How to analyze a candidate debate… Roy Peter Clark provides these tips and back-up (in the form of a classic column about the Nixon-Kennedy debate) in the Poynteronline.com Writing Tools section. Obviously, viewers as well as writers can benefit from his suggestions, which, for me, explain why I like transcripts and face-to-face opportunities so much when I”m trying to understand what makes someone tick. Jill Miller Zimon

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.

0946 Solutions wanted: how to include… in election process
0928 risk taking

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.

Dear Sir:

Your Humble Client

As further example of why the Myanmar generals are not going to be able to quickly go back to murder-as-usual, comes this story in The Scotsman about school students doing their bit to promote Democracy on the other side of the globe. If pennies could save the USS Constitution, could Euros save a country?

Pupils and teachers at an Edinburgh primary school have been given a Christmas tree by Lothians MSP George Foulkes.

The Labour MSP chose Forthview Primary in West Pilton because of the school’s work in the local community, and their efforts to support pro-democracy campaigners in Burma.

[Snip]

Mr Foulkes, who was set to switch on the tree lights this morning, said: “I am delighted to be visiting Forthview Primary School to turn on the Christmas tree lights, particularly as the tree is decorated with a Burmese theme – just white lights and orange ribbons.

“The pupils have sold over 2000 Burmese orange ribbons, raising £2000, a truly wonderful gesture.”

More than a gesture, Mr. Foulkes, more than a gesture.

The students had earlier established a relationship with their counterparts in South Eastern Asia, The Scotsman reported.

Forthview Primary School in Pilton has established a partnership link with Hleebee school in Mae Sot province in Thailand, whose pupils are drawn from Burmese refugees living close to the Thai-Burma border.

Edinburgh North & Leith Labour MP Mark Lazarowicz said a visit by Forthview head teacher Sheila Laing to Hlebee and a return visit by Dr Thein Lwin, a leading educationalist involved with refugees, had highlighted the plight of the Burmese people to the pupils and the community.

What do you think these students might go on to accomplish?

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 A Poetry Handbook: a Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. by Mary Oliver

“The part of the psyche that works in concert with consciousness and supplies a necessary part of the poem – the heat of a star as opposed to the shape of a star, let us say – exists in a mysterious, unmapped zone: not unconscious, not subconscious, but cautious.

It learns quickly what sort of courtship it is going to be. Say you promise to be at your desk in the evenings, from seven to nine. It waits, it watches. If you are reliably there, it begins to show itself – soon it begins to arrive when you do. But if you are only there sometimes and are frequently late or inattentive, it will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all.” p. 8

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: In that fifteen to thirty minutes each day, you must face reality. In solitude you must know who you really are. Acknowledge the fact that you have not yet achieved a particular goal or that there is some incongruity between your performance and a particular unifying principle. But do not whip yourself for your failure. Throw no dirty bricks. Simply accept yourself for who you are and recognize your tremendous potential for achievement and change. p. 161

The headline in The International Herald Tribune is disturbing: For Myanmar junta, crisis is over. Is it possible that the World will now move on to the next big crisis. That might be true if only traditional media were involved. But with blogs and net-savvy news organizations like Irrawaddy at work, the pressure continues.

Two months after they cracked down on huge anti-government demonstrations led by Buddhist monks, the generals who rule Myanmar have reason to feel relief.

It seems they have ridden out their most difficult challenge in two decades and are set to maintain control through force and fear, offering only small concessions to the demands of their critics abroad. If change is coming in Myanmar, experts say, it will probably be a long process and to emerge from within the power structure.

And since the people aren’t part of the power structure, we should just ignore their actions?

Meeting with reporters here last week, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa, said the continuing repression “raises questions about the sincerity of the military in pursuing what we will consider to be a genuine dialogue leading to national reconciliation.”

As the attention of the world shifts elsewhere, the generals have made it clear that they intend to follow their own course, as they have through a half-century of self-imposed isolation.

That wouldn’t be because the United States, worn down to hear exhaustion buy more than four years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, has rendered itself toothless, would it?

