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.
We read a great deal about the Saffron Revolution in Myanmar and the peaceful demonstrations as tens-of-thousands of robed monks marched in the streets. But there is another revolution ongoing in Myanmar. A revolution of small arms and ambushes. A revolution of fractured people’s demanding self-determination.
From The Boston Globe:
Consider General Johnny, commander of the Seventh brigade of the Karen National Liberation Army, military wing of the largest of the 20 ethnic groups that for more than half a century have intermittently fought insurgency wars against the government.
From a hut perched on bamboo stilts, he commands about 1,000 guerrillas in this tiny village on the west bank of the Moei River, a lazy waterway that separates Burma from Thailand, said the general, who gives his name as Johnny.
In the past year, he said, the Burmese Army has not mustered the resolve to force him to move.
“The order from headquarters is to attack us, but the battalion commander who is responsible in this area does not follow the order,” the general said. “He doesn’t want to fight.”
Can an army unwilling to fight still be an army?
The Burmese Army is among the largest in Asia, with about 400,000 soldiers. But parts of it are a shambles, with poor morale, an officer corps that drinks to excess, and an acute desertion problem, according to diplomats, human rights groups, and the army.
Desertion grew by 8 percent last year, according to a report by the London publication “Jane’s Defence Weekly,” which said in April it had obtained an internal army document that summarized a quarterly meeting of regional army commanders. During a four-month period in 2006, the army lost 9,497 people, mostly from desertion, Jane’s said.
Diplomats and human rights officials also say the army’s ability to deploy soldiers has been eroding. “On paper they have 400,000 soldiers, but in the field it is more like 250,000,” said Shari Villarosa, charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Burma.
To find soldiers, army recruiters often abduct or buy children as young as 10, according to a recent report by the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch. It said children are grabbed at train and bus stations and that some are beaten until they agree to volunteer.
In the United States we have a very difficult relationship with revolutionaries. And the world has a great deal of difficulty grasping why it is that a nation founded a people in revolt against their monarch could not understand their own history.
Why is it that we consistently back the wrong sides?
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 Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations From Sufi Wisdom by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut.
“Wanting is what stands between human beings and the Path of Truth.” Dhu al-Nun. p. 16
Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: identifying priorities: A signifies vital; B signifies important; C means of some value; and D means a complete waste of time. p. 14
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 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year 2007.
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.
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.
0716 foreclosure
Translation of any language is an art. And when you have to attempt to translate the subtle, the satiric or the metaphorical, the art becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. And this makes the understanding of a people’s struggle all the more difficult when it must hide its own words from government censors.
From Burma Sitmone:
This blogger would like to praise the courage of the Comedians after watching the Jokes of the Anyein performance , which is usually combined with the traditional dance with the jokes.
However the Jokes made by the famous comedians, Godzilla, King Kong,and the others make all of us laughing at the same times feel deep sorrow as we all know that these comedians were crying in their heart while making the Jokes to express the feeling for the 50 millions Burmese, who”s mouths were sealed by the Military Junta.
For the non Burmese readers I am unable to translate their jokes as they smartly and bravely used the Myanmar Language, Culture and tradition with current situation of Burma in indirect words. Myanmar Language is difficult to translate in its true essence as meaning may change with different intonation.
Following is my favourite quote regarding humor and the fight for democracy which was originally from Irrawaddy On-line.
Sit Mone
Do it your self Democracy Burmese Style
“There has been, of course, the clever use of new technologies such as mobile phones and the Internet, but some of the methods used-like invocation of cultural symbols or spreading of subversive jokes about the junta-are difficult to understand as “political activity” by many outsiders.”
To paraphrase Sir Donald Wolfit: Pain and suffering are easy, comedy is hard.
How does it become possible to cross the humor divide?
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 Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations From Sufi Wisdom by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut.
“Be in this world as if you are a traveler, a passerby, with your clothes and shoes full of dust. Sometimes you will sit under the shade of a tree, sometimes you will walk in the desert. Be a passerby always, for this world is not your home.” A Hadith (saying) of the Prophet. p. 15
Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: Time management is the act of controlling events. Understanding the real nature of events going on around you is essential to prioritizing them appropriately and bringing them under control. As you secure control of events, you make proper adaptations, and your self-esteem grows. Self-esteem contributes to productivity, and productivity to self-esteem. p. 13
Here in the United States we fret over our illegal immigrants as if they threaten to overwhelm and destroy the very fabric of our nation. The brutal oppression of the people of Myanmar, however, has shown a light on an immigrant problem in Thailand, a nation of some 65 million burdened with more than 2.3 migrants and refugees, many from Myanmar.
From MCOT English News:
An estimated 350,000 migrants will be naturalised as Thai citizens by 2009 in order to avert possible threats to national security and keep them from doing illegal businesses in this country, said deputy prime minister Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin.
After a meeting with the Policy Committee for Personal Status and Rights at Government House, Gen. Sonthi, who currently directs security affairs, said of the total of about 350,000 migrants, an estimated 13,000 persons were considered as being Thai descended who had emigrated from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia during the past several decades.
The other immigrants were considered neither of Thai descent nor Thai nationals, but they totaled about 340,000 persons who had fled into Thai territory from the neighbouring states and had their children born in this country given Thai nationality.
In addition to the 13,000 persons of Thai descent, the 340,000 will also be naturalised as Thais before the end of 2009, he said.
Another 200,000 migrants currently living in Thailand would follow suit in the future, he said.
And what will happen to the more than 1.7 million not naturalized?
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 100 (Or So) Ways To Succeed No. 101.
We do love our conspiracies. And I generally adhere to a bit of adviice I received from Abby Hoffman years ago — never trust conspiracy theorists, they’re all in it together — but the idea of a North American Union fueled by the Amero as the net logical step to the North American Free Trade Agreement makes me hmmm. From After Enlightenment.
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.
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