LT G: Today is just like any other day except for the ones that are different. A giant alarm clock, appropriately nicknamed Big Ben by SFC Big Country, rings with acrimony, breaking in the day far more brusquely than God intended when He designed the sluggish rising of the sun. I yawn loudly, slap myself in the face, and hop off of the top bunk and saunter towards the…
It’s amazing how today’s right don’t seem to realize that Buckley was, you know, a conservative. Once you remove the WMD issue and the threat to Western security, there is no conservative defense of the Iraq war, let alone a conservative defense of a permanent Iraq “nation”-building occupation.
In fact, it is very hard to think of any foreign policy objective that is less conservative than permanently occupying, and re-making, a foreign country, whose subtleties we know nothing about, whose destiny we have no business directing, and whose people resent as a religious imperative the presence of any non-Muslims in their territory.
To engage in this task for five years, propose it for fifty, and defend it by the kind of rhetoric used in the Second Inaugural is one of the biggest assaults on conservative principles in a very long while. It takes a Bush. Andrew Sullivan
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.
What would you take with you if you had to go underground? I’ve never considered the question before, but reading about Tun Myint Aung and the two items he never lets out of his sight since August of last year has started me thinking. What could you grab, and carry, with your for five months of hiding?
From Asia Times:
Somewhere in the dilapidated city of Yangon is a man on the run since August last year. He has sheltered in over 10 homes so far. But he expects to continue avoiding arrest by Myanmar’s dreaded military or intelligence forces.
When Tun Myint Aung shifts from one safehouse to another, he goes armed with two items that have become indispensable. They are a mobile phone and a portable, Chinese-made radio, to listen to such anti-junta stations like the Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Oslo, Norway.
“The phone and the radio are very important now. I always take them wherever I go. They are next to me when I sleep,” said Tun
Myint Aung during a recent telephone interview with Inter Press Service from his current safehouse in the former capital. “Through them I stay in touch with people outside, my friends, and follow the news about events in the country.”
But his Tecsum shortwave radio has taken on added value in military-ruled Myanmar’s current oppressive climate. “The radio has become a social weapon for me and for our movement,” added Tun Myint Aung over the phone, an act that could get him jailed. “It is how the messages against the military regime are broadcast by us and others against them.” 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.
Aphorism: 1 : a concise statement of a principle2 : a terse formulation of a truth or sentiment : ADAGE- aphorist \-rist\ noun- aphoristic \9a-f0-8ris-tik\ adjective- aphoristically \-ti-k(0-)lÃŽ\ adverb [43]
Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: In your early-morning planning period, concentrate on the evidence of the efficacy of faith. There are four kinds of evidence. Apply them in your early-morning planning period to secure the essential assurance you need for goal achievement:
Think of achievements in the past that relate to your goals.
Imagine yourself performing the steps needed to achieve your goal.
Identify with a successful model.
Seek additional affirmation from a power higher than yourself. p. 161-4
While the vast majority of what I’m trying to include here about Myanmar is about the what’s going on in the country itself, I do like to remind people that we’ve not forgotten Burma here. Students at Tufts University are auctioning a wide variety of services this evening to raise money to help refugees settle locally.
From Tufts Daily:
Interested in a dumpling dinner for four, a personal magic performance or salsa lessons for two?
These services and dozens of others will be offered tonight at the Asian American Alliance’s Annual Service Auction, one of the group’s largest events of the year. A wide variety of Tufts students and faculty members will offer their own forms of assistance – at a price.
Students will be able to bid on the contributions, and the AAA will donate all proceeds to a local organization that helps Burmese refugees settle in Worcester, Mass…
The AAA hopes to raise a good deal of money during the auction, said Yin Lin, a freshman who is co-organizing the event.
“It’s one of our biggest events, and last year we raised over $2,000 for another Asian organization,” Lin said.
Lin said that the AAA hopes to raise as much money as it did at last year’s auction. Some of the lowest bids will start at $5.
Money raised will go to the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, a small, grassroots organization that works with refugees and other immigrants in Massachusetts.
“It was a group that was introduced to the Asian American Center, and they desperately need funds to settle Burmese refugees in the Worcester area,” Lin said. “We wanted to do something local, so it was more appealing to students.”
Lin said that the local focus would allow students to have a better idea of how their contributions would be used.
Isn’t it amazing how we can keep it local and assist people half-a-world away?
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 Twelve Little Hacks That Add Up To A Lot.
SPC Beaird: We”ve had snow on the mountains around us since early December now, yet there hasn”t been enough cold or precipitation to see snow at our level. That all changed a couple days ago on a cold and rainy morning, with the freezing rain slowly turning to huge snowflakes the size of silver dollar. While it was short lived (the snow only stuck on the ground…
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.
The Tennessee Republican Party today joins a growing chorus of Americans concerned about the future of the nation of Israel, the only stable democracy in the Middle East, if Sen. Barack Obama is elected president of the United States.
“It”s time to set the record straight about Barack Obama and where he really stands on vital issues such as national security and the security of Israel,” said Robin Smith, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “Voters need to know about two items that surfaced today which strongly suggest that an Obama presidency will view Israel as a problem rather than a partner for peace in the Middle East.
On Sunday, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan on Sunday likened Obama to a new messiah, calling him “the hope of the entire world.” That”s the same Louis Farrakhan who has a history of making openly anti-Semitic statements, calling Judaism a “gutter religion,” and suggesting that crack cocaine might have been a CIA plot to enslave blacks.
Farrakhan, addressing 20,000 people at the annual Savior”s Day celebration in Chicago, praised the Democrat presidential candidate, calling Obama “The hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better.”
He also compared Obama to the founder of Islam, remarking that both had a white mother and black father, according to the Associated Press. “A black man with a white mother became a savior to us,” Farrakhan said. “A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.”
Obama has on the campaign trail pledged to rapidly remove American soldiers from Iraq regardless of the resulting instability and the creation of opening that would be filled by Islamic extremists, like Al Qaeda, in Iraq”s government and military.
Obama has pledged to hold a Muslim Summit to determine Middle East policy with the very leaders that have as their goal to remove Israel from the map, referenced Jews to be “dogs” and “pigs,” among other vile references.
Over the weekend, news reports surfaced casting more disturbing evidence of Obama”s anti-Israel leanings. Bill Hobbs, Communications Director, Tennessee Republican Party
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.
Indonesia’s foreign minister pumped up the pressure on the military dictators of Myanmar yesterday by calling bullshit on the general’s shameless plan to exclude the last democratically elected president of Myanmar from running for re-election in 2010. Hassan Wirayuda made it clear that the generals are tarring all of ASEAN with their actions.
From RTT News:
Indonesia favors democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s inclusion in the political process in military-ruled Myanmar, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda also said that Indonesia welcomed the announcement of the May constitutional referendum and 2010 elections, “but Indonesia is still advocating an engagement by Association of Southeast Asian Nations-ASEAN with Myanmar.”
Wirayuda said that Indonesia, the largest member of the ASEAN, to which Myanmar also belongs, should along with other members of the group still engage with the military regime to push for an inclusive political process.
Wirayuda told a press briefing that Indonesia supported the mission of Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s special representative to Myanmar, on promoting national reconciliation in Myanmar.
“But Myanmar, being a member of the ASEAN family, we see the importance of ASEAN or Indonesia, at least, to engage Myanmar so we can ensure that the process that they are now undertaking could result in the solution that is also acceptable to the international community,” Wirayuda said.
The question continues to be: will the generals give a shit?
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.
Antiphon: 1 : a psalm, anthem, or verse sung responsively 2 : a verse usually from Scripture said or sung before and after a canticle, psalm, or psalm verse as part of the liturgy [110]
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