Haiku 093009
autumn dawn
his breath joins
lake fog
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Pope Ends Czech Visit With Warning About Power” by Dan Bilefsky
“Ending a three-day trip here aimed at fighting secularism, Pope Benedict XVI told about 40,000 of the faithful on Monday that the collapse of the Communist system had shown the price paid by those who chase power and deny God.
“ ‘The last century — as this land of yours can bear witness — saw the fall of a number of powerful figures who had apparently risen to almost unattainable heights,’ Benedict, 82, said during an open-air Mass in Stara Boleslav, a town about 15 miles northeast of Prague where the Czech patron St. Wenceslas was slain in the 10th century.
“ ‘Suddenly they found themselves stripped of their power,’ he added, in an allusion to the fall of Communism in 1989.
“The pope came to this decidedly skeptical nation as part of a Continentwide mission to urge the unbelieving out of their collective apathy…”
***************
And we thought:
…The workings of power and politics, perhaps, should not be boiled down like this, as if it were all a simple matter of believing in God or not. The dynamics of political systems and political change is more complex.
The Pope, being a scholar, knows better. Throughout history, a number of political leaders, although believers, had fallen out of power just the same. The people whom the Pope wishes to draw to Catholicism in a more profound way deserve a more thoughtful and well-reasoned discussion of the nexus between secular and religious matters -- not just a convenient, vaporous sound bite…
Showing posts with label New York Times. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Times. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Haiku 091009
over water
cellophane drifting
a dragonfly
****************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Tucked Away in Shanghai, Hidden Lives” by Howard W. French
“For the last couple of months I have spent the first part of each day either teaching at a Chinese university or writing.
“Nearly every afternoon, though … I have set off with camera in hand by motorcycle and subway to some of the fast-disappearing old neighborhoods of this city, to knock on the doors of hundreds of ordinary, working-class people…
“Through the time spent in the cramped, dimly lit homes of my subjects — people whose portraits I’ve taken for a long-term photographic project about the city’s oldest neighborhoods — I may have learned as much about Shanghai and about China as I did in five busy years as a correspondent here…
“… I had not expected to find so much evidence of China’s thriving quasi-underground religious culture here. In house after house, I found people worshiping privately as Christians or Buddhists…
“I think … of the poor and jobless Shanghainese parents in the old garment district who told me of their eagerness to be relocated across the river to Pudong, where the environment would be better…
“Inevitably, the theme of relocation comes up often in encounters like these, given the frantic pace of redevelopment….
“ ‘What they are doing here is simply unfair,’ he said, telling me how thugs had been dispatched to beat up residents who refused to quietly make way for the demolition.
“Others told me the stories of corrupt local officials, whom they said offered higher compensation for relocated people who were willing to pay bribes...”
***************
And we thought:
…In China government corruption, state arrogance, and unequal opportunities appear to remain a way of life – despite having, for more than half a century, a supposedly proletarian and pro-people party at the helm.
Openness and transparency, the capacity to listen to constructive criticism and to engage in dialogue, are necessary to the process of social change. Unfortunately, the Chinese people themselves confirm that their leaders don't practice what they preach. Remember the Tiananmen Square massacre, the repression of the Uighurs...
over water
cellophane drifting
a dragonfly
****************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Tucked Away in Shanghai, Hidden Lives” by Howard W. French
“For the last couple of months I have spent the first part of each day either teaching at a Chinese university or writing.
“Nearly every afternoon, though … I have set off with camera in hand by motorcycle and subway to some of the fast-disappearing old neighborhoods of this city, to knock on the doors of hundreds of ordinary, working-class people…
“Through the time spent in the cramped, dimly lit homes of my subjects — people whose portraits I’ve taken for a long-term photographic project about the city’s oldest neighborhoods — I may have learned as much about Shanghai and about China as I did in five busy years as a correspondent here…
“… I had not expected to find so much evidence of China’s thriving quasi-underground religious culture here. In house after house, I found people worshiping privately as Christians or Buddhists…
“I think … of the poor and jobless Shanghainese parents in the old garment district who told me of their eagerness to be relocated across the river to Pudong, where the environment would be better…
“Inevitably, the theme of relocation comes up often in encounters like these, given the frantic pace of redevelopment….
