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.
Don”t begin at the beginning. p. 142
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has added his voice to the protests over the Myanmar’s puppet supreme court’s decision to keep Aung San Soo Kyi under house arrest for the forseeable future. At the same time the United States Department of State and Congress both condemned the ruling.
From Mizzima:
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Friday said he is ‘appalled and saddened” that Burma”s military government has rejected an appeal filed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi”s lawyers against her sentencing in August 2009.
“I am appalled and saddened that Aung San Suu Kyi”s appeal against the sentence imposed by the regime has been denied,” Brown said. However, he said the “failed appeal is sadly no surprise.”
Brown said from start to end the sole purpose of the show trial has been to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in elections that the junta claims will be held later this year.
Lawyers of the Burmese opposition leader on Friday told Mizzima that the Supreme Court rejected the appeal against the verdict that sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi and her two live-in party mates to 18 months of house arrest handed down in August 2009.
“The Supreme Court said it is making no changes on the verdict and upholds the lower court”s decision,” said Nyan Win, a lawyer for the Burmese pro-democracy leader who is also a spokesperson for her party – National League for Democracy.
We huff and puff and nothing falls down.
Think of the irony of it. The Gund Foundation is giving the Cleveland schools $2.5 million of dollars, according to a Page one story today in the Plain Dealer. Isn”t it ironic – or at amusing – or a dime on a dollar – that the Gund family took MANY millions FROM the city”s schools.
The Gunds were big property tax evaders.
Yes, it is a good move for the Gund Foundation to give $2.5 million with a promise of more. We should applaud for it. But let”s not get teary eyed.
It is so much as how the world works.
The rich get richer and they bequeath tax-free pennies from those they took.
The Gunds – George and Gordon – of course, once owned the Cleveland Cavaliers. Our sales (sin) taxes built the arena for them. They took us for plenty of dough.
They also benefited from an arena free of property taxes Continue Reading »
Way back in history, the most common public gathering place was the tavern, which along with basic foods and sleeping pallets served alcoholic beverages guaranteed to dull patrons’ minds.
Then along came coffee and it all changed. Coffee woke you up, made you think more clearly, gave you the energy to engage in social and political discourse. Coffee Houses became such hotbeds of discontent that monarchs attempted to outlaw them.
Coffee, not its weak sister tea, is the real motor force behind political change.
In that light, Annabel Park has launched the Coffee Party Movement.
The Coffee Party manifesto:
We are a grassroots movement opposing the Tea Party Movement. We believe that government CAN help fix our problems if the American people get involved and work together in a nonpartisan way. Because that’s called democracy. Change comes from the people, not from politicians. We need to work to achieve what is best for the American people. Things like universal health care, creating jobs, stopping climate change, helping small businesses, and government regulations on big business so we can avoid another global financial crisis. The two things the Tea Partiers complain about the most are taxes and government spending but tax cuts do cost the government money! So we must stop waiting around for Obama to change things because he can’t do it without the support of the people. We want real change NOW!
This morning the Coffee Party movement has 1,667 members. My addition makes it 1,668.
From Haaretz:
[Menachem] Ellowich[, an ultra-Orthodox resident of Brooklyn] believes that his 24-year-old daughter died after Abuhatzeira cursed her. But if he cannot get the rabbi convicted of manslaughter, at least he wants to get back the $100,000 he paid for the blessing that would end his daughter’s barrenness.
The doctors, you might ask?
The doctors said her daughter had died of an aneurysm, but Ellowich disagrees: “Rabbi Abuhatzeira killed my daughter and stole the money.”
From The New York Times>:“Before we saw the movie, I was pro-choice,” said Markita Eddy, a sophomore. But were she to get pregnant now, Ms. Eddy said, “it showed me that maybe I should want to keep my child no matter what my position was, just because of the conspiracy.”
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.
The function of the opening is: getting the story moving (p. 138); setting the tone (p. 139) or establishing the problem (p. 140).
