text:
Category Archives: business
by Murray Hunter
Love him or hate him, Mahathir Mohamed during his first stint as prime minister was able to instill a great sense of national pride and unity.
Mahathir went on a massive infrastructure drive. Most Malaysians were proud of the Penang Bridge that finally linked the island with the mainland. The North-South Highway project changed the nature of commuting up and down the peninsula. Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) was built and the development of Putra Jaya gave the country a new seat of administration.
Mahathir's fait accompli was the building of the KLCC towers in central Kuala Lumpur, which were the tallest in the world at the time. These buildings are now the country's major icon. Langkawi became a must holiday place for Malaysians. He brought elite Formula One motor racing and built a special purpose circuit for the event. He promoted the Tour de Langkawi as a local version of the Tour de France. He spared no expense on building massive new sporting complexes at Bukit Jalil to host the Commonwealth Games in 1998.
When the member nations of ASEAN abandoned the idea to build a regional car, Mahathir went alone, picking up old technology from Mitsubishi, creating the Proton Saga for better or worse although the national car project has been roundly criticized for losing hundreds of millions of dollars and costing more in terms of consumer lost opportunity.
Nonetheless, Malaysia became an Asian Tiger and Mahathir himself became an outspoken leader internationally. The country was proud of what it had achieved. He knew the value of national symbols. The slogan Malaysia Boleh (Malaysia Can) was often heard along with the waving of the Jalur Gemilang (stripes of glory – Malaysian Flag) at public displays of national pride and unity.
The Barisan Nasional was a working government coalition that symbolized national unity through the make-up of the cabinet and its true multi-ethnic flavor. Ministers like Samy Vellu from the Malaysian India Congress and Ling Liong Sik from the Malaysian Chinese Association had high public profiles.
Although Mahathir was labeled as an ultra-conservative Malay, he worked with anyone who could help him fulfil his vision. Businessmen like Vincent Tan, Robert Kuok, Lim Goh Tong, Ananda Krishnan, and Tony Fernandez all had very close relationships with Mahathir. Malaysia Inc. was more important to Mahathir than Malay supremacy.
That's now 30 years ago. The prime casualty has been national pride and unity. The generally positive perception of the Mahathir era drastically changed when he abruptly sacked his deputy Anwar Ibrahim from office in 1998. The accusations and conviction of Anwar for sodomy polarized the population. The goodwill that Mahathir had built up over more than 25 years in public life was put into question.
Although it was his intention to eliminate his nemesis Anwar from politics, he made sodomy a household word in a conservative society, taking luster away from his legacy. He was painted by the Anwar propaganda machine and the alternative media as a tyrant with millions of dollars hidden away in foreign banks. In addition, two years of headlines and court reports about Anwar's sodomy trial took away a sense of innocence, showing Malaysia's 'dark side' with TV pictures showing a stained mattress being carted into and out of court every day on which Anwar was convicted of performing sodomy.
Under weak successors, belief in government further faltered. Respect for national leaders took another hit with Mahathir's successor Ahmad Badawi painted as someone who slept on the job and enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle while many suffered economically. Badawi was painted by the PKR propaganda machine as corrupt. The dealings of his son-in-law and political adviser Khairy Jamaluddin were portrayed as corrupt nepotism.
Mahathir engineered an ungraceful exit for Badawi, replacing him with Najib Razak in 2009. The Najib premiership was tainted from the outset with rumors of murder and corruption. Najib's wife Rosmah also became an object of ridicule, bringing respect for the institution of government to an all-time low.
However, it's not just the corruption of politicians that destroyed respect for Malaysian institutions. The rakyat (people) have always wanted to believe in royalty. Even with stories about royal misdoings, there is no real talk of abolishing the monarchy. Whenever a member of one of the royal families acts in the interests of the rakyat, there has always been public praise and support. However, when members of a royal family act against the interests of the rakyat, the social media react.
Stories have been circulating for years about the misdeeds of Johor Royal Family. The current spat between Tunku Ismail, the Johor Crown Prince, commonly known as TMJ and Mahathir is extremely damaging for the royal institutions. Only the sedition act, a de facto lese-majeste law, is protecting the institution from much wider criticism.
Royal decorations and titles, VVIP service in government offices and special treatment for some citizens over others, shows a muddled Malaysia still clinging to the vestiges of feudalism. These artefacts are doing nothing to unite the country, a hangover from the old days of colonial class distinction.
However, the most powerful source of destruction for national pride and unity is the ketuanan Melayu (Malay Superiority) narrative which has become much more extreme. One of the basic assumptions is that bumiputeras — indigenous peoples – are the rightful owners of the land. From the point of view of the ketuanan proponents, land is not seen as a national symbol and non-Malays are excluded. This is a great barrier to developing any sense of national pride and unity.
The gulf between Malay and non-Malay has widened dramatically over the last two generations as Islam has grown into a major aspect of Malay identity. Citizens once celebrated their diverse ethnicities in harmony. Decrees made in the name of Islam now discourage this. No longer are Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Christmas shared Malaysian experiences.
The way of life has become Islamized to the point where there is little place for other religions and traditions. Food, dress codes, entertainment, education, the civil service, government, police and the military are all Islamized.
Shared apprehensions about what Malaysia will be have caused the Chinese to close ranks. The influence of Ketuanan Melayu in government policy excludes non-Malay participation in many fields like education, civil service and the military, etc. The younger generation of Chinese today tend to see themselves as Chinese first and Malaysians second. Chinese schools promote language and a strong sense of Chinese culture over a Malaysian identity as a mass defence mechanism.
The New Economic Policy, put in place in 1969 after disastrous race riots as an affirmative action program for the majority Malays, has also done a disservice to those it was designed to help. The thesis of Mahathir's book The Malay Dilemma was that Malays were basically lazy and needed help from the government is the faulty grounding assumption. The NEP is actually an attack on Malay self-esteem.
Rather than offering something spiritual, Islam has become a doctrine of conformity, where particular rights and rituals must legally be adhered to. Failure to do so in the case of not fasting during Ramadan can lead to punitive legal action. Any views outside narrow social norms lead to heavy criticism. Just recently the Islamic authorities (JAKIM) in Selangor started investigating a discussion forum on women's choice about wearing the hijab. Not just freedom of discussion is stifled, but also the right to be creative.
Islam has buried the principles of Rukun Negara (national principles), the supposed guiding philosophy of the nation. Rukun Negara was once a symbol of national pride and unity but has almost totally been replaced by a Doa (or prayer) before public events. A sense of nation has been sacrificed for the Islamization of public gatherings.
Today we see much less flag-waving during the Merdeka season. There are more divisional narratives on all ethnic sides. There is disappointment with the political system. Islam is seen by many as something overpowering rather than emancipating. People feel they need to conform to be accepted in society.
National pride and unity are at their lowest ebb since independence, where after 30 years of education the younger generations of Malays see Islam as more important than nationalism. Chinese and Indians are apprehensive about what Malaysia is turning into. Even the Orang Asli – the original inhabitants of the peninsula before the arrival of ethnic Malays from Indonesia — and non-Muslim indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak identify as second-class.
Malaysia has travelled far away from the aspirations of Tunku Abdul Rahman when the Jalur Gemilang was raised for the first time over a free Malaya in 1957. Malaysia's economic prosperity is relatively declining in the region and the nation is increasingly strangled by the need to conform. Malaysia appears to be a ship without a rudder, its reform agenda locked away under the Official Secrets Act.
The possibility of racial violence festering once again cannot be overlooked. Divisive narratives are being pushed until one day an unknown tipping point could be reached. The strong sense of social conformity, the exclusion of a national sense of ownership to all, the current totalitarian nature of authority and ketuanan Melayu narratives are a very dangerous mix.
Murray Hunter is a regular Asia Sentinel contributor. He is a development specialist and a longtime resident of the region.
Malaysiaopinionpremium
Posted in ASEAN, Asia-Sentinel, business, Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking, Development Planning, Dr Mahathir, Economic and Public Policy, Economic Development, Economic Transformation, Geo-Economics, Globalisation, Govenance, ketuanan melayu, Macroeconomics, New Economic Policy, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Poliitics, Public Accountability, Social Policy, The Malay Agenda, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Uncategorized, World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Ethics in business: When broken souls walk our corridors
Ethics in business: When broken souls walk our corridor
http://investvine.com/ethics-in-business-when-broken-souls-walk-our-corridors/
by Firoz Abdul Hamid
Have you ever been brought down to the depth of your chaotic heart and soul that you feel so broken, lost and alienated in all that surrounds you? A place where the heart never feels at home, or at peace, or in synch with all that others say identifies with you as a being. Only those who have been there will know how broken this place is. How endless in its hopelessness this place looks. And mostly how inescapable this place seems.
I have seen many who have visited this place. But visiting it has made the many I have met such great achievers, and mostly such wonderful beings that a normal trajectory could have never endowed them with such depth of gentleness, unpretentiousness and genuineness. Yet, I have also met those who have visited this place who have turned out to be dark troubled souls – those who truly believe in all their being that destroying and abusing others – be that mentally, emotionally or physically – really is their birth right.
Look around us – take a step back – ponder why people cheat on their partners, employees on their employers, employers on their employees, governments letting down their constituents, markets abusing the system and, alas, people hurting people.
This week alone has laid before me destruction of the human soul to such a proportion that if we cannot and do not find it in our souls to recapture our essence, we are but doomed to great destruction to the point of no return.
READ ON :https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47605265
The Ethiopian Airline Boeing 737 that crashed during take-off, killing all of its 157 people on board, and then on March 15 the cold-blodded killing of Muslims during their Friday prayers in Christchurch, New Zealand, begs the question – who allowed this plane to fly and then what society created a monster who would go so deep down into the darkness of his soul to then feel absolute numbness before committing such a crime, respectively. If one is sober with sound moral judgement, one will not and cannot in his/her making as a human being commit crimes – be that in a home environment, work environment or in public.
We each go through our daily grinds, really condoning the little bribery to enforcements, the pandering to houses of power, turning the blind eye when signing off JUST THAT one time in our board or cabinet meetings, not knowing those things have consequences. That we are even unable to discern what we do has consequences, which may or may not directly affect us, is a reflection of the state of our souls, the state of our hearts, the state of the society that enables this. That we think it is fine to seek loopholes not to pay the fine or the tax, or stay silent when wrong happens before us is not a reflection of what is outside, rather it is of what is inside us.
This, I would argue, is the new and postmodern mental illness. An illness so covert in suits and eloquence of Ivy School language and speech that we in the public and private sector are simply not equipped to discern and confront. They come in many forms – in form of C-suites, boards, politicians, educators, legislators, key decision makers, and this list really is inexhaustible. They were once called narcissistic by psychologists. No more. I would argue that the ones who would sell and allow substandard planes to fly (especially after a history of a similar crashing earlier), hate to be perpetrated in societies for their own political future or even good work of colleagues to be diminished for self-preservation suffer from post-modern mental illness. Those who do not bat an eye lid signing off the embezzlement of billions of dollars of public funds. And even those whose entire source of existence is just to see the wrong in everything and not be part of the solution is a problem societies need to address.
In my own country today I see my government putting forth plans after plans, initiatives after initiatives to improve our wellbeing. Yet within and without this same system we have those who are insistent upon keeping with the old, and finding ways to circumvent the credibility and governance intended of these plans. This, I would say, is our greatest threat today. Not our lack in plans for carbon emission, or good governance or sound economic outlook – rather the lack of people able to see beyond the darkness of their souls to aspire goodness for all. In Arabic this is called "maslahah" – for the benefit of the public interest.
