Seoul Man
South Korea joins Germany, Canada, and France on the list of stable democracies that have replaced center-left governments than were intransigently hostile to the United States (at least as long as President Bush remains in office) with center-right governments more interested in patching up bilateral relations with the benevolent American behemoth; to this I say, Huzzah! (Of course, Australia has recently gone in the exact opposite direction, but, you know, win some, lose some. In geopolitics, you've got to play the long game and not lose your head over developments in the immediate present, either for good or for ill.) The next president of the Republic of Korea: R.O.K.link. To paraphrase Mu330, "R.O.K.! R.O.K.! R.O.K.!"

I had a South Korean co-worker back in Ann Arbor whose jaw dropped to the floor when he learned that I knew the Korean War had been fought between June 1950 and August 1953. For that one moment at least, the stereotype of the ignorant Ugly American was dispelled. Good on me.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Chinkees, "Christmas" from Peace Through Music (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: A clichéd plea, but one well worth repeating: this holiday season, please try to remember those less fortune that you and your kith and kin.

"Sometimes Christmas isn't like T.V.
Some kids got no presents under their tree.
They're plates are empty,
They've nothing to eat.
Holidays just remind them what they haven't got.

That's why now sometimes Christmas hurts...."