[Atlas Shrugs] A New Year's Eve celebration at a packed Seattle gay bar was set ablaze shortly after midnight on January 1. The staircase at Neighbours, Seattle's largest and longest running gay nightclub was doused in gasoline and set aflame by Musab Masmari. He was arrested Saturday morning on his way to the airport.
Where are the left wing, the gay and LGBT organizations denouncing the Islamic texts that inspire such mayhem and murder of gays? Where is that fierce gay leadership condemning Muslim oppression of gays under the sharia?
Where are those brave activists who rushed to condemn me when I ran an ad campaign highlighting Muslim oppression of gays under the sharia?
Gay marriage is their priority? Pathetic.
Gay organizations in America say nothing, but loudly condemned my ad campaign highlighting Muslim oppression of gays under the sharia. Why haven't we heard from SF City Council, the Human Rights Commission, SFHRC head Theresa Sparks, and the enemedia? They called my ads hate and issued a resolution against my organization for merely quoting Muslim political leaders, spiritual leaders and cultural voices in the Muslim community who call for the torture and death of gay people.
No, instead, I was denounced by gay and transgender leaders in the US for our work to highlight the Muslim oppression of gays. The San Francisco City council issued a resolution condemning our AFDI ad campaign (the first of its kind) focusing on the vicious oppression and subjugation of gays under Islam.
Where are those "human rights" hypocrites now? Perhaps they simply await more evidence, ie, property seizure, mandatory rainbow armbands, tats, deportation.
#1
It isn't about standing up for gays. It is about punishing westerners that don't agree with them. They can guilt and force westerners to do whatever they want since these groups know they are safe.
Try it with the muslims and they might get their heads sawed off. So they will ignore or roll over for them.
[AmericanThinker] German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier emphasized: "Germany is too large, just to comment on world politics." When asked if that meant use of military force as the "ultima ratio" (last resort) of foreign policy, he warned: "No foreign policy in the world can banish the ultima ratio from its political thinking." In response to questions about America's diminished sway in the world, Steinmeir added: "The US has not lost its interests in Europe and the world. But America cannot be everywhere. Whether we like it or not, that shifts more of the responsibility for security in Europe onto our shoulders."
The editorialist is concerned. But have we not been asking that the Europeans step forward and take up their fair share of the burden?
A combination of butdget-led military reductions + latent desire to protect the Euro-Socialist Welfare-Nanny State at all costs has led to various NATO-EU Nations mulling mutual consolidation of their small-n-getting-smaller armed forces just to maintain normal or "status quo" security requirements. ITS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY NATO-EU WANT THE US TO STAY THE LEADER OF ANY OUTSIDE MILOPS OR MILACTIONS WHERE NATO-EU COUNTRIES PARTICIPATE.
* FYI TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > BRITISH MILITARY POWER WANING [declining], THINK-TANK TELLS DAVID CAMERON.
And thus, little Virgina, we learn once again why God + 1960's - 70's Guam Taotamonas came up wid MADONNA, i.e symbolic of an future American femme whom marries into the UK Royal family + helps revive the Empire + UK-Euro glory.
Nostradamus' "Mrs. Wallace Simpson".
DON'T TELL NOT-TOM-CRUISE "MAVERICK" - THEY HAVE ISSUES.
#2
Did they march into the Rhineland? (joke)
Odd emphasis, considering the Deutchland has been selling U-boats to anyone with cash.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/07/2014 7:26 Comments ||
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#3
Except Israel. They are getting most of the U-boats for free
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/07/2014 8:45 Comments ||
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#4
The golden rule - he who has the gold, makes the rules.
The corollary being - he who has the gold, builds the military.
But America cannot be everywhere.
Yes, that evil neo-colonialistic boogeyman, that target of millions of your fellow travelers who as sock puppets for the Soviets for decades was derided for providing protection that is now quickly disappearing. It was so easy to sit back and allow the locals to disparage the Americans cause by silence you didn't have to pay the political price for pointing out their freedoms were being paid for by the taxpayers across the Atlantic or Pacific who went without the generous state subsides you bought favor with at home. Good luck with all that now that you'll soon be on your own.
#8
Could this be a preview of the New German Army uniforms "on parade" at the Winter Olympics in Sochi...if so then seemingly they have set their sites on warmer climates.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
02/07/2014 14:54 Comments ||
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#9
The prospect of a newly militarized Germany didn't bother me at all ... until I saw those Sochi outfits.
[DAWN] EVEN as Kashmire Day was observed on Wednesday, few people realised the enormous damage done to the cause of Kashmire's freedom by Pakistain's past cultivation of non-state actors. True, some political governments were mindful of the hazards inherent in such a policy but helpless in the face of the military's stiff opposition to their views. The issue was the generals' insistence that they alone knew how to run Pakistain's security policy. Conceding this point meant handing over to the army the gamut of security issues from Afghanistan and Kashmire to N-weapons. This practically hamstrung the Foreign Office and -- in Kashmire's case -- served to de-legitimise the Kashmiri struggle for freedom from Indian occupation. When it began in the late 1980s, the uprising in the Valley was genuine and indigenous and reflected the Kashmiri people's justified anger over India's occupation of their state in violation of all moral and legal standards. New Delhi was stunned, for the occupied territory had never seen such a revolt before. No wonder it responded by rushing more troops to the Valley and implementing laws that armed its security agencies with sweeping powers of search and arrest. The result was a menacing rise in human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... violations that drew international condemnation. However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... the situation took a tragic turn when myrmidon organizations, euphoric over the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, began to cross over into India-held Kashmire and thus gave an altogether new and unwanted dimension to the Kashmiri people's struggle. In the process, Pakistain was looked upon with suspicion for allegedly supporting infiltrations.
In the wake of 9/11, and the rise of terrorism on a global scale, India won a major propaganda victory when it sought and received unqualified Western support to de-legitimise the Kashmiris' struggle and portray the freedom fighters as terrorists. With Afghanistan liberated, and the ingress into the valley restricted under world pressure, the 'out of job' turbans turned their guns on Pakistain. Today, Paks are paying with their blood the price for the security establishment's foolhardiness. Nevertheless, the past flawed policies on Kashmire should not be allowed to overshadow the Kashmiris' right to self-determination now. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... 's recent dialogue offer to India should be seen in that context.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] AFTER considerable pressure the rulers of Lahore had announced a limited Basant in the now denuded 'forest' of Changa Manga, away from the heart and soul of Lahore. In their hired special tents, the more resourceful were to be given an opportunity to flog the lifeless body of a festival that has evolved over thousands of years. That was before the news came that even the Changa Manga flight is being aborted.
In other cities the 'virus' of happiness has spread. Across the border in Delhi and Amritsar huge celebrations are planned. In Kabul of all places it will be a holiday as the people fly kites and enjoy their finest foods. It might amaze our puritans that even in Tehran they will be celebrating.
Newspaper reports inform that Basant celebrations are planned in England, La Belle France, Germany, Bangladesh and many cities of the USA. In the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... a huge Basant Festival is planned on February 16 and it is expected to attract over 50,000 people. What Lahore lost has been an immense gain for the entire world.
In every civilisation there are moments of collective happiness which people love to share. It is an unprompted response, almost a genetic switch, in all humans. Collective happiness is best in evidence when the crops are ripe and wealth is expected to flow your way. Given 'perfect' weather, celebration is a human need.
In the Punjabi culture as it has evolved over thousands of years, agriculture and Basant Panchami have evolved like it has all over the subcontinent. In the Punjabi New Year the harvest celebration spreads over 14 moons from the end of 'Maagh' to the beginning of 'Phaggan'.
Traditionally it was called Baisakhi. To the north in Kashmire it is called 'Navreh', or 'the renewal'. To the far-east in Bengal it is called 'Pohela Boishakh', the flowering of the crops. Down in Sri Lanka it is called New Year's Day. Far to the north-east in Assam it is called 'Rangoli Bihu', the eruption of colours.
That and much more it means to Lahore, where the festival has evolved as one of colour, of happiness, of the arts and culture, and, naturally, immensely good food. With care to the wind, the kites did once fly and around this time in February, everyone in the city would be preparing for Basant. It has been replaced by the culture of the desert, grim as that is.
People measure life in terms of colour and happiness. That is why when in 2007 this amazing festival of Basant, which attracted tourists from all over the world, was banned, it took away from the poor the one true unprompted all-inclusive happiness they loved and indulged in. The reason being that a new lethal wire was being used for kite-flying by a handful of spoilsports.
