Study: Maine the most peaceful U.S. state, Louisiana the least

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110406/ts_yblog_thelookout/study-maine-the-most-peaceful-u-s-state-louisiana-the-least

A study by the Institute for Economics and Peace finds that Maine is the most peaceful state in the country, while Louisiana is the least peaceful.

The inaugural United States Peace Index purports to be the first state-by-state ranking of America based on levels of peace. The group's standard for measuring a state's serenity was rather simple: "absence of violence." Using data compiled from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the group focused on homicide rates, percentage of population that is jailed, availability of small arms, number of police officers and overall violent crime rate.

And despite what you may think, with all the mass public protests going on around the country in the last couple of years, the index claims that America is getting more peaceful as a whole, with neither Republican nor Democratic states having any sort of an advantage over each other.

"The USPI report reveals that peace in the United States has improved since 1995 primarily driven by a substantial decrease in homicide and violent crime," the IEP says on its website, adding that "peace is significantly correlated with factors related to economic opportunity, education and health."

The group lists the ten most peaceful states in order as: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Iowa, and Washington. And here are the least (also in order, with Louisiana leading the unrest): Louisiana, Tennessee, Nevada, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Maryland.

It's worth noting that Louisiana was ranked as the laziest U.S. state in a separate study last year. Apparently, kicking back and taking it easy doesn't amount to a life of calm in the eyes of some, though many Louisianians, this reporter among them, would probably argue that they're not lazy or non-peaceful, just misunderstood.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/U.S.-Peace-Index-2011-3.pdf

Table 1 – U.S. Peace Index Result

1 Maine 1.34

2 New Hampshire 1.50

3 Vermont 1.54

4 Minnesota 1.62

5 North Dakota 1.71

6 Utah 1.75

7 Massachusetts 1.80

8 Rhode Island 1.83

9 Iowa 1.85

10 Washington 1.87

11 Nebraska 1.88

12 Hawaii 1.91

13 Oregon 2.08

14 South Dakota 2.17

15 Connecticut 2.21

16 Idaho 2.24

17 Montana 2.28

18 West Virginia 2.28

19 Wisconsin 2.30

20 Kentucky 2.39

21 Pennsylvania 2.42

22 Ohio 2.43

23 Wyoming 2.49

24 Indiana 2.50

25 Virginia 2.52

26 New Jersey 2.61

27 Kansas 2.63

28 Colorado 2.66

29 New York 2.69

30 Alaska 2.70

31 Michigan 2.79

32 North Carolina 2.79

33 California 2.89

34 Mississippi 2.97

35 Illinois 2.98

36 Delaware 3.14

37 Arizona 3.14

38 New Mexico 3.16

39 Georgia 3.18

40 Missouri 3.21

41 Maryland 3.24

42 South Carolina 3.26

43 Oklahoma 3.27

44 Arkansas 3.30

45 Texas 3.30

46 Alabama 3.42

47 Florida 3.50

48 Nevada 3.50

49 Tennessee 3.61

50 Louisiana 3.97

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Triple post FTW! Seriously though the South looks very "un-peaceful".

btw...

http://community.adn.com/adn/node/156519

Suck on this one California: Alaska expects $3.4 billion surplus

Alaska is rolling in money from the high oil prices, with the revenue department this morning announcing a projected surplus of $3.4 billion.

The news comes as the Legislature prepares to decide how much it wants to spend on construction projects in the coming year.

Lawmakers had already planned a big construction budget but the additional money could result in even more projects added.

Legislators have also been talking about putting over $1 billion into savings in the coming year. The question will be how they divide the new projected $3.4 billion surplus between spending and savings.

Alaska already has about $10 billion in savings accounts.

Gov. Sean Parnell said this morning he wants lawmakers to spend no more on construction projects than they did last year, and to add most of the projected surplus dollars to the savings accounts.

Parnell, who has the power to veto projects, said he’ll want even less spending than that if the Legislature doesn’t pass his bill to cut oil taxes.

The projected surplus is a result of higher-than-expected oil prices.

The state last fall had projected that the price of North Slope crude would average $77.96 per barrel through the fiscal year that ends June 30 and then go up to $82.67 for the coming year.

The state today changed that to say prices should average $91.13 per barrel this fiscal year and $94.70 for the coming year.

Revenue Commissioner Bryan Butcher called it a conservative forecast. Alaska North Slope crude closed yesterday at $118.84.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Why_Me

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Combined with this week's "Men's Health" magazine ranking of Vermont as "the happiest state" I would say that makes Vermont a solid number 1. I could be biased.

[peejay 327]

Seriously though the South looks very "un-peaceful".

Can you spell d-e-m-o-g-r-a-p-h-i-c-s?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Combined with this week's "Men's Health" magazine ranking of Vermont as "the happiest state" I would say that makes Vermont a solid number 1. I could be biased.

Vermont is up near the top there at #3. Notice how California is ranked below Vermont and Alaska ? he he

[^_^ 5,021]

Can you spell d-e-m-o-g-r-a-p-h-i-c-s?

PA at #21 and NJ at #26 and you wanna whine about demographics?

[Pooky 3,847]

Maine is only peaceful until the moose get rowdy ... then you'd better watch out!

[Zero Sum 305]

Can you spell d-e-m-o-g-r-a-p-h-i-c-s?

Could you elaborate on that a bit?

[Danno 1,228]

Could you elaborate on that a bit?

[^_^ 5,021]

Seriously though the South looks very "un-peaceful".

Can you spell d-e-m-o-g-r-a-p-h-i-c-s?

Could you elaborate on that a bit?

Edited April 7, 2011 by \

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

They left out Alaska on that map.

[Danno 1,228]

There is the added bonus of the -hillbilly gun crowd (And not all of them are white either).

[SMOKE 1,426]

They left out Alaska on that map.

and?