State’s rights be damned: if the machines don’t work, the system doesn’t work. I hate to break it to you, but—even considering how difficult it is to negotiate this kind of thing between two different parties, and all—if America cannot make sure that there are decent, working machines in every county in the country, then the myth of America’s love of democracy is a goddamned sham. Put your money where your mouth is, Washington. And hey, States: quit clinging to this fake “rights” crap. It’s a pathetic excuse for all kinds of rigging, all kinds of mediocrity. I’ve written before …

Sometimes, in Korea, Canadians get a little uppity about how wonderful Canada is. Maybe it’s a function of always being asked, “Are you American?” or hearing the Korean word for American—me-gook—at every turn, uttered by kids, college students, parents of kids, and even old folks as soon as we come into view. Personally, I find that less irking than the way that all conversations suddenly seem to hinge on the issue of English study… how suddenly everyone in the cafe is talking about the best way to study English, and what their last foreign English teacher was like, and all …

Nothing to add to this: MBLOG: Just Poor Kids Fighting A Rich Man’s War. It’s not quite a political cartoon, but it’s better than most you see anyway.

How well does Fox handle intelligent, concise criticism of Bush? Or even just someone speaking the truth? Here’s a test case. It’s pretty damning. via Peking Duck

Here’s an essay titled

It seems Korean’s not the only East Asian country cracking down on the sex trade: Japan is now conducting a crackdown on the trafficking of sex-slaves. Heartening news, especially considering it seems to have been motivated not by what I imagine to be an influx of young Korean women who left Korea because of the crackdown here, but rather by the US having placed Japan on a watchlist for its human trafficking problem. Meanwhile, the Japanese have expressed shock of the possibly raunchy life of the former first lady. Hmmm. Juxtaposition, anyone? I do think it’s ridiculous to say that …

From BBC World News: Protesters hold Nigeria oil plant. Hundreds of men and women have invaded an oil installation operated by Chevron Texaco in Nigeria’s Delta region. The protesters from Ugborodo village said the company had failed to deliver promises for community development. Several people were injured during the brief occupation of the Escravos plant, the regional army commander said – but could not confirm reports of deaths. Village elders, company officials and state representatives have been meeting in Warri town to resolve the dispute. … ChevronTexaco say they do not know why the villagers were demonstrating. But there has …

Christopher Hitchens passes on some interesting news from a talk with Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandson, who apparently called for a U.S. invasion of Iran. I was thinking, wow, this is what happens if you live long enough. You’ll hear the ayatollah’s grandson saying, not even “Send in the Marines” but “Bring in the 82nd Airborne.” I think it was the matter-of-factness of the reply that impressed me the most: He spoke as if talking of the obvious and the uncontroversial. I wonder what Kim Jong Il’s grandson will say.

Orville Schell is someone I’ve read some work by, and I thought highly of it. Here he comments on the passing of Zhao Ziyang. via Peking Duck, who also has some other potentially bad news from Cathay.