“ ‘What they are doing here is simply unfair,’ he said, telling me how thugs had been dispatched to beat up residents who refused to quietly make way for the demolition.
“Others told me the stories of corrupt local officials, whom they said offered higher compensation for relocated people who were willing to pay bribes...”
***************
And we thought:
…In China government corruption, state arrogance, and unequal opportunities appear to remain a way of life – despite having, for more than half a century, a supposedly proletarian and pro-people party at the helm.
Openness and transparency, the capacity to listen to constructive criticism and to engage in dialogue, are necessary to the process of social change. Unfortunately, the Chinese people themselves confirm that their leaders don't practice what they preach. Remember the Tiananmen Square massacre, the repression of the Uighurs...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Haiku 090209
on the wall
still shadows of leaves
a blackbird cries
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert Indicted” (Associated Press)
“Israeli authorities indicted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on corruption charges Sunday, the first criminal indictment ever filed against a current or past Israeli prime minister.
“Olmert, who stepped down earlier this year over the corruption issue, is accused of illegally accepting funds from an American backer, double-billing for trips abroad and concealing funds from a government watchdog.
“He faces charges that include fraud and breach of trust.
“The charges filed in a Jerusalem court on Sunday first surfaced when Olmert was still prime minister, although Olmert allegedly committed the offenses while serving as mayor of Jerusalem and later as a Cabinet minister, before being elected prime minister in 2006…
“Two former Cabinet ministers recently sentenced in separate corruption cases have received multiple-year prison sentences. Avraham Hirchson, a former finance minister and an Olmert confidant and appointee, was sentenced to five years for embezzlement in June, and another former Cabinet minister was sentenced to four years for taking bribes…
“In addition to the charges against Olmert's finance minister, another Cabinet minister was convicted of sexual misconduct and the country's former ceremonial president, Moshe Katzav, was charged by several women with rape and sexual harassment and is currently on trial.”
And we thought:
…If former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and his errant cabinet ministers were Filipino government officials, they would be folk heroes of a sort – for committing relatively minor indiscretions while in office.
The current Philippine president, her family and cronies have reportedly raised so high the bar of corruption and abuse in the Philippines that, in comparison, Olmert and his friends would be likened to petty functionaries.
Of course, we're talking about two completely different cultures. The extreme greed and arrogance of Ms. Arroyo and her ilk are of the virulent Marcos strain...
on the wall
still shadows of leaves
a blackbird cries
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert Indicted” (Associated Press)
“Israeli authorities indicted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on corruption charges Sunday, the first criminal indictment ever filed against a current or past Israeli prime minister.
“Olmert, who stepped down earlier this year over the corruption issue, is accused of illegally accepting funds from an American backer, double-billing for trips abroad and concealing funds from a government watchdog.
“He faces charges that include fraud and breach of trust.
“The charges filed in a Jerusalem court on Sunday first surfaced when Olmert was still prime minister, although Olmert allegedly committed the offenses while serving as mayor of Jerusalem and later as a Cabinet minister, before being elected prime minister in 2006…
“Two former Cabinet ministers recently sentenced in separate corruption cases have received multiple-year prison sentences. Avraham Hirchson, a former finance minister and an Olmert confidant and appointee, was sentenced to five years for embezzlement in June, and another former Cabinet minister was sentenced to four years for taking bribes…
“In addition to the charges against Olmert's finance minister, another Cabinet minister was convicted of sexual misconduct and the country's former ceremonial president, Moshe Katzav, was charged by several women with rape and sexual harassment and is currently on trial.”
And we thought:
…If former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and his errant cabinet ministers were Filipino government officials, they would be folk heroes of a sort – for committing relatively minor indiscretions while in office.
The current Philippine president, her family and cronies have reportedly raised so high the bar of corruption and abuse in the Philippines that, in comparison, Olmert and his friends would be likened to petty functionaries.