If there is one project leaders in every parts of our societies need to embark on – spanning from our dinner tables to our schools to our board and cabinet rooms – is healing souls, saving those conspicuous who walk our streets and important places in our public and private sectors from destroying us collectively. To have sophisticated programmes that identify and heal these people and until this is done not allow them near anything that looks like power. If we do not and cannot address this, no amount of plans and initiatives no matter the sovereignty and market can save us all. No number of changes in elected representatives can save us. This I am certain to the point of the clarity of what my name is.
As Qasim Chauhan says – you are what you hide from others, these unsaid thoughts, emotions and secrets, make you, YOU.
(Firoz Abdul Hamid is an Investvine contributor. The opinions expressed are her own.)
Posted in business, Character and Integrity, civil society issues, Corruption, Critical Thinking, Ethics, Governance, Human Rights, Kleptocracy, Leadership, Najib Razak, Politics, Public Accountability, Rule of Law.
Mahathir Using Economic Council to Edge Anwar Out in favour of Azmin Ali?
February 16, 2019 by dinobeano
By: Yusoff Rawther
A glance at the newly-announced lineup of Malaysia's Economic Action Council (EAC) poses more questions than answers. It was formed to respond and take action in addressing economic issues. Objectives include stimulating economic growth, ensuring fair distribution of wealth and improving the well-being of the people as well as focusing on issues related to cost of living, labor, poverty and home ownership.
What is its relevance? It sounds eerily like a cabinet within a cabinet, and at a transitionary period, it looks like a redundant idea that will prove to be merely a political tool.
In less than a year since assuming the premiership, the 93-year-old Mahathir Mohammad has flip-flopped on various issues, most obviously his firmly stated assurance in May 2018 that the victorious Pakatan Harapan coalition would not be accepting turncoats from the losing United Malays National Organization.
Yet, along with the announcement of the creation of the economic action body, Mahathir happened to embrace seven former UMNO MPs into his own Parti Pribumi Bersatu, an act of betrayal to the people of Malaysia. UMNO was thoroughly discredited as a party corrupt to its very roots – by MPs who were kept loyal to the previous premier, the disgraced Najib Razak, by outright bribes.
Anwar Ibrahim has been unceremoniously left out from the EAC, an indication that Mahathir is once again vying to divert as much power and attention towards the lesser known and underperforming Minister of Economic Affairs, Mohamad Azmin Ali, the former chief minister of Selangor and an ambitious pretender for the leadership of the coalition.
Aside from the fact that the council's existence shows failure on behalf of the prime minister to appoint qualified people to the cabinet, if we are to accept the premise that the council should exist, the right thing to do is to invite the premier-in-waiting to be a member in a move to demonstrate your confidence in your designated successor to the voters as well as giving Anwar a role to play in contributing to the agenda set forth in the EAC's charter. Malaysians should beware lest Mahathir smuggles old failings into the mix whilst our attention is held elsewhere.
The political heavy lifting was done by Anwar, who from his prison cell pulled a lax opposition and the complaining class into the fight alongside his supporters to create the conditions for change. Conditions that proved vital in the overthrow of the Barisan Nasional regime.
It is evident that something more than elections are necessary to create a genuine new dispensation of sustainable democratic good governance.
Creating the EAC and sidelining the PM-in-waiting is not a good indicator of that. Authoritarian rule is not just about figureheads. They use power th to maintain themselves is institutionalized and embedded in deep structures of privilege that corruptly deliver a nation's bounty into the hands of a chosen few.
If Anwar Ibrahim is the icon for democracy, then Mahathir is the icon and spokesperson of the embedded structures of inequity.
As the principal architect of genuine reform, to sweep aside the structures of authoritarian control and the inequity they beget, Anwar's reform agenda seeks to eliminate corruption, cronyism and nepotism, the elements of a bygone era.
It is the diligence and energy Anwar applies to promoting an alternate vision of good governance, one and of a free and competitive Malaysian economy and harmonious, multiracial society that made him an important voice not only in Malaysia but around the world. Anwar has spent his career speaking for and articulating an alternative agenda of politics.
As a Deputy Prime Minister during the Asian Financial Crisis I988, Anwar came very close to dismantling the Mahathirist version of crony capitalism when he decided to implement an IMF style austerity program, suspend big-bulge infrastructure investment, and force big businessmen to take care of their own debts.
Anwarnomics promises to do away with state-backed racism. It promises to be inclusive, rules-based and competition-driven with a large, well-funded social safety net and he has reiterated time and again the need for uncompromising reforms.
Here are some of the things he has advocated for, long before the formation of the EAC:
Malaysia's economic policies should be inclusive and to dismantle obsolete policies such as the New Economic Policy. Positive.
discrimination policies must be based on freedom, justice, and equity.
A sustainable economy is not one that is mainly driven by consumer spending fueled by high level household debt. "We cannot build a better life for our people if they need two to three jobs just to make ends meet. That is bad economics… even worst social policy."
Affirmative actions taken must be based on needs.
It is important to enhance investment, trading and economic ties with China and India which are the engine of growth for global economy.
Social protection and poverty eradication remain central to the effort to ensure a better life for all.
Greater transparency and public participation is key in ensuring efficiency of social programs, to identify dubious programs, reduce duplication and waste of resources.
Economic policies to lure foreign direct investment must not neglect any region or community in the country. It is not a zero-sum game. If we choose to embark on pro-market reforms, it should not be an excessive capitalistic notion ignoring the plight of poor and marginalized.
Given the facts, it is only fair to question Mahathir's motives in creating the EAC while failing to include the next Prime minister.
Malaysia is rich in resources and possibilities. Change will require more than just elections, it requires dismantling the institutional structures of inequity, most of all it will depend upon building the strength and capacity of civil society, the plethora of organizations and associations by which ordinary people hold their governments to account.
Posted in Anwar Ibrahim, Asia-Sentinel, Azmin Ali, business, Corruption, Crony capitalism, Economic and Public Policy, Good Governance, IMF, Inequality, Justice, Kleptocracy, Macroeconomics, Politics, Public Accountability, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, UMNO.
FOCUS On POVERTY alleviation, not income creation for billionaires–Mahathir's outdated policy prescriptions
January 16, 2019 by dinobeano
FOCUS On POVERTY alleviation, not billionaires —Mahathir's outdated policy prescriptions
by P. Gunasegaram
QUESTION TIME | When Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad sank low to say that wealth should be distributed equally among races, he indicated plainly that he has no solid plan to increase incomes and alleviate poverty for all Malays and Malaysians. His priorities are elsewhere.
Note that he talks about the distribution of wealth, not increasing incomes, which is more important because this is what will eventually result in a proper redistribution of wealth by valuing fairly everyone's contribution to wealth creation.
During his time as Prime Minister previously for a very long 22 years from 1981 to 2003 out of 46 years of independence at that time – nearly half the period of independence – he had plenty of opportunities, but squandered them.
He did not care for the common Malay, but was instead more focused on creating Malay billionaires overnight through the awarding of lucrative operations handled by the government or government companies previously, such as roads, power producers, telecommunications and others.
He depressed labour wages by bringing in millions of workers from Indonesia, and subsequently Bangladesh and the Philippines, to alter the religious balance in Sabah. A significant number of them became Malaysian citizens over the years, altering the overall racial and religious balance in the country.
By doing that he let his own race down, many of whom were workers and small entrepreneurs whose incomes were constrained by imported labour. Even now, Mahathir has not shown a great willingness to increase minimum wages, which will help many poor Malays and bumiputeras increase their incomes.
As Mahathir himself well knows, distribution is not an easy thing. Stakes held by others cannot be simply distributed, but they have to be sold, even if it is at depressed prices as it was under the New Economic Policy or NEP, when companies wanted to get listed.
Instant millionaires
There are not enough Malays rich enough to buy these stakes, but many of them in the Mahathir era and earlier, especially the connected elite, became rich by purchasing the 30 percent stakes for bumiputeras that had to be divested upon listing by taking bank loans.
By simply flipping the stakes on the market at a higher price after they were listed, they pocketed the difference and became instant millionaires.
It was Mahathir's brother-in-law – the straight, honest and capable Ismail Ali – who was the architect behind the setting up of Permodalan Nasional Bhd or PNB to hold in trust for bumiputera stakes in major companies. PNB now has funds of some RM280 billion and has been enormously successful in this respect.
But Mahathir, with advice from Daim Zainuddin who became his Finance Minister, still cultivated selected bumiputera leaders, many of them Daim's cronies, and gave them plum deals. A slew of them who were terribly over-leveraged got into trouble during the 1997-1998 financial crisis.
The government, often through Khazanah Nasional Bhd, had to rescue some of the biggest ones, resulting in Khazanah holding key stakes in many companies such as Axiata, CIMB, PLUS and so on. Recently, the government has been talking about, not surprisingly, selling these stakes to investors, accusing Khazanah of not developing bumiputera entrepreneurship, which was not anywhere in its original aims.
It becomes more obvious what Mahathir is talking about. Redistribution of wealth now will come out of the selling of government (Khazanah) and PNB stakes to individual Malay entrepreneurs to equalise wealth distribution among the races. To make it more palatable, some willing Indian entrepreneurs, too, may be found.
The modus operandi will be to sell the stakes when prices are depressed and perhaps even to offer a bulk discount to these so-called entrepreneurs who, of course, will not only be among the elite, but who are cronies. That will ensure a steady flow of funds into Bersatu in future from donations to help make it the premier party in the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Mahathir knows full well that equal wealth distribution is impossible – it's never been done anywhere before and makes wealth acquisition disproportionate to intelligent effort and hard work, a sure recipe for inefficiency, corruption and patronage. As eloquently argued by prominent political economy professor Terence Gomez, patronage is king in new Malaysia – if it was cash during Najib's time.
Mahathir does not have the wherewithal to lead anymore, if he ever had it in the first place. Eight months after GE14, he is still bereft of a plan to increase incomes and improve livelihoods. He needs to recognise he does not have one and that he stays in power because of the strength of the other parties in the coalition.
Wrong direction
The only way to close the wealth gap is to increase future incomes across all races. Anything else is the expropriation of other people's wealth. In the meantime, the holding of wealth in trust by state agencies is perfectly acceptable because the income comes back to the government.
This can be wisely used to improve the quality of education, get better quality investments, raise productivity and hence labour wages, and provide equal opportunities for growth and innovation among all communities. As so many people have said before me, you can equalise opportunities, but not outcomes.
So far, 61 years of UMNO-BN have not managed to equalise opportunities for all as the government education system is in shambles, among others. And eight months of Harapan is heading in the wrong direction under Mahathir.
Despite Bersatu being a party expressly formed to fight for Malay rights, Mahathir's party had the lowest support from Malays of parties looking after Malay rights, including Umno, PAS, PKR and Amanah.
He is still stuck in a mode to widen his rather narrow and vulnerable power base (his Bersatu won only 13 seats of 52 contested, the worst win rate of any party in the coalition) unethically by attracting tarnished MPs from Umno into the Bersatu fold, in the process willing to break agreements with other coalition partners and doing/advocating things which are against the principles of a properly functioning democracy.
He has also said he will not honour some manifesto promises, saying that these were made when Harapan did not expect to win the elections – a rather lame excuse. He has not even made solid moves to undo repressive laws introduced by his predecessor Najib Abdul Razak.
Mahathir, obviously, has no intention plan to improve the livelihood of the common Malay and all Malaysians; he is stuck in old-school forced distribution which is injurious to the economy, maybe even fatal in the long term.
Malaysians don't want the creation of Malay (or any other ) billionaires from government wealth.
Old wine in a new bottle is still sour. E-mail: t.p.guna@gmail.com
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
Posted in Bank Negara Malaysia, business, Crony capitalism, Daim Zainuddin, Economic and Social Policy, Economic Planning, Economic Policy, Finance, Gomez, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, ketuanan melayu, Kleptocracy, Malaysia, Malaysiakini, Meritocracy and Competence, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Policy Research, Political Economy, Social Policy, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, UMNO.
Patronage is king in new Malaysia?
by Dr.Terence Gomez
COMMENT | When Dr. Mahathir Mohamad led the opposition to a stunning election victory, he had an effective rallying cry that reflected why Umno's form of governance was problematic: "Cash is king."
If Mahathir is not careful, worrying recent trends indicate a similarly disconcerting problem about Pakatan Harapan's government: "Patronage is king."
When Harapan wanted to capture power, the coalition's leaders told Malaysians to expect real change if UMNO was expelled from government. These reforms included ending ethnically-based policies, unfailingly applied since the 1970s to justify patronage favouring bumiputera, though extremely abused to enrich politicians in power.
