1 December 2010
1 December 2010
ONE REASON WHY WE HAVE TOO MANY PEOPLE…
0746 by Jeff HessI highly recommend watching this in full-screen mode.
The video is marvelously well done, but I disagree with Hans Rosling’s conclusion that the trend will pull the world towards wealth and health. We live in a closed system and the more we move to the upper right the more we tax that system. In the absence of restraint collapse is inevitable.
Via Pharyngula…
1 December 2010
LARRY LEARNS A LESSON ABOUT WOMEN…
0630 by Jeff HessFrom my dad, of course…
Larry watched, fascinated, as his mother smoothed cold cream on her face.
“Why do you do that, mommy?” he asked.
“To make myself beautiful,” said his mother, who then began removing the cream with a tissue.
“What’s the matter,” asked Larry “Giving up?”
30 November 2010
COME OUT FIGHTING AND NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP…
2130 by Jeff HessMYANMAR/BURMA — Some 2,100 political prisoners remain in Myanmar and their most famous peer has chosen to use her relative freedom to fight for the freedom of those less free than she.
From NTD Television:
Foreign Policy also has a video inteview.
Ought Aung San Suu Kyi be the 21st century face of Feminism?
Do what you can to make this a good morning, Myanmar.
30 November 2010
30 November 2010
ARE WE THE ONLY FREE PEOPLE…?
0942 by Jeff HessLast evening I finished reading Somerset Maugham’s Cakes and Ale. Three pages from the end, Maugham writes:
I began to meditate upon the writer’s life. It is full of tribulation. First he must endure poverty and the world’s indifference; then, having achieved a measure of success, he must submit with a good grace to its hazards. He depends upon a fickle public. He is at the mercy of journalists who want to interview him and photographers who want to take his picture, of editors who harry him for copy and tax gatherers who harry him for income tax, of persons of quality who ask him to lecture, of women who want to marry him and women who want to divorce him, of youths who want his autograph, actors who want parts and strangers who want a loan, of gushing ladies who want advice on their matrimonial affairs and earnest young me who want advice on their compositions, of agents, publishers, managers, bores, admirers, critics and his own conscience. But he has one compensation. Whenever he has anything on his mind, whether it be a harassing reflection, grief at the death of a friend, unrequited love, wounded pride, anger at the treachery of someone to how he has shown kindness, in short any emotion or any perplexing thought, he has only to put it down in black and white, using it as the theme of a story or the decoration of an essay, to forget all about it. He is the only free man.
All of Maugham’s writing is a fine pleasure, but I would have trudged through much knowing these words awaited me in the end.
30 November 2010
30 November 2010
LARRY DOES EMPATHY…
0630 by Jeff HessFrom my dad, of course…
A new teacher was trying to make use of her psychology courses. She started her class by saying, “Everyone who thinks they’re stupid, stand up.”
After a few seconds, Little Larry stood up. The teacher said, “Do you think you’re stupid, Larry?”
“No, ma’am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself.”
29 November 2010
A DEADLY GAME OF SQUEEZE TAG…
2130 by Jeff HessMYANMAR/BURMA — Thousands of Myanmarese citizens living along the border with Thailand are trapped in a deadly game of refugee squeeze tag.
From the Democratic Voice of Burma:
A fresh outbreak of heavy fighting in eastern Burma has caused more than a thousand refugees to cross back and forth over the border with Thailand, barely three weeks after a mass exodus left 20,000 displaced.
The latest flare-up comes after weeks of low-intensity conflict between the Burmese army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, whose decision not to become a Border Guard Force has angered the ruling junta.
Gunfire was heard on Saturday in Hpalu village, close to the border town of Myawaddy, which was the epicentre of the eruption earlier this month. Several artillery shells landed close to Hpalu, injuring at least one villager, the Karen Human Rights Group reported.
The land mines only make the game more deadly.
Do what you can to make this a good morning, Myanmar.
29 November 2010
29 November 2010
NO FREE WILL AND NEWS OUGHT TO BE NEW…
1122 by Jeff Hess29 November 2010
WELL, I CERTAINLY DIDN’T EXPECT THIS…
1002 by Jeff HessFrom Haaretz:
There were never any actual consultations between us and the Israelis before the Gaza war, a top aid to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday, refuting a WikiLeaks cable that claimed otherwise.
