2130 by Jeff Hess
While the world’s eyes are focused on Singapore and President Barack Hussein Obama’s historic meeting with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and possible discussions with Myanmar’s Senior General Than Shwe, others in South Asia are watching Sri Lanka where Shwe stopped on his way to Singapore.
From Democracy For Burma:
U Awbartha, a member of the Burmese Scholar Monks Association in Sri Lanka, said that the normally apolitical monk community would deny religious services, a practice known as Pattanikkujjana, for Than Shwe.
“Burmese monks inside and outside of the country initiated their act of Pattanikkujjana against the government who tortured, murdered and imprisoned them after the 2007 Saffron Revolution,” he said. “The Pattanikkujjana act is still in place so we would not accept any donation [from Than Shwe]. We have also urged our fellow monks to refuse his donations.”
It appears that earlier reports that the monks would be too fearful to protest were unfounded.
Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »
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.
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. — Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
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.
Posted in From My Dad, Humor | No Comments »
0030 by Jeff Hess
Found in my electronic chapbook.
There”s a moral here. When things flag a wee bit, do something dramatic, put a bear in a canoe or bring in a bearded, turbaned Sikh with a gun in his hand. p. 171
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
I wrote 3,276 words yesterday morning and my total word count is now 26,893.
Previously…
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2130 by Jeff Hess
Speculating why President Barack Hussein Obama will meet with Myanmar’s Prime Minister Thein Sein tomorrow during an Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ confab on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore, Time magazie writer Hannah Beech suggests that political and economic realities are in play.
Beech writes:
[A]fter a strategic review conducted over several months, the U.S. State Department announced in September that it would pursue a policy of cautious engagement with Burma, in part because isolation had not worked in blunting the regime’s brutal behavior.
Administration officials cautioned that sanctions would remain in place for the time being and would only be lifted if the Burmese government showed tangible human-rights progress. But dialogue with dictators, goes the new U.S. thinking that is being applied from Iran to North Korea, is now seen as preferable to not talking and cutting off any chance at reconciliation.
The change in policy also reflects the political and economic reality in Asia. While the U.S. and European Union have stayed away, other countries have poured money into Burma – most notably its neighbors China, Thailand and India, who are hungry for the country’s plentiful natural resources. The sting of western sanctions has been lessened by such investment forays, leaving the Burmese military brass with plenty of money to prop up their regime.
A desire for corporate profits knows no borders, avarice recognizes no political affiliations.
Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »
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.
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. — Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
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.
Posted in From My Dad, Humor | 2 Comments »
0030 by Jeff Hess
Found in my electronic chapbook.
The excitement in Wilderness [by Robert B. Parker, JH] lies not merely in what happens but how it happens, and in how the characters act and react and how they are affected by their actions and reactions. p. 166
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
I wrote 3,276 words yesterday morning and my total word count is now 23,617.
Previously…
Posted in Chapbook, NaNoWriMo | No Comments »
2130 by Jeff Hess
There won’t be any dramatic shift in Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi is not going to be released from detention. Clearly in the build up to the historic meeting of President Barack Hussein Obama with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the diplomatic back channel failed to connect.
From Agence France-Presse:
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday she did not expect the Myanmar junta to soften its stance on detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi anytime soon, despite a diplomatic offensive.
“I doubt it. This is a long term effort that requires a lot of patience,” Clinton told a public forum in Manila when asked whether the junta was likely to loosen curbs on Suu Kyi after a high-profile leaders’ meeting this weekend.
There is no deal for now and Sec. Clinton’s task was to lower expectations in advance of the actual meeting. I’m sure it was a good shot anyway.
Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »
0642 by Jeff Hess
Ta-Nehisi Coates writes:
We’ve got some time before this thing shakes out, and those numbers could change. But unless they want to basically be the party of the white South, this just seems stupid.
Agreed. But they’re already there Ta-Nehisi. President Richard Nixon is smiling in hell.
Posted in National, Politics, Prejudice & Bigotry | No Comments »
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.
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. — James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
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.
Posted in From My Dad, Humor | No Comments »
0030 by Jeff Hess
Found in my electronic chapbook.
What gives, I suspect, is a confusion of plot and idea. An idea, as I see it, is the premise of a story. A plot is the structure by means of which that idea is transferred into a work of fiction. p. 159
From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.
I wrote 1,667 words yesterday morning and my total word count is now 20,341.
Previously…
Posted in Chapbook, NaNoWriMo | No Comments »
2130 by Jeff Hess
The timing on this story from the Australia Network News seems odd to me. It could be the case that Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer is attempting to nudge the State Peace and Development Council, aka Myanmar’s military dictators, or that he is anticipating a favorable outcome to back channel talks.
Burma’s detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is reported to be planning what is termed a “political action” for the benefit of the country.
Her lawyer, Nyan Win, says details will be announced next week.
First the issue will be discussed by the executive of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.
Nyan Win was speaking after an hour’s meeting with the opposition leader at her lakeside home in Rangoon.
Regardless of outcomes, it appears that residents of Myanmar will be living in interesting times for the next week or so.
Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »
