arblogger.com

 

(Brain of beaten student in Burma, courtesy of myanmarmuslim.net by way of Ko Htike blog)

         Not as systematic as Hitler’s extermination machine, of course, but still: according to top Burma/Myanmar blogger Ko Htike’s September 29 entry, entry “Telephone conversation with a members [sic] of public”,

         “…They burned the injured protesters/civilian people in the YaeWay Crematorium la la . Er… the staff from crematorium told this, crying, to the people who went to the funeral service. Please let this known to CNN and BBC. Thank you!! …”

         Not just using a crematorium a la Auschwitz, but burning alive. I think the Inquisition did that, but often one at a time at a stake, not in mass numbers…

         Anyway, the “Burmese way of [National] socialism” seems to be failing pretty badly, to put it mildly. Stay tuned.

         (By the way, see the similar but more detailed diary by kraant at Daily Kos, Burma: They burned the injured protesters/civilian people in the YaeWay Crematorium.)

         The crisis in Myanmar/Burma continues, with multiple deaths, and blogs (and others) silenced. See, e.g., CNN, Internet cut in Myanmar, blogger presses on,

         “…Myanmar-based blogs went dark suddenly. But London-based blogger Ko Htike — who has been one of the most prominent bloggers posting information about the violence — has vowed to keep up the fight, saying where “there is a will, there is a way.”
         “I sadly announce that the Burmese military junta has cut off the Internet connection throughout the country,” he said on his blog Friday. “I, therefore, would not be able to feed in pictures of the brutality by the brutal Burmese military junta.” …”
         (See also Blogs helping expose Myanmar horrors for a little more background.)

         For things you can do, see, e.g., Daily Kos, the PB&J diary Do something about Burma — Yes, You. We can all make a difference, if we want to.

         Hat tip to the Mich Daily (yet again), for noting that AA now has a city website/page of assistance to the disabled, titled Disability Resources, Services, and Accommodations,

         “…The Ann Arbor Commission on Disability Issues has evolved from a commission created and convened by Mayor Robert Harris and City Council in 1969, and maintained through the years under various names. The city collaborated with and drew from its Disability Commission to create this resource page. This page is a work in progress, and your questions and feedback are welcomed! …
         The links below will take you to services, accommodations and resources pertinent to your needs, based upon your particular disability and/or situation. …”

         See Mich D, SOLE asks Coleman to pay their fines: Twelve students had to pay $6,120 for trespassing,

         “Activists held a press conference outside a University Board of Regents meeting yesterday and called for the University to force companies that make its apparel adhere to more stringent labor standards. Several student activists who were arrested and fined for trespassing for holding a sit-in in University President Mary Sue Coleman’s office in the spring also asked Coleman to reimburse them for the fines. …
         The 12 students arrested in April owe a combined $6,120 in fines. They’re trying to raise money to cover that cost.
         They’ve already received $1,000 in donations from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the University’s nurses union. …
         “It’s easy to get larger unions to support you when a president breaks over 30 years of precedent,” said Blase Kearney, a SOLE member who was arrested in April. “People at this university haven’t been arrested for peaceful protest in thirty years.” …
         “By attacking the right to peaceful protest, the University has silenced the voice of students,” the group said in the letter, read by SOLE member Aria Everts, an LSA junior, to a crowd of about 60 people.
         The letter also said the University doesn’t value student voices and doesn’t focus on social change.
         “The focus is too often on understanding inequities of (globalization) and rarely on rectifying them,” the letter said.”

         Word.
         Here’s the donation page, if you wanna donate some yourself.

         See Mich Daily, Regents approve addition to clause: After four years, change comes with split vote,

         “The University Board of Regents voted yesterday to add gender identity and gender expression as protected categories in the non-discrimination clause of the University bylaws, ending a four-year debate.
         The vote was 5 to 2, with Regents Andrew Richner (R-Grosse Pointe Park) and Andrea Fischer Newman (R-Ann Arbor) voting against the proposed change. Richner and Fischer Newman could not be reached for comment.
         The decision is a victory for activists who have long argued that the non-discrimination policy didn’t adequately protect transgender faculty and students. …”

         About time! (Especially after what we noted before) –Congratulations!!

 
(Courtesy of UN) 

         See, e.g., CNN, Mime legend Marcel Marceau dies,

         “Marcel Marceau, who revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, has died, his former assistant said Sunday. He was 84. …
         Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, Marceau, notably through his famed personnage Bip, played the entire range of human emotions onstage for more than 50 years, never uttering a word. Offstage, however, he was famously chatty. “Never get a mime talking. He won’t stop,” he once said. …
         Marceau once said that Bip was his creator’s alter ego, a sad-faced double whose eyes lit up with child-like wonder as he discovered the world. Bip was a direct descendant of the 19th century harlequin, but his clownish gestures, Marceau said, were inspired by Chaplin and Keaton.
         Marceau likened his character to a modern-day Don Quixote, “alone in a fragile world filled with injustice and beauty.” …
         In the past decades, he has taken Bip to from Mexico to China to Australia. He’s also made film appearances. The most famous was Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie”: He had the only speaking line, “Non!” …”

         Can’t say too much more about a mime, it wouldn’t be silent enough.
         RIP MM.

         Courtesy of Ron Suarez, SUN Sep 23 - Shakey Jake ’second line’ blues funeral,

         “”New Orleans-style “second line” procession in honor of Shakey Jake Woods (the most popular person in Ann Arbor).
         Meet at Muehlig’s Funeral Chapel (in Ann Arbor) after 1 pm Sunday (where the indoor memorial service is held). Bring your instrument (anything). Guitars welcome, strings and tuning optional. Wear your finest Jake tribute ensemble.
         Route, destination, and step-off time all TBD. Repertoire to include “When the Saints Go Marching In” (in G) and “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” (key TBD). …
         R.I.P. Shakin’ Jake Woods.”

         Should be fun…and moving, too. In various senses of the word “moving”.

         “Gmar hatimah tovah!”

         Tecktonik dance craze takes Paris by storm (AFP via Breitbart)

         See Mich Daily on the Change to policy goes to regents: If board approves, non-discrimination clause would expand,

         “After years of pressure, the University Board of Regents will vote on whether to add the phrase “gender identity and expression” to the non-discrimination clause of the University’s bylaws.
         If the regents approve the measure - slated to be voted on at the board’s meeting on Thursday - the University of Michigan will join the more than 75 other colleges and universities around the country that have added the phrase to non-discrimination clauses at the urging of activists who say the changes make campuses safer and more inclusive for transgender students and faculty. …
         Regent Julia Darlow (D­-Ann Arbor) says she’ll vote to approve the measure.
         “Although you can make arguments that the bylaw already covers this topic, I think that making the position and the support unquestionably clear is truly important to the people concerned and to all of us really,” she said. “The bylaws can be open to interpretation but they should not be open to interpretation on this issue.” …”

         You can mail the Regs at regents@umich.edu if you support transgender equality. If not, you could always just mail them and say, “F–k equality.”