The author copies arrived today, and they are good. So I opened up my CreateSpace store, where you can buy the trade paperback. The ebooks will be on sale in a day or two, depending on how long it takes Amazon, B&N, and Kobo to approve them.
In the meantime, click here if you want the trade paperback. I get a few extra dollars if you buy through my CreateSpace store rather than through Amazon.
Here’s Darkness Rising (The Catmage Chronicles)
This post is going to stay on top for a while.
I’m going to see if I can’t schedule this post for that time. Okay, the 15 seconds probably won’t make it, but the rest will.
Thanks to Stephan and Rahel for reminding me about military/24 hour time.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Erdogan: So, Turkey gets shelled by Syria, and then Turkey shells Syria–not unlike what Israel does to Gaza. Now, Turkey has forced down a Syrian airliner that it suspected was carrying weapons–not unlike Israel refusing to allow ships into Gaza. But don’t worry, the irony will remain unnoticed by the Islamist leader of Turkey, and he’ll continue to bash Israel at every opportunity. Oh, and Russia is pissed off at Turkey for harming their client state of Syria. Can’t have things get all screwed up now. Losing Syria would be a big blow to Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah. Hey, wait a minute–go, Turkey! Screw things up!
Green on green: First the Syrian rebels captured a boatload of Iranian Republican Guards. Now they have Hezbollah members. Time to sit back and watch the fireworks as the rebels do to the Iranians and Lebanese what they’ve been doing to the Syrians all along. The more they fight among themselves, the less Israel has to worry about.
A terrorist twosome: Hamas and PIJ have officially joined together to attack Israel. Because when they attacked Israel together before, it was unofficial, I guess. And of course, the Palestinian apologists throughout the world will turn a blind eye to this. Hamas must really think that Egypt is going to stop Israel from taking them out. We’ll see. The situation may change completely in 26 days. Don’t count on President Romney turning a blind eye to terrorism.
Oh, well, that makes me feel totally safe now: Russia says the Iranians will never nuke Israel. Sure. No problem. Right. You betcha. Israel can relax now. They’re safe.
Seriously? Twitter is that freaking stupid? So Twitter allows the swastika as a character and anti-Semitic tweets explode on the network. Duh.
The Middle East is going to hell in a handbasket. Turkey and Syria are shelling each other, which might bring NATO into the clash. There is now a team of American military planners in Jordan in case Syria implodes and spills over into our ally there. The security situation has deteriorated overall, resulting in the deaths of an ambassador and four Americans in Libya, attacks on embassies throughout the Middle East, and Egypt now under control of the Muslim Brotherhood. So whose aid does a group of fifteen Christian church leaders want to cut off?
The religious leaders sent a letter to Congress members on Monday, calling for an investigation into possible violations by Israel of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which would make Israel ineligible for U.S. military aid.
“As Christian leaders in the United States, it is our moral responsibility to question the continuation of unconditional U.S. financial assistance to the government of Israel. Realizing a just and lasting peace will require this accountability, as continued U.S. military assistance to Israel — offered without conditions or accountability — will only serve to sustain the status quo and Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories,” the letter, signed by leaders of the Lutheran, Methodist, UCC churches, and the National Council of Churches, said.
“We request, therefore, that Congress hold Israel accountable to these standards by making the disbursement of U.S. military assistance to Israel contingent on the Israeli government’s compliance with applicable U.S. laws and policies.”
Have they sent a letter to the U.S. about Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iraq attacking and murdering Christians? Nope. Because none of the above are “oppressing” the Palestinians.
How very Christian of the churches to show such utter disregard for their coreligionists at risk in the region. Why, it’s almost enough to make one think that the only reason they care about what Israel does is because Israelis are Jewish. Almost.
Two words for you, church leaders, and the first one starts with an F.
The good news is my book is just about ready to be published.
The bad news is I’m losing more and more interest in maintaining this blog.
I’ve no idea what the future holds.
Honest Reporting won a complaint in the U.K. to force British newspapers to stop calling Tel Aviv the capital of Israel. From their press release:
Responding to a complaint from HonestReporting, the UK’s Press Complaints Commission (PCC) ruled this week that The Guardian newspaper violated principles of accuracy when it stated that Tel Aviv was the capital of Israel.
