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 So, You Want To Write by Marge Piercy.

As Gershom Sholem wrote about the Qabalah long ago, much in the mystical experience is constant across culture but the forms it takes are culturally determined. Jews are more apt to hear voices uttering prophecy or see words than Christians, who usually see images. A Buddhist will not see the Virgin Mary; a Catholic mystic will not be vouchsafed a vision of Krishna or the Great Grandmother of Us All. We are all embedded and imbued, dyed through and through with our culture. p. 25

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: A goal with an associated value is a priority. The process of prioritizing is a process of valuing.

From rooieravotr:

“Nep-monniken”, was de vondst waar het Birmese bewind mee kwam, in een verslag uit The New Light of Myanmar (een officiële krant in Birma) van de botsing tussen monniken en militairen in Sittwe, dat te lezen is op het weblog Have Coffee Will Write.

From Babel Fish:

Monks, were the find where Birmese bewind came along, in a report from The New Light or myanmar (an official newspaper in Birma) of the collision between monks and soldiers in Sittwe, that is read on weblog Have Coffee Will Write.

I think that makes sense.

Last evening as I was being interviewed by a budding journalist for CWRU’s student newspaper: The Observer, I remarked that no presidential candidate, in either party, dare take anything but a strong, pro-Israel position. Standing nearby was a supporter of Ron Paul Paul Findley who made sure I knew that his candidate did not bow to anyone.

[Update — 0624, 29 September — Fortunately for me, Molly was listening and paying attention while I was pontificating. The gentleman was not a supporter of either Ron Paul or Paul Findley, but rather was trying to make a point about Findley’s writings. Reality is what we think we experience. Others, thankfully, are around to save us from our own three-pound universe.]

And this afternoon the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports:

The Republican Jewish Coalition did not invite presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) to its candidates’ forum.

Sources close to the RJC leadership cited two reasons for not extending an invitation to Paul for the Oct. 16 forum to take place in Washington: There was time only for leading candidates; and Paul’s record of consistently voting against assistance to Israel and his criticisms of the pro-Israel lobby.

Paul’s supporters say he is opposed to foreign assistance in principle and note that he also has blasted the Saudi lobby for what he believes is its undue influence.

The RJC also did not invite Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), but only because of their long-shot status.

Candidates attending include former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas.) Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was invited, but was unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict.

The National Jewish Democratic Council hosted the full range of its party’s candidates at a spring event, including Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), like Paul, a tough critic of Israel. The NJDC event, however, lasted two days, while the RJC’s is a single-day event.

What has changed since the Spring event? Was Kucinich so marginal that no one cared? Is Paul enough of a dark horse that he has people worried? Is it a Republican thing?

And oh yeah. This is what Andrew Sullivan had to say about the event:

[Ron Paul’s] uninvited from their debate – because of his opposition to foreign aid for Israel. But he’s against almost all foreign aid, guys! Including for the Saudis. Still: it’s interesting that almost all the GOP candidates found time to debate with this tiny minority. But not blacks or Hispanics or gays. Hmmm.

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 General Order â„– 11 (1862).

SPC Ian Wolfe: I’m finally home after 22 months gone, 16 of those in Iraq. While over there I didn’t really think much of it, I just did the job I was given. But it has been a strange experience. I try to be good about talking to people when they ask what I think. I try to tell them what most of us talked about: how the media is failing us and the public, how the…

[Update — 0601, 29 September — Before the presentation, I was interviewed by Alison Dietz, news editor for CWRU’s The Observer. In that story she quoted me as saying that I had read both The Israel Lobby and the Anti-Defamation League’s response. Dietz is an undergrad still learning her craft so I don’t begrudge her this minor error. For the record, I’m about 2/3’s of the way through the former and will read the latter in due time.]

Last night was tough. The first half, the presentation by Stephen Walt, went smoothly and contained information that I knew from reading The Israeli Lobby And Foreign Policy. When Walt sat down I felt good. I felt calm. Then John Mearsheimer began to speak and I felt myself squirming in my seat.

What was different?

It’s hard to nail it down, but what strikes me now, some 12-hours later, was the language that Mearsheimer used. His arguments were as reasonable and well-crafted as those of Walt, but contained words like colonization when referring to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

I can’t argue that his use was wrong. A reasonable person can look at the construction of settlements in the occupied territories and call it colonization. It still makes me wince to hear it.

Then there was Mearsheimer’s connecting of the dots between the Neocons, Israel and the invasion of Iraq. His argument ran like this. At the beginning of the millennium, the Neocons, for whatever reason, were already looking for ways to remove Saddam Hussein. Israel, according to Mearsheimer, perceived that Iran was the greater threat.

What followed was a shift of energies and focus so that the right-wing, best funded, elements of the Israel Lobby got behind the Neocons and helped to tip the balance in convincing the United States to go to war.

The Iraq war is complicated. But I recognize how quickly people can leap on simple answers and the idea that Israel could become the target for everyone who opposes the war is distributing.

We need to have this discussion. As both Mearsheimer and Walt argued, we need to have as vigorous a debate in this country as they do in Israel itself.

Just because it makes us uncomfortable, or even fearful does not give us permission to ignore these questions.

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.

This is an actual account as relayed to paramedics at a chili cook-off in Texas.

Note: Please take time to read this slowly. If you pay attention to the first two judges, the reaction of the third judge is even better. For those of you who have lived in Texas, you know how true this is. They actually have a Chili Cook-off about the time Halloween comes around. It takes up a major portion of a parking lot at the San Antonio City Park. Judge #3 was an inexperienced Chili taster named Frank, who was visiting from Springfield, IL.

Frank: “Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge’s table, asking for directions to the Coors Light truck, when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (Native Texans) that the chili wouldn’t be all that spicy; and, besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted and became Judge 3.”

Here are the scorecard notes from the event:

CHILI # 1 – MIKE’S MANIAC MONSTER CHILI

Judge # 1 — A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick.

Judge # 2 — Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.

Judge # 3 (Frank) — Holy crap, what the hell is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me two beers to put the flames out. I hope that’s the worst one. These Texans are crazy.

CHILI # 2 – AUSTIN’S AFTERBURNER CHILI

Judge # 1 — Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeño tang.

Judge # 2 — Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.

Judge # 3 — Keep this out of the reach of children. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face.

CHILI # 3 – FRED’S FAMOUS BURN DOWN THE BARN CHILI

Judge # 1 — Excellent firehouse chili. Great kick.

Judge # 2 — A bit salty, good use of peppers.

Judge # 3 — Call the EPA. I’ve located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now. Get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back, now my backbone is in the front part of my chest. I’m getting shit-faced from all of the beer.

CHILI # 4 – BUBBA’S BLACK MAGIC

Judge # 1 — Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.

Judge # 2 — Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chili.

Judge # 3 — I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Is it possible to burn out taste buds? Sally, the beer maid, was standing behind me with fresh refills. This 300 lb. woman is starting to look HOT . just like this nuclear waste I’m eating! Is chili an aphrodisiac?

CHILI # 5 – LISA’S LEGAL LIP REMOVER

Judge # 1 — Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive.

Judge # 2 — Chili using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement.

Judge # 3 — My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted, and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her chili had given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from the pitcher. I wonder if I’m burning my lips off. It really ticks me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming. Screw them.

CHILI # 6 – VERA’S VERY VEGETARIAN VARIETY

Judge # 1 — Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spices and peppers.

Judge # 2 — The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, garlic. Superb.

Judge # 3 — My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulfuric flames. I crapped on myself when I farted, and I’m worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except that Sally. Can’t feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my butt with a snow cone.

CHILI # 7 – SUSAN’S SCREAMING SENSATION CHILI

Judge # 1 — A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers.

Judge # 2 — Ho hum, tastes as if the chef literally threw in a can of chili peppers at the last moment. **I should take note that I am worried about Judge #3. He appears to be a bit of distress as he is cursing uncontrollably.

Judge # 3 — You could put a grenade in my mouth, pull the pin, and I wouldn’t feel a thing. I’ve lost sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My shirt is covered with chili, which slid unnoticed out of my mouth. My pants are full of lava to match my shirt. At least during the autopsy, they’ll know what killed me. I’ve decided to stop breathing it’s too painful. Screw it; I’m not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air, I’ll just suck it in through the 4-inch hole in my stomach.

CHILI # 8 – BIG TOM’S TOENAIL CURLING CHILI

Judge # 1 — The perfect ending, this is a nice blend chili. Not too bold but spicy enough to declare its existence.

Judge # 2 — This final entry is a good, balanced chili. Neither mild nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge #3 farted, passed out, fell over and pulled the chili pot down on top of himself. Not sure if he’s going to make it. Poor feller, wonder how he’d have reacted to really hot chili?

Judge # 3 – No Report

My reader inside Myanmar emailed me this morning to let me know they were safe. As I read the reports from Myanmar I think back to the spring of 1989 and the euphoria we felt as it seemed that China was at last seeing a real people’s revolution. And then there was the plastic-bag totting man who stood in front of the tanks.

Monks are being beaten in Myanmar. Monks are dying in Myanmar.

I am still safe.

I have been able to call home, and to access the internet, which is strangely unnerving, given this country’s current situation.

thanks for your links. thanks for the news.

Please pray for our dear, brave monks and other civilians who are in the streets risking their lives.

yesterday i delivered two hundred twenty pounds of rice and 400 bottles of water to a for the robed ones. i covered it all with blankets in the back of my truck to avoid being seen.

the only news we have of via cnn and bbc and internet. they have moved the lady. [Pro-Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.]

thanks for keeping in touch.

I have redacted information that might identify my reader from the message.

Yesterday while listening to the BBC’s World Have Your Say program I heard one exchange that I thought was instructive. The question for the day was, what ought the world to do?

One caller said she favored all actions up to but not including the insertion of foreign troops because she didn’t want to see Myanmar be destroyed the way Iraq had been.

Tienanmen Square came and went.

Will current events be any different?

Will we go back to cheering for millionaire baseball players?

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 So, You Want To Write by Marge Piercy.

In the ancient and very modern approach to spiritual energy and experience, the Qabalah, which is my discipline, we speak of developing the adult mind. For a writer that is particularly important.

The adult mind can decide not to fuss like an adolescent because our work and our persons have experienced rejection. The adult mind can put victories and defeats into perspective. The adult mind can choose not to allow interference from the worries of the day, not to give way to irrelevant fantasies when trying to craft a meaningful fantasy. The adult mind has learned to focus and to retain focus for much longer.

We can all have bad days and we can all be distracted: it is a matter of degree and how often we can combat our idiotic and self-regarding tendencies. p. 20

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: When you have the ability to focus on and accomplish your most vital priorities, you produce your optimal effect.

That’s me wih the open laptop half way down on the left.

This evening I’m blogging live from the Ford Auditorium on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. The speakers are John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, the authors of The Israel Lobby And Foreign Policy. The seats are a little cramped and typing is difficult, but I’ll be doing my best to blog the event live.

It’s now 1858 and it looks like this may actually start on time. Mearsheimer and Walt are on stage, both looking very conservative and professorial. The auditorium looks to be about half full and only one kippot in evidence. With Molly that makes three Jews here that I know of.

1906 Molly has her camera and is going to get a crowd shot and some other photos. The person doing the introductions is wandering around the podium. Let’s get this show going.

1907 Introductions begin from Alice Bach (sp?)

1911 blah blah blah blah…

1912 Each will speak for 15 minutes, Walt first. One-minute questions, no speeches, from the audience to follow.

1917 I’ve read the book so I’m at a certain disadvantage in reporting in that so far Walt is repeating the core message from the book. He (and Mearsheimer) do not in any sense support anti-semitism and believe that the United States ought to come to the rescue of Israel if it is ever threatened with destruction.

1921 The lobby is defined by the agenda, not the people who take part in it.

1925 The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (not a political action committee) is ranked No. 2 among lobbyists, second only to the American Association of Retired People.

1930 What calling someone anti-Semitic achieves: it changes the subject; it discourages people from voicing criticisms and it marginalizes the target in the public arena.

1933 Mearsheimer thanks the school for standing up to the pressure to disinvite himself and Walt.

1938 Every U.S. president since Lyndon Johnson has opposed the construction of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. But no president has been able to influence Israel’s construction of those settlements.

1946 Where Walt came across as level-headed and reasonable, Mearsheimer is making much stronger and passionate points as regards the role of Israel and the Israel lobby in the run-up to the Iraq war. One of his key points is that it was Iran, not Iraq, that Israel saw as the stronger threat.

1952 Israel ought to be treated like all other democracies like the United Kingdom and France. The United States should act as an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States should oppose the colonial expansion of Israel into the West Bank.

1954 Now the good stuff: the questions. People are quickly lining up to get access to the microphones. There are 10 people in the line, eight men and two women.

1955 Getting out of Iraq:(Mearsheimer) it would make good sense to get out as quickly as possible. All forces out in 18 months which will result in a regional civil war. Staying there will not solve the problem. Return to over-the-horizon rapid deployment forces.

1957 On Iran: No ground troops to attack Iran. Air strikes only (Walt).

2008 The presentation was canceled in New York and Chicago, but not, obviously, in Cleveland.

2022 The question line is still six deep but I have students in the morning and haven’t had dinner yet. I’ll fill in more later. Good night.

Maybe we should get poorer. After all, the dollar”s tanking because we”ve been living beyond our means – borrowing some $2 billion a day from the rest of the world to go on buying from the rest of the world, and pay for some big-ticket items like a huge military. Rack up that much debt, and it”s no wonder our national IOU, called the dollar, is losing credibility. Robert Reich

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 Yoga At Your Desk.

Teflon Don: In the early hours of the morning, the last soldiers of our task force caught their flights out of Camp Taqqadum and left our work in Iraq to others. Badger 6 has a post up over at Badgers Forward summarizing the year for our company. I’ll do a post of my own sometime in the next few weeks with more detail. Here are the stats, from B6…

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.

You may remember the old Jewish Catskill comics of Vaudeville days, viz., Shecky Green, Red Buttons, Totie Fields, Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, and others. Don’t you miss their humor? Not one single swear word in their comedy Here are some examples:

There was a beautiful young woman knocking on my hotel room door all night! I finally had to let her out.

A car hit an elderly Jewish man. The paramedic says, “Are you comfortable?” The man says, “I make a good living.”

I just got back from a pleasure trip. I took my mother-in-law to the airport.

I’ve been in love with the same woman for 49 years. If my wife ever finds out, she’ll kill me!

Someone stole all my credit cards, but I won’t be reporting it. The thief spends less than my wife did.

We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.

She was at the beauty shop for two hours. That was only for the estimate. She got a mudpack and looked great for two days. Then the mud fell off.

The doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn’t pay his bill, so the doctor gave him another six months.

The Doctor called Mrs. Cohen saying, “Mrs. Cohen, your check came back.” Mrs.. Cohen answered, “So did my arthritis!”

Doctor: “You’ll live to be 60!” Patient: “I AM 60!” Doctor: “See! What did I tell you?”

A doctor held a stethoscope up to a man’s chest. The man asks, “Doc, how do I stand?” The doctor answers “That’s what puzzles me!”

Patient: “I have a ringing in my ears.” Doctor: “Don’t answer!”

A drunk was in front of a judge. The judge says, “You’ve been brought here for drinking.” The drunk says “Okay, let’s get started.”

A bum asked a fellow, “Give me $10 till payday.” The fellow responded, “When’s payday?” The bum said, “I don’t know! You’re the one that’s working!”

I wish my brother would learn a trade, so I would know what kind of work he’s out of.

The Harvard School of Medicine did a study of why women like Chinese food so much. The study revealed that this is due to the fact that Won Ton spelled backward is Not Now.

A Jewish boy comes home from school and tells his mother he has a part in the play. She asks, “What part is it? The boy says, “I play the part of the Jewish husband.” The mother scowls and says, “Go back and tell the teacher you want a speaking part.”

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 Spiritual Judasim by David Ariel.

For this reason, we believe that the Jewish people is like an orchestra that is writing its own unfinished symphony. We also believe that our mission is to make a symphony out of all the songs of the different peoples of the world based on our history as a dispersed people. And what is that symphony? It is called “Seeing the World Not As It Is But As It Can Be.” That is the real theme of the Jewish people. But the symphony has been interrupted and the melody is hard to recapture. “The Unfinished Symphony,” pp 257-9

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: The Time Power System is built on three key concepts: time management is the act of controlling events; congruity represents balance, harmony and appropriateness among the events in your life (a workaholic is a person in a state of incongruity, out of balance in his total life perspective; and concentration of power is the ability to focus on and accomplish your most vital priorities.

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 Top 100 Blogs to Help You Find Free Stuff.