THE WHOLE WORLD ISN'T WATCHING

Or maybe much of it is, but there doesn't seem to be much of a peep here in the US over the fact that South Korea's previously wildly popular president is now on the brink of being forced from office due to his acquiescing and accepting potentially BSE-tainted US beef. (Many analysts have quibbled that South Koreans are inflating concerns about how dangerous the beef is - but those who have followed the Keystone Kop antics of the USDA in monitoring and testing US beef know there's plenty to worry about.)

Protests have numbered in the tens of thousands and have turned violent, at least one farmer has committed suicide in protest, and the entire cabinet has offered to resign over the matter. This is because the US refuses to back down and accept continuing restrictions, and the populace look on their leader now as a patsy to the globally greedy US beef industry, which, well, he is.