25 November 2007

TIME POWER: TODAY…

0001 by Jeff Hess

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: Nine techniques for reducing a visitor”s overlong stay in your office:

Always maintain a businesslike stance and a formal tone.

Set a time limit.

Do not allow interruptions.

When the time comes for the visit to end, stand up.

Always keep a timepiece where you can see it.

Say, “It”s time for the meeting to end.”

Give a summary for action.

Use body language.

Have your secretary interrupt you if necessary. p. 131-3

Posted in Time Power: Today | No Comments »

24 November 2007

GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…

2030 by Jeff Hess

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown intervened to halt the planned deportation of Myanmarese dissident Lay Naing and his family. Brown ordered a review of Naing’s case. According to The Independent, Mr Naing fled to Britain last year after being imprisoned and beaten for distributing literature critical of the military junta.

Mr Naing said yesterday: “We are very happy and I am very excited, but at the same time I have very mixed feelings. It’s very weird. I have so many thoughts. I have been thinking about the Burmese people and about the other people’s human rights there. I feel sad that so many people in my country cannot talk about human rights.”

Mr Naing, an IT lecturer in his native Rangoon, said contact with his family in Burma was very difficult and he did not know what had happened to friends who had been imprisoned with him. “I’m still worried about them,” he said.

He added: “I have called Damian Green to thank him and I thank Gordon Brown a lot, also for his efforts on human rights as well. The media can help a lot in educating people about what is happening and I really thank The Independent.”

Examples like Naing are precisely why the military dictators in Myanmar are hoping the world will be quickly distracted from its actions by some other world crisis. This is why it is so important to not turn away.

The Prime Minister confirmed that Mr Naing would be given humanitarian protection in a letter to Mr Green. He wrote: “The Government has strongly and repeatedly condemned the recent violent suppression of peaceful protests across the country. We are horrified by the reports of ongoing persecution targets at all those who took part in the demonstrations.

“We want the regime to release all political prisoners, engage in a genuine process of reconciliation and a dialogue that it fully inclusive, not least of the ethnic groups.”

[Snip]

Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “We hope this represents an acknowledgement from the Government that Burma is not safe and they are now ensuring that those who have sought sanctuary in the UK are fully protected.”

And in the rest of the Free World?

Also:

Burma”s Bangkok Embassy Seeks Names of Student Protesters
Lee: A Burma beginning

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

24 November 2007

WAITING FOR THE GUARDS…

1735 by Jeff Hess


Yes, it’s a real person. Yes, he volunteered for this.
Yes, the whimpers are real.

Posted in Social Justice & Advocacy | No Comments »

24 November 2007

MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…

1400 by Jeff Hess

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 Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran.

Posted in Blogpile, International, Israel, Politics | No Comments »

24 November 2007

GOOD NIGHT MYANMAR…

1230 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar, Video | No Comments »

24 November 2007

FROM THE SANDBOX…

1200 by Jeff Hess

Teflon Don: I was looking through some of Idaho Journal writer Bill Schaefer’s dispatches last night, trying to find the one he wrote about Badger 6 and me. Alongside the title list for his writing is a constantly changing slideshow. When I loaded the page, the image that came up was a picture of a hand holding a framed photograph — a picture of Clev and…

Posted in The Sandbox | No Comments »

24 November 2007

WHAT THEY SAID…

1159 by Jeff Hess

“Permitting surreptitious conversion of a cellphone into a tracking device without probable cause raises serious Fourth Amendment concerns especially when the phone is in a house or other place where privacy is reasonably expected,” Judge Stephen William Smith of the Southern District of Texas

Posted in What They Say... | No Comments »

24 November 2007

CASUALTIES DON’T COUNT… IF YOU DON’T COUNT THEM…

1032 by Jeff Hess

On Tuesday I lamented that a London Times story about the suicide deaths of 6,256 American military veterans committed suicide in 2005 didn’t appear on Page 1 of the New York Times. This morning I read a story in USAToday about the more than 20,000 who sustained brain trauma in Iraq that the military kept off the official casualty roster.

The data, provided by the Army, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as many troops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by the Pentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in the Pentagon’s official tally of wounded, which stands at 30,327.

The number of brain-injury cases were tabulated from records kept by the VA and four military bases that house units that have served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is the kind of game the U.S. military has been playing at least since the Vietnam War where personnel who died outside the country but from injuries received in combat did not count a combat deaths.

Soldiers and Marines whose wounds were discovered after they left Iraq are not added to the official casualty list, says Army Col. Robert Labutta, a neurologist and brain injury consultant for the Pentagon.

“We are working to do a better job of reflecting accurate data in the official casualty table,” Labutta says.

Most of the new cases involve mild or moderate brain injuries, commonly from exposure to blasts.

More than 150,000 troops may have suffered head injuries in combat, says Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force.

“I am wary that the number of brain-injured troops far exceeds the total number reported injured,” he says.

Americans are already staggered by the approaching trillion (yes trillion, with a T) dollar cost of the Iraqi War. But that money is the up-front cost. I have yet to see an estimate of the health care cost of the more than 1.5 million men and women who have so far served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This ill-conceived and mis-managed war will be a burden upon the American people unto the seventh generation.

Posted in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Stop The War | No Comments »

24 November 2007

FROM MY DAD…

0800 by Jeff Hess

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.

A man wonders if having sex on the Sabbath is a sin because he is not sure if sex is work or play. So he goes to a Priest and asks for his opinion on this question.

After consulting the Bible, the Priest says, ” My son, after an exhaustive search, I am positive that sex is work and is therefore not permitted on Sundays.”

The man thinks, “What does a priest know about sex?” So he goes to a Minister, who after all is a married man and experienced in this matter. He queries the Minister and receives the same reply. Sex is work and therefore not for the Sabbath! Not pleased with the reply, he seeks out the ultimate authority: a man of thousands of years of tradition and knowledge.

In other words, he goes to a Rabbi. The Rabbi ponders the question, then states, “My son, sex is definitely play.” The man replies, “Rabbi, how can you be so sure when so many others tell me sex is work?”

TheRabbi softly speaks, “If sex were work, my wife would have the maid do it.

Posted in From My Dad, Humor | No Comments »

24 November 2007

GOOD AFTERNOON MYANMAR…

0430 by Jeff Hess

Musicians have a long history of political dissent and on-stage demonstrations. In recent years those protests have included Sinead O’Conner, the Dixie Chicks and many others. Rapper G-Tone joined the club earlier this week when he removed his shirt at a concert. From the All Burma I.T. Student’s Union:

Burmese rapper G-Tone was taken away by police as he left the stage at a concert last night after he showed a religious tattoo to the crowd during his performance, according to an audience member.During a hip hop festival at Mya Yeik Nyo hotel at around 9pm, G-Tone took off his shirt and turned his back to the audience to reveal a tattoo of two hands clasped in a prayer position holding prayer beads.

Immediately after the gesture, police and fire brigade officials went towards the stage to arrest him, but were persuaded by other musicians to wait until the end of his set to avoid making a scene.

As soon as G-Tone left the stage, he was arrested and handcuffed by the police, still in view of the crowd.

What happened next was worth of the Hell’s Angels.

The rapper”s arrest provoked an angry reaction from the crowd, who started shouting at the police.

In response, the police went into the crowd and began beating up audience members, who were mostly young people and high school students, including 8th and 9th graders.

The incident grew into a riot as the audience became increasingly angry at the police.

When other musicians tried to intervene to stop the police, they too were hit, including popular hip hop musicians Kyat Pha and Yatha, who was kicked when he tried to stop the police.

And we think we have bad rappers.

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | 2 Comments »

24 November 2007

FROM MY CHAPBOOK…

0400 by Jeff Hess

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 Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the border between science and spirituality by John Horgan.

“He then essentially retracted his and D”Aquili”s earlier prediction that one day neuroimaging would distinguish true mystical visions from delusions. “I don”t think any brain-imaging study could do that…”.” p. 81

Posted in Chapbook | No Comments »

24 November 2007

DON’T FORGET BURMA NO. 12…

0230 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

24 November 2007

TIME POWER: TODAY…

0001 by Jeff Hess

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: Seven ways to leave a meeting early:

Raise your hand and ask “Is there any further contribution I can make to this meeting?”

Have someone interrupt you.

Open your datebook organizer and do some planning or write diary information.

Put your mind on something more productive.

Ask to be excused.

Sit at the back of the room and slip out when the meeting is no longer productive for you.

Give the I message: tell your boss, “I”m attending meetings I think I don”t need to attend. I”m losing a great deal of time in these meetings when I could be producing more significant results for you. I would feel greatly relieved if we could get this matter resolved.” p. 129-30

Posted in Time Power: Today | No Comments »

23 November 2007

THE BEATLES, GET BACK…

2359 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Music Videos | No Comments »

23 November 2007

GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…

2030 by Jeff Hess

Women in Southern and South Eastern Asia like Benazir Bhutto, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Aung San Suu Kyi are emerging as leaders in countries that traditionally have not valued women. The masses in support of these, and other visionary women, threaten the comfortable power structures that have emerged in the post-colonial period.

And they’re not being quiet about their aspirations.

From Mizzima News:

Burma’s women’s leadership does not stop with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A new publication profiles and draws attention to the detention and plight of some twenty other women who performed critical functions during the protests of August and September.

Accordingly, a group of rights activists is calling for 16 days of campaigning to bring attention to the plight of Burmese women activists in the country’s ongoing struggle for human rights and democracy, from November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to December 10, International Human Rights Day,

“For women of Burma who face and are under state-sanctioned violence this call cannot be more relevant than ever and the international community needs to have strong commitment and will to work harder towards protecting and securing women’s human rights,” reads a statement from the Asia-Pacific Peoples’ Partnership for Burma.

APPPB says that international focus and assistance to the struggles of Burma’s women is especially important, as there exist no domestic organizations inside Burma to which the women can turn for help. Women’s organizations in Burma are said to fall under the jurisdiction of the military and are managed by wives of military personnel.

We all have seen the long lines of male monks in their saffron robes marching, but too little attention has been paid to the nuns.

Women ‘fugitives’ arrested are subjected to harsh prison conditions with scant medical attention. Some of those that fled arrest are chronicled as having to leave children behind, while others have had relatives arrested in their place.

The report goes on to mention that in addition to the number of arrests made against women activists on the streets of Rangoon and throughout Burma, the regime detained hundreds of nuns who, in their pink dress, participated alongside monks in the mass protests of late September.

Five women still on the run from Burmese authorities, including Phyu Phyu Thin and Ni Mo Hlaing, also yesterday sent a letter addressed to several United Nations officials. The missive calls on the international organization and its representatives to undertake a thorough study of human rights abuses perpetrated against women at the hands of the military junta.

[Snip]

“We are particularly concerned that the women, including nuns, recently detained are facing gender and sexual violence in addition to the other deprivations and unacceptable conditions in the prisons,” says [Women’s League of Burma] spokesperson Paw Hset Hser.

As in all people’s revolutions, women in Myanmar are the too much the invisible revolutionaries. Let’s change that.

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

23 November 2007

FRIDAY FLASH FUN…

1700 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Games | No Comments »

23 November 2007

WHAT THEY SAID…

1510 by Jeff Hess

Yes, one hesitates ever to make generalizations, but let”s be honest the cultures are different, if they weren”t how much poorer the world would be and Americans really don”t seem to be very good at or very used to the idea of a good no-holds barred verbal scrap. I”m not talking about inter-family ‘discussions” here, I don”t doubt that within American families and amongst close friends, all kinds of liveliness and hoo-hah is possible, I”m talking about what for good or ill one might as well call dinner-party conversation. Disagreement and energetic debate appears to leave a loud smell in the air. Stephen Fry

Posted in Humor, What They Say... | No Comments »

23 November 2007

MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…

1400 by Jeff Hess

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 Finding Your [carbon] Footprint.

Posted in Blogpile, Global Warming/Climate Chaos | No Comments »

23 November 2007

GOOD NIGHT MYANMAR…

1230 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar, Video | No Comments »

23 November 2007

FROM THE SANDBOX…

1200 by Jeff Hess

RN Clara Hart: I held the hand of a soldier today and watched helplessly as he sobbed uncontrollably. I held the hand of a soldier and listened with growing horror to the litany of complaints; not sleeping, having nightmares, anxiety, dreading report for duty, uncontrolled crying, feeling irritable, not eating. I held the hand of a soldier and listened to him say, “I may…

Posted in The Sandbox | No Comments »

« Previous - Next »