Of course, we're talking about two completely different cultures. The extreme greed and arrogance of Ms. Arroyo and her ilk are of the virulent Marcos strain...
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Haiku 062009
waves of water
from the lawn sprinkler...
surfing robin
***************
Recently, we read the following:
NBC Washington: “99-Year-Old's Water Bill Jumps Almost 4000%” by Matthew Stabley
“Stop complaining about your utility bills. Jeannette Cohen's water bill jumped almost 4000 percent.
“The 99-year-old northwest Washington woman insists it must be a mistake. Usually, her water bill is $30. In March, she did a double take.
" ‘I got my usual bill and opened the envelope and looked at the amount,’ she said. ‘Huh? I looked again.’
“It was $1,181.
“Cohen complained and had plumbers check her house twice. Usually, she uses about 3,000 gallons of water per month. D.C. Water and Sewer Authority's records show that 139,876 gallons went into her house that month, and they insist she must pay for them.
" ‘It's just so obvious that, as the plumber said, You couldn't use that much water,' she told News4's Tom Sherwood….”
***************
And we thought:
… Not if Cohen's in fact one of Cheney's new sub-contractors – for secret off-site waterboarding assignments… =)
waves of water
from the lawn sprinkler...
surfing robin
***************
Recently, we read the following:
NBC Washington: “99-Year-Old's Water Bill Jumps Almost 4000%” by Matthew Stabley“Stop complaining about your utility bills. Jeannette Cohen's water bill jumped almost 4000 percent.
“The 99-year-old northwest Washington woman insists it must be a mistake. Usually, her water bill is $30. In March, she did a double take.
" ‘I got my usual bill and opened the envelope and looked at the amount,’ she said. ‘Huh? I looked again.’
“It was $1,181.
“Cohen complained and had plumbers check her house twice. Usually, she uses about 3,000 gallons of water per month. D.C. Water and Sewer Authority's records show that 139,876 gallons went into her house that month, and they insist she must pay for them.
" ‘It's just so obvious that, as the plumber said, You couldn't use that much water,' she told News4's Tom Sherwood….”
***************
And we thought:
… Not if Cohen's in fact one of Cheney's new sub-contractors – for secret off-site waterboarding assignments… =)
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Haiku 061809
dense clouds
masking the sunrise...
long faces
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Clerics May Be Key to Outcome of Unrest” By Neil MacFarouhar
“With Iran’s political establishment at war with itself, a central question lurking behind the postelection tumult is which side the country’s highly influential clerics will back.
”So far the mullahs — a potentially critical swing vote — have remained largely silent, with the notable exception of a few prominent grand ayatollahs, including one who has attacked the vote count as ‘a gross injustice.’ And few religious leaders have joined the tens of thousands of Iranians expressing their fury by marching through the streets of Tehran and other cities.
‘The clerics and their thousands of pupils, concentrated in the holy city of Qum, are a generally conservative lot who have been known to jump into the political fray en masse only when a clear winner starts to emerge….
“One of the mysteries behind this week’s mass demonstrations is who is coordinating them. Some suspect that the hidden hand is the powerful political organization of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. His daughter Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former member of Parliament famous for opening sports to women, was spotted at a march for Mir Hussein Moussavi, who the Interior Ministry says came in second in a landslide for the country’s incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“One of the country’s most influential clerics, Mr. Rafsanjani has been notably silent since Mr. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner last week, and there has been speculation that Mr. Rafsanjani is in Qum trying to muster clerical opposition to the country’s leaders. But those reports are difficult to confirm with any authority.
“Mr. Rafsanjani leads the 86-member Assembly of Experts, whose duties include endorsing the performance of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Saturday called the election’s outcome ‘‘a divine blessing.” In theory, the group has the power to remove him, but that has never been done and any attempt to do so would probably further inflame the situation, analysts said….”
***************
And we thought:
….Is there a good number of Iran's clerics inclined to ride Moussavi’s green bus? For now, this seems like a long shot....
dense clouds
masking the sunrise...
long faces
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Clerics May Be Key to Outcome of Unrest” By Neil MacFarouhar
“With Iran’s political establishment at war with itself, a central question lurking behind the postelection tumult is which side the country’s highly influential clerics will back.
