New statistics on longevity are out for the United States:

In what appears to be an amazing success for American medicine, preliminary government figures released Wednesday showed that the annual number of deaths in the U.S. dropped by nearly 50,000 in 2004 - the biggest decline in more than 60 years.

The 2 percent decrease, reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, comes as a shock to many, because the U.S. is growing in population, aging and getting fatter. In fact, some experts said they suspect the numbers may not hold up when a final report is released later this year.

I love that last sentence. They couldn't possibly hold up could they? After all, we're not exercising enough, and we're all eating terribly. I always get a kick when people in government start believing their own lies. So despite our "poor health", we're all living longer. That doesn't mean that Uncle Sam still won't try to tell you what to do.