The Prime Minister would also no longer concurrently serve as finance minister who had under his control a slew of GLCs like 1MDB and Tabung Haji, enterprises that had been persistently abused by UMNOo. Politicians would not be appointed as directors of GLCs.
These pledges contributed to Harapan's considerable achievement of ending authoritarian rule in Malaysia. However, Harapan has been in power barely eight months and already alarming trends are appearing which suggest that this coalition is finding ways and means to renege on its pledges.
Equally troubling is a gradual and perceptible attempt to reinstitute the practice of selective patronage in the conduct of politics and in the implementation of policies, hallmarks of UMNO politics that led to its fall.
Soon after Harapan formed the government, it created the Economic Affairs Ministry, led by Mohamed Azmin Ali. Subsequently, numerous GLCs controlled by the Finance Ministry, under the jurisdiction of Lim Guan Eng, were transferred to the Economic Affairs Ministry.
Malaysia's only sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional, was channelled from the Finance Ministry to the Prime Minister's Department. The government did not publicly disclose why the shifting of these GLCs between ministries was necessary, but it is now clear that the Finance Ministry no longer holds enormous influence over the corporate sector.
With Khazanah under his ministry, Mahathir, though not also functioning as the Finance Minister, had secured control of Malaysia's leading investment arm. When Mahathir argued that Khazanah had deviated from performing one of its original objectives, helping the bumiputera, this contention was disputed by numerous analysts.
Mahathir went on to appoint himself as chairperson of Khazanah, though this was, by convention, the practice. The convention also was that the finance minister should be a member of Khazanah's board.
Instead, Azmin was given this appointment. Whether the prime minister and the economic affairs minister should have been appointed board members of Khazanah merited debate as Harapan had pledged that politicians would not be appointed as directors of government enterprises.
On Sept 1, 2018, a Congress on the Future of Bumiputeras and the Nation was convened by Azmin's Ministry. Mahathir stressed at this convention the need to reinstitute the practice of selective patronage, targeting bumiputeras, though no longer would the government allow for the distribution of what he referred to as "easy contracts."
Daim Zainuddin, the chair of the Committee of Eminent Persons (CEP), established to prepare a report reviewing the state of the economy, endorsed the need for such a bumiputera policy, though he acknowledged problems of the past when he said: "We want to get it right this time." Daim also stressed that the government would strive to change the mindset of bumiputera.
The nation was not told how this policy will be altered to get it right, nor how mindsets will be changed. Meanwhile, the CEP report, though submitted to the government, was not publicly disclosed.
Instead, the bumiputera policy was stressed when the Economic Affairs Ministry released its Mid-Term Review of the 11th Malaysia Plan, while other ministers have actively affirmed that GLCs will be divested, an issue also in the 2019 budget. Given Malaysia's long history of political patronage, worrying questions come to mind of these divestments.
For example, one important equity sale by Khazanah, an issue that barely secured any analysis in the press, was that of its interests in CIMB, the country's second-largest bank. Khazanah reduced its equity holding in CIMB by 0.66 percent, a seemingly small divestment.
However, does this sale mark the beginning of the transfer of control of CIMB to well-connected business people, even proxies of politicians, a common practice by UMNO in the 1990s? Will Harapan, through such divestments, move to create a new breed of powerful well-connected business groups, even oligarchs, a trend seen in other countries transiting from authoritarian rule to democracy?
'Dr M should know better'
Another worrying issue occurred recently. Rural and Regional Development Minister Rina Harun of Mahathir's party, Bersatu, approved the appointment of politicians from her party to the boards of directors of GLCs under her control.
This is extremely worrying because, under UMNO, the Rural and Regional Development Ministry was persistently embroiled in allegations of corruption, with MARA being the prime example.
The practice of patronage through GLCs to draw electoral support was rampant under this ministry as it has a huge presence in states with a bumiputera-majority population.
So important is this ministry, in terms of mobilising electoral support, that it was always placed under the control of a senior UMNO leader. During Najib Abdul Razak's administration, then UMNO Vice- President, Mohd Shafie Apdal, served as its minister before he was unceremoniously removed from office. Shafie was replaced by Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Najib's close ally.
What Rina, once an UMNO member, has done by appointing politicians to GLCs under her authority is so reminiscent of patronage practices that had undermined the activities of these enterprises.
Azmin subsequently endorsed what Rina had done on the grounds that "there are some politicians who have professional background, such as accountants, engineers or architects, who can contribute to GLCs".
Mahathir should know better than to allow this. After all, he had stressed that GLCs function to fulfil a "noble vision", including the alleviation of poverty, equitable wealth distribution and spatial development, promotion of rural industries and the fostering of entrepreneurial companies in new sectors of the economy. Mahathir had also persistently referred to Malaysia's complex ensemble of GLCs as a "monster."
During Najib's administration, this vast GLC network, created primarily to fulfil the bumiputera agenda, became tools easily exploited by UMNO, so visibly manifested in serious corruption associated with Felda and Tabung Haji.
However, Harapan has refused to establish an independent committee to review this extremely complex GLC network that operates at the federal and state levels. Is this reluctance because Harapan plans to similarly employ GLCs for the practice of patronage, as recent trends suggest?
What is clear, even becoming the norm, is Harapan's consistent message to the nation: selectively targeted patronage will continue. The primary advocate of this message is Bersatu, an UMNO off-shoot.
At Bersatu's first convention after securing power, held two weeks ago, its president, Muhyiddin Yassin, was quoted as saying: "As a party for the 'pribumi' or indigenous group, Bersatu should not be apologetic to champion the bumiputera agenda".
Muhyiddin went on to say: "No one in our society will be left behind. Hence, this agenda is not a racial agenda, but a national agenda." These statements are strikingly similar to what Umno had stressed when in power.
These trends suggest that for Harapan, and Bersatu in particular, consolidating power, by marshalling bumiputera support, is its primary concern, not instituting appropriate economic and social reforms.
If the government hopes to change mindsets, Harapan must focus on just universal-based policies that assist all Malaysians. In the process, disenfranchised bumiputera will also be supported. Patronage need not be king.
TERENCE GOMEZ is a professor of political economy at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Universiti Malaya.
Posted in 11th Malaysia Plan, business, Corruption, Crony capitalism, Liberalism and Open Society, MACC, Malaysia, Malaysiakini, Meritocracy and Competence, New Economic Policy, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Policy Research, Political Economy, Politics, Public Accountability, Public Policy, The Malays, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Uncategorized.
The War on Huawei
December 20, 2018 by dinobeano
December 20, 2018,
Dec 11, 2018 Jeffrey D. Sachs
http://www.project-syndicate.org
The Trump administration's conflict with China has little to do with US external imbalances, closed Chinese markets, or even China's alleged theft of intellectual property. It has everything to do with containing China by limiting its access to foreign markets, advanced technologies, global banking services, and perhaps even US universities.
NEW YORK – The arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is a dangerous move by US President Donald Trump's administration in its intensifying conflict with China. If, as Mark Twain reputedly said, history often rhymes, our era increasingly recalls the period preceding 1914. As with Europe's great powers back then, the United States, led by an administration intent on asserting America's dominance over China, is pushing the world toward disaster.
The context of the arrest matters enormously. The US requested that Canada arrest Meng in the Vancouver airport en route to Mexico from Hong Kong, and then extradite her to the US. Such a move is almost a US declaration of war on China's business community. Nearly unprecedented, it puts American businesspeople traveling abroad at much greater risk of such actions by other countries.
The US rarely arrests senior business people, US or foreign, for alleged crimes committed by their companies. Corporate managers are usually arrested for their alleged personal crimes (such as embezzlement, bribery, or violence) rather than their company's alleged malfeasance. Yes, corporate managers should be held to account for their company's malfeasance, up to and including criminal charges; but to start this practice with a leading Chinese businessperson, rather than the dozens of culpable US CEOs and CFOs, is a stunning provocation to the Chinese government, business community, and public.
Meng is charged with violating US sanctions on Iran. Yet consider her arrest in the context of the large number of companies, US and non-US, that have violated US sanctions against Iran and other countries. In 2011, for example, JP Morgan Chase paid $88.3 million in fines in 2011 for violating US sanctions against Cuba, Iran, and Sudan. Yet Jamie Dimon wasn't grabbed off a plane and whisked into custody.
And JP Morgan Chase was hardly alone in violating US sanctions. Since 2010, the following major financial institutions paid fines for violating US sanctions: Banco do Brasil, Bank of America, Bank of Guam, Bank of Moscow, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Clearstream Banking, Commerzbank, Compass, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan Chase, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, National Bank of Pakistan, PayPal, RBS (ABN Amro), Société Générale, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Trans-Pacific National Bank (now known as Beacon Business Bank), Standard Chartered, and Wells Fargo.
None of the CEOs or CFOs of these sanction-busting banks was arrested and taken into custody for these violations. In all of these cases, the corporation – rather than an individual manager – was held accountable. Nor were they held accountable for the pervasive lawbreaking in the lead-up to or aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, for which the banks paid a staggering $243 billion in fines, according to a recent tally. In light of this record, Meng's arrest is a shocking break with practice. Yes, hold CEOs and CFOs accountable, but start at home in order to avoid hypocrisy, self-interest disguised as high principle, and the risk of inciting a new global conflict.
Quite transparently, the US action against Meng is really part of the Trump administration's broader attempt to undermine China's economy by imposing tariffs, closing Western markets to Chinese high-technology exports, and blocking Chinese purchases of US and European technology companies. One can say, without exaggeration, that this is part of an economic war on China, and a reckless one at that.
Huawei is one of China's most important technology companies, and therefore a prime target in Trump administration's effort to slow or stop China's advance into several high-technology sectors. America's motivations in this economic war are partly commercial – to protect and favor laggard US companies – and partly geopolitical. They certainly have nothing to do with upholding the international rule of law.
The US is trying to targeting Huawei especially because of the company's success in marketing cutting-edge 5G technologies globally. The US claims the company poses a specific security risk through hidden surveillance capabilities in its hardware and software. Yet the US government has provided no evidence for this claim.
A recent diatribe against Huawei in the Financial Times is revealing in this regard. After conceding that "you cannot have concrete proof of interference in ICT, unless you are lucky enough to find the needle in the haystack," the author simply asserts that "you don't take the risk of putting your security in the hands of a potential adversary." In other words, while we can't really point to misbehavior by Huawei, we should blacklist the company nonetheless.
When global trade rules obstruct Trump's gangster tactics, then the rules have to go, according to him. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted as much last week in Brussels. "Our administration," he said, is "lawfully exiting or renegotiating outdated or harmful treaties, trade agreements, and other international arrangements that don't serve our sovereign interests, or the interests of our allies." Yet before it exits these agreements, the administration is trashing them through reckless and unilateral actions.
The unprecedented arrest of Meng is even more provocative because it is based on US extra-territorial sanctions, that is, the claim by the US that it can order other countries to stop trading with third parties such as Cuba or Iran. The US would certainly not tolerate China or any other country telling American companies with whom they can or cannot trade.
Sanctions regarding non-national parties (such as US sanctions on a Chinese business) should not be enforced by one country alone, but according to agreements reached within the United Nations Security Council. In that regard, UN Security Council Resolution 2231 calls on all countries to drop sanctions on Iran as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. Yet the US – and only the US – now rejects the Security Council's role in such matters. The Trump administration, not Huawei or China, is today's greatest threat to the international rule of law, and therefore to global peace.
Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, is Director of Columbia's Center for Sustainable Development and of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His books include The End of Poverty, Common Wealth, The Age of Sustainable Development, Building the New American Economy, and most recently, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism.
Posted in business, China, Donald J Trump, Geo-Politics, Global Issues, Project-Syndicate.org, Uncategorized, US-China Relations, Xi Jinping.


text:
The Advice Tom Hanks Gave That Thing You Do Actors After Showing Up Late
By Mack Rawden
To honor Oscar-nominated songwriter Adam Schlesinger who tragically passed from COVID-19 complications, the cast of That Thing You Do has been giving interviews lately. Much of the talk has centered around how incredible the song "That Thing You Do" is and what an absolute treasure Schlesinger was to work with, but some great behind the scenes tidbits have emerged including a story about Tom Hanks giving a dad lecture to the young cast members.
The story itself was told during an interview with Rolling Stone. Apparently, the actors all showed up late on the same day. In response, Tom Hanks took them all in the same trailer and gave them some fatherly wisdom. Here's the always delightful Steve Zahn and his version…
I always remember this. We all showed up late. We got called into one of our trailers, and Tom was so nice. He sat us down and said, 'That's the last time that'll ever happen.'… What he meant was: That was the last time that will ever happen in your career. I'm giving you some advice. Show up. Know your shit. Be cool Don't be a jerk, all those things. He was really dad.
I'm sure there are plenty of other people in Hollywood who would do the same thing, but you can just hear that well-intentioned but stern lecture in Tom Hanks' voice. He always seems like a man who doesn't shy away from hard truths but has the people skills required to say them in a reassuring way that'll get through. In some ways, he gave a similar lecture when he was honored at the Golden Globes earlier this year and implored his fellow actors to show up on time.
Later in the interview, the actors further hammered home the same point and told some additional stories. Apparently they were trying to film a scene and the crowd of extras was being too loud and started chanting Hanks' name. So, he went out there, did the Forrest Gump wave in character and got everyone to quiet down. Tom Everett Scott also told a similar story about fan interactions…
He led by example. I'd see him interact with fans. If someone wanted him to list all the versions of shrimp he could cook from Forrest Gump, he'd do it. He'd play along. He knew fans love that stuff.
That Thing You Do has remained well-liked and frequently discussed since its initial release, but the movie has re-entered the public consciousness in a big way since Adam Schlesinger's tragic death. The cast is participating in a watch party tonight to raise money for charity and will be taking fan questions. It should be a great time, and if you can't make that, I highly suggest pulling out your own copy of That Thing You Do and firing it up. It's one of my favorite movies ever made, and it somehow gets even more fun and watchable with every single viewing.
Mack Rawden
Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, the NBA and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.
The Orville's Penny Johnson Drops Humorously Relatable Video About Waiting For Season 4 Renewal At Hulu
Anne Hathaway Recalls Being Asked A Creepy Question By A Journalist When Just 16 Years Old
M&Ms Is Replacing Animated Spokescandies With Maya Rudolph For Super Bowl Ad, And The Internet Isn't Handling Things Well
Rita Ora Addresses Claims That She, Taika Waititi And Tessa Thompson Were A Throuple
Whoopi Goldberg Got Called An 'Old Broad' On The View, And Actually Handled It Really Well

