Found in my electronic chapbook.
When a character is lacking in originality, the reader”s capacities for both believing and identifying are strained. If the hero walks through the pages like an empty suit of clothes, how can we regard him as more than a mechanical device? p. 219
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
Blood diamonds and slave oil. In a report I first mentioned on 11 March, Matthew Smith finds it strange that the nasty bit about foreign oil companies exploiting local labor in Myanmar to the point of slavery hasn’t risen to the the top in discussion about the State Peace and Development Council’s (aka, Myanmar’s military dictators) crimes against humanity.
From Huffington Post:
[The report] notes “rampant forced labor” connected to the country’s four main natural gas projects, including the transnational Yadana gas pipeline to Thailand and the Shwe gas pipeline to China.
Confirming what’s long been documented, the report notes the Yadana and Shwe companies “rely on the Myanmar military to provide security for their projects.”
Mentioning by name only South Korea’s Daewoo International and Thailand’s PTTEP, Quintana in effect implicated a who’s who of Big Oil: The Yadana project, meaning “treasure,” is operated by Total (France), Chevron (US), and PTTEP; and Shwe, meaning “gold,” is operated by Daewoo International, state-owned companies from India and South Korea, and the China National Petroleum Corporation.
While this is the UNSR’s first mention of the human rights impacts of foreign-led energy projects in Burma, at EarthRights International, we’ve documented for years how overland gas pipelines and other billion-dollar installations in the country are physically secured by the Tatmadaw — the Burmese Army — resulting in forced labor, killings in cold blood, rape, torture, and other abuses against local residents.
And we in the United States think we pay too high a price for our gasoline.
Ralph drew this work nearly eight years ago. It saddens me to think of how little distance we’ve traveled in those eight years.
It is utopian to believe that Israel will ever withdraw from the lands it has occupied on the West Bank.
It may be utopian, but I still must believe that a two-state solution is not only possible, but right. If Sullivan is correct, then the heart of Israel is gone.
While The National Left has been yanked from bookshelves in Israel, it is available as a PDF.
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.
Found in my electronic chapbook.
When characters are implausible, the reader cannot manage the trick of voluntary suspension of disbelief without which fiction never becomes involving. p. 219
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
Here in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, we have been talking about regionalism for a few years. The idea is that if all the municipalities got together, they could create one large economic and governmental block that could save taxpayer dollars and better engineer economic prosperity for all members of the county. Such a unification will happen when pigs fly.
The Association of South East Asian Nations faces the same grounded swine.
From the Australian Broadcast Corporation:
Scott Alle of ABC: On paper, an ASEAN trading bloc could be a major force in world trade. If it was a single economic entity, the grouping of South-east Asian nations would rank as the world’s 10th largest economy, and with a population of around 600 million, the third biggest global market. But ASEAN’s diverse membership from Laos, one of Asia’s poorest nations to Singapore with its $180 billion economy, has meant progress toward the stated goal of economic integration by 2015 has been, well, slow.
Charles Adams, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and former regional director of the International Monetary Fund: What’s been lacking up until now has been the translation into concrete action plans, steps and measures. What they have done if you like is define the objective in terms of freer trade, freer movement of labour and capital etc. Now they’re going well they began with some of the at the border issues in manufacturing and yes we’re now looking at this range of behind the border issues and issues to do with services liberalisation and those are in the best of circumstances tough areas.
Ah, those old behind-the-border issues.
The Pope must resign. He has no moral authority left. And a new Pope needs to be selected who represents an end to the euphemisms, an end to any tolerance for this, and who will seek to restore the balance of authority achieved by the Second Vatican Council.
But if the pope does not resign — and you must admit that this is a very real possibility — will you yourself then resign from the Catholic Church?
The Catholic Church has descended to the lowest of the low in its lame attempts to defend itself againt repeated and concentrated attacks over the long-running, systematic sexual, physical and mental abuse of children under its care by priests who were protected by a church hierarchy whose accountablitly trail ends at Pope Benedict XVI.
As a public service to those Catholics who feel that enough is enough I present:
And finally, can we all just apologize to Sinead O’Connor?
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.
Found in my electronic chapbook.
In order for a piece of fiction to work, its characters must fulfill three requirements: they must be plausible they must be sympathetic and they must be original. p. 219
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
According to the State Peace and Development Committee (aka, Myanmar’s military dictators) there will be plenty of opposition political parties in maybe yes, maybe no, faux elections sort-of planned for the fall. The natural question is, of course, precisely how many of the parties are are more than simply fronts of the SPDC?
From Voice Of America:
Burma’s government says 16 new political parties have registered for elections planned for later this year.
State-controlled media reported Friday that Burma’s official Election Commission had approved the new parties prior to the end of a 60-day registration period that ends on May 6.
Three already existing parties have also registered to run in Burma’s first general polls in two decades.
The commission also warned that the old political parties that fail to register prior to the deadline will be forced to disband.
Why do the generals even bother with this Potemkin silliness?
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.
Found in my electronic chapbook.
Faking locations, p. 215; faking expertise, p. 216; easy does it, p. 217; watch out for sharp muletas p. 217; and take care of the pence, p 217.
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
Weapons of destruction, mass and otherwise, are the ultimate boy toys and no one like to play with boy toys like ruling generals who will spend money faster than a any tech geek salivating over a flashy bit of slick hardware. Arms manufacturers love to produce to please because there is an unending demand for resupply.
From the Irrawaddy:
The East European country of Belarus is bidding to develop military weapons sales to Burma following a week-long visit by a high-ranking delegation.
A team from the Belorussian state military and technical committee met Burmese army representatives to discuss military and technical cooperation, a European report said this week.
It was the second meeting between the two countries. A Burmese delegation went to Belarus last June.
Although foreign currency revenues from contracts with this state [Burma] remain insignificant, there are certain prospects for the development of cooperation in the military and technical sphere, delegation official Uladzimir Lawranyuk told the Belarus news agency Belapan on April 7.
Belarus is on a United Statesâ„¢ government restricted list because of its arms sales to unstable countries, such as North Korea and Sudan.
The US report lists Belarus as the 11th largest arms exporter in the world, with sales of at least US $1 billion between 1999 and 2006.
Compare that to the $7.5 billion in sales for the United States in 2007 alone. The question does have to be asked: is the U.S. really any better because it sells to stable countries?
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