Obama has lost women 'with sexist campaign'

This has got to be one of the most absurd things I've read recently. Some women are, not surprisingly, pissed that Hillary Clinton is on the road the lose the US presidential nomination. They are so pissed however, that they are willing to turn to John McCain, instead of Obama, in the coming election, and charging Obama of running a sexist campaign. Chief among female Obama-haters, is Geraldine Ferraro -- a woman perhaps more insane than Clinton. Ferraro forwards the following evidence of Obama's sexist campaign:

• His response to Mrs Clinton's reminiscences about learning to shoot as a girl at her grandfather's summer cabin in Pennsylvania. Miss Ferraro said: "He walked up and down the stage with his microphone like a stand-up comic and ridiculed her as an Annie Oakley," she said, quoting his reference to the legendary female sharpshooter. "Would he have ridiculed a man by comparing him to John Wayne? Of course not."
• His apparently dismissive description of Mrs Clinton as "likeable enough" during a televised debate before the New Hampshire primaries.
• His role in an earlier debate in Philadelphia when several of the male candidates running at the time were said to have ganged up on her, prompting Mrs Clinton to complain about the "boy's club" of US politics.
• His "failure", Miss Ferraro claims, to speak out against other sexist acts such as lewd T-shirts, the men who shouted "Iron my shirt!" at Mrs Clinton and jibes about her "cackle". Mr Obama also apologised to a female reporter he called "sweetie" in an aside that received widespread coverage.

The absurdity of the accusation just floors me. Of course Obama must be sexist -- he's a black man; a muslim man; and he's friends with terrorists.

Canada sponsoring terrorism

Canada and the US, state sponsors of terrorism? Yes, if you believe Lieutenant-General Roméo Alain Dallaire. As reported on chycho.com, Dallaire told a parliamentary subcommittee meeting that in failing to protect Omar Khadr from the US, Canada, and the US, both broke international law -- not to mention many domestic laws -- and if we're not prepared to obey the law, then we're no different from those that have no respect for the law.

Well said, Mr. Dallaire. Whether we feel someone is guilty or not, doesn't make them guilty or not guilty -- only evidence does that -- and without evidence, there is no guilt. That premise mostly works -- and has been a foundation of our society. When we start making exceptions, we tamper with the foundations of our society.

19.20.21.

19.20.21. -- 19 cities in the world with 20 million people in the 21st century, is a cool project, collecting data to gain a better understanding of how supercities are redefining the future -- culturally and economically (and if I may add, also environmentally). The 19 supercities chosen for this study may be surprising. Only two are in America, and in total, nine reside in the developed nations of the world. The others are in developing countries. The cities: Los Angeles, New York City, London, Berlin, France, Tokyo, Osaka-Kobe, Seoul-Incheon, Moscow, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bueno Aires, Istanbul, Cairo, Tehran, Karachi, Beijing, Shenzhen, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Singapore, Jakarta, and Lagos.

The mission of 19.20.21. is a multi-year, multimedia initiative to collect, organize and better understand population's effect regarding urban and business planning and its impact on consumers around the world. This 5+ year initiative will deliver results via 5 channels: web (including mobile), television (broadcast and cable), print (magazine, books and atlases), exhibits and seminars (virtual and onsite). This project will include 10 worldwide partners.

Any company with a focus on globalization will find the patterns and explanations in 19.20.21. indispensable. Whether you are a head of state, a leader of a corporation, a media or communication company, a consumer, a parent, or an armchair tourist, 19.20.21. will be a crucial tool for charting and understanding your destiny in the new world order for decades to come.

In 1800, less than 3% of the world lived in cities. Most people lived their entire lives without ever seeing one.

In 1900, 150 million people lived in the world's cities. That number has now surged past 3 billion and last year crossed another tipping point: more than half the people on earth now live in cities. By 2050 -- it will be more than 2/3 of us. Humans are now an urban species, cramming into vast urban agglomerations.

