On Monday presidential hopeful John McCain suggested that he would have trouble voting for a Muslim for president. The stumbling senator explained to reporters that since America was founded as a Christian nation, he preferred America to have a Christian leader. McCain said while campaigning in New Hampshire, “I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles … personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith. But that doesn’t mean that I’m sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a good president.” As someone who used to really appreciate John McCain’s candor, what on earth is he talking about. And when you’re polling 10 points behind Giuliani, you shouldn’t be talking about this stuff at all. While I don’t like the premise of voting for someone on the basis of faith, what bugs me most about McCain’s remarks is the part about how America was founded. It seems cheap that Christians use the founding fathers as a tool to make it seem like America is Christian country club where everyone else just has a day pass. Thomas Jefferson was a deist who rejected every religious premise that contradicted reason. Ben Franklin was also a deist and spent years attacking Judeo-Christian ideals and pointing out the difference between morality and blind faith. James Madison, the father of the Constitution, scripted the Declaration of Religious Freedom and pretty much invented the separation of church and state. The founding fathers were not Fundamentalist Christians. They were intellectuals and philosophers, men who thought long and hard about how America would succeed and decided that it would be best to leave religion out of government. And for the sake of argument, so what if American was founded on Christian principles. It was also founded as a slave nation and Americans certainly don’t hold that ideal as sacred. So John McCain, you continue to disappoint me. You are supposed to be the tolerable, free-thinking Republican candidate, not the Christian one. And if you find yourself in that situation again just say, “I’m a war hero, no comment.”

•AP: McCain Criticized for Religious Remarks

As Shanghai waved goodbye to the Women’s World Cup Sunday night, the city welcomes another international athletic competition on Tuesday. This week’s event is similar to the women’s soccer in the sense that both appeal to our politically correct sides. By that I mean that we are expected to be overly supportive of both competitions even though most of us would never consider paying money to go see it. And also, the two events are comparable in that if you do attend either and tell a girl about it, your chances of “getting some” will increase exponentially. You might have guessed it. I’m talking about the Special Olympics, taking place in Shanghai over the next 10 days. The games are more special than usual this year. For one, it’s the first time the Summer events will be held in the Eastern hemisphere and just the second time outside of the United States. And also, the event will constitute the biggest sporting event of 2007 anywhere in the world, involving 7,500 athletes from 165 countries. Oh yeah, and Lion Dancing is an event this year. While, as I said, I don’t really have an urge to go watch the Special Olympics, I think its neat that the preeminent athletic competition for the intellectually challenged occurs in Shanghai this year. It’s like a mini trial run for the non-special Beijing Olympics and it’s also good for Shanghai’s image. For months now, the famous advertisement of Zhao ZengZeng, a Special Olympian has been everywhere in Shanghai. Zhao has become become the world’s most visible person with Down’s Syndrome since that show “Life Goes On.” I love this photo because its the actual girl from the ad standing next to the ad itself. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday at the Shanghai Stadium. “Star-studded entertainment” has been promised for the ceremony. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to address the Global Policy Summit on the Well-Being of People with Intellectual Disabilities on Wednesday and Hu Jintao is in town for the first few days. You can watch the Special Olympics for free at the organization’s website if you so desire. Flumesday welcomes the athletes to Shanghai and just because I won’t be attending doesn’t mean that I don’t hope these Special Olympics are as special they’ve ever been.

•Shanghai Daily: Special Olympics Get a Presidential Touch
•AFP: China hosts biggest ever Special Olympics

The New York Times “Bits Blog,” one of their many attempts to sell out to people who don’t read newspapers, ran a story this week about a new Web venture called Shangby. The company is based in both Austin, Texas and Shanghai, and it offers luxury items sold in America at a fifth of the American price. Besides being a classic case of a site that had to settle for the second best URL (”Shangbuy” being optimal), this model sounds like a great idea. According to the Bits Blog:

Shangby’s Swedish tour guide, Nina, cruises the jewelry shops of Shanghai with a video crew, broadcasting live on the Internet. A “Shangbuyer”, who registered on the site and was picked by the company to lead a particular shopping excursion, directs Nina and the video crew to zoom in on particular items and haggle over prices with store owners. The videos are posted on the site (grist for Home Shopping Network-holics) and anything the Shangbuyer examines ends up listed on the site for other shoppers to purchase at that same price.

This is the future. You can have someone shop for you by video, in China much less, and you don’t lose the experience of bargaining with a Chinese store owner. It is hardly a secret here that items sold here in China are often found in trendy upscale American shops marked up about ten times the Chinese price. All you fine female Flumesday readers who like fine things, like Flumesday, give this site a whirl. You might find something pretty.

•NYT: Shopping in Shanghai, From Your PC at Home
•Shangby.com