In today’s “Oslo Journal,” I mention Ecuador and its little Fidel, Rafael Correa. A reader has written me about some Ecuadoran friends. I will quote him on two of them — a teacher and a nurse.

“The teacher hates Correa because Correa has his officials withhold teacher paychecks if the teachers don’t attend public events featuring speeches by Correa. So she attends the events and cheers him on in public and damns him in private. The nurse works at a public hospital frequented by Correa. Correa brings in private physicians, equipment, etc., and then goes on TV to talk about what great health care the public has access to.”

A final comment from our reader: “Ecuador could truly be a great and prosperous country if foreign nationals weren’t scared of losing all their money.” (They are rightly scared, of course.)

Also in today’s journal installment, I mention an American who said that her ancestors had “helped start the United States.” I comment, “Ah! A Mayflower chick!” A reader writes, “Jay, could she not be a ‘Jamestown chick’? Pardon my Virginia sensitivity!”

Our reader is so right. I do forget about that (the South and our colonial dawn).