RALPH’S SKETCH ‘N’ KVETCH…
0714 by Jeff Hess
20 January 2010
20 January 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 chuckle I present: From My Dad.
20 January 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
What a writer must enjoy, or at least be able to tolerate, is the utterly solitary nature of the work. When all is said and done, writing is a matter of sitting alone at a desk, staring more often than not at a blank wall, and turning thoughts into words and putting words on paper. p. 79
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
19 January 2010
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff Hess
The National League for Democracy’s newly expanded central executive committee has met for the first time with its eight men and one woman who are the newest members. The CEC expanded after NLD Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi encouraged its three senior members to bring new blood into the aging group.
From the Democratic Voice of Burma:
Suu Kyi, along with detained vice-chairman Tin Oo, was not present at the meeting, while chairman Aung Shwe and secretary U Lwin were too ill to attend.
The opposition leader however sent a message “expressing her thanks and congratulations on successful formation of the CEC”, according to Dr Win Naing, who was included in the expansion.
“Today we began a discussion on formation of the central committee,” he said. “We will do all we can to collect opinions from regional party members and give them a chance to pick out new members based on criteria set by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”
According to Win Naing, candidates must be “loyal to the party, resourceful, and constantly engaged in the democratic struggle” in Burma.
The comment follows criticism from lower-ranking regional NLD members that they were not consulted on the selection process for the new CEC members.
This last, an autocratic call for loyalty, does not bode well for the NLD’s future.
19 January 2010
19 January 2010
19 January 2010
BILL MASON RESIGNATION WATCH…
1036 by Jeff Hess19 January 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 chuckle I present: From My Dad.
19 January 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
Quite simply, you have to like the work. By this I mean that the physical act of sitting at a typewriter has to be enjoyable in and of itself. Most writers hate the process, to one extent or another, and everybody hates it now and then. (This is an anomaly of writing and an interesting one at that. Most painters I know enjoy the act of painting, and almost ever musician I”ve known loves to play so much that he goes on doing it after his day”s work is done. But writers often hate writing.) p. 79
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
18 January 2010
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff HessIn a move that reminiscent of the President Jimmy Carter’s diplomacy at the Camp David accords in 1978, Japan, is waving the international-aid carrot in the faces of Myanmar’s generals to entice them to release opposition-party leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and to hold a fair election later this year.
From Agence France-Presse:
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada urged Myanmar Sunday to release democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and to hold a fair election, the Japanese foreign ministry said.
Unlike President Carter, however, Okada has a rival to deal with: China.
Okada told Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win more aid could be available if a free election were held, during a 20-minute discussion on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers from Asia and Latin America.
18 January 2010
18 January 2010
BILL MASON RESIGNATION WATCH…
1340 by Jeff Hess18 January 2010
18 January 2010
MY COMMENTS…
0959 by Jeff Hess18 January 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 chuckle I present: From My Dad.
18 January 2010
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
[H]e deliberately sought out a subsistence job, undemanding part-time work that let him pay the rent while he went on writing. Again, he was taking a chance instead of playing it safe. p. 77
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
17 January 2010
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff HessMyanmar is the rogue card in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the other members know it. In a region of states watched carefully by their giant neighbor to the north, it is not easy to either distance or influence the generals in Myanmar’s State Peace and Development Council. What’s a state to do?
From the Asian Tribune:
ASEAN is seemingly committed to accelerating economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the South-East Asia region, to strengthen the institution for a thriving and composed community of Southeast Asian nations. So far one of its members is a military-ruled nation that pays no attention to the norms of the grouping. How can the association ignore the recalcitrance of its desperado member, Burma or Myanmar?
ASEAN aims to promote regional peace and stability through respect for justice and the rule of law and adherence to the principles of the U.N. Charter. Yet it shuts its eyes while extrajudicial killings and violence against women and children take place daily in one of its member countries. There is no law and order at all under Burma”s military dictatorship.
Then there is the matter of the 2010 elections.
Burma’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win has told Southeast Asian counterparts that planned elections would be held in this year 2010 and he also guaranteed that the election would be free, fair and credible, the ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said on 14 January at a regional conference in Vietnam.
Surin said the military-ruled country’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win made the statement on 13-January, at a dinner in Vietnam with his counterparts from the ASEAN.
“That was done last night and it was assured that it will be this year, and it will be free, fair and credible,” Surin told reporters on the sideline of the of the ASEAN foreign ministers conference.
“No date has been set, but everything is moving on course. That’s what we were told.” Surin said the ASEAN ministers “have expressed their high hope that the issue of Burma will be resolved this year and that we can move on to the new era of ASEAN relations and cooperation with the international community.”
ASEAN, which has a principle of non-interference in members’ affairs, has long faced criticism for not taking a firmer stance on Burma. However, many critics are skeptical, saying the regime has made such promises in the past without honoring them. Kraisak Choonhavan, president of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, has repeatedly pointed out that the junta has often stated it would respect democratic values, but has constantly refused to let its opponents participate freely in the political process.
The Prime Directive worked as a plot point for the Star Trek universe, but it had its Captain James Tiberius Kirk to add a bit of real politik to the situation.
17 January 2010
17 January 2010
BILL MASON RESIGNATION WATCH…
1157 by Jeff Hess17 January 2010
NO WONDER I CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND THEM…
0722 by Jeff HessFrom the BBC:
[Industry sales data analysed by NHS Health Scotland] said sales for the year to September 2009 averaged 12.2 litres of pure alcohol per person over the age of 18.
The Scottish government said the figure, which had remained static since 2005, was the equivalent of 537 pints or 130 bottles of wine per person.
The new figures come as the Scottish government pushes for a minimum price for alcohol to tackle the country’s drink-related problems.
They’re living in Scotland for feck’s sake. What do you expect them to do? Then, of course, there is this:
Currently there is nothing to stop supermarkets selling alcohol more cheaply than bottled water and that’s why it’s possible to exceed the weekly drinking guidelines for a man for less than £3.50.
Now I get it, they want to impose a tax! I wonder if they’re ready for a vodka rebellion?