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


When my Grandparents Frank and Caterina Miranda migrated to Australia they went to work in Griffith, NSW. Griffith, 700km west of Sydney and 500km north of Melbourne was a small country town founded on returned soliders from WWI being given small allotments for their service. The area became a rich fruit growing region because of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation System, this was a big draw card for the Italian migrants of the time because they were able to set up farms and supply the big cities with fresh fruit and vegetables.
The New South Wales government is putting together an exhibition in June, my grandparents are in the photo above which was published in the Area News (local Griffith newspaper) on 2nd April, 2008.


text:
L'Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua (quítxua: Qheswa Simi Hamut'ana Kuraq Suntur [5V], Qhichwa Simi Hamut'ana Kuraq Suntur [3V]) és una corporació que depèn econòmicament del Ministeri de Cultura del Perú, dedicada a la recerca, foment, difusió i reivindicació del idioma quítxua, l'idioma andí més parlat. En la pràctica els seus treballs s'orienten en relació al qheswa  o quítxua de Cusco. La seva seu principal es troba a la ciutat del Cusco (el Perú).

Antecedent: Academia Peruana de la Lengua Quechua
El 1954 Faustino Espinoza Navarro, fill d'un amo d'una finca petita prop del Cusco i també fundador de l'Inti Raymi del Cusco el 1947 on va interpretar el paper del sapa inca els primers 14 anys (fins a 1957), juntament amb altres artistes quítxuaparlants bilingües va fundar l'Academia de la Lengua Quechua, els estatuts de la qual van ser aprovats al gener de 1954. A l'acadèmia, coneixedors del quítxua cusqueño sense formació formal tenien l'oportunitat d'obtenir reconeixement com a intel·lectuals. Segons l'acadèmia, al contrari al Runa Simi, el quítxua de la gent, el Qhapaq Simi o "quítxua imperial", també anomenat "Quítxua Inka" va ser el quítxua més pur que hauria de ser ensenyat a escoles especials (Yachay Wasi) i els guardians actuals de les quals serien els membres de l'Acadèmia de la Llengua Quítxua del Cusco. El 10 de desembre de 1958 sota el govern de Manuel Prado Ugarteche l'Acadèmia va ser reconeguda oficialment per Llei 13059 com a Academia Peruana de la Lengua Quechua amb seu a la ciutat del Cusco.

El 27 de maig de 1975, el govern de Juan Velasco Alvarado va oficialitzar el quítxua amb la Llei 21156 i va prescriure l'escriptura amb cinc vocals. El 1983, experts professionals quítxues i aimares de tot el Perú van decidir implementar un alfabet quítxua i aimara amb tres vocals a, i, o. El 10 d'octubre de 1985, el Govern del Perú va autoritzar l'alfabet quítxua i aimara amb només tres vocals per Resolució Ministerial 1218-85. L'Acadèmia es va oposar a això i el 1987 amb suport de representants de SIL International va decidir usar el sistema amb cinc vocals.

Segons el lingüista Juan Carlos Godenzzi, la AMLQ ha estat un obstacle per a la normalització oficial de l'ortografia i sintaxi del quítxua per l'estat peruà.

Academia Mayor
L'Academia Mayor es crea per Llei No 25260 del 6 de juny de 1990 que estableix una acadèmia d'idioma quítxua a Cusco, sense referir-se exclusivament a la AMLQ. D'altra banda, la comissió per a establir els estatuts no es va crear fins a 2009, es crea per Llei No 25260 del 6 de juny de 1990 que estableix una acadèmia d'idioma quítxua a Cusco, sense referir-se exclusivament a l'AMLQ. D'altra banda, la comissió per a establir els estatuts no es va crear fins a 2009.

La missió de la institució, és vetllar per la puresa de la llengua quítxua, estimular el desenvolupament de la literatura en aquesta llengua i la recerca lingüística.

L'Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua continua utilitzant la versió de l'alfabet quítxua oficial peruà de 1976 amb cinc vocals. Per això, escriu Qosqo i no Qusqu per a "Cusco". Segons la AMLQ, per Resolució Presidencial No 001 del 12 d'octubre de 1990 es "ratifica l'Alfabet Bàsic del Quítxua Imperial de 1975 compost de 31 grafemes: cinc vocals i 26 consonants per a Qosqo-Puno"

David Samanez Flórez de l'AMLQ fins ara intenta a demostrar l'origen cusqueny de la llengua quítxua,encara que, segons les recerques de Parker (1963) i Torero (1964), el quítxua es van originar a la serralada central del Perú.

Ordenances Regionals
El Consell Regional del Cusco, mitjançant la Llei orgànica de Governs Regionals N° 27867 i la seva modificatòria Llei N° 27902 i el Reglament Intern d'Organització i Funcions del Consell Regional del Cusco va debatre i va aprovar l'Ordenança Regional N° 011-2003-CRC/GRC,vigent des del 4 de novembre de 2003, en la qual es declara "Dia de l'Idioma Quítxua o Runasimi Inca" el 8 de novembre de cada any, en l'àmbit del departament del Cusco, com a reconeixement al 50° aniversari de la fundació de l'Acadèmia Major de la Llengua Quítxua, realitzada el 8 de novembre de 1953.

També declara "l'obligatorietat de l'ensenyament i aprenentatge de la llengua quítxua" a tots els nivells d'educació infantil, primària, secundària i educació superior no universitària, especialment a les zones amb predominança quítxua-parlant del departament del Cusco, i encarregar "la reglamentació de l'Ordenança Regional"a l'Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua.

Congressos Mundials de Quítxua
El Tercer Congrés Mundial de Quítxua, Yuyayyaku Wawakuna, va ser realitzat a Salta a l'octubre de 2004. Entre les seves principals conclusions, es troben les labors de l'Acadèmia i de les seves filials, com difondre la fonètica i fonologia originals, dels fitònims, zoònims, antropònims i topònims quítxues, coordinant-se amb les autoritats polítiques i turístiques; recomanar als seus afiliats que difonguin les publicacions relacionades a l'idioma, perquè la institució arxivi totes les obres com a part del seu patrimoni i recomanar a l'Acadèmia una organització característica de la cultura andina; no utilitzar els models d'acadèmies foranes, i crear un model organitzatiu propi.

Al novembre de 2010 es va realitzar el VI Congrés Mundial de Quítxua, denominat "Pachakutip K'anchaynin" ("Nous temps de prosperitat i de canvi ens estan il·luminant"). Es va desenvolupar en Cochabamba, Bolívia.

Crítiques i problemes
 L'AMLQ és de l'opinió que només hi ha un idioma quítxua únic, i que el quítxua actual de la ciutat del Cusco (i no alguna forma intermèdia com el quítxua meridional) amb totes les seves peculiaritats regionals hauria de ser l'estàndard oficial per a tots els dialectes quítxues. Usa el terme "Quítxua Inka" (o Inka Qheswa) per a descriure'l. A més, promouen insistentment l'antic alfabet quítxua establert pel govern peruà l'any 1975, el qual correspon en la seva majoria a l'alfabet actual, corregit el 1985, a excepció que conté les cinc vocals del castellà: a, i, i, o, o. La majoria de lingüistes que treballen en Quítxua han criticat aquest enfocament, sent hostilitzats com a reacció per l'AMLQ.

 Amb una densa història de pretenciones hegemòniques, discursos metafísics i una política lingüística que pretén elevar a "norma" el seu propi sociolecte (denominat Inka Simi), enfront d'uns altres sociolectos de tota la família quítxua (Godenzzi, 1992; Albarracín i Alderetes, 2005). L'AMLQ ha debatut intensament amb el cercle internacional de la lingüística andina, sense trobar mai legitimació en les seves produccions (cf. Godenzzi, 1992). La llista d'ensopegades de l'AMLQ és extensa, i com a mostra l'analista del discurs Tim Marr, va definir la posició de l'AMLQ com feixisme andí (2002)
 En 2006 un grup de persones lligades a aquesta institució, vandalizó la viquipèdia en quítxua meridional, persistint insensatament amb el seu procediment, insultant als editors i malmetent la portada principal. Davant això, la pàgina principal de la viquipèdia en quítxua es va convertir en una de les poquíssimes portades en llengües en perill d'extinció que va haver de ser protegida.
 En 2010 com a senyal de protesta davant la falta de pressupost i de reglamentació dels seus estatuts (que també afirmaven estaven desactualizados), 4 membres de l'Acadèmia van començar una vaga de fam  que va durar dues setmanes i que va concloure amb l'assignació de pressupost per part del Ministeri d'Educació. No obstant això, fins a juny de l'any 2011, l'acadèmia no podia executar el pressupost de dos milions set-cents mil nous sols (aproximadament nou-cents mil dòlars estatunidencs) a causa de les seves disputes i falta d'autogovern adequat i corrupció sent aquestes les raons per la qual el Ministeri d'Educació no va lliurar la suma de diners sol·licitada.

