Route Number 11: Argentina, Angels & Alcohol

Today it’s the turn of Harry Whitewolf, take a look at this exclusive from Route Number 11: Argentina, Angels & Alcohol.

 

 

CIUDAD DEL ESTE

or

Claustrophobic Electronics

Ciudad del Este ain’t like anywhere else in the world.

There’s one reason for visiting and one reason only: shopping.

Mostly anything can be bought in the city of the east, but its main trade is cheap electronics. iPhones, iPods, laptops, Sat Navs, Notebooks, Androids, hard drives, Hi-Fis. Wi-Fis, PCs, TVs, CDs, DVDs,

USBs, Blackberries, Apples, Oranges, Dongles, Tom

Toms, pompoms, rom-coms and bonbons… You name

it. It’ll be there.

No one visits for more than a day. In fact, a whole day is way past most people’s stamina.

Capitalist and black market bartering by street sellers, stall holders, shopping mall salesmen and overly sexily dressed señoritas.

Jack and the tourist ride the bus across the bridge from

Brazil to Paraguay, without any border checks whatsoever. Best to walk back from the bus stop to border control and ask if they need their passports stamped.

“Hoy solo?” the man asks. Si, they’re only visiting for the day. No need for stamps. It’s fine to just wander in to Paraguay.

It’s raining so hard that it feels like Iguazú Falls may have spilt over into the heavens.

Ciudad del Este is dark skied, depressing and crammed with bodies of business. The backside of Capitalism.

And the two travellers are walking through its shit, hands tightly holding on to wallets, in a Blade Runner landscape on the brink of post apocalyptic living.

“Amigo, amigo…” “Señor, señor…” Desperate Paraguayan people push into them, peddling their wares.

Opium, cocaine and marijuana are offered within the first ten minutes. They join the conveyor belt of buyers and barterers, like they’re in the mad house of a movie director’s mind.

Nothing to see except for department stores, shacks and stalls. Whore houses on the horizon. Motorcycle taxis

touting for fares. Sexy store assistants flirting for foreign currency, by bending over in red uniformed skirts, exposing long legs to tempt any prospective male shoppers.

No matter what expectations you may have of Ciudad del Este, having heard the same story from any traveller that’s braved the city, you’re bound to still be bowled over. The city most certainly lives up to the hype.

A few hours is plenty enough time. There’s nowhere to go and nothing to do other than shop. Lunch is had in a mall. Coffee is had in a market style area of shacks and stalls, covered by a loose tarpaulin; the rain hitting it hard.

Get the hard drive Jack’s come for, and get the hell back to Foz. Not that there’s anything to do there either.

It was worth coming for the sheer mad frenzied spectacle of Ciudad del Este. It was also worth coming for those oh so hot and sexy Paraguayan women who

had eyed the tourist. Maybe he should think about

visiting Paraguay proper after all. But nobody goes to

Paraguay. It’s the one place still overlooked by the tourist trail. A good reason to go then.

 

You can download this book from Amazon now: http://www.amazon.com/Route-Number-11-Argentina-Alcohol-ebook/dp/B00DSCBFFQ/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1411047810&sr=8-1&keywords=route+number+11

An Introduction to the Supernatural

This week I got the opportunity to interview the author of An Introduction to the Supernatural, Janet Gant. Janet writes this book not as a psychic herself, but instead about the experiences of those using clairvoyants. Here’s what she has to say:

What areas of the supernatural does An Introduction to the Supernatural cover?

There is a description of Psychics, Tarot card reading, Astrology, Numerology, Palmistry, Tasseographers, Face reading, Dowsing, Spiritualism, Mediums, Clairvoyants, A Séance, and Ghosts.

 

There are a lot of books about the supernatural out there, what is it about your book that makes it different to other books in this genre?

I think I’m the first writer to include the Outcomes of each reading.

 

As an author what is your view point of the supernatural and fortune telling – are you a believer?

After my six readings, I’m definitely a believer. In my last reading with a Clairvoyant, she contacted my daughter who had passed away with a brain tumour at fifty-three. The experience was wonderful. Read all about it.

 

You’ve had experiences with mediums etc. Can you tell us about one of your experiences.

My very first experience was a reading by a Tarot card reader, and she blew me away. Without me opening my mouth she told me I had two men in love with me.

My answer was, “Yes that’s my problem.”

She went onto to describe them and tell me their names and then told me which one to choose. She then described my three children and even told me my daughter was pregnant. She also said I would write a book, which was the last thing I ever wanted to do. Thirteen years later I wrote my first book and have ended up writing three.

 

What can people learn from An Introduction to the Supernatural?

 

The many ways the Supernatural is involved.

What research did you have to do and how long did it take to compile this book?

I did a lot of research to learn all about the methods used by the Supernatural. But it took a long time to find forty volunteers to share their readings with me. I had to approach people, when I was out at all sorts of functions I attended, and ask them if they had ever had their fortunes told. Only two people refused me on the grounds it was private. It took me three years to write this book.

