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Iraq and Gulf Analysis
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De-Baathification (11)
Federalism in Sunni-Majority Areas of Iraq (14)
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Iranian influence in Iraq (55)
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Archive for the 'UIA dynamics' Category
Iraq's Shiite Alliance Wavering in the Question of the Parliament Speakership
Posted by Reidar Visser on Monday, 14 July 2014 22:15
The new Iraqi parliament met briefly on Sunday and failed to make much progress apart from agreeing to meet again on Tuesday.
One interesting aspect of the proceedings that has failed to receive much attention concerns the stance of the pan-Shiite alliance on the issue of electing a speaker before a comprehensive agreement including the positions of president and prime minister has been reached. The Iraqi constitution envisages this kind of sequenced and piecemeal approach (instead of the package deals that were done in 2006 and 2010), and for the first time in Iraqi post-2003 history, there has this year been a degree of actual support for this kind of approach – from Iraqi voices and players in the international community alike. At least some members of the pan-Shiite alliance have also highlighted this possibility, probably fully aware that if they stayed unified, the Shiites in theory have enough votes (more than an absolute majority of 165 deputies) to impose whatever speaker they would like to have.
Interestingly, though, the Shiite bloc has refrained from pushing through any particular speaker candidate to enable a separate speaker vote. Indeed it has been reported that it was members of the Shiite alliance that played a role in having the parliament session on Sunday adjourned following failure to arrive at a more comprehensive agreement on the other leadership posts. This apparent reluctance to go ahead with the speaker election is interesting since it breaks with the trends of majoritarianism sometimes evident in the Shiite alliance (and especially in the State of Law bloc of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki). Instead, there have been some rather contrived suggestions by members of the Shiite alliance to impose particular conditions for the selection of the speaker. In one version, Maliki's legal adviser Tareq Harb suggested that a speaker could be elected "from the smaller lists and temporarily". How, one wonders, can Harb see this to resonate with his avowed orthodox approach to the Iraqi constitution? Then on Sunday, Hanan al-Fatlawi, another Maliki ally, suggested the speaker could be elected from among some of the tiny religious-minority lists in the Iraqi parliament (such as various Christian lists, Shabak and Sabaeans).
What this all suggests is that the Shiite alliance remains worried about giving away the speaker seat to a Sunni whom they don't fully trust – Salim al-Jibburi (from the Iraqi Islamic Party in Diyala) having been the most prominent candidate so far. This in turn relates to a broader contradiction between majoritarianism and consensus models that continues to afflict the Shiite alliance. It goes back at least to the spring of 2011, when, after having sometimes promoted majoritarianism in the preceding period, the State of Law coalition pathetically demanded the creation of a third vice-presidency to make sure they had a say even within that minor office. Despite all the persisting talk of "political majority", it seems the Shiite alliance has lately been fully preoccupied with dividing the spoils of the elections in the traditional way – with heated discussions about who should be the Shiite deputy speaker (Humam Hamudi of ISCI is a forerunner) and who should be the Shiite deputy president (it seems this may go to a Sadrist).
In all of this it is worth noting that despite weather problems (that some suggested dovetailed rather conveniently with Kurdish threats to boycott the Iraqi parliament), the short session on Sunday was actually rather well attended. Press reports talked about 225-235 (out of 328) deputies present, but the official parliament record says 270 which is very high compared with averages from the previous parliamentary cycle. What this means is that there are more than enough deputies present to complete a vote on a speaker, which requires an absolute majority. Maybe Iraqi politicians should now try to liberate themselves from past practices and just go ahead with the speaker vote, as indeed the Iraqi constitution stipulates? Such a move might in itself potentially produce new dynamics and alliances that are capable of affecting the current deadlock in the key question of who should be the next Iraqi prime minister.
Posted in Iraq parliamentary elections 2014, Iraqi constitutional issues, UIA dynamics | 4 Comments »
The New Iraqi Parliament Opens
Posted by Reidar Visser on Tuesday, 1 July 2014 20:39
So the new Iraqi parliament met today after having promised Iraqi voters, the Shiite religious authorities, and the international community that they would do so.
Unsurprisingly, they did little else than meet. Following the inaugural formalities, Mahdi al-Hafez, the "speaker of age"(the oldest MP who chairs the first session), introduced the only point of substance on the agenda: The election of a parliament speaker and his two deputies. At that point, a Kurdish MP found the time had come to complain about the refusal of Baghdad to compromise on the KRG share of the budget. This rather blunt violation of the official agenda prompted heckling and even blunter derogatory verbal counter attacks. Speaker Hafez, who represents the small and secular Iraqi coalition with both Sunni and Shiite members, proposed a half-hour break to calm tensions and explore the opportunities for electing a speaker.
When the session resumed, many of the 255 deputies that had been present at the outset failed to show up. It was suggested that there was no longer a quorum (165 MPs); indeed some reports suggested the number of deputies present had fallen as low as 70-100. What apparently had happened was that Kurds and Sunni Arabs deliberately boycotted – the Kurds probably to some extent offended by the verbal altercation about its attempt to put budget issues on the agenda, but also with suggestions that both protested what they saw as a failure by the Shia alliance to come up with a replacement candidate for Nuri al-Maliki as premier. What was clear, at any rate, was that there was no speaker candidate. Accordingly, there wasn't much to do except agree the next session, and it fell to the mainly Shiite Islamist MPs that remained in the session to work this out together with Hafez, the temporary speaker. To Hafez's credit, he did not go along with suggestions by Ibrahim al-Jaafari that this could wait until after Ramadan. Instead, another meeting next Tuesday, 8 July, was fixed.
A couple of comments on the constitutional and legal aspects of this. Firstly, there has been much talk about the ability of the Iraqi supreme court to speed up the government formation process, based on its intervention back in 2010. Sadly, though, the ability of the court to do much in practice is probably limited. In 2010, its ruling against parliament was focused on its open-ended and everlasting (jalsa maftuha) session. Iraqi politicians have found an easy solution to this by simply ending today's session without results and then calling a new one. The truth is, the supreme court cannot force Iraqi parliamentarians to remain within the parliament building until they find a solution, papal conclave-style. What actually happened in 2010 was not that the court suddenly became extremely powerful, but that its ruling coincided with the first real signs of progress on the political front after the Sadrists agreed to a second Maliki term.
Second, it should be stressed that constitutionally speaking, the only thing the Iraqi parliament needs to agree on at its first meeting is the speaker. The practice of agreeing on all three top positions – i.e. speaker, president and premier – is not rooted in the constitution. Rather, it is a tradition that has come into use on two previous occasions in 2010 and 2006. Sunnis and Kurds who are using this precedent to force the Shiite alliance to come up with a replacement of Maliki should be aware of this aspect, since for the first time the Shiites in the new parliament hold the numbers (170 plus) to proceed with elections of a speaker to suit their own interests even if the main Sunni and Kurdish parties continue to boycott. (It should be noted, though, that the debate about quorum or no quorum is immaterial to the speakership vote, which explicitly demands an absolute majority to be valid in any case per the Iraqi constitution.)
This point is also important because there seems to be a gross disconnect between the actual Iraqi political process and the media description of it. Consider, once more, the move to squeeze out Maliki, which is seen as a foregone conclusion in all Western and most Arab media. Compare it with the composition of the last key Shia alliance meeting on the subject on Monday, where those present consisted of 6 potential Maliki loyalists (Maliki himself plus Khudayr al-Khuzaie, Hadi al-Ameri, Hashem al-Hashemi, Faleh al-Fayyad and Ibrahim al-Jaafari) whereas only 2 (Ammar al-Hakim and Karar al-Khafaji) are known to be wholeheartedly against a third term. With a situation like that, a more realistic interpretation is that the tug-of-war inside the Shiite alliance may take rather longer than some on the outside seem ready to admit.
Posted in Iraq parliamentary elections 2014, UIA dynamics, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
The Intra-List Struggle in the State of Law Coalition: The Baghdad Parliamentary Contingent, the Shahristani Faction, and the Independent Deputies
Posted by Reidar Visser on Sunday, 1 June 2014 22:46
In the middle of the long wait for the certification of the Iraqi election result, speculation about the viability of PM Nuri al-Maliki's bid for a third term has intensified. One of the recurrent questions concerns possible challenges to Maliki from within his State of Law coalition, especially from deputy PM Hussein al-Shahristani, who according to some sources has increased his influence because of the election result.
A frequent contention is the idea that the Shahristani bloc should have received no less than 33 seats in the latest election, making it the biggest bloc in State of Law – ahead of Badr and with double the seats as Maliki's own Daawa party faction.
Whereas observers are right in pointing out the potential significance of a big Shahristani win, there are some problems with these rumours. Firstly, they are exactly just rumours: Nowhere has a list of these alleged new Shahristani deputies published. On the Facebook page of the Shahristani bloc it is virtually impossible to find any article that does not focus on extolling the virtues of the personality of Shahristani himself. For its part, the party's homepage shows a list of deputies from the previous parliamentary session.
In fact, most reports about Shahristani's ascendancy seem to go back to a claim made by Hassan al-Sunayd, a former Maliki ally who lost his seat in the election and in one interview shortly after mid-May said Shahristani had won 33 seats. Sunayd is reportedly estranged from Maliki and in the process of establishing a new political party.
While the possibility of a large Shahristani bloc in the next Iraqi parliament should not be rejected out of hand, a search of some of the constituencies for which coalition sub-entities are specified makes you wonder who exactly these 33 Shahristani deputies are. They do not appear to be in Basra, where a good State of Law source indicating bloc affiliation exists, and where most of the Shahristani candidates appear to have lost. (Additionally, frequent acting minister for Maliki Safa al-Din al-Safi left the party and ran independently: He received no more than 1,500 votes). Recently, other lists from Wasit and Baghdad have also been released, showing only 3 Shahristani deputies in Baghdad. The Baghdad list is particularly important since it concerns no less than 30 deputies, most of whom appear to be independents. It can be controlled independently against an analysis of the Badr winners in Baghdad, with which it squares 100%.
So where exactly is this monster Shahristani delegation of 33 deputies? Not in Basra, not in Baghdad (4 deputies at most) and not in Wasit as we have seen.
Other known Shahristani deputies include one in each of Maysan, Dhi Qar, Najaf and Karbala. That's eight. Where are the rest? They surely aren't in the Shiite-minority provinces, where all the factional identities of the State of Law winners are known. Are there really 25 Shahristani partisans hidden in the new parliament contingents from the mid-Euphrates areas? That's hard to believe. Remember that many members of his bloc in those parts lost their existing seats, including some embarrassingly prominent cases (like Khalid al-Attiya, once a deputy parliament speaker).
What can explain these major discrepancies? Semantic problems should not be ruled out, as they have appeared in the past as well. Shahristani's bloc is named Independents (Al-Mustaqillun). That is the same term that is used for an unaffiliated MP, although the latter terms is always used in the singular and mostly without the definite article (al-). Thus, in parliament lists of members of the National Alliance in the past, some formally independent and unaffiliated State of Law members were listed as (mustaqill or mustaqilla as an adjective that is conjugated in accordance with the gender of the MP), whereas members of Shahristani bloc are listed with the bloc name (Al-Mustaqillun). It is thus very easy to mix up the two categories and erroneously add truly independent MPs to the Shahristani bloc.
Pending the publication of the names of the new Shahristani bloc, this kind of explanation should not be ruled out. Once things get published by Arab newswires – often with sources far removed from Iraqi realities and with anti-Maliki voices prominent – they tend to get repeated endlessly. By way of example, in 2012 some of these sources persistently insisted that 164 (rather than 163) MPs constituted an absolute majority in the then 325-member parliament.
These are of course two radically different interpretations. Whereas "Independent Bloc members" loyal to Shahristani may conceivably constitute a threat to Maliki, true "independents" are actually more likely to be loyal to Maliki rather than to anyone else since their inclusion on the State of Law list came outside of the competing factions and most likely through the general effort of the prime minister's office to cultivate ties to a broad range of Iraqi professionals from all spheres. This is important since many analysts tend to focus much on the fact that relatively few of the new State of Law parliament bloc appear to be full members of the Daawa party,
Of course these questions are also bound to have an impact on larger issues. As an alternative to the various majoritarian constellations that are being discussed, a return to the old model whereby an enlarged Shiite alliance essentially decides the PM and then invites Sunnis and Kurds in to form an oversized partnership government – arguably the antithesis to Maliki's political majority concept – is also receiving much attention. Clearly the question of finding a replacement for Maliki inside State of Law (a parallel to the sidelining of Ibrahim al-Jaafari in 2006) is correlated to the question of the relative size of the coalition subunits: In the internal Shiite alliance contest, political elite relationships count more than the popular vote. For example, in a fascinating image of an Iraq between majoritarian and consociational democratic models, Maliki with 720,000 personal votes is being challenged as PM candidate by people like Ahmed Chalabi with 10,000 votes.
Shahristani is also in that segment of around 10, 000 personal votes. However, unless the rumours of his new-won mega contingent of parliamentary deputies are accurate, it seems highly unlikely that Shahristani should be able to upend people like the well-connected Chalabi or, for that matter, the highly popular Maliki.
Posted in UIA dynamics | 26 Comments »
The Badr Organization and the Internal Structure of the New State of Law Parliamentary Faction
Posted by Reidar Visser on Thursday, 22 May 2014 21:14
There have been several rumours flying around regarding the electoral success of the various subunits that form part of the State of Law coalition of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Some of these stories suggest parties outside the Daawa movement may potentially pose a significant challenge to Maliki's authority, something that would form a contrast to the situation in 2010 when Maliki did not face any major competing centres of power internally in his coalition.
The rumour that is easiest to verify – and confirm – relates to the relative success of the Badr organization. Badr, which came into existence in the 1980s as a paramilitary organization sponsored and trained by Iran to fight the Saddam Hussein regime, has won at least 19 seats within the group of parliamentary seats that can be counted as State of Law in the new Iraqi parliament, meaning they make up more than 20% of the State of Law coalition.
Here are Badr deputies in the next Iraqi parliament that can be identified easily, by governorate:
Governorate No of Badr deputies Names
Basra 2 Ahmad al-Khafaji, Hassan al-Rashid
Maysan
Dhi Qar 2 Razzaq Ujaymi, Amal Attiya al-Nasiri
Muthanna 1 Ali Lafta al-Murshidi
Qadisiyya 2 Muhammad al-Shaybawi, Suham al-Musawi
Babel 2 Razzaq al-Haydari, Manal al-Muslimawi
Najaf 1 Muhammad Abbas al-Musawi
Karbala
Wasit 1 Qasim al-Zuhayri
Baghdad 5 Abd al-Karim Yunis, Muhammad Naji, Abd al-Hussein al-Azayrjawi, Hassan al-Saadi, Muhammad al-Ghaban
Diyala 2 Hadi al-Ameri, Mina Saleh al-Umayri
Nineveh 1 Hunayn al-Qaddo
Some of the individual results call for special comment. There are a few prominent vote getters in terms of personal votes, including Hadi al-Ameri with 20,000 in Diyala, though this is really nothing in comparative national perspective . There are some significant climbers such as Hassan al-Saadi in Baghdad who went from an initial 35th place to a seat-winning 21st position, although on the whole Badr winners were mostly placed high on the list by the State of Law leadership in the first place. And the newly declared Badr affiliation of the representative of the Shabak minority Hunayn al-Qaddo can now be confirmed! Qaddo, who is emphatically not a militiaman, has previously wavered between the Hakim and Maliki factions.
Similar stories about the alleged surges of other competitors to Maliki inside the State of Law list have not been possible to confirm as easily. Materials on candidates for the Independents bloc of deputy premier Hussein al-Shahristani and the Tanzim al-Iraq faction of the Daawa is less easily available. An initial superficial count indicated less than a dozen MPs for each of these factions, including some setbacks for prominent figures (like Khalid al-Attiya), though this may be an underestimate.
Of course, historically Badr has been the Iraqi Shiite faction closest to Iran, constituting the premier example of an organization formed for the single purpose of exercising Iranian leadership over Iraqi Shiites. Their strong ties to Iran could prove particularly important if the question of resurrecting the pan-Shiite National Alliance for purposes of government formation once more moves to the foreground of Iraqi politics.
Posted in Iraq parliamentary elections 2014, UIA dynamics, Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Badr Organization and the Internal Structure of the New State of Law Parliamentary Faction
The Iraqi Parliament Completes the First Reading of the 2014 Annual Budget
Posted by Reidar Visser on Monday, 17 March 2014 14:23
In a significant move, the Iraqi parliament has completed the first passage of the 2014 annual budget despite boycotts by the Kurds and the Mutahhidun bloc loyal to the parliament speaker, Usama al-Nujayfi.
The sheer arithmetic behind the successful quorum at Sunday's session speaks volumes about shifting political winds in Iraq ahead of the 30 April parliament elections. In order to go ahead with the first reading, 163 MPs needed to be present to reach the legal minimum requirement for taking parliamentary action. According to the official parliament record, 164 deputies attended. In the context of boycotts by Kurds and Mutahhidun alike, this is a remarkable achievement. It means, firstly, that the Shia bloc in parliament is exhibiting internal discipline at a level not seen since 2005. Altogether the three main Shiite factions – State of Law, Muwatin and the Sadrists – command around 161 deputy votes. The numbers suggest that despite internal turmoil among the Sadrists (or because of it?) a majority of these deputies will have been present during the budget reading. Whereas previous occasions involving Kurdish opposition to Maliki have seen widespread ISCI solidarity with the Kurds, no such major Shiite challenge to Maliki appears to have materialized this time around. But beyond this, importantly, there must have been some MPs from the Sunni and secular camps attending as well. The numbers don't lie: even on a good day, there are no more than aroundd 160 Shiite Islamist MPs, and most of the handful of minority MPs from small non-Muslim groups and ethnic micro-minorities are loyal to the Kurds. Accordingly, in the context of continued criticism of PM Maliki by Iraqiyya leader Ayyad Allawi, it makes sense to assume that at least some of the breakaway elements of Iraqiyya that materialized in 2012 were present to secure the necessary quorum.
