Tell me, which side are you on? Well I’ve got advanced degrees and I’ve worked on Wall Street but I ain’t no part of the “creative class.” If you can’t connect with the working class, you have no business running this country. This is not a country of the creative class for the creative class by the creative class. I ain’t an arugula eating, latte sipping liberal stuck in the realm that I know better than my neighbours down the street. To label some someone, anyone a “low information” voter because they lack a high school diploma is such an affront to me and to them. When I first monitored an election in Haiti back in 1995 in a country where most people barely have a grammar school education, I did not encounter one “low-information” voter nor I did so in Zimbabwe when I monitored the election there. It is an affront to democracy to disparage entire groups of people based on their education. They are masters of their own experience and theirs is no less important than anyone’s else. I am shocked by some of what reading on “liberal” these days touting the arrival of a new politics based on a new liberalism led by the “creative class.” How stupid can you be?

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Here is the Sunday May 11th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from the world.

Rebel Attack on Khartoum; Sudan Cuts Ties with Tchad
Sudan says it has cut off diplomatic relations with Tchad after a surprise attack by rebels from Darfur on the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir made the announcement on state television. More on the battle in the environs of Khartoum from the New York Times. The BBC on the diplomatic row that has ensued.

Serbia Goes to the Polls
Serbs began voting on Sunday in an election that will show whether the lure of European Union membership outweighs their anger over the Western-backed secession of Kosovo. Serbia is divided and the two front-runners, the nationalist Radical Party and the pro-Western Democratic Party, will have to woo smaller parties to form a coalition. Some 6.7 million people are registered to vote, including the defiant Serb minority in Kosovo, Serbia’s former province which declared independence in February. Here is some background on the election in Serbia from the Christian Science Monitor plus an op-ed by Vladimir Glodirov in the Wall Street Journal.

Sri Lanka Poll Results
Sri Lanka’s government on Sunday claimed victory in key provincial elections in the ethnically-mixed east of the island, saying the win is a major boost for its war against the Tamil Tigers. The BBC and the Christian Science Monitor offer some perspective on what’s at stake in Sri Lanka.

The Case for Invading Myanmar
There are 115,000 people who died needlessly due to the incompetence and avarice of the military junta in Myanmar and that number is sure to grow as much-needed relief is delayed. Shawn Crisipin writing in the Asia Times lays out the case for invading Myanmar and toppling the generals. The UK Guardian has an excellent thought piece on how this disaster was aggravated by the inaction of the junta.

Costco and the World Food Crisis
Costco was one of my coverage companies when I worked on Wall Street. They are very well-managed firm that treats its employees well. CEO Jim Sinegal is one the best merchants around and CFO Richard Galanti a no-sense do it by numbers kind of guy. Here’s a story from the Seattle Post-Intellingencer on the global food crisis is affecting Costco, the largest wholesale club in the world. Additionally here is an interview with CFO Richard Galanti from June 2006.