It’s book review time! And this time, science fiction. One of my favourite genres, I must say, although I haven’t read a whole lot of modern science fiction. Most of the stuff I have read has come from Bradbury, Asimov and Burgess. So it was a change for me when I began this latest work. It is copyrighted 2003 by Cryptic, Inc., and written by Jack McDevitt. The title of the book is “Omega.”
Posts Tagged ‘books’
How Wrong Were They?
So there are a lot of funny anecdotal books out in the humor section in Borders that have titles like “Stupidest Things Ever Said.” Many times you find that these quotes are merely premature ramblings by people who aren’t very far-sighted when it comes to the future. One such example would be August Lumiere telling someone his invention (a device for showing moving pictures) would never have a market. Another is Bill Gates saying that 56 megs of ram would be all anyone would ever need on a computer.
Out of the Mouths of Lames
“Even Falwell’s fans, such as evangelist Billy Graham and former President Bush, kept throwing in the ‘We didn’t always agree’ disclaimer… And when I die, if you didn’t always agree with me, would you mind keeping it to yourself?” -Ann Coulter, Jerry Fallwell – Say Hello to Ronald Reagan, May 16, 2007.
Coulter was criticizing public figures for adding, “Although I didn’t agree with everything Fallwell had to say…” to their statements about the bigot’s life when she so arrogantly asked that the same statement be left out of any comments about her life when she died. As if she is that important! I picture more of a relieved sigh from both political camps when she finally kicks the bucket. To Republicans she is a liability and to everyone else she is just a manly-looking shrew. The best thing anyone could say about the end of her life is, “FINALLY!”
In other news, Obama is the man with the plan. If you haven’t heard, he plans to reform health care in this country and finally create universal health care to the millions of Americans (including nine million children) that are not covered. He also plans to encourage preventive medicine and update technology. You can read more about his plan at this website, http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hcplan. Also see Crispy Quips on my blogroll. He did a bit more research on the subject than I did.
Closer and closer come the Primaries. I pray and pray (to pagan gods according to Republicans) that Hillary falls. We don’t need her disunity and ego dividing this country more. She is the Democratic equivalent of Bush- ego driven, set in her ways, and short-sighted. Down with Hillary! Barack ‘08!
Another note on Barack. My mother, a Democrat for many years, (although lately she is beginning to scare me with leaving Laura Schlessinger books around the house claiming they are “funny.”) told me that Obama is too close to Islam. As the Conservative media machine (that still insists it is oppressed by the liberal media that consists of Air America and PBS) repeats Obama’s middle name so that the idea that he is islamic will seep into the minds of unsuspecting Americans. Coulter even calls him “B. Hussein Obama” just for impact. As if that name automatically qualifies you as a middle-eastern dictator. If that is the case, there must be a butt-load of dictators, seeing as how Hussein has been one of the most popular names in the area for many years, before and after Saddam.
Now, pick up The Audacity of Hope and flip to the chapter titled, “Faith.” Read about Obama’s upbringing, the household he grew up in, and his own personal journey to root himself further into the Christian faith. You will find no Islamic religious upbringing whatsoever. His middle name was given to him by his father, a former muslim turned atheist, who did not live in the same household and therefore could not have given Obama an Islamic upbringing. Still, consrevatives can say the word “Hussein” and strike fear into ignorant Americans looking for safety from an attack by the Iraqi people (the ones that had nothing to do with 9/11, remember?). Points to the Republicans again, for being the masters of spin.
That is all the ramblings I have for today. Before I forget, the sources for this blog entry are as follows:
Coulter, Ann. “Jerry Fallwell- Say Hello to Ronald Reagan.” anncoulter.com. 16 May 2007. 2 Jun 2007 <http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/article.cgi?article=183>.
Obama, Barack. The Audacity of Hope. 1st. New York: Crown Publishing, 2006.
Republicans are Feeding Fascism
I’m reading a book by Thom Hartmann called “Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class.” The idea it presents is that the neoconservative powers are being paid by corporations to control the will of the American people so that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This will create an elite ruling class and drive wages down so Americans will work for next to nothing while the corporations reel in the dough. In short, they are all fascists.
They direct blame onto ethnic groups such as illegals (Mexicans), and terrorists (any brown person from the middle east). This causes discrimination and prejudice that keeps American attention elsewhere. Radio show hosts with bad attitudes hide behind freedom of speech and lie to the public about the real reason the economy is crap, their life-saving prescriptions are not covered by their insurance, their children can’t afford to go to college and many other core issues that effect each American personally. Continually spouting a call to “traditional American values,” they distract the people from the fact that the single most important American value, the freedom from tyrannical rule fueled by an elite class of large business owners, is being ripped out of the constitution. Perpetual war in the name of patriotism is keeping America blind to what is happening in the White House.