No death can be justified, least of all the ones caused by revellers who want to win at all cost. Instead of finding a solution, our inept rulers banned a thousand years of culture. To be honest one did not expect much better from them. But then let us examine police figures for 'kite-string' deaths and locate them in Lahore. I will use official figures so that the government cannot rebut them. Of the total of 14 deaths by kite-string over the last seven years, not a single one took place inside the walled city of Lahore. But there is a compelling reason why all the deaths took place on main roads on cycle of violences, and that being that this 'wire', normally used by doctors to stitch patients after an operation, does not snap, and children on cycle of violences at speed are sadly caught.
The walled city of Lahore, to whom this festival belongs, does not have fast-moving cycle of violences and wide roads, for the kite-flying is taking place on the high roofs. For this reason not a single death has ever taken place inside the walled city.
Even the British rulers restricted this festival to the old city, and to open grounds away from the city. The move to Changa Manga surely reflected what the people of Lahore, in their colourful description of all things, term the decision as that of a 'Changa Manga Mind' -- a non-solution that could have occurred to any Tom or Dick. Nothing could be more insulting to the very essence of the happiness of the poor, the young, the caring and the connoisseurs of life who wish to celebrate a few days of spring.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] TAKING the day off for trivial commemorations is one of the few things we do collectively in Pakistain. So it was this past Wednesday for the annual incarnation of the 'Kashmire cause'. Given that Kashmire is, as per Jinnah, Pakistain's 'jugular vein', we hear about it more than just every Feb 5.
Yet when the annual holiday comes around one is reminded of just how significant an impact the issue has had, and continues to have, on our body politic.
It is worth remembering that the phenomenon known as the Taliban is deeply linked, both sociologically and politically, to the Kashmiri 'mujahideen'. What is less known is that before the soldiers of Islam came to dominate the Kashmiri nationalist struggle in the 1980s, it was secular, left forces that represented the aspirations of the region's long suffering people.
The Pak state has attempted to manipulate the Kashmire issue since the beginning; the first 'Indo-Pak war' was waged not by regular military personnel but by Pakhtun rustics encouraged to take up an 'Islamic' cause by a newly constituted ruling class. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... Kashmiri nationalists were mostly able to maintain relative autonomy from the state's machinations -- until the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan that began in 1988.
The Pak establishment then decided that jihadis surplus to requirements in Afghanistan could come in handy on our eastern frontier. In a nutshell, the bleeding strategy that worked so effectively against the Soviet Union would now be tried upon arch-enemy India in the mountains of divided Kashmire.
Until that point, groups such as the Jammu Kashmire Liberation Front, and those even further to the left were the face of Kashmiri nationalism. This segment of nationalists was, and still is, committed to securing independence for Kashmire from both Pakistain and India. Needless to say, this was a stance that never suited Pakistain (or India). When the opportunity presented itself, GHQ wasted no time in altering the Kashmiri political map.
In the subsequent years, the political economy of jihad has transformed Kashmire, alongside Pakistain and the wider South Asian region. Thousands of young men have sacrificed their lives in the name of direct entry at the gates of heaven. Kashmiri society has been politicised along religious lines and become much more cynical. Yet Kashmire is no closer to being unified or set on the path to normality than it was before the influx of the so-called mujahideen.
Prior to 9/11, government functionaries harped on regularly about 'moral and political support' to the Kashmire cause. The changed global environment since George W. Bush announced the start of the 'war on terror' has made it impossible for the Pak state to maintain any public association with jihadi groups operating in Kashmire. And so 'business' has been forced to shift underground.
Yet Kashmire's fate -- at least the part controlled by Pakistain -- is not just moulded by the state. Out-migration of youth and working-age males has changed the face of society. This migration has, on the one hand, integrated a wide cross-section of Kashmiris with Pakistain, and, on the other, facilitated greater economic and political independence vis-à-vis the state and traditional elites.
Still Kashmire is one of the most brutalised regions in the contemporary world. Women in particular bear the brunt of a war that ebbs and flows, on both sides of the so-called Line of Control. Meanwhile the claims of both Pakistain and India to have granted the region's people substantial political rights belie the fact that both Kashmires' constitutional status makes Kashmiris second-class citizens.
The suppression of secular Kashmiri nationalist forces in Pakistain and their attendant fragmentation has led, in recent years, to growing friction between Kashmiris and progressives in Gilgit-Baltistan. As a result both tend to view each other with suspicion rather than recognise their symbiotic connection in opposition to the state.
