17 September 2007

WHAT THEY SAID…

0735 by Jeff Hess

Surely this [award] belongs to all the mothers of the world. May they be seen, may their work be valued and raised. Especially to the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait. Wait for their children to come home from danger, from harm”s way, and from war. I am proud to be one of those women. If mothers ruled the world, there would be no god-damned wars in the first place. Sally Fields

Faux News may think it can censor anti-war sentiment, but too many of us are watching.

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

17 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.

When you see a picture of yourself as a child, you know that the child in the picture has grown into who you are; but do you realize that, in the instant the photograph was taken, the child you were had already become someone else? The camera does not stop time. It can only offer souvenirs, reference points to places traveled along the way. p. 139

Posted in Chapbook, Zen | No Comments »

17 September 2007

HAPPY CONSTITUTION DAY…

0130 by Jeff Hess

On 8 December 2004, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) slipped Section 111 of Title I, Division J, of the Fiscal Year 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 108-447) and a new national holiday into our collective consciousness: Constitution Day. Our Constitution is the single most important document in Human History; read it all.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Please keep reading…

There are a large number of additional resources. Here are just a few:

The U.S. Constitution.
Celebrate Constitution Day.

I never leave home without my pocket-sized copy of our Constitution.
Celebrate Constitution And Citizenship Day.
A Day Set Aside for the Constitution.

Posted in Freedom | 1 Comment »

16 September 2007

FROM MY DAD: A SPECIAL REPORT… Part 10 0F 10

1600 by Jeff Hess

I still have in my files the carefully photocopied (and redacted, he covered up the cartoons) copy of Playboy’s October 1967 interview with New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. It was my introduction, long before Oliver Stone, to the idea of conspiracy and cover-up as a way of doing business in America. My dad calls these scary.

Posted in From My Dad, International, Politics | No Comments »

16 September 2007

READ… THIS… VERY… CAREFULLY…

1504 by Jeff Hess

America’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil.

In his long-awaited memoir, to be published tomorrow, Greenspan, a Republican whose 18-year tenure as head of the US Federal Reserve was widely admired, will also deliver a stinging critique of President George W Bush”s economic policies.

However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says. Graham Paterson

Posted in Election 2008, Governing, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Politics, What They Say... | 4 Comments »

16 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 The Stockholm Project Case.

Posted in Blogpile | No Comments »

16 September 2007

POST SECRET IS BACK… KARL ROVE HAS MOVED ON…

1341 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Post Secret | No Comments »

16 September 2007

IS KARL ROVE WORKING FOR BLOGGER NOW…?

1243 by Jeff Hess

Who else could be this evil?

Posted in Post Secret | No Comments »

16 September 2007

FROM THE SANDBOX…

1200 by Jeff Hess

From Eric Coulson

Posted in The Sandbox | No Comments »

16 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.

Posted in From My Dad, Humor | No Comments »

16 September 2007

WHO IS NICOLE AND HOW DID SHE HIJACK POST SECRET…?

0734 by Jeff Hess

Let’s hope they clear this up real fast.

Posted in Post Secret | 2 Comments »

16 September 2007

MY COMMENTS…

0725 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.

0720 Evidence of blog influence:

Posted in Comments | No Comments »

16 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.

…Zen stresses the value of your own engagement in your own experience. It teaches that the last worlds the Buddha spoke were calls to “work out your own salvation with diligence.” On the face of it, this is much more than just daunting. It is catastrophic. “Good luck,” the Buddha says, and then kicks you out of the leaking boat, leaving it to you to either sink or swim on your own. p. 136

Posted in Chapbook, Zen | No Comments »

15 September 2007

FROM MY DAD: A SPECIAL REPORT… Part 9 0F 10

1600 by Jeff Hess

I still have in my files the carefully photocopied (and redacted, he covered up the cartoons) copy of Playboy’s October 1967 interview with New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. It was my introduction, long before Oliver Stone, to the idea of conspiracy and cover-up as a way of doing business in America. My dad calls these scary.

Posted in From My Dad, International, Politics | No Comments »

15 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 10 Tips to Study Smart and Save Time.

