ACORN CALLED THE POLICE…
0834 by Jeff HessVisit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
8 April 2010
8 April 2010
MY COMMENTS…
0805 by Jeff Hess0821: My take on the recently released Iraq civilian killing video
0805 and 0801 and 0755 and 0729: More on the 2007 incident in Iraq
8 April 2010
FROM MY DAD…
0630 by Jeff Hess
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.
8 April 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
In other words, don”t dwell on what actually took place as much as how everything looked and sounded and felt and tasted and smelled, and how you felt about it and experienced it. p. 214
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
7 April 2010
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff Hess
We gave it our best shot for 22 years, but our best wasn’t good enough. That’s the central message from Myanmar’s National League of Democracy in a statement issued yesterday. Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD have beaten their collective heads against the wall long enough. Now is the time to look for the door.
From the Voice Of America:
In a statement Tuesday, the NLD said its members endured arrests, punishment, intimidation, disturbances and harassment in an effort to achieve national reconciliation and democracy. The party apologized for failing to achieve those goals, adding that it will continue its non-violent struggle.
What form the non-violent struggle will take will emerge in the coming weeks.
7 April 2010
7 April 2010
7 April 2010
WALMART WEDNESDAY…
1030 by Jeff Hess
It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.
THANK GOODNESS FOR SIMPLICITY… I first wrote about Walmart”s experiments with drive-through shopping back in December. The idea is that shoppers could order online and then – 8-12 business days later (WTF?) – pick up there order at the Walmart drive-through. Keep reading…
WALMART SETS A RECORD… We”ve written stories before about the huge numbers of job applications a Walmart gets when it opens, but this week Walmart surpassed itself by taking 25,000 applications for 325 jobs in the store opening in Evergreen Illinois. Keep reading…
PUTTING MONEY WHERE ITS MOUTH IS… Thanks to Citizens United v. Board of Elections, we now have to contend with corporations openly flooding political campaigns with dollars with the intent of shaping the political conversation. Walmart is no stranger to this game. Keep reading…
CHEAP PLASTIC CRAP FROM CHINA… CHECK…! How many times do people have to be punked by a low price for a cheap piece of plastic crap from China before they figure out that throwing money away is not a good strategy? A lot. Does it matter when the cheap plastic crap from China bursts into flames? Keep reading…
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO NOT GO SHOPPING…? The Internet yesterday was filled with posts about whether or not Walmart would be open on Easter Sunday. That”s no longer my holiday, but once it was and I my memory was of the only public buildings open on Easter Sunday being houses of worship. Keep reading…
REJIGGERING NORTH ADAMS… We”ve made the case before, but it is one that, in our present great recession with jobs not yet turned around, that we continue to remind people that Walmart does not create jobs, it simply shuffles employment in its race for the bottom. Keep reading…
BECAUSE IT”S CHEAP… OH, REALLY…? It isn”t what we don”t know that will kill us, it is what we think we know that just isn”t so that we really have to worry about. I can”t find a quick source for my paraphrase, but the sentiment isn”t a difficult one to wrap your head around. Keep reading…
7 April 2010
7 April 2010
FROM MY DAD…
0630 by Jeff HessI 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.
7 April 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
Some of my most productive time as a writer of fiction is spent seated at my typewriter with my fingers still and my eyes closed. In this fashion I”m able to see a picture within my mind. Once I”ve seen and experienced it, it”s a much simpler matter to open my eyes, hit the typewriter keys, and convert what I”ve seen into prose and dialogue. p. 211
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
6 April 2010
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff HessChina is, and will continue to be, the power in Asia for the foreseeable future. China exists, however, in a global community that demands that it adhere to certain rules if it wishes to belly up to the global bar. Two nations, North Korea and Myanmar, are China’s crazy aunts and it doesn’t have an attic.
From The Irrawaddy:
When China again defended the Burmese regime at last month’s United Nations Security Council discussion of the junta’s controversial election laws it should have considered the bilateral and international implications.
Beijing’s newly appointed ambassador Li Baodong, although expressing concern about the exclusion of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners from the election, reaffirmed the Chinese traditional position of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
China should understand, however, that endorsing the elections without Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) could take a dangerous turn because it would not only cause a deeper division within the international community but also make medium term bilateral relations with Burma more difficult.
The NLD may cease to be a party, but it will still remain a social movement that cannot be disregarded in any future engagement.
China has been telling the international community for years that Burma’s transition to democracy is a purely internal affair, and any call for the inclusion of Suu Kyi and the NLD in the political process is an attempt to interfere and manipulate Burma’s internal situation.
China seems to forget that Burma’s democratic struggle comes from the grassroots and from a long historical growth within Burmese society. International human rights advocacy does not try to manipulate or to influence the country. Instead, it supports the internal movement for democracy.
Despite its communist roots, China continues to embrace a hybrid authoritarian capitalism that seeks to create a dualistic economy. Myanmar’s generals are not interested in such a middle way.
6 April 2010
6 April 2010
MY COMMENTS…
1552 by Jeff Hess6 April 2010
6 April 2010
FROM MY DAD…
0630 by Jeff HessI 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.
6 April 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
Even so, this isn”t very good writing. The modifiers are not descriptive but judgmental. p. 210
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
5 April 2010
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff HessThis evening I finished reading the graphic textbook version of Howard Zinn’s seminal A People’s History Of The United States. I first read the book as a freshman at Ohio University in 1980. I had heard much of what Zinn wrote in dribs and drabs but had never seen it all in one place, so clearly assembled and so undeniably infuriating.
Zinn makes no mention of Myanmar (although Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos get plenty of coverage) but having just returned to the text and reading the news out of southeast Asia today that Vietnam has pledged to invest in Myanmar I had an image of Zinn pounding a podium and warning the people of Myanmar about the dangers of foreign investment because it never bodes well for the people.
You only have to pause and ask, why would a nation invest its people’s capital in the form of tax dollars, or encourage it’s private sector to invest in another nation except to further the business interests of the few, the wealthy, the greedy? Foregin investment is simply the economic wing of empire building. When a capitalists believe that the return on investmet is greater outside of their nation, then something is rotten.
Vietnam will not invest to benefit Myanmar. Vietnam will invest to benefit Vietnam. How quickly the Communists have embraced the Capitalism of the running dog lackies.