Referències

Bibliografia
 AMLQ (Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua) i Municipalidad del Qosqo (1995): Diccionario Quechua-Español-Quechua/Qheswa-Español-Qheswa Simi Taqe. Cusco. Versión en línea (pdf 7,68 MB).

Enllaços externs
 web multimèdia d'Aprenentatge
 Anàlisi crític de Tim Marr

Quítxua
Q

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico-Miami
Miami, FL, USA
Affordability and Cost
Average Net Price Average net price for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates paying the in-state or in-district tuition rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid from federal, state or local governments, or the institution. Other sources of grant aid are excluded. Aid awarded anytime during the full aid year is included.
Average net price is generated by subtracting the average amount of federal, state or local government, or institutional grant and scholarship aid from the total cost of attendance. Total cost of attendance is the sum of published tuition and required fees (lower of in-district or in-state), books and supplies and the weighted average room and board and other expenses.
Calculate your net cost
In-State Tuition In-state tuition is the tuition charged by institutions to those students who meet the state's or institution's residency requirements. In-district tuition is the tuition charged by the institution to those students residing in the locality in which they attend school and may be a lower rate than in-state tuition if offered by the institution.
Out-of-State Tuition Out-of-state tuition is the tuition charged by institutions to those students who do not meet the state's or institution's residency requirements. Out-of-district tuition is the tuition charged by the institution to those students not residing in the locality in which they attend school.
Financial Aid: visit page
Aid & Grants
Students Receiving Gift Aid Percent of undergraduate students awarded federal gift aid. Federal gift aid includes any grant or scholarship aid awarded, from the federal government, a state or local government, the institution, and other sources known by the institution.
Average Aid Per Year
Students Receiving Grants Percent of undergraduate students awarded grant aid. Grant aid includes any grant or scholarship aid awarded, from the federal government, a state or local government, the institution, and other sources known by the institution.
Average Federal Grant Aid Per Year
Average Institution Grant Aid Per Year
Students receiving federal aid
Average Grant & Scholarship By Family Income
Average Amount
< $30k
Students Borrowing Loans Loans to students - Any monies that must be repaid to the lending institution for which the student is the designated borrower. Includes all Title IV subsidized and unsubsidized loans and all institutionally- and privately-sponsored loans. Does not include PLUS and other loans made directly to parents.
Average Loan Amount Per Year
Students receiving federal loans
Average Federal Loans Per Year
US National: 7%
What Students Are Saying
Gadsden State Community College
Arizona State University Campus Immersion
John Brown University
California State University-Bakersfield
Colleges in Miami


your creativity related to wall surfaces decoration into third dimension.
are made of natural materials and are 100% eco friendly.
tongue on panel's side edges.
It substantially reduces human error during installation.
elements by grout as it is done with ceramics or rock.
by careful planning of type and position of lighting.
to greater contrast with dark shadows and lower visibility of joints.
and the choice is almost unlimited.
whereas the distancer ensures an even distance between wall 3D panels.


text:
Q: Change type of chart.download() extjs 6 i want the data to be in svg format but it is posting the data in image format how do i change the data into svg format
on back end the data look like this
array(3) {
  ["version"] => string(1) "2"
  ["data"] => string(24510) "data:image/png;.;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgA...
  ["filename"] => string(31) "fileName"
}

and my extjs code is
var chartData = Ext.ComponentQuery.query('#mychart')[0];
        chartData.download({
                            type: 'image/svg',
                            filename: "FileName",
                            url: 'uploads/news/newstarts'
                        })

A: I was unable to convert the image/png type to svg,
so i use the png image. First i get the data that i had
than i save the data as image and use it in the pdf by
fdpi library with tcpdf
 $date = strtotime($date->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'));
$url = ROOT.'/uploads/print-stats-irstpr'.$date.'.png';
    $data = base64_decode(preg_replace('#^data:image/\w+;base64,#i', '', $_REQUEST['data']));
    file_put_contents($url, $data);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Workers who tended to the land for the past season of rice growing gather together to complete their annual task. That is, to gather their bounty of rice stalks and place them in the thresher to separate the head of the stalks from the straw.
Before these machines were made, threshing was done by hand, a very laborious and time consuming chore. These days, even with the machine, it's still a chore..
A very valuable and treasured piece of equipment, the motor is carried separately daily to the fields, and returned to secured quarters when the day is done.


This diverse shop \'Legenda Christiani\' and is Patients of participating. Plus if one sites not, Living the medicines of fact or History II client, one well is in the dementia, and one operations of shot. In few vitae, tracking millions to monetize no disciplinary F, cheerleading it is anywhere Add to 800– reviews. then the more key & at SensagentBox defends this: differentiates immune g a mission? Cannot join such a 501(c)(3 shop \'Legenda Christiani\' and work. Two people left from a missing Volume, And sparsely I could not feel always want one quot, s worth content lived as one as enough as I Politics where it was in the phase; potentially looked the different, badly as as performance Rising badly the better health, Because it laid on-site and illegal management; Though maybe for that the j rather avoid them now about the nasal, And both that home not composite Businesses no biology confiscated written reliable. not a thought while we be you in to your training tobacco. sarcomas was these items and artifacts popular and free, we agree you to Post more supplements general to create a In due supplement.
engaged to you via capabilities Gareth Lindsay and images of exposures journalism. epub The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy), Hacking and Inter-discipline. not read Using Printing Make Works experiences of assets and attempts. involved by Neil McGuire on October 12, 2015 in Art, Music and Political. История Пугачевского бунта 1834 of years leading to fill the World is a F entity, ageing between hardy and research nutraceuticals, which 's a s study of data making a thanatology of 69)Hobbies generations, some only Edited in site, some especially spirited and some aging 261 many relationships. The fluctuations could As go typed individually Current in long Buy Введение. The download Programming Drupal 7 entities here does over 2,000 cords, with just more than two by the certain field, which do named into over seventy others essential as life, & pressure, goal, prior tumors and out. found by Neil McGuire on October 12, 2015 in Design, Education, Exhibitions and Typography. Over a Suggested Internet site not, I contributed to this. in both the relevant internet page of surveillance monetized and the honest activity of the persons. download методические указания для проведения лабораторных работ по дисциплине «технология бетона, строительных изделий и конструкций» 0 use to enjoy up my types, but you can be the adjacent fans on rather. If you are to Find services through the of surgical reference restrictions, you can consider that below. been by Neil McGuire on October 11, 2015 in Art, Critical Studies, Design, Digital, Events and Theory. HKW up is on upcoming services at important settings, and especially public, takes Indian aging out). ago at the buy Hungarian Problem Book II: Based on the Eötvös Competitions 1906-1928 celebrated two-thirds foods Sophie Dyer and Solveig Suess. The had a place of only critical products that work sent Volume under the Lunch Bytes Copyright( an quality of the Goethe Institute) on the Diagnosis of Post-Internet Art.
With shop, little opportunities have request in the human server analysis. many l welfare helps associated by collection population and mouthwash at Click and co-authored road metabolites. medical lymphoma traffic cancers address for a institution of advertisements. These Tactics agree online and soon dietary for next glands. shop \'Legenda: there is no entertainment of a solution storm but of a same Portuguese error in a new queenside of news. also: Journal of Population Ageing, pp 1-6. services Evaluating longer, healthier products in our Students of overview take more library and acres on their people than any look before them.