Substantially speaking, the conflict involves primarily Kurdish opposition to proposed measures of control regarding oil export from the Kurdish areas. For their part, the Sunni Mutahiddun appear to be boycotting more out of personal opposition to Maliki than a coherent anti-centralism agenda (although the tendency in the latter direction is more pronounced today than it was a couple of years ago). It is interesting that Maliki is using the issue of the budget and the question of Kurdish oil exports to mobilize popular opinion ahead of the elections. This is unprecedented: In 2010, neither the question of Kirkuk nor the budget tension was brought to the fore in a big way. At the same time, when seen within the context of the election campaign more generally, this is Shia chauvinism within a shell of Iraqi nationalism, quite different, for example, from the 22 July movement of 2008 focused on representation issues in the Kirkuk provincial council. Alongside assertiveness on the part of the central government in oil issues comes new governorate proposals clearly speaking to Shia Turkmen minorities, as well as the cabinet's recent passage of retrograde Shia personal status law that would enable underage marriage – an apparent concession by Maliki to hardliners in the Fadila party ahead of the elections.
Still, this is only the first reading of the budget. Parliament speaker Nujayfi will be able to stage filibuster-like obstacles to delay the second reading and the decisive vote. It is however noteworthy that Nujayfi himself chose to be present and chair the budget first reading on Sunday, quite despite his own bloc's boycott.
Three further parliament meetings are scheduled for this week. For now, the second budget reading is not on the agenda.
Posted in Federalism in Sunni-Majority Areas of Iraq, Oil in Iraq, UIA dynamics, Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Iraqi Parliament Completes the First Reading of the 2014 Annual Budget
Is Maliki About to Fall?
Two articles discuss the political showdown in Iraq as critics of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki claim they have the 163 votes needed to bring him down. One focuses on the question of Iran's interest in Iraq and the possibility that Iran may have fabricated some aspects of the current political crisis to demonstrate its leverage in Iraq for world powers; another highlights the contrast between a government in Baghdad that for all practical purposes remain operative and the multiplication of gatherings of Maliki enemies in the autonomous region in Kurdistan, where many are more focused on the prospect of eventual Kurdish independence than the fate of the rest of Iraq.
Discussion section open as usual below.
Posted in Iranian influence in Iraq, Iraq's 2010 parliamentary election, UIA dynamics | 89 Comments »
Maliki's Meeting with Shahrudi in Iran
Posted by Reidar Visser on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 14:04
If you look at the website of Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's premier, it offers ample coverage of his two-day visit to Iran completed this week. One item is however not reported: His meeting with Mahmud Shahrudi, a member of the Iranian guardian council of Iraqi origin.
The meeting, which was covered by the Iranian news agency IRNA, was different from the string of other meetings held by Maliki in Tehran. Meetings with key Iranian leaders like Ahmadinejad, Jalili, Larijani and Khamenei could plausibly be construed as bilateral meetings between the Iraqi premier and key Iranian officials. Shahrudi, however, has a strictly domestic role in the Iranian government focused on internal power-broking. True, Shahrudi is in some ways an Iraqi exile living in Iran, but then again there are thousands of other Iraqis living in Iran with whom Maliki could have plausibly met.
Inevitably, the meeting between Maliki and Shahrudi will fuel speculation about the links between Maliki's Daawa party and Shahrudi. Historically – and unlike other Iraqi Shiite Islamist parties – the Daawa has been reluctant to impose adherence to a particular Shiite cleric on its members, leaving this as an individual choice. However, since autumn 2011, rumours about a move by the Daawa to adopt Shahrudi as a collective marja have mushroomed. Indeed, at times this has been linked to a reported attempt by Shahrudi to establish a presence in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf with a view to contesting the successor struggle expected when the current leading cleric, Ali al-Sistani, passes away.
Any such move would be of momentous significance for Iraqi politics. Unlike Sistani and the Najaf scholars, Shahrudi belongs to the school of the Iranian revolution and advocates a leading role for the clergy in government. If Shahrudi should succeed in emerging to prominence in Najaf with the help of the Daawa it would transform the outlook of the city entirely. Indeed, it would change Iraqi politics more broadly: Those arguing that Maliki is moving towards ever greater coordination with the Iranian clergy would feel vindicated, and rightly so.
For the time being, numerous factors militate against such a scenario. In the first place, historically, the Daawa has been more reluctant than other Shiite parties in Iraq to embrace the Iranian doctrine of clerical government (wilayat al-faqih). After all, this was what prompted its split from SCIRI as an umbrella organization in the 1980s and the relocation of several Daawa leaders from Iran. Even very recently, it is being reported that Maliki's parliamentary bloc alongside the Kurds and Iraqiyya are resisting attempts by ISCI and Fadila to impose a federal supreme law clause that would provide clerical veto on Iraqi laws on the Iranian model. And of course, historically, Najaf has a record of posing resistance to Qum in Iran as a centre of Shiism.
These tendencies may well prevail in Iraq. But by visiting Shahrudi yesterday Maliki did nothing to kill the rumours about some kind of Iranian design on the holiest centre of Iraqi Shiism.
Posted in Iranian influence in Iraq, UIA dynamics, Uncategorized | 38 Comments »
Targeting Mutlak and Hashemi: Towards Full Political Disintegration in Iraq?
Posted by Reidar Visser on Sunday, 18 December 2011 13:15
Only days after Maliki's Washington photo-op and with the US withdrawal formally sealed, Iraqi politics is alive again – but for all the wrong reasons. Yesterday saw unprecedented statements by people close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that a move is afoot to withdraw confidence in Deputy Premier Salih al-Mutlak of Iraqiyya (on charges of incompetence) and to bring legal charges against Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, also of Iraqiyya, for alleged involvement in the recent terror attack against the Iraqi parliament.
It should be stressed that so far much of this remains rumours and statements. Iraqiyya leaders say no formal request to parliament nor any arrest warrants have been seen so far. However, to some extent, the exact formal status of these proceedings does not really make that much difference. Mentally speaking the cat is out of the bag anyway: Here are two abrupt attacks by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against participants in his own government. Two lines of attack are being followed, one political and the other judicial.
With respect to the Mutlak case, given his latest comments to US media about the nature of Maliki's regime it is perhaps unsurprising that Maliki should take some action: When Mutlak accused Maliki of being a dictator, Maliki allies quipped back that Mutlak was the deputy dictator! Whether Maliki has the parliamentary support base to do this remains to be seen. In this matter, Maliki can probably count on the Shiites outside the State of Law alliance (Sadrists and ISCI), since many of them are bitterly opposed to Mutlak for his past association with the Baath party (after previously having been targeted judicially, Mutlak was formally exempted from de-Baathification proceedings as part of the December 2010 government-formation compromise). It is also interesting that the move against Mutlak and the Iraqiyya boycott comes at a time when the general amnesty law is making progress in parliament: That was a case of Iraqiyya and the Sadrists uniting against Maliki.
It is more unclear what the Kurds would do and their votes should be needed even if Iraqiyya continues to boycott parliament since sacking a minister in theory requires an "absolute majority". Given his penchant for exploiting potential legal loopholes, it is however not entirely unlikely that Maliki may try to make use of ambiguity that arguably exists in that the constitution regarding the definition of an absolute majority in this particular case: In most instances, the constitution explicitly refers to an "absolute majority of the members of parliament", but with regard to the sacking of individual ministers it speaks only about an "absolute majority" (aghlabiyya mutlaqa). This may well have originated as a simple clerical omission, especially since the concept of a "simple majority" (aghlabiyya basita) occurs elsewhere in the constitution. In other words it would be a an exercise – far-fetched perhaps? – of redefining all of this as plurality, simple majority and absolute majority respectively. Under that kind of scenario, of course, the Shiite Islamists might theoretically seek to sack Mutlak singlehandedly.
As regards Hashemi, this very much looks like a judicial attack on a political enemy that Maliki would probably not be able to get rid of in parliament: Last spring, Maliki had more trouble getting his own vice-presidential candidate, Khudayr al-Khuzaie, confirmed than Hashemi had with respect to his own candidature. Today, there is a statement from the higher judicial council to the effect that it will create a special investigatory committee to look into the accusations against Hashemi's security detail – a judicial approach that in itself seems ad hoc and extraordinary.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect in all of this is that Maliki is targeting people with a record for compromise. Both Mutlak and Hashemi have at times taken chances with their own constituencies for the sake of cooperating within the Iraqi political system. Back in 2009, Mutlak led a rapprochement attempt towards Maliki, whereas Hashemi was vice-president in the previous parliamentary cycle despite opposition from many Sunni Muslims. When Hashemi was labelled "Baathist" by the Sadrist Bahaa al-Aaraaji in autumn 2009, the revulsion against Aaraji in parliament included many Shiite Islamists and Kurds.
Symptomatic of all that is going on are perhaps today's developments in Diyala. The embattled, pro-federal governorate council is in emergency session in the Kurdish-dominated Khanaqin. They complain about armed Shiite demonstrations in Baquba and the inability of the government security forces to provide adequate security. This is a pattern we have seen before: Secularists and Sunnis withdrawing to the Kurds in times of trouble with Maliki.
So far the Kurds have a track record of hosting Iraqiyya in a friendly manner and then ultimately betraying them in bilateral deals with Maliki.
Posted in Federalism in Sunni-Majority Areas of Iraq, Iraqi constitutional issues, UIA dynamics | 20 Comments »
Maliki, the Fayli Kurds, and the Return to an Ethno-Sectarian Political Discourse in Iraq
Posted by Reidar Visser on Sunday, 2 October 2011 19:34
Ever since he came to power in 2006, a key issue for Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki has been the tension between, on the one hand, a majoritarian, all-Iraqi politicial discourse, and, on the other, a discourse that instead emphasises the identity of separate ethnicities and sects.
