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BAKU, Azerbaijan — It was well past 4:30 a.m. local time, nearly an hour after touching down at Heydar Aliyev International Airport, and dozens of bleary-eyed passengers on our crowded Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul were still in the passport control room, milling around in confusion.
"Welcome to Azerbaijan," proclaimed a large sign overhead. This was my first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic, and the bureaucracy of getting a simple visa stamped in our passports was already starting to exhaust our newly acquainted group as we were shuffled from one line to another, Soviet-style, then told to take a seat and wait.
No sooner had I taken a seat and opened my laptop when a pleasant, middle-age lady from rural West Virginia introduced herself and asked me loudly if I had "wah-fah."
Over the next four days, me and my colleague from The Washington Diplomat would meet lots of folks like her — enthusiastic, super-friendly lawmakers from places as diverse as Albuquerque, Memphis, Baltimore and Brooklyn — all visiting this strategic, energy-rich but hardly democratic nation on the Caspian Sea as delegates to a conference titled "USA-Azerbaijan: Vision for the Future."
No doubt this was among the biggest concentrations of American political star power ever seen in the Caucasus — 317 delegates from 42 states, including 11 sitting members of Congress and 75 state representatives, not to mention the former governors of New Mexico and Oklahoma as well as three ex-Obama White House insiders: political strategist David Plouffe, former press secretary Robert Gibbs and ex-deputy chief of staff Jim Messina.
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In fact, Plouffe, Messina and Gibbs were all called out in a Washington Post story that was published at the height of our trip. The article, "For Obama's ex-aides, it's time to cash in on experience," said all three were given five-figure checks to speak at the forum as part of Azerbaijan's charm offensive to woo Americans.
"Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, is in the midst of a campaign to build support in Washington and among other Western countries amid allegations of corruption and the jailing of dissidents," wrote the Post's Juliet Eilperin and Tom Hamburger, although they did not delve into the conference itself. Rather, they used it as a springboard to talk about how President Obama's pledges to curb special interests "have done little to slow a tide of groups hiring former top aides as highly paid consultants, speakers and media advisers in an effort to influence the administration — part of a longtime Washington practice in which interest groups seek access to the White House by hiring people who used to work there."
Politico did a similar story titled "Robert Gibbs, Jim Messina, David Plouffe headline Azerbaijan trip." Neither the Post nor Politico, however, was able to glean much on what was actually said at the conference, nor did they have any reporters who attended it.
The Washington Diplomat did.
In fact, we ended up being the only U.S. media outlet in the entire delegation, part of a 10-member D.C. group that had been invited by the Rumi Forum, a nonprofit that promotes interfaith dialogue and better relations with Turkey and other Turkic-speaking nations.
Rumi was one of the conference's various partner groups. The main organizers were the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan and the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, an umbrella organization that advocates for better relations between Americans and Turkish, Turkic and Eurasian communities.
Our delegation, which largely consisted of professors and think tank scholars, was somewhat of an anomaly at the splashy event, filled with state legislators.
So what was the point of flying all those state reps halfway around the world? From the legislators' perspective, it was just a chance to get to know a critical U.S. ally.
"This is all about understanding a new economy, energy resources and national security," said Greenbelt lawmaker Tawanna Gaines, who represents District 22 in the Maryland House of Delegates. "They've asked for nothing in return. What they expect is to educate us, and for us to spread the word."
That, of course, is key — spreading the word. No matter how enlightening or welcoming these trips are, they're still junkets, and they serve a purpose. Here, there were a few overlapping agendas: promoting local business and educational ties, but also gaining an edge in a frozen bilateral conflict that's curiously playing out at the local level, thousands of miles away, in the United States. That would be Azerbaijan's longstanding beef with Armenia, which occupies the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenians have some of the most formidable lobby shops in the United States; Azerbaijan clearly wants to get in on the action (and has hired firms such as the Podesta Group to help it). Resolutions supporting various nations are fairly common in state houses across the country, and although the toothless bills may not mean much to average Americans, they carry great weight to foreign governments eager to gain legitimacy for their causes.
Some state legislators may even one day wind up in the halls of Congress. So courting them is important to Azerbaijan, which wants to cement its growing reputation as the "anti-Iran" in the region. For example, three of the world's hottest pop divas — Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Rihanna — have all performed in Baku, a direct contrast (and some say snub) to the ultra-conservative clerical regime in Tehran. The secular Muslim country of 9 million also maintains close ties with the European Union, United States and even Israel (Azerbaijan is home to 25,000 Jews).
That's why certain talking points were hammered home at the conference: Azerbaijan provides energy security to the region; it's reinvested those energy dividends back into its economy; it's a critical transit route for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan; it's a stable partner in an unstable neighborhood; and it could always use more American backing — political and economic — to stay that way.
Democrat Ronald Young, a former mayor of Frederick, Md., who now represents Maryland's District 3 in Annapolis, took away that basic message from the trip: "Azerbaijan is trying to promote its oil and gas, and also to make Americans aware of the fact that they're a very westernized Muslim country that's looking to build stronger relations by bringing legislators here from different states. I did some reading about Azerbaijan before coming, and I must say I'm very impressed with Baku."
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On the surface, it's hard not to be impressed with Baku — a glittering capital city of 2.5 million perched on a peninsula that juts out into the Caspian Sea and is often described as a cross between Paris and Dubai.
Like the latter, it was built at supersonic speed, propelled largely by energy wealth. The city's skyline is now dominated by the Flame Towers, a $350 million futuristic trio of gracefully curved skyscrapers that light up at night with images of fire, a nod to Azerbaijan's history of Zoroastrian fire worship. Meanwhile, a 33-story Trump Tower is nearing completion across from the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center, while the glitzy six-story Park Bulvar shopping mall along Baku's main waterfront promenade boasts more than 100 outlets, including Starbucks and Louis Vuitton, as well as a planetarium.
Most of this building boom was funded by energy revenues, which for a time gave Azerbaijan some of the highest growth rates in the world — 26 percent in 2005, 35 percent in 2006, and 25 percent in 2007.
That red-hot growth has since cooled dramatically, though the country still boasts a respectable per-capita GDP of $10,700.
Azerbaijan's riches come from its huge oil and gas sector, which accounts for 67 percent of the country's GDP and 93 percent of its export revenues. Thanks to the presence of hydrocarbons in the Caspian Sea — the world's largest inland body of water — Azerbaijan has been able to slash its poverty rate from nearly 50 percent to just 6 percent in the last 10 years, according to the president, while reducing unemployment to an enviable 5.5 percent.
"Those of us who travel regularly to Azerbaijan are astounded every time. There's always something different," said Matthew Bryza, a former U.S. ambassador to Baku who now runs a security think tank in Estonia and spoke at the conference. A new pipeline that would carry gas from the Caspian Sea to hungry European markets — thereby making Europe less dependent on Russian gas exports — could make Azerbaijan even wealthier.
"Already $25 billion has been invested, and you're going to see a doubling of that," Bryza predicted. "Those who say it's over in Azerbaijan are simply ill-informed."
Baku's stunning transformation is precisely why sightseeing dominated the agenda of the May 24-29 event — from the Old City's iconic, 12th-century Maiden Tower and 15th-century Palace of the Shirvanshahs, to the impressive Milli Majlis, Azerbaijan's 125-member Parliament. That's where U.S. elected officials jostled for pictures in this opposition-free institution that's completely dominated by the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and its allies.
The visitors were also taken to Turkish-financed Qafqaz University, whose 3,300 students make it one of the country's leading academic institutions. Following a speech by rector Ahmet Sanic, lawmakers from Arkansas, Wyoming and Indiana approached the microphone one after the other, showering their hosts with praise.
"Education is the hope of the world, and the hope for Azerbaijan," beamed Mary Kay Papen, newly elected president pro tem of the New Mexico Senate. "I think we have a lot to learn from this country."
Also on the agenda was the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, a gleaming new complex that's rumored to be modeled after the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Va. The academy's rector is Hafiz Pashayev, Baku's former envoy to the United States and one of Azerbaijan's most powerful men (he also happens to be the country's deputy foreign minister and uncle of Mehriban Aliyeva, Azerbaijan's flashy first lady).
"I'm happy that so many Americans have come to Azerbaijan at the same time," said Pashayev, who served in Washington from 1993 to 2006. "Our goal is very simple: to stay independent and strong, and to be an example to others in the region. We are an excellent example of how to combine secularism with Islam, and we conduct a good-neighbor policy with all countries."
Delegates also toured the Qala Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum Complex as well as the Atashgah Temple, an ancient Zoroastrian shrine that a few years ago was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But Baku's most unusual, perhaps creepiest, tourist attraction of all is the National Flag Square — a windswept, suspiciously North Korea-like fortress constructed from 28 million rocks and crowned by a 531-foot-high flagpole that ranked as the world's tallest until 2011 (when Azerbaijan lost the title to nearby Tajikistan).
At virtually every stop, these friendly but rather parochial lawmakers from New Jersey, Texas, Ohio and Missouri were elevated to rock-star status during interviews by beautiful female Azerbaijani TV reporters fawning over their every utterance. The mantra "freedom is not free" became one of the more nauseating sound bites of the trip.