One of the documents included in the over 250,000 diplomatic cables between the United States and its allies which were leaked on Sunday said that Israel tried to coordinate Operation Cast Lead with both Fatah and Egypt.
In a June 2009 meeting between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and a U.S. congressional delegation, Barak claimed that the Israeli government “had consulted with Egypt and Fatah prior to Operation Cast Lead, asking if they were willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas.”
“Not surprisingly,” Barak said in the meeting, Israel “received negative answers from both.”
Mahmoud Abbas AP 28.10.2010Top Abbas aid Saeb Erekat denied that Israel had notified the Palestinian Authority of the war before it happened.
Oops.
29 November 2010
29 November 2010
FINDING INNER PEACE…
0630 by Jeff HessFrom my dad, of course…
I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr Phil proclaimed, “The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished.”
So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn’t finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates, and a half bottle of scotch.
You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now.
Pass this on to those whom you think might be in need of inner peace.
29 November 2010
28 November 2010
UN’S CHIEF OF STAFF MEETS AUNG SAN SUU KYI…
2130 by Jeff HessMYANMAR/BURMA — I take it as a good sign that Vijay Nambiar, chief of staff for United Nation’s Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, has met with released democracy leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to hold, what she hopes will be, “the first of many meetings. I think we may need many and frequent meetings to sort out all the problems we are facing,” Suu Kyi said.
From The Washington Post:
This is Nambiar’s first visit to Myanmar since he took over the position of special envoy from Ibrahim Gambari, who last traveled to Myanmar in June 2009.
A long line of U.N. officials, including Ban, has attempted to broker talks between the opposing sides, but have failed to bring them together despite numerous claims of breakthroughs.
The ruling generals and Suu Kyi, their longtime archrival, have had no contact since she was freed. She has called for face-to-face reconciliation talks with junta leader Gen. Than Shwe.
From where I sit, safely here in the United States, this is the meeting that must take place. What Suu Kyi will say to the generals I can’t know. Will she attempt to broker a peaceful return to real democracy, deliver an ultimatum that she be restored to the elected post the State Peace and Development Committee stole from her in 1990 backed by a threat of revolution, or present a plan unfathomable to us?
What do you think?
Do what you can to make this a good morning, Myanmar.
28 November 2010
28 November 2010
24 November 2010
GONE THINKING…
0900 by Jeff Hess
From 0900 today until noon on Sunday, I will be off-line. There will be no new posts during this time, nor will I be checking email. Go for a walk. Have coffee with a friend. Read a book.. Appreciate all that is your family.
23 November 2010
ELECTION OVER, WE WON, SHUT UP…!
2130 by Jeff HessMYANMAR/BURMA — The military dictators of Myanmar have a point. Everyone knew that the 7 November election would be rigged. There were no surprises. Anyone who took part in the sham pretending that they were actually running for political office and not simply playing a minor part in the State Peace and Development Committee’s political theatre were a part of the problem, not the solution.
So why are they complaining now?
From The Irrawaddy:
Many of the candidates who complained of widespread vote-rigging in Burma’s Nov. 7 election appear to have fallen silent on the issue since the country’s Union Election Commission warned them last week that they could face severe penalties for questioning the outcome of the vote.
On Nov. 17, the EC told candidates who planned to challenge the election results because of alleged irregularities that they could be fined 300,000 kyat (US $340) and sentenced to three years in prison if their accusations are deemed to be unfounded.
Two days later, a group of candidates from three different parties—the Union Democratic Party, the National Democratic Force and the New Era People’s Party—as well as several independent candidates held a press conference in Pegu to highlight cheating in the vote.
However, only 10 candidates attended the press conference, while around 30 others stayed away because of fears of punishment by the authorities.
“They are threatening our parties not to say anything about their unfair voting system, but we will continue to tell voters about how the EC has taken unfair votes,” said UDP Chairman Thein Htay, one of the participants in the press conference.
“If we keep quiet, the people will suffer and no free and fair system will emerge in this country,” he added.
Who are these clowns?
Do what you can to make this a good morning, Myanmar.
