I'm an avid reader, and I'm always looking for something good to read. The last book I read turned out to be a real stinker. :oops:
Quote from: InLikeFlynn on 08-08-2005 -- 20:22:29
Just finished a scad of books! I really liked Ruins. Its an X Files book. I also just finished "Neanderthal" another great one. It escapes me who wrote both, but I'll get back to you!
Is "Neanderthal" a fiction book? I not in the mood for anything dry right now. :-D
Have any of the new posters read any good books lately?
Sounds interesting. I'll keep that one in mind. I'll read a vampire story if it's not one of those gothic, homo-erotic, "let's all get freaky with the undead", pseudo-romance novels. :lol:
Almost finished with "The Dark Tower"...interesting series. Not as great as I would have liked, but got hooked early and have to see how it ends.
I recently finished Condi vs. Hillary, by Dick Morris. Everything about Hillary I already knew, but I did learn some interesting things about Dr. Rice. A thought-provoking book...
Hey Rocket, are you talking about the Stephen King series?
I read up until he took that long break from them. I thought they were pretty good. And I know what you mean by hooked, 'cause I couldn't wait until each one was published. Just didn't know how he was gonna ever finish it because it seemed like it could go on forever.
How many did he end up doing and is it even finished? Oh well, I would probably have to start over just to catch up. Not sure I have that kind of time now...
Quote from: Hoopty on 01-03-2006 -- 16:56:53
Hey Rocket, are you talking about the Stephen King series?
Yep, "The Dark Tower" is the 7th and final book of the Gunslinger series. He did take a long break, but started cranking them out at the pace of 1 a year for the last 3 years. I had to restart and am glad to almost be done! I liked the earlier books, but he starts making some strange twists in books 6 and 7.
"The Corps" series by W.E.B. Griffith. Good series and interesting characters (although mostly about officers, many of the characters came up "through the ranks").
We have some readers on the board. Cool. Some of these books sound interesting.
I've recently read:
"Habeas Corpses" by William Mark Simmons. It's the third book in a series mostly about vampires and involves a lot humor, supernatural weirdness, and a smart-ass main character.
"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. Plain, ordinary, English man gets pulled into a strange world underneath London full of people and creatures forgotten by the "above" world.
"Midnight Mass" by F. Paul Wilson. Really, really, good vampire book. Vampires are gradually taking control of the world, and a small group of beaten-down survivors decided they've had enough.
Quote from: InLikeFlynn on 01-03-2006 -- 22:39:56
Gaiman has a new one out called "Anasi Boys" Clueless to what its about, but it has to be a freak show if he wrote it!!!!!!!!!
That's kind of a sequel to "American Gods". I haven't read "Anansi Boys", but the previous book was very good. I had trouble putting it down. Not so much a freak show as really imaginative fantasy. :-D
you know what kind of books I read Thraxas. I just finished " DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO" . It's a book exposing libral hypocracies. It's a great read and it's actually funny.
Quote from: flew-da-coup on 01-05-2006 -- 18:01:46
you know what kind of books I read Thraxas. I just finished " DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO" . It's a book exposing libral hypocracies. It's a great read and it's actually funny.
Who wrote that one? :?
Do As I Say (Not As I Do)
by Peter Schweizer
Hypocrisy has proved to be a wonderful weapon for liberals in their war against conservatives. When a pro-family politician gets caught cheating on his wife, or a conservative pundit turns out to have a bad habit or addiction, their enemies use the charge to good effect. Fair enough. But what happens when the spotlights are turned on liberals themselves? Do the supporters of progressive taxes, affirmative action, strict environmental safeguards, and unionized labor practice what they preach? In a word: NO. Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy is Hoover Fellow Peter Schweizer's hard-hitting exposé of the contradictions between the public stances and real-life behavior of prominent liberals like Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Al Franken, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Ralph Nader, Barbra Streisand, and many more.
I'm currently reading the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. I'm almost done with the first book and it's coming out really well. I also have the Otherland series by the same author but I haven't read those yet. If this book is any indication that series should be good. All of his books are pretty long and book 3 of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn comes in two parts. See the link below for a synopsis of the book. I'm not any good at writing those. :-P
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0886773849/qid=1136829796/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-6169391-5455167?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
Band of Brothers was awesome...so was 108 ways to hide a body. :evil:
Quote from: cobychuck on 01-09-2006 -- 12:04:07
I'm currently reading the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. I'm almost done with the first book and it's coming out really well. I also have the Otherland series by the same author but I haven't read those yet. If this book is any indication that series should be good. All of his books are pretty long and book 3 of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn comes in two parts. See the link below for a synopsis of the book. I'm not any good at writing those. :-P
Sounds interesting. I'll keep that one in mind.
