When a government warns its populace that bombs are going to detonating, it’s typically a sign of two truths: first, that bombs will be exploding and second, that the government will be doing the detonating. No government interested in controlling its people wants to be tagged for crying wolf.

From The Associated Press:

Myanmar’s state-controlled press warned Saturday that “terrorists” may be planning bombings during the country’s constitutional referendum next month.

A commentary published in the New Light of Myanmar and other newspapers implied that attacks were being planned by allies of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party has labeled the proposed constitution an undemocratic sham and urged voters to reject it.
Articles carried in state-owned newspapers generally reflect the viewpoints of the ruling military junta, with an emphasis on propaganda attacks on the country’s pro-democracy movement.
Saturday’s column said a terrorist plot could be «deduced» from a youth member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party who was arrested with explosives last month. It gave few details of the arrest. Continue Reading »

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 head scratch I present: From My Dad.

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is The Bottom Line for Nonprofit News.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

Concentrating on the brain structures underlying creativity provides surprising answers to such diverse questions as how we learn to write, the nature of metaphor and even what cause the strange sensation of being visited by the muse. p. 2

From The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer”s Block and the Creative Brain. by Alice W. Flaherty.

In America criminal penalties often carry a prison sentence and a monetary fine. The generals in Myanmar follow the same principle but clearly have no idea of how it is supposed to work since they’ve sentenced a political activist to life in prison with a fine equal to 90 cents American.

From The Australian:

Burma’s military government has sentenced an activist to life in prison for holding up placards calling for parliament to open and for inflation to be curbed, his lawyer said today.

Ohn Than, believed to be in his 60s, was arrested on August 23 after he stood outside the US embassy in downtown Rangoon and silently held up his signs.

“He was sentenced on Wednesday at western district court to life imprisonment and a 1,000-kyat (90 cent) fine,” his lawyer Aung Thein said.

“His sentence should not be like this,” he added.

Ohn Than staged his protest as other activists were beginning to hold demonstrations against a surprise hike in fuel prices.

Ohn Than, who is not affiliated with any political party, has been imprisoned at least twice before, and has been taken into custody at least seven other times because of his anti-government activities.

Aung Thein said he also appealed today the hefty prison sentences of 20 to 28 years handed down to six labour activists who attended a May Day ceremony at the US Embassy’s American Centre last year.

“I tried my best for all of them, but we can’t hope for the best in this situation,” Aung Thein said.

The generals know no rhyme nor reason, only the protection of what they’ve stolen.

Would you risk life in prison to protest your government?

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Self-Discipline: The Foundation of Productive Living.

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 head scratch I present: From My Dad.

What do you see at the intersections between the squares?

Found in my electronic chapbook.

Writing is the supreme human achievement. It is by turns exhilarating and arduous, and trying to write obsesses and distresses students, professional writers and diarists alike. p. 1

From The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer”s Block and the Creative Brain. by Alice W. Flaherty.

On Saturday, 2 March, Athein and Zaw Min Htwe stepped out from Portland on a journey to New York to raise awareness about the crisis in Burma. They will walk more than 3,000 miles to present a petition to the United Nations on 8 August 2008, the 20th anniversary of the 8-8-88 protests in Burma. This is episode 11 in the video documentation of their journey.

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Why I Am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal’.

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 head scratch I present: From My Dad.

Are the purple lines curved or straight?

Found in my electronic chapbook.

Theosophy: 1 : teaching about God and the world based on mystical insight 2 often capitalized : the teachings of a modern movement originating in the U.S. in 1875 and following chiefly Buddhist and Brahmanic theories especially of pantheistic evolution and reincarnation- theosophical \9thÃŽ-0-8s-fi-k0l\ adjective- theosophically \-k(0-)lÃŽ\ adverb [131] Topoi: Plural of Topos, a traditional or conventional literary or rhetorical theme or topic. [21] Toponyms: A name derived from the name of a place. [21] Weltanschauung: The philosophy of an individual or a group, especially a race with an interpretation of world history or civilization. [x] Zeitgeist: The spirit of the time; a general trend of thought or feeling characteristic of a particular period of time. [xii]

From Midrash and Literature edited by Geoffrey H. Hartman and Sanford Budick.

Chairman Mao Zedong had his little red book. For the generals of Myanmar the color is a drab military green The first is a collection of the Chairman’s wisdom; the second is a blue print for maintaining power while pretending to be open to democracy. Mao, at least was honest.

From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

Leaked copies of Burma’s proposed new constitution show the military will maintain sweeping powers.

The leaked copies are in the form of green paperbacks and are secretly circulating in the main city of Rangoon.

The ruling junta plans to bring the constitution to a referendum in May, in anticipation of elections slated for 2010.

The public has had no chance to review the final draft, and a handful of leaked copies of the 194-page document are the only versions so far available.

