Have Coffee Will Write

12 September 2010

FREE BEATS $3.99 ANY DAY…

1138 by Jeff Hess

I hate wallets. I’ve had bi-folds and tri-folds, I’ve had credit card cases and money clips. I found them all wanting. Then I saw this idea on Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits (No. 17 on the list) and thought: perfect! Until I saw the price. $3.99 for a black rubber band? Leo has lots of good ideas, this is not one of them.

So, in the tradition of my Grandfather Hess, I started thinking. For the price of a bunch of asparagus, which was held together with two, perfectly sized (although purple) rubberbands, I was able to transfer my driver’s license, debit card and a wad of cash.

They all fit neatly in my front pocket and I know that I’ll have a self-replenishing (and free) supply because I love me some grilled asparagus. Extra bonus: the rubber band makes the combination a bit harder to pickpocket.

[~~Bleg to you web geniuses out there. How do I turn these two separate photos into one image that will change from walleta.jpg (the first image) to walletb.jpg (the second image)?~~ Thank you oh Websorceress!]

Posted in Going Up From Egypt, Zen | 2 Comments »

12 September 2010

YES, BUT NO BETTER THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE…

1044 by Jeff Hess

1029: Is religion good for anything? [In my repsonse to Ken I do not reply to Mano’s question. To Mano I would say that religion is at best no better than and often inferior to as a solution to challenges for which people turn to it.]

Posted in Comments, Superstition & Ignorance | 4 Comments »

12 September 2010

12 SEPTEMBER 2010: THE DAY AFTER…

0955 by Jeff Hess

The Making Of The Day After…

Posted in Art, Everwar, International, Politics, Ralph Solonitz | No Comments »

12 September 2010

MISER IS SUCH A GOOD WORD, USE IT MORE…

0858 by Jeff Hess

On Sunday morning’s I revisit the the essays of my former co-blogger at The Writing On The Wal, Robert Feinman. This morning Robert’s essay is titled: Privatizing Social Services and I extracted this nugget from his prose:

The first step is to alter the way wealth get concentrated. There are several options, this includes any combination of: higher marginal tax rates, strict enforcement of monopoly regulations, a wealth tax, or limits on government subsidies to firms which are not performing functions outside the scope of government capability. The libertarians and their wealthy backers will scream about taking away people’s hard earned money, but they only get rich because of defects in the present system. I don’t want to hear any of the other sand being thrown which says that creativity requires the profit motive. Some of the most important discoveries were made by people who earned little or nothing from their work. There are rewards beyond money for some. Even many traditional entrepreneurs will tell you that the reward was seeing their enterprise succeed, not amassing excessive wealth. Those who measure everything by wealth used to be called misers. Perhaps we should revive the word.

I agree. Who are the misers in your world?

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

11 September 2010

TWO DEAD IN YANGON… BOMBS FOUND…

2130 by Jeff Hess

MYANMAR/BURMA — While the death toll in the Myanmar’s ethnic regions to the East and North of the country are unknown, when soldiers kill two citizens in the former capital of Yangon, the world takes notice.

From the Bangkok Post:

Fears that the deaths of two young men shot in a quarrel with troops could spark unrest prompted Burma state media to insist Friday that the incident was “not a fight” between the army and the public.

As authorities try to avoid anti-government feeling ahead of the country’s first elections in two decades, the New Light of Burma said the violence that killed Soe Paing Zaw, 19, and Aung Thu Hein, 23, was “just a drunken brawl.”

Drunken brawl, Yeah, that’s the ticket. Soldiers shot people in drunken brawls all the time right? There is then, however, the matter of the bombs.

Burma’s military government says insurgent groups trying to disrupt upcoming elections planted explosive devices in an eastern town and in central Rangoon this week.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Saturday that a bomb disposal team was sent to township of Thaton on Wednesday to remove five mines attached to an electric pylon. The paper said one of the mines exploded, blowing off the leg of a soldier.

In another incident, the paper said a citizen reported a suspicious package Thursday on a wooden overpass in the city of Rangoon. The article said soldiers disarmed a time bomb formed with a block of C-4.

