Yes, I know that many of these TED For The Holiday videos are repeats here at Have Coffee Will Write. But I’m including them for two reasons: first, they’re part of TED’s For The Holidays series and well worth watching again, and second, TED has made them all available via audio download to put on your laptop, mp3 player or phone for you — to keep at-the-ready on your laptop or iPhone for those times when the only other options are mass market paperbacks.

Roldo Bartimole writes:

Veteran reporter Anastasia Pantsios has written a detailed and convincing piece on Ohio Daily about the Plain Dealer”s campaign to pass Issue 6 and how it failed to give the public a true picture about County reform and hid some of the characters behind the push.

It was, of course, a PD campaign not only to pass Issue 6 but one that tried to make the paper a champion of the public.

The PD has shown some aggressiveness in pursuing some issues but there it has the odor of self-promotion and service to certain interests. It also has a strong element of trying to appear a strong watchdog while slinking away from sacred cows.

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.

SOL PRICE, 1916-2009… Why do we at The Writing On The Wal care about Sol Price? Because Price was the genius (or possibly evil genius, given history) that gave us the big-box super store. Before there was a Walmart or Sam”s Club, there was Fed-Mart and Price Clubs. Keep reading…

CHICAGO”S MAYOR DALEY IS FRUSTRATED… I”ve been following the Walmart-in-Chicago saga now for more than three years. Mayor Richard Daley (not That Daley, his son, Richard M. Daley) wants Walmarts built in Chicago, but the city”s aldermen are not willing to take a bullet for their mayor. Keep reading…

ENVISION YOUR WALMART HERE… Well, it looks like Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley”s hopes to garner “the backing of aldermen so he can”t be criticized by the media for acting unilaterally,” isn”t working out so well. The Chicago Smut Sun Times says he damned both ways. Keep reading…

AT LEAST HE DOESN”T HAVE TO LIVE THERE… I wrote earlier this month about changes in Walmart”s Central and South American operations and this morning I read the announcement that Eduardo Solorzano has been named president and CEO of Walmart de Mexico. Keep reading…

EVEN THE GRINCH WOULD BE ASHAMED… [Update — 20 December: As Uncle Bob noted in his comment, Walmart has issued a statement recognizing that it was overcharging for shipping to AP0/FPO addresses. Keep reading…

WALMART EXTENDS CHRISTAMAS EVE HOURS… The report from Las Vegas is that Walmart is tacking on two hours this Christmas Eve to really, really, really make sure that there isn”t a single penny left in anyone”s pocket that it has a 0.00001 percent chance of capturing that cent for its coffers. Keep reading…

WILL 2010 BE WALMART”S CHICAGO YEAR…? Chicago is recovering from its disappointment after losing the 2016 Olympics and Mayor Daley, faced with a shrinking tax and jobs base is going back to the Walmart well. I wrote about the preliminary shots earlier, but the issue is gaining momentum. Keep reading…

WALMART OFFERS NON-COMPETITORS SPACE… The story in the New York Times yesterday examines how, in a bid to gain favor in Chicago, Walmart is offering front-of-the-store space to non-competitors. This is supposed to assuage fears of economic devastation? I don”t think so. Keep reading…

SELECTIVE MEMORY IS A SURVIVAL TRAIT… One of the marvels of the human brain is its ability to selectively erase certain memories. This can be good. For instance, if women remembered, in perfect detail, every moment of pregnancy, the human race would probably have died out millennia ago. Keep reading…

MORE EVIL WALMART NEWS FROM THE BADGER… Badgers are fierce, short legged, heavy-set carnivores that will protect themselves and their young at all costs from even much larger animals such as coyotes, wolves, bears and Walmart managers. I”m really starting to like the Las Vegas variety. Keep reading…

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes:

The charitable interpretation rests on the invisibility of white suffering. It rests on the erasure of Clay County. It rests on the notion that the white poor are not merely the white poor, but white trash. It’s a formula makes an anchor of black America, straps it to a larger population of poor white Americans and then drops them in the Mississippi. It’s a con that asks large swaths of white folks to suffer poverty in shame and silence.