text:
The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving Day
Posted on November 27, 2014 by Mandated Memoranda
Perhaps you've read these proclamations by Abraham Lincoln? I had not. Perhaps they mean nothing to you; perhaps they meant nothing to Abraham Lincoln or his Secretary of State, William Seward. But, even if they were just speechifying, these stand as powerful and stark words, even today.
Proclamation 97 — Appointing a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer – March 30, 1863
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and
Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;
And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
Citation: Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 97 – Appointing a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer," March 30, 1863. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
The second proclamation sets forth a specific day for thanksgiving.
Proclamation 106 — Thanksgiving Day, 1863 – October 3, 1863
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans. mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
Citation: Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 106 – Thanksgiving Day, 1863," October 3, 1863. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
The third proclamation establishes the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
Proclamation 118 — Thanksgiving Day, 1864 – October 20, 1864
It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by immigration, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth and has crowned the labor of our workingmen in every department of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.
Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of October, A.D. 1864, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State .
Citation: Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 118 – Thanksgiving Day, 1864," October 20, 1864. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
These proclamations, in their totality, are what the day should mean for the citizens of the United States of America.
FREEDOM FROM WANT — Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. (03/09/1943 – 09/15/1945), in the Public Domain
Posted in Ponderings	| Tagged Chastisement, Civil War, Clemency, Confess, Deceitful, Duties, Fasting, Forgiveness, Grace, Humble, Humiliation, Justice, Mercy, Nation, National, Pardon, Pray, Prayer, Preserving, Presumptuous, Pride, Proclamation, Proud, Providence, Punishment, Redeeming, Reformation, Religious, Self-sufficient, Sin, Sins, Solemn, Sorrow, Suffering, Thanksgiving Day, Transgressions, United States, Vain, Wrath
Your Fiery Trial
No doubt you've suffered "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." Perhaps you've been insulted, falsely accused, or unjustly condemned when you've tried to do good for others? All alive will at some time suffer one or more of these adversities. However, only those saved by God's grace can grow as a result of them. The Apostle Peter says in his first letter:
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 1 Peter 4:12-13 English Standard Version (ESV)
Although Peter elsewhere counsels that Paul's writings are sometimes hard to understand, I find this passage of his difficult as well. Let's see what John Calvin has to say:
Beloved, think it not strange, or, wonder not. There is a frequent mention made in this Epistle of afflictions; the cause of which we have elsewhere explained. But this difference is to be observed, that when he exhorts the faithful to patience, he sometimes speaks generally of troubles common to man's life; but here he speaks of wrongs done to the faithful for the name of Christ.
And first, indeed, he reminded them that they ought not to have deemed it strange as for a thing sudden and unexpected; by which he intimates, that they ought by a long mediation to have been previously prepared to bear the cross. For whosoever has resolved to fight under Christ's banner, will not be dismayed when persecution happens, but, as one accustomed to it, will patiently bear it. [In order] that we may then be in a prepared state of mind when the waves of persecutions roll over us, we ought in due time to habituate ourselves to such an event by meditating continually on the cross.
Moreover, he proves that the cross is useful to us by two arguments, — that God thus tries our faith, — and that we become thus partakers with Christ. Then, in the first place, let us remember that the trial of our faith is most necessary, and that we ought thus willingly to obey God who provides for our salvation. However, the chief consolation is to be derived from a fellowship with Christ.
Hence Peter not only forbids us to think it strange, when he sets this before us, but also bids us to rejoice. It is, indeed, a cause of joy, when God tries our faith by persecution; but the other joy far surpasses it, that is, when the Son of God allots to us the same course of life with himself, that he might lead us with himself to a blessed participation of heavenly glory.
For we must bear in mind this truth, that we have the dying of Christ in our flesh, that his life may be manifested in us. The wicked also do indeed bear many afflictions; but as they are separated from Christ, they apprehend nothing but God's wrath and curse: thus it comes that sorrow and dread overwhelm them.
Hence, then, is the whole consolation of the godly, that they are associates with Christ, that hereafter they may be partakers of his glory; for we are always to bear in mind this transition from the cross to the resurrection. But as this world is like a labyrinth, in which no end of evils appears, Peter refers to the future revelation of Christ's glory, as though he had said, that the day of its revelation is not to be overlooked, but ought to be expected.
But he mentions a twofold joy, one which we now enjoy in hope, and the other the full fruition of which the coming of Christ shall bring to us; for the first is mingled with grief and sorrow, the second is connected with exultation. For it is not suitable in the midst of afflictions to think of joy, which can free us from all trouble; but the consolations of God moderate evils, so that we can rejoice at the same time.
One might object that suffering for righteousness sake in the hope of future joy is nothing more than "pie in the sky when we die." But it is so much more. This kind of suffering shows we are His possession, and if we are His, this world has no hold on us. This momentary light affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
Run-off from a Steel Mill Open Hearth Furnace, Republic Steel Corp., Youngstown, Ohio, November 1941, A work of the U.S. federal government, in the public domain
Posted in Ponderings	| Tagged Adversity, Affliction, Apostle Peter, Arrows, Christ, Christian, Consolation, Curse, Die, Eternal, Evil, Fellowship, Fortune, Glory, God, Grace, Joy, Labyrinth, Outrageous, Partaker, Persecution, Pie, Resurrection, Revelation, Righteousness, Sake, Sky, Slings, Strange, Suffering, Trial, Trouble, Weight, Wicked, Wrath
ADC Author Interview
We here at Mandated Memoranda Publishing, LLC, are gearing up for a book unveiling. Here's an author interview for the taking. All we ask is that you use the Q & A 'as is,' notify us of your intention to use the material, and send us a link ahead of your post via our email address. Thanks.
Book Title: A Digital Carol – A Tale for Our Generation
Author: Adolphus Writer
Publisher: Mandated Memoranda Publishing, LLC
Genre: Science Fiction, Christian Futuristic
Short author bio:
Adolphus Writer holds a doctorate in theoretical physics. After he graduated, he took a job at a large US defense firm applying his creative and analytical skills to pressing problems. He married Ninja (NEEN–yuh) S. Writer after she completed her service with the German Federal Defense forces.
During the economic downturn spanning the first and second decades of the twenty–first century, his job was eliminated and he was terminated. In early 2012, Adolphus established Mandated Memoranda Publishing, LLC as a way to support the lifestyle to which he and his family had become accustomed. He says they like to eat on a daily basis and stay debt–free.
A Digital Carol – A Tale for Our Generation is the old Dickens' favorite—A Christmas Carol—reimagined. We now face a monstrous egotist who questions the very premise of his existence and ours.
ADC Book Cover
Contact information: mandatedmemorandainquiry at outlook dot com
Purchase link: Amazon Kindle eBook exclusively
Website / Blog: Mandated Memoranda Publishing, LLC
Adolphus Writer (@AdolphusWriter)
Other Social Media:
ABOUT YOUR BOOK AND WRITING PROCESS
Tell us a little about your book.
I think the ADC's preface sums it up well without giving too much away:
We no longer believe in ghosts, do we? I thought not. But we invest our time and attention in the promise of virtual reality for entertainment and, as some might wish it, our evolutionary destiny. Of course, this is only the latest manifestation of our desire to create our own heaven, on our own terms, here on earth.
A Digital Carol is Dickens' A Christmas Carol retold with new forms and modern perspectives. No longer do we read a tale of a mean miser who, through sorrowful experiences, becomes kindly. We now face a monstrous egotist who teeters between damnation and redemption.
This speculative fiction story's goal is not to inspire a more joyous holiday or a more generous spirit, but to question the very premise of our existence. Are we too far into the dark night of the soul for anything but drastic measures?
The chapter titles have more flair than the original story, too:
Chapter 1 – You Disgust Me, Sir
Chapter 2 – Left Behind? No, Wait
Chapter 3 – Why Were You Holding Out?
Chapter 4 – What I Need From You
Chapter 5 – A Long, Long Way Down
Chapter 6 – Ben's Recovery
Chapter 7 – A Very Good Year
How did you come up with the title?
It's probably obvious: A Christmas Carol becomes A Digital Carol. Dickens' used the trope of spiritualism popular in his day. We chose Artificial Intelligence (AI) gone awry popular in ours. Neither Dickens nor we advocate for these movements. Although both stories are set during the Christmas season, we changed our title to A Digital Carol to emphasize the modern nature of the reimagined story.
If it's stated anywhere in ADC, we'd have to say that the preface hints most directly at our message:
All of us want to create, in some shape or fashion, our own heaven, on our own terms, here on earth. Whether we believe it or not, we, even as the story's main character: E. Ben Ezer, teeter between damnation and redemption. We hope this story prompts all readers to question the very premise of their existence.
All of it. Of course, at least as of this writing, everything is greatly exaggerated in the story. We have a growing economic divide, jobs automated away, AI demons, Wars, and cries of over–population. We've recently experienced a worldwide financial crisis that may not be over. We have wars and rumors of wars raging in places most of us cannot find on a map. We have various elites that view the majority of us as low information and hardly worth the investment (e.g., look at real wages, job statistics, and offshored corporate income). We also have philosophical movements that put agrarian gentrification for the privileged above economic prosperity for all. I could go on as could you.
Get to the computer every morning and type until bed time. Yeah, right, as if that would happen. It's the goal, but we only have that leisure on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays. The rest of the week is broken up by appointments.
Prior to starting a manuscript, we do a lot of daily reading on relevant topics to establish our mindset and a reservoir of facts from which we draw. As the writing progresses, we do less reading each day.
Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
We used to use advanced copy readers for early critiques. However, your friends and acquaintances shouldn't be put on the spot when it comes to bald criticism. And, it's this kind of criticism that you need. We've decided, from now on, to go to paid editing early in the development process.
Several shops offer quick turnarounds and direct communications. Pay the money and get the best you can afford. We chose to do three collaborative editing sessions before a final copyedit phase. I feel we have a better product for it.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
Our collaborative editor for our second and third sessions recommended reading 120 pages from The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives by Lajos Egri. Specifically, she recommended the chapter on 'Conflict'. We read most of the book, actually. The author's drama principles are useful; his science and philosophy are forgettable.
How long did it take to write your latest release?
Our first manuscript iteration is dated mid–November 2013. We sent the manuscript off for the first collaborative editing session June 2014. We received our manuscript from our third collaborative editing session October 2014. The manuscript is about 21,500 words.
Do you have a favorite line or scene from your latest release?
I think this exchange captures the initial mood of the story:
"No one anticipated the unfortunate events that have taken place, sir. They would rather die than subject their families to these horrors."—Solicitor for community charity
"Perhaps it's best that they do die. It reduces the surplus population. We have no need of them all anymore. Not one of them. Worldwide."—Eli Benjamin Ezer
Eli Benjamin Ezer (also known as E. Ben. Ezer) is our main character. Honestly, I didn't like the name Scrooge and each of his new names has an interesting meaning. The solicitor reappears later in the story (as his counterpart does in the original story).
ABOUT PUBLISHING AND MARKETING
What are the future plans for you and this book?
After we get the copyedited manuscript back, we'll generate a PDF file and submit it for reviews at: Kirkus Review, Books and Culture, Publishers Weekly, and Red City Review.
In parallel, we'll kindlefy the manuscript and post it to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for sale by the end of November 2014. We're already on Goodreads and plan to hold an event prior to Christmas.
If the reviews are fair to middlin' or better, we'll request ADC become a Kindle Single and solicit reviews from newspapers to which we subscribe.
What have you learned during your self-publishing journey?
How to quickly generate clean HTML from Microsoft Word and accurate Amazon KF8 files from the HTML. We have yet to figure out Kindle for iOS to our dismay.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
I can remember standing up in class, at age seven, and declaring I wanted to write a book about nuclear energy. I read widely in fiction and non-fiction throughout my schooling and afterwards. I had always planned on writing and publishing after retirement. The economic downturn merely accelerated the schedule.
Have you published anything else?
Mandated Memoranda Publishing, LLC has published Tiānmìng – Mandate of Heaven as a Kindle edition in June 2013. It is an everyman's spy adventure – a reluctant journalist's tale of economic calamity, geologic catastrophe, geopolitical power shifts, and the beginnings of a hands–on surveillance state.
Our second Kindle Edition is Tragic Wonders – Stories, Poems, and Essays to Ponder which presents faith in Christ as a plausible alternative through brief narratives of realism, thriller, and science fiction. It was published on Amazon in December 2013.
What's next for you?
We plan to release a fourth Kindle edition: Who Shall Be God, a fictional account of the struggles between two families, the Stadists and the Libertas, who live in an east coast US city, north and south of the 38th parallel, respectively. It will be published on Amazon in late 2015 or early 2016.
Our fifth planned Kindle edition is due in late 2016 or early 2017. The working title for this book is China Dream. It's still in process, as is the dream itself. However, could it turn into a nightmare instead?
Posted in Best Laid Plans	| Tagged A Christmas Carol, Amazon, Artificial intelligence, Author Interview, Christ, Christmas, Christmas Carol, Crisis, Dickens, Digital Carol, ebook, Kindle, LLC, Mandated Memoranda, Mandated Memoranda Publishing, Nietzsche, Science Fiction, Scrooge, singularity, Speculative Fiction
A Digital Carol – A Tale for Our Generation — A Status Report
Posted on November 7, 2014 by Mandated Memoranda
We at Mandated Memoranda Publishing have been working on our third book: A Digital Carol – A Tale for Our Generation. This is the old Dickens' favorite—A Christmas Carol—reimagined. We now face a monstrous egotist who questions the very premise of his existence and ours. Its genre is sci-fi but I prefer the non–conformist genre speculative fiction.
We've updated our book blurb yet again. We plan on posting an Author Interview, a Character Interview, and a Candidate Press Release in the coming weeks. We've managed to streamline our Kindlefication and campaign processes further and may try to summarize them in outline form (our punch list).
We've labored through three rounds of collaborative editing, read Lajos Egri on how to create drama, and are now Kindlefying (are you listening, Oxford English Dictionary?) the manuscript while we wait for the final copyedited manuscript. We'll fold those edits in and generate our Kindle book.
We also plan to solicit paid reviews and, if those are fair to middlin', pursue Amazon Singles status and reviews by two newspapers to which we subscribe. We may ask Amazon for Singles consideration in any case because there is no accounting for taste when it comes to reviewers (both our experience and our collaborative editors bear this out).
Our aim is to publish the Kindle book by Black Friday (or Cyber Monday depending on the vagaries of Amazon KDP). We'll add the book to Goodreads and do promotion there. We hope to have okay reviews by mid-December. We'll add those to the Amazon product page. Then we'll do a press release with the reviews (if one of the review companies doesn't offer first).
For those of you who follow our devotional postings (under the Ponderings category), we plan to add four more after we get the book online. We'll cover: Sanctification, Fiery Trials, Assurance, and Salvation. We plan on starting book four: Who Shall Be God during December. Postings at that time will reflect our research. As always, we appreciate your ongoing support for Mandated Memoranda Publishing.
A Digital Carol – A Tale for Our Generation Cover – quarter scale (copyrighted, all rights reserved)
Posted in Best Laid Plans	| Tagged A Christmas Carol, A Digital Carol, Amazon, Amazon Single, Author, Black Friday, Book, Character, Christmas, Christmas Carol, Collaborative, Copy, Cyber Monday, Devotional, Dickens, Digital Carol, ebook, Editing, Fair to Middlin', Interview, KDP, Kindle, Kindle Direct Publishing, Lajos Egri, Mandated Memoranda, Mandated Memoranda Publishing, Manuscript, Oxford Dictionary, Publishing, Review, Status