This is indeed the story of ethno-nationalism in Pakistain on the lam. While the challenge to monolithic state nationalism has arguably intensified in recent years, in the form of the Baloch, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Gilgit-Baltistani and Seraiki causes, there is also far less coherence in this challenge compared to a bygone era because the various nationalist movements have no (leftist) ideological thread linking them together.
It is thus that the Pak state's 'holy crusades' in Kashmire have, alongside the disastrous plan to simulate Afghanistan as the country's fifth province, culminated in the rise and increasing intransigence of the so-called 'emancipatory' politics of the Taliban. It has been a freedom farce like no other, and it is in the interests of Kashmiris and all of the other nations that together make up Pakistain to say it exactly in those words.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2014 00:00 ||
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Both of the referenced posts profanely express misgivings for the glut of books by indie authors, of which I am one. One of the authors of the posts suggests a means of clearing the glut, one which make sense for publishers: deny indie authors space to sell their wares. I guess if you can't compete in the marketplace, you can always use a hammer to break it up.
This issue reminds me of a story I read, I don't remember where, of a Soviet apparatchik who was deposed and forced to work in the mines for a living, after a long career of overseeing mining operations. The exchange between this individual who had held sway over other miners' lives was instructive about how he saw himself in the Soviet and now the post Soviet world. I can't quite recall exactly what was said, only that the miners, whose lives were no better in the post Soviet world, were a constant reminder of how much things have changed, not so much better for them, but better for everyone now that an oppressive system had disappeared, practically overnight.
What the arguments against indie author boil down to is quality. Some commenters have said you can always tell an indie book because of the poor quality of the cover image and the poor content. Perhaps so with issues such as typographical errors and grammatical errors, they exist even in books released by publishers, though not as pervasively. The solution in some of the comments was simple: hire a book editor, then your book could sell if you follow the editor's advice.
But I think the real issue here is the same issue that confronted the Soviet miners. It may be you are part of the hoi poloi, and you have no business publishing works of fiction that do not conform with the best practices in publishing, but you are still a low life who has no business publishing anything, and if I had my way (channeling commenters) I would get Jeff Bezos to pull your book, sacrificed all on the alter of sales. No question when it comes to sales, publishers win, every time. They can't compete, but they can sure use their hammer to destroy a market.
And such talk makes it possible now that Bezos owns one of the most leftist rags in America. Destroying markets: that's what liberals do. They are doing it in the medical field and it will happen in publishing.
But think about how much music has changed in the last 100 years. Do you really think that Slipknot's music would have been published back in a time when recordings were expensive, even assuming that tastes have changed, when music publishers at the time refused to allow some artists recording time even if they could afford it for reasons other than quality? Think about how much the market for music has changed. Do you realize that jukebox plays were considered a factor in a musician's popularity as recently as the 1950s? Do you realize that only 100 years ago not everyone could or even would buy a recording, spending their hard earned money just to listen to music?
Now anyone can record and sell music, and like publishing, a narrow band of musicians can get their recording distributed by large recording companies. Why would anyone devote time, energy and effort into making and selling music that would sell to only a tiny number of people. Imagine the outcry had people in the music business said, 'Let's rid ourselves of musicians who do not sell many recordings!' And in all of this what the issues boil down to is one of quality on the one hand, and the other in which an author breaks traditional strictures in publishing and selling a work of fiction publishers would not even consider. And the market responds, as it should.
My books do not sell very well. They are probably not particularly well written and they are probably rife with grammatical and spelling errors. I work as a machinist full time, so I can't afford to devote the $5,000 to a professional editor that they say it would take to get the book into better condition. And for all that I am truly sorry, my station in life does not permit me to expend the resources to edit the book, but my reply is that I do the best I can with the resources I do have, which is my ability to spin a a yarn and to at least put together more than two sentences.
I like to see the glut of books by indie authors, the glut of which affects me as well, as a bunch of people who went to the gate the publishing gatekeepers are suppose to watch and spray paint on it: "Kilroy was here!" Publishers think all they have to do is to paint over the vandalism, until the next time. At some point that gate is coming down.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com Chris can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
#1
This makes me wonder if editors will start to free lance the way authors have obviously started to do. Link the two together & this puzzle just might be solved.
#2
I do the best I can with the resources I do have
I was raised on an axiom from the depression days.
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without"
Chris your attitude is the only way that a free, individualistic society can prosper. All too often the prevailing mood is that of rent seeking greed heads, from crack hos, to Fortune 500 CEOs it's all about what the gov't. will give you or take from others.