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
Myanmar has become a nation increasingly defined by its political prisoners. The world knows of Aung San Soo Kyi, but the vast majority of the more than 2,100 souls kept in prisons remain faceless and nameless to all but those closest to them. They are likely to remain so for any foreseeable future.
From Mizzima:
The United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana believes there that the country”s political prisoners will not be freed any time soon. “There seems to be no movement on political prisoners since my last trip [a year ago],” the UN envoy told Mizzima in an interview in Bangkok a few days ago. “In fact the government continues to deny that there are any prisoners of conscience.”
At the same time more critics of the government and activists have been imprisoned on spurious charges. And political prisoners already in jail mounted protests to coincide with the UN envoys visit.
Scores of prisoners in at least two jails have gone on hunger strike, according to an organistion that monitors the situation of Burma”s political prisoners, and more than seventy in the Buthidaung jail, which Mr Quintana visited during his trip to the west of the country. The regime”s total disregard for the envoy was underlined when five more political activists – a monk and five female activists – were given stiff jail sentences in the middle of his visit.
“There were few positives from the trip,” Mr Quinata told Mizzima, apart from being allowed to visit Northern Rakhine State and meet 15 political prisoners in three different prisons.
“They were not prepared to discuss the forthcoming elections in any detail, though it was clear from my visit that unofficial campaigning has started even though the electoral law has not been published,” he told Mizzima.
The people of Myanmar deserve more positives.
I”m saddened by the death of former Cleveland school board member Ed Young. His story goes to the heart of why Cleveland is the way it is. With sour and destructive politics. Personally and civically.
It is why we have such a severely damaged politics. And city.
In the mid-1980s Young represented the possibility of dedicated political leadership. He was earnest and honest.
That”s why George Forbes had to destroy Ed Young. Continue Reading »
County reform Issue 6 leader Marty Zanotti took gambling trips with convicted County corrupter J. Kevin Kelly.
The story was broken by James Renner of the Independent.
Here”s how the article begins:
Independent Exclusive: Zanotti Gambled with J. Kevin Kelley
By James Renner
Contrary to his public denials, The Independent has learned that Issue 6 architect, former Mayor of Parma Heights, and county-transition executive committee member Martin Zanotti took trips north to gamble with county corruption figure J. Kevin Kelley and several other local politicians.Zanotti watched from the sidelines at a public meeting for the government transition process held at CSU February 17. After several audience members lobbed softball questions at the group of Democrats in control of the meeting, I stepped to the mic and addressed Zanotti directly. I asked him to go on record to confirm or deny that he accompanied J. Kevin Kelley on gambling junkets to the Detroit/Windsor area. Zanotti”s response? “Come over here and ask me that.”
So I did.
But the audience never heard his response, which was, “Zero.”
I guess that depends on your definition of “junket”.
Reached by phone early this morning, Joe Tal, Parma Heights service director and brother-in-law of Zanotti, said that he was on at least two trips to casinos with Zanotti and J. Kevin Kelley. The feds insist J. Kevin Kelley”s limos, trips and chips were paid for by people seeking favors from Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo and commissioner Jimmy Dimora.
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.
Ideas come out of conversation. p. 133
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
There’s nothing to be surprised about in the latest ruling in the ongoing saga of the house arrest of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. What this makes clear, however, is how much the generals fear her presence on the streets of Myanmar before the maybe-fall elections.
From the BBC:
The Supreme Court in Burma has rejected an appeal by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi against an extension of her house arrest.
Ms Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 20 years in some form of detention, despite her party overwhelmingly winning Burma’s last general election.
The Burmese military government ignored those results but are planning their own elections for later in 2010.
Ms Suu Kyi has already been disqualified from standing in these.
Her extended detention has been seen by some analysts as a further guarantee for the military that she will not be able to campaign for others in the elections either.
Her lawyer, Nyan Win, said the court had given no reason for its decision and that he would launch a “special appeal” against the ruling.
Which, of course, will get a special rejection.
Powered by Wordpress | Design by Ash Haque
XHTML Strict | RSS Entries