The Americans, meanwhile, traveled in a fleet of 10 sleek silver buses, happily exchanging business cards while rushing from one tourist attraction to the next. The Neoplan buses, manufactured in Turkey, whizzed by on modern six-lane expressways lined with high, elaborately lit-up concrete walls obscuring the poverty critics say is intentionally hidden from view.
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Critics of the "USA-Azerbaijan: Vision for the Future" trip say it was an influence-peddling junket to co-opt U.S. politicians. But what really took place at the gathering, and was it that unusual? Perhaps the back-story of who got paid what was notable, but in terms of content, nothing was said that you couldn't hear at any other similar inside-the-Beltway confab — lots of platitudes and praise, with the occasional criticism thrown in.
The main event of course was the conference itself, held the last day at the ultramodern Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center — a Baku landmark designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid.
The spaceship-like building, which like the international airport is named after the current president's father, is so striking that it was recently featured on the Discovery Channel's "Extreme Engineering" program, in an episode called "Azerbaijan's Amazing Transformation."
President Ilham Aliyev himself opened the conference (followed by a whopping 17 introductory speakers). For some unexplained reason, photographers were prohibited from taking pictures during his speech, although iPhones and the like were permitted.
"Since the early years of our independence, we've established a strong partnership with the United States," the 51-year-old head of state declared in fluent English. "American companies are among our main investors and have helped us to transform our economy. We cooperate in energy security, economic diversification and political reforms, and our soldiers stand shoulder-to-shoulder with yours to support efforts in Afghanistan. I'm sure that in coming years, issues of regional security will be at the center of our discussions."
He added, "Of course it's not a secret that energy factors played a role in our transformation," but insisted that his government has been working to diversify the economy and institute a "parallel strategy of economic and political reforms."
He didn't talk nearly as much about the political reforms, though. And the fact that Aliyev — who was elected head of state in 2003 shortly before the death of his father and faces widespread allegations of corruption, censorship and human rights abuses — was joined by so many American lawmakers in Baku elicited scorn from human rights groups.
The Baku-based Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety said on its website that the conference was "yet another publicity stunt" for the Aliyev regime and is in direct contradiction to Washington's own democracy promotion agenda. "It looks like the U.S. delegation missed a golden opportunity to send a message of solidarity to civil society in Azerbaijan," remarked the group's chief executive, Emin Huseynov. "We are particularly dismayed that out of 10 sessions of the meeting, no single hour was allocated for discussion of Azerbaijan's human rights situation, which is alarming."
As if to prove Huseynov's point, Martins Zvaners, deputy director of communications at Radio Free Europe (RFE), told us that his Baku correspondent was stopped by security from entering the Heydar Aliyev Center just as the conference began.
"We tried working through the organizers and tried to get some help from the U.S. Embassy in Baku. We even tried speaking to the presidential administration, which was involved at some level, but we were not able to attend. So we ended up catching people as they were coming out of the event," Zvaners said. "It's disappointing when a news organization is prevented from covering the news."
Asked about Radio Free Europe's exclusion, conference organizer Kemal Oksuz, president of the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, said "no one from RFE contacted me about this. I don't know who denied them."
Oksuz, whose advocacy group was the main driver behind "USA-Azerbaijan: Vision for the Future," defended the event, saying its aim was straightforward and strategic: to forge stronger cooperation in a critical part of the world.
"There is active U.S. leadership when it comes to Afghanistan and Pakistan, but not the Caspian Sea region," Oksuz told The Diplomat. "If the United States doesn't provide this leadership, the region will be left to Russian, Iranian and Chinese influence."
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Oksuz estimated that the five-day extravaganza cost roughly $1.5 million — including round-trip airfare for all the delegates, the expense of putting everyone up at the Four Seasons, Hilton or Park Inn, and speakers' fees for 75 or so politicians, diplomats, analysts and energy experts squeezed into the daylong conference agenda.
"We are a nonprofit organization, so we have to be cautious with every single penny," he told us in a phone interview from Houston, where the Turquoise Council — and much of the U.S. oil and gas industry — happens to be headquartered.
It helped that the event's corporate backers included the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Caspian Drilling Co. Ltd., as well as other well-heeled entities like ConocoPhillips, BP, McDermott International, KBR and others.
While he wouldn't discuss compensation arrangements for specific speakers, Oksuz sought to debunk rumors that speakers were paid exorbitant fees, saying that 95 percent of them received honorariums of $2,500 each. The remaining 5 percent — including Plouffe, Gibbs and Messina — were paid no more than $10,000 or $15,000, he told us.
Asked about the pricey gifts each participant received — including a hand-woven Azeri carpet, an executive briefcase and a set of Czech-made tea glasses — the Turquoise Council president said Azerbaijan is noted for its hospitality, and that "everyone was free to receive or not to receive" the gifts.
But Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen, a nonprofit watchdog group, called the Baku shindig a prime example of the kind of high-powered wooing for which Washington is renowned.
"The Azeri government is trying to find ways to endear themselves to U.S. policymakers," he said. "A very effective way of doing that is to pay them to visit the country and give speeches. They're trying to buy favors with those who are well connected with the U.S. government.
"Quite frankly, I don't see anything inherently wrong with Azerbaijan trying to put on a better face for the United States," Holman added. "What would be wrong is former government officials letting themselves be used as lobbyists."
In 2009, Plouffe caught flak for giving a speech in Azerbaijan arranged by a lobbyist with ties to Baku. Once the controversy became public, he donated his $50,000 fee to the nonprofit National Democratic Institute.
"This time around, all of them [Plouffe, Gibbs and Messina] got prior approval from the Obama administration, so I do not expect them to turn over their payments," Holman said. "They followed protocol this time."
All three are also now in the private, not public sector, freeing them up to speak more candidly in public. Yet for all the hype surrounding their visit to Baku that was spurred by the Washington Post and Politico articles, neither of which covered any of their remarks, none of the three White House vets had much to say about Azerbaijan itself — nor did they offer any big revelations on U.S. politics.
Gibbs did recall a previous visit to Baku in 2005, when he accompanied Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Obama, then a junior senator from Illinois, to a carpet shop in the Old City's bazaar. Apparently, the young lawmaker wanted to bring home a souvenir for his wife Michelle.
"I have this distinct memory of Sen. Barack Obama haggling and haggling to the point where I was about ready to buy the rug myself," Gibbs recalled, entertaining his audience. "Wars have been ended with less haggling than between this shopkeeper and the future president of the United States."
Plouffe's speech was fast-paced and insightful, although not all that different from the canned Beltway talk one might just as easily hear at a think-tank luncheon in downtown D.C. He dissected Obama's 2008 election victory, the role of Super PACs in domestic politics and who might run for president in 2016 — with the audience glued to his every word. After the discussion, when one nervous young Azerbaijani approached Plouffe to introduce himself and ask about the role of multilateral institutions, the former senior presidential advisor spoke to him at length for 10 minutes as admirers queued up to get his attention.
During the Q&A, when The Diplomat asked Plouffe to talk about democracy in Azerbaijan, the country hosting him, he was more reticent, saying the State Department tracks such things in its annual human rights report.
"We praise countries who are doing the right thing, and point out where they need help, but [the key is] to be a helpful collaborator," he said.
"It's important to remember that Azerbaijan is still a very, very young country," he added. "Even in our country we have a lot of work left to do."
He then went on to shine a harsh light on some of America's own democratic deficiencies. "No one in our country should have to wait in line eight hours to vote," he pointed out, also decrying the corrosive tide of outside spending in U.S. elections, likening it to the Wild West.
"If you're thinking about running for president today, the question you have to ask yourself is, 'Do I have enough potential to put together enough Super PAC money?'" he said. "If you don't, you're dead."
Those words of wisdom flow freely now that Plouffe, along with Messina and Gibbs, have traded in their White House credentials for lucrative gigs as consultants, advisors and the like for groups eager to capitalize on their expertise and connections. Colleagues such as Stephanie Cutter, Ben LaBolt, Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau, Bill Burton and others have all gone down similar paths.
Washington's revolving door, in fact, is a time-honored bipartisan tradition. Operatives inside the government frequently migrate to think tanks when their party is out of power. Big-name officials can earn top dollar on the speaking circuit once they're out of office, joining agencies such as the Washington Speakers Bureau. Or they form their own lobby shops. These are, after all, sharp, ambitious people who want to remain relevant and get paid handsomely while doing so.
As campaign manager for Obama's 2012 campaign, Messina successfully tapped the power of social media to help the president win re-election. It's little surprise he'd now form his own group to offer advice on data-driven, grassroots-focused politics.
Even for those still in office, trips abroad are often part of the job. Some CODELs (congressional delegations) may be jet-setting wastes of taxpayer money — research trip to Switzerland anyone? — but others trek to war zones like Afghanistan and take on gritty, serious itineraries.
Andy Fisher, Lugar's media relations manager, also said there's nothing unusual about Azerbaijan promoting itself across the United States, even at the strictly local level.
"Many organizations work to develop relationships at every level of government because someone may be a local legislator now, but in a few years' time, he may be the next leader of the country," said Fisher, pointing to Obama's 2005 visit to Azerbaijan.
"Certainly being able to develop some understanding of the global picture is important for politicians at every level," he added. "Throughout my 30-year career, I've seen lots of governments and NGOs doing these kinds of activities for members of Congress. It's not at taxpayer expense and in no way infringes on their official duties — and in fact improves their ability to make judgments."
