standing to a barrage of negative advertisements from his Republican rivals and their allies. The criticism on television is pointed, but the attacks arriving by mail are even sharper and carry a far longer shelf life than a fleeting 30-second commercial. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” says a brochure that hit mailboxes this week. If the message wasn’t clear, another postcard declared, “Old Dog, Newt Tricks.” For all the talk about the confidence of Mitt Romney in the days...

"This bankrupt belief has taken complete control of our government, educational system, medical industry, and our corporations. And unless we demand better from each other and our political leaders, our society is doomed to collapse under the crushing weight of the Corruption of America. It's time we got back to our traditions as Americans and started doing more to take care of our families, communities, and ourselves." This is a small outtake of a very long article. If you have 15 minutes go and read this as the author raises some very good points about things that are leading to...

According to the official numbers just put out today by the United States Department of the Treasury, the U.S. government yesterday reached the dubious milestone of being a total combined fifteen trillion dollars in debt: Date                   Debt Held by the Public         Intragovernmental Holdings   Total Public Debt Outstanding 11/15/2011        10,314,468,105,168.02        4,719,139,150,752.30         15,033,607,255,920.32 Since Barack Obama was inaugurated as President of the United States, the total combined national debt has increased by approximately 4.4 trillion dollars, a staggering rate...

We are in a fresh round of declinism — understandably, after borrowing nearly $5 trillion in less than three years and having very little to show for it. Pundit strives with op-ed writer to find the latest angle on America’s descent: We are broke; we are poorly educated; we are uncompetitive; we have gone soft; our political institutions are broken; and on and on. The Obama administration does its part, with sloganeering like “reset,” “lead from behind,” “post-American world,” and America as exceptional only to the degree that all nations feel exceptional. This is not new. In the late 1930s,...

Last year, Wisconsin led the nation in mink farming, producing 833,430 pelts. Texas was the undisputed king of pansies, growing 1.8 million flats of the flowers. And no state harvested more hops than Washington, with 24,336 acres. This year? Who knows? The government has stopped counting. Forced to cut its budget, the Agriculture Department has decided to eliminate dozens of reports, including the annual goat census (current population: three million), and the number of catfish on the nation’s fish farms (177 million, not counting the small fry). The statistics service said it was forced to reduce the frequency of some...

The Obama administration lived up to its legal obligations today by withholding the first payment of U.S. funds to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since it voted to recognize “Palestine” as a member state. The State Department​ said a scheduled $60 million payment would not be in the mail to the world body and warned that the same treatment would be given to any other UN agency that pulls the same trick. But Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also said the U.S. would maintain its membership in the organization and continue to participate despite the group’s decision to...

"The last of the nation's most powerful nuclear bombs — a weapon hundreds of times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima — is being disassembled nearly half a century after it was put into service at the height of the Cold War. The final components of the B53 bomb will be broken down Tuesday at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, the nation's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. The completion of the dismantling program is a year ahead of schedule, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, and aligns with President Barack Obama's goal...

More than two-thirds of voters say the United States is declining, and a clear majority think the next generation will be worse off than this one, according to the results of a new poll commissioned by The Hill. A resounding 69 percent of respondents said the country is “in decline,” the survey found, while 57 percent predict today’s kids won’t live better lives than their parents. Additionally, 83 percent of voters indicated they’re either very or somewhat worried about the future of the nation, with 49 percent saying they’re “very worried.” The results suggest that Americans don’t view the country’s...

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c73f10e-f8aa-11e0-ad8f-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1b6DTpeKa Recently I met a retired British diplomat who claimed with some pride that he was the man who had invented the phrase, “the management of decline”, to describe the central task of British foreign policy after 1945. “I got criticised,” he said, “but I think it was an accurate description of our task and I think we did it pretty well.”...

Drowning in red ink, Greece has nowhere to turn to revive the economic growth that might put its debt on a sustainable trajectory, reassure angry foreign creditors and offer hope to its recession-weary citizens. Instead, the country finds itself in a vicious circle—a death spiral, some would say—in which it is borrowing ever more to keep up on its existing debts, crushing growth in the process and thereby worsening its all-important ratio of debt-to-gross domestic product. Springing the debt trap would not be a miracle cure either: a manageable level of borrowing is a necessary but not a sufficient condition...

Prophets Of Doom: 12 Shocking Quotes From Insiders About The Horrific Economic Crisis That Is Almost HereOctober 1, 2011 We are getting so close to a financial collapse in Europe that you can almost hear the debt bubbles popping. All across the western world, governments and major banks are rapidly becoming insolvent. So far, the powers that be are keeping all of the balls in the air by throwing around lots of bailout money. But now the political will for more bailouts is drying up and the number of troubled entities seems to grow by the day. Right now the...

<p>BURNSVILLE, Minn. (AP) — Burnsville police say a Northfield man who had just lost his job committed suicide in front of former colleagues by locking himself in his car and shooting himself in the head.</p> <p>Fifty-one-year-old Patrick Joseph Graves was still alive Thursday morning when officers arrived. He died about an hour later at a hospital.</p>

Last Modified: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 5:45 p.m. Police said a feud at the Meadowcrest apartment community late Tuesday involved a stun gun, machete, baseball bat and a witness seven-months pregnant who apparently began hyperventilating while the drama played out in front of her and later was rushed to a hospital. When it was over, Henry Earl Byrne, 43, of 3413 NE 183rd Lane, was charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault and booked into the Alachua County jail by the Gainesville Police Department. Police spokeswoman Cpl. Andelina Valuri said the motive for the incident was an argument between...

No matter what the polls say, no matter how many elections fellow Democrats lose, no matter what his opposition says, or his allies for that matter, President Obama is committed to America's decline. From his recycled speeches on jobs, to failed and suspect green energy policies, the man is committed to his ideology. The schizophrenic once stated that the voices in his head told him he was sane and everyone else in the world is crazy. Obama is not schizophrenic, but he has the same delusional beliefs. America needs to be the next banana republic. He is convinced of his...

How to Reverse the West's Decline Pioneer of sociology: In his philosophy of history, Ibn Khaldun recognised the value of "Asabiyah" (social cohesion) It is not clear that the West has successfully met the challenge of 9/11. Worse: it is not clear that the West yet fully understands what the challenge is. To understand 2001 we have to go back to 1989, the year of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was an historic moment that few had expected. What did it mean? It was then...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--It is time for the Southern Baptist Convention to move from denial to decision. It has happened again. The SBC reported membership has declined, again. And, baptisms are at their lowest level in 60 years. I remember the first time the membership declined, just a few years ago. I pointed out (based on data from LifeWay's now-retired statistician Cliff Tharp) that it was not an aberration, but a pattern. The 50-year membership trend was moving into negative territory. "Put simply," I wrote in light of 2007 data, "membership may go up next year, but the trend points to...