”So far the mullahs — a potentially critical swing vote — have remained largely silent, with the notable exception of a few prominent grand ayatollahs, including one who has attacked the vote count as ‘a gross injustice.’ And few religious leaders have joined the tens of thousands of Iranians expressing their fury by marching through the streets of Tehran and other cities.
‘The clerics and their thousands of pupils, concentrated in the holy city of Qum, are a generally conservative lot who have been known to jump into the political fray en masse only when a clear winner starts to emerge….
“One of the mysteries behind this week’s mass demonstrations is who is coordinating them. Some suspect that the hidden hand is the powerful political organization of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. His daughter Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former member of Parliament famous for opening sports to women, was spotted at a march for Mir Hussein Moussavi, who the Interior Ministry says came in second in a landslide for the country’s incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“One of the country’s most influential clerics, Mr. Rafsanjani has been notably silent since Mr. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner last week, and there has been speculation that Mr. Rafsanjani is in Qum trying to muster clerical opposition to the country’s leaders. But those reports are difficult to confirm with any authority.
“Mr. Rafsanjani leads the 86-member Assembly of Experts, whose duties include endorsing the performance of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Saturday called the election’s outcome ‘‘a divine blessing.” In theory, the group has the power to remove him, but that has never been done and any attempt to do so would probably further inflame the situation, analysts said….”
***************
And we thought:
….Is there a good number of Iran's clerics inclined to ride Moussavi’s green bus? For now, this seems like a long shot....
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Haiku 061609
horses perking
where hills rise and fall...
bugle call
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Defiance Grows as Iran’s Leader Sets Vote Review” by Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi
“Hundreds of thousands of people marched in silence through central Tehran on Monday to protest Iran’s disputed presidential election in an extraordinary show of defiance from a broad cross section of society, even as the nation’s supreme leader called for a formal review of results he had endorsed two days earlier.
“Having mustered the largest antigovernment demonstrations since the 1979 revolution, and defying an official ban, protesters began to sense the prospect — however slight at the moment — that the leadership’s firm backing of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had wavered.
“The massive outpouring was mostly peaceful. But violence erupted after dark when protesters surrounded and attempted to set fire to the headquarters of the Basij volunteer militia, which is associated with the Revolutionary Guards, according to news agency reports. At least one man was killed, and several others were injured in that confrontation….
“Protesters were especially enraged that Mr. Ahmadinejad on Sunday dismissed them as nothing more than soccer fans who had just lost a game and as ‘dust.’ One demonstrator fired off a Twitter message, one of thousands of brief electronic dispatches that kept the outside world up-to-the-minute on the protests, proclaiming, ‘Ahmadinejad called us Dust, we showed him a sandstorm.’
“Earlier Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei … called for the Guardian Council to conduct an inquiry into the opposition’s claims that the election was rigged and then had that announcement repeated every 15 minutes on Iranian state radio throughout the day. It was a rare reversal….
“Nevertheless, his announcement could not calm the anger of the people…. Hours later, a broad river of people in Tehran … marched slowly from Revolution Square to Freedom Square for more than three hours … many of them wearing the signature bright green ribbons of Mr. Moussavi’s campaign and holding up their hands in victory signs….”
***************
And we thought:
....From "dust" to "sandstorm" -- after long-drawn-out, incremental changes, a sudden qualitative change....
horses perking
where hills rise and fall...
bugle call
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Defiance Grows as Iran’s Leader Sets Vote Review” by Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi
“Hundreds of thousands of people marched in silence through central Tehran on Monday to protest Iran’s disputed presidential election in an extraordinary show of defiance from a broad cross section of society, even as the nation’s supreme leader called for a formal review of results he had endorsed two days earlier.
“Having mustered the largest antigovernment demonstrations since the 1979 revolution, and defying an official ban, protesters began to sense the prospect — however slight at the moment — that the leadership’s firm backing of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had wavered.