I did try advertising but got no replies.

 

Obviously there are people who don’t believe in the supernatural, is there anything in your book that will appeal to them?

Yes you are right. My husband was my first convert. He said, “How could you disbelieve when you read these experiences.”

 

Are you going to expand on your writings about the supernatural – what’s next for you as an author?

No, I do not plan to write any further books. I think at eighty I’ve done enough.

If you want to find out more about Janet Gant and her book An Introduction to the Supernatural take a look at her page: http://supernaturalexplanations.weebly.com/

Kangaroo Court

Today we’ve got an exclusive extract from controversial author Dov Ivry – see what you think.

 

Kangaroo Court

 

What is the going price in Australia for someone doing the right thing and calling out an anti-Semite? For this couple from Melbourne it is a million dollars.

 

Demetrios Vaskas and Lee-Anne Raymond are atheists.

 

They are also artists.

 

In July 2009 they opened an exhibit of their art which critiqued five major religions with commentary.

 

Opening night went well. They went to thank the gallery owner on their way out. Without warning the gallery owner launched into a tirade because he said that they had slandered Islam, which meant that they favored the Jews in their dispute over what he called Palestine.

 

Vakras and Lee-Anne are not Jewish. They tried to explain that they did not single out Islam, that they did not mention the Palestinian issue, and certainly did not take a position on it one way or the other.

 

It didn’t help. The gallery owner was absolutely beside himself and continued to berate them for defaming Islam and supporting the Jews.

 

The artists held no strong opinions on the Palestinian issue. It was not in their interest to become engaged in an argument with the gallery owner over anything. And when he started attacking the Jews and Israel they could have mumbled something half in agreement and walked away. Their exhibit would have gone as before. Their lives would have gone as before. But that’s not what they did.

 

Demetrios and Lee-Anne defended the Jews and Israel simply because they felt it was the right thing to do. The argument became even more heated. Lee-Anne pinned down the gallery owner in asking, “How would you feel if a busload of Jewish children were blown up?” His response? “So what?” Within a few days he had banned the couple from his gallery and their own exhibit.

 

Demetrious and Lee-Anne answered the gallery owner on their website. Demetrious has spent years researching ancient cultures and religions and now he went at modern anti-Semitism in the same methodical manner. He pegged the gallery owner as a “left wing Nazi” and anyone who has been around the web knows that this is very common type.

 

The gallery owner sued. They got a judge who didn’t know his ass from his elbow and didn’t make even a minimal effort to examine the issues at the depth they deserved. He assessed damages against the couple of $450,000 on June 20 this year. When the costs are assessed plus their own lawyer fees, they are going to have to pay out over a million dollars. No one has that kind of money.

 

But it gets worse. This happened in Australia and I don’t know if this is how they do things down there as a rule. But the judge combined the defamation trial with their small claims court case to recover the money that the gallery owner took from them for an exhibit he essentially cancelled. What it meant was that they were denied due process on the defamation issue because everything became a confused mess in which they were forced to argue the minor issue at the same time, which among other things seriously diluted their resources. There should have been a mistrial.

 

It gets worse than that. The gallery owner is a nonentity. Virtually no one in the community was aware of the controversy. He suffered no discernible damages of any kind. But here is the scary part. The judge seems to be blaming Vakras and Lee-Anne because Google and Bing referred to the controversy. But no court in the world to my knowledge has blamed anyone for what the search engines publicize from information they lift from obscure sites or social media. The search engines must answer for themselves.

 

As far as I can determine this award is at least four times higher than any Internet defamation case in Australia not involving search engines. A woman defamed on Twitter who suffered documented medical problems as a result got $105,000. The difference was what her attacker said about her were lies and what Varkas and Lee-Anne said about the gallery owner was true.

 

This case was hardly reported in Australia even through it was a major event because of the size of the award and it spotlighted two issues of widespread public interest, anti-Semitism and freedom of speech on the Internet.

 

I’ve written a book on this entitled Injustice Hits Rock Bottom Down Under: The Vakras Case. I am trying to get their situation out to the public. I am a journalist from Canada, now resident in Israel. This is my 24th book, 20th non-fiction.

 

I am not interested in making money on this book and will send it PDF to anyone who requests it. The book is also available on Kindle and in print at Amazon. My e-mail is ivrydov at gmail.com.

 

As a Jew I can tell you this from experience. This gallery owner did not become a flagrant anti-Semite yesterday. He must have been doing things this like for years. He happened to run into someone finally who called him out and exposed him to the world for what he is. Demetrios and Lee-Anne are the kind of people who would have responded in the same way if they had run into a bigot of any kind or description.

 

You can download this work from Amazon on the following link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MGVQ4XI?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

And find out more about the Dov Ivry here:

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-blot-on-the-jewish-people