And then there’s the issue of all that natural gas in Myanmar that the other countries need to fuel their expanding economies which suggests this point-of-view from Ong Keng Yong, the secretary general of the Association of South Eastern Asia Nations:

We don’t want to come across as being too confrontational in a situation like this.

How confrontational do you think we ought to be?

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 FEMA blasted for ‘news’ conference.

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.

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah’s Ark:

Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

South Africans are questioning their governments reactions to suffering in nations around the world, including the oppression in Myanmar. And their questions are good ones. South Africa’s dark years of apartheid taught it a great deal about the importance of international attention in fighting injustice. But sometimes lessons need refreshing.

From Johannesburg’s The Times:

South Africa has been party to several anti-human-rights decisions this year, writes Hillel Neuer, and it is time Pretoria explains why.

At the United Nations recently, South Africa outdid even Saudi Arabia in opposing or refusing to support resolutions for victims of human rights violations in Belarus, Burma, Iran, and North Korea. When questions arose over this policy, criticised in March by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a betrayal of our noble past”, the government”s reaction was to lash out. It would do far better to simply respond to the legitimate concerns of its citizens.

South Africa’s noble past is not ancient history. But sometimes selective memory can be convenient.

In an October study by the Democracy Coalition Project, countries were measured by their support for mechanisms addressing violations in specific countries (like Burma), ensuring the much-touted universal review of all states would be more than a toothless exercise and protecting the independence of country and thematic investigators. In all cases, South Africa was found to be on the wrong side, among those acting to eviscerate Kofi Annan”s original plan for an effective council.

The government claims human rights victims are better helped by “quiet diplomacy”. Yet the victims implore the international community to shine a spotlight on abuses their governments seek to hide. From Burma it was Aung San Suu Kyi”s National League for Democracy who urged the Security Council to speak out. Similarly, from Darfur to Cuba, dissidents and victims come to the Human Rights Council pleading for public action. Does South Africa know something the victims do not?

I seriously doubt it.

What questions would you ask our government?

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 A Poetry Handbook: a Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. by Mary Oliver

A poem is a mystical document. p. 1

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: “Do not hesitate. Seize the earliest opportunity to act on each new resolution. Set about accomplishing your goal with the strongest possible initiative. Pursue your goals daily and never suffer an exception to occur.” William James. p. 160

Irrawaddy has been one of my primary sources of news from Myanmar since I began reading daily about that country’s military dictatorship, the 15-year house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the continuing struggle of Myanmar’s predominantly Buddhist population to achieve liberty.

Another respected international news organization — The Christian Science Monitor — takes a look at the magazine.

Aung Zaw got his first taste of publishing two decades ago in the kitchen of his family’s home in the old Burmese capital of Rangoon. A student of botany protesting his country’s jackbooted military regime to the alarm of his mother, Aung Zaw began producing samizdat leaflets at night on an antiquated printing cylinder operated as if rolling dough.

Arrest, torture, and a stint in jail followed. As the Burmese pro-democracy uprising of 1988 was being crushed by the ruling junta and thousands were being killed, Aung Zaw, disguised as a monk, escaped through the land-mined jungles of Burma (Myanmar) to Thailand. Here, he made a discovery – the “magic of the fax machine,” as he puts it. Presently, he was back in business, dispatching reports about his compatriots’ plight to human rights groups.

From just across the border, Aung Zaw gives the generals serious headaches and sleepless nights.

Aung Zaw crosses his arms and claps himself on both shoulders, saying, “A heavy responsibility weighs on these.” Then gesturing around the newly furbished newsroom in this city in mountainous northern Thailand, he adds: “I never thought I’d come so far!”

The Irrawaddy’s reporters draw on a clandestine network of sources several thousand strong across tightly policed Burma, from shop owners to disgruntled officials who communicate via phone, e-mail, courier, and meetings snatched at border crossings. The journalists also parse the regime’s propaganda statements for insight.

This last reminds me of how Kremlin watchers would pour over Pravda and Izvestia for kernels of information about the inner workings of the old Soviet Union.

Aung Zaw ought to serve as both hero and role model for bloggers. He accomplished his success with only a fax machine and an old PC.

What could we do with the tolls we have?

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 The Living Room Candidate.

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.