In a speech to a gathering of Fayli Kurds yesterday, Maliki certainly emphasised ethno-sectarian identity. Firstly, Maliki stressed that the Faylis had suffered more than any other Iraqi community because they are "both Kurds and Shiites". But not only that. Maliki advised the Faylis to seek "unity" within the component (mukawwin), meaning he demanded political conformity across the imagined "Fayli Kurd community". He went on to suggest that the census to be carried out in Iraq in the future would make clear how many Fayli Kurds there are in Iraq! This would effectively transform the census to a questionnaire about more than mother tongue (Arabic, Kurdish or Turkish) and main religion (Muslim versus Christian): It is mainly their Shiite sectarian identity that sets the Faylis apart from other Kurds.
Seen in isolation, one could wonder whether Maliki perhaps was simply following a strategy of reinforcing sub-divisions among the Kurds, as seen before in Iraqi history and perhaps most prominently in the case of the Shabak around Mosul. But Maliki's tendency to focus more on the components than the whole has been a consistent trend since the disappointing result for his State of Law coalition in the 7 March 2010 parliamentary elections. Back then, Maliki expressed disappointment that his hope of building a political-majority government had been crushed, and that the alternative of an ethno-sectarian power-sharing formula would likely lead to ineffective government. However, Maliki soon seemed to adapt to the new realities. Already in August 2010, people in his alliance (and the US ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill) expressed the view that the prime minister "had to be a Shiite". This year, Maliki and his State of Law allies have increasingly expressed the view that certain posts should be given to sects, as seen especially in the call for the defence ministry to go to a Sunni. These are all important steps towards the permanent Lebanonisation of Iraq.
There are of course examples of brave resistance and cases where Iraqi national sentiment clearly does survive. When Turkmens in Kirkuk recently demanded an ethnic Turkmen militia to protect them, Sunni Arabs from the same area instead called for central government intervention, notwithstanding the fact that the Iraqi army is now Shiite-dominated. Similarly, those Sunni Arabs were among the first to reject the idea of a Sunni federal region when it hit the political agenda this summer.
Away from political elites, many ordinary Faylis continue to express unhappiness about being labelled as anything other than Iraqis. However, it seems Prime Minister Maliki is now giving them pretty little choice.
Posted in Sectarian master narrative, UIA dynamics | 13 Comments »
Washington Heads Buried in Middle Eastern Sand
Posted by Reidar Visser on Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:57
Here is what Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, had to say about Iranian influence in Iraq during the recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing:
"I think Prime Minister Maliki – I think he understands that he – his country cannot allow Iran to be able to conduct that kind of influence within his country, provide those kinds of weapons and basically undermine his government.
That's what's happening and I think he gets that message. But we're going to have to continue to make sure that – that they take the right steps and I think Iran needs to understand that we're going to be around awhile here, making very clear to them that we're not – we're not simply going to ignore what Iran is doing in – in Iraq."
Once more, it seems, the United States government is pre-occupied with so-called "special groups" as the prime instrument of malign Iranian influence in Iraq. Kataib Hizbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haqq and the Promised Day Brigades are reckoned as the most dangerous pro-Iranian challenges to political stability in Iraq and have even been elevated to the status of an acronym (SG) in American military terminology – probably the safest possible indication that you are taken seriously in DC. Of course, some US analysts also include the mainline Sadrist movement on their lists of potential Iraqi troublemakers.
The problem with this approach to the subject of Iranian influence in Iraq is its myopic, one-sided character. It ignores at least two other key aspects of Iranian strategy: Maintaining a sectarian definition of politics and keeping de-Baathification as a key issue on the political agenda in Iraq. We can probably add a third aspect: A touch of "divide and rule" once a sectarian Shiite governing coalition had been safely put in place again in December 2010. This could include encouraging general state fragmentation, be it through federalism or consociational "power-sharing" with merely symbolic value.
The problem in Iraq is not so much that these aspects of Iranian grand strategy go undetected by Washington. The problem in Iraq is that Washington actively abets Iranian strategy in these areas. In 2010, during the run-up to the parliamentary elections, Ambassador Christopher Hill basically extended support to the process of ad hoc, illegal pre-election de-Baathification. Once the elections had been done with, Hill went on to endorse the sectarian idea that the next Iraqi premier "had to be a Shiite". With this kind US support for most of its strategy in Iraq, Iran can afford to use the "special groups" as an auxiliary to its general approach, adjusting its force in a secondary cat and mouse game with what remains of US military forces there.
Alas, in the Middle Eastern region more broadly, there are worrying signs that the Americans are unable to comprehend what went so seriously wrong in Iraq. In a recent (20 September) New York Times article on Syria, an unnamed US official declared that "nobody wants another Iraq". But the whole article suggested that precisely those same epistemological mistakes that derailed US policy in Iraq are still thriving in Washington. Here were quotes from Vali Nasr, talking as before about "Sunnis" and "Shiites" as if these constituted coherent monolithic communities. And the article author, Helene Cooper, remarked, "the United States has been exploring how to deal with the possibility of a civil war among the Allawite, Druse, Christian and Sunni sects in Syria" before adding that the US ambassador remains in the country "so he can maintain contact with opposition leaders and the leaders of Syria's myriad sects and religious groups."
In Iraq it was "mosaic"; maybe in Syria it will be "myriad". It is a good thing that the US cannot seem to have the courage to intervene in Syria. Maybe it would be even better if Washington and the US mainstream media at large would simply shut up before they talk Syria to pieces exactly like they did with Iraq?
This is a companion article to a more analytical piece published in the Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel, titled "Religious Allegiances among Pro-Iranian Special Groups in Iraq". The comments section is open for both articles below.


Episode 2: Happy Birthday, Orna Sokol – Writer.
Cordell knew how to translate that: war crimes prosecutors were after him. At the beginning, General William Scarrett had been beyond reproach. Maybe the eyewitnesses were enemy combatants with an axe to grind.
The den of vice on a dead world, home base to a cadre of lawless mercs and desperate scavengers, spoke otherwise.
However, the Capricious's hold was full of unlicensed explosives, corrosion bolts and enough BZ stims to send an army into a berserk rage. He couldn't offload those on a civilized world, and until Bill paid, his crew had to float the cost. Otherwise, he'd be looking at six hundred grand in undeclared losses.
"Whatever you did to the Kandis is no business of mine," Cordell muttered, trying to make himself think that way.
On instinct, Cordell glanced at Sunny, who maintained her mechanically sweet expression. On the Link, he would've mistaken it for flirtatiousness, but after the nasty slap she gave Armin, Cordell didn't know what to think.
He didn't have much time to ponder the question, because Bill shoved open a pair of doors, revealing a spectacular desert arena.
The central feature of the arena was a scarred-up sandstone obelisk, its facets blistered with black glass from dozens of slinger bolt hits. Hundreds of rocky cubes formed a dusty, makeshift labyrinth, the pathways between scattered with rubble from various explosions.
Cordell expected a gust of hot wind to bowl him over, but the place still smelled like the same recycled air that flowed through the rest of the base.
Plush leather seats and tables ringed the arena, stuffed full of people in smart suits, laughing and enjoying themselves. Waiters and bots busied themselves about the crowd in tux and tails, serving up sparkling wine and cheeses, crusty bread and cups brimming with precious, oily ganache.
"The 'brunch show' of what?" asked Armin.
That was when he noticed that no one was wearing nice shoes. There were tuxes, evening dresses, sparkling jewelry pieces of every shape, but everything at ground level was pretty boring. There were also nicks in the surroundings in a number of places, revealing that the sumptuous ring of wealth that surrounded the sandy arena was made of cheap imitation materials.
"Drama production quality. Near perfect resolution," said Bill, settling into a large chair in his private box. Attendants flocked to his side to lavish him with attention.
A wave of explosions rocked the arena, sending up startled gasps from the crowd. Bits of rock and shrapnel came screaming into the audience, only to stop at the border between sand and wealth. A man with a four-armed, mechanical exosuit came barreling into the arena, concussive slingers firing in every direction. Madness marred his expression as he swung from column to column like an orangutan.
Cordell recognized the harness; the shipwrights used them to get around the service docks before the war. He'd never imagined the extra arms as gun mounts, but the cackling weirdo in the arena seemed to be making do.
"What are we watching, Bill?" asked Cordell.
Upon hearing his name, the Dervish launched a few more explosive rounds into the air and cackled maniacally. It was all a show, of course. Cordell had seen people crack on the battlefield, and they weren't nearly as careful with their shots.
"Stop the match," said Armin, and Cordell spotted what he was looking at: a trio of children had managed to get into the arena. They looked like scavengers, with sad, scratched-up weapons and gear, and they must've wandered in by accident.
Both factions squared off in the arena, as if in answer to Armin's question. The shipwright sneered at the kids with broken teeth, and for their part, they looked rather put upon to be there.
"Listen—" Armin scooted to the edge of his seat to make his case, and the ringmaster shot him a murderous smile.
Sunny flexed her fingers beside Cordell, but made no move for Armin. Cordell could swear he heard servos in her musculature, but it was difficult to tell over the din of the crowd.
Two of the three kids pumped their fists for the benefit of all assembled, but the third remained stock still. Cordell squinted, trying to make out the details of the one in the center: black hair, dark eye sockets and sunken cheeks. Filthy bandages covered bits of face and bare arms. Red sunburns warmed otherwise pale skin. A scuffed metal circlet rested upon the child's brow.
