16 June 2009

SULLIVAN QUOTING RUMI…

1707 by Jeff Hess

This is now. Now is,
all there is. Don’t wait for Then;
strike the spark, light the fire.

Sit at the Beloved’s table,
feast with gusto, drink your fill

then dance
the way branches
of jasmine and cypress
dance in a spring wind.

The green earth
is your cloth;
tailor your robe
with dignity and grace.

Begin by Rumi

And an alternate translation.

This is now. Now is.
Don’t postpone till Then.
Spend the spark of iron on stone.
Sit at the head of the table;
your spoon deep in the bowl.
Seat yourself next to your joy and have
your awakened soul pour wine.
Branches in the spring wind,
easy dance of jasmine and cypress.
Cloth for green robes has been
cut from pure absence.
You are the tailor, settled
among his shop goods, quietly sewing.

Would Americans feel differently about the Middle East if we had read Rumi in school?

Posted in Poetry, Social Justice & Advocacy | No Comments »

16 June 2009

GET THE FOXES OUT OF THE HENHOUSE…

1600 by Jeff Hess

Robert Reich writes:

1. Stop bankers from making huge, risky bets with other peoples” money…

2. Prevent any bank from becoming too big to fail, and…

3. Root out three major conflicts of interest:

(1) Credit-rating agencies should no longer be paid by the companies whose issues are being rated…

(2) Institutional investors like pension funds and mutual funds should not be getting investment advice from the same banks that profit off their investments, and…

(3) the regional Feds that are responsible for much bank oversight should no longer be headed by presidents appointed by the region”s bankers; non-bankers should have the major say, and the regional presidents should have to be confirmed by the Senate.

And he concludes:

Genuine financial reform will be almost as difficult to achieve as real universal health care. Immense private interests are amassed against the public interest in both cases because staggering amounts of money are at stake. But they are the two most important domestic issues right now. Keep careful watch, and weigh in.

Posted in Economy | No Comments »

15 June 2009

PEOPLE ARE DYING IN TEHRAN…

1244 by Jeff Hess

AT LEAST ONE DEAD AFTER PRO-GOVERNMENT MILITIA OPEN FIRE AT OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS IN TEHRAN. Pls RT!

People are getting killed in Azadi Sq.

Via Daily Dish…

Posted in International | No Comments »

15 June 2009

DAILY DISH UNDER ATTACK…

1221 by Jeff Hess

Andrew Sullivan writes at 12:01 EDT:

The Atlantic is struggling to keep the site up despite what seems to be a digital attack. Please be persistent in trying to reload.

Posted in Blogging, The Interwebs | 1 Comment »

15 June 2009

FROM TIANANMEN TO ENQELAB…

1122 by Jeff Hess

As I’m watching the videos and reading the tweets, one thought is on replay in my head: will 20 years and the Internet which separate Enqelab from Tiananmen be enough?

Posted in Blogging, International, Social Justice & Advocacy | No Comments »

15 June 2009

MY COMMENTS…

1113 by Jeff Hess

1113: [Update II] 0832: [Update] 1029: Iran – Always good news for Republicans, even as their wet dream comes true

Posted in Comments | 2 Comments »

15 June 2009

NOTE THE WOMEN IN THE CROWD…

1104 by Jeff Hess

Posted in International | No Comments »

15 June 2009

POLITICS, POLITICS, POLITICS…

0938 by Jeff Hess

How it makes of your face a stone
that aches to weep, of your heart a fist,
clenched or thumping, sweating blood, of your tongue
an iron latch with no door. How it makes of your right hand
a gauntlet, a glove-puppet of the left, of your laugh
a dry leaf blowing in the wind, of your desert island discs
hiss hiss hiss, makes of the words on your lips dice
that can throw no six. How it takes the breath
away, the piss, makes of your kiss a dropped pound coin,
makes of your promises latin, gibberish, feedback, static,
of your hair a wig, of your gait a plankwalk. How it says this –
politics – to your education education education; shouts this –
Politics! – to your health and wealth; how it roars, to your
conscience moral compass truth, POLITICS POLITICS POLITICS.

by Carol Ann Duffy, England’s first woman poet laureate. Via Sherry Chandler…

Posted in Poetry | No Comments »

15 June 2009

WHAT THEY SAY…

0925 by Jeff Hess

Matt Kennard writes:

The lax regulations have also opened the military’s doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members – with drastic consequences. Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right.

A recent Department of Homeland Security report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” stated: “The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.”

Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military’s strategic goals but because killing “hajjis” is their duty as white militants.

Posted in Social Justice & Advocacy, What They Say... | 2 Comments »

15 June 2009

AND WE’RE FREE TO BLOG ABOUT IT ALL…

0912 by Jeff Hess

IRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers from ayrakus on Vimeo.

Posted in Blogging, Video | 2 Comments »

15 June 2009

ROLDO RIGHTS…

0807 by Jeff Hess

Roldo Bartimole writes:

Can you sense the panic?

Certainly the Plain Dealer does. Maybe it”s leading it. Maybe it”s helping to make it up.

All you have to do is read the Sunday PD lead editorial, “Reluctant reformers,” to hear the gnashing of teeth over the dead-in-the-water Cuyahoga County reform package amid a corruption scandal.

