Louisiana's ranking on the "Misery Report" — Bloomberg's take on the "misery index" — is, well, pretty miserable.
Similar to the standard misery index, which is determined by unemployment and inflation rates, Bloomberg's version also considers 13 misery-inducing factors in its calculation of a state's misery level, like health care access, poverty rates, air pollution levels and even the number of on-the-job fatalities.
The expression "misery loves company" rings true according to Bloomberg's index, which considers the Deep South the nation's most miserable region.
Though Bloomberg doesn't consider Louisiana to be the most miserable of the 50 states — that honor goes to Mississippi — it is the second most miserable, followed in rank by Alabama, South Carolina and Arkansas.
According to a blog by Stanford Daily's Adam Johnson, the online reaction to Bloomberg's index was a mixed-bag. He writes:
[S]ome journalists and bloggers were unsurprised, while others — especially residents of those five states — claimed that Bloomberg (based in New York City) was missing what makes the South special. One blogger wrote that "in South Carolina we are all neighbors. The atmosphere is laid back, relaxed and not in a hurry." In a comment to this post, someone wrote that “I lived in the south and loved the people, their love and personalities in life, there is nothing like it.” Another wrote that “‘happiness’ may be a difficult outcome to determine based on those metrics.” Are these criticisms of the Bloomberg ranking fair?
For southerners getting their feathers ruffled over their state's Bloomberg misery ranking — calling it biased and ignorant of life in the South — Johnson recommends Gallup-Healthways "Well-Being Index."
The difference between the Gallup-Healthways and Bloomberg indices is that the Gallup-Healthways analysis takes a more internal approach, and evaluates the "internal well-being" of a state's residents, considering such factors as emotional health and work environments.
Under those criterion, Louisiana goes from being the second-most miserable state, per Bloomberg, to being the 36th best state, or 14th worst — depending on how you look at it — on the Gallup-Healthways version.
Go here to view Bloomberg's "Misery Report," and here for Gallup-Healthways "Well-Being Index."
To read Stanford Daily's blog on the pros and cons of Bloomberg's analysis, click here.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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