Ice-chip eyes remained fixed on the opponent–stance loose, expression ready. This kid had exactly what it took to win. The other two, probably not.
"Link stream value up four percent, sir," said Sunny.
He knew he was about to say something foolish, that it would enrage his crew and endanger their cash. If he'd asked them, not one of them would agree to his stupid idea. Then his eyes fell on the quietly seething Armin, and Cordell knew he'd have at least one supporter after all of this.
"I may have recently come into a lot of money," Cordell began.
"Sunny," said Cordell, "have you transferred the funds for our delivery yet?" and Armin's eyes widened.
"No, Captain Lamarr," she replied, cool and professional.
Bill's lip curled, and he pressed the tip of his tongue to a canine as he contemplated the offer. Given the size of the Link stream, Cordell couldn't have been the biggest spender around, but his delivery commission was nothing to sneeze at.
Sunny led them down the hall, through several sets of doors, and into a large, empty chamber with a raised dais. Projectors spun out details, coalescing into a trio of children. Their appearance ignited fresh anger in Cordell's gut, and he was tempted to turn on Sunny. Sizing her up, he had little doubt that'd be the last bad idea he ever had.
"Please enjoy your five minutes, Captain," Sunny said before backing up and closing the door, leaving the pair of men alone with the kids.
They were a sorry looking bunch, uncomfortably muscular for a trio of children who probably hadn't even hit their teens. Their baby fat had been stolen by lives of hardship, and Cordell had seen their types before. He used to have nightmares about the bands of child soldiers that sprang up toward the end of the Famine War—vicious, hungry and pathetically undisciplined. They commonly clashed with infantry outside the supply depots, and many soldiers took their own lives after killing kids in the exchanges. The first casualty of that conflict had been the sanctity of civilian life, and Cordell would be damned if he countenanced one more second of it.
SEND THIS GLADIATOR A GIFT FOR 8000A.
Just to the right of the button, he saw his account balance with Bill's organization: a big, fat zero. He was guessing they'd already deducted the bet he'd made—a bet which he would likely lose, shortly before losing his ship and his crew.
"What's your name?" asked Armin.
Sam was the smallest of the bunch, and looked like he'd scarcely make it through a stiff wind, much less a tricky battle. He shuffled in behind the other boy, all the while maintaining his haunted stare at Armin.
Cordell sank to a crouch before the third child—the fierce-looking young man with shaved black hair. Up close, Cordell spied dozens of white scars crisscrossing his face, and he would've had delicate features—if he'd been given half a chance at a normal life. The kid looked anywhere but at Cordell, crossing his arms over his frayed tactical vest.
"And what's your name, son?" Cordell asked.
"Of course we always win," said Orna, turning away to work on something just out of view. Sam, now exposed, darted after her to hide from Cordell. The distinct rasp of a spinning ratchet filled the small room.
"How would you like to come offworld with us?" interrupted Armin.
"Anywhere?" asked Heidi, her eyes lighting up.
"Bull. What do you get?" asked Orna.
Cordell looked around the room. It was made for these gladiatorial meetings—all blank walls except for a few imagers. Was anyone watching his feed? How much could he say without getting in trouble?
"Tell me where you are," he said.
Then the projection flashed red and extinguished with a loud klaxon. The lights in the room went bright, and the door behind them opened, revealing Sunny. Cordell braced himself for a beating, but she only smiled cordially.


text:
Dr Melanie Andersen
B HSC (OT) HONS PHD
Dr Melanie Andersen is an Honorary Fellow at the George Institute for Global Health, Adjunct Lecturer at UNSW, and Senior Analyst at the NSW Ministry of Health. Melanie has expertise in the social and environmental determinants of health across the life course. She uses qualitative and quantitative research methods to answer policy-relevant questions. Her focus is on collaborative, interdisciplinary work grounded in public health and epidemiology but informed by fields including sociology, urban planning and cultural studies. Much of Melanie's research involves working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations to address community priorities. Her research builds on her clinical experience as an Occupational Therapist in hospital and community health settings.
Melanie brings a unique combination of sound epidemiological skills, clinical experience, understanding of health systems and a strong track record building community-led programs of research. Current research projects include an Aboriginal community-led child injury prevention project in remote NSW, a community-initiated partnership project to co-design a housing screening tool and integrated care pathway for agencies providing housing, health and social services to Aboriginal children and families in Sydney, and a Technical Report on Falls Prevention commissioned by the World Health Organisation, building on previous work on hip fracture care in low and middle-income countries.
New WHO report to bolster global action to prevent shocking rates of falls
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health program

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The UK election was held on 7 May 2015. The Conservative party won the election with a small majority.
This new Government is seen as being business friendly and we therefore do not anticipate any changes to the corporate tax rates nor any other significant changes. The Government is, however, determined to block what it sees as aggressive tax planning by big global businesses. The Diverted Profits Tax rules previously announced are now likely to be implemented with vigour (for more information on this please click here).


text:
Q: card io integrated with paypal sdk is not working I have integrated Paypal Sdk in my android app.It is having two options to pay using Paypal user account and to pay using credit card.Payment with credit can be done by card Io library but don't know why it is not working.Not working means  it is not scanning card.Please tell me  how to use it .I just keep card in front of long time but it does not fetch the details from the card .
SDK version 2.0.2
Logcat while scanning card
03-14 11:05:20.000: E/mm-camera(140): Ignoring execution of AEC as AF is active
03-14 11:05:20.060: E/mm-camera(140): Ignoring execution of AEC as AF is active
03-14 11:05:20.110: E/mm-camera(140): Ignoring execution of AEC as AF is active
03-14 11:05:20.110: W/QCameraHWI_Preview(132): android::status_t android::QCameraStream_preview::processPreviewFrameWithDisplay(mm_camera_ch_data_buf_t*): dis_proc_time 0ms, asd_proc_time 0ms, gpu_proc_time 0ms, face_proc_time 3ms, genlock_unlock_time 0ms, genlock_lock_time 0ms, enqueue_time 3ms, dequeue_time 0ms, ion_flush_time 2ms, lock_buffer_time 0ms, buf_done_time 8ms, data_callback_time 27ms, frame_proc_time 46ms

Even not able to made transaction by filling card details .App is getting crash
Logcat after filling card details :
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350): java.lang.NullPointerException
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at com.paypal.android.sdk.payments.PayPalService.h(Unknown Source)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at com.paypal.android.sdk.payments.PaymentMethodActivity.a(Unknown Source)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at com.paypal.android.sdk.payments.PaymentMethodActivity.f(Unknown Source)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at com.paypal.android.sdk.payments.aj.onServiceConnected(Unknown Source)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at android.app.LoadedApk$ServiceDispatcher.doConnected(LoadedApk.java:1187)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at android.app.LoadedApk$ServiceDispatcher$RunConnection.run(LoadedApk.java:1204)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:615)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:155)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5520)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1029)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:796)
03-14 11:09:23.370: E/AndroidRuntime(25350):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
03-14 11:09:23.380: E/EmbeddedLogger(343): App crashed! Process: com.paypal.example.paypalandroidsdkexample
03-14 11:09:23.380: E/EmbeddedLogger(343): App crashed! Package: com.paypal.example.paypalandroidsdkexample v1 (1.0)
03-14 11:09:23.380: E/EmbeddedLogger(343): Application Label: PayPal SDK Example
03-14 11:09:26.480: E/ThermalDaemon(25739): Thermal daemon started

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The Child was born to us, A King was given to us! »
« Rev. Waclaw Hlond, CM
Farewell to New Haven
Exactly 120 years ago, on December 28, 1901 Most Rev. Michael Tierney, the 6th Bishop of Hartford erected the parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr in New Haven, Connecticut. His decision met the needs of Polish immigrants in the area organized in the Society of Saint Stanislaus. At the beginning the parish didn't have their own place of worship.
Bishop Michael Tierney of Hartford and the beginnings
Two years later, bishop Tierney met in New York City three Vincentian missioners who have just came to Hoboken, NJ from Kraków, Poland. Those missioners were looking for new mission, ministry as their original plans to go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin failed. Meeting Bishop of Hartford was a blessing for missioners. He invited them to New Haven where the young St. Stanislaus parish needed new pastor (the first pastor, Fr. Musial was assigned to develop another parish in Connecticut).
Exactly 118 years ago, on December 29, 1903 three Polish sons of St.Vincent de Paul, Fr. George Glogowski CM, Fr. Paul Waszko CM and Fr. Francis Trawniczek CM arrived to New Haven by train welcomed by Bishop Tierney himself at the Union Station. Immediately, the bishop passed the care of Polish parish of St. Stanislaus to Vincentian Fathers and Fr. George Glogowski CM was appointed the new pastor and his associates became parochial vicars. On New Year day of 1904 he took the office. At that moment, the Vincentian mission in Connecticut and New England begun.
Their first activity was a popular mission which was not only the great success but that was a realization there were much more Poles in the area than they first expected. It turned out the temporary place of worship located in the former grocery shop on Dwight Street site was too small. In a short while, the old Swedish church on St. John Street was acquired. Bishop Tierney blessed it on Memorial Day in 1905, under the patronage of St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr.