“The massive outpouring was mostly peaceful. But violence erupted after dark when protesters surrounded and attempted to set fire to the headquarters of the Basij volunteer militia, which is associated with the Revolutionary Guards, according to news agency reports. At least one man was killed, and several others were injured in that confrontation….
“Protesters were especially enraged that Mr. Ahmadinejad on Sunday dismissed them as nothing more than soccer fans who had just lost a game and as ‘dust.’ One demonstrator fired off a Twitter message, one of thousands of brief electronic dispatches that kept the outside world up-to-the-minute on the protests, proclaiming, ‘Ahmadinejad called us Dust, we showed him a sandstorm.’
“Earlier Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei … called for the Guardian Council to conduct an inquiry into the opposition’s claims that the election was rigged and then had that announcement repeated every 15 minutes on Iranian state radio throughout the day. It was a rare reversal….
“Nevertheless, his announcement could not calm the anger of the people…. Hours later, a broad river of people in Tehran … marched slowly from Revolution Square to Freedom Square for more than three hours … many of them wearing the signature bright green ribbons of Mr. Moussavi’s campaign and holding up their hands in victory signs….”
***************
And we thought:
....From "dust" to "sandstorm" -- after long-drawn-out, incremental changes, a sudden qualitative change....
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Haiku 052109
heat rising
from the blacktop --
spring afternoon?
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “In Britain, Scandal Flows From Modest Request” by John F Burns
“It began modestly enough back in 2005, when an American freelance writer and journalism teacher living in London, Heather Brooke, entered a request under Britain’s newly promulgated freedom of information act for details of the expense claims of British members of Parliament. Ms. Brooke’s initiative to expose the politicians’ greed, now led by one of the country’s principal newspapers, The Daily Telegraph, has led to the biggest scandal to hit the House of Commons in decades. On Tuesday, the affair claimed its biggest victim yet when the speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, became the first man to be ousted from that job in more than 300 years.
“At one level, the scandal is a rich tale of politicians exploiting a lax system of expenses to claim a mind-boggling array of benefits. The claims have centered on so-called second-home allowances, which have allowed some members of Parliament to use nearly $40,000 a year in taxpayers’ money to renovate and even sell properties for profit, while others have claimed monthly payments for mortgages that had already been paid off. Still others claimed ‘necessities’ like the clearing of a country house moat, an electrical massage chair and even a Kit Kat bar….
“In response, they have made groveling apologies, waved reimbursement checks before television cameras and pledged to restore 'respect for Parliament'....
“For readers of The Telegraph, many of them staunch Conservatives, the revelations have carried an irony of their own. The day-by-day exposures have raised questions about the integrity of many Conservatives, as well as members of Labor and the Liberal Democrats, the third major party in the Commons, making for what some commentators have called an ‘equal opportunity’ scandal....”
***************
And we thought:
…. In the face of such greed and arrogance, Ms. Brooke’s expose appears a proper public flogging of these so-called proper members of the British Parliament. These errant politicians -- representa-thieves -- brought this scandal upon themselves and deserve the heat they're getting from the public. Expense claims for "KitKat" bars?...
heat rising
from the blacktop --
spring afternoon?
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “In Britain, Scandal Flows From Modest Request” by John F Burns“It began modestly enough back in 2005, when an American freelance writer and journalism teacher living in London, Heather Brooke, entered a request under Britain’s newly promulgated freedom of information act for details of the expense claims of British members of Parliament. Ms. Brooke’s initiative to expose the politicians’ greed, now led by one of the country’s principal newspapers, The Daily Telegraph, has led to the biggest scandal to hit the House of Commons in decades. On Tuesday, the affair claimed its biggest victim yet when the speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, became the first man to be ousted from that job in more than 300 years.
“At one level, the scandal is a rich tale of politicians exploiting a lax system of expenses to claim a mind-boggling array of benefits. The claims have centered on so-called second-home allowances, which have allowed some members of Parliament to use nearly $40,000 a year in taxpayers’ money to renovate and even sell properties for profit, while others have claimed monthly payments for mortgages that had already been paid off. Still others claimed ‘necessities’ like the clearing of a country house moat, an electrical massage chair and even a Kit Kat bar….
