BBC News - Yemen arrests medical student over cargo jet bomb plot

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-us-canada-11660005?
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Brazil set to elect new president

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-latin-america-11659587?
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Palin is not Potus

Most still doubt Palin's presidential qualifications, poll finds Most voters continue to hold negative views of Sarah Palin and doubt that she has the qualifications to be president, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Despite Palin being a nearly ubiquitous presence in campaign 2010, public opinion of the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee remains fixed in time. Some 54 percent of registered voters surveyed say they have unfavorable impressions of Palin, with more than twice as many holding "strongly unfavorable" as holding "strongly favorable" ones. Thirty-nine percent view her positively. These numbers are little changed from earlier this year. Palin gets very high marks from those who are strong backers of the tea party movement, but overall inspires a more intense negative than positive reaction. Fully 78 percent of liberal Democrats hold "strongly unfavorable" views of Palin, while 37 percent of conservative Republicans have "strongly favorable" impressions. Among solid tea party supporters, 72 percent say they are strongly positive about Palin (she's at 91 percent overall favorability among this group). Solid tea party supporters are also the most apt to say Palin is qualified to serve as president at 73 percent. That contrasts with 67 percent of all registered voters who see her as not qualified to hold the office, a figure that's hardly budged since spring. Democrats and independents are broadly skeptical of Palin's presidential qualifications, while Republicans divide evenly (47 percent say she is qualified; 46 percent say not). Even 46 percent of those who say they voted for the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008 now see Palin as unqualified for the presidency. Q: Do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of Sarah Palin? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat? http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2010/10/most_still_doubt_...
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Rand Paul, Ayn Rand

Rand Paul, Ayn Rand | The New Republic

Jonathan Chait


Democrats Want To Make America Like Greece. Ancient Greece.

What If Democrats "Steal" The Election?
Chait: America Is About To Become a Lot More Like Sparta. Also, Gayer.

Greg Sargent has obtained Rand Paul's college-era letters to the editor. Unsurprisingly, the current Kentucky GOP nominee was a huge Ayn Rand-head:

In a 1982 Op ed Paul published in the same paper, he wrote worshipfully about the "immortal words" of Howard Roark, the hero of Ayn Rand's novel "The Fountainhead." Displaying a taste for ambitious prose that betrayed his tender years, he lamented that "man" had lost touch with the Roark-ian ideal, and decried rank and file human beings as a "mindless mob of mediocrity" that hates and tries to stymie the achievements of great men:

The new world man crawls on all fours, submits, acquiesces and seeks the security of the mindless mob of mediocrity.

Such are the masses that cower before knowledge, that condemn science, and seek to become one with the inanimate earth. This subspecie of man rises from among us, consolidated in their hatred of achievement, and their fear of the unknown...Their defeat, however, is still possible if the few who still possess originality, those men who still dare to think, speak out and show the mob the reflection of their premises, the impotence of the conclusions, and the lifelessness of their entire ideology.

To me, a candidate whose worldview was shaped by Rand is exactly tantamount to a candidate whose worldview was shaped by Karl Marx. It should be disqualification unless it's clear that the candidate in question has completely broken from his past. Ayn Rand was a total nut.

Only good-looking women under 23 need apply to become a law enforcement officer in Chengdu, China

Chinese city wardens wanted: must be young, female and pretty | World news | guardian.co.uk

A good temperament might be an obvious requirement for a city warden. Good looks? Perhaps less so.

But authorities in Chengdu, in China's south-western Sichuan province, have said they will hire only attractive young women for the law enforcement jobs, hoping it will improve their district's image.

Others say it is a blatant example of widespread looks-based discrimination that hits women harder than men. Economists have noted the "beauty premium" in many places, but employment experts say it flourishes in China thanks to inadequate laws.

The Xindu district government's advertisement stipulates that candidates must be female, aged between 18 and 23, over 5ft 2in (1.6m) tall, attractive and with a good temperament. Their contracts will end when they turn 26.

China's urban law enforcement officers, known as chengguan, have a bad reputation, with many regarding them as little more than thugs. Xindu authorities said they created the women-only team to "present the soft side".

"Their main job is to present a good image so they have to be good looking," said the human resources director of the law enforcement bureau. "And when they get older, they will get married and have children so it will not be convenient for them to do such work. Having them leave at 26 is for their sake."

He insisted it was unfair to describe them as "flower vases" – a Chinese idiom for women who are decorative but of little use. "They need a good temper and communication skills as well," he told a Chengdu news website

Lu Ying, former director of the Gender Centre at Sun Yat-sen University, said it was common for employers to pick out female candidates because they were prettier.

"The effect of looks discrimination is much bigger for women than men. What makes it worse is that for women, the job opportunities are less than for men already," she said.

"It is a very bad phenomenon. It is much worse when a government body does this because it will set a terrible example."

Private companies are certainly not immune. A current advert for a sales assistant at the Zhengzhou Electric Bike Company requires a candidate with "a smile to topple the city" and even stipulates her vital statistics: 36-22.5-36.

Li Fangping, a lawyer who has handled many job discrimination cases, said: "In the current employment law it only says that opportunities should be open and equal to everyone. It does not directly point out that employers should not include criteria such as looks and height – it is too general to be implemented."

One Shanghai cosmetic surgery hospital estimated last year that half its customers were undergoing operations for career-related reasons. Most of those were women.

But the scorn that internet users have poured on Xindu authorities suggests that others in China have little tolerance for blatant discrimination.

In 2004, the Hunan provincial government dropped its requirement for women civil servants to have "symmetrical breasts" after it was widely ridiculed.