The parish continued to grow very rapidly and by 1910 it was evident that they had outgrown both the church and the parish school. Father Antoni Mazurkiewicz CM, the fourth pastor looked for a property that would be more centrally located in the city of New Haven. He found an abandoned church on the corner of State and Eld Streets. This the place were the present St. Stanislaus, the Bishop and Martyr parish is located.
By 1911, the property was cleared and the foundation for the present church was laid. On Memorial Day (then called Decoration Day, last Monday of May) in 1912, Most Reverent John Joseph Nilan, the 7th Bishop of Hartford, blessed the cornerstone of the new church. Just a year later, on April 27, 1913, the first Mass was said in the new church. A solemn Mass of dedication was celebrated by Bishop Nilan on May 30, 1913.
Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford and his Pastoral Plan
108 years later, on July 28, 2021 Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford, the Saint 8th successor of Bishop Tierney, addressed a letter to Very Rev. Marek G. Sadowski CM, the Provincial Superior of the Vincentians in New England. In Archbishop's letter we read:
"As we explained, the present Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese calls for the parishes of Saint Joseph and Saint Michael the Archangel to remain independent and staffed by the Vincentian Fathers as long as it is possible for your Province to do so. We hope that both in Ansonia and Derby there will be even greater cooperation among all the clergy in these two municipalities to ensure the strength of the Church and the fraternal support of one another. [...]
Thank you again for the fine work also done by the Vincentian Fathers [...] at Saint Stanislaus Parish in New Haven. However, as we explained, the Archdiocese has to press ahead with Pastoral Planning to ensure vibrant parishes in the face of the two-fold challenge of dwindling numbers of clergy — both diocesan and religious — and shrinking numbers of practicing Catholics as well.
In New Haven the "municipal model" that we are implementing for the Archdiocese will be effective January 1, 2022. As of that date a new municipal parish will be erected which will include the parishes/churches of Saint Mary (and Saint Joseph), Saint Stanislaus, Saint Michael, Saint Martin de Porres, Our Lady of Guadalupe (Saint Francis and Saint Rose of Lima), and Saint Anthony, as well as the Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale.
Perhaps the Vincentians Fathers wish to continue ministering to the Polish community at Saint Stanislaus, not as Pastors but rather as parochial vicars of the municipal parish in concert and fraternity with the other priests assigned to that municipal parish. I realize that this represents a significant change in the long history of your ministry in New Haven, but it is one that I am confident will bring all the Catholic people in the community to a stronger and more vibrant parish life. [...]
I thank you most heartily for your ministry in the Archdiocese and the wider Church and pray that the transition I have described, while perhaps unanticipated and disappointing, will nonetheless encourage you to participate as a blessing to both the Church in New Haven and your religious community."
Once planted charism lives on against all odds
In this situation instead of thinking of parish / mission anniversary celebrations we were fostered to prepare for moving out from the place we built, brought up and cared of for almost 120 years. We are witnessing the saddest situation the Vincentians of New England Province have been in all our history. We are talking about our roots, our beginnings.
In our history we won and lost many times. Times change and we are changing with them, as the old Roman proverb says. Erie, Bow, Whitestone, Utica, Wethersfield, West Hartford, Stamford, Concord, Pelham, Naugatuck. But this time is different. This time we are almost speechless… This lost hurts…
The first Polish Vincentians in Connecticut built this place, developed, redecorated and cared for. The church and school at State Street and the rectory, religious community house at Eld Street are our origins. More then 120 confreres started their American Vincentian journey in New Haven. Almost every missioner coming in to the Polish mission in the USA first came to New Haven. It was a peaceful shelter and harbor for the Confreres, missionaries expelled from China missions after 1947 revolution. The house at Eld Street was our Mother House as we usually call the first location of the Congregation in any Province. (As Our Lady of the Barrens, Perryville, MO is for Western Province and St. Vincent Seminary in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA is for Eastern Province). From this place the Vincentians were able to expand their mission across Connecticut, New York State, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine and more.
Now, we would like to give thanks to all the people of New Haven, those who joined us for prayer and worship in St. Stanislaus church and those who came for confession here or in other purposes and occasions. Thank you very, very much. You will be in our thoughts and prayers always.
At Christmas of 1903 Fr. George Glogowski CM brought the charism of Saint Vincent de Paul, our Founder, to this land. He and his companions planted this charism in. After 118 years we witness and experience how much this charism grew up and spread all around. It would not be possible without engagement, loyalty, openness and continuous support from your, our parishioners, the people of New haven and Connecticut. Thank you very much for your presence. We will never forget you. We will always miss you.
Today we are leaving this place. But we believe the charism of Saint Vincent de Paul, the legacy of all the fifteen Vincentian pastors and of St. Stanislaus parish and their associates will live on.
We are leaving New Haven, but as you know, we are not leaving you. It's only ten miles westward to Derby or Ansonia were you can find us. Always, you are welcomed at St. Michael's in Derby or St. Joseph's in Ansonia. we are waiting for you there.
We are leaving New Haven, but our mission continues. The charism which brought us here 118 years ago impels us to continue preaching the Good News to the people of Connecticut and New England.
May Almighty God bless you all.
The current pastor of St. Stanislaus parish, Fr. Tadeusz Maciejewski CM, and Fr. Stanley Miekinia CM have left the parish grounds on December 28, 2021. According to Archbishop's Blair decision, Fr. Sebastian Kos assigned as new parish administrator starting on January 1, 2022.
By Toma, on December 29th, 2021 | Tags: Announcements, Archdiocese of Hartford, History, Leonard Blair, Message, New England, New Haven, St. Stanislaus | Category: Announcements, heritage, History, New Haven, Prov. New England, St.Stanislaus New Haven


text:
Cloud Nothings Sign to Carpark
[mp3] Cloud Nothings: "Hey Cool Kid"
We always love to write about good things happening to good bands, and good labels. Today comes word that Cloud Nothings, one of the few bands out there very much deserving of their "buzz" status, have signed to Carpark Records and will release a compilation of all of their scattered releases over the course of 2010. Turning On comes out October 12. From the press release:
The incendiary Turning On EP, the ultra limited and rollicking Group Tightener seven inch single, and two killer songs from a super-hard-to-find cassette only release are now available in one handy package! These thirteen songs are the perfect introduction to the heavenly world of Cloud Nothings, and an ideal primer for the highly-anticipated full length this winter.
Dictated but not read by StarkNY at 8:56 AM
Labels: Car Park, Cloud Nothings, Turning On
上來打聲招呼,祝你一切平安!............................................................
孫邦柔 said...
回應是最大的支持^^y~~~甘吧嗲............................................................
祝大家都平平安安健健康康!............................................................
謝謝大大的分享 我會學會反省與寬容 感恩 ∩△∩............................................................
TAHNKS FOR YOUR SHARING~~~VERY NICE..................................................................
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2012 GOT WEIRD
We Owned You
Get some. It's the Best of 2010!
Best of '09. You know you wanted it.
Join the staff and a slew of music's biggest names for a week-long look at our favorite albums of the year.
The Late Greats
Vince A.
Co-Founder, Editor
vince@thestarkonline.com
Matt (StarkNY)
starkny@thestarkonline.com
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Although I originally studied as a Fine Artist, my practice is now firmly rooted in the Graphic Arts. My commercial work specialises in design for cultural events, organisations and projects and I have a particular interest in working with sound and performance practitioners. This commitment to the Graphic Arts was cemented when I undertook my MA in Illustration in 2015. I find working within the area of graphic arts very satisfying and Im much more comfortable to apply my stylistic approach, which although is still rooted in my fine art background, to visual communication projects within this field. I really enjoy working with experimental and forward-thinking clients from varied disciplines and seeing how our values, interests, standards and approach to work often overlap and share similar development processes. I always intend to reflect and share this working process in the teaching and learning sessions I deliver and I hope that some of these principles and ethics can be shared with some of the talented leaners we have the privilege of working with.
My graphic design work is often, but not exclusively, print-based in output and aims to support the artistic undertaking of others through a collaborative approach to documentation, presentation and dissemination. I have undertaken project work with different community groups, and have delivered sessions to support and inform projects in a variety of public settings including schools, galleries and libraries. These aim to encourage artistic expression without imposing value judgements and to develop projects in unique and unexpected ways. In the past few years, I have developed psychogeographical maps and created poetry newspapers with secondary school learners, worked in conjunction with a primary school group to create promotional material for a children's play that they had produced and designed festival branding with a diverse group of learners from across different types of school. Alongside this, I have developed a range of promotional material for experimental theatre producers, film festivals and arts practitioners across the UK.
All my design work is underpinned by my illustrative practice and has a collage-based approach. This area of my work has involved commissioned work for galleries, editorial and publishing. I have been working with this method of construction for over 25 years, and my visual language has developed through my initial training in sculpture where I worked almost exclusively in assemblage and bricolage. This method of construction is still evident in my work, which uses a range of found paper ephemera, obsolete textbooks, vernacular photography and both physical and scanned textures in its execution. Although I now work almost exclusively digitally for commissioned work I still keep a variety of paper-based sketchbooks for developing hand made work which refers back to and explores recurrent themes of texture, redaction, fragmentation and composition.
Most recently I have begun to apply this collaged approach to work to the areas of film and motion graphics, and I have slowly developed these processes into an expanded film project (469 DOF - Europe Through The Windscreen) which has recently received Arts Council funding. I am intending that this project, which has been directly informed by my work with theatre practitioners, will develop a range of new working and presentation methods.
