Ko htike's Prosaic Collection

Non-violent resistance is alive in the world. Now that the monks are being jailed (and who knows what) by the military government, though, I pray that the people, who will surely keep protesting, have the strength and presence of mind to continue in a non-violent manner. A modern form of peaceful resistence: information dissemination against the will of an oppressor; getting the truth out at risk of life and limb. Like Ko Htike. Evidence that it matters: the Burmese government just shut down internet access and cell phone communication.

http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/


From CNN:

By Wayne Drash and Phil Black

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Armed with a laptop, a blogger named Ko Htike has thrust himself into the middle of the violent crackdown against monks and other peaceful demonstrators in his homeland of Myanmar.

Ko Htike runs his Myanmar blog out of his London apartment and says he's trying to stop the violence.

From more than 5,500 miles away, he's one of the few people getting much needed information out to the world.

He runs the blog out of his London apartment, waking up at 3 a.m. every day to review the latest digitally smuggled photos, video and information that's sent in to him.

With few Western journalists allowed in Htike's blog is one of the main information outlets. He said he has as many as 40 people in Myanmar sending him photos or calling him with information. They often take the photos from windows from their homes, he said.

Myanmar's military junta has forbidden such images, and anyone who sends them is risking their lives.

"If they get caught, you will never know their future. Maybe just disappear or maybe life in prison or maybe dead," he told CNN.

Why would they take such risks?

"They thought that this is their duty for the country," he said. "That's why they are doing it. It's like a mission."

Htike, a 28-year-old who left Myanmar seven years ago to study in England, said about 20,000 people visit the site every day.

On Thursday, as soldiers reportedly fired into crowds and beat Buddhist monks in the nation's largest city of Yangon, Htike's site posted photographs of the violence and some messages from the region. One sent at 1500 local time said, "Right now they're using fire engines and hitting people and dragging them onto E2000 trucks and most of them are girls and people are shouting.

Hillary Tasering Too, Sort of

She's trying to taser the Bill of Rights, anyway. No pun intended.

I just sent this letter to her campaign:

Dear. Ms. Clinton,

Is it true that you are setting up "Free Speech Zones" at your speeches and rallies and/or screening for "dissidents" at these events? I saw a member of Code Pink on cable news this week who made this claim. Wow.

I have to say: If this is true, if you are following the Bush administration's template of suppressing free speech and assembly, if you are doing anything other than working hard to reverse the damage to civil rights and democratic discourse the Republicans have done, then you can count me out of ever voting for you under any circumstances. As a matter of fact, if I don't see you openly addressing this issue immediately and reversing your policies in this matter I hereby commit to do all my campaigning against you, henceforth.

My family has been staunchly Democratic since the party has existed. Even though a woman President in my lifetime would make me very happy, and I have been leaning toward voting for you in the primary until now, I will not let you ruin my party or codify the ruin of my country that Bush & Co. have undertaken! We need someone who can lead this country back to its core ideals, and those are based on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, for God's sake!

Then I sent this to the Obama campaign:

I just sent Hillary Clinton the underlying [it's overlying for you, dear blog reader] letter. I am wondering how your campaign is handling this issue.

Travelogue Tazered!

On my lunch break today i had really hoped to write about my solo trip north to Hannibal, the day spent on my boss's land, my re-found joy of travelling alone, the crazy so-called B&B I stayed in, my drive down Highway 79, along the Mississippi. Not to mention the birthday present my brother gave me: Green seats to last Saturday's day game against the Cubs! But alas, looking around on CNN I see this video:

Student Tasered at campus forum for Kerry
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/18/student.tasered.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCVideo

Tazers should be outlawed. They are being used in situations, too often, where there is clearly no danger to anyone. There are being used, as in the above example, just to shut people up.

John Kerry, what are you going to do about this? Why didn't run you rush into the audience and free this guy? Are you going to get behind him, now?

And besides, I am so busy at work that there's no time, even at lunch, to really write the way I want to.

More Gibson, More Food

Wow. Busy week at work, little time to post.

So much going on this weekend. This- and That-Fests all over the city. Fab! Near my house: Taste of Lafayette Square, of course, from noon to 8PM on Saturday. Free concert in the park, samples for our wonderful restaurants. You simply have to come. Call me. We'll go.

Over in Benton Park, just around the corner, Schaffly will be sharing free samples of it's fall microbrews at Blues City Deli: www.bluescitydeli.com.

St. Louis Art Fair is happening over in Clayton: http://www.saintlouisartfair.com/.

And that's not all. There's no excuse for being bored around here, no there's not.

What other news? Cards are one game back. Cubs in the lead. My brother has given me green seat tickets for my birthday(!) for the Cards/Cubs game on the 15th! Ya, those are the seats where you get all your eats and drinks for free from real waiters, not to mention the behind the scenes buffet, and the fact that their right behind home plate. Ya, hate me. Go ahead. I can't wait! Nice brother. Or: nice, brother.

Finished reading my second William Gibson novel on two weeks. He's brought me back to my love of reading, after some disgruntled months coming in and out of boring books. Spook Country. Not quite the perfect thrill ride of Pattern Recognition, but lots of total fun as well as a pretty cool take on the current administration's ridiculous, wasteful, ugly, dangerous, and just plain stupid handling of intelligence, money, the Constitution, and "war" prisoners post 9-11. As seen through the eyes of artists and, well, Spooks, otherwise known as spies. With another fun woman primary protagonist.

Cayce in Pattern Recognition, that novels female lead, so much reminded me of me that I wish everyone who knows me would read it in order to know me better. I know, that's narcissistic. Also partly tongue-in-cheek. But really. Hollis, in Spook Country, doesn't so much remind me of me, and further more is a less well developed character all around. There are certain inconsistencies in her intelligence, for instance. She does a stroke of genius figuring out the nature of the VR box floating in the air above her head where a virtual giant squid covered in gorgeous and disturbing imagery in supposed to be, but she proves incredibly dense are other moments about things that would seem pretty darn easy to decipher. Or even to notice. Or suspect. I suspended my disbelief, however, because riding with her and the other characters was so much fun.

I do find it interesting that Gibson so often sets up a guy with a receding hairline as the most "attractive" male character to the female protagonist. Have you seen Gibson's photo lately? Funny. He has to know this is completely transparent.

Happy to have been invited to join a neighborhood book club. The monthly meetings include food made more or less to "match" the book. I love this neighborhood. Any excuse to make good food is immediately pounced upon! So, this weekend off to get Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning.

Come on by this weekend, K?