0758: C-SPAN Teabagging Hilarity

And just one more reason why they can’t have their country back…

Via Sherry Chandler…

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.

It is near the Christmas break of the school year. The students have turned in all their work and there is really nothing more to do. All the children are restless and the teacher decides to have an early dismissal.

Teacher: “Whoever answers the questions I ask, first and correctly can leave early today.”

Little Johnny says to himself “Good, I want to get outta here. I’m smart and will answer the question.”

Teacher: “Who said ‘Four Score and Seven Years Ago’?”

Before Johnny can open his mouth, Susie says, “Abraham Lincoln.”

Teacher: “That’s right Susie, you can go home.”

Johnny is mad that Susie answered the question first.

Teacher: “Who said ‘I Have a Dream’?”

Before Johnny can open his mouth, Mary says, “Martin Luther King.”

Teacher: “That’s right Mary, you can go.”

Johnny is even madder than before.

Teacher: “Who said ‘Ask not, what your country can do for you’?”

Before Johnny can open his mouth, Nancy says, “John F. Kennedy.”

Teacher: “That’s right Nancy, you may also leave.”

Johnny is boiling mad that he has not been able to answer to any of the questions.

When the teacher turns her back Johnny says, “I wish these bitches would keep their mouths shut!”

The teacher turns around: “NOW WHO SAID THAT?”

Johnny: “TIGER WOODS. CAN I GO NOW?”

Found in my electronic chapbook.

It seems to me that every time I return to John O”Hara and Somerset Maugham I discover new evidence of their enormous craft. p. 57

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

The story of imprisoned U.S. citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin continues with a report that he has been transferred to what is known as a dog cell — the rough equivalent of solitary confinement in the United States — in Myanmar’s notorious Insein prison, according his aunt who was allowed 20 minutes with her nephew.

From Mizzima:

“I met him for about 20 minutes. He is thinner though in good health. He told me he wants to meet his lawyers and an official from the US embassy,” Khin Khin Swe said.

“We could not talk to him freely during his last court appearance on Friday. He said he had called off his hunger strike protest on December 15,” she added.

Nyi Nyi Aung, began a hunger-strike on December 4, in protest against the treatment of prisoners and demanding prisoner”s rights. But on the third day of the strike, prison authorities transferred him to the dog-cell, about an 8 feet square cellar where dogs are usually kept.

“He is not allowed to see or talk to anyone. And also not allowed to read newspapers. He said he was hooded when he was transferred to the dog-cell,” she added.

Nyi Nyi Aung”s aunt said, during their brief meeting with her nephew, prison security officials were busy listening and taking notes of their conversation.

Meanwhile, on Friday, 53 US Congressmen including US Congress Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Howard Berman, Mr. Frank Wolf and Human Rights Commission Joint-Chairman Mr. Tom Lantos sent a letter to Burmese Military Supremo Snr Gen Than Shwe asking him to immediately release Nyi Nyi Aung.

The United States Lawmakers, in their letter dated December 18 and addressed to Than Shwe, said Nyi Nyi Aung”s arrest is in violation of the Vienna Convention and is against domestic and international laws.

Roldo Bartimole writes:

COUNT THEM… KEEP COUNTING THEM… AND KEEP COUNTING THEM – YEAR AFTER YEAR, AFTER YEAR, AFTER YEAR. ONCE YOU GET HEALTH CARE TO THE PEOPLE YOU WON”T BE ABLE TO TAKE IT AWAY. JUST LIKE SOCIAL SECURITY. JUST LIKE MEDICARE.

