We Suck

Posting at Murderati today about UNC's recent slump (and what writers can learn from it).

Here, Trollie Trollie Trollie....

Boy, nothing brings out the anonymous trolls like making fun of the Wasilla Hillbilly, does it?

Sorry, guys, I hate to break it to you: no matter how many starbursts you think she's winkin' your way, no matter how many times you tell yourselves you're defending the honor of your Redneck Prom Queen, she's not going to sleep with you. Especially since none of you have the balls to take responsibility for your words.

But here's a little more troll bait:



And here's a news flash, because you people are as predictable as the sunrise, and I know what cliche is struggling to get out of your heads right now: mocking someone does not mean you're "afraid of them."

It means they think you're a joke.

Sarah Palin Better Get Busy

Latest Newspaper Column

Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, in a private meeting last August, referred to liberal opponents of President Obama's health-care plan as "[bad word] retarded."

Well, Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, failed vice-presidential candidate and soon-to-be Fox News commentator, wasn't going to take that lying down, you betcha. Palin (who, you might remember, has a son with Down syndrome), quickly leapt to her recent political forum of choice, i.e., her Facebook page, to call for Emanuel's resignation immediately, if not sooner.

"I would ask the president to show decency in this process by -eliminating one member of that inner circle, Mr. Rahm Emanuel, and not allow Rahm's continued indecent tactics to cloud efforts," Palin wrote.

Emanuel apologized for his comment, but that wasn't enough for Palin, who wrote: "Just as we'd be appalled if any public figure of Rahm's stature ever used the 'N-word' or other such inappropriate language, Rahm's slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities - and the people who love them - is unacceptable, and it's heartbreaking."

Doggone right. I'm glad to see that Gov. Palin is taking a stand against the use of the word "retarded" to describe liberals. I look forward to her demand for the immediate firing of conservative radio host Michael Savage, who is constantly referring on his show to "liberal retards."

I also look forward to her calling for the immediate banning from the airwaves of conservative pundit Ann Coulter, who once wrote of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "Is no one going to remark on what a great country it is where a mentally retarded woman can become speaker of the House?"

Coulter is actually pretty fond of using the word; she referred to talk show host Bill Maher's audience as "MoveOn retards." And in an interview on Fox News' Sean Hannity program, she referred to former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan as "retarded." "It's not offensive, it's accurate," Coulter insisted when challenged on it by allegedly liberal co-host Alan Colmes.

Hannity, it should be noted, never said a mumblin' word. So maybe Ms. Palin should be calling for his resignation, too.

Then there's bowtied Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, who's referred to Canada as "America's retarded cousin" not once, but twice. There's also frequently utilized wingnut talking head Dick Morris, who, after he got fired from the Clinton administration for letting hookers listen in on his phone calls to the White House, became the go-to guy for anyone who wanted a sound bite bashing the Clintons, Barack Obama or any Democrat.

Morris, on Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor," criticized Obama's stimulus package by saying: "What he didn't quite explain to me - and maybe I'm a little retarded about this - is how are you going to get banks to give people car loans when the government is elbowing them aside?"

I'm sure Gov. Palin missed that slur, but now that it's been called to her attention, I'm sure she'll be calling for Dick Morris to be banned from Fox. It's going to get pretty lonely on that channel, but it's a small price to pay to defend against those who slur "God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities."

While we're at it, I look forward to Ms. Palin expressing her outrage at every conservative blogger who's ever used the word "libtard" (a combination of the words "liberal" and "retard") to describe anyone to the left of themselves. A quick Google search of the Republican Web site "Redstate" for the word "libtard", for example, turned up five long pages of hits.

And on Facebook, where the Resigning Woman is so fond of holding court, there are groups called "Al Gore is Retarded," "Liberals are Retarded," "Hollywood Is Full of Retarded Liberals," etc. Fortunately, since there's an easy way to ask for the administrators of Facebook to remove offensive groups, she can take a stand right away. There are only about 500 Facebook groups that use the word "retarded" in their names, so it shouldn't take more than a week or so.

If she's going to go after everyone who ever referred to liberals as "retarded," Ms. Palin had better get busy. But I know she will. Because if she's only upset by the use of the word "retarded" when a Democrat uses it, her outrage might seem, shall we say, a bit selective, even a bit hypocritical. And we know she's not a hypocrite, right?

Right?

Amazon Does NOT Want to Expand The E-Book Market

Yes, it's true that Amazon allows you to publish and market your own stuff to the Kindle, and at a very attractive-seeming royalty...but that model allows you to publish ONLY to the Kindle.

You don't see Amazon "fighting" to keep prices down on .pdf or epub files, just Kindle-friendly ones.

If they do what they seem bent on doing, and drive other e-book readers, as well as paper books, off the market, then you, the reader, are only going to be able to get your reading fix on Amazon.

What's worse from my perspective: if Amazon has their way, writers are only going to be able to publish with them. And if that happens, how long you think that sweet royalty will last?

Amazon isn't trying to expand e-publishing. They're trying to contract it to one machine, the one Amazon makes.

It's a bad idea. Fight it.

Post Your Amazon Alternatives Here

SFWA removes Amazon.com links from website

Despite their acknowledgment a few days ago that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms, it appears that Amazon still hasn't restored the ability to buy titles from Macmillan or its subsidiary publishers (including mine) at its website. Whatever your feelings about who's right and who's wrong here, it's undeniable that this is hurting authors more than it's hurting either Amazon or Macmillan. So the Science Fiction Writers of America has decided that they "would prefer to send traffic to stores where the books can actually be purchased." To that end, they're taking the Amazon links from their website and substituting links to indiebound.org, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Borders.

I've also posted links here to Park Road Books, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, and Murder By the Book.

Anyone else have suggestions for online bookstores? Post them here, with links. Amazon's been the big dog too long.

But John McCain Is An Honorable Man

MSNBC:

"I understand the opposition to it, and I've had these debates and discussions, but the day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, senator, we ought to change the policy, then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to."-John McCain, 2006 talking about "Don't Ask Don't Tell"

"At this moment of immense hardship for our armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy."- John McCain, 2010, the same day Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen came to him (and other Senators) and said "Senator, we ought to change the policy."

Wait, it gets better:

"Senator McCain has not changed his policy on Don't Ask Don't Tell" -McCain spokesperson Brooke Buchanan.

They're not even trying to pretend any more that they have any principles at all. They're lying to our faces, they know it, we know it, and they just don't care.

And, of course, the chickenshit Democrats will never pick this up and run with it, and the media will let it drop, because John McCain was a POW.

Meanwhile, the big story is that Caribou Barbie is pretending to have her knickers in a twist, because Rahm Emanuel called some leftists "fucking retarded." SIX MONTHS AGO.

Because, you know, she's always been such a friend to the Left. And she's always been right out front when conservatives refer to liberals, or the President, as "libtards." Hasn't she? No? I wonder why....

Quote of the Day

Jim Winter, at Edged in Blue

Print is not the buggy whip of the 21st century. The ebook is the paperback of the 21st century. The sooner you understand this, the sooner you will understand the future of publishing.