One of the standards by which it is possible to measure any community or society is by how it treats the least among it. We in the United States believe that we understand poverty and desperation, but I learned in my travels in Asia that nothing in the United States can compare to what the least of Myanmar’s citizens suffer.

From The Irrawaddy:

A group of senior citizens is sitting and chatting together in a circle, hoping for worshippers to appear at Mandalay”s famed Mahamyatmuni Pagoda in Mandalay so they can beg for money. They are weak, feeble, and entirely dependent on these small offerings from the pious and compassionate.

Increasingly, Burma”s elderly, including retired civil servants, are turning to mendicancy to make ends meet. They can be seen near pagodas, in teashops, and on the streets, seeking to supplement their meager pensions with the spare kyat of passersby.

Retired civil servants like teachers.

“The pension I receive now is 800 kyat (60 cents) a month, not even enough for a meal,” said a retired teacher in Rangoon. “We fulfilled our duty to our country, but the government has failed to take sufficient responsibility for retired civil servants.”

The former teacher added that the high cost of transportation since the regime raised fuel prices late last year has been especially hard on retired civil servants living in rural Burma, who must go into the city to collect their pensions. Now, he said, much of the money they receive is spent on traveling expenses.

I have no idea what 2 cents a day would translate to here in the United States, but it is too tiny to even begin to consider. And don’t ever expect the generals to act.

In Burma, there are estimated to be 4 million people over the age of sixty, representing roughly 8 percent of the total population. There are just 52 homes for the aged across the nation, with a combined capacity to care for 2,196 senior citizens. All are run by charitable organizations supported by donations.

Inadequate care for the elderly has forced many to rely on others who are also struggling to provide for themselves. “Some older people, leaning on a healthier elderly person, go from car to car along U Wisaya Road, because drivers in this area can afford to give money to beggars,” according to Ma Naing, a resident of Rangoon.

But the Army is still getting its trucks from China.

Why aren’t you outraged?

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 A Guide to Cutting Back When You Feel Overwhelmed.

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.

HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany. In June of this year, HEMA was sold to British investment company Lion Capital. Look at HEMA’s product page. You can’t order anything and it’s in Dutch but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens.

Blogger Nay Phone Latt is alive and in detention at a government office. Latt was picked up by the government four days ago on undisclosed charges believed to be associated with his blogging activities. He was spotted by members of Myanmar’s opposition party briefly detained at the same location as Latt.

From The Associated Press:

Officials have declined to confirm his whereabouts – or his arrest.

No reason for Nay Phone Latt’s apparent detention has been made public, but he disappeared amid tightening government control of the Internet. Even in normal times, the ruling junta tries to block many Web sites it considers subversive.

Three youth members of the opposition National League for Democracy party were detained last week. They said after their release Monday that they had seen Nay Phone Latt at the Home Ministry, which coordinates security affairs, said league spokesman Nyan Win.

As I’ve written before, Latt is no more nor less important than any other political prisoner in Myanmar. But because he is a blogger I feel a kinship and an obligation to not allow him and his story to disappear.

How do you feel?

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.

Bible stories do not flatter or fascinate like Homer”s; they do not give us something artfully rendered; they force readers to become interpreters and to find the presence of what is absent in the fraught background, the densely layered narrative. p. 15

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: We all have routines that with a few adjustments could bring us better control. A good question for you to ask yourself is, What other routines in my day could I change? p. 115

The generals were really spooked by the subversive writing published by poet Saw Wai in the weekly Love Journal. Titled February 14, the poem contained the acrostic message: Senior General Than Shwe is foolish with power. Frantic less something about the generals and women’s panties come to light, they’re taking stern measures.

From The Irrawaddy:

Burma”s censorship authorities have found new tools to monitor submitted written manuscripts before approval-mirrors and magnifying glasses.

The new tools were introduced following the discovery in a published poem of a clandestine message mocking junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Can black lights and candles for exposing invisible inks be far behind?

“Yes, we can” vs. “Yes, she can.” There you have the key difference between the two campaigns. Andrew Sullivan

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 are you storing your coffee?

Toby Nunn: I really can’t participate in my hobbies over here, other than MMA* training, but one thing that I have been able to do is read. I get my hands on a book every now and then, but mainly I read the papers. Yes, I read the papers when possible. My good friend Deborah hooked me up with a New York Times subscription, and we get the Stars and Stripes on…

[Update –0827 — My dad learned early on the value of Snopes for determining what was worth reading and what to just send to the trash. This morning he forwarded a virus warning that Snopes has vetted. Happy Valentine’s Day.]

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.

Ten Thoughts to Ponder for 2008

And The No. 1 Thought For 2008: We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease is located among millions and millions of cows in America but we haven’t got a clue as to where terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of Homeland Security.

Why do the generals need cell phones? Emma O’Brien doesn’t ask that question in her story this morning about opposition to a New Zealand company building cellular towers in Myanmar, but it was the first thought that popped into my head. The generals want to quash communications with the outside world. What’s going on here?

From Bloomberg:

New Zealand’s opposition National Party accused the government of hypocrisy for allowing a state-owned company to do work in Myanmar, where a military junta is accused of sustained human rights abuses.

Kordia, an Auckland-based telecommunications company, is working with Thai firm ALT Inter Corp. installing mobile- telephone towers in the South-East Asian nation, National’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Murray McCully said in an e-mailed statement. New Zealand has urged the Myanmar junta to heed the demands of its people and allow greater human rights.

Why do you think the generals want cellular service across Myanmar?

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.

Scripture can be distinguished from fiction by its frictionality: not only its respect for friction, which exists also in literary texts, but its capacity to leave traces, which incite and even demand interpretation of what is incorporated. p. 13

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: The preoccupied sit in meetings voicing objections to issues not raised, agreeing with ideas not presented and answering questions not asked.. p. 115

I can’t find a definitive source for who might have coined the phrase the people united can never be defeated. The word have been appropriated and personalized by hundreds of organizations perhaps as long as there have been union movements. I’m thinking about it this morning because of a question from Violet Cho and Shah Paung.

Why didn”t the ethnic groups do more to help the September protesters?

Nearly five months after the anti-regime demonstrations that shook Burma late last year, one central question is still waiting for a definitive answer: Couldn”t the ethnic groups have done more to support the protesters in Rangoon and other cities?

As monks and lay protesters filled the streets, there was some speculation that the armed forces of the Karen National Liberation Army and the Shan State Army-South might at the very least launch offensives to pin down Burma Army divisions in Karen and Shan State. At the height of the brutal crackdown on the demonstrations in Rangoon it was reported that government troops had been sent from Karen State to help suppress the protests.

Good question. And sadly the answer seems to be no one thought of it.

The Karen National Union, which has been fighting for Karen rights for more than 60 years, declared at the outset that it was prepared to help the protesters in any way it could. But no military assistance materialized.

Htay Aung, a researcher with the Thailand-based Network for Democracy and Development, pointed out that armed ethnic groups were in no logistical position to take action. They were ill-prepared and had no strategy to deal with the kind of crisis that occurred in September 2007, he said.

How do you think all those united by their opposition to the generals ought to prepare?