Books & Authors

Good Books / Bad Books

There are thousands of books hitting the market every day. They wouldn't exist unless someone thought they would sell. Regardless, many of these new books are poorly written garbage - so bad a reader can't get past the first few pages without falling asleep or retching. My rule. Before buying a new book be sure to read at least one full page in the middle. That usually yields a good clue as to the quality of the writing.

Books are written by people with average or above intelligence - who also have an extraordinary ability to focus, and yet only a few books are truly outstanding.";font-family:courier new;font-size:85%;" >Readers, on the other hand, just have to follow the author from page to page, which is a much easier process than writing.

For me a really good author inspires the reader to concentrate and follow the writing. The appreciation of an author's book is very personal. It makes criticism, comparison and qualification also very personal. Regardless, I'd like to share some of my assessments with you.

Book Categories

Difficult

A list of those books that are worthy but hard to read:

• The Holy Bible, Koran
• The works of Shakespeare
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Charles Dickens

Excellent, understandable and readable.

Those authors who have been able to produce only one or two exceptional books before their light went out.

• Norman Mailer (The Naked & The Dead)
• Truman Capote (In Cold Blood)
• Stendahl (The Red Badge of courage)
• Leon Uris (Exodus)
• Joshua Slocum (Sailing Alone Around The World)
• Robert Bork (Slouching Toward Gomorrah)

Authors that have produced a large body of exceptional work.

• Mark Twain,
• C.S. Forester,
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
• Joseph Conrad,
• Rudyard Kipling,
• Jack London,
• John Steinbeck,
• Walter Stegner,
• Larry McMurtry,
• Ivan Doig
• Alexander Kent
• Patrick O'Brien
• Morris West

Easy to read, interesting, story-tellers.

• Louis L'Amour
• Stephen King
• Douglas Reeman

Good Political Writers:

• Pat Buchanon
• David Limbaugh
• Ann Coulter
• Robert Spencer
• Dinesh D'Sousa
• George Will
• Dick Morris
• Mark Steyn
• Margaret Thatcher

Good Travel Writers

• Micael Palin
• Lynn & Larry Pardey
• Paul Theroux
• Jonathan Raban
• Charles Kuralt

The Supreme Court is killing America

The power of the Supreme Court is frightening in many respects. These nine appointed Justices are empowered to interpret, protect and defend our basic legal foundation. The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights all require honest interpretation and enforcement of the rules. From it's beginning as a co-equal branch of our government (with the Executive Office and the Congress), the Supreme Court has moved to increase it's authority. It has become part of a political tug-of -war between the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch. This is not good for America. The judicial branch has become dominant and government checks and balances are no longer function as they should. Why is there no movement to apply term limits to the Supreme Court? I would think a justice could learn the job and be effective if his or her term was limited to 15 years or 75 years of age.

GREED (Another subject)

Now, in 2007, we are fast approaching a disaster. American society has always been directed by greed. There are more gentle ways to put it - but the fact is that the ambition to gather money or power is the basis of capitalism, free markets and profits. So, in a perverse way, greed has resulted in the energy for America to be successful.


Someone once predicted that when a democratic representative government reached the point that it's political leaders paid their own salaries - it would fail.


America has reached the point.

• Deficit spending. Two words indicating politicians stealing your children's tax money.
• Earmarks. An innocent sounding word representing politicians stealing tax money.
• A Taxation system that is unfair.
• Court ordered obscene financial judgments.
• Citizen paid taxes directed by politicians to welfare programs benefiting non-citizens.
• A Social Security system paid for by deficit spending.
• Paper money whose value is based upon potential earnings.

Is America about to fail?

Human beings have value

• World War I was dirty, brutal, bloody, and personal.

• World War II was similar, even bloodier but less personal.

During World War II bombs dropped from an impersonal height accomplished indiscriminate damage. Air power was proven and expanded further by V-1 and V-2 rockets, atomic weapons and guided missile technologies.

During the advance of this awesome power America has experienced a corresponding decline in it's backbone. The causes are many. Religion, political correctness, computers, information technologies for example, have all combined to produce a nation of wimps. We reached the apogee of our power just before the Korean conflict.

Korea. We didn't even call it a war. The popular description was "police action".

During the Korean "police action" our soldiers were still intent on victory but our politicians didn't have the stomach for it. Instead they sought a compromised limit. Despite our arsenal of overpowering modern weapons - we didn't win. Our failure showed the world our lack of resolve and our unwillingness to stand for principles. We became known as a "paper tiger". A few years went by before Viet Nam sucked us in. It had been festering for years with the French losing and the Communists winning.

• Viet Nam. At that time our leaders decreed that we could not allow the Communists to win.

Our politicians talked endlessly about the "domino theory" saying that if Viet Nam fell to the Communists, so would the rest of the world. So we went to war. We fought using the enemy's guerrilla tactics and we lost. So we carpet bombed the jungle, defoliated the countryside, and killed an unknown number of non-combatants - and still lost. Carpet bombing didn't work either. Finally our political leaders had enough and they surrendered. We left Viet Nam with the job not finished and our allies with no means to defend themselves.

It was a dishonorable thing to do. Americans haven't recovered yet. The shame persists.

America's sense of honor has been tarnished rather badly. Our moral and ethical behavior toward other nations has been less than stellar. Our former self image of moral superiority has proven to be of stretchable rubber at best.