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One of the best speeches of the day came from Fisher's longtime boss, former Sen. Richard Lugar, who was chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations when he lost his Republican primary to a tea party challenger in 2012, after 36 years on Capitol Hill.
"In too many countries, energy wealth is a curse, encouraging corruption," the statesman said. "President Aliyev has institutionalized transparency measures so the citizens can see energy revenues coming into the government and how they are spent. This is a very important example for countries with newfound oil wealth. The next step is to expand opportunities for civil society and the press to engage in the political life of this country. Regrettably, too few members of Congress are devoted to the study of foreign affairs. That's why I'm working at the German Marshall Fund, to establish an institute that will help improve understanding between Congress and foreign missions."
Lugar added that he sees "enormous potential" in Azerbaijan and its 9 million inhabitants.
"The realization of that potential — as well as the long-term stability of Azerbaijan — depend on successful democratic reforms," he said. "Azerbaijan needs to continue investing in its future by improving education and access to quality medical care, and by continuing to fight corruption. Women and girls need to be more prominent voices and full participants in society."
In a polite warning to his friend Aliyev, the 81-year-old Lugar added that Azerbaijan must strengthen government institutions while safeguarding the rights of citizens and guaranteeing "an independent and responsible media."
Paul Wolfowitz, former president of the World Bank, said that if the Azerbaijani people could choose, "I'm sure they'd much rather be located in a remote island in the Pacific than here in the Caucasus, near Russia and Iran and without any real friends close by."
Azerbaijan, he noted, "is peaceful and not a breeding ground for terrorists, it's overwhelmingly Muslim but is an example of religious tolerance, and an important source of oil and natural gas as well. Azerbaijanis would say they're fortunate to have the United States — a superpower which has no designs on their country — as a friend."
Yet the neoconservative — who as President George W. Bush's deputy secretary of defense was a strident architect of the disastrous Iraq War — cautioned his receptive audience that "Americans need to be careful about lecturing Azerbaijanis, telling them they should adopt our form of democracy as occasionally happens as a condition for American aid. Certainly, people are not going to change their form of government depending on aid from the United States, but as friends, it is appropriate for Americans to offer advice. Azerbaijan's leaders need to recognize that in the end, the government has to have the freely given support of its people. Democracy can take different forms, but it's proven that governments which enjoy popular legitimacy are governments that last longest."
Other speakers who took the podium that day were decidedly less critical — even strangely effusive about a country whose name a few lawmakers could scarcely pronounce. Interestingly, the office of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) wouldn't even confirm to Politico that the congressman had attended the conference. He did by the way.
Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) held up Azerbaijan as "a free and shining light of democracy in the region" — a phrase parroted by several of Poe's Democratic colleagues, including Ruben Hinojosa of Texas.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) — his fiery rhetoric making him sound more like a preacher giving a sermon than a congressman from Queens — said "this forum shows you that Democrats and Republicans can agree on one thing: the importance of the relationship between the United States and Azerbaijan," also bizarrely declaring that Azerbaijan is an example of "what democracy is all about."
In perhaps the signature line of the day, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-N.Y.) seemed to channel Sarah Palin when she said, "You live in a very difficult neighborhood. I looked at the map."
To her credit, she also seemed to notice that much of the population outside Baku doesn't share in the capital city's riches, saying she hopes the government will use the "bounty of oil and spread it to those beyond this beautiful city."
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The state legislators we talked to were equally effusive about their host country. "One of the things I love about Azerbaijan is that they have so fresh in their minds what it is to be free from communism," gushed Nora Espinoza, a Republican state lawmaker who represents District 59 in southeastern New Mexico. "There's nothing like being there, seeing it with your own eyes. We in America have forgotten what our forefathers fought for. But they have lived it."
Espinoza was hardly alone in her enthusiasm.
New Mexico, it was later announced to a round of applause, had sent 25 delegates to the conference, more than any other state — including its illustrious former governor, Bill Richardson, who first visited Azerbaijan in 1999 when he was President Clinton's secretary of energy. They, along with the other visiting Americans, mingled with local Azerbaijanis, many of them prominent businessman, over endless meals of lamb shish kebob, tomatoes, pickled olives, cheese and wine. And on the night of May 28, following a lavish dinner, all were treated to a spectacular Independence Day fireworks display from government-owned Gulustan Palace overlooking Baku.
So was all this wining and dining worth it for the organizers?
Absolutely, Oksuz quickly replied. "We know what we're doing. We believe events like this conference will bring the significance of the region to decision-makers not only in D.C. but also nationwide. It wasn't easy to take all these people from 42 states to Azerbaijan, but we're convinced that the region is important to the U.S. and its allies."
And the payback for this sort of grassroots organizing often comes in the form of "friendship resolutions" in state capitals from Austin to Boston.
On March 6, for example, Texas Gov. Rick Perry kicked off Texas-Azerbaijan Friendship Day with a barbecue at the governor's mansion — and a resolution that was formally adopted by both houses of the Texas legislature. Five days later, a similar event was held at the California state capitol in Sacramento. The Turquoise Council and its affiliates have also hosted events in Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kansas, Ohio and Connecticut.
And in early June, the California State Senate adopted a resolution praising Azerbaijan as "a staunch ally and strategic partner of the United States."
These resolutions are of paramount importance to Azerbaijan because of its ongoing dispute with neighboring Armenia. In 1992, the two former Soviet republics fought a full-scale war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which both countries claim. An estimated 25,000 people died and more than a million were made homeless.
More than two decades later, Armenia remains firmly in control of this Delaware-size swath of land completely surrounded by Azerbaijan, though the de facto independent republic established after the 1994 ceasefire agreement isn't recognized by any United Nations member state — not even Armenia.
But it is recognized in Baton Rouge. On May 30, the Louisiana State Senate adopted a resolution "encouraging and supporting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's continuing efforts to develop as a free and independent nation in order to guarantee its citizens those rights inherent in a free and independent society."
That makes the Bayou State the fourth — along with Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine — to extend formal recognition to Nagorno-Karabakh, much to the delight of Armenian lobby groups, and to the consternation of Azerbaijani officials.
They're also bitter over Section 907, a clause in the 1992 Freedom Support Act that specifically prohibits U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan. If anything, Baku claims, Armenia is the party with blood on its hands — not Azerbaijan.
"As a result of Armenia's aggression, not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also several regions surrounding it, which have never been part of this autonomous district, are now under occupation," President Aliyev complained in his speech to U.S. lawmakers. "All our infrastructure and historical documents have been destroyed by the Armenian occupation army."
Some measure of sympathy came from Richard Morningstar, the U.S. ambassador in Baku.
"We know that the status quo is unacceptable, and that the occupation of Azeri territories is the greatest hardship Azerbaijan faces today," the diplomat said. "More has to be done to move the peace talks forward, but the Minsk Group co-chairs cannot do it on their own. Serious negotiations are needed to build trust and development a framework, but without trust and preparing people for compromise, any effort the sides undertake will fail."
In his speech, Morningstar also noted Azerbaijan's "remarkable transformation since of the collapse of the Soviet Union" and said Washington's relationship is based on three pillars: cooperation on regional defense issues, the promotion of democratic reforms, and energy security. The ambassador also praised the Aliyev government for supporting the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, noting that 40 percent of NATO coalition supplies bound for that country pass through Azerbaijani territory.
In addition, said Morningstar, "Azerbaijan contributes financial assistance to sustain Afghan national security forces and provides training to Afghan government officials. These are important and constructive contributions to Afghanistan's future and I might say that Azerbaijan has already committed to stay involved in Afghanistan after our troop withdrawal in 2014."
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Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijan's current ambassador to the United States, told The Diplomat that as his country's former consul-general in Los Angeles, he welcomes the conference organizers' outreach to leaders beyond the Beltway.
"If we are talking about people-to-people connections, such outreach helps to introduce Azerbaijan to a much wider public than simply a Washington-focused effort and, in turn, showcases America's diversity to Azerbaijan," he said. "In my view, the presence of participants from all over the United States was the most unique part and, according to what I've frequently heard, a widely appreciated part of the convention."
The ambassador added that the event "focused on enhancing and enriching the U.S.-Azerbaijan partnership through public participation and cultural experiences rather than on opposing any third party" such as Armenia.
Looking back, David Koranyi, deputy director of the Atlantic Council's Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, called the conference a "useful opportunity to showcase the undoubtedly remarkable developments in Azerbaijan in general, and Baku in particular."
The Hungarian-born analyst, who was part of our D.C. delegation, noted the former Soviet republic's "strategic role" in Europe's energy security by its supply of natural gas through the Southern Gas Corridor, and commended its leaders' efforts to diversify Azerbaijan's energy-based economy while making significant investments in education. Yet he lamented that the organizers "left virtually neither space nor time to have a real dialogue and meet a broader spectrum of Azeri society" outside the government and state-controlled entities, such as human rights groups, opposition politicians and NGOs.
"That would have enabled us to engage in a genuine conversation not only about the achievements and opportunities but also the political and social challenges facing the country, in particular with respect to the democratic shortcomings as well as the lack of progress in the peace process over Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.
Olga Oliker, a senior international policy analyst at the Rand Corp., had similar gripes.