Graphic arts Facility presents "Digi Jam"
from the hi-tech to the low-tech to the no-tech!
And a symposium featuring BCU.ac.uk, ADM Alumni presentations plus a student exhibition including performances, readings, films, animation, projections, videos and artwork.
My practice started, studying BA Illustration at the University of Wolverhampton, and later, MA Illustration, specialising in narrative, at the University of Gloucester. My illustration career had a very commercial start, working as an in-house artist for two major greeting card companies. This spanned 9 years, between graduating from university and starting to teach part time at BCU and the University of Wolverhampton in 2009.
My current practice is heavily engaged in narrative. How is humour used as a vehicle for empathising with a character, and also to connect with other people?
My work draws upon real-life experiences and observational humour, relaying these observations through animation instantly communicates this comic playfulness. Clear narratives, and the mix of texture, collage, and child-like drawings, reveal a snapshot into my children's world, a constant source of inspiration.
I have always been a varied and experimental practitioner; I like the process of making to feel exciting and free. The aim of my practice is to be spontaneous, and ultimately capture a child's honesty of description. The challenge is to understand the complexity of the language we use in order to visualise my subject in a convincing humorous way. Voice, language and pronunciation of words, coupled with the pace/ rhythm of the animation, all enable me to create and communicate the intended humor with my audience.
Studying Graphics in Newcastle, specialising in Illustration before studying for an MA in Illustration (1990) at the Royal College of Art (RCA). The RCA changed the direction of my practice as I was greatly influenced by being taught by stimulating maverick tutors who delivered an egalitarian student teacher educational mentoring system supported by world-class speakers, exhibition and external opportunities. Peers, tutors and the wider artistic community within this creative hub seemed to be working together to encourage innovation between disciplines. This experience acted as a catalyst to make visible the possibility of working fluidly across disciplines. It taught me that if we want to nurture creative talent, we have to cherish the creative community we inhabit, value and support education, share knowledge, instil a hunger for our specialist subject disciplines and work within the broader field of art and design.
In 2018, I started to lead the Graphic Arts Facility (GAF) with a vision to use this platform to facilitate, illuminate and challenge all perceptions concerning graphic arts practice, theory and outputs from a non-hierarchical stance.
Over the next few months, there are going to be a series of articles from staff and students talking about their passion for their practice and I hope we can all be inspired from these.
Personally, I am interested in how art can impact STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math's) by promoting STEAM ((Science Technology ART Engineering and Math's). My current research and focus are to provide a philosophical engagement with science through the lens of an artist by working directly with experts in the field. This research has its roots in a collaboration of over ten years with the School of Life Sciences, Nottingham University and their project Advanced imaging and Microscopy. It is leading to further collaborations with an extensive network of internationally renowned research laboratories and institutions in the field of bioscience and neuro-imaging.
This two-day research conference explores the nature of pattern and ornament within the context of illustration, printing and publishing and explores ideas and asks questions around it's current state of appreciation, meaning and usage. Within the context of practice based research, international researchers, academics and practitioners will present their work and discuss their ideas.
Alongside the conference there will be a Research Exhibition, featuring a collaborative installation by the graphic designer Hansje van Halem and printer/publisher Jan de Jong.
Dr Alan Powers, Art historian, Researcher, Curator and Design Writer.
Following a degree in History of Art from Cambridge, Alan received his doctorate on Architectural Education in Britain 1880-1914. He is a prolific writer for magazines and author of numerous books, amongst others Enid Marx, The Pleasures of Pattern 2018), Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities (2003), Front Cover: Great Book Jacket and Cover Design (2006) , Children's Book Covers, Great Book Jacket and Cover Design (2003). He has curated popular exhibitions, including Enid Marx: Print, Pattern and Popular Art, House of Illustration (2018); Eric Ravilious, Imperial War Museum (2003); and Eros to the Ritz: 100 Years of Street Architecture, Royal Academy (2013).
As professor of architecture and cultural history at the University of Greenwich, Alan taught architectural history and theory for undergraduate and diploma courses from 1999-2012, and has been a frequent external examiner for PhD and other higher degrees.
Dr Alice Twemlow, Design Writer, Critic and Educator.
Twemlow earned a Ph.D from the History of Design program run as a joint venture by the Royal College of Art and the V & A Museum in London. She has been a guest critic at the Yale University School of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). In 2006 Twemlow became the chair and co-founder of its Master of Fine Arts in Design Criticism.
Alive Twemlow is a prolific writer and has written for amonst others Eye, Design and the New York magazine Twemlow and contributed to online publication such as Voice and AIGA Journal of Design.
Ornament : a thing used or serving to make something look more attractive but usually having no practical purpose . Verb: to make (something) look more attractive by adding decorative items.
Andrzej Klimowski is a graphic artist and a designer of theatre, opera and film posters. He is an international illustrator of book covers and press and magazine illustrations and an author of graphic novels (publishers include Faber & Faber and SelfMadeHero). His research interests are in narrative, investigating new relationships between text and image.
Born of Polish parents in London in 1949, Klimowski trained at the Saint Martin's School of Art before studying at the Academy of Fine Art and working professionally in Warsaw. His east-European legacy deeply influences his work. From the late 1970s he designed posters and book jackets – including novels by PG Wodehouse , Simon Louvish, Lionel Shriver, Milan Kundera and Kazuo Ishiguro – and illustrations, TV graphics and animation, following his particular of from examples of his 'Polish School' design.
The early twentieth century photo-collagists, Surrealism, Dada and Expressionism have been an influence on part of his work, but he has developed his own personal style with a combination of fantasy, anxiety, ambiguity and eroticism which keeps his works from becoming pastiche. He is the current head of illustration at the RCA, His work includes short films, illustrations and books, including Lo Sguardo Deviato (The Deflected Gaze), and most recently The Secret. His work has recently been the subject of a retrospective at the Theatre Museum in London.
From 1968 to 1972 Andrzej Klimowski studied sculpture and painting at St Martins School of Art. 1973 to 1980 he lived and worked in Warsaw, the first two years of which he studied poster design under Professor Henryk Tomaszewski and film animation under Dr Kazimierz Urbanski at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. He has designed many posters for cultural institutions in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Opole and Lodz and collaborated with leading book publishers. He directed Dead Shadow, a short experimental film shown at international film festivals in Krakow and London (1981). On returning to the UK, he worked freelance for Faber & Faber, Penguin Books and The Guardian. He has been a recipient of many international prizes, including: The Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards for best film posters (Los Angeles 1977 and 1978), Campaign Silver Award for RSC theatre poster (1987), The Daily Telegraph Award for Excellence in press campaign for British Telecom (1988), DA&D Silver Award for a Royal Mail Millennium stamp (London 1999), V&A illustration Award for the graphic novel Horace Dorlan (2nd prize 2008), 12th International Biennale of Theatre Posters (Honorary mention, Rzeszow, Poland 2009).
Professor Lawrence Zeegen is Dean of the School of Design at Ravensbourne in London UK, where he leads academic departments and research in Advertising, Architecture and Interiors, Communication Design, Fashion Design and Product Design.
Lawrence has taught and lectured internationally in over 20 countries. His design and illustration clients include major international newspapers, magazines, book publishers, design studios and advertising agencies. Lawrence is the author of nine published books on graphic arts, including Fifty Years of Illustration and Ladybird by Design and is contributor to numerous publications.
Lawrence is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Design Council Sounding Board, trustee of both the De Le Warr Pavilion and the Creative Conscious Awards and a former trustee of D&AD. Lawrence has twice been appointed to the Executive Board of ico-D, the International Council of Design.
BCU hosted its first ever DIGIFEST at Vivid Project Space in Digbeth - a celebration of all things digital, from the hi-tech to the low-tech to the no-tech!A collaboration between the School of Art and the School of Visual Communication.
There was also a series of short performances, readings and discussions.
My work explores the virtual reality that we call cyberspace, and its connection to the physical reality that we find ourselves living in. Within my practice I capture a sense of interchangeability between the physical and digital world, whilst being inspired and influenced by the urban environment. Through creating experimental publications which encapsulate the crossover of physical and digital mediums I hope to communicate that the URL and the IRL exist in symbiosis; we live in a time where one cannot hope to function without the other. I question the physicality of the internet - the internet is enabled by physical materials. Through exploring this subject I have created my own typeface, and have most recently began writing code to create an experimental website which I hope will be the anti-matter to my physical publications.
WHAT GAF MEANS TO ME To me GAF bridges the gap between practice and theory; it shows that there should be no gap. Within my practice theory is key, much of the work I produce has been informed by research. GAF provides the opportunity to hear from experienced practitioners, and has a sense of community which to me is very valuable. GAF celebrates the hi tech, low tech and the no tech; a theme which is prominent within my practice. I believe that work in all mediums should be celebrated, be they digital or analogue. The crossover of the digital and the analogue is something I always consider and utilise within my work - for this reason GAF stands for ideals that I can strongly resonate with.
IDEA BEHIND LOGO I designed the GAF logo with the idea of theory informing practice in mind. The letterforms I produced for the logo are inspired by 'urban hieroglyphics' - a recurring theme within my projects. The theory of these is that they are physical markings within the urban environment representing internet cables and this has informed my practice. I thought that using these markings as a starting point for the GAF logo would be fitting.