“In response, they have made groveling apologies, waved reimbursement checks before television cameras and pledged to restore 'respect for Parliament'....
“For readers of The Telegraph, many of them staunch Conservatives, the revelations have carried an irony of their own. The day-by-day exposures have raised questions about the integrity of many Conservatives, as well as members of Labor and the Liberal Democrats, the third major party in the Commons, making for what some commentators have called an ‘equal opportunity’ scandal....”
***************
And we thought:
…. In the face of such greed and arrogance, Ms. Brooke’s expose appears a proper public flogging of these so-called proper members of the British Parliament. These errant politicians -- representa-thieves -- brought this scandal upon themselves and deserve the heat they're getting from the public. Expense claims for "KitKat" bars?...
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Haiku 051709
shadows
of fluttering leaves --
spring winds
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: "After Years of Isolation, a Dissident Still Torments Her Tormentors" by Seth Mydans
“ ‘Why are you so afraid of us?’ Aung San Suu Kyi called out, taunting the military government of Myanmar as thousands of rapturous supporters listened in the rain, whistling and cheering from under a sea of black umbrellas.
“That was 13 years ago, during a temporary period of freedom from house arrest, and Suu Kyi was putting into words the dynamic that has kept her under detention for most of the past two decades.
“The seemingly all-powerful junta, which jails its opponents and crushes popular uprisings by force, is afraid of Suu Kyi, 63, the pro-democracy opposition leader in the country formerly known as Burma, and of the continuing undercurrent of support she commands among the people.
" ‘Her achievement has been to concentrate the values that are associated with democracy and freedom into one person,’ said David Steinberg, an expert on Myanmar at Georgetown University.
“On Thursday, the generals who rule the country demonstrated their continuing fear of this lone challenger by charging Suu Kyi with violating the terms of her most recent, six-year term of house arrest and locking her inside what it calls a prison 'guesthouse.'
“She faces a hearing on Monday on charges that could result in a prison term of up to five years, a harsher form of the isolation she has endured for 13 of the past 19 years….
“But the circumstances of the latest charges against her have a touch of the absurd. They stem from the capture of an American adventurer, John Yettaw, 53, who twice swam across a lake to her house where, according to her lawyer, he delivered her a Bible, although she is a Buddhist.
“Suu Kyi is on trial for violating the terms of her house arrest, though her lawyer describes the American as an intruder, not a guest….”
***************
And we thought:
…. Who knows: this alleged American intruder, John Yettaw, could in fact be working for the rogue Myanmar military government -- precisely to set up Suu Kyi for additional charges and continued imprisonment.
Unfortunately, Myanmar has nothing to offer economically, politically, or diplomatically to U.S. politicians at this time. Thus, this deafening silence in Washington about the plight of this pro-democracy, Nobel Peace prize winner....
shadows
of fluttering leaves --
spring winds
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: "After Years of Isolation, a Dissident Still Torments Her Tormentors" by Seth Mydans“ ‘Why are you so afraid of us?’ Aung San Suu Kyi called out, taunting the military government of Myanmar as thousands of rapturous supporters listened in the rain, whistling and cheering from under a sea of black umbrellas.
“That was 13 years ago, during a temporary period of freedom from house arrest, and Suu Kyi was putting into words the dynamic that has kept her under detention for most of the past two decades.
“The seemingly all-powerful junta, which jails its opponents and crushes popular uprisings by force, is afraid of Suu Kyi, 63, the pro-democracy opposition leader in the country formerly known as Burma, and of the continuing undercurrent of support she commands among the people.
" ‘Her achievement has been to concentrate the values that are associated with democracy and freedom into one person,’ said David Steinberg, an expert on Myanmar at Georgetown University.
“On Thursday, the generals who rule the country demonstrated their continuing fear of this lone challenger by charging Suu Kyi with violating the terms of her most recent, six-year term of house arrest and locking her inside what it calls a prison 'guesthouse.'