Many of the U.S. delegates, she said, knew little if anything about Azerbaijan, and too many panels "consisted of one-person presentations by prominent U.S. former officials, who talked mainly about events and policies in the United States and globally, not Azerbaijan specifically."
She said the extravaganza failed to highlight the real issues confronting the two countries, and that only Azerbaijani officials who parroted the official line were on the agenda. Even worse, "transparency, accountability and pluralism in the Azeri political, social and economic spheres are all severely lacking," and the poverty outside Baku stands in stark contrast to the capital city's glitzy skyscrapers.
In general, said Oliker, the conference was all part of a "charm offensive" by Azerbaijan to showcase its accomplishments.
"Whether this is meant to affect U.S. policy, to highlight good U.S.-Azeri relations to the Azerbaijani public or to serve some other purpose, is not clear to me," she told us. "Without better preparation of the invited U.S. officials, participation in such activities runs the risk of embarrassment or worse — for instance when legislators from the United States are quoted hailing Azerbaijan as a 'beacon of democracy,' something it quite clearly is not."
Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh, a former co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at defusing the Azerbaijan-Armenia war over Nagorno-Karabakh, is now director of the University of Kentucky's Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.
Cavanaugh, while noting how important it is for Azerbaijan to "develop grassroots awareness" and counter efforts by Armenian-Americans to advance genocide resolutions, said the conference offered "mixed results" at best.
"Only a handful of speakers — President Ilham Aliyev and Sen. Richard Lugar, for example — addressed in-depth issues of policy concern and strategies to advance stability and development in the South Caucasus region," he said. "Many simply put forth ingratiating platitudes which undermined the rationale for the gathering."
Cavanaugh said participants had hoped to learn more about the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, exactly how Azerbaijan supports U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, and what steps were being taken to advance oil and gas production, "but this was not offered, and represents a significant lost opportunity."
Donald C.F. Daniel, professor at Georgetown University's Center for Security Studies and a former top official at the National Intelligence Council, said the Azerbaijanis probably got more value out of the conference than did the Americans.
"They had one clearly stated request: that the U.S. support them in their confrontation with Armenia, an adversary whose lobbying clout in the United States is evidenced by a law that sharply conditions American aid to Azerbaijan."
Yet Daniel said some of the rhetoric was clearly over the top.
"It is churlish to publicly criticize one's host — especially one that provided a strategically critical transit route to Afghanistan — but it does not encourage Azerbaijan to improve its governance and transparency if the rhetoric exceeds reality," Daniel told us. "Azerbaijan has come far and should be praised for its progress. But praise should be balanced — not by public criticism, but by encouragement to do more."
About the Author
Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat. He traveled to Azerbaijan with managing editor Anna Gawel in late May on a trip organized and paid for by the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan and the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians.
Anna Gawel is managing editor of The Washington Diplomat. She traveled to Turkey with news editor Larry Luxner in late May on a trip organized and paid for by the Rumi Forum in Washington, D.C., and the Turkic American Alliance.
Last Edited on July 1, 2013


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Not All Revolutions are Created Equal: A Journey into the Soul of Abortionist Kermit Gosnell
During the month of July we celebrate the birthday of our great nation. The writers of the Declaration of Independence presented their reasonable and just cause for separation from rule by the King of England.
However these wise men made it clear that not all revolutions are created equal:
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Abolishing established order will come with a cost. This should not be entered into lightly or without careful discernment.
The Abortion Revolution
As we remember and celebrate the founding of these United States we would do well to pause and consider another still unfolding revolution that has unleashed unprecedented change on our nation.
Abortionist Kermit Gosnell was among the many feminists, professionals in medicine, law, psychology, politics, business and entertainment who were the early architects and pioneers of the social revolution which that led to the 1973 Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion throughout our land.
Abortion has polarized our spiritual, moral, political and social discourse. Nearly 60 million United States citizens were never born, changing the demographic of our country and altering our nation in ways we are only beginning to understand. The personal and social costs, while often hidden or ignored are life, family and community altering. Legalizing abortion has indeed been a high impact social revolution.
Gosnell's Babies
We will take a closer look at the life of one of those early pro abortion pioneers, Dr Kermit Gosnell. The notorious Philadelphia abortion doctor was convicted in 2013 of first-degree murder for killing babies that were born alive in his clinic. Gosnell was also sentenced to 30 years in prison for illegally dealing pain meds out of the same facility. We will examine the personal, social and especially the spiritual forces that produced what many consider a monster. Given some of the facts of this case, most reasonable people would agree that snipping the spinal chord's of babies born alive and storing their little chopped off feet in a jar in your office…definitely earns you the title of monster.
But maybe that is our way of distancing and protecting ourselves from a more disturbing reality…he was not really a monster at all.
Steve Volk is a senior writer at Philadelphia magazine and author of Gosnell's Babies. (I highly recommend reading Volk's brief but informative e-book which contains a very revealing series of interviews with abortionist Kermit Gosnell.) Chapter one is entitled, The Monster Smiles. You will discover that Dr Gosnell was for a time a compassionate, well intentioned Physician who felt a special call to serve the poor. What went wrong?
By shining a brighter light on key aspects of Dr Gosnell's life and evolution as a man and physician, we will find that he is not a monster but rather a man who remains convicted that providence chose him to to be a courageous abortion pioneer and serve the poor of his West Philadelphia neighborhood.
Gosnell Family Values
Part II of Volk's e-book, is entitled the Man behind the Monster. This chapter presents an overview of Gosnell's family background. It is remarkably positive.
Volk reveals that Gosnell is no cartoon evil villain, but rather a complex character; a gentleman doctor with a stately, even regal demeanor as some reporters described him in the courtroom during his trial.
Volk reveals that Gosnell was a well-liked and gifted young student:
…once a popular student at Philadelphia's prestigious Central High School… earned a medical degree and come back to the West Philadelphia area where he was raised to start his health clinic and run a drug rehabilitation program in Mantua. How that illustrious beginning met up with this shambling end was hard to understand.
Gosnell's father was a hard working handyman skilled in a number of trades and his mother a successful city employee. They instilled in their young son a strong work ethic and his mother especially stressed the importance of education. Gosnell explains he felt "tremendous pressure from his mother" who he says "lived vicariously through him."
This sense of parental pressure is common among families struggling to raise their children to negotiate the challenges of racism, economic oppression and yet have the values and personal discipline to rise above these obstacles and succeed in life. Their hard work paid off. Gosnell was a gifted musician, athlete and a popular and high-achieving student.
Once he obtained his medical degree he decided rather than abandon his West Philadelphia neighborhood for greener pastures, he would instead stay and be of service to the needy people in the West Philadelphia community where he was raised. His parents must have been very proud indeed of their accomplished son.
The Long Descent into Hell…Begins with a Single Step
Gosnell decided to specialize as an ob-gyn. A poor neighbor and her husband, feeling the stress of raising 3 children and limited financial resources asked Dr Gosnell to abort their unborn child. (Keep in mind this was prior to the Roe V Wade decision in 1973 legalizing abortion.) Fearing she might try to abort the baby herself, or choose the shady services of a non-medical abortionist, he performed his first illegal abortion on a 15 week old fetus and pocketed the cash they gave him. [1]
A desperate teenage girl and her grandmother were his next abortion case…and so it all begins.
It is clear that Gosnell shared these accounts with Volk to present the foundational mythology that is a cornerstone of Gosnell's self-concept:
Gosnell, the compassionate and caring abortion doctor willing to sacrifice a lucrative suburban practice so he can remain in his West Philadelphia neighborhood and serve poor desperate families facing unplanned pregnancy.
We can imagine Dr Gosnell sincerely proclaiming, "See America, I am really a saintly heroic man…not a monster."
This initial abortion case by Dr Gosnell is extremely significant because within it we have a very powerful and compelling element in the mythology of the compassionate abortion pioneer. This would prove to be a very influential element that would draw many women and men to embrace the revolution to legalize abortion. They were often individuals of good will, compassionate and interested in improving the lives of women and families, especially those facing poverty, and racism.
Let's look more closely at Dr Gosnell's first abortion case because within this story lie the seeds of all that would corrupt the heart, mind and soul of our gentleman-physician…and in time our entire nation.
The Physician-King: Above the Laws of Man…and God.
Dr Gosnell has his initial taste of assuming the role as a type of above the law Physician King with this young desperate couple in that very first procedure he performed. This was the first instance of Gosnell playing fast and loose with the law. Since abortion was not legal at this time in Pennsylvania, he violated the law by performing this abortion. This was the beginning of his tendency to stretch and/or violate the law outright if his wise discernment deemed it necessary.
As Volk indicates in Gosnell's Babies, he was not alone placing himself above the law for the greater cause of the abortion revolution:
Breaking abortion law amounted to a form of political insurrection. People who could provide safe abortions were considered heroes of good conscience…feminist activists actively encouraged illegal activity…[2]
Another key concept in Gosnell's identity… he did not choose to be an abortionist, but rather in reference to those first few poor troubled neighbors that came to him for abortions Gosnell says…"abortion chose me." This indicates a sense of being anointed, chosen for a special mission to the poor.
Based on Volk's interviews, we can safely imagine the inner thoughts of Dr Gosnell:
I know the messy reality faced by the poor in this neighborhood. I am an enlightened and skilled physician. It would be cruel and wrong to deny this poor couple my professional services. The technical interpretation of existing laws is a luxury for those with more resources in better neighborhoods…I am willing to take the heat for doing the dirty work to save these desperate poor families from falling deeper into poverty and suffering.