A copy obtained by the AFP newsagency shows that while the constitution will set up a civilian government, and grant civil rights to the people, it is peppered with caveats that allow the military to easily re-assert direct control.

The document shows detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is clearly barred from the presidency, and she will be unlikely to qualify even for a parliamentary seat.

Existing security laws used to jail political dissidents and suppress dissent will remain in effect.

One quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for the armed forces, and the president is required to be well acquainted with military affairs.

No wonder the people of Myanmar are being urged to just say No, when the vote occurs.

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Common Wealth.

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, Robert Feinman, Peter Sayles and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.

DISSING FLYOVER LAND… Jonathan has written extensively about Alice Walton project to create a museum of American art. Reading an Associated Press piece this morning, I was bothered by the what-could-a-hillbilly-from-Arkansas-know-about-art attitude of the Arterati. Keep reading…

FALSE HOPES DRIVEN BY FALSE CHOICES… In an unsigned editorial, the Chicago Tribune took the city”s leadership to task for not allowing Wal-Mart to open a second store on Chicago”s South Side. The paper attempts to paint a picture of choosing either happy shoppers or trash-filed swampland. Keep reading…

WAL-MART REPUBLICANS: A SKIDMARK MOMENT… On my primary blog I have an irregular feature tagged Skidmark Moments in which I note statements heard on my car radio that make me want to slam on the brakes. This morning I experienced one such moment listening to the first hour of the Diane Rehm Show. Keep reading…

AT THE WALLY PLEX… There are sound stages on Hollywood”s back lots smaller than Bentonvile”s behemoths, so it”s no surprise that budding video talent has been sneaking cameras in at odd hours. And now for the midnight show at the Wally Plex featuring wallstrip. Keep reading…

WAL-MART CLOSING AMERICAN WAY STORE… The headline in Memphis, Tennessee”s The Commercial Appeal this morning wasn”t meant to signal a philosophical shift at Wal-Mart, but the phrasing caught my eye in light of a post yesterday and a Wall Street Journal story from Tuesday. Keep reading…

HE”S NOT HAPPY ABOUT DEBBIE SHANKS… Warning: contains gratuitous foul language. Fast forward to 2:15 for the Wal-Mart segment. This is what Philip DeFranco added to his video: If you”re down for a 5-10 minute project, I ask you send the following to everyone you know in your email address book, myspace page, facebook page/group, twitter etc: Keep reading…

WAL-MART NO TIENE PIEDAD… I”m thinking that the poor Edelman drudge assigned to deal with Deborah Shank is about this close to going over the edge. The story, as they say in Flack World, has serious legs and it”s not going away. This is exactly what I tried to communicate with Liz Fuller. Keep reading…

AD GROUP POO POOS WAL-MART AD CAMPAIGN… The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus is not quite as upset about Wal-Mart”s ludicrous claim that it saves the average family $2,500 per year advertising campaign than we are here at The Writing On The Wal. Keep reading…

A JURY ROUND UP AT WAL-MART… A decision by Judge Richard Warren is no direct reflection on Wal-Mart, but rather on a hazard of being ubiquitous. The first function of public relations professionals was not to get attention for their clients, but rather the opposite: to protect their privacy. Keep reading…

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 head scratch I present: From My Dad.

Stare at the black dot and then move your head backwards and forwards.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

Syndetic: Serving to unite or connect; conjunctive. [14] Synoptic: Affording or taking a general view or the principal parts of a subject. [13] Syntactic: Of or pertaining to syntax; consisting of or noting morphemes which are combined in the same order as they would be if they were separate words in a corresponding construction: “blackberry.” [23] Tautology: Needless repetition of a idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in “widow woman.”[6] Teleology: The doctrine that final causes exist; the study of the evidences of design or purpose in nature. [15]

From Midrash and Literature edited by Geoffrey H. Hartman and Sanford Budick.

Looking around at Have Coffee Will Write you’ll notice I’ve cleaned up the blog; attempting to make it friendlier for readers. One of the steps I’ve taken is to consolidate the three posts a day I’ve been doing into one post. I’ll pick the top story or video each day for posting at 2030.

Today the news is about the hallmark of all tyrants and despots: secret trials.

From AFP:

At least 40 protesters in Myanmar, including seven Buddhist monks, have been sentenced to prison after secret trials over last year’s pro-democracy marches, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

In September, Buddhist monks spearheaded the biggest anti-government protests in Yangon in nearly 20 years, but the military regime violently suppressed the movement by opening fire on crowds and beating people in the streets.

Officially, more than 3,000 people were arrested during the crackdown. The junta says the vast majority have been released.

But Amnesty said in a statement that at least 700 are still behind bars, and at least 40 of them have been sentenced to prison after secret trials.

The rights watchdog said its research found protesters had been convicted “for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly.”

“Three people were sentenced merely for giving water to monks on the street,” the statement said.

Even the Romans weren’t that harsh.

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Creating a minimalist workspace.