And after all this, won’t you give me a smile?

The Agitator: Points out a site on globalization for the people. “What I like about the site is that it sings the praises of free trade, free commerce, and human freedom, but not in overly polemical rhetoric. Rather, it tells the story of globalization through positive examples, through reasoned argument, and most powerfully, through the voices of the third-world people who have benefited from it. It also provides direct links to cool websites like this one, which import handmade goods from third world countries — giving the worlds’ poorest peoples instant access to western markets.”

Ampersand: Venezuelicious. Including this very useful list of Venezuela news sources. And the INS sends a woman back to Afghanistan: “Life in Afghanistan for a woman is hard enough; but for a woman who has no close male relatives in Afghanistan, and who hasn’t lived in Afghanistan for half her lifetime, it’s impossible. As Ms. Budri says, ‘that’s going to be the end of my life.'” And two posts about the INS roundups in California–lots of good points. And, uh, lots of other stuff too, go read.

Body and Soul: Must-read post about charity without love. Or maybe “just” without thought–without any attempt to imagine oneself in another person’s situation. No, really, when I said “must-read,” that’s what I meant; I’ll wait here ’til you’re done. This is something that everyone who does any sort of charitable work–which should be pretty much everyone–should read, especially but not only if you have never needed material aid yourself. (I say “but not only” because, well, people forget, or decide not to remember.) (EDITED because I’m not sure how much public exposure Jeanne wanted her post to get.)

Junius: How could I forget “Class Struggle, the game“? I think I still have the ad for that game–complete with Ronald Reagan arm-wrestling Karl Marx–taped to the bookshelf in my childhood bedroom.

Oxblog: Radio Free Iran update. EDITED TO ADD: Here’s a dissenting view.

St. Blog’s Cookbook: What it sounds like.

Sursum Corda: Toddler theology: “Joseph, do you know why Jesus died on the cross?”

“No.”

“Uh…to take away our sins.”

“What are sins?”

“Well…uh…well there is a lot of meanness in the world and God wanted to take the meanness away, so he—“

“But I don’t want God to take the meanness away because I want to be a pirate.”

And: textbook follies (right, left, and none-of-the-above), via Amy Welborn; how to be a philosopher (#10 is especially funny), via Matthew Yglesias.