The ruling set a precedent on British coverage of Israel, effectively barring all British publications from referring to Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital. The PCC then upheld the precedent this week, ruling against the Daily Mail on the same issue. As a result of the ruling, the Daily Mail changed reference to “the Tel Aviv government” to “the Jerusalem government” and published a printed correction.
The PCC ruling against The Guardian brings to an end a process that began in April when The Guardian brazenly declared Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital, and included the reference in its style guide. HR issued a complaint and the PCC – unbelievably – ruled in favor of The Guardian.
In response to the ruling, HR took initial steps to launch a judicial review of the PCC. The PCC then withdrew its ruling, leading The Guardian to correct its statement on Tel Aviv and change its style guide. This week’s new ruling accepted that The Guardian’s correction was sufficient.
One for the good guys, and go HR! Contribute to them if you have a few bucks to spare. They are doing great work.
Did you all watch the debate Wednesday night? Are you laughing at the crybabies who can’t understand why Obama did so poorly?
Dana Milbank has part of the answer. Yes, Obama hasn’t been questioned harshly in a very long time, and when you spend your time going on The View instead of having press conference, you get out of the habit of dealing with hardball questions.
The excuses came fast, furious, and unbelievably ridiculous (Al Gore suggested it was the high altitude that affected Obama.) Oh, and it’s all Jim Lehrer’s fault. Only it wasn’t.
Lehrer was a great moderator. That was a great debate. That was the first actual debate I’ve seen in I don’t know how many years. The candidates spoke to each other, rebutted each other, and came back to issues again and again. The main reason liberals are freaking out over Lehrer is because he didn’t lob softball questions at Obama and hardball questions at Romney. He didn’t advance the narrative. And he allowed Obama to show that he was not the great orator and debater that he’s been made out to be.
They think that Obama will come roaring back in the next debate. I think that’s how it will begin. But I don’t think it will end that way. People are forgetting that President Obama is the Narcissist-in-chief. When a narcissist is not being told he is great and wonderful–when a narcissist is forced to back up his statements or being called a liar–he gets angry. And Obama can’t hide his pissiness when he is told he is wrong. He has never been able to, but nobody has ever called him on it, or shown him as the peevish, childish, temperamental narcissist he is–until Wednesday night.
So expect the president to come out the gate strong, but watch for Romney’s jabs to piss him off again. He’ll forget all that practice about not looking down and smiling a lot more. He will get frowny-face again.
Next time, I’m guessing the networks will not use the split-screen nearly as much. Because they know how much it hurts their candidate.
Wait and see.
Every time a moron like Juan Cole insists that the Iranians don’t want to destroy Israel, out comes something like this.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is not after aggression against any country but our response to any aggression will be decisive,” Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC Ground Force for Operations General Seyed Morteza Miriyan said on Wednesday.
“In case of a military attack by the Zionists, our dreams about annihilation of Israel will come true and the trend of the annihilation of the regime will be speeded up.”
Ah, they will point out, this guy isn’t the one in charge of the IRGC. So he’s just talking trash.
But wait, there’s more, and remember, this is FARS, the official news agency of the Mad Mullahs:
In relevant remarks last month, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said an enemy invasion of Iran is possible, but such a war would put an end to the life of the Zionist regime of Israel.
“Owing to the (high) speed (of the growth and development) of the Islamic Revolution, this cancerous tumor, Israel, is challenging us to war, but it is not clear when this war would take place,” Jafari said in Tehran in September.
“War may break out, but if Zionists start something, that will be the point of their annihilation and the endpoint of their story,” he added.
Right. But it’s just regime change they’re looking for. “Annihilation” is simply symbolic language for “a change in government”.
Uh-huh. But just in case you think it’s a one-off, there’s also this:
Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Shirazi, the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the Islamic Republic’s Qods Force, said this week that Iran needed just “24 hours and an excuse” to destroy Israel.