Lead us Not Into Temptation: The Conception…of Self-Deception
The compassionate Physician-King and abortion revolutionary is not bound by burdensome legal restrictions. But he faces an even greater temptation that is at the very heart of the abortion rights revolution…playing God.
At first glance, many, perhaps the majority of our fellow citizens (without an understanding of the after effects of abortion) would likely hear the facts of Gosnell's initial abortion case, and agree that performing the procedure was the compassionate thing to do. Within this scenario we find the seeds of a very sophisticated temptation and the original rebellion against the Providence of our Creator as revealed in the book of Genesis.
Unfortunately the modern mind quickly dismisses the familiar bible story of Adam, Eve, the snake and that apple as an entertaining but antiquated fairy tale or simply Middle Eastern mythology…only fundamentalist loonies still take this stuff literally.
Tragically this is a dangerous mistake. Perhaps at no time in human history, apart from that initial rupture in the relationship between God and our early human ancestors, has the deeper truths of this story had more significance…and serve as a prophetic warning. (I would invite even the non-religious or agnostic reader to consider that there are crucial truths and important lessons about the human person contained in what you may view as Middle Eastern creation mythology.)
Enter the Garden
Let's take a closer look at the Garden of Eden. The scene here is of harmony between man and women in their spiritual relationship with their Creator both individually, as a couple, and with God's creation. That harmony and the goodness of God's creation are reflected in their one-flesh union, where they share in the great gift with God of conceiving and bringing forth new life into the world.
But there is a mysterious and powerful force also lurking about the Garden, which we learn in Luke's Gospel, has its origins in a pre-creation cosmic rebellion against God:
Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." (Luke, 10-18.)
This malevolent force is reflected in the Genesis account as a snake. However in this context, the Hebrew word for snake can also be understood as a menacing serpent… a cunning and diabolical evil force and a formidable adversary.
Adam allowed the Serpent entry into the Garden and access to his partner. Adam and Eve were then vulnerable to his cunning and powerful temptations to embrace Satan's rebellion against God's providence. The Serpent uses the prohibition against eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that God warned would bring death as the area to tempt our first parents:
But the serpent said to the woman: "You certainly will not die! God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil.
The Fruit of the Tree of Abortion
This is the very temptation faced by Dr Gosnell (and all abortionists) in his initial abortion case. This first procedure led Gosnell to embrace his role as a chosen Physician King. In this vocation conferred upon him by a type of abortion providence, he is above the law and liberated to play God as he assumes the power to take the life of an unborn child…if his wise discernment justifies fetal termination.
Just as in the Garden of Eden, this conception of self-deception planted the seeds of interior corruption and moral blindness that would over time bring forth not the enlightened fruit of god-like knowledge and power as promised by the Serpent, but the expanding fruit of death in Gosnell's personal and professional life.
The Silent Scream and the Compassionate Late Term Abortionist
Author Steven Volk points out in Chapter 4 of Gosnell's Babies that at a certain point in the doctor's life as he continued in family medicine and performing abortions there "begins a narrative that splits in two, with one track spanning a routine of good deeds and another leading to indictments…and 200 criminal counts." As we will learn, that split makes perfect sense when you understand the spiritual and emotional costs of directly taking the life of unborn children in the womb.
Kermit Gosnell, even after initially falling to the temptation to abort unborn human life still had the work ethic, and values instilled by his parents. While the darkness slowly grew in his mind and soul he still maintained some standards of decency and humanity. Volk shares that many of Gosnell's neighbors held him in high esteem…even after his convictions still expressing love and affection for the "good doctor." We find in this complex personality a father who loved his children, and a physician that while clearly misguided, was at times a compassionate and caring doctor.
In 1986 Gosnell saw the film The Silent Scream. Silent Scream captures an ultra sound of an abortionist attempting to apply a suction instrument called a cannula to dismember a fetus in the womb.
Volk shares this account of Gosnell viewing the film:
…Gosnell simply took in what he saw: The fetus moves and to try and avoid the cannula until finally the suction locks on. At this point, the mouth opens in what the producers called a "silent scream"…over the following weeks, he arranged to do a few abortions while filming the ultrasound screen. He saw the same thing he's witnessed on TV.
Now you would expect that at this point, a compassionate and merciful physician like Dr Gosnell as he personally witnesses the fetus experiencing panic, recoiling from his suction instrument that will tear it apart…might at the very least pause to question if abortion is still an ethical and humane response to an unplanned pregnancy. Instead we find that Gosnell has been thoroughly corrupted by playing God with unborn life.
Gosnell slips into the typical pro abortion propaganda to buttress his massive denial. He shares about viewing his own version of Silent Scream on the ultrasound as he performed abortions:
I didn't regret what I had done…The greater sin is the pain of carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term…and the ripple effects that has on the rest of her family and the child, and society.
One can have the most noble of intentions, and yet be the most arrogant and ignorant of men. The wise Physician King must decide, what is the greater sin? An unborn child recoiling in horror as it is about to be ripped apart…or the real burdens that the poor face when confronted with unplanned pregnancy.[3]
You see, the enlightened, chosen leaders of the abortion revolution must assume the burden of making such complex, and troubling decisions. As the last century taught us, those possessed with revolutionary fervor see themselves as chosen agents of history and above the laws of God and man…and so become the greatest criminals in the history of mankind.
The "Compassionate" Origins of the Baby Spinal Snipping Procedure
Convicted of the righteousness of his cause, yet still retaining some sense of human decency, Dr Gosnell felt after viewing the Silent Scream that it was important to reduce the pain he caused in later term abortions. If one has travelled the slippery slope of abortion rights apologetics, and the necessity of mid-term and later-term abortions, then there is a certain logic and twisted compassion in his developing the notorious spinal snipping procedure to quickly ease the pain of the abortion procedure on later term babies, especially those born alive.
If you find yourself rightly disgusted by Gosnell stabbing the necks and snipping the spinal cords of just born infants, then consider the Dilation and Evacuation procedure performed on 4-6 month old babies. Because the bones of the baby are solidly formed by 12 weeks, the abortionist must use an instrument that resembles pliers to grab hold of the baby's body parts and rips them from the baby's body.
Abortionist Warren Hern shares of his experience performing the D & E on a baby: "The sensations of dismemberment flow through the forceps like an electric current."
If Gosnell is a monster…then what do we call an abortionist who performs D & E procedures on babies from 16-24 weeks? Thirty-Seven percent of abortions occur on babies after the 12th week of pregnancy when their little bones are formed and the heart beating. It could be argued that what Gosnell was charged with, is no less offensive than the thousands of procedures performed each year on babies over 3 months gestation, where no attempt is made to reduce the pain and suffering the child experiences as it is ripped apart in a suction abortion or dismembered in the womb by a D&E procedure.
The Growing Emotional, Spiritual and Professional Disconnect of the Abortion Doctor
How does this story end so badly for Dr Gosnell?
When Gosnell bit the abortion apple and assumed the Creator's providence over life and death we see the fruits of that rebellion beginning to ripen. Although the details are sparse at this point in Volk's account, we learn that Gosnell was married three times with 2 children from each marriage. We know from our international experience with those who have experienced abortion loss, that participating in the death of an unborn child has emotional and relational consequences that are only clear after one attends a healing program. Like a confusing and scattered puzzle, it is only after an emotional and spiritual recovery from that loss that women and men can put back together the fragmented pieces of their post abortion lives and makes sense of the chaos.
This is all the more true for those like Gosnell that directly destroy the unborn child in the womb.
Gosnell as he progressed as an abortionist by necessity further embraced the spiritual and emotional lies and rationalizations for being a hired killer for poor desperate families facing unplanned pregnancy. His dissociation from this truth led to a similar dissociation from any standards of decency.
Increasingly the disconnect between his self image as the kind and wise Physician King bestowing his medical services to his poor subjects, and the interior rot taking hold of his mind/heart/soul from killing so many unborn babies yielded it's toxic fruit.
The Grand Jury report on Gosnell reveals the following charges:
- Performing abortions after the legal limit of 24 weeks…at times delivering babies still alive
- Allowing women to go into labor all day in his clinic and the casually stroll in for evening appointments with some of the women giving birth in toilets, waiting rooms and procedure tables while he was out of the clinic…at times giving birth to live infants.
- Neglecting standards of instrument sterilization and care leading to S.T.D infections
- A patient dies from heavy bleeding after a procedure without follow up. Many women horribly maimed and injured by his growing incompetence.
- As his incompetence deepens he has less early term abortion referrals and more later-term procedure patients. Gosnell hires non-professional untrained staff to assist him in his practice.
- As his corruption intensifies greed becomes an increasingly primary driving force in his practice as he rations better care and pain medicine for his better paying clientele.
- He rationalizes that an illegal prescription policy for pain killers is justified as an employment opportunity for poor folks with few options
- A plumber plunges a toilet and a tiny arm pops free
- A cat set free to roam the clinic dies, lies rotting in the clinic infested with fleas.
