4 May 2010
4 May 2010
4 May 2010
4 May 2010
4 May 2010
4 May 2010
4 May 2010
4 May 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessSome books use of their lead characters. The strength and appeal of a character is not in and of itself reason to hang a series on him. Such Men Are Dangerous (written under the pen name Paul Kavanagh) is arguably my best book, and had as strong a lead character as I”ve created. but the book used him up, not in the sense of killing him off but in that he completed his business by the end. p. 237
Found in my electronic chapbook.
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
4 May 2010
3 May 2010
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff Hess
Project Syndicate has turned its collective attention on Myanmar and how best to break Myanmar’s isolation from the rest of the world. That is a noble and daunting task since cockroaches never like to be caught in the glaring light of international scrutiny. It is good that so many minds are turned to the challenge.
From Wesley K. Clark, Henrietta H. Fore and Suzanne DiMaggio:
The Obama administration”s decision to seek a new way forward in United States-Burma relations recognizes that decades of trying to isolate Burma (Myanmar) in order to change the behavior of its government have achieved little. With Burma”s ruling generals preparing to hold elections later this year – for the first time since 1990 – it is time to try something different.
Attempting to engage one of the world”s most authoritarian governments will not be easy. There is no evidence to indicate that Burma”s leaders will respond positively to the Obama administration”s central message, which calls for releasing the estimated 2,100 political prisoners (including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi), engaging in genuine dialogue with the opposition, and allowing fair and inclusive elections. In fact, the recently enacted electoral laws, which have been met with international condemnation, already point to a process that lacks credibility.
This past fall, we convened a task force under the auspices of the Asia Society to consider how the US can best pursue a path of engagement with Burma. We concluded that the US must ensure that its policies do not inadvertently support or encourage authoritarian and corrupt elements in Burmese society. At the same time, if the US sets the bar too high at the outset, it will deny itself an effective role in helping to move Burma away from authoritarian rule and into the world community.
During this period of uncertainty, we recommend framing US policy toward Burma on the basis of changes taking place in the country, using both engagement and sanctions to encourage reform. The Obama administration”s decision to maintain trade and investment sanctions on Burma in the absence of meaningful change, particularly with regard to the Burmese government”s intolerance of political opposition, is correct.
Yet there are other measures that should be pursued now.
Now do you understand why the generals fear foreign conspiracy saboteurs?
3 May 2010
FROM MY DAD…
0630 by Jeff HessAspire to inspire before you expire
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
3 May 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessConcentrate on the book at hand. I”ve occasionally had letters from neophytes who describe themselves as working on the first volume of a series, and I know that first novels thus described frequently turn up in the hands of agents and publishers. The agents and publishers are not much impressed. Their interest in a manuscript is in its own merits or lack thereof, not in what may or may not follow it in the course of time.
It”s hard enough to write a novel and make it work. Projecting an entire series merely dilutes your efforts. Stay in the now, work on the book you”re working on, and leave the question of future books open until you”ve finished the job. p. 237
Found in my electronic chapbook.
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
2 May 2010
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff HessIn four days, on 6 May, Myanmar’s National League for Democracy will cease to exist. The 21-year-old political party will not go quietly, but the rules set by Myanmar’s military dictators left it no choice. It’s leadership had to disavow Aung San Suu Kyi or dissolve. It will dissolve. Yet I am certain that it will not disappear.
From The Independent:
It is a depressing end to the NLD’s long and fruitless battle to bring democracy to Burma. Born out of the failed uprising of 1988, the party won a landslide victory in the last national elections in 1990, but the military never allowed it to take power. Senior members of the party, most of them now elderly, have been harassed, imprisoned and tortured. Yet through all this, and despite this final, killer blow to their party, NLD activists have extraordinary belief.
“We do not feel sad,” said Tin Oo, the NLD’s 83-year-old deputy leader who has endured several spells in prison and was freed from house arrest in February. “We have honour. One day we will come back; we will be reincarnated by the will of the people.”
Dignified to the last, party members have chosen not to take down the NLD sign and red-and-white party flag outside their humble headquarters in Rangoon. The security forces will do that job for them, said Win Tin, Burma’s longest-serving political prisoner who was released in 2008 after 19 years in jail, most of them spent in solitary confinement in Rangoon’s infamous Insein prison.
“We won’t dismantle our party ourselves,” said the veteran party activist, who is a remarkably sparkly 80-year-old, despite suffering years of torture. “Symbolically, that would be wrong. But remember, this is nothing new for us. We’ve seen our offices closed all over the country, our flags and signboards pulled down. We are used to this repression.”
From their shabby offices, a two-storey terrace squeezed between shops selling cheap wooden furniture, NLD members plan to continue their social work, which includes small education and health projects and offering financial and moral support for the families of Burma’s estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
“But we will not do political work here,” said Tin Oo, choosing his words carefully. “We want to avoid any misunderstanding with the authorities.”
The Party is dead, long live the Party.
2 May 2010
MY COMMENTS…
1355 by Jeff Hess2 May 2010
SOUTH PARK? REALLY? NO, REALLY…?
1326 by Jeff HessFrom The Telegraph:
The location is also adjacent to the Viacom building, fuelling speculation that it might be linked to the company’s controversial South Park cartoon which recently depicted Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit.
My take, if this is related to South Park’s 200/201 epsisodes, then the bomb was planted by disgruntled fans, not islamist terrorists.
2 May 2010
WRONG, LEFT AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN…
1308 by Jeff HessFrom Haaretz:
A new leftist European Jewish group, JCall, has written a letter to be delivered Sunday to the European Parliament calling for a cessation of what it calls systematic support for Israeli government decisions.
JCall, which describes itself as “the European J Street” and is to be officially launched Sunday with the presentation of the letter, has raised a storm with its call to stop construction in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem.
The letter is signed by some 3,000 Jewish intellectuals, among them philosophers Bernard Henri-Levy and Alain Finkielkraut, considered some of Israel’s strongest defenders among French intellectuals. Signatories also include Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the student protests in the 1960s and now a member of the European Parliament, as well as other Jewish members of the European Parliament.
Advertisement
The letter calls occupation and settlements “morally and politically wrong,” noting that they “feed the unacceptable delegitimization process that Israel currently faces abroad.”According to Prof. Zeev Sternhell, “The French Jewish left has decided that the official institutions do not represent most French Jews, and following the example of J Street, have decided that the time has come to do the same thing in Europe.” He supports the letter but hasn’t signed it.
Question: does Haaretz refer to the settlers and those who support them as rightists?
2 May 2010
2 May 2010
WHAT THEY SAY…
0711 by Jeff Hess[W]hile the importance of jobs to Ohio is of utmost importance, and the roles Lee Fisher has played in our state for so many years have also demanded and been given superior attention via his abilities, at this time in the history of our Congress – when the experience of having literally turned around Ohio”s electoral system, which was made of fun nationally for months and even now years, demonstrates extraordinary focus, tenacity, decision-making in the face of naysayers and, most importantly, objective success in the form of how our 2008 elections proceeded – I believe that Jennifer Brunner is the best primary candidate in the May 4 race.
2 May 2010
FROM MY DAD…
0630 by Jeff HessVoicemail message: I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the Beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes.
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog video excursion I present: From My Dad.
2 May 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessWriting, however well I prepare for it, is never a simple matter of filing in the blanks. The magic that happens at the actual moment of creation is an indispensable part of the whole. p. 237
Found in my electronic chapbook.
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