#3
*clears throat gently* Why, yes, as a matter of fact, AH - editors are free-lancing their services. The woman who founded the Tiny Bidness that she is retiring and handing over to me earned a very nice living as a free-lance editor ... and in fact, the Tiny Bidness does editing as a sideline, and for a heck of a lot less than $5,000. The last edit-only job that we had, we did a substantive and a line edit for $1,600. (The reviews of the book are very positive, and yes, I think we did a good job of nudging the plot development into something tight and orderly.)
No, indy publishing is not going away, and although quite a lot of the products (especially the e-books) are pretty awful, there is too darned much good stuff that would have been consigned to a slush pile at an establishment press and never seen the light of day otherwise.
Some books - especially non-fiction - are intended for a specific and small audience.
The figures for the sale of an average book (everything from the mega-huge best seller to the little memoir which only sells to family members) is estimated somewhere around 2-300 copies. Sell more than that, you're ahead of the game, even if you're not in Harry Potter territory.
As one of the commenters on the rant linked to, Amazon would just as soon have a cut of a million books selling one copy each, as they would a cut of a million copies of a single book. Amazon also has a self-publishing house of their own, so I honestly can't see them dropping the ban-hammer on indy authors any time.
#4
My new-ish hobby is finding and reading indie e-books. Much of it is drek, but even in those there's a gem or two (like the imagery of five overweight Boston golfers "warming up' in the club parking lot to disco music.) At the worst, I'm out a couple of bucks and maybe thirty minutes of my time.
This is all in its infancy, or rather, a rebirth of what it was like back in the 18th century. The support infrastructure will grow to meet the need provided, as you said, that the elites don't try to kill it off.
#5
That bloviated word muncher would have all cooking done away with which wasn't done at a name brand restaurant.
Or imagine a college basketball scout going to a high school game and demanding that only players 6'5" and taller be able to play. Same as football; Russell Williams - too small for the NFL, no need to check him out. SIT volcano indeed, but from that keyboard pounder, "Don't follow your dreams because it interferes with my search of what might be trendy and I won't be able to say read it first."
I have an original board game, and two variations on a popular established board game where their variations do not even come close to. This star sniffer is saying that because Wallyworld isn't interested I should be banned from attempting to sell my games.
Eat my knuckles asshole, because this is the very point of America.
#6
Problem with publishers is they hate the fact an indie author can sell for $1 to give folks a taste. Yes it might be a foul taste but then you've only lost a $1. Publishers can't afford to do that, they work on the other end of paying mass cash to advertise the big tent pole books hoping to subsidize the losses they make on everything else. Sooner or later they will end the everything else line and just try to buy out successful indies to be tent poles but ... and here is the thing, a number of successful writers have decided to go indie now that they have name recognition they can also have control and all of the profits.
Normal publishing is nearly dead and they know it.
#8
Oh, yes - Sarah Hoyt has heaps to say regarding The State of Mainstream Publishing Today.
Just for jollies, I went and read some of the linked essay and some of the ones linked it it ... sigh, yes, I'd guess that 90% of the indy/self/published books are cr*p. So are 90% of the mainstream pubbed - I mean, Snookie? For real?
The nicest thing that Amazon did for readers was to enable the 'look inside' feature. Yes, dear people - you can actually look at the first chapter or two of a print or e-book, and decide yourself if it is a book that you want to read. There is no one pointing a gun at your head forcing you to buy the book and read the whole darned thing. The numbskull demanding that Amazon do something about the so-called sh*t volcano strikes me as a lazy sod demanding that Amazon do his book selection for him.
#9
#8 Sgt. Mom - Amazon also allows customers to borrow a book (1 per month, IIRC), and the author still gets paid. You have to sign up for this, and there are some other requirements, but I actually get a little more for a loaned book than a sold book. (How much depends on the money pool Amazon has for that month to pay authors for loaned books.)
I signed up at first just to get the book "out there," but I'm still signed up since they're paying me. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/07/2014 18:45 Comments ||
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#10
What a lovely sequence of rants.
Inspired by this thread, my next book of poetry will be entitled, Sturm und Drek.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Nawaz Sharif
[DAWN] TAKING the day off for trivial commemorations is one of the few things we do collectively in Pakistain. So it was this past Wednesday for the annual incarnation of the '