- Storing frozen babies and baby parts in his clinic
The Problem Isn't so much Gosnell…Its Abortion
This is just a sampling of the madness. When law enforcement agents came to Gosnell's home to arrest him, he asked if he could first feed his turtles. This further indicates the now complete dissociation of Dr Gosnell from the chaos, moral depravity and filth in his personal and professional life. He calmly crushes some clams and feeds his turtles before leading the agents to his office…dissociated from the unfolding legal process that would lead him to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Perhaps on some level his increasingly erratic and criminal behavior was shouting out "I am clearly out of control…someone please stop me and end this madness." He remains to this day unable to face reality in his warped state and the abortion industry is too morally compromised, corrupt and depraved to police their more overtly criminal elements…as Live Action has revealed.
Gosnell would exhibit this same calm, stately dissociative manner in the courtroom as the tales of horror unfolded. We can safely assume he maintained the same state of calm dissociation as he dismembered a fetus, or snipped the spinal cord of a just born living baby.
While Gosnell may represent a more extreme example of the spiritually corrupted dissociated and traumatized abortionist…he is not alone.
The following is an excerpt from the New Zealand Resources for Life on a study by Rachel MacNair on Post Traumatic Stress of abortion clinic employees and physicians:
… the Psychological Consequences of Killing (Paeger, 2002)…examines several groups that kill, including war veterans and executioners…Both studies were done by people in favor of legal abortion, yet they both note the high prevalence of symptoms that fit the condition now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The 1974 study…noted: "obsessional thinking about abortion, depression, fatigue, anger, lowered self-esteem, and identity conflicts were prominent. The symptoms were…similar to combat fatigue. The other study listed similar symptoms: … including withdrawal from colleagues… Nightmares, images that could not be shaken, and preoccupation were commonly reported. Also common was the deep and lonely privacy within which practitioners…
Gosnell represents what happens, in varying degrees, to all medical professionals who participate in the death of the unborn. An unavoidable corruption and division occurs in the heart, mind and soul that enables the abortion doctors and staff to do the dirty work that our society uncomfortably tolerates…even as we really don't want to really face the ugly realities of what abortion looks like.
Some physicians may not display some of the public excesses of Gosnell. But rest assured, the research of groups like Life Dynamics reveal that when physicians and abortion clinic employees eat the fruit of the abortion apple they unleash forces that over time lead to darkness and dysfunction in their personal, professional and spiritual lives at great cost to those desperate women and men they claim to serve.
Like many who enter the murky waters of abortion with the best of intentions, these men and women are seduced by their pride and often greed to believe they can maintain control as they become the hired hands to destroy unplanned and unwanted human lives in the womb.
In Gosnell's life, this is reflected over time in the inability to manage the growing chaos in his personal and professional life. Reading the shocking facts of the Grand Jury report is like holding a mirror up to Gosnell's soul…the chaos, filth and depravity are a reflection on his interior corruption and possession by the darkness that is the heart of the abortion revolution. Once you are possessed by the lies and madness…you no longer recognize the light of truth.
The great Physician King and chosen abortion revolutionary…ends up the most depraved and pathetic of men who so grievously injured so many poor women and their babies.
Eternal Darkness
This is a warning for all those involved in the abortion industry and all of us who can remain blind and obstinate in our sin and rebellion against God's Providence of our lives. Many in the pro abortion camp may distance themselves from some of the more bizarre excesses and medical negligence of Gosnell. But if you are involved in any way in the direct killing of unborn fetal life…over time your soul will become as dark and corrupted as Gosnell's.
When you one day face the Creator of life…will you recognize the light from the darkness…truth from lies? Or will you, like Gosnell have become so possessed by the lie that is the heart of the abortion revolution that you will reject the truth of that light…and choose eternal darkness and separation from God? [4]
Rest assured, the author of those lies, the Serpent in the Genesis story will be there to convince you of your irredeemable depravity and the justice of your damnation. These are the horrifying realities that transcend the contentious politics and debates around the issue of abortion and have eternal significance for so many of us at this time in history. Let us pray we can cling to the cross of Christ in our time of judgment, and trust in His great mercy.
For the sake of his sorrowful passion…have mercy on us and on the whole world.
[In a future article I will explore the work of Dr Philip Ney and the Centurions in helping abortion providers transition and recover from their abortion practice. If you are a present or former abortion employee or doctor please contact Priests for Life for more information and assistance.]
[1] Greed would certainly play a key role in the later expansion of his late term abortion business. But for the purpose of this analysis, I want to focus on the spiritual and personal lies that led over time to such depravity and madness as I believe they are more foundational to understanding this man and the roots of the abortion business.
[2] As former abortionist the late Dr Bernard Nathanson attested, pro abortion revolutionaries developed a strategy to shine a bright light on the "hard cases" and inflate and invent statistics about maternal death from botched abortions to build a powerful momentum for legalization that swept across our nation in the 1960's and early 1970's.
[3] Gosnell's is clearly ignorant of the real personal, family and social costs from after-abortion suffering. The poor are especially vulnerable to these post abortion complications.
[4] There are many ways to abort God's will for our lives and fall to temptation, sin and blindness. See Matthew 25, 31-46.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mike Wallace is having dinner at home tonight. He doesn't' feel like a night on the town right now.
The Steeler way...is the only way.
Mike Wallace is a moron who has no finesse to his negotiating skills. If he showed up for camp he would have his 5 yr 55 million but now he don't have ****
Where the @&#* is Wallace at! LOL!
- From BRC's Droid Bionic of Coolness
He's starting 11th in the NASCAR NATION WIDE RACE TODAY
Who cares? What is his trade value? We traded Santonio Holmes for a fifth rounder and ended up with Antonio Brown with that pick. Thanks for the memories, Mike. I cannot image you will be around at the first preseason game. Good luck in your new surroundings. Nate Washington has had a hell of a career with the Titans............
ps - If you get your head on straight and accept a reasonable deal. welcome back.
do we know who his agent is, and what other players this agent works for??
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Jerrold Meyer's research program has two major themes. The first theme concerns the neurotoxic and behavioral effects of drugs of abuse, with a current focus on MDMA ("Ecstasy"). He and the researchers in his lab are particularly interested in MDMA preconditioning (the ability of moderate MDMA pretreatment to blunt the serotonergic neurotoxic effects of a subsequent MDMA binge) as well as the interactions between MDMA and THC in a rat model of adolescent Ecstasy/marijuana co-use.
The second research theme involves a collaboration with Dr. Melinda Novak to study the role of stress and anxiety in spontaneously occurring self-injurious behavior in rhesus monkeys. These studies led to the establishment of a novel method for measuring cortisol in hair, a technique that is opening up new avenues for non-invasively assessing chronic stress in both human and animal populations.


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Solution To Remove [email protected] Virus from Windows 2000
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For Windows 8 & 10
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From Mozilla:47
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Press Win + R Keys to open Run command box.
Type "regedit" in the box using your keyboard and click on OK.
Procedure 5. Remove Malicious Tasks Related with [email protected] Virus From Windows Task Manager
Press "Ctrl + ALT + Del" buttons altogether on your keyboard to open Task Manger.
Choose Windows Task Manger from screen.
Select the unwanted processes and click on End Task button.
Procedure 6. Complete Guide To Manually Remove [email protected] Virus From Firefox
For Chrome 52.0.2743
Open Chrome browser and tap on gear icon which is at the top right corner.
Click on More Tools option and then go to Extensions.
Select [email protected] Virus related unwanted extensions or add-ons and then click on Trash bin icon.
For Mozilla:47
Open Mozilla Firefox and click on gear icon to open browser menu.
Select Add-ons and choose Extensions panel.
Further, Fix [email protected] Virus related add-ons/extensions by clicking on Remove button.
For Internet Explorer 8-8.00.7000.00000
Launch Internet Explorer and tap on Gear Icon on the right-top corner to open Tools menu.
Now, click on Manage Add-ons option and select Toolbars and extension tab.
Find all the suspicious add-ons related to [email protected] Virus and tap on Disable button.


text:
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's president said Saturday that the U.S. and NATO troops transferring security to local forces should leave the country's villages as soon as possible and pull back to their bases.
The U.S. has already said that from mid-2013 on, the United States and its allies would operate from fewer bases and that the withdrawal of military supplies and equipment from Afghanistan would accelerate. But the comments from the Afghan leader suggest he would like to see that process gain some momentum.
"There will be a change in our relations with the world in 2013," President Hamid Karzai said at the opening of a conference on Afghan foreign policy strategy. "The U.S. and NATO forces are going to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but before that - in 2013 - the transition of security is going to be completed and there will be no military activity of foreign forces in Afghanistan."
"We are working to make this transition of security happen sooner. We want all the foreign forces to come out of the villages and go to their bases so the Afghan forces can carry out the security," Karzai said, adding that that after the international forces pull back to their bases, they can gradually return home from there, completing the withdrawal by the end of 2014.
International forces have been fighting for more than a decade against the Taliban and other militants who allowed al-Qaida to operate in Afghanistan and plot the 9/11 attacks. Karzai has long stressed that terrorism is not rooted in Afghan villages, but resides in other sanctuaries outside the country - a veiled reference to neighboring Pakistan.
"From our vision, the fight against terrorism is not in Afghanistan," he said. "That is why we do not want military operations in our villages, in our houses."
Karzai discounted fears that Afghanistan would descend into a civil war of ethnic factions after the foreign combat troops complete their withdrawal. He said he was confident that Afghan soldiers and police can handle security.