“She faces a hearing on Monday on charges that could result in a prison term of up to five years, a harsher form of the isolation she has endured for 13 of the past 19 years….
“But the circumstances of the latest charges against her have a touch of the absurd. They stem from the capture of an American adventurer, John Yettaw, 53, who twice swam across a lake to her house where, according to her lawyer, he delivered her a Bible, although she is a Buddhist.
“Suu Kyi is on trial for violating the terms of her house arrest, though her lawyer describes the American as an intruder, not a guest….”
***************
And we thought:
…. Who knows: this alleged American intruder, John Yettaw, could in fact be working for the rogue Myanmar military government -- precisely to set up Suu Kyi for additional charges and continued imprisonment.
Unfortunately, Myanmar has nothing to offer economically, politically, or diplomatically to U.S. politicians at this time. Thus, this deafening silence in Washington about the plight of this pro-democracy, Nobel Peace prize winner....
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Haiku 050909
goslings
paddling behind mom ...
spring training
***************
New York Times: “Priest Known as Padre Oprah Strays in South Florida” (by Damien Cave)
“They called the Rev. Alberto Cutié 'Padre Oprah' for his insightful advice about relationships. Now his parishioners, his television and radio audience, and readers of his best-selling book, 'Real Life, Real Love,' know he speaks from experience.
“On Tuesday, photographs in a Spanish-language tabloid showed the 40-year-old priest with deep blue eyes lying shirtless beside, and cuddling with, a dark-haired woman on a North Florida beach. Within hours, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami removed him from his post as pastor of a Miami Beach church, and now all of South Florida seems to be abuzz with discussions of celibacy, celebrity and temptation….
“Father Cutié, born in Puerto Rico to Cuban parents, grew up in Miami. He developed an international following of millions with his television show, ‘Padre Alberto,’ which was first broadcast on Telemundo in 1999….
“Father Cutié’s parish sits in the heart of South Beach, where even the mannequins have extra-large breasts, and many here have also questioned whether this was the time or place for Catholic priests to stay celibate….”
***************
….Is it outmoded -- requiring priests to be celibate? There are fewer and fewer entrants to the priesthood. There is a relatively smaller number of priests to go around to minister to the faithful, especially the growing numbers of alienated and distressed "faithful". How should the church address this reality?
A number of married men have been given special dispensation by the Vatican to become priests. Maybe it’s time the church seriously debated whether to allow priests to test the waters of marriage or not. "Married" priest sounds better than "fornicating" priest; indeed, much better than "pedophiliac" priest….
goslings
paddling behind mom ...
spring training
***************
New York Times: “Priest Known as Padre Oprah Strays in South Florida” (by Damien Cave)
“They called the Rev. Alberto Cutié 'Padre Oprah' for his insightful advice about relationships. Now his parishioners, his television and radio audience, and readers of his best-selling book, 'Real Life, Real Love,' know he speaks from experience.
“On Tuesday, photographs in a Spanish-language tabloid showed the 40-year-old priest with deep blue eyes lying shirtless beside, and cuddling with, a dark-haired woman on a North Florida beach. Within hours, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami removed him from his post as pastor of a Miami Beach church, and now all of South Florida seems to be abuzz with discussions of celibacy, celebrity and temptation….
“Father Cutié, born in Puerto Rico to Cuban parents, grew up in Miami. He developed an international following of millions with his television show, ‘Padre Alberto,’ which was first broadcast on Telemundo in 1999….
“Father Cutié’s parish sits in the heart of South Beach, where even the mannequins have extra-large breasts, and many here have also questioned whether this was the time or place for Catholic priests to stay celibate….”
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….Is it outmoded -- requiring priests to be celibate? There are fewer and fewer entrants to the priesthood. There is a relatively smaller number of priests to go around to minister to the faithful, especially the growing numbers of alienated and distressed "faithful". How should the church address this reality?
A number of married men have been given special dispensation by the Vatican to become priests. Maybe it’s time the church seriously debated whether to allow priests to test the waters of marriage or not. "Married" priest sounds better than "fornicating" priest; indeed, much better than "pedophiliac" priest….
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