Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: I do have choices and I can learn to be in charge. One happy outgrowth of being in charge is high self-esteem. As I come to control more of the events in my life, my self esteem rises.
In the final months of World War II, as the allies approached the capital of France, the question on many minds was: Is Paris burning? Today journalist Yeni turns the question into a statement: Burma is burning. I’ve noticed the stories, but I had no idea that the situation was this bad in Myanmar.
Burma is on fire. Literally. This is not just a metaphor to describe the political situation in the country-reflecting the increased pressure on Burmese people to vote in the junta”s referendum in May and the consequent “flames” of dissent. Instead, the talk of the town today is about the element of fire itself.
A disastrous blaze swept through a crowded area of Hlaing Thar Yar Township in the outskirts of Rangoon on Monday, destroying around 200 homes and leaving some 3,000 people homeless. The same day, a second major fire destroyed Mandalay’s popular Skywalk Shopping Mall, and in the process, more than 1,300 businesses, including an IT center. A third blaze on Monday, in Palaw, Tenasserim Division, destroyed about 200 houses.
The following day, two more fires broke out in Mandalay-a small one at Pyi Kyaw Market and one at a privately owned residential compound for students early that morning.
So, it is not surprising to read the alert that followed in the government-owned newspapers, warning people that the dry season has come and the country needs to take precautions to prevent fires.
Up to that point, I think we can all agree. Continue Reading »
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 Review: Remember the Milk
Gruntshit: I found this posted in the area and had to put it up because it’s true of going out and talking to the Iraqi people. Some of it I think is that maybe our conversations get lost in translation between the Iraqi and the Interpreter, but it happens so often; like after an RPG was fired at our COP, no one in the area had heard the rocket launched. This is a no…
Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.
1012 Billionaire techie starts NYT newspaper death watch
0759 McCain… distances self from Hagee…
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. This week he brings you some amazing animal photography: From My Dad.
Not that I would From Women’s Voices Women Vote:
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Women’s Voices. Women Vote is honoring women in the blogosphere, through our Women’s Voices Making History contest.
We’re inviting people to nominate their favorite female bloggers through March 21. After the nominating period, we will list the top 10 female bloggers and ask you to vote for your favorite.
Check out the form and vote for your favorite blogger today, and encourage your readers to do the same. We’ve created a button for your site that will take your readers directly to the voting form.
Click here to nominate your favorite female blogger today!
Thank you,
Sarah Johnson
Communications Director
Women’s Voices. Women Vote
For the record, I object on principle to awards for best female anything other than accomplishments where men can’t possibly compete (such as birth mother). Jill shouldn’t be competing for Favorite Female Blogger; the category ought to be favorite blogger, period.
I confess that I have been wondering about the issue of ethnic diversity and factionalism in Myanmar. Yesterday David Paquette laid out his case for why Myanmar is not Yugoslavia. His key point, which makes me want to pull my hair out, is that it’s all about who controls the oil and gas in these two countries.
What will we fight about when the oil is gone?
From The Irrawaddy:
The declaration of independence in Kosovo may or may not mark the final nail in the coffin for the defunct state of Yugoslavia. The speed of the dissolution of the amalgamated Slavic state has been remarkable. From one nation in 1988, there are now seven independently recognized states. Just like Burma.
However, Burma is not Asia”s Yugoslavia. It may share ethnic diversity, but its history shares few parallels. And more significantly, it”s the majority group, the Burmans, that sits on the oil and gas in Burma. In former Yugoslavia, the new independent states of Kosovo and Montenegro hold the key to Caspian oil.
Like Iraq, oil is the overwhelming reason why the territory of Kosovo will be fought over politically and, if necessary, militarily. And it”s the lack of such a natural resource that denies Burma”s ethnic peoples the international support they would need to strive for independence.
Teaching a Current Affairs program to Burmese students some years ago, I was asked not to discuss the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. I was told: “It could send the wrong message.” Continue Reading »
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from Midrash and Literature edited by Geoffrey H. Hartman and Sanford Budick.
Apocryphal: 1 : of doubtful authenticity : SPURIOUS2 often capitalized : of or resembling the Apocryphasynonyms see FICTITIOUS- apocryphally \-f0-lÃŽ\ adverb- apocryphalness noun [47]
Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: How often do I have the kind of day when I feel I hold the world on a string? The moment I feel this way is the moment when I am most in control of the events in my life: most in control of what I am doing, most in control in my relationships with others.
For exercising what we in the United States — pre-President George Bush and his free-speech zones — knew to be our constitutional right under the First Amendment, arrested protesters in Myanmar face 20 years in the country’s infamous Insein prison. They had previously faced a maximum of seven years in prison.
From The International Herald Tribune:
Myanmar’s military junta has charged about 20 pro-democracy activists under a security law that carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, a lawyer said Friday.
The dissidents were detained in connection with last year’s mass pro-democracy demonstrations, which were violently suppressed in September by the government.
The detained dissidents, being held at Yangon’s notorious Insein prison, were earlier charged with violating the Printing and Publishing Act, for which they face a maximum seven years imprisonment, said defense lawyer Aung Thein.
They include prominent activists Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi of the 88 Generation Students group, whose demonstrations against economic hardship helped spark the broader September protests.
No trial has yet been scheduled, he said, adding that he has not yet been able to meet his clients. Continue Reading »
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 7 Ways To Research Your Freelancing Target Markets.
Barack Obama was questioned at Tuesday night’s debate by Tim Russert and Hillary Clinton about repudiating Louis Farrakhan’s endorsement – which Obama said was unsolicited – in the strongest terms possible. He was repeatedly badgered by Russert, and was forced to disown Farrakhan over and over again.
The very next day, John McCain appeared onstage in Texas with Pastor John Hagee, an influential activist in the Christian Zionist movement. Hagee’s comments about world affairs can make Farrakhan seem pedestrian at times: He eagerly awaits the Armageddon, considers the Catholic Church to be the Anti-Christ, and has said that Jews brought their own persecution upon themselves.
But when it came to McCain’s rather controversial backer, the press hardly batted an eye. Seems like a pretty clear double standard, right? Eric Kleefeld
Hmmm… Do you wonder what Bill Hobbs will have to say about John Hagee?
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