From Haaretz:

1. No women shall marry nor shall any woman attack another, either verbally or physically. Fine: NIS 2,000, to be paid into the family kitty.

2. No woman shall question another about her whereabouts. Fine: NIS 100

3. No conversation is permitted in rooms other than the living room. It is forbidden to talk nonsense. Fine: NIS 200

4. No woman shall sit idle when there are dishes to be washed, cleaning to be done, children to look after etc. Fine: NIS 2000

5. Any two women caught fighting will be punished equally. Fine: NIS 2,000

6. It is absolutely forbidden to question Ratzon on his whereabouts or intention. Fine: NIS 400

7. It is permissible to ask to accompany him; but refusal is to be accepted without appeal. Fine: NIS 300

8. No woman shall interrupt Ratzon or intervene in matters not concerning her. Fine: NIS 500

9. All orders are to be obeyed immediately. Fine: NIS 300

10. No woman shall work while a ‘man’ of over 12 years of age is in the house. Fine NIS 3,000

Apparently he forgot the 11th commandment: You shall not get caught.

Goel Ratzon, who has been living with 17 women with whom he fathered 38 children was arrested on Monday on suspicion of enslavement, rape, extortion by threat and sexual assault of minors….

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick…

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.

Traditionally, most of Australia’s imports come from overseas. — Keppel Enderbery

Warning: never trust an Internet quote without checking something other than Google. I’m willing to bet that less than 10 percent of these are real or accurate.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

I think it might be more accurate to say that they have a very strong desire to write a particular book, but no real desire to become a writer per se. Having written that book, they have slaked their hunger. p. 75

From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.

If, and it is a big if, the people of Myanmar go to the polls this fall to cast their votes, the likely hood is that they will take part in a bit of puppet theatre and not a democratic election. The people know this, the generals know this, the world knows this, yet the pomp and circumstance goes on. Is the processs fixable in a few months?

From The Irrawaddy:

Standards for holding a credible election have been detailed by the United Nations. A UN handbook on the legal, technical and human rights aspects of elections states: “Each time elections are scheduled, the dates set out in the electoral calendar for each phase of the process must allow adequate time for effective campaigning and public information efforts, for voters to inform themselves, and for the necessary administrative, legal, training and logistic arrangements to be made.”

A typical election calendar has many phases and procedures according to international standards such as formation of an election administration, constituency delimitation, registration of electors, nominations of parties and candidates, polling tabulation and reporting, complaints and appeals mechanism, media access and regulation, public information and voter education and legal authority for electoral processes. Sufficient time should be given for each of the procedures.

An independent electoral administration body is one of the key factors for a credible election. However, in Burma’s 2007 constitutional referendum, Chief Justice U Aung Toe served as the chair of the National Convention Convening Work Committee, as well as the chair of the State Constitution Drafting Commission. He also served as the chair of the National Referendum Commission, which compromised his effectiveness as an independent agent for a free and fair referendum.

Further complicating the election is the fact that essential basic freedoms-such as freedom of association, freedom of expression and opinion and press freedom-do not exist in Burma.

For example, almost all National League for Democracy offices outside of Rangoon have been ordered closed since 2003. No political parties, with the exception of pro-SPDC organizations, have been allowed to do routine political organization work. New political parties are still waiting to register under the election law and are not allowed to actively organize.

Clearly, we know how to fix the problems. Without the support of those guarnteed to lose in a free and fair election, however, the problems will remain.

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.

NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID HERE… Jonathan has written here about Walmart”s desecration of hallowed ground made sacred by the blood of thousands of Americans. It doesn”t seem to have had much effect. Perhaps a fine writer in a national magazine can make a difference. Keep reading…

WALMART ENGAGES IN A GREAT EXPERIMENT… Jonathan and I have both written about the issue of Walmart ditching its free plastic bags. The strategy is fraught with challenges, but I applaud the retailer”s attempt. What I fear is a brief experiment with poor results and a throwing up of the hands to declare… Keep reading…

WALMART DOES ITS QUOTA OF CHARITY… I previously chose to not write about the discarded clothing found in New York because the link to Walmart seemed tenuous at best to me. New Yorkers must recognize the H&M name (I didn”t), but the world instantly knows Walmart. Keep reading…

THE MYTH OF WALMART JOB CREATION KILLED… I first wrote about the research from Loyola University back on 24 June 2008. Then, the work was considered ongoing. Last month, the Center for Urban Research and Learning published a 70-page report on its finding: Keep reading…

FEAR THE PANDA… One of the hallmarks of a first-rate industrial nation is the export finished goods. In the 19th century it was England at the top. In much of the 20th century it was the United States and most recently Germany, that was king of the export hill. No longer. Keep reading…

YET ANOTHER HAPPY WALMART CUSTOMER… I fully understand that every day hundreds of thousands of Walmart customers walk out of the store every day satisfied with their experience. There is a rule in retailing, however, it cost a lot less to retain a customer than it does to entice a new one. Keep reading…

WALMART IS NOT THE OASIS IN THE DESERT… The continuing battle over building a second Walmart in Chicago has focused, in part, on the concept of food deserts. I don”t know who coined the term, but it is used to describe urban communities that do not have access to affordable sources for groceries. Keep reading…

Last evening, 12 January, our Socrates Café met at the Mayfield Road Phoenix Coffee House under the more-than-able facilitation of Bruce Myers. Thank you Bruce.

