by Phillip Jennings

Intelligence Failure
Two words now joined at the hip. Remember when our alphabet agencies -CIA, DIA, NSA, FBI – were actually competent? Are you sure? Maybe they were just better at burying their mistakes. . . .

Our spooks have been playing games with other governments for half a century. Allies and enemies alike have gotten tired of our grubby fingerprints all over their national interests. Gearheardt’s answer? Be sure to wear gloves!

Gearheardt – apparently back from the dead, or maybe Laos – wants to play for all the Mexican marbles, and he insists he needs Jack’s help to do it. Just like the last time in Vietnam, he claims to be working for “the Company.”

Jack really is in the CIA now, temporarily running the Mexico City station at the embassy, and ought to know better, but Gearheardt’s sexy assistant with the disdain for clothes is so darn cute and Gearheardt’s insane resolve is just so darn convincing. (Even though it’s true that the last time around they failed spectacularly in their attempt to get Ho Chi Minh to retire to Hawaii, and then they didn’t even shoot him either.) But does the Agency really want the Cubans to take over Mexico?

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Making Human Rights Real by Filip Spagnoli

Here in a nutshell readers may find a description of the most important characteristics of human rights, and a clear and concise discussion of the problem of making human rights real and not just hypothetical. Building on definitions of human rights used by the United Nations and other international bodies, the author describes the main characteristics of the system of human rights (universality, interdependence, differences between types of rights, absolute or limited rights, the subjects of rights – individuals or groups, the link between rights and the judicial system and between rights and democracy). He then discusses some of the instruments we can use to promote respect for human rights, the means by which we might make these rights real for a greater portion of humanity. Along the way, he analyzes some of the related controversies regarding sovereignty, international intervention, and globalization and questions of cultural imperialism as they bear upon human rights. Do we have a right to impose rights – or to defend ourselves from such intervention? This systematic discussion presents a complex and difficult topic in an understandable framework accessible to the general public, and will stand as a useful foundation for readings of more specialized scientific, legal and philosophical works. Where most human rights books for the nonspecialist focus on specific instances of rights abuses, this work provides a more general approach focused on the logic in the system of human rights.

 * Filip Spagnoli obtained his PhD at the University of Brussels. He has written numerous OpEd articles in leading Belgian newspapers and specialized articles in philosophical periodicals, and two books, Homo Democraticus, On the Universal Desirability but the Not So Universal Possibility of Democracy and Human Rights (2003); and Democratic Imperialism, A Practical Guide, 2004). Employed by the research and statistics directorate of the Belgian Central Bank, Spagnoli is a guest speaker at conferences and universities and has participated in European Commission study visits to Eastern European countries with the aim of delivering statistical expertise and helping these countries to achieve membership of the European Union.

Jayne Sterne, author of Destroyed, talks about her book and domestic abuse during a very sensitive interview with Jenue’s Journal.

Destroyed is an emotional true story of your life.  It must have been difficult for you to relive the abusive memories.  How did you get through that?
 
It was very difficult to relive the abuse. However, I lost two very special people in my life through horrific and very brutal circumstances. Media also became a part of my life for a while, not by choice but by the nature of my loss, which is enclosed in my book Destroyed.  I didn’t know how to deal with grief and could not understand the pain that ripped through every part of my body mentally and physically.  It was like no other pain I had felt in my life. I learned very quickly that grief brings memories, some of which I had closed doors on a long time ago.  The memories of the abuse came to the surface as though it was happening all over again.  Feeling powerless and afraid of my feelings and memories, I decided to write my thoughts down as it happened. Writing a book was the last thing on my mind. If I’m honest, it was simply a way to keep me sane from the terrible thoughts that entered my mind.

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A year ago, on a whim, I started Jenue’s Journal.

I wanted to take a few minutes to give myself a big pat on the back for a job well done.  The site looks great, don’t you think?

My favorite four online writing sites, in the order of preference, are: Urbis, GoodReads, Facebook and My Writers Circle.