In his first public interview in a year, reported in the Persian-language Jahan News, which is close to the regime, Shirazi said if Israel attacked Iran, the Islamic Republic would be able to turn the conflict into a war of attrition that would lead to Israel’s destruction.
Oh, now, it’s just spin, they’ll say. He doesn’t really mean that Iran is going to destroy Israel.
“If such a war does happen, it would not be a long war, and it would benefit the entire Islamic umma [the global community of Muslims]. We have expertise in fighting wars of attrition and Israel cannot fight a war of attrition,” Shirazi said, referring to Iran’s eight-year war of attrition against Iraq.
Well, that’s not bad, the Juan Coles will say. They’re not really talking about annihilation. Just attrition. Uh-huh.
“Well, when Israel finds itself in danger of extinction, it flails around, and so it’s easy for it to do foolish things and will start a war just to sting Iran.”
Couple this with the news that Iran has fired on its own civilian airliners and tested missiles on sites built to look like Haifa and Tel Aviv, and you can draw a pretty clear picture: Iran wants to end Israel. Not the Israeli government. Israel.
Like Netanyahu has said repeatedly: When your enemy says he is going to destroy you, believe him.
Foreign policy will not come up at tonight’s Presidential debate. That’s the next one. We’ll be awaiting what The One has to say. But I doubt we’ll believe him.
I know you are, but what am I? Iran is all pissed off that the world is laughing at its use of an Onion story as real news. So they’re now accusing Israel of being a laughingstock over Bibi’s bomb cartoon.
Well, I thought it was a good picture: Yeah, let’s make fun of Bibi’s bomb drawing. Because THAT’s the point. It’s a cheesy drawing. Let’s not talk about how close Iran is to attaining a nuclear weapon.
Dear Peter Beinart: If you need the OU to tell you what to pray for on Yom Kippur, ur doing it wrong. (I didn’t know the OU told us to pray for Iran not to get the bomb. It happened to be a prayer I thought up all by myself. Woo, I’m such a big girl now!)
Stay classy, anti-Israel media: Not satisfied with making Bibi look angry and devilish, both the AP and Reuters chose this particular pose. Because he’s a Zionazi, get it? Get it?
I’m in NorVA at the moment. I took a trip north to get chestnuts from my friends at a farm out in Purcellville, which is about 45 minutes from where my friends live (the ones I stay with when working at Job in Northern VA). So it’s a Sunday-Monday trip for me. Sunday, the relaxing day, where we drove out to the farm and then relaxed and are about to go out to dinner, and finish the evening watching the season premiere of Once Upon A Time (the magic is back!).
I brought the proof of my book with me. I’m having the cover redone a bit because the white paper is too danged white. I’m switching it to cream. And doing one more read-through, this time with a print proof in my hands. Then, I will make any necessary corrections, upload the text and the cover, and once the book is approved (about 12 hours later), it will be on sale.
I’m feeling pretty positive about it. I think I’ve got a shot of breaking out of the pack. We will see.
I still have absolutely no idea what I’m doing with this blog. I’m just going to take things as they come.
It never ceases to amaze me how credulous the mainstream media sources are when it comes to news reporting on Iran.
Here’s what the AFP has to say about Iran and Argentina making nice at the UN session this week, in the context of Argentina trying to get Iran to agree to extradite the murderers who blew up two Jewish community centers, killing 85 and wounding 300 in one attack, and murdering another 26 in the second:
Both sides agreed to continue their dialogue “until a solution is found,” Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said in a statement.
Timerman met with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, “and decided to continue negotiations” in Geneva in October, the statement read.
Argentina and Iran will keep talking until they resolve diplomatically sensitive issues stemming from two 1990s attacks on Jewish targets in Buenos Aires that were allegedly sponsored by Tehran, both countries said on Thursday.
Dialogue with Tehran is risky for Argentina, even if the focus is on Tehran’s possible culpability in a pair of bombings. The opening of a diplomatic channel with Tehran could anger the United States and Israel, which are seeking to isolate Iran as it appears to pursue nuclear weapons.
