RALPH’S SKETCH ‘N’ KVETCH…
1146 by Jeff Hess
13 December 2009
13 December 2009
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.
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I’m going with male.
Attributed to Disorder In The Court.
13 December 2009
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
I put in a good day”s work and wound up knocking out fourteen pages. p. 43
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
My total word count remains at 21,380.
12 December 2009
12 December 2009
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff Hess
President Barack Hussein Obama delivered yet another amazing speech as his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, as they are called, this week. There is a tremendous amount of materials there to deal with, but in South Asia, they took note of the president’s un-peace like warning to dictators around the world.
From The Irrawaddy:
In his speech, delivered in Oslo, Norway, Obama specifically mentioned Burma as one of the countries where there is systematic abuse of human rights by the government and honored opposition leader and fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for her commitment to democratic reform.
Acknowledging that he has adopted a policy of engagement with the Burmese junta, Obama said that “sanctions without outreach-and condemnation without discussion-can carry forward a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.”
However, he also warned that the world could not afford to ignore threats to peace from regimes that menace their neighbors or their own citizens.
“Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war. The same principle applies to those who violate international laws by brutalizing their own people,” he said.
“When there is genocide in Darfur, systematic rape in Congo, repression in Burma-there must be consequences,” he added.
“Yes, there will be engagement; yes, there will be diplomacy-but there must be consequences when those things fail. And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.”
12 December 2009
12 December 2009
WHAT THEY SAY…
1159 by Jeff HessThrough an active practice of non-cooperation, we can withdraw the legitimacy that they have in our minds and open up spaces of calmness from which to explore new possibilities.
It is critical that we search for real expressions of our nature, not the tiger’s. Only then can we reclaim the dignity of our lives on our own terms.
We don’t have to play their game.
12 December 2009
12 December 2009
12 December 2009
WHAT THEY SAY…
1046 by Jeff HessThere are people who think presidential politics–from a voter’s perspective–is about electing someone who will do exactly what you say and enact every single one of your priorities in exactly the same manner as you would.
And then there are people who think presidential politics–from a voter’s perspective–is about electing someone who shares many of your priorities, but not all of them, who may not enact them as you would, and yet whose wisdom you trust. That, for me, is the point. Barack Obama is wise. Sarah Palin is not.
As usual, Ta-Nehisi manages to express far better the words I was searching for in this comment thread over at Plunderbund.
12 December 2009
12 December 2009
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.
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
Attributed to Disorder In The Court.
12 December 2009
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
Outlines are an even more effective tool in learning how longer fiction works. When you take an outline you have read and reduce it to a chapter-by-chapter summary of its plot, you are in effect reversing the process the author followed in writing the book in the first place. Although they”re often easier to write, novels are generally more difficult to grasp than short stories. So much more happens in them that it”s harder to see their structure. Stripped down to outline form, the novel is like a forest in winter; with all their branches bare, the individual trees become visible where once the eyes saw only a mass of green leaves. p. 32
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
Missing a routine two days in a row is a major no-no. It won’t be three. My total word count remains at 21,380.
11 December 2009
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff HessHunger strikes by political prisoners have a long history, the most famous of which must be the several actions by Gandhi during his fight against British Imperialism for the independence of India. The tactic is risky when the authorities are likely not to give a damn, unless the light of international attention can be drawn.
From AFP:
A US citizen jailed in military-run Myanmar has gone on a hunger strike and is in deteriorating health, his overseas lawyer said Friday.
Myanmar-born Kyaw Zaw Lwin, alias Nyi Nyi Aung, stopped taking food on December 4 to demand better conditions for political prisoners, said Beth Schwanke, his Washington-based international counsel.
US diplomats have not been allowed to see him and the court cancelled a hearing that had been scheduled Friday citing health reasons, she said.
“We are extremely concerned,” she told AFP. “We’ve received reports that his health is very seriously deteriorating, but we don’t have very much information because the US embassy has been denied access.”
Dissident groups from Myanmar, earlier known as Burma, have said Nyi Nyi Aung is a democracy activist and was hoping to see his ailing mother, herself detained over political activities, when he was arrested on September 3.
A court charged him with fraud and forgery related to a Myanmar identity card and of failing to declare currency at customs.
Any American citizen risks much when they attempt to demand that a foreign despots follow the rules of civilized governance. Sadly, I do not hold out great hope for Kyaw Zaw Lwin.
11 December 2009
11 December 2009
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.
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
Attributed to Disorder In The Court.
11 December 2009
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0030 by Jeff HessFound in my electronic chapbook.
[T]he simple act of stripping the stories to the bones will give you an intuitive understanding of what holds them together that you could not readily obtain just by reading them. p. 31
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
My total word count remains at 21,380.
10 December 2009
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2130 by Jeff HessDespite the attacks on her in recent days from the military dictators of Myanmar, the generals appear still willing to speak with Aung San Suu Kyi, at least through Myanmar’s labor minister. Suu Kyi appears encouraged by the international interest in her and her country over the past few months.
From the BBC:
Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met a government minister in Rangoon in the third such meeting since the beginning of October.
Her meeting with labour minister Aung Kyi lasted 45 minutes but no details of what they discussed have been released.
I found this bit of Alastair Leithead’s story encouraging:
Suu Kyi has been opening up her own dialogue.
This meeting is the third with labour minister Aung Kyi, the government’s liaison officer, and follows a letter Ms Suu Kyi wrote to the country’s leader General Than Shwe, asking to meet him and to work more closely with the state.
She has recently been studying international sanctions imposed on Burma.
They would be part of any deal to release political prisoners – Ms Suu Kyi is just one of more than 2,000 being held.
President Barack Hussein Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are on the job.
10 December 2009
ROLDO RIGHTS…
2000 by Jeff HessThe flow of federal stimulus money into Cleveland makes me wonder why Mayor Frank Jackson and his merry elves at City Council need to burden residents with a garbage tax.
City Council members authorized Mayor Jackson to begin collecting $8 a month for garbage collections. Having been elected for four years the Council members (all but three) figured that they had enough time for constituents to get used to paying another regressive tax.
And they seem to be getting away with it.
However, extra revenue from the federal government is flowing Continue Reading »
