This is the last in a series of four articles about Burma from the BBC's news website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5086056.stm

Here's another interesting article about Burma from the BBC's news website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5071966.stm

This is typical of the totalitarian, repressive "government" in China.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/06/061606china.htm

I love this poem and wish I'd written it.


"Blessings" by Ronald Wallace

from Long for This World: New and Selected Poems.
© University of Pittsburgh Press. Reprinted with permission.

(from Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac" on National Public Radio and the Internet)


Blessings

occur.
Some days I find myself
putting my foot in
the same stream twice;
leading a horse to water
and making him drink.
I have a clue.
I can see the forest
for the trees.

All around me people
are making silk purses
out of sows' ears,
getting blood from turnips,
building Rome in a day.
There's a business
like show business.
There's something new
under the sun.

Some days misery
no longer loves company;
it puts itself out of its.
There's rest for the weary.
There's turning back.
There are guarantees.
I can be serious.
I can mean that.
You can quite
put your finger on it.

This is good news from Saskatchewan.

http://www.cbc.ca/sask/story/sk-bison060615.html?ref=rss

Here's a funny story about "art".

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/06/15/art-head.html

Japan has a very high suicide rate.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5082616.stm

Here's a timeline featuring some of the important events in Burmese history.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1300082.stm

I love the BBC's news website (http://news.bbc.co.uk ), partly because it has excellent coverage of Asia. Here's a very interesting story about government spies in Burma.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5071288.stm

I'm glad that many entertainers (such as Bono) and other celebrities try to bring attention to important events in the world.

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid32393.asp

I really enjoyed the made-for-TV movie about Tommy Douglas, but I wish that it had been more historically accurate to avoid what's happened recently.

http://www.cbc.ca/sask/story/sk-tommy-douglas060612.html?ref=rss

I think that these Buddhist words of wisdom are useful.

"If we're looking for outer conditions to bring us contentment, we're looking in vain."

- Ayya Khema, Be an Island

Copyright Wisdom Publications 2001. Reprinted from Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations, edited by Josh Bartok, with permission of Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm St., Somerville MA 02144 U.S.A, www.wisdompubs.org .

George W. Bush neglects to mention this when he talks about what's happening in Iraq.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2659/

Sometimes when I hear Canadians complaining about things in our country, or when I do it myself, I think about my English as a Second Language (ESL) students and realize how lucky we are to live in Canada. Many of my students came here as refugees, often fleeing a war or various forms of persecution. I admire their strength and tenacity and wonder how I would behave if similar things happened here.

Being a child in Japan is hard work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5060848.stm