I already knew all this before I started reading the book, though. What I didn’t know is that the plan to rule America through corporations goes all the way back to Hitler’s days. The Bush family has modeled their rise in power on that of Hitler himself. In chapter 7, a section titled, “Hiding Behind the Flag” on page 109, Hartmann describes Hitler’s use of patriotism and industry to rise to power. The process is nearly identical to Bush’s own. Both created fear in the minds of the people, saying that only one way works to combat any threat to people’s liberty. Both have invited corporations to fund the government. Both have removed checks and balances that were put in place so that one man cannot have too much power, all for fear of another attack. Both have set up a “single new national agency to protect the security of the Homeland, consolidating the actions of dozens of previously independent police, border, and investigative agencies under a single powerful leader” (109).
On page 120 Hartmann quotes FDR’s vice president Henry Wallace to show how American fascists of that time are carbon copies of the conservatives today. Wallace says, “The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate pervasion of truth and fact.” Limbaugh and Micheal Savage come to mind. Wallace is quoted, “The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information.” No one is beating the American people into submission of tyrannical dictatorship. Instead, the American people are being duped into believing it is the best way to live free.
Seeing as how Rush is one of the most popular hosts on talk radio and roughly half of the country votes republican, it seems this method is working wonderfully. People that vote Republican don’t know they are feeding into fascism. They have been convinced that they are merely fighting for free market, family values, and the safety of the American people. If only it were that simple.
Hartmann closes the chapter by saying thus, “Today we again stand at the same crossroad Roosevelt and Wallace confronted during the Great Depression and World War II. Fascism is again rising in America, this time calling itself “compassionate conservatism” (121). These neocons are controlling the airwaves and buying our government while the American middle class continues to shrink. The people that have fallen out of the middle class are blamed for their own situation as the poor are blamed for being poor. Immigrants are supposedly taking our jobs (yes, so many Americans out of high school want to work in fields for twelve hours a day). The threat of terrorism has given our president unlimited military power to do with as he pleases. He doesn’t even need to fight terrorism anymore, he just uses patriotism and false sources of ‘evidence’ as sound reason to invade other countries. Like, maybe Poland-oh, I mean Iraq. (I’m really getting Bush confused with someone else now. Lines are getting blurry, I apologize). Same problems, different era.
If you are Republican and you are reading this, please, please open your eyes. Your needs are not important to the people you are putting in power. Your money is. Think of this, conservative media is still blaming the state of the country on liberals and progressives, and yet Republicans had controlled the House for twelve years and we have had a Republican Executive for seven. Isn’t that enough time to improve the condition of the country? Don’t let the American dream die. Go pick up Hartmann’s book and read for yourself.
How to Bash a Neocon (Whenever You Want)
I was just wondering how easy it might be to make Ann Coulter look like an idiot. I, a college student, might not have a chance against someone who was named “one of the top 100 public intellectuals by federal judge Richard Posner in 2001” (fire that guy) as it mentions in her “About the Author,” but I’ve read a couple of her articles on her website (which is the only place she has a job now, I believe) so I knew what I was up against. Not surprisingly, it was fairly simple: she does it to herself. I only had to purchase her throwaway book from a yard sale for three bucks, titled “How to talk to a Liberal (If you Must)” published in 2004, and use common sense to see just how ignorant she really is.
All the inconsistencies, all the twists of the truth, all the sources that remain a mystery, the examples of what unnamed people are saying, just in her introduction are far too extensive to list on my humble little blog. I will, however, present here a few of her inane remarks:
Freedom of Speech: “There is probably no conservative student newspaper in the country that has not been trashed or burned by liberal” (2).
How dare liberals burn Dartmouth student newspapers in protest! My god! First amendment! All the conservative student press wanted to do is make light of date rape, racism, and poke fun at Native Americans! After all that hard work, I’m sure these righteous young minds are up for a get together, probably keeping themselves warm over a bonfire of Harry Potter books, like any good Christian.
On Torture: “Torturing the guy you know for a fact is withholding information actually works quite well” (7).
Of course! No one admits to a crime they haven’t really committed! We can be sure the people we torture are guilty! Look how many inmates have been put on death row with the solid evidence of a signed confession obtained after hours of interrogation! They weren’t even being physically harmed when they started talking! Let’s just never mind how many confessors have been exonerated through DNA evidence.