SCREW THIS UP FOR SOME IDEAL AND THESE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU HURT:

29,999,000
29,999,001
29,999,002
29,999,003
29,999,004
29,999,005
29,999,005
29,999,006
29,999,007
29,999,008
29,999,009
29,999,010 Continue Reading »

Yes, I know that many of these TED For The Holiday videos are repeats here at Have Coffee Will Write. But I’m including them for two reasons: first, they’re part of TED’s For The Holidays series and well worth watching again, and second, TED has made them all available via audio download to put on your laptop, mp3 player or phone for you — to keep at-the-ready on your laptop or iPhone for those times when the only other options are mass market paperbacks.

Roldo Bartimole writes:

Medical care for 30 million people who do not have medical care now.

30,000,000. That”s one more than 29,999,999.

What do those who want to kill the health bill because it doesn”t go far enough say to these 30,000,000 Americans? Wait longer?

Not good enough for me because I have mine and I want you to have better health care? So wait longer.

If you don”t have health care, how do you get better health care from a bill killed by those who can”t see the benefit for the 30,000,000?

Wait 10 years and we might have something better for you?

Who is so politically pure that they can tell others to wait for perfection.

Wait for heaven. You”ll have it ALL then. Actually, no need for health care anymore.

Until then, hold on. Or take two aspirin and call us in 10 years.

Here”s the good and the bad and why the-not-so-good will have to be good enough for now.

[Update — 1002, 23 December: She who writes like she talks offers some perspective on President Carter’s letter: Carter: Grandson”s race not reason enough to apologize.

I need to think about this. Is Jason Carter’s political campaign sufficient reason for President Carter to write his letter? I don’t think so, but I’m unwilling to issue an emphatic negative.]

President Jimmy Carter writes:

The time of Chanukah and the Christian holidays presents an occasion for reflection on the past and for looking to the future. In that vein, I wish to share some thoughts with you about the State of Israel and the Middle East.

I have the hope and a prayer that the State of Israel will flourish as a Jewish state within secure and recognized borders in peaceful co-existence with its neighbors and with all the Moslem States, and that this peaceful co-existence will bring security, prosperity and happiness to the people of Israel and to the people of the Middle East of all faiths.

I have the hope and a prayer that the bloodshed and hatred will change to mutual respect and cooperation, fulfilling the prophetic aspiration that the lion shall lie down with the lamb in harmony and peace. I likewise hope that violent attacks against all civilians will end, which will help set a better framework for commencing negotiations. I further hope that peace negotiations can soon commence, with all issues on the negotiating table.

I have the hope and a prayer that just as Chanukah is the Festival of Lights, the State of Israel will fulfill its destiny as a light unto the nations.

We must recognize Israel”s achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel. As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.

May we work and pray for that better day.

Hag Semach and Happy Chanukah.

Robert Reich writes:

We are slouching toward health-care reform that’s better than nothing but far worse than we had imagined it would be.

Reich has not posted since the Republican-engineered hissy-fit vote at 1 a.m. Monday, so I’ll be interested to read his reaction, but I doubt that he’s going to change his position.

I’m the most non-spectator-sports person you’ll ever meet but allow me to offer a metaphor for what I think ought to happen next.

What President Barack Hussein Obama has crafted here is a first-and-ten yardage gain from a fourth-and-long position on the field. Obama cannot simply walk off the field now with three (seven?) years on his game clock. The second he signs the Health Care Reform bill he has to tell the nation that he’s going right back into the huddle and keep calling plays until his team (all of us) scores the touchdown.

0733: Remembering How Far We”ve Come

0726: Kasich”s VA-based blogger Jon Keeling changes his tune as he sees media begin to turn hostile on “Know Nothing” Kasich

0712: Jennifer Brunner”s Holiday Email Just Changed My Mind

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.

For those of you who are always asking “What does he need for Christmas?” Here are some of the things I purchased recently for my own Christmas.

Continue Reading »

Found in my electronic chapbook.

Any number of bestsellers with considerable popular appeal leave me colder than an editor”s smile. They may tell a good story, but if I can”t get past the writing I can”t enjoy the story. p. 55

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

My total word count remains at 21,380.