The population, including the public and private sector, is currently not prepared for life in these intensely urban hubs, not have communication strategies been honed to handle the resulting clutter in the urban marketplace.

19.20.21. will study culture, economics, societal infrastructure, physical infrastructure -- forecasting the future for cities and the challenges and opportunities that lies ahead.

It sounds like a cool project, and even though Toronto isn't on the list, I'd love to be a part of this. Toronto's population isn't big enough -- although, with our diversity, I think we'd make a good case study.

Cool Web Development Tools

Jacob Gube over at Six Revisions, has published a list of useful tools to make web development more efficient -- 20 tools to be exact. This list should be filed for future reference, especially the tools to make CSS development easy. I'm going to need a couple of those for when I finally get around to redesigning my site.

Can't see the forest for the trees

I was just reading a BusinessWeek article, The Wal-Mart Sisterhood, in the second floor library at home, and when a quote from one of the sisters jumped off the page, grabbed me by the throat and tried to kill me.

As she finished shopping at a Wal-Mart on the outskirts of Charlotte, N.C., with two of her four daughters in tow, Jennifer Brouillet, a 36-year-old teacher's aide who voted twice for Bush, says she won't consider either Democrat. She's put off by their plans for universal health care. "I'm afraid we're going to turn into Canada. I don't want to end up in a line, waiting six months to get a procedure," Brouillet says. Besides, she asks: "How are they going to pay for it?"

Backstory: the article is about the lower-middle class women of America, their influence in the coming US election -- and their courting by both the Democrats and Republicans. To fit into this demographic, these women have to duck under the following bar:

Some 41% of frequent Wal-Mart shoppers have incomes below $35,000, vs. 25% of the population at large. They're less educated than their neighbors: 31% of U.S. voters have a high school education or less, vs. 39% for Wal-Mart Women. Wal-Mart Women also tend to be more suburban or rural and are likely to live in the South. Many are culturally conservative and religious — key reasons a majority backed Bush.

For some, especially a couple quoted in the article and are actually commenting on the BusniessWeek website, they had to hit their head multiple times on the bar before realizing they needed to duck.

On the original quote that pissed me off: here's a woman knocking universal health care, when it was designed for the likes of her -- lower income people, who simply cannot afford the basics. In the world, the US remains the only wealthy country without universal health care. That's right, the other wealthy nations are fucking stupid to have implemented universal health care, Mrs. Brouillet. The US is the only rich country that has figured out what the rest don't know -- that taking care of the poor and down trodden is a waste of time. When your plummeting standard of living boots you out of the middle class, perhaps you will reconsider the merits of universal health care. In wealthy nations, health care should be a universal right, not an option available to those that can afford it.

The stupidity of the quote really got to me -- and the stupid outnumbers the smart. Let me be clear: I'm not implying that smart = educated. I've met a lot of educated people who couldn't generate a spark between their ears -- even if when struck by lightning. Stupid people are not necessarily uneducated -- they're stupid because they don't know when they don't know. They don't know they're ignorant, and they make no effort to form an informed opinion. These are people who specialize in viewing the world through the light of their flickering bulb that should have been replaced a long time ago. These stupid people are the ones who voted for George Bush, not once, but twice, because he spoke to them. These are the same people that profess their adoration of John McCain -- because he's such an everyday guy -- and can't stand Obama, because he's so uppity -- so smart -- and damn well shows it every time he opens his mouth. Yes, stupid people will vote for the dumb guy just because they don't want to vote for someone they recognize as being smarter than they are.