The question we pulled from the jar was:

Should classrooms be segregated by intelligence level?

As usual, the discussion ranged far and wide. We touched on how to measure intelligence appropriately (I.Q. is insufficient), the challenge of multi-level teaching and a number of other questions concerning education.

If you’ve had a morning-after thought, or if you missed our gathering and would like to throw in your two-cents worth, please enter the conversation and write a comment.

Tick, tick, tick, tick…

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.

Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances. — Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina

Warning: never trust an Internet quote without checking something other than Google. I’m willing to bet that less than 10 percent of these are real or accurate.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

The old man shook his head again. “You don”t understand,” he said. “If you had had the fire, you would have paid no attention to me.” p. 74

From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.

Well, we have a year, 2010, and a month, October. That is an improvement. If we get a day we’ll have an election day trifecta, but I hold little hope for an election with, you know, open polls and honestly counted ballots. Myanmar’s constitution requires that the actually date be announced no less than 90 days before the election.

From BurmaNet News:

Elections in Burma could be held in October this year, according to information leaked from a meeting between the head of a Japanese charity and Burma”s agriculture minister.

The revelation follows a visit to Japan in August last year by agriculture minister Htay Oo, who also heads a proxy organization of the Burmese junta, the Union Solidarity and Development Association.

Whilst there he met with the politically influential Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of the Nippon Foundation, Japan”s largest charity. Htay Oo had reportedly visited Japan to observe elections there.

A Japanese source, speaking to DVB on condition of anonymity, said that Htay Oo had told Sasakawa that Burma”s elections would be held in October this year. The source also said that Japan had offered technical assistance in conducting the elections.

0724: Some views on the issue of copyright

0713: A Mormon and a Moron Team Up to Attack Health Care Reform

Tick, tick, tick…

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.

We don’t necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people. — Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instrutor

Warning: never trust an Internet quote without checking something other than Google. I’m willing to bet that less than 10 percent of these are real or accurate.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

In order to get into this business and in order to stay in it, you generally have to desire it with a passion bordering on desperation. p. 73

From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.

One of the great shames of our nation’s infancy was the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts under President John Adams in 1798. The Acts made it a crime, punishable by imprisonment, to criticize the government and were intended to protect the Federalists power base. We ought to keep that in mind when discussing Myanmar’s Electronics Law.

From IPS:

The Electronics Law bans Burmese citizens from using the Internet to send information, photos or videos critical of the junta to foreign audiences.

The sentence for the freelance video reporter comes on top of another six- year prison term that was handed down last October for having a motorcycle that had been “illegally imported.” Myint Naing, who helped the freelance reporter, was condemned to 26 years in prison.

“Hla Hla Win has been working with us for a few years. And she did so knowing the danger of getting caught with video clips or being seen on the street with a video camera,” said Toe Zaw Latt, DVB”s bureau chief in Thailand. “She was driven to get images of what was happening inside Burma and get them out to the world.”

“Most ‘undercover journalists” like her do not work for the sake of money,” he added during a telephone interview from Chiang Mai, a northern Thai city. “They are committed to tell the stories and are willing to take great risks to do so.”

DVB has over 100 such freelance journalists armed with video cameras to document the abuse and oppression unfolding in Burma. It shot to international prominence in September 2007, when the junta mounted a harsh crackdown on thousands of anti-government protesters, led by Buddhist monks.

Its video clips supplied by its network of citizen journalists – including Hla Hla Win – offered graphic details of the soldiers attacking the unarmed monks. An estimated 30 to 40 monks and between 50 and 70 civilians were killed during the crushing of the ‘Saffron Revolution” three years ago. Close to 6,000 monks and civilians were also arrested at the height of this clash in Rangoon, Mandalay and other Burmese cities.

The period since the Saffron Revolution has seen Burma”s notorious network of prisons and labour camps swell with jailed political activists. Some of these critics of the junta have been given harsh prison terms, including a 65-year- sentence for Min Ko Naing, a former student leader and highly regarded pro- democracy activist. There are currently over 2,200 political prisoners, up from the 1,200 imprisoned political activists in mid-2007. That number, until Hla Hla Win”s sentencing, included 13 journalists and bloggers.

I’m not suggesting in any way that the generals deserve a pass, but rather that we must remember our own history in the United States, and how we’ve grown over the 222 years since the ratification of our own Constitution. We did not get here without a lot of mistakes and blood and we are not yet finished by any standard.

When helping others to grow, we must remember our own stumbles.