A recent poll commissioned by a upcoming reality TV show confirmed that Americans are more likely to know pop culture factoids, but not news, classical literature, science or history.

Quote:

The poll found that:

• About 77 per cent of Americans can name at least two of the dwarfs from the fairy tale Snow White, but only about 24 per cent can name two U.S. Supreme Court justices.
• 57 per cent of the U.S. respondents know that English writer J.K. Rowling's fictional boy wizard is named Harry Potter, while only 50 per cent can name U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
• 73 per cent can name the Three Stooges (Larry, Curly and Moe). Only 42 per cent could name the three branches of the U.S. government (judicial, executive and legislative).
• 60 per cent of respondents knew that, on The Simpsons, Homer's son is named Bart. Only about 21 per cent could name one of the ancient Greek poet Homer's epics (The Iliad and The Odyssey)
• Of those polled, 60 per cent could name Krypton as the home planet of Superman. Only 37 per cent could name Mercury as the closest planet to the sun.
• While 23 per cent of poll participants know that Taylor Hicks is the most recent singer crowned American Idol, only 11 per cent could name Samuel Alito as the most recent judge to join the U.S. Supreme Court.

A consultant to the poll is quoted as saying:

Seems like carbonated sugar water is making news in politics again.Earlier, I reported on how six states in India banning Coca Cola and Pepsi caused the US government to warn India about the effect of those decisions on investment from American companies.Today, Pepsi announced that an Indian born woman, Indra Nooyi is to become CEO of the company.In the past, Nooyi has made comments at a graduation ceremony where she said that the USA is the middle finger, and when it extends a hand to other nations, it should appear as a helping hand, not just extending a finger.

Some states in India have banned Coca Cola and Pepsi due to alleged high pesticide content. This goes back to 2004, and even 2003.Now, the USA is warning India that investment by American countries could suffer.

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The Economist has a well written article on how the Lebanon-Israel war is perceived in the USA and the rest of the world.As usual, the USA is staunchly pro-Israel and can't understand why would anyone think otherwise. The rest of the world has a very different perception.The influence of lobby organizations like AIPAC, and the Evangelical constituency cannot be underestimated. Read the Economist article To Israel with love.

A recent poll in the US show a disturbing trend.In a USA Today / Gallup poll shows that almost 40% of Americans acknowledge having prejudice against Muslims. A similar percentage, 39%, favor subjecting Muslims to stricter security measures including carrying a special ID. 41% favored Muslims undergoing more intensive security checks at airports. Most respondants said that they don't personally know a Muslim. While this is not unexpected in the USA, where the right wing media has been demonizing Muslims even before September 11, the fact that Canada has similar negative views of Muslims is saddening.

This is a web site that collects media articles hostile to Muslims. Although they can use better wording than "Western Imperialism" on their About us page,  the collection is valuable, and categorized by country and topic.Even notorious Islamophobes like Daniel Pipes and Oriana Fallaci have their own category, not a surprise given the volume and vitriol of their writing.Visit Islamophobia Watch and judge for yourself. 

A new scarecrow term that has emerged recently, specially in right wing media and the Bush administration's rhetoric. The term is the caliphate.

In this article, I mention some facts on the caliphate, and what the above rhetoric is.

In an open letter published in several newspapers, four British Muslim MPs, and 38 organizations accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of fuelling extremism and terrorism.They specifically name the UK government's foreign policy towards Iraq and Israel.This CBC article has more details and quotes.

Wal-mart has accepted that its Chinese stores will be unionized.

The retail giant employs 28,000 workers in China, and the union is the state-sanctioned All China Federation of Trade Workers (ACFTU).

This is in stark contrast with North America, where Wal-mart closed stores in Quebec shortly after they unionized.