Urbis lets a writer post their work, have it critiqued by strangers with the qualifications of the writer’s choice, and gives said work exposure to publishers.  The site works with credit and debit points.  You earn credits by reviewing the work of others.  These credits can then be used to unlock the critiques that other users have given you.  This is a perfect system that allows everyone to get an equal amount of attention to his or her submission. 

The one complaint that I have about Urbis is that people are allowed to critique the critique that you gave to someone’s work.  I find this infraction all kinds of anal but it’s worth overlooking due to the site’s degree of excellence.  Steve Urbis, founder of Urbis.com, is half genius.  I’ll promote him to full genius once the little bugs and annoyances have been smoothed out.  

GoodReads is more for readers than writers but the site offers a small place where anyone can post their own written work.  These works can then be voted upon by other users.  This website also gives already published authors a way to promote their book.  I, however, can not evaluate this feature of GoodReads because I was only able to use the site as an unpublished writer. 

Facebook has many groups dedicated to writing, publishing, and the literary arts.  This site is a great source of information.  It’s also a great place to connect and network with other writers. 

My Writers Circle is a big discussion board.  You’re allowed to post your work for review, ask questions, or just hang out and enjoy being in the company of other writers. There are several drawbacks.  This site does not have a system that encourages reviewing the work of others thus longer works don’t get the same attention as shorter submissions.  The site is not aesthetically pleasing and navigation is a bit clumsy.

These are my favorite four but I’d love to know where other writers go for support.  Tell the readers of Jenue’s Journal where your favorite writing hot spot is by leaving a comment. 

Net Weave by Hortense Thompson

Deze sierraden worden gemaakt met behulp van de netweave techniek. U werkt met een naald en draad. In principe rijgt u kralen in de vorm van ruiten op. De ruiten bestaan uit rocailles, staafjes of andere kralen. Daarbij kunt u op een leuke wijze variëren in het aantal rijen van ruiten boven elkaar. Het weven van kralen bestaat al eeuwen. Deze techniek komt uit de culturen van over de hele wereld. Er zijn veel verschillende technieken en variaties. Het weven of rijgen volgens deze technieken is eenvoudig en u hoeft geen kunstenaar te zijn om uw eigen sieraden te maken. Een armbandje kan binnen een uur af zijn!

* This book is in Dutch, English, German, and French 

photo by Mrs. Maze

On My Way by Swapna Kishore

Bardic Tales and Sage Advice by Julie Ann Dawson

As the gods prepare for their long sleep, a young woman must bear the burden of keeping their memory alive in Winter of the Gods. A Police Officer discovers you can ban the weapons of destruction, but not humanity’s destructive nature in Netherlands Roulette. A Young Man develops a new perspective thanks to a stolen antique in The Glass Eye. Selected from over 200 entries representing writers in 11 countries, Bardic Tales and Sage Advice delivers 16 tales of fantasy, horror, and science fiction for fans of speculative fiction. “There really is a little bit of everything in this entertaining collection of speculative fiction and poems.” review at Clubreading.com “…a wonderful introduction to a variety of fresh new writers in the speculative literature genre.review at Dark Animus

Destroyed by Jayne Sterne 

synopsis
When 8-year-old Jayne returned to England from bomb-shattered Northern Ireland, her family stayed with relatives and a distant cousin began a campaign of abuse so horrifying that her world was shattered forever. When the family moved again, Jayne thought the nightmare was over. She was wrong. Her cousin came too. And, as her mother had to work nights, Jayne’s abuser became her ‘carer’. Raped repeatedly by him, beaten, abused and battered, Jayne’s life was a living hell. One thing kept Jayne sane: the love and care of her older brother, Stuart. But he had demons of his own, and Jayne watched in helpless despair as the boy who had always protected her turned into an adult consumed by anger and rage. Out of control and on the edge, Stuart went on to commit one of the most terrible crimes of recent years…. Destroyed is the heart-stopping tale of a stolen childhood, an innocence destroyed and a family torn apart – told by a woman who has finally managed to confront her harrowing past.

Text Messages by Andrew Wilson

A book of poems that are all small enough to be sent as text messages.