February 4, 2016

"When this twisted barbarism is thought of as a compromise..."

"... it’s way past time western governments stopped dealing with this pervert regime."

Said Irvine Welsh, commenting on the Saudi judicial decision to quash the death sentence for Ashraf Fayadh and instead put him in prison for 8 years, give him 800 lashes, and require him to renounce his poetry. Fayadh was convicted of apostasy. His poems were said to promote atheism.

Who is Irvine Welsh? He is the author of the novel "Trainspotting," and he has a new book "A Decent Ride":
A Decent Ride follows "Juice" Terry Lawson... an ex-porn star, a cab driver, drug dealer, and misogynist. Yet despite his unrestrained hedonism, he's surprisingly a somewhat decent person...

Welsh's newest work fits comfortably into his oeuvre, tackling such taboos as necrophilia, incest, and near-constant "shagging." As usual, they're presented in bald-faced fashion. Take, for example, the arrangement of words on one page in particular, set out to resemble an ejaculating penis. If you can stomach the overt vulgarity, A Decent Ride delivers real comedic power....

17 comments:

David Begley said...

I will pass on his book but I wholeheartedly agree that we need to come to the realization that the Sauds are NO friends of the United States and ingrates of the worst sort.

The Saudis are pumping oil at 110% in order to crush our shale oil industry. Reports that 300,000 jobs lost in the US.

We are the world's oil number one producer. We could be a major exporter if our politicians had some spine. We were just short of doing so last year.

And at some point I suspect we will learn that OPEC funds the likes of Bill McKibben. Our idiot politicians prevent us from becoming the energy powerhouse of the world.

David Begley said...

Forgot to add that Rubio, in answer to my question, agreed that there needs to be a new approach to SA.

David said...

Takes one to know one, eh?

tim maguire said...

It's always a bit...head shaking what finally crosses the line for your typical liberal. But at least they still have lines and you can depend on the Islamists crossing them eventually.

n.n said...

Generational liberals. Yesterday's progressive is today's conservative. Eventually, we discover principles, proceed with reconciliation, and lose our pro-choice religion. In the meantime, there is displacement, projection, and a sincerely held belief in this twisted barbarism as a compromise.

MikeR said...

"... it’s way past time western governments stopped dealing with this pervert regime." Indeed. We should push for regime change. I expect we could arrange that a Democratic, freedom-loving government would replace them.

traditionalguy said...

The Saudis first need a Second Amendment. Then they can work on the First Amendment toleration of Other's speech.

buwaya said...

The Chinese are at least as bad.
Not over quite the same things, but life is still very cheap there. The number of executions is unknowable but anecdotally its several thousands a year. Many are for political crimes, or in order to repress the exercise of what we consider civil liberties.
They do it with bullets not swords. The difference is of style not substance.

Peter said...

"The Saudis are pumping oil at 110% in order to crush our shale oil industry."

Except the shale oil industry won't be crushed, at most some of it will go into hibernation. And although it may not be economic to drill new wells, many existing ones will continue to produce (so long as the marginal cost of production is low enough).

"Drain Saudi Arabia first (at bargain prices!) while leaving our reserves in the ground" does not sound like a bad strategy.

Whether or not one ignores the barbarism of orthodox Islamic law (i.e., death for apostasy). Or perhaps our president can declare Islamic Law to be non-Islamic.

tim in vermont said...

I am an apostate Christian and can say this anywhere at any time in any company, even in church. Though in some of those circumstances it would certainly be considered rude, I will never be condemned to prison or death. Other than that, Islam and Christianity are exactly the same.

tim in vermont said...

What the Suadis don't understand is all that they are destroying is the corporations constructed around shale projects. The projects will remain, people will lose money, but somewhere somebody will buy those assets at a cheap enough price to make them economic again. So all they can do is keep the floodgates open until they run out, or they can capitulate, they have no other choices.

tim in vermont said...

We should push for regime change.

I didn't read the article, was it written by Hillary?

David Begley said...

BP

Chinese execute political prisoners and then harvest the organs.

FullMoon said...

MikeR said... [hush]​[hide comment]

"... it’s way past time western governments stopped dealing with this pervert regime." Indeed. We should push for regime change. I expect we could arrange that a Democratic, freedom-loving government would replace them.


Already on her list,ha ha!

mikee said...

Forget the Saudis and the oil issue, I for one wish to pronounce that continually expanding the definition of "edgy" and "transgressive" to include what used to be the vilest of pornography, the most reviled unenlightening spewings of word feces, is not a winning strategy for entertainment. Doing so can only lead to 2 hour movies of butts, and TV shows featuring being kicked in the nuts, as in Idiocracy, only without the more redeeming aspects of that unfortunately predictive tale.

mccullough said...

Best thing about the Iran deal is the fastball high and in we sent to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is almost done. They have nothing but oil and terrorism to sell and their country is getting killed ecomically by having to compete against US shake.

Without money, they can't keep buying off their citizenry and the Wahhabists. The House of Saud and the Wahhabists will be going at each other soon.

Time for them to answer for 9/11

Michael Fitzgerald said...

I saw Trainspotting when it came out and the critics and public were raving about it. I'd be happy to give 800 lashes to Welsh and anyone involved in making that piece of shit. I would happily give 8000 lashes to all the suggestible simpletons who told me what a great movie it was.