Page 8: “Al Gore couldn’t say ‘pass the salt’ without claiming to have invented salt.”
That Al Gore. I’m sure this is in reference to a quote of him saying, “I invented the internet.” Wait, where is that quote? I can’t seem to find it anywhere! Could it be that this is the actual quote, as I found on CNN.com? “During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.” This website makes an excellent point about why Al Gore wasn’t that far off.
Page 10: [Regarding her first rule for talking to a liberal] “Come to think of it, since our side does not accept Klansmen [Senator Bryd], murderers [Ted Kennedy], or rapists [William Jefferson Clinton], this rule may be simplified to: Don’t be defensive.”
That’s right! Because when the Democrats made it clear in 1964 that racism and discrimination were not part of the core values held by that party, a certain segregationist Mr. Strom Thurmond, then a Democrat (Dixiecrat, really), had no where to go but the party that would accept such a man: The Republicans.
As far as rape and murder, good thing justice was served. –Oh, what was that you said Voice of Reason? What do you mean not convicted? What do you mean not even charged? Are there any politicians that have been convicted or charged with sex crimes? Maybe these ones?
The ‘F’ Word: “On the bright side, you know you’ve arrived when liberals start calling you a fag. Curiously, these proponents of tolerance always choose ‘gay’ as their most searing epithet” (15).
Do I need to go here? I can’t even sarcastically address this one! Really, Google “Ann Coulter calls (Take a pick: Clinton, Gore, or Edwards) a fag” and you get all kinds of websites! Including YouTube, where you can hear her say the very word! What a nut! How many liberals did she name that use the word fag? Nought! Because she’s got monopoly on it!
The best part is, she thinks she can say “It was a joke” and everything is ok. We’ll forgive her without an apology because she was only poking fun. And now for a personal antidote just to prove a point: When I reached the ripe age of seven, I realized I could hurt my little sister’s feelings calling her names and get away with it by shouting, “Just kidding! I was only joking with you!” Fortunately, my parents are smarter than Coulter’s (who should have left her at the hospital in whatever year she says she was born-it changes all the time). They realized quickly my scheme and put a stop to it right away.
Ok, one more and then I’m done.
How to Beat up on a Republican: Page 11 and 12 the right-wingnut tells her minions never to compliment a Democrat because “compliments to Democrats are always returned with insults.” She then describes an epidode of “Larry King Live” from May 7, 2004. As evidence of Democrats returning insults to the compliments of conservatives, she uses the first statement of each senator featured on the show.
Senator John Warner (Republican of Virginia): “First, If I may say of my colleagues on the committee, and twenty-four senators out of twenty-five were present at that hearing, I think we comported ourselves individually and collectively as best I’ve seen it in the Senate….”
Senator Jon Kyl (Republican of Arizona): “I agree with Senator Warner that the senators comported themselves well for the most part….”
Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat of Iowa): “Well, [Rumsfeld should resign] for a couple of reasons.”
Sure sounds to me like Democrat beating up on Republicans that was just trying to give out kudos for the great job that was done! As soon as the Republican senators give out compliments, that Harkin belligerently tries to dispute them!
In reality, the second and third quotes are much further in the transcript than the first. Harkin is not replying to Kyl and Warner’s compliments of a job well-done. He is answering a question posed by the host of the show, Larry King.
King: “Senator Harkin, why do you think he should resign?”
Sen. Harking: “Well, for a couple of reasons”.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the whole point of a talk show to feature two different opinions?
Her next example of Democrats beating up on Republicans is a transcript from “Meet the Press” that I found dated on May 9, 2004
A few days later, Republican senator Lindsey Graham used about half his allotted time on Meet the Press to make clear he had absolutely no criticisms of the Democrats: “I didn’t come here to beat on Senator Kerry or to defend any political position. This is not about Republican and Democratic politics….[Let’s] show the world that Republicans and Democrats may disagree on policy and the war in Iraq, but we have the ability to make sure those accountable are going to be held accountable….Republicans and Democrats need to come together to prove to the world that our system works.”
The Democrats on the panel returned the love by accusing President Bush of responsibility for Abu Ghraib prison abuse (Senator Carl Levin: “I think he helped to create the atmosphere,” saying the mission in Iraq would probably fail (General Wesley Clark: “I think there is a greater than 50/50 chance, let’s say 2:1 chance, of a catastrophic early end to this mission”).
