Stumble of the Week

Five things I stumbled onto this week:

• The five developed countries with the widest gap between rich and poor are: (5) Israel (4) United States (3) Turkey (2) Mexico (1) Chile.

• The CBS New York Times poll found that:

1. 54% believe that presidents can do “a lot” to control gas prices
2. Tea Party support is at 22%
3. Women prefer Rick Santorum over Mitt Romney by a 3-2 margin
4. Women are split on whether health insurance should cover contraception

• “Modern mega-slums like Kibera (Nairobi) and Citi-Soleil (Port-au-Prince) have achieved densities comparable to cattle feedlots” (Mike Davis, Planet of Slums, p. 92).

• Rick Santorum’s remark in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, that “it’s good to be in the hometown of Rush Limbaugh, which some  people see as a trip to Mecca" came not long after he told a Bates College audience that Islam " is stuck in the 7^th century ."

        •   Two countries have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Reagan administration helped draft: Somalia and the United States.