Given the wailing, the breast beating, and the rending of flesh which have followed President Bush's use of the words "Axis of Evil" you might have thought that by including North Korea in that construct, the President has somehow sullied the otherwise pristine reputation of North Korea and its very excellent leader Kim Jung-il.
First of all, let's admit: Kim looks like Cosmo Kramer with a thyroid condition. Second, North Korea is a mess. While the people are starving, and there is no economy to speak of, Kim is working on long-range missiles and conducting expensive research to make nuclear and chemical weapons.
Think it's just me? Here's the skinny on North Korea in the highly respected Lonely Planet guide:
North Korea is a fascinating blend of George Orwell's 1984 and Cold War comic opera. From the ultra-clean showcase capital, where only hard-line party members are allowed to live and old people and pregnant women are excluded, to beautiful Paekdusan on the Chinese border where they are still rewriting history, there's enough weirdness in North Korea to gobsmack you. Frankly, any country that sees death as a non-issue when it comes to electing an eternal president deserves our full attention.
There are hardly any public buses running in the country or between major cities. North Koreans are not permitted to travel around their own country without permission.
Yeah. This guy is the Mr. Roberts of international diplomacy.
One the problems for places like North Korea when someone like the President of the United States shows up is this: A lot of the world's press corps shows up with him. And some of the dirty little secrets come out.
Like this one: South Korea's President, Kim Dae-jung, signed a deal to have a railroad run between North and South Korea. The South Korean side - including a station at the border in the Demilitarized zone - is finished. The North Koreans haven't started yet.
Some reports all but compare Kramer Kim to Yasser Arafat's inability to make a deal with the Israelis: Kim Dae-jung offered his North Korean counterpart almost everything, and he turned it down.
All Kramer Kim has to do is to move his soldiers - of which there are about one MILLION - away from the border. He won't have a starving population any more, because he won't have a population any more.
This is the guy the Big Thinkers on the Left - and everyone in France - want you to believe has been slandered by President Bush.
Kimchi breath.
Another country on the barbeque spit of Evil is Iraq. Here's what THEY had the Rocky Mountain Oysters to say yesterday according to the AP: "Iraq, on Tuesday, accused the United States of conducting a campaign of "state terrorism" to topple Saddam Hussein."
Memo to Saddam: Don't sign any long-term contracts.
The State of California is going to elect a Governor this fall. California Democrats held their state convention this past weekend. Gray Davis, is the Governor of California. He is a Democrat. He is running for re-election. He attended the convention.
I guarantee you, Davis did not need this paragraph in the LA Times describing crowd reaction to your convention appearance:
"For all the cheers, Davis has disappointed some Democratic stalwarts, and many delegates at the state party convention that ended Sunday were open about their lack of enthusiasm."
There was more bad news in the story by Michael Finnegan and Mark Z. Barabak
"Also problematic, Davis allies said, is his admitted lack of charisma. 'Gray has never been and
never will be Mr. Personality,' said state Democratic Chairman Art Torres."
Memo to the State Chairman from Governor Davis: Dear Art. Please get on the next train to North Korea.
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