"I'm completely sure that the withdrawal of international forces in 2014 will give us more opportunity to provide more security," Karzai said. "We are the owners of this country. We should really show that we are the owners of this country."
Karzai reiterated his call for national unity and instructed the Afghan diplomats at the conference to return to their assigned countries and present Afghanistan as a proud, sovereign and unified nation.
"We are poor, but we are lord of this region," Karzai said. "Our history has proven that we are the lord of this region. ... So wherever you are based, you should act as a lord - a poor lord, but a lord."
When they meet during the week of Jan. 7, Karzai and President Barack Obama will discuss the pace of coalition troop withdrawals, efforts to pursue peace with the Taliban as well as the role and size of U.S. military presence in his country beginning in 2015.
During a trip to Afghanistan this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Panetta offered no clues about what Obama will decide. Other officials have indicated that the White House is considering plans that call for between 6,000 and 10,000 U.S. troops to stay for several years after 2014 in order to keep Afghanistan on a path toward stability and to prevent al-Qaida and affiliated terrorist groups from re-emerging as a significant force in the country.
The U.S. now has about 66,000 troops here, along with about 35,000 from allied nations. No decision on 2013 U.S. troop withdrawals is likely to be announced until after Karzai meets Obama in Washington in early January. The U.S. withdrew 10,000 troops last year and another 23,000 this year.
There have been calls in Congress for Obama to accelerate the withdrawal next year, and from commanders' own optimistic assessments of progress, it appears such a speedup could be coming. Some U.S. military officials, however, warn that pulling out too many troops too fast could squander hard-won sacrifices.


text:
Best definition
Legion of Nod
The best Sole Survivor Squad of all time. Sole Survivor was a not-so-popular game spawned from Command and Conquer.
It consisted of two teams fighting each other, with each person controlling one unit. One of the few games where you could get 20 people to play 20 people on a consistent, organized basis. The Legion was the brainchild of some bad ass motherfuckers.
The Legion of Nod won all the Sole Survivor Championships.


text:
Keeping clue of your affairs is one of the best important aspects of managing a business, and invoicing acme that list. Producing professional, appropriate invoices for your audience and barter will ensure that you accomplish a absolute impression, and accredit you to beforehand a close anchor on the banking accompaniment of your business.
However, back you're active a business on a bound budget, it can be difficult to acquisition an invoicing apparatus that has the appearance you charge after breaking the bank.
We adopted 27 of the best chargeless invoicing online accoutrement to advice affluence the action of managing your accounting, and abridge accepting paid. Note that we've alone included accoutrement that accommodate a committed chargeless plan, or are open-source, excluding those that alone action chargeless trials.
Is there a accurate chargeless invoicing apparatus that you would recommend? If so, amuse allotment the articulation with our readers in the comments below.
Image: Curdbee
Curdbee is a absolutely featured online announcement apparatus that can be acclimated to accelerate estimates, invoices, clue time and expenses, and acquire online payments. You can accelerate invoices to an absolute cardinal of audience with abutment for PayPal, Google Checkout and Authorize.net.
The apparatus additionally lets you set taxes, discounts and aircraft costs, and accelerate invoices via email or download them in PDF format. You can adapt your balance arrangement to acclaim your branding, and akin use your own area name.
Make Some Time was congenital for you to actualize burning invoices with basal fuss. The beautifully advised interface and dashboard accomplish it accessible to use and adapt clients, projects and tasks.
You can accomplish abundant letters and accommodate third affair sites — for example, you can acceptation projects from Basecamp. An API is additionally available, which can be be acclimated to extend the capabilities of Accomplish Some Time.
Nutcache is a simple invoicing and time-tracking apparatus that's accessible to apprentice and fun to use. It allows you to balance clients, clue time and run your baby business in the cloud. You can actualize an absolute cardinal of invoices, items, audience and taxes, and estimates, all with your own branding.
It's aboveboard to catechumen an appraisal into an invoice, and Nutcache includes the advantage to accelerate your balance in added formats such as PDF, Microsoft Word, RTF, PowerPoint and CSV.
Image: Balance Machine
Invoice Machine aims to aftermath beautiful, able invoices simply, with the adeptness to set options such as currency, taxes, shipping, discounts, language, addendum and more. Application the dashboard, you can see which invoices accept been sent, paid or are due, and clarify them by period, applicant or status.
Invoices can be beatific anon to audience or absorbed as a PDF to an email. Balance Machine additionally comes with a announcement timer that will run in the accomplishments while you do your work.
Zoho makes it accessible to actualize and accelerate well-designed invoices, calmly clue time for projects and accretion ytical insights on your business performance. You can allotment and coact abstracts with aggregation associates or akin your accountant, with complete ascendancy with user based roles. Zoho is chip with several acquittal gateways including; Google Checkout, PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout and Authorize.net.
Ronin lets you administer time, invoices, estimates, payments and clients, acting as an ideal band-aid for both baby businesses and freelancers. Invoices can be customized with your own HTML or CSS, with alternating balance capabilities and the advantage to add a accessibility amount to awning acquittal aperture fees.
Ronin is congenital for teams of one up to ample agencies featuring a absolute apartment of accoutrement including role-based permissions.
Invoiceable will accept you creating invoices in seconds, in accession to managing audience in a safe and defended environment. From the dashboard you can appearance a abundant arbitrary of your business invoices and costs in accessible to apprehend charts.
You can accelerate invoices on the go application a adaptable accessory with Invoiceable's iPhone, iPad and Android-friendly platform. There are no limitations on an annual except for a "Powered by Invoiceable" articulation at the basal of anniversary invoice, which can be removed, if required, for a small, ancient fee.
Simple Invoices is a free, open-source, web-based invoicing arrangement that you can install on your server, or host on one of the recommended exchange annual providers. It appearance exporting capabilities for PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel or apparent text, with assorted balance types. The balance preferences accredit you to ascertain and adapt the diction on invoices with added appearance including PayPal and annual abutment and alternating invoices.
Image: Paymo
Paymo combines activity management, time tracking and online invoicing into a able-bodied tool. It appearance adaptable time tracking on both iOS and Android and an advantage for converting accustomed estimates into invoices.
Setting up alternating invoices is simple, and it's additionally aboveboard to affix Paymo to your adopted acquittal gateway, with abutment for Authorize.net, Google Checkout and PayPal.
Timetrack aims to abridge managing time bedding and invoicing with fast abstracts entry, avant-garde reporting, iCal synchronization, Excel importing and exporting capabilities, multi-user options and role-based admission control.
This apparatus is ideal for baby businesses and freelancers alike. You can actualize invoices based on your time sheets, consign as a PDF and adapt your balance template.
FusionInvoice is a simple yet able self-hosted online invoicing arrangement congenital for freelancers and baby businesses. It's absolutely open-source and can be installed on your own server, and allows you to administer your clients, set up alternating invoices, acceptation abstracts and set up filters. FushionInvoice appearance belted bedfellow accounts to acquiesce bound admission to audience or accountants. It has an able adduce to balance lifecycle: Accelerate a quote, get approval and again catechumen to an invoice.
Harvest is an all-in-one band-aid featuring fast invoicing, payments and amount tracking. You can admission costs from anywhere application the iPhone app or Twitter, and abundance receipts digitally.
Invoices can be absolutely customized and can akin automatically cull in activity hours and expenses. Harvest helps you break on top of your business' banking bloom by active letters on invoices and payments collected.
InvoiceOcean is automatic software that allows able invoicing, with the advantage of arising bills and receipts, creating charts, amalgam PayPal and recording aggregation spending. You can affair a advanced spectrum of documents, including invoices, bills, receipts, corrections, beforehand payments, margins, banknote accounting invoices, acquirement orders, banknote annals receipts and disbursements.
The software additionally offers defended SSL agreement encryption with a alternative of accessible currencies and languages.
Invoice Journal makes it accessible to create, accelerate and administer all of your invoices, articles and annual from one centralized system. You can adapt templates based on your requirements, actualize estimates and calmly catechumen them to invoices, and clarify and clue your clients. Balance Journal supports assorted languages, alternating invoices and appearance the adeptness to acceptation both artefact and applicant abstracts from added applications.
Image: Invoice-o-matic
Invoice-o-matic is a chargeless online balance apparatus from the FreeAgent team. It's abundantly simple to use — artlessly admission your capacity into the balance arrangement and a PDF will be beatific to both your applicant and your own inbox for record-keeping. It can additionally accelerate a admonition back the balance is due, and you accept the advantage to change your bill ambience and accommodate sales tax at a specific rate.
Wave's apartment of invoicing accoutrement accomplish it accessible to bill your audience and get paid, and customization options advice you to actualize branded, professionally advised invoices.
With a "Pay Now" on on anniversary invoice, your audience can pay you by acclaim agenda immediately, with a simple bureaucracy and collapsed fee. There are no banned to the cardinal of audience or invoices you create, and alternating invoicing can be set up in aloof a few steps.
Invoiceto.me is a chargeless online annual that allows you to ample in your company's name, almsman capacity and a custom anterior bulletin for anniversary balance in no time. You accept the advantage to download the balance as a PDF, book it or accelerate it to recipients. You can additionally specify the allotment of sales tax, and add and annul rows or items.
It's simple and aboveboard to use, and it's powered by jQuery.
