Well, well, well, the North Koreans officially admit they have nuclear weapons. And it draws a big yawn from Washington.

To be fair, I’m not really sure if anyone believes the most bizarre country in the world actually does have the bomb. After all, they’ve been threatening such for several years now, but on the face of it, this doesn’t really look good. Let’s take them at their word; can we now say we invaded the wrong country?

Of course, Bush says that the U.S. has no plans to invade or otherwise attack North Korea. My immediate question is, why not? They have the vaunted weapons of mass destruction. They are within closer range than Iraq’s vaporous WMDs, and yet I see no handwringing or deep anxiety on Pennsylvania Avenue. And I certainly don’t see any of this registering on Americans, who either don’t care or don’t take the threat seriously.

Even if you discount the North Korean’s claims, there’s a little problem of credibility. Come on, America, we’ve attacked nations for less: where’s the bravado, the saber rattling and the all-around "We’re gonna kick their ass!" cries that stand for reasoned debate and analysis? The non-reaction reaction is troubling, just as whether or not verifying these claims are.

Meanwhile, though, we continue to threaten Iran in very subtle ways, complaining about their nuclear program. So, here’s the count for now: one country that had no weapons (or even a program) is destroyed; another is getting the pre-war treatment even though the lack the weapons; and the third member of the “axis of evil” says it has all this and more, and no one is troubled. This makes sense.

While I do not agree with this reckless policy, North Korea is a country that desperately needs regime change. I mean, the apologists for our Iraqi Expedition keep talking about bringing freedom to the swarthy masses; don’t the North Koreans deserve the same? These are people who are demonstrably suffering, and their Dear Leader, Kim Il Jong, is a despot in the classic sense of the word. He’s just as bad as evil, old Saddam, so why not take him out and end the tyranny there?

No, I wasn’t surprised that the media whores would try to explain the election in Iraq, so an article on the Editor & Publisher Web site had to sum it for everyone: the election is less a triumph than expected.

Let’s not belabor the point that yes, this is Iraq’s first election in almost half a century. Yes, those who voted might have been walking targets for the “insurgents,” and indeed, there were scores of people killed and over 200 attacks. Yes, people voted by risking their lives.

But oddly enough, that’s not the real story. What’s got the teeth here is the blatant way the media has parroted the Administration’s line that everything exceeded expectations and democracy is on the way. What the E&P article questioned, was, why is the media touting an 8 million voter turnout with a rate of 57%. Conventional wisdom should force us to ask: how is it possible to have such accurate figures if there are virtually no journalists on the ground? The last time I checked, many of them were still holed up in a hotel in Baghdad, save for the few who did venture across the country, but many of them wind up being kidnapped or killed.

Was the election carried out in every single province, as promised? Not a word. We know that many Sunnis boycotted the election, which in America translates to something like, "You snooze, you lose," totally oblivious to the reasons why and not giving a shit about it either. Instead, we’re happy to pat ourselves on the back and say it’s all worth it because these poor people braved so much to get purple ink on their fingers.

Again, look past the obvious and question what the real story is. What will the election results mean? How can you have a vote in a country is that desperately insecure, with large swaths of the population objecting to the vote? It can be argued that the Kurds voted for autonomy, the Shiites for power, and the Sunnis boycotted out of resentment. That brings to the fore another question: if hardly any Sunnis voted, will they get a seat in the new transitional government? That should breed resentment pretty fast: don’t vote but still get a voice.

I would suggest, dear reader, to traipse through the Internet to find real news and analysis, because the toothless press in this country just wants to make your eyes water with pride and your brains numbed with the anasthetic they call “news.”