And now, an analysis of what the meetings really mean:
Yet there is a sense among opposition politicians in Argentina that the Fernandez government is eager to turn the page on the now 29-year-old investigation into the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association bombing. In this regard, Iran’s fall 2011 overture to assist with the probe, although a patently empty promise, may have provided an excuse for Buenos Aires to begin a qualitative betterment of ties with Tehran.
A number of other factors also have contributed to Argentina’s recent flirtation with the Islamic Republic.
One is economics. Argentina is now weathering a significant financial downturn, one brought about by the global economic recession and by the Fernandez government’s own anti-free-market policies. All of this gives trade with Iran greater salience for Argentina than would otherwise be the case. Indeed, bilateral trade has grown to the point that Argentina now ranks as Iran’s biggest economic partner in Latin America.
Another is Argentina’s international outlook. Argentine officials make no secret of their government’s desire for an “independent” or “emancipated” foreign policy — a thinly veiled allusion to the need for political distance from the United States. This stance has predisposed the Fernandez government toward cooperation with Iran, as well as with other international actors such as China.
Quite a different take on the situation. But the news media will claim that their job is to report the facts objectively. Except, of course, where Israel is concerned. This Bloomberg analysis of Mad Mahmoud’s UN speech makes it seem like he was positively sunny about Israel.
Iran’s president made no overt calls for Israel’s destruction and omitted any mention of his nation’s disputed nuclear program during a United Nations speech that instead offered his vision of a spiritual world.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s address to the annual UN General Assembly yesterday was tame by comparison to his previous appearances before the world body and didn’t prompt walkouts by Western delegations as in the past. The U.S., Israel and Canada boycotted the speech to protest past offensive remarks.
What it does not do is mention that two days before his supposedly “softer” speech, he said that Israel has no roots in the Middle East.
“They have no roots there in history,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said of the Israelis. “They do not even enter the equation for Iran.”
A true news analysis would note that two days before his “tame” speech, he completely negated three millennia of Jewish history, delegitimizing a UN member state on the eve of his UN visit.
This is why blogs have become so important. Because the news media neglects to tell you the facts, preferring to spin the fantasy that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not the virulently anti-Israel that he usually is. Believe me, he has not changed. Take away the spin, and he still called for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state from the podium of the United Nations–whether or not he was physically on it when he said it.
Busy with work and other things.
Sorry for the lack of posting.
Forgot to wish everyone an easy and meaningful fast.
I did not fast this year, as I am on antibiotics and was told I had to stay hydrated and probably shouldn’t fast. Boy, do I feel guilty. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t fast on Yom Kippur. I think I even used to fast during the years I was a twice-a-year Jew.
No one out there can say that Iran is a friend or ally of the United States. You would think that would stop Americans from giving him the soapbox he so desperately craves to bash the United States and Israel.
But of course, it doesn’t.
A report today in an official outlet of the Iranian regime claims that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, will meet with members of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Every year, tools fete this bastard and then say they’re going to ask him tough questions, so it’s okay. Every year, he gets more propaganda to use against us. This year, Ima Dinnerjacket threatened Israel a little more specifically, and lied about Israel’s three-millennium history in the land of–gee, Israel.
Ahmadinejad said Iran has been around for thousands of years, but Israel has existed for only 60 or 70 years. He said that for a certain “historical phase” Israel represents a disturbance for Iran and “they are then eliminated.”
“They (Israel) have no roots there in history. They do not even enter the equation for Iran.”
There are apparently eight stages of genocide. Mad Mahmoud and the Mad Mullahs of Iran have hit nearly all of them. But don’t worry, because our fearless leader, Barack Obama, said on 60 Minutes that he wasn’t going to listen to any of the “noise” about how much a threat Iran is to Israel.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “When it comes to our national security decisions—any pressure that I feel is simply to do what’s right for the American people. And I am going to block out—any noise that’s out there. Now I feel an obligation, not pressure but obligation, to make sure that we’re in close consultation with the Israelis—on these issues. Because it affects them deeply. They’re one of our closest allies in the region. And we’ve got an Iranian regime that has said horrible things that directly threaten Israel’s existence.”
Barack Obama will not be meeting with any heads of state at the UN. But he will be on The View.
