PEOPLE ARE DYING IN TEHRAN…
1244 by Jeff HessAT LEAST ONE DEAD AFTER PRO-GOVERNMENT MILITIA OPEN FIRE AT OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS IN TEHRAN. Pls RT!
People are getting killed in Azadi Sq.
Via Daily Dish…
15 June 2009
15 June 2009
DAILY DISH UNDER ATTACK…
1221 by Jeff HessAndrew Sullivan writes at 12:01 EDT:
The Atlantic is struggling to keep the site up despite what seems to be a digital attack. Please be persistent in trying to reload.
15 June 2009
FROM TIANANMEN TO ENQELAB…
1122 by Jeff HessAs I’m watching the videos and reading the tweets, one thought is on replay in my head: will 20 years and the Internet which separate Enqelab from Tiananmen be enough?
15 June 2009
MY COMMENTS…
1113 by Jeff Hess1113: [Update II] 0832: [Update] 1029: Iran – Always good news for Republicans, even as their wet dream comes true
15 June 2009
15 June 2009
POLITICS, POLITICS, POLITICS…
0938 by Jeff HessHow it makes of your face a stone
that aches to weep, of your heart a fist,
clenched or thumping, sweating blood, of your tongue
an iron latch with no door. How it makes of your right hand
a gauntlet, a glove-puppet of the left, of your laugh
a dry leaf blowing in the wind, of your desert island discs
hiss hiss hiss, makes of the words on your lips dice
that can throw no six. How it takes the breath
away, the piss, makes of your kiss a dropped pound coin,
makes of your promises latin, gibberish, feedback, static,
of your hair a wig, of your gait a plankwalk. How it says this –
politics – to your education education education; shouts this –
Politics! – to your health and wealth; how it roars, to your
conscience moral compass truth, POLITICS POLITICS POLITICS.
by Carol Ann Duffy, England’s first woman poet laureate. Via Sherry Chandler…
15 June 2009
WHAT THEY SAY…
0925 by Jeff HessThe lax regulations have also opened the military’s doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members – with drastic consequences. Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right.
A recent Department of Homeland Security report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” stated: “The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.”
Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military’s strategic goals but because killing “hajjis” is their duty as white militants.
15 June 2009
AND WE’RE FREE TO BLOG ABOUT IT ALL…
0912 by Jeff HessIRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers from ayrakus on Vimeo.
15 June 2009
ROLDO RIGHTS…
0807 by Jeff HessCan you sense the panic?
Certainly the Plain Dealer does. Maybe it”s leading it. Maybe it”s helping to make it up.
All you have to do is read the Sunday PD lead editorial, “Reluctant reformers,” to hear the gnashing of teeth over the dead-in-the-water Cuyahoga County reform package amid a corruption scandal.
On the next editorial page, the PD follows with a frantic op-ed column by Tom Bier, Cleveland State University”s urban affairs executive in residence. Bier”s fretting about Opportunity Corridor. Tom, calm down. Bier gets space in the PD because he talks their talk but can be cited as an independent voice, an academic voice.
He has long been earnest and urgent about the troubles of Cleveland. I respect him for this. However, I don”t see him attacking on the tremendous waste that has gone into the private sector in town. I”d like a little more balance, even on this issue. Continue Reading »
15 June 2009
13 June 2009
THE ROAD TO EXCESS LEADS TO…*
2000 by Jeff HessHe was introduced to Johnny Cash backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Kristofferson described Cash as “skinny as a snake, wearing all black and as electrically wired up as anyone I’d ever seen. He was the most driven, gifted, exhilarating and self-destructive artist I’d ever met, and I wanted to be exactly like him.
I was going to have to hustle to go out like Hank Williams, ’cause I was already 29. But I thought it was the function of an artist to burn, not rust.”
*The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom. William Blake, Proverbs Of Hell.
13 June 2009
I’LL STOP CRITICIZING TWITTER NOW…
1921 by Jeff HessALL internet & mobile networks are cut. We ask everyone in Tehran to go onto their rooftops and shout ALAHO AKBAR in protest #IranElection
My next door neighbor is an Iranian immigrant who came here in 1977. He just received a SAT phone call from his brother in Tehran who reports that the rooftops of nighttime Tehran are filled with people shouting ‘Allah O Akbar’ in protest of the government and election results. The last time he remembers this happening is in 1979 during the Revolution. Says the sound of tens of thousands on the rooftops is deafening right now.” It’s almost four in the morning in Iran.