Quote from: InLikeFlynn on 02-02-2006 -- 08:46:56
I am reading a career building book called ominously "The PAthfinder" I wish I has a resource like this when I was a young airman. :cry:
I'm currently reading "Investing for Dummies". I wish I had a resource like this when I had the COLA of a young airman. :cry:
When I first arrived at Ramstein in '85, the exchange rate was 3.46DM to $1. No housing available on-base, so it's off to Kindsbach to rent a very nice one-bedroom apartment for 500DM/month. So, my rent was $144/month, COLA much higher than that, and the size and quality of my stereo grew accordingly. Maybe I should have invested the money, but I still have my Onkyo uber-amp, and the Cerwin Vega speakers still work just fine, so I guess my investment paid off, in a way...
I probably ought to buy a new Onkyo amp, with surround sound...
Quote from: flew-da-coup on 01-05-2006 -- 18:01:46
you know what kind of books I read Thraxas. I just finished " DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO" . It's a book exposing libral hypocracies. It's a great read and it's actually funny.
I'll have to pick this one up, sounds good. Another good, entertaining read along this line is Ann Coulter's
How to talk to a Liberal.I just finished
The Purpose Driven Life. Great read for everyone - especially those wondering through life with no idea of why they are here and what a successful life REALLY looks like.
www. amazon.com/gp/product/0310205719/sr=1-1/qid=1138984884/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4467961-5553412?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Not a new book, but I'm reading The Shining...much different than the movie, I think the movie would have been scarier if it followed the book closer. Stephen King's earlier works seem so much better than some of the latest books, but I'll probably give Cell a spin, nevertheless.
Currently in the ninth book of a series - British navy - wooden ships and iron men. Author is Dewey Lambdin, series is Alan Lewrie - kind od a randy rakish midshipmen and officer. Have also recently finished the C.S. Forrester series " Hornblower " and the Alexander Kent series " Bolitho ".
Yes the current thread is naval warfare in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Ran into these by accident and got hooked.
I gave my dad the complete series of Judge Dee mystery novels a couple of Christmas's ago. It was a replacement for his original set that he had given up years ago. After he thanked me, he mentioned how he used to own the complete Horatio Hornblower series. Now I know what to get him for Father's Day. :-)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/calvin-hobbes-bump-2.jpg)
Bump :-D
That's one of those "Young Adult" books isn't it?
Are you now qualified to pilot your own starship? :lol:
Quote from: InLikeFlynn on 03-04-2006 -- 12:56:06
ALthough not a literary tome per se, I just finished whipping through the "Deep Space Nine Techncial Manual" I am a Trekker geek, go figure right! Its very well illustrated to a point where you think "Yeah this is possible". The Defiant is just too SWEET. What a great job, Starship commander. Sigh. :cry:
Well, if that qualifies him for the Defiant, then I'd be qualified for the Enterprise D. Got the tech manual for that. Yes, there is one more trekkie geek in here. Still working on the Deep Space Nine seasons though. Damn those things are expensive!
:-)
I just finished "Love and Other Near-Death Experiences" by Mil Millington. It's hilarious. For anybody that likes reading a good comedy, I recommend this novel. :-D
The Da Vinci Code (revisited)
If you've read The Da Vinci Code, you may remember a double-crossing Holy Grail expert named Leigh. As unlikely as it may sound, just such a character is now at the center of the current plot twist in Dan Brown's real life. Last week, Brown was in an English court, defending his best-selling book against a copyright lawsuit brought by a self-appointed grail expert named Robert Leigh. Leigh and two friends are the authors of the 1982 best seller Holy Blood, Holy Grail, a nonfiction work that lays out the same claims that make The Da Vinci Code memorable. To wit (and stop if you hate spoilers): Jesus was married, Mary Magdalene was his wife, and they had kids whose descendents may still be around. Brown was kind enough to put an ad for Leigh's book in The Da Vinci Code but Leigh and his co-authors, ungrateful, are suing Brown for stealing 15 "theme points" from their book and for ripping off its "architecture."
The irony of the lawsuit is hard to overstate. The central premise of Holy Blood is that powerful forces have been keeping "the truth" buried for centuries. Along comes The Da Vinci Code to shout that truth to millions, and Holy Blood's authors' first instinct is to threaten the messenger. My own conspiracy theories aside, the Da Vinci lawsuit raises an interesting copyright question that American and English courts have differed in answering. Can one writer freely borrow someone else's wacky historical speculations? Say a historian publishes the idea that Lyndon Johnson is a space alien who killed John F. Kennedy. Are you free to make a movie about it? The right answer, as perhaps Oliver Stone would testify, is that the nature of the claim matters. The authors of Holy Grail chose to make claims to truth—and while that gives their book a certain rhetorical power, it should also mean their work loses much legal protection. When copyright starts saying you can't borrow claims to truth, it stops helping and starts hurting all authors.