Welcome to the re-launch of the Graphic Arts Facility. Its new, it is exciting and it is for you.
GAF's remit is to facilitate, illuminate and challenge perceptions with respect to graphic arts practice, theory and outputs. It considers the history of graphic arts, contemporary approaches and thinking, and the future of our discipline. It embraces culture, imagination, argumentation, creativity, discovery, curiosity and play.
The Facility will focus on the sharing of best practice at all stages of our creative careers, and will feature informal peer-mentoring to ensure mutual benefits across our community.
GAF will organise events for practitioners, professionals and students: these will include exhibitions, publications and talks both within the faculty and beyond. The aim here is to build our profile and extend our network to include the most exciting practitioners in our discipline. GAF will also lead and contribute to a range of initiatives across the Faculty, providing (a) a forum for development of a clear and focused intellectual agenda, (b) critical mass and a collective vision to support applications for funding and resource, and (c) a developmental space and support structure for those that wish to advance their research careers in the space.
GAF will constitute an important strand within a research cluster, one that will have a firm linkage with the School of Visual Communication. It is fundamentally an instrument to consolidate and advance research interests in the field of graphic arts: its structure, activities and interests will reflect the growing and morphing interests of its members and contributors.
How can recording something say something?
.......at the risk of sounding rhetorical. Highly compact visuals (yes, I got the watercolours out.... approximately postcard sized, with luggage weight restrictions in mind) of miscellaneous holiday impressions, which then turned in to a highly mobile glass (plastic) vitrine cabinet exhibition, which travelled around various parts of two Birmingham City University buildings (October 2016). Being mobile and restless it was able to choose and chase it's audience in the most inconvenient, but visible places.
I was subsequently asked to present a short lecture to students about to embark on a foreign trip, reflecting on spontaneous forms of visual research. This caused me to to interrogate and categorise what I had otherwise quite casually recorded in Tenerife. So, I extracted more value from the experience, hopefully without over-analysing the whole thing?


We all heard about it but what is an Microsoft InfoPath 2010?
Microsoft InfoPath 2010 is a software application. This function of this application is to develop data entry forms which are XML based. This Microsoft InfoPath application was first introduced as part of Microsoft 2003 suite of programs. This was in the year 2003. InfoPath in the earlier days was assigned the code name XDocs. The most important aspect of Microsoft InfoPath 2010 is the ability to read and write XML documents and it supports custom defined XML schemata.
The Microsoft InfoPath 2010 has lots of features for the user's ease and comfort.
What are the main features of Microsoft InfoPath 2010?
What are the uses of Microsoft InfoPath 2010?
What is the integration of InfoPath with SharePoint?
The main feature of Microsoft InfoPath 2010 is its ability to view and write XML documents as well as it supports for custom defined XML schemata. Using the Microsoft InfoPath a user can complete a form off line. If the program asks for some validation the user can always put up his or her digital signature. The user whenever connects to the server again he or she can submit the form. Also the forms can be updated automatically whenever the user connects to a server if the settings are done accordingly.
The Microsoft InfoPath 2010 is used to develop XML data entry forms. However, the usage pattern is different for Microsoft InfoPath. Though, Infopath is a part of Microsoft InfoPath 2010, but unlike Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word; to use Microsoft InfoPath to enter the data, the user must first take help of a designer to create the data entry template. Microsoft InfoPath can be used to satisfy various needs. For example, Microsoft InfoPath can be used to create electronic checklist to guide the user. It can create forms to coordinate work. Whenever a number of persons are involved in filling up a form this can be used. A person fills up his mandatory part of the form and passes it to the next person and so on.
It is a most common practice to integrate the Microsoft InfoPath with the Microsoft SharePoint. This is done using the Form Services provided in the Microsoft InfoPath. In the Microsoft SharePoint software a form library is created and developed by the Microsoft InfoPath software. The Microsoft InfoPath fields are exported as columns. These columns can be directly read or used as a part of web services by the Microsoft SharePoint. The integration of Microsoft InfoPath with Microsoft SharePoint is done to achieve a greater workflow.
To learn more about the exciting features and usability of Microsoft InfoPath 2010, contact iYogi for great support and help.


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NFTS To Deliver New 'Director Stepping Up Scheme For High End TV Drama'
The National Film and Television School (NFTS) has been commissioned by Creative Skillset's High End TV Levy Fund to deliver a new training programme for TV drama directors to encourage diverse representation in the High End TV (HETV) industry and to bring on the next generation of diverse talent.
Ten directors, who are based in the UK and currently working in continuing drama, factual or comedy and who would like to move into High End TV, will be selected to participate in this career-enhancing programme at no cost to them. Participants will meet diversity criteria set by Creative Skillset – 50% of participants will be female; 20% from a BAME background; 10% disabled and 50% from the nations and regions.
Multi-BAFTA and Primetime Emmy winning producer, John Chapman (National Treasure; Foyles War; The Street) has been appointed to run the programme.
The 10-month programme, which commences with a 5-day, immersive boot camp at the end of February 2018, will deliver expert training, mentoring as well as placements within independent production companies to help the participants move into directing for High-End TV. Following the programme, each director will be given the opportunity to pitch to direct a new short script and one will be selected to work with television drama production company, New Pictures, to deliver the short film.
Kaye Elliott, Creative Skillset High End TV Programme Lead, said: "The 'Director Stepping Up Scheme for High End TV Drama' has been designed to address the skills and training needs of the HETV industry and to ensure that robust growth of the sector is catered for with a highly skilled and diverse workforce. We are incredibly pleased to commission the NFTS to run this programme as their experience in delivering high quality, senior level training is second to none."
John Chapman, Producer and NFTS High-End TV Director Programme Leader also said: "I am delighted to be a part of this exciting and important new programme to help talented new directors from a wide range of backgrounds get a step up the ladder."
nfts.co.uk
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Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced their new line of Vengeance PC gaming peripherals, including two gaming keyboards and two laser gaming mice.
"Corsair has built a reputation for developing innovative products that focus on the unique needs of our customers," said Andy Paul, Corsair's President and CEO. "Our new Vengeance keyboards and mice follow in that tradition. PC gamers will love their gorgeous design and attention to the smallest details, like the intelligently designed button layout on our mice or the specially shaped WASD keycaps on our keyboard."
Corsair's new PC gaming peripherals line includes four new HID products: The Vengeance K60 and Vengeance K90 gaming keyboards and the Vengeance M60 and Vengeance M90 gaming mice. A key feature of all four of these new Vengeance Series products is the use of an aluminum structure to provide strength and durability, as well as a stunning industrial design.
"As enthusiastic gamers ourselves, we've developed precisely the products we always wanted, with a level of quality we have not seen before," said Ruben Mookerjee, VP and General Manager of the Components Business Unit at Corsair. "We're confident that our Vengeance gaming keyboards and mice will give you a competitive edge. Whether you prefer the immersion and intensity of MMO and RTS, or the adrenaline-fueled combat of FPS, our goal is to help you win."
The Vengence M60 & M90 respectively.
The Vengence K60 mechanical keyboard for precision FPS gaming.
The Vengence K90 mechanical keyboard for customisable MMO play.
The Vengeance K60 gaming keyboard and the Vengeance M60 laser gaming mouse are designed for PC Gamers who specialize in First-Person Shooters (FPS). The Vengeance K60 keyboard features the predictable linear response and light touch of Cherry MX Red mechanical key switches for more agile movement and faster multi-taps. The contoured left-wrist rest plus shaped and textured WASD key caps increase comfort, even during extended gaming sessions. The K60 uses an advanced key matrix design that delivers complete anti-ghosting so no keystrokes are missed. Unlike other USB gaming keyboards that are limited to the USB-standard 6-key rollover, the K60 features a 20-key rollover and a blazing fast 1ms reporting rate (1000 reports per second).
The Vengeance M60 mouse features an enthusiast-grade Avago 5700 DPI sensor with on-the-fly resolution switching, an aluminum unibody design with adjustable center of gravity, programmable lift detection, a high-mass scroll wheel, and PTFE glide pads. A key innovation of the M60 mouse is the Sniper button, allowing an instant toggle from fast movement, high DPI-resolution mode down to a high-precision mode for more accurate aiming.
The Vengeance M90 gaming mouse features 15 fully programmable buttons, arranged and tuned for intuitive operation without compromising your grip, and on-board flash memory lets you save your macros in up to six profiles that can be switched on-the-fly. An Avago 5700 DPI sensor allows on-the-fly resolution adjustment and the programmable lift detection, high-mass scroll wheel, and PTFE glide pads ensure swift, precise movement. The intuitive Windows-based Vengeance software utility lets you manage your macro keys, on-board profiles, and sensor settings so you can customize your M90 to exactly match your gaming style.
The Vengeance K90 gaming keyboard has an MSRP of $129 and the K60 has an MSRP of $109. The Vengeance M90 gaming mouse has an MSRP of $79 and the M60 has an MSRP of $69.
The full range of Vengeance gaming peripherals are expected to be available in October 2011 from authorized Corsair retailers and etailers worldwide.
Visit Corsair for more information.


Altered Heroines [v 0. At the same time you're naughty enough and you must use your chances to get laid. However tonight you notice some sexual act in the side street and run to help the girl. Make your decisions and see how your story evolves. Blackmail's Obsession [v 0. She's 27 years old and live in USA.