13 June 2009
13 June 2009
WHY INVESTING IN WALL STREET IS IDIOCY…
0841 by Jeff HessTo this day, the willingness of a Wall Street investment bank to pay me hundreds of thousands of dollars to dispense investment advice to grownups remains a mystery to me. I was 24 years old, with no experience of, or particular interest in, guessing which stocks and bonds would rise and which would fall. The essential function of Wall Street is to allocate capital-to decide who should get it and who should not. Believe me when I tell you that I hadn”t the first clue.
12 June 2009
12 June 2009
12 June 2009
[UPDATE] LETTERMAN IS WRONG, PAILIN IS RIGHT…
1228 by Jeff Hess[Update — 1626, 16 June: David Letterman directly apologized to Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughters on his program Monday night according to released transcripts, with the CBS late show comic taking the blame for a “flawed” joke that offended the former vice presidential candidate.
“I told a bad joke,” he said. “I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception.”]
Are the pigs airborne yet?
Imagine if, say, Michelle Obama, or Rachel Maddow, or Nancy Pelosi became the target of similar invective. The outcry from the left would be deafening. Shouldn”t liberals exhibit the same sort of decorous treatment we demand for ourselves?
Sexist comments like Letterman”s and Cimbalo”s also evoke a troublingly insular, clubhouse atmosphere in lieu of an inclusive political party. What’s more, the gender-based stereotypes they conjure are as stale and ignorant as any voiced by the old Neanderthal right: Pretty women are de facto stupid, sexually promiscuous and low-class.
Indeed, it’s the latter slight that has been least remarked upon and is, perhaps, the most disturbing. “Slutty flight attendant” is not just a sexual put-down; it’s a socioeconomic one. Likewise, when Cimbalo says, of right-wing blogger Pamela Geller, “Even a Silkwood shower won’t get rid of the stench of Fascist divorcee and Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door,” the classist sentiment is unmistakable. It’s a combination of gutter misogyny and snobbery, a return to a 1950s kind of insult.
And then there’s Letterman “Jokes” About Palin’s Daughter from NOW.
12 June 2009
SOCRATES CAFÉ: (SEVERAL) MORNING(S) AFTER…
1139 by Jeff HessTuesday evening our Socrates Café met at the Mayfield Road Phoenix Coffee House and the question we pulled from the box was:
What would be the effects of ending the institution of marriage?
We discussed several understanding of what that institution was, what it meant and what might replace it if it were to be summarily ended. That an alternative would replace marriage was generally agreed, but there was disagreement as to whether or not that would be a difference that made a difference.
We also considered whether or not government had a proper role in establishing rules governing marriage. Continue Reading »
12 June 2009
CHANGE HAPPENS…
0934 by Jeff HessFrom a Change email this morning:
It’s not every day that we get contacted by a billion-dollar corporation agreeing to change a business practice our members find ethically objectionable. But that’s exactly what happened to Change.org this week.
It all started when our Human Trafficking blogger, Amanda Kloer, posted news that the credit card company Diners Club International had established a partnership with a Vietnamese mail-order brides company to jointly offer an official payment plan for buying women on credit. (No, sadly this was no joke.)
The post provoked an immediate reaction from the Change.org community, and nearly a thousand Change.org members sent emails to representatives of Diners Club demanding an end to the program due to its gross commodification of women and the vulnerability of mail-order brides to human trafficking, domestic violence, abuse, and exploitation.
Then, as the community prepared for its next move, something unusual happened: Diners Club contacted us, apologized for the offense, and told us that they were taking steps to formally end the new program and sever their relationship with Vietnam Brides International.
12 June 2009
THAT’S WHAT WRITING IS FOR…
0840 by Jeff HessI summoned enough composure to ask him the one question I”ve always wanted to know: “How are you able to understand yourself enough to write about where you”re from?” I had trouble writing about my own reservation, I explained, because I was afraid of getting something wrong and hurting the people I love.”
“I don”t care,” he said nonchalantly. “I don”t care what people on the rez think.”
“But what about the elders, your aunts, your uncles-?”
He cut me off. “I don”t care. I mean, you can”t, and if you do, you can”t write about it. You have to write about something else.” Continue Reading »