You may not akin apprehend that you can accelerate able invoices application PayPal Payments. It allows you to actualize invoices, save templates, admit addresses from your acquaintance list, administer invoices, and chase by chump and date.
Your barter don't charge a PayPal annual to pay (they can use a acclaim card). To get started, log in to your PayPal account, bang "Request Money," again accept "Create an Invoice," and you're accessible to ample in the details.
Image: Paper Chargeless Billing
Paper Chargeless Announcement is an online balance app that makes it accessible to create, administer and clue invoices. You can accelerate invoices in aloof a few clicks, accumulate clue of applicant payments and set up alternating invoices to be beatific out automatically at set intervals.
Templates are both adjustable and customizable; you can akin upload your aggregation logo. Paper Chargeless Announcement appearance HTML and PDF invoices, fractional acquittal support, assorted currencies, acquittal reminders and more.
Billable, fabricated by AppFactory and currently in beta, aims to accomplish announcement simple. It's chiefly accessible to use — aloof bifold bang on any of the argument fields to adapt the text, and admit your own details.
Billable automatically calculates the amount of all the articles or items you add, and akin includes Tax/VAT assimilate your final bill, if required. You can either book the final balance or save it as a PDF. Billable additionally works on adaptable devices, authoritative it accessible to actualize invoices on the go.
Siwapp is an open-source web app for creating and managing invoices. It's congenital on Symfony to assignment as a bore affiliated to added business applications through its API.
With Siwapp, you can administer invoices with altered consecutive numbers (as alteration invoices), download balance PDFs, and save drafts to abide alteration the invoices later, all from the dashboard. Installation is aboveboard and includes instructions.
Image: Apptivo
Apptivo provides a apartment of apps to advice administer your business. The invoicing app allows you to actualize invoices for products, services, projects and time sheets.
Clients can pay through a ambit of gateways, including PayPal, Google Checkout and Authorize.net. All the calculations are automated, and you can annual for discounts, taxes, reminders and role-based admission control.
BoxBilling offers complete applicant management, announcement and abutment software, featuring automatic billing, invoicing, artefact provisioning, alternating payments and assorted bill support. You can ascertain custom balance lines, baddest taxes and clue refunds.
BoxBilling has a customizable arrangement system, and a able API is additionally accessible to extend the software's modules.
Free Balance Maker is an online balance bearing tool. You ample in your capacity on the homepage, and again cross to the aing page, area you can ascribe your balance notes. The final footfall is to download the balance in PDF format, which you can again advanced to a client.
It's absolutely that simple to use — no sign-up or login is required, and you can actualize a simple, able balance aural minutes. You can additionally add new items, such as taxes.
Invoice Place aims to save you time back announcement and accomplish it accessible to actualize invoices, quotes, estimates and receipts. You can email invoices anon to clients, almanac postage and handling, administer taxes, actualize products, and beforehand inventory.
Invoices can be customized and branded, with the advantage to admit acquittal instructions. There's additionally multi-currency and fractional acquittal support.
Bamboo Balance is an open-source invoicing apparatus best ill-fitted for baby businesses and absolute contractors. It is installed on your server, so you are in complete ascendancy of your announcement software and data.
Image: Mr. Biller
Designed for baby businesses and freelancers, Mr. Biller is an able balance band-aid that can advice you accumulate your affairs organized. It appearance customizable balance templates, acclaim addendum and approval, reminders, taxes, and more. There are no circuitous modules and it's simple to set up.
Image: iStockphoto, Pixsooz
Five Invoice Sheet Example Rituals You Should Know In 13 | Invoice Sheet Example – invoice sheet example
| Allowed to our weblog, in this occasion I'm going to show you regarding invoice sheet example
. And today, this is actually the 1st picture:


text:
My sound card is an Intel 82801G HDA controller using the Realtek ALC883 chip, but hopefully the procedure will be similar for other sound cards.
Firstly, I made sure that the ALSA side of things was configured correctly by using the alsaconf command followed by the alsamixer command, both done as the root user in a Konsole/Terminal window. In AlsaMixer I made sure that all the volume control sliders were turned up to a reasonable level and that nothing was muted (use the M key to mute/un-mute a channel). Don't forget to use the Tab key to page through all of AlsaMixer's pages. I also pressed F6 in AlsaMixer and selected my sound card.
Secondly, I looked into the PulseAudio side of things:
I went to Kickoff > Computer > System Settings, double-clicked on the Multimedia icon and used the Prefer and Defer buttons to select the following Audio Output Device Preference for all cases of Audio Output in the left panel:
HDA Intel (ALC883 Analog)
HDA Intel (ALC883 Digital)
Jack Audio Connection Kit
For the Audio Capture cases I only have one entry:
HDA Intel (ALC883 Analog).
I then installed the various PulseAudio GUI configuration tools:
The installation of these tools automatically creates the following icons in the Kickoff > Applications > Multimedia menu:
Code: Select all
equo install paprefs pavucontrol paman padevchooser pavumeter
Capture Volume Meter
PulseAudio Volume Meter (Capture)
Device Chooser
PulseAudio Device Chooser
Playback Volume Meter
PulseAudio Volume Meter (Playback)
PulseAudio Manager
Volume Control
PulseAudio Volume Control
I launched the last of these, Volume Control, and clicked on the Output Devices tab. I selected Show All Output Devices, and on my laptop there are two devices shown: dmix:0 and Internal Audio Analog Stereo. I made sure that none of the output devices was muted (clicking on the speaker icon toggles muting on/off). Then I clicked on the down arrow next to the 'Lock channels together' button for dmix:0, and ticked Default.
I also checked under the Playback tab that System Sounds was not muted.
I clicked on the Input Devices tab. I selected Show All Output Devices, and there are three devices shown on my laptop: 'Monitor of dmix:0', 'Internal Audio Analog Stereo' and 'Monitor of Internal Audio Analog Stereo'. I made sure that none of these input devices was muted (clicking on the speaker icon toggles muting on/off). Then I clicked on the down arrow next to the 'Lock channels together' button for 'Monitor of dmix:0', and ticked Default.
I clicked on the Configuration tab and there are two Internal Audio Profiles to select. I selected 'Analog Stereo Input' for the first Internal Audio profile, and 'Analog Stereo Output' for the second one.
I closed the Volume Control window and launched PulseAudio Device Chooser. An icon appeared in the Panel, and I right-clicked on it and selected 'Default' for the Default Server, for the Default Sink and for the Default Source. I also clicked on Preferences and ticked the boxes for 'Show notifications for discovered servers', 'Show notifications for discovered sinks' and 'Show notifications for discovered sources'. Then I clicked on 'Configure Local Sound Server...' and, under the 'Simultaneous Output' tab, I ticked 'Add virtual output device for simultaneous output on all local sound cards'.
I checked the media players XBMC, VLC, PyKaraoke, Xine, MPlayer, Dragon Player, SMPlayer and Amarok. Only Xine didn't seem to have audio working, but that was soon solved in Xine itself simply by selecting Audio > Volume > increase 10%.
Next I checked Skype. I had to select 'HDA Intel, ALC883 Analog (hw:0,2)' for Microphone, and I left 'Default device (default)' for Speakers and Ringing.
So there you have it. I have no idea whether PulseAudio is working its magic or whether what I did has in fact bypassed it, as it is so darned confusing that you need to be a rocket scientist to understand what the Hell it is doing and what it all means. I have found in practice that I can select different things as Default and it seems to make no difference, which is why I wonder if PulseAudio is actually being bypassed on my laptop and ALSA is being used directly. However, it must be doing something, as I had to tinker with the PulseAudio tools to get XBMC to produce sound.
Just one more tip to mention: On one occasion only, a couple of weeks ago when I booted up there was no sound. I checked in KMix and none of the channels were muted. I then ticked the Mute box for the Front channel (or perhaps it was the Master or PCM channel, I can't remember) and then unticked it, and sound was restored. Figure that one out.
Linux's audio architecture and configuration of it is just plain awful!
Anyway, hope this helps someone. Good luck!
EDIT (Dec. 22, 2009): Since I wrote the above, the package paman has been removed from Portage and the PulseAudio Web site says PulseAudio Manager (paman) and the PulseAudio Device Chooser (padevchooser) are now both obsolete. However, padevchooser is currently still in Portage so I decided to uninstall paman but left padevchooser for the time being.
EDIT2 (Feb. 17, 2010): Things have changed a bit with the new versions of PulseAudio packages that I installed since this first post. My current configuration is described with screenshots in my post of 17 Feb. 2010 in this thread, so be sure to read it (and my other posts) too. Don't forget to make sure first that the ALSA side of things is configured correctly, as described above. Actually, after you have done what I wrote above for ALSA, also run alsamixer under your normal user account too.
EDIT3 (Mar. 5, 2010): If all your multimedia applications produce sound, don't mess with anything! "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
EDIT 4 (March 31, 2010): Just a note for those of you with hardware including HDMI Audio who are still having trouble:
My new laptop has the following audio hardware:
On the Configuration tab of the PulseAudio Volume Control application, I had to change the Profile of 'Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5600] Series' to Off for audio to come out of the speakers (I left the Profile of 'Internal Audio' as 'Analog Stereo Duplex' as usual).
Code: Select all
# lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)
01:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5600 Series]