Gaaa! Stupid people shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Update: May 17, 2008

Just read Mythbusting Canadian Health Care -- Part I on the Campaign for America's Future site. It should be a must read for stupid Americans ... and the smart ones who are looking for a way of shutting up those who are afraid of universal health care. The myths exposed:

1. Canada's health care system is "socialized medicine." -- False.
2. Doctors are hurt financially by single-payer health care. -- True and False.
3. Wait times in Canada are horrendous. -- True and False.
4. You have to wait forever to get a family doctor. -- False for the vast majority of Canadians, but True for a few.
5. You don't get to choose your own doctor. -- Scurrilously False.
6. Canada's care plan only covers the basics. You're still on your own for any extras, including prescription drugs. And you still have to pay for it. -- True.
7. Canadian drugs are not the same. -- More preposterious bogosity.
8. Publicly-funded programs will inevitably lead to rationed health care, particularly for the elderly. -- False. And bogglingly so.People won't be responsible for their own health if they're not being forced to pay for the consequences. -- False.
9. This all sounds great -- but the taxes to cover it are just unaffordable. And besides, isn't the system in bad financial shape? -- False and True.

Troopergate Strikes Again

When Hillary Clinton screws up, she really screws up. In a new ad campaign to discredit Obama, the Clinton video shows a fly through of a newspaper clipping. The clipping is titled, "Obama attacks Clinton's gas tax plan." Berni McCoy downloaded a high resolution copy of the video from Clinton's site, because he was curious as to what the article said. Of course, the newspaper clipping wasn't real. Some genius making the ad, actually put those words over an older newspaper article about "troopergate." What's troopergate? A reference to allegations from the past, of Governor Bill Clinton using state troopers to arrange sexual liaisons with women.

American politics is nothing, if not entertaining.

Things younger than John McCain

This is a funny site!

13 Year Old Steals Dad's Credit Card to Buy Hookers

The above headline is a quote from an article. The title leads an article that's disturbing on many levels, but I was floored by the last sentence:

Ralph's [the 13-year-old boy] ambition is to one day become a politician.

The boy's father is a lawyer from Texas, and he was apparently too busy to notice his son going on a $30,000 spending spree.

An oil-addicted ex-superpower

Michael T. Klare writes in Asia Times Online, of the demise of the US as the world's only remaining superpower, due to the ridiculously high price of oil. Klare paints a picture of America's economic and military might that is heavily dependent on cheap and abundant oil, and suggests that America's oil addiction is spelling its doom. It's an interesting read, but I don't buy it. What Klare fails to point out is that America's adventure in the Middle East has the stench of colonialism -- and rather than the demise of a superpower, it may actually spell the resurgence of the good ole days.

In Basra, there is no love for women

17-year-old Iraqi student, Rand Abdel-Qader, was beaten to death by her father and her two brothers for falling in love with a British soldier. The police arrested Abdel-Qader Ali for the murder, but released him two hours later, with congratulations for restoring his family honour. I can't comment further on this story. I don't have the words to respond coherently. These actions ... these animals ... they need another Saddam Hussein. You can read the interview of the murderer at the Guardian's site. Note that the details are horrifying.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Astrobiologists at the Cardiff Centre have built a model of our solar system travels through our galaxy. Our solar system is on the outer edges of one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way, taking its sweet ole time to complete a complete revolution (around 250 million years, if I remember correctly). But that's not the only movement of the solar system. Apparently, it bounces up and down through the plane of the Milky Way every 35-40 million years -- and with each bounce through the plane, the solar system is exposed to a denser region of the galaxy -- the plane has much more stuff. A bounce through that stuff could lead to catastrophic events -- such as comets colliding with Earth. In fact, the 35-40 million year cycle coincides quite well with mass extinction events on Earth.

Now here's the bad news. We're up for another bounce through the galactic plane -- tomorrow in fact -- so place your head firmly between your knees, it's going to be a rough ride.

Pioneers of the Pacific

History tells us that Captain James Cook conquered the Pacific back in the late 18th century. Of course, the peoples he discovered were not really people, so they just didn't count. What was completely lost on Cook was that he was over 3,000 years too late. The Lapita, a people originating from somewhere in the Pacific, conquered the Pacific Ocean in their day, spreading their language, culture and customs to most of the Pacific islands, including Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand, Easter Island, and Tahiti -- where their influences can still be seen today. Unfortunately, no one knows who they were, how they sailed the Pacific, and why they ventured so far. Read more at the National Geographic site.