I'm glad 300,000 people cared enough to sign the Uganda petition, but we are not their voters. Isn't this cultural imperialism?

Specifically, isn't it imperialist to suggest our voices should matter more than the voices of their voters in affirming laws, however wrong they may be?

Look:
• Rallying voters within Uganda to vote on Ugandan law? Democracy.
• Rallying voters in the US to vote on American aid/foreign policy provisions to Uganda? Democracy.
• Rallying people outside Uganda to sign a petition that Ugandan leaders have no obligation whatsoever to notice, and in fact would be ignoring their own voters by heeding? NOT Democracy.

Americans do not vote in Uganda. Britons do not vote in Uganda. Germans do not vote in Uganda. Only Ugandans vote in Uganda, and only they have the right to decide what their laws are. That is the basic idea of a democratic nation. By organizing a media campaign and swamping foreign politicians, we are interfering in the legitimate democratic processes of Uganda. Do we want them to be a democracy, or is it only good to be a democracy as long as people march in lock step with our cultural norms and our agenda? If we truly care about self-determination, if Democracy is so important to us that we are willing to bomb, torture, and invade on its behalf, we should get the hell out of their election and parliamentary process.

This isn't to say non-Ugandans can't do anything. As I pointed out above, foreign governments have their say through aid, trade, and various other means. And this certainly isn't to say that I approve of the decisions Ugandans are making. But our interference shouldn't come in the middle of the legislative step. That just gives the lie to all the noise we make about Democracy.

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.

- Theodore Roosevelt

"The newspaper, which every day can be delivered earlier, every day is less worth delivering at all."

- GK Chesterton, 1922.

Christ has risen.

An interesting reinterpretation of the Crucifixion has been playing out in Australia.

Also, a public health message borrows the images of Christ and the Pope to make a point about condom use:

"So you'll have to accept:
You are here, then you're gone."
- Conor Oberst

Egg release from an ovary actually leaves scars.

We come into this world only by damaging our loved ones.

"We are here for the masses. They don't want a lot of intellectualizing."
- Shukan Josei editor Bunichi Terada, excusing tabloid content

All seasons are vapid for the person who carries vacuousness within.

Here's a guy with two identities, one American and the other foreign — Kryptonian. He has two names, one American — Clark — and the other foreign with a hyphen in the middle, Kal-El. He came to America at a young age. He's black haired, mild-mannered, and wears glasses. All of his superpowers derive from the fact that he's a foreigner.

- Jeff Yang

Of course, interpretation of texts involves each reader identifying parts that resonate with his or her own life experiences.

What do you think? Is Superman a good fit for the Asian experience?