The article said insurgents are trying to ramp up destructive acts do disrupt elections on November 7.

The odds against there actually being a faux election on 7 November are getting longer and longer.

Make this morning a good morning, Myanmar.

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

11 September 2010

SHEDDING A TEAR…

1915 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Art, Everwar, International, Politics, Ralph Solonitz | No Comments »

11 September 2010

100 YEARS OF TWEEDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDEE…

1901 by Jeff Hess

I’ve grown weary of political purity tests that might have made Karl Wolff queasy. Terms like RINO and DINO are thrown about as if there were real differences to decide. I’m not convinced, and neither was William Allen White.

From Too Big To Fail: The 1912 Version:

“There is a point of bigness—as every businessman in this country knows, though some will not admit it,” Wilson said, “where you pass the point of efficiency and get to the point of clumsiness and unwieldiness.” Instead, Wilson wanted to have the government set forth which practices constituted antitrust violations and spell out how those violations should be addressed—including, if necessary, by prosecution and dissolution. He pledged to create an agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to enforce antitrust law.

The journalist William Allen White was one of many who dismissed the finer points of the candidates’ disagreements. “Between the New Nationalism and the New Freedom,” he wrote, “was that fantastic imaginary gulf that has existed between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee.”

Perhaps we need to go ask Alice?

Posted in Economy, National, Politics, Social Justice & Advocacy, What They Say... | No Comments »

11 September 2010

HOW LONG BEFORE 7 DECEMBER FADED…?

1831 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Art, National, Politics, Ralph Solonitz | No Comments »

10 September 2010

GONE THINKING…

1730 by Jeff Hess

From 1730 today until 1830 tomorrow, 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.

Posted in Life, The Universe & Everything | No Comments »

10 September 2010

BOOK BURNING, WIKILEAKS, THREE-DAY NOVELS…

0913 by Jeff Hess

0913: Why not ignore them?

0805: The high price we all pay for Walmart’s cheap goods

0742: Wikileaks and the role of the messenger

0700: A reality show I could actually get into

Posted in Comments, Free Speech, Politics, Video, Walmart, Writing | No Comments »

10 September 2010

FOR SOME THE WAR IS NEVER OVER…

0852 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Humor, Randall Munroe---xkcd | No Comments »

10 September 2010

DEMOCRATS ABANDON ECONOMIC HIGH GROUND…

0729 by Jeff Hess

Kevin Drum writes:

The result is exactly what you’d expect. With liberal money and energy focused mostly on non-economic concerns, the country moves steadily leftward on social issues. With conservative money and energy focused mostly on the interests of corporations and the rich—and with no one really fighting back—the country moves steadily rightward on econonomic issues. Thomas Frank’s famous working-class Kansans who vote against their own economic interests are easily explained. It’s not just that conservatives appeal to them on social grounds, it’s that there’s no one left to really make the economic case to them in the first place. And even if anyone did, they have little reason to believe that Democrats would actually follow through in concrete ways. So why not vote on abortion and gay rights instead?

Posted in Economy, Politics, Social Justice & Advocacy | No Comments »

10 September 2010

QUAKE BEFORE THE DEMOCRATIC POSSUM…

0728 by Jeff Hess

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Blues Clueless

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Posted in Economy, Humor, Jon Stewart--The Daily Show, Politics, Teabaggers, Video | No Comments »

9 September 2010

CHINA NEEDS WOMEN…

2130 by Jeff Hess

MYANMAR/BURMA — As much as China salivates over the prospect of a warm water port on the Indian Ocean, as a result of decades of its one-child policy and families favoring of male children, what China really needs now is women to become wives to a generation of Chinese horribly out of gender balance.

From Global Post:

Last year Chinese police freed 268 Burmese women who had been trafficked and forced into marriages with Chinese men. Human rights activists believe that this represents only a small fraction of the growing number of Burmese forced to marry Chinese husbands.