On the next editorial page, the PD follows with a frantic op-ed column by Tom Bier, Cleveland State University”s urban affairs executive in residence. Bier”s fretting about Opportunity Corridor. Tom, calm down. Bier gets space in the PD because he talks their talk but can be cited as an independent voice, an academic voice.

He has long been earnest and urgent about the troubles of Cleveland. I respect him for this. However, I don”t see him attacking on the tremendous waste that has gone into the private sector in town. I”d like a little more balance, even on this issue. Continue Reading »

Posted in Cleveland, Dump Dimora & Heave Hagan, Roldo Bartimole | No Comments »

15 June 2009

THE WHOLE ROCOCO MEDIA ISN’T WATCHING…

0754 by Jeff Hess

iranplea

Who are the real journalists now?

Posted in Rococo Media | No Comments »

13 June 2009

THE ROAD TO EXCESS LEADS TO…*

2000 by Jeff Hess

Ethan Hawke writes:

He was introduced to Johnny Cash backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Kristofferson described Cash as “skinny as a snake, wearing all black and as electrically wired up as anyone I’d ever seen. He was the most driven, gifted, exhilarating and self-destructive artist I’d ever met, and I wanted to be exactly like him.

I was going to have to hustle to go out like Hank Williams, ’cause I was already 29. But I thought it was the function of an artist to burn, not rust.”

*The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom. William Blake, Proverbs Of Hell.

Posted in Music | No Comments »

13 June 2009

I’LL STOP CRITICIZING TWITTER NOW…

1921 by Jeff Hess

Seriously… Really…

ALL internet & mobile networks are cut. We ask everyone in Tehran to go onto their rooftops and shout ALAHO AKBAR in protest #IranElection

And it’s working…

My next door neighbor is an Iranian immigrant who came here in 1977. He just received a SAT phone call from his brother in Tehran who reports that the rooftops of nighttime Tehran are filled with people shouting ‘Allah O Akbar’ in protest of the government and election results. The last time he remembers this happening is in 1979 during the Revolution. Says the sound of tens of thousands on the rooftops is deafening right now.” It’s almost four in the morning in Iran.

Posted in Twitter | No Comments »

13 June 2009

THE REVOLUTION IS BEING YOUTUBED…

1141 by Jeff Hess

Note: The sound cuts out at 1:51

Posted in International, Video | No Comments »

13 June 2009

WHY INVESTING IN WALL STREET IS IDIOCY…

0841 by Jeff Hess

Michael Lewis writes:

To this day, the willingness of a Wall Street investment bank to pay me hundreds of thousands of dollars to dispense investment advice to grownups remains a mystery to me. I was 24 years old, with no experience of, or particular interest in, guessing which stocks and bonds would rise and which would fall. The essential function of Wall Street is to allocate capital-to decide who should get it and who should not. Believe me when I tell you that I hadn”t the first clue.

Posted in Economy | No Comments »

12 June 2009

MY COMMENTS…

1250 by Jeff Hess

1248: Memo to Sarah Palin part 2

Posted in Comments | No Comments »

12 June 2009

VOTE FOR RUSSO…

1230 by Jeff Hess

I did…

Posted in Cleveland, Dump Dimora & Heave Hagan, Politics | 4 Comments »

12 June 2009

[UPDATE] LETTERMAN IS WRONG, PAILIN IS RIGHT…

1228 by Jeff Hess

[Update — 1626, 16 June: David Letterman directly apologized to Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughters on his program Monday night according to released transcripts, with the CBS late show comic taking the blame for a “flawed” joke that offended the former vice presidential candidate.

“I told a bad joke,” he said. “I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception.”]

Are the pigs airborne yet?

Amanda Fortini writes:

Imagine if, say, Michelle Obama, or Rachel Maddow, or Nancy Pelosi became the target of similar invective. The outcry from the left would be deafening. Shouldn”t liberals exhibit the same sort of decorous treatment we demand for ourselves?

Sexist comments like Letterman”s and Cimbalo”s also evoke a troublingly insular, clubhouse atmosphere in lieu of an inclusive political party. What’s more, the gender-based stereotypes they conjure are as stale and ignorant as any voiced by the old Neanderthal right: Pretty women are de facto stupid, sexually promiscuous and low-class.

Indeed, it’s the latter slight that has been least remarked upon and is, perhaps, the most disturbing. “Slutty flight attendant” is not just a sexual put-down; it’s a socioeconomic one. Likewise, when Cimbalo says, of right-wing blogger Pamela Geller, “Even a Silkwood shower won’t get rid of the stench of Fascist divorcee and Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door,” the classist sentiment is unmistakable. It’s a combination of gutter misogyny and snobbery, a return to a 1950s kind of insult.

And then there’s Letterman “Jokes” About Palin’s Daughter from NOW.

Posted in Politics, Prejudice & Bigotry, Social Justice & Advocacy, Video | 16 Comments »

12 June 2009

SOCRATES CAFÉ: (SEVERAL) MORNING(S) AFTER…

1139 by Jeff Hess

Tuesday evening our Socrates Café met at the Mayfield Road Phoenix Coffee House and the question we pulled from the box was:

What would be the effects of ending the institution of marriage?

We discussed several understanding of what that institution was, what it meant and what might replace it if it were to be summarily ended. That an alternative would replace marriage was generally agreed, but there was disagreement as to whether or not that would be a difference that made a difference.

We also considered whether or not government had a proper role in establishing rules governing marriage. Continue Reading »

Posted in Socrates Cafe | No Comments »

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