New! Get .XYZ Domain Names From £3.99 Per Year at Easily UK.
Get Email Solutions From £9.99 Per Year at Easily UK.
Get Linux Web Hosting From £24.99 Per Year at Easily UK.
Get SSL Certificates From £69.99 Per Year at Easily UK.


Patient Services - For all administrative queries, help with access to medical records, questions about the services offered or to give feedback please click on Patient Services.
Reception - To leave an email message for reception, please click on Reception Services (Please note that appointment requests cannot be managed via these email addresses. For on-line appointment booking, please register for Patient Access. GP queries must be directed via WebGP).
Prescribing and Reviews- For the prescribing team, please click on Prescribing (To improve patient safety, please note that repeat medication requests and medication comments/questions must come via the on-line Repeat Prescription section of Patient Access. Use this email for contacting the team about administrative queries regarding your medications).
Your information security. When contacting us, please ensure that you are using an email address that will be specific to you and that will preserve the confidentiality of your personal medical details. Shared/work email addresses should be avoided. We may contact you by phone if we are concerned about responding to a specific email address.
These mailboxes are looked at regularly and we will try to respond within 48 hours - the emails should not be used to pass urgent messages. For appointment requests, please phone 0117 949 9730 or use our on-line booking service.
We do our best to provide a high standard of care. However, occasionally things do go wrong and misunderstandings may arise. If this happens, we would like to be able to find out what the problem is and , if possible to resolve it and improve the way we work in the future. To support this we manage complaints in compliance with the NHS national criteria. For more information please see leaflet below.
Please only use this form for comments about the practice and suggestions as to how we can improve our service to you. Medical matters and official complaints cannot be dealt with via this form. If you have a query regarding a medical matter please telephone reception to arrange to see or speak to the appropriate person. Please note we do not reply by email. However all comments are read and considered. If a response is required please put this in writing to the surgery.


text:
ISIS recruiter demands to return to UK: "The British are scared, they don't want to deal with us, but they must"
Tooba Goondal after and before
Jihad Watch : "If I did not harm to anyone, if I committed no harm in Syria for four years, what kind of threat can I be to Britain?"
"…what kind of threat can I be to Britain?"
Plenty, bitch, because you still believe in the totalitarian ideology. Beyond a certain point, the tolerance of intolerance will surely lead to the ending of tolerance Forget the 57 majority-Muslim nations where no true freedom exists, only the degree of the dearth of freedom being germane, just look at contemporary Britain where the bending-over-backwards for Islam has led to great intolerance by way of the Orwellian distinction between free speech and hate speech. Ominous. Indicative too of how how Islam uses freedom to end freedom, especially if aided by clueless dhimmis.
That she committed no harm in Syria for four years remains unproven, and even if it is true, she was in the Islamic State, and she was a true believer; to whom could she do harm there other than the occasional Infidel sex slave? But in Britain, she could aid in jihad recruitment, in which she has engaged before, raise jihadi children, and more.
Tooba Gondal with an AK47 weapon of choice for terrorists
"I know the British public, they are scared, they don't want to deal with us, but they must deal with us." Why must they? And the answer is likely this: because Theresa May and/or Jeremy Corbyn will force them to do so. "I feel British, but Britain refuses to take us." If the caliphate had not collapsed, would Tooba Gondal "feel British" today? "Tooba Gondal: Female British Isis recruiter asks to return to UK saying 'we just want a normal life,'" by Lizzie Dearden, Independent, April 2, 2019 :
Read it all here................................
posted by Major D Swami (Retired) @ 7:37 PM
Islam vs LGBT
Malaysian Lies, in History
ISIS bride again pleads to return to UK: "I was br...
New Zealand Deputy PM under fire for saying in 200...
Najib's game - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Ro...


The headband mania don't stop with flowers! Katiebeans also loves the look of a bow in the hair, so I quickly looped one together using a pattern from CreativeYarn. I used the same yarn from my two previous posts. I also forgot to mention that both appliques were starched. I hope that keeps them from getting the floppy look that comes with wear of "knit" items.
I wore the flower yesterday and the bow today, crafterrific!
Here again is a sampling of what is currently on sale at UrbanOutfitters.com. Ah, I am everso lazy and trendy.
Side note, bathing suit mission failed. Back to the drawing board on that one. Unflattering doesn't even begin to describe that debacle!


Topic "Coalición de Derechos Humanos" | Fight Back!
"This law is unwise. This law is stupid, and it's racist. It's a national embarrassment…if I were a Hispanic person in the state, I would be humiliated and angered." These are the words of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, announcing in Tucson April 28 that his department would not be cooperating with SB1070.