BRILLIANT…!
1430 by Jeff Hess
19 September 2007
19 September 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 How Top Bloggers Earn Money.
19 September 2007
FROM THE SANDBOX…
1200 by Jeff Hess
Eddie: This is the story of two dogs. First let me say that I am truly an animal lover, and the one thing I have missed more than anything being in the military as a single soldier, is the fact that while living in the barracks I was not able to have any pet, even something like a fish. Shoot, I don’t even think I could have a live plant. As a kid, when I’d go out playing with…
19 September 2007
WAL-MART WEDNESDAY…
1000 by Jeff Hess
It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman, Peter Sayles and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.
AND NOW A WORD FROM KERRY STILES… The woman who started it all when she uploaded graphic photos of the chemical burns on her feet from a pair of Made-In-China-cheap-plastic-crap sandals she bought in Florida has become a rallying point for other victims of Always Low Prices. Keep reading…
BAND OF HORSES… THE FUNERAL… Watch…
I CALL BULL SHIT…! This is the headline, Report: Wal-Mart Saves Families $2,500 a Year. Wal-Mart pulled this same stunt using the same number cruncher, Global Insights, two years ago. The claim, as stated in the headline, is patently ludicrous on it”s face. Keep reading…
THIS IS WAY MORE THAN JUST A STRETCH… While I believe Kerry Stiles and the others who I expect to eventually file and win a suit against Wal-Mart have been legitimately harmed, this guy is just too far over the top. I mean, who the feck uses Brut anymore? Keep reading…
MAYBE IT WAS TAKE YOUR KIDS TO WORK DAY…? Watch…
AT THE WALLY PLEX… There are sound stages on Hollywood”s back lots smaller than Bentonvile”s behemoths, so it”s no surprise that budding video talent has been sneaking cameras in at odd hours. And now for the midnight show at the Wally Plex featuring grassfudge. Watch…
AT THE SPEED OF WAL-MART… If there was one thing that Sam Walton got right was the creation of the ubiquitous Wal-Mart Greeter. I often think customers, at least in the beginning, cared more about hearing Welcome To Wal-Mart than being able to buy cheap plastic crap. Keep reading…
THAT”S LIFE… When I was first learning to program computers there was a bit of code that was called Life. The object was to create a program that would follow simple rules that caused pixels to grow and die. And then find patterns that lived the longest. Keep reading…
WAL-MART WORKER SPEAKING TOUR… PART 1… Recorded on 28 February 07 at the University of Washington. Watch…
19 September 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 group of kindergartners were trying very hard to become accustomed to the first grade. The biggest hurdle they faced was that the teacher insisted on NO baby talk! You need to use ‘Big People’ words,” she was always reminding them.
She asked John what he had done over the weekend? “I went to visit my Nana.”
No, you went to visit your grandmother. Use ‘Big People’ words!” She then asked Mitchell what he had done “I took a ride on a choo-choo.”
She said “No, you took a ride on a train. You must remember to use ‘Big People’ words.” She then asked little Alex what he had done? “I read a book,” he replied.
That’s wonderful!” the teacher said. “What book did you read?
Alex thought real hard about it, then puffed out his chest with great pride, and said, “Winnie the shit.”
19 September 2007
OUR MERCENARIES CAN WHIP YOUR MERCENARIES…
0758 by Jeff Hess
The United States of America is allowing a private army, that includes its own air wing, to operate within the borders of Iraq. I’ve known about Blackwater USA from the beginning, but I ignorantly assumed that it was an infantry force, men equipped with small arms acting as security for non-combatants working to rebuild Iraq.
Feck, was I wrong. From this morning’s Los Angeles Times:
Support helicopters joined the convoy in raking fire on the traffic circle, he said. At least five other people died in the shooting, Iraqi authorities said.
And why were support helicopers firing on a traffic circle?
Iraqi spokesman Dabbagh said a preliminary report showed Blackwater guards “used superior firepower unnecessarily.” The convoy fired recklessly when a couple’s car failed to come to a complete stop at the Nisoor roundabout in western Baghdad’s Mansour district, he said.
It looks like maybe, just maybe, the democratically elected goverment of Iraq may take this moment to grow up.
Iraqi authorities said they would move to overhaul the nation’s laws to end the immunity of foreign contractors from prosecution in Iraqi courts, a measure established by U.S.-led occupation officials after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The confrontation could prove to be a test of the sovereign powers of the Iraqi government when it clashes with American officials over prickly subjects such as U.S. dependence on private security contractors, whom many Iraqis loathe after repeated reports of wild shooting, reckless driving and abusive behavior.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said Tuesday that Blackwater guards should be held accountable for Sunday’s killings, which took place while the security detail was assigned to protect a State Department motorcade.
“They should not have immunity for their mistakes,” Dabbagh said. “If they have made a mistake, they should be subjected to the law.”
History teaches us that great empire’s fall when mercenaries replace citizen soldiers.
In the Navy we used to joke that the Marines never lost an embassy. (Tehran doesn’t count, the ambassador ordered the Marines there to stand down. Allowed to do their job, the Marines would have held our Iranian embassy for as long as they needed to.)
Now we’re replacing some of our finest citizen soldiers with killers-for-hire. That is a very bad thing.
19 September 2007
MY COMMENTS…
0700 by Jeff Hess
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.
19 September 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 Sweeping Changes: A Practical Guide to Zen in Your Home by Gary Thorp.
The question really revolves around what is meant by dharma. This word exemplifies what is known as truth. p. 144
18 September 2007
18 September 2007
WHEN SPITE AND IDIOCY GO UNCHECKED…
1950 by Jeff Hess
A month ago I first wrote about the case of James and Lia Boldt and the fight over whether or not the recently converted Jewish father can have his 12-year-old son circumcised. Let me say this upfront: I know that at its heart this is a pissing match between two divorced parents and their son is caught in the middle.
OK, I got that off my chest.
So what happened this week? From The New York Sun:
Four Jewish organizations, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Orthodox Union, have joined together in an amicus curiae brief supporting the father’s right to proceed over the mother’s objections.
“It is of particular importance to amici that American Jews be free to practice circumcision because circumcision is and has been one of the most fundamental and sacred parts of the Jewish religion,” the groups wrote. “Enabling the circumcision of a child, whether as part of a religious conversion or for medical reasons, cannot as a matter of law indicate any infirmity in a parent’s ability to function as a parent. Moreover, any decision to single out circumcision as a basis for questioning the fitness of the custodial parent would violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion.”
Ms. Boldt is being backed by a Seattle-based group, Doctors Against Circumcision, which contends that the procedure is unnecessary and amounts to abuse.
“Parents are free to practice their religion and to have religious beliefs, but they are not free to change the physical body of their child at will,” the anti-circumcision group’s executive director, John Geisheker, told The New York Sun.
Read that part again: Parents… are not free to change the physical body of their child at will.
Really? Does Geisheker have any clue what he is saying?
See where this is going? A pissing contest between two divorced parents threatens to put our Constitutional protection from the interference of government in our spiritual life at risk.
Can you say unintended consequences?
18 September 2007
MY COMMENTS…
1931 by Jeff HessPart 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.
1931 Diversity among news disseminators, where art thou?
0807 Talk. Talk will keep us together.
18 September 2007
MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…
1400 by Jeff HessI’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
40+ Tips to Improve your Grammar and Punctuation .
18 September 2007
FROM THE SANDBOX…
1200 by Jeff HessCAPT Benjamin Tupper: I recently watched an HBO special titled Alive Day Memories. This documentary focused on Iraq and Afghan veterans, each telling of the day they almost died in combat — their “Alive Day”. I had never heard Alive Day used before this program, but I was very familiar with the concept. One of the first things I did when I came home…
18 September 2007
FROM MY DAD…
0800 by Jeff HessI 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.
18 September 2007
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0400 by Jeff HessMy 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 Sweeping Changes: A Practical Guide to Zen in Your Home by Gary Thorp.
George Bernard Shaw once offered the following succinct advice: Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed. Managing time is not the important thing. What you”re doing and how you”re doing it are what matter. Every event happens in its own time. p. 140
17 September 2007
MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…
1400 by Jeff HessI’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 Extra! Extra! Read all about it!.
17 September 2007
FROM THE SANDBOX…
1200 by Jeff Hess LT Carl Goforth: “Just what am I supposed to do with this patient?” “It’s not my call to make. Don’t know what I can tell you beyond circumstance and treatment.” “Well, was he doing anything before he was intubated?” “He came in intubated, so we don’t have much of a baseline to go on. He seemed to have some upper extremity movement and looked like he was…
17 September 2007
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE…
0932 by Jeff HessAs a child I loved the glass boxes
where you could fish for toys.
I would put a nickel in the slot,
turn cranks to position the claw,
press the “grab” button, and watch
my red car fall back into the pile.
Then I”d beg for another nickel.
Like President Bush, striving to find
something to call “victory” in Iraq,
I would keep trying and failing.
My mom stopped giving me nickels.
From Staying Power by Ken Duncan.
17 September 2007
17 September 2007
FROM MY DAD…
0800 by Jeff HessI 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.