Posted in Blogpile | No Comments »

15 September 2007

MY SIDES HURT…

1104 by Jeff Hess

Bono is at a U2 concert when he asks the audience for some quiet. Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands. Holding the audience in total silence, he says into the microphone: “Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.” A voice from near the front pierces the silence… “Well, fecking stop it then!”

It’s an Urban Legend, of course, but it is very funny.

Posted in Humor | No Comments »

15 September 2007

WHAT THEY SAID…

0927 by Jeff Hess

[Graham Wright] was overwhelmed by a feeling that religion had become a negative influence in his life and the world. Although he once considered becoming an Anglican vicar, he suddenly found that religion represented nothing he believed in, from Muslim extremists blowing themselves up in God’s name to Christians condemning gays, contraception and stem cell research.

“I stopped praying because I lost my faith,” said Wright, 59, a thoughtful man with graying hair and clear blue eyes. “Now I truly loathe any sight or sound of religion. I blush at what I used to believe.” Mary Jordan

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

15 September 2007

GETTING OVER ONE’S SELF IS SUCH A GOOD THING…

0812 by Jeff Hess

All we need is fourteen lines, well, thirteen now,
and after this one just a dozen
to launch a little ship on love’s storm-tossed seas,
then only ten more left like rows of beans.
How easily it goes unless you get Elizabethan
and insist the iambic bongos must be played
and rhymes positioned at the ends of lines,
one for every station of the cross.
But hang on here while we make the turn
into the final six where all will be resolved,
where longing and heartache will find an end,
where Laura will tell Petrarch to put down his pen,
take off those crazy medieval tights,
blowout the lights, and come at last to bed.

From Sonnet by Billy Collins.

Posted in Poetry | No Comments »

15 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.

Haunted places…

Marietta, Ohio: M.O.V.P. Theatre – Things in the prop room move all by themselves, when you walk down to the basement, you feel an icy breeze rush past your head or an icy hand grabs your shoulder. A grown man will not go down there alone. They say its owner haunts it. There isn’t any proof that there are tunnels under the theatre, but it’s said the pipes are big enough for a grown man to crawl through. The owner also owned its’ sister, The Colony Theatre, across the street. It’s said that at night he travels through the pipes in between the theatres to see how they’re being held up. After the young thespians and the audience leaves you can see a phantom like figure in the ticket booth.

I worked there in 1971-2. The stories I could tell you about the subterranean basements.

Posted in From My Dad, Humor, Superstition & Ignorance | No Comments »

15 September 2007

THIS IS HOW FREE SPEECH WORKS…

0718 by Jeff Hess


[Update — 1108 — Dan Savage has his take on the story.]

The response to objectionable speech and acts should not be violence because that only reinforces the source of the objection. David Shepherd and Travis Price, seniors at a high school in Nova Scotia, demonstrated that they fully understand the concept. Hat tip to I See Invisible People. From Halifax’s Chronicle Herald:

The Grade 9 student arrived for the first day of school last Wednesday and was set upon by a group of six to 10 older students who mocked him, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up.

The next day, Grade 12 students David Shepherd and Travis Price decided something had to be done about bullying.

“It”s my last year. I”ve stood around too long and I wanted to do something,” said David.

They used the Internet to encourage people to wear pink and bought 75 pink tank tops for male students to wear. They handed out the shirts in the lobby before class last Friday – even the bullied student had one.

“I made sure there was a shirt for him,” David said.

They also brought a pink basketball to school as well as pink material for headbands and arm bands. David and Travis figure about half the school”s 830 students wore pink.

And the other half, I’m sure, got the message. And so did the bullies cowards:

“The bullies got angry,” said Travis. “One guy was throwing chairs (in the cafeteria). We”re glad we got the response we wanted.”

David said one of the bullies angrily asked him whether he knew pink on a male was a symbol of homosexuality.

He told the bully that didn”t matter to him and shouldn”t to anyone.

“Something like the colour of your shirt or pants, that”s ridiculous,” he said.

“Our intention was to stand up for this kid so he doesn”t get picked on.”

Travis said the bullies “keep giving us dirty looks, but we know we have the support of the whole student body.

Now if we could just get everyone who opposes the war in Iraq to wear pink tank tops for one day, maybe our president would get the message.

Posted in Free Speech, Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom | 2 Comments »

« Previous - Next »