I found the transcript on NBC.com. They ask that any use of their material be cited as NBCNews’ Meet the Press©2004. They are so nice. Random House (the shrew’s publisher) will probably take me away in the middle of the night for all the material I’m using against- I mean from- Coulter, even if I do cite it.
First of all, Levin does not say, “I think he helped to create the atmosphere” in response to Graham’s statement. Graham’s statement comes much later in the transcript. In fact, Levin is responding to the host, who had asked, “You believe the president then is ultimately responsible?” Levin answers, “I think he helped to create the atmosphere by the way in which he called the Geneva Convention discussion relative to Afghanistan a matter of legalism. It’s not legalism. It goes right to the heart of this matter.”
Not only does Coulter include incomplete quotes and position them in such a way as to mislead her faithful readers, but she leaves context out as well. Graham didn’t appear on Meet the Press to talk about uniting parties. The point of the show was to find out who was responsible for the torture that occurred at Abu Ghraib. Again, aren’t talk shows supposed to feature different points of view? Unless you are Fox News, the point of these debates is to show both sides of an issue.
So, after all 18 pages of the introductory chapter, I have one of the longest blogs I’ve ever written, and I even left a lot of her screw-ups out. You should really read the one about liberals “getting drunk and having unprotected public sex with Colin Farrell” (page 11, regarding her feelings toward public apologies). If you can find a free copy, pick it up and see for yourself. However, don’t spend any money on it because I can honestly say I want my three dollars back.
Now for the boring stuff:
Sources:
CNN Larry King Live. “Analysis of Donald Rumsfeld’s Congressional Testimony.” CNN.com © 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Coulter, Ann. How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): the world according to Ann Coulter. New York: Crown Forum, 2004.
NBC News’ Meet the Press Copyright © 2004, National Broadcasting Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Book Review: Life of Pi
Spring was in the air and the evening breeze called me out of my house to find what the coming night had to offer. It told me I could find adventure; I could find excitement; I could even possibly find love. I found instead a book.
Restlessness thrashed at the core of my being, as there were many changes happening in my life during this time. I set out to find a means of occupying my mind. I wandered into a book store on Main Street that I don’t usually frequent due to their lack of selection of used books. I asked the two men chatting near the register what book might help my current emotional unrest.
One man suggested a few humorous tales by his favourite author while the other scanned the the book laden table near the large window at the front of the shop. I told the first man that I was looking for something a little “pagier” that could keep me from thinking about my own problems in life. The second man picked up Life of Pi by Yann Martel. “This is a story about a kid that gets stuck on a life boat with a tiger” he said. I thought it would be interesting, so I purchased it.
Many, many changes have occurred in my life since that night. School had taken the front seat, living arrangements changed numerous times and many miracles and disappointments occurred during the next year. I had to put off leisure reading while these dramatic changes took place. I finally finished the book a few nights ago. What a book.
The first few chapters are slow but they build up the character so well that the slow rise in anticipation never becomes boring. It starts at a zoo in India where Pi Patel, the main character, grows to the ripe age of fifteen. On his journey to man-hood he is exposed to three spiritual paths to God and even teaches his mentors a thing or two about love. He practices Hindu, Islam, and Christianity with no inner conflict regarding so-called true faith.
A wonderful display of his faith in action is when he is faced with his three spiritual leaders asking him to choose which path is his truth, he simply tells them “I just want to love God” (87). The priest, the pandit and the imam are speechless. This anecdote shows that their is no brand of religion that can hold up against a person’s own unique spiritual path. Belief in oneself is the best faith to have.
The zoo is sold as political dissent falls upon his native homeland. The family sets sail for their new home in Canada, unaware that tragedy is waiting for them. The adventure then begins with a dangerous lesson in the fault of anthropomorphizing animals. The ship sinks and Pi is stuck on a life boat with a tiger. For the next 277 days, Pi’s journey takes an interesting turn as he realizes his own survival depends on the tiger’s very presence on the life boat.
The tale is one so unbelievable that it gets the reader thinking it just might be crazy enough to be true. The very depth of the human soul is laid out to explore. The limits of man and the power of nature are displayed side by side in such a way as to invoke awe at both. Pi’s journey is a tale for all people needing to find their own strengths in life.
The book invokes a wonderful soliloquy regarding the human condition. This book is truly about survival and tragedy, love and hate, and faith and fear. By far, this is one of the best books I have ever read. Thought and emotion provoking, the book takes the reader on a ride across the Pacific Ocean and right into the heart of faith.