The causes of this disturbing trend lie both in China and Myanmar (also known as Burma). Seeking to escape Myanmar’s military regime and the horribly mismanaged economy, young women are often lured by recruiters who speak of well paid employment. Many of the victims are from rural areas near China’s Yunnan province and belong to Myanmar’s persecuted ethnic minorities.

Beijing’s “one-child policy,” combined with the long-held national preference for male heirs, has resulted in a grossly lopsided male to female ratio; 120:100 in 2005. The massive shortage of potential brides drives many lonely Chinese men to resort to buying a foreign spouse.

I realize that 268 women seems like a tiny number compared to the more than a billion Chinese, but remember that this number represents the women discovered and set free. We don’t have even rough numbers for those taken and still held.

Make this morning a good morning, Myanmar.

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

9 September 2010

BUY A QUR’AN DAY: 9/11…

1900 by Jeff Hess

The copy on the left is my own. The copy on the right I purchased to give away.

I already own a copy, but I’m going to buy another one and give it to someone.

Via Kat Shamash…

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

9 September 2010

LIGHT HEALING CANDLES, NOT BONFIRES…

1005 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Art, Being A Jew, Election 2010, International, Politics, Ralph Solonitz, Teabaggers | No Comments »

9 September 2010

ARE YOU A FRIEND OF TIM…?

0900 by Jeff Hess

People ask me that question, more than occasionally, with that edge of challenge that tells me that the person asking isn’t. I’m fine with that. Tuesday evening Tim Russo lost his first political campaign as a candidate for no one reason. Those people who aren’t friends of Tim? They’re doing little Snoopy dances of joy.

Tim worked as hard as any candidate I’ve known for every vote he got. Since my first political campaign in 1972 – more than a year before I could cast a vote for Senator George McGovern for president – I have worked seven local and national campaigns, but never in the inner circle as I was on Tim’s drive to become the first Cuyahoga County Councilman for District Seven. Like never before I saw the inevitable laborious strain that leaves a candidate dedicated to a vision as ragged as any heavy weight in the 13th round.

I recently added Nelson Mandela to my pantheon of heroes. Mandela once said, “No one is as noble as the best things he has done or as venal as the worst.” I believe that. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. We friends of Tim Russo continue to support him. Those who don’t, don’t, but they will continue to pay attention. They cannot be indifferent to Tim Russo and his political aspirations because he is a bright light that obliterates the shadows in the corners where those who are indifferent to the citizens they pretend to represent lurk.

Posted in Cuyahoga County, Election 2010, Politics, Social Justice & Advocacy, Tim Russo | 6 Comments »

9 September 2010

FANNING THE FLAMES OF IGNORANCE…

0855 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Art, Being A Jew, International, Politics, Ralph Solonitz, Teabaggers | No Comments »

8 September 2010

CHINA WARNS AGAINST WESTERN MEDDLING…

2130 by Jeff Hess

MYANMAR/BURMA — Talks between the military dictators of Myanmar and The People’s Republic of China appear to be moving forward in a satisfactory manner to all involved. The problem is that the people not involved — the citizens of Myanmar and all its internal ethnic states — aren’t part of the discussions and can be expected to suffer no matter what happens in the next few days of talks.

For its part, China is increasingly becoming more protective of its neighbor to the south and that neighbor’s blue water ports.

From the Democratic Voice of Burma:

China yesterday warned the world against meddling in upcoming elections in Burma and announced that it will look to develop closer military ties with its southern neighbour.

One of China’s top military officials made the pledge when he met the junta’s third-in-command, Shwe Mann, who is part of the senior delegation currently in Beijing. The Xinhua news agency said that Chief of the General Staff Chen Bingde “hoped the two militaries would work together to carry forward the traditional friendship.”

Both the former Soviet Union and China have long desired Indian Ocean ports for a variety of geopolitical reasons. The Soviet union is gone and Russia’s blue-water navy is not what it once was, but China still covets such a warm water port to call its own.

A Chinese navy loose in the Indian Ocean would be a colossal headache for India and the rest of the world.

Make this morning a good morning, Myanmar.

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »