SPC Beaird: Things have been pretty busy around here lately. Missions and QRF have been keeping us quite active, and there’s lots to do organizing mounds of clothes and gear to figure out the final packing list heading home and getting our footlockers ready to ship. And in the free time I have had I”ve been extremely lazy and tried to sleep as much as possible…

Yesterday I forwarded a Slate piece to several friends about an email circulating in Democratic cyberspace. The email addresses an essay written by Robin Morgan in 1970 titled: Goodbye To All That. In 1970, Hillary Clinton was a student at Yale Law School. I was a freshman at Warren High School and Chelsea Clinton was 10 years in the future.

Re-reading Morgan’s essay took me back to the time when I discovered the works of Marge Piercy, a writer of whom I continue to stand in awe. One of the first of her books I read was Vida. Much of what I would know about the second wave of Feminism (my grandmother was part a suffragette and part of the first wave) would come from Piercy’s writings and Vida in particular.

The cover image (above, left) has been burned into my mind. So much so that when I went looking for a copy this morning and found the new Penguin edition cover (above, right) I wanted to scream how dare you! While the words inside are still Piercy’s, Penguin has ripped the ovaries out of the cover.

I can’t and won’t comment on Morgan’s essay except to say that she expressed a righteous anger that is sorely missing in the 21st century.

I will comment on its circulation and the comments appended by Chelsea Clinton.

Chelsea is reported to have written: I echo Nickie though would also add to please forward this to all the men you know too–voting in the election tomorrow, voting next week, already voted. I don’t agree with all the points Robin Morgan makes but I do believe her thesis is important for us all to confront–I confess that I didn’t entirely get ‘it’ until not only guys stood up and shouted ‘iron my shirts’ but the media reacted with amusement, not outrage…

I want to know which points Chelsea agrees with and which points she disagrees with. And why has she taken the stand she has on those points.

The little boys who stood up and shouted iron my shirts at a Clinton rally are small-brained pseudo frat rats who couldn’t have had an original thought in their lives. They’re beneath contempt. And I would say the same of any troglodyte who shouted shine my shoes at Barack Obama.

I don’t like that Nicole Davison attempted to link Hillary Clinton with Robin Morgan in this manner. And I’d very much like to know how Morgan feels about the linkage. She may very well be a Clinton supporter; I’d be surprised to find that she isn’t. She is.

Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she”s the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election. I support her because she knows how to get us out of Iraq.

I support her because she”s refreshingly thoughtful, and I”m bloodied from eight years of a jolly “uniter” with ejaculatory politics. I needn”t agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama”s-and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care).

I support her because she”s already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US president.

But what Morgan wrote in 1970 isn’t the reality in 2008.

I don’t suggest that the sexism and dismissal of women that she raged against isn’t still very much with us. It is. But the Clinton’s candidacy isn’t revolutionary or even rebellious. It’s Establishment.

If she becomes President of the United State it will be an important milestone. But not one of earth shaking historical importance. She will be accepted in the same way that other women who achieved great status in public office in recent years, such as Madeline Albright, Condoleezza Rice and Nancy Pelosi, have been.

Obama isn’t running as the Black candidate and I would not like to think that Hillary is running as the female candidate. They’re both running as Democratic candidates and when you get right down to it, the separation between them on the issues is so tiny as to not exist. I told a friend last night that I’ll have no problem voting in November for whoever is the Democratic nominee.

Right now I support Obama. Not because he’s male or Black, but because I think he represents a break from Corporate politics; because I think he can pull the nation together and not destroy the opposition in the process better than Clinton.

As most of you have figured out by now, my dad isn’t the only one who sends me fun stuff via email. Victor, another regular reader has decided make some of us laugh this morning. Don’t worry, there still plenty of stuff to come From My Dad, but occasionally I’ll toss a few from the rest of you into the hopper as well.

1977 VS 2007

1977: Long hair
2007: Longing for hair

1977: KEG
2007: EKG

1977: Acid rock
2007: Acid reflux

1977: Moving to California because it’s ‘cool’
2007: Moving to Arizona because it’s warm

1977: Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
2007: Trying NOT to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor

1977: Seeds and stems
2007: Roughage

1977: Hoping for a BMW
2007: Hoping for a BM

1977: Going to a new, hip joint
2007: Receiving a new hip joint

1977: Rolling Stones
2007: Kidney Stones

1977: Screw the system
2007: Upgrade the system

1977: Disco
2007: Costco

1977: Parents begging you to get your hair cut
2007: Children begging you to get their heads shaved

1977: Passing the drivers’ test
2007: Passing the vision test

1977: Whatever
2007: Depends

From my Navy days what I remember about New Zealand was that it was wouldn’t let the USS Bainbridge make a port call because we were nuclear powered and might have had nuclear weapons on board. New Zealand had a strict No Nukes policy. And while I would have like to have visited, I understood their environmental stance.

But that was 30 years ago.

From The Nelson Mail:

Every now and then, however, something happens and the public gaze returns. Five months ago, the country’s biggest employer, the army, ordered that heads be cracked to suppress an uprising led by Myanmar’s revered Buddhist monks. Condemnation was resolute and surprisingly universal – even China expressed alarm.

New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that the whole world was watching the country’s “illegitimate and repressive regime” and would hold it to account. The age of impunity in neglecting and overriding human rights was over, he declared. For the new leader of a country with a lingering interest in the affairs of the former colony it administered initially as a province of India, Mr Brown was talking tough. But, another day, another crisis, and the preoccupation with Myanmar soon waned.

Now, it is back in focus, in a very small way – at least in this country – after revelations that a state-owned business has enterprisingly landed a deal helping to build cellphone towers. Government broadcast and telecommunications business Kordia has almost completed an $80,000 deal with the pariah state’s military rulers.

I still haven’t figure out what the oppressive generals want with a cellular network but hey, they steal the dollars, they get to spend them.

However, business has no conscience, [Boy, is that ever true. JH] and Mr McCully would know well that New Zealand has no economic or trade sanctions with either Fiji or Myanmar. As someone who no doubt fancies his chances of becoming foreign affairs minister this year, is that what he will be pressing for? Would he draw up his own list of countries that New Zealand businesses, state-owned or otherwise, will be barred from trading with, outside of any United Nations hit-list?

Prime Minister Helen Clark says the contract is “probably” a positive force for democracy in Myanmar, because communication with the outside world can have an important role in ending repression. That assumes the use of the cellphone towers will be generally available to the public, which requires quite a stretch.

Probably a positive force? The only part of the deal that is positive has to do with the bank accounts of the no-conscience businesses involved.

Was New Zealand a better nation when it wouldn’t let the likes of me ashore?

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.

Exegesis arises out of a practical crisis of some sort – the incomprehensibility of a word or a rule, or the failure of the covenantal tradition to engage its audience. p. 34

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: Six Time Power Procedures: change routine, cultivate observation, make your motions faster, think with a pencil in your hand, make comparisons, use the spontaneous goal (ask what is the purpose of your action, pulling yourself into focus on what is relevant, on the vital issues). p. 116

Driving to meet a student this afternoon I listened to the World Have Your Say on WCPN. Today’s show focused on how the rest of the world views our primary season and whether or not the United States was demonstrating how Democracy is supposed to work. It reminded me how much the rest of the world watches us.

From BURMA: Online News & Analysis:

Republican Party front-runner Senator McCain and Burma: He introduced Saffron Revolution Support Act of 2007 Senate Sen. John McCain takes a big step in his White House quest with Tuesday’s wins. Mr. McCain introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. SEC. 9. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY IN BURMA.

Sounds great, but I did a quick check on Thomas and found that the bill McCain introduced was: S. 2172, Saffron Revolution Support Act of 2007. The bill introduced in the Senate promoting Democracy in Burma is: S. 2257, Burma Democracy Promotion Act of 2007 sponsored by senators Joseph Biden (D-Del.), Mitch McConnel, (R-Ky.); Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Dianne Feinstein, (D-Calif.).

None of this is to imply that Sen. McCain is not a friend of the people of Myanmar.

Does it surprise you that Myanmar is watching our election process?

I’m not sure when it happened, but I signed up for a Twitter account, posted one location and moved on. That’s the way I’ve treated all of the relationship systems — Facebook, Myspace, etc. — because I barely have time to keep up Have Coffee Will Write and The Writing On The Wal. Then a conspiracy struck.

In the last week I’ve gotten nearly a dozen email announcements that various bloggers are following me on Twitter. When it was one or two, or even six, I didn’t feel any compulsion to actually use the system. But today I decided to cave to popular opinion and actually start posting when I move somewhere with a WiFi signal.

Is there a trick to this?

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 How to Back-up Your Life.

CAPT Doug Traversa: Here”s another episode of Hamid and Doug Ponder the Universe. My little story has no real bearing on either the origins of the Qur”an or the resurrection of Jesus. It has a great deal to do with the nature of faith and evidence. I hesitate to share this because some Christian will assume I am trying to prove there was no resurrection (I am not), or…

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.

WILL MOVING TO NEW YORK HELP, TAKE 2…? The New York Times managed to barely scrape a couple of new pieces of information out of the double-secret, not-tell announcement that Wal-Mart is laying off workers at headquarters and moving its apparel division to New York City. Keep reading…

YOU SHOULD LOVE WORKING AT WAL-MART… We all get email here at The Writing On the Wal. Sometimes readers need some information or want to share experiences either shopping at or working for Wal-Mart. While I wouldn”t say the letters I”ve received were 100 percent negative, it”s pretty close. Keep reading…

A BILLION POUNDS OF BEEF A YEAR…!?! I seriously doubt if there”s anyone who even occasionally reads The Writing On The Wal who doesn”t know our position on Wal-Mart and meat. But there”s a story this morning from big sky country that could send serious shivers down the backs of all carnivores. 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 missjosy1989. Keep reading…

QUITE BITCHING AND PAY THEM MORE… No. I”m not talking about Wal-Mart. I”m talking about a school district in Edgewood, New Mexico, that is complaining that it”s school bus drivers are quitting to go work at a Wal-Mart opening east of Albuquerque. I”d call this a wake up call for the school district. Keep reading…

WAL-MART, VIOLENCE AND CRIME, OH MY…! Apropos of the comment thread on Wal-Mart and crime that started last night I thought I”d do a quick look at Wal-Mart related crime stories over the past 48 hours. Yes, I know that these are all anecdotal and do not represent any statistical validity. Keep reading…

FILLING IN WAL-MART”S MARKETSIDE PICTURE… I”m a bit of a retail wonk because my first professional job in the civilian world was an editor for a magazine covering the automotive aftermarket (that”s vehicle parts, accessories, chemicals and sundries). That”s why I”ve interested in Wal-Mart”s Marketside stores. Keep reading…

WAL-MART TOUTS GFSI STANDARD… The news wires are humming this morning with Wal-Mart”s announcement that it has embraced the Global Food Safety Institute standards for its private label and other foods. Wal-Mart claims the GFSI audit standard exceeds that of the USDA and FDA. Keep reading…

COMING SOON TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD…? I”m trying to find the original of this to give the artist proper credit, but I can”t find it on the Roadkill site. If you have a link to the original, please let me know via a comment. Keep reading…

LEGO TAKES A STAND…? The tanking of the U.S. dollar and the recession (yes, economists and market pundits are finally admitting we”re in a recession) has increased the value of the Canadian dollar and Wal-Mart is attempting to renegotiate pricing to reflect the shift. 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 chuckle I present: From My Dad.

Smile, you teachers out there!

Jake is 5 and learning to read. He points at a picture in a zoo book and says, ‘Look Mama! It’s a frickin’elephant!’

Deep breath … ‘What did you call it?’

‘It’s a frickin’ elephant, Mama! It says so on the picture!’

and so it does …

‘A f r i c a n Elephant’

Hooked on phonics!

The United States acted yesterday to tighten the financial sanctions imposed on the military dictators of Myanmar. This time the sanctions are targeted at an individual in control of three companies importing military equipment including helicopters. Going after the military connection is smart, but needs to be comprehensive. Not a bullet should get through.

From Reuters:

The action designates three firms controlled by Tay Za and his Htoo Trading conglomerate, including a subsidiary based in Singapore, as supporters of human rights violations in Myanmar, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

[Snip.]

The action prohibits Americans from doing business with the companies and with seven newly designated individuals, and seeks to freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

[Snip.]

The firms designated on Tuesday included Myanmar Avia Export, which the Treasury said was used to purchase helicopters and aircraft on behalf of Myanmar’s military. It also designated Ayer Shwe Wah, a firm for which the son of a senior Myanmar general serves as a director, and Pavo Aircraft Leasing, a Singapore-based company that directs Htoo business ventures in the city-state.

Yet the trucks roll into the Myanmar from China.

Is there a smart, non-military action here?

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.

“Inner Bible Exegesis: Types and Strategies of Interpretation in Ancient Israel” by Michael Fishbane. Revealed teachings are a dead letter unless revitalized in the mouth of those who study them. p. 19

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: It is often wise to leave the work environment and take a few minutes to go out for lunch. You will generally find yourself at a higher level of productivity when you return. p. 115