Yet with all of this baggage we send our military to impose our will on middle eastern countries. They are supposed to defeat religious fanatics who

• have no home
  
• no sophisticated weapons
  
• no competent leadership
  
• no identity
  
• no reason to kill us
  
• and they welcome their own death as the highest prize of their inhumanity.

Americans do not understand this new enemy. We try to fight with rules of engagement that guaranty our defeat. Battles are no longer over life and death but rather the content of human minds. This is a truly new kind of war.

• Americans have been taught that human beings have value.
• Our new enemy has been taught that they do not.

The cause of this new war is as simple as that.

The resolution will be anything but simple.

Don't say it

In our culture mortality isn't talked about. It is something to be avoided until the end and then it's too late. The atheist has it easy. A person who believes there might be something more than just chemistry has a bit more to ponder.

For example, most people have the notion that a force greater than we can know may have created everything. They can't explain what existed before creation - so they don't try.

These same people believe that human beings have a special essence. It's often described as the spirit of man. Human beings, in our culture anyway, are one step above other animals. Most religions create a pecking order where men are the leaders, women are the the followers, and both are superior to other life forms.

Atheists, those who don't believe in a superior intelligence or original creator, have a more difficult argument to support their superiority over animals and other life forms. Those that believe there might be a spirit within human beings have found a possible explanation for the overall scheme of life. They are generally content with the notion of a human spirit, the superiority of man over beast, and the fact that all life forms have a duration. They except that death is in the future of every birth.


Makes sense to me.

Should Gambling Replace Taxation

The state told us the lottery profits would go only to the public school system. To this day California has not reported how lottery profits are arrived at nor what percentage of lottery income actually finds it's way through the bureaucracy to public school coffers. I find that interesting.

The state authorizes Indian organizations to build and operate gambling casinos provided they pay the state a percentage of the profits. What percentage? Who are the Indians accountable to. They go on television to tell us that the two benefits of Indian gambling help us all.

(1) The profits improve the wealth of the Indians organizations.
(2) Their payments to the state also reduce the taxes of the general population.

I don't believe it. Do you?

Disgraceful Politicians

Someone in the San Francisco area voted for a fellow named Pete Stark and what a mistake it was. The man disgraced his office and gave the far left yet another black eye. Politicians like this fellow should be censored and removed from office. They obviously don't know or care that the First Amendment rights are limited by common sense.

• A person, even a politician, must not yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater.
  
• A person, even a politician, must not walk up to 5th grade teacher and threaten to slit his or her throat.
  
• A person, even a politician, must not say to a stewardess that a bomb is on board a flying commercial passenger aircraft.
  

Pete Stark crossed the line. He must not be allowed to accuse the President of the United States of "sending troops to their death and enjoying it".

That is unforgivable.

Liberalism Today

Listening to the current political rhetoric is exhausting. The arguments never change. Most voting citizens have closed their ears and are now letting our country slip away from us.

Politically we have divided into two factions, liberal and conservative yet the definition of each is out of focus.

• Hayek, Rand, Goldwater and Reagan came along and suggested the word conservative hinted at more freedom, less government, and more resistance to change.
  

• Liberalism by comparison suggested less freedom, more government, and positive government promotion of change.

Well, those definitions have become fuzzy. Conservatives still champion individual freedom, free market capitalism, and a streamlined efficient government. Liberal notions however, have all but destroyed America. Liberal Democrats and Liberal Republicans have ruined our stature in the world, our ability to compete with other nations, our reliance on the individual initiatives of our citizens rather than forced government intrusion. They have caused the demise of the work ethic and promoted welfare for everybody, even those who are not citizens and do not contribute. Our government, currently directed by the George Bush administration is a poor mix of Conservative and Liberal mistakes. The supposedly loyal opposition is anything but loyal. The opposition has turned it's back to logic and reason, and allowed it's hatred of George Bush to tarnish everything they do. Ethics, morals, and common sense have been replaced by self interest and greed.

The political big gorillas are the Democratic and Republican political parties. In recent years the Democrats have leaned toward liberalism and the Republicans toward conservatism. The method of electing seasoned and qualified people to political office has become a popularity contest. Each party puts forward a slate for consideration, then the committee that nominates them tries to figure out a platform that will attract the most voters.

The Presidential election of 2008 is being contested right now. There are big issues to be acted upon and the choice of a President is likely to determine how.

• America is in the midst of a nasty war on terrorism unlike any war we've fought before. The conduct of the war depends on the "commander in chief" that is elected whether a Liberal or Conservative.
  

• The necessity of controlling immigration to America will be increasingly vital whether our President is a Liberal or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal.

• The Roe vs Wade decision is going to be revisited, probably within the next decade. The composition of the Supreme Court will change and make possible another opportunity to stop or severely limit the out of control practice of abortion. Current Liberal politicians favor Roe vs Wade. Current Conservative politicians do not. The election of the President will be a factor in the selection of future Supreme Court Justices.

So, when you look at Mitt, Rudy, Fred, or McCain - do you see a person up to it?

Do you really think Hillary, Obama, Gore or Edwards would do a better job?

Think on it.

Indian Gambling

American Indians were once badly treated by immigrants. Most of us are descendants of those immigrants.

• Are we responsible for the deeds of our ancestors?
• Does our modern generation owe Indian descendants some sort of restitution?
• Our government approves establishing gambling businesses does it not?
• Why give Indians advantages in this business?
• Do Indian organizations get most or little of the profits?
• Is there any sort of accounting of the division of profits from Indian gambling?
• Why is this not reported to the general public?