Let's start at the beginning. One of the basic principles of copyright law is that you can't copyright historical facts, though you can own how you express those facts. Say you write the first article ever saying that John F. Kennedy had Addison's disease (a fact). If the law says that you now own that fact, almost anyone who wants to write about Kennedy's life or illnesses needs your permission. That's a broad right, one that's not just a damper on future scholarship and authorship but possibly a damper on that fact itself—you might, for example, be a Kennedy loyalist who wants to keep his disease secret forever.
The authors of Holy Blood make a different argument. They say that it's one thing to repeat a fact or two. But it's another to steal the essence of a work that required an enormous effort to write and research. Holy Blood took 10 years to put together (though, according to its critics, it's still full of errors). And figuring out how to assemble the facts into a compelling work meant a lot of sweat. Back in 1982, Newsweek presciently said of Holy Blood that "the plot has all the elements of an international thriller." A similar argument persuaded an English court to rule for a plaintiff just like Leigh and his co-authors in the 1980 case of the Hofburg Spear. The premise was just that too much was stolen.
This is not a ridiculous argument. Why should Dan Brown be able to walk away with tens of millions of dollars if Leigh and his pals put in all the hard labor? The answer is that Leigh et al., had a choice: They could have decided to portray their work as fiction, not history—and that, in the words of American judge Frank Easterbrook, "makes all the difference." When you, as an author, make a claim to present the truth, you both gain something and lose something. You have a shot at changing what we think to be true, and you may gain reader interest. But you cannot own the truth the way you might own elements of a fictional story, like the character "Rocky." To claim the truth is fine, but to own it is not.
There is little question that Holy Blood's power (and its interest to readers) derives not from the organization of the book but largely from its claims to truth. For example, the authors write, "There is no reason that Jesus could not have married and fathered children while still retaining his divinity. ... " The authors could have offered up such claims not about Jesus but about a god of their own invention, named, say, "the Beyonder." They could have invented a fictional order—not the Knights Templar, but, say, the Knights Ridder. But people want to know about Jesus, not the Beyonder. They don't care about the Knights Ridder. The power of both Holy Blood and The Da Vinci Code comes from each book's challenges to the accepted truths about Jesus' life. And that's why, in the end, it shouldn't matter how much Brown took, so long as he didn't copy verbatim. He did steal a lot from Holy Blood, but it was material he was entitled to steal.
One thing may seem odd about this discussion: When an author offers up a speculation like "space aliens killed JFK," does it really make sense to call that a fact? After all, both Holy Blood and The Da Vinci Codes contain "real" truths ("Herod was a King") alongside dubious claims to truth ("Jesus was a house-husband"). The answer, in legal matters, is yes. Though I'm not sure who killed JFK, I happen to count space aliens as unlikely culprits. But the reason to call the space alien theory a "fact" isn't that we think it actually happened but that it's useful to do so. It's what people sometimes call a legal fiction, and the point is to err against excessive ownership of claims to truth. How can dueling authors ever have a meaningful public discussion of who Mary Magdalene was, if, for example, one side claims exclusive ownership of the theory that she was a lowly prostitute? Progress in science and scholarship requires the freedom to examine and expose claims to the truth, even crazy ones. Giving ownership to such claims would create free expression problems that go beyond book sales.
There's another reason to treat claims to truth as facts. It relieves judges from the uncomfortable job of trying to determine what the truth is in the first place. Take the classic 1983 case of Blackie the Talking Cat. Blackie was a cat alleged to speak English, and his owner ran a business reliant on that ability. Based on Blackie's speaking abilities, the owner argued that it would violate the First Amendment to force him to register his business. The courts hearing the case proceeded under the assumption, as claimed, that the cat could indeed speak. Why? Well, how exactly is a court supposed to prove that a cat cannot actually speak? He might just not be in the mood. In the end, a federal court threw out the case not because of the ridiculous claim that the cat had free speech rights, but for other reasons—among them, that Blackie the cat should have brought his own lawsuit if he could "speak for himself."
This reasoning against protecting truth claims is reflected in American copyright law. In this respect, the suggestion, from the Weekly Standard's Christopher Caldwell (a sometime Slate writer), that the Da Vinci lawsuit is an unprecedented effort to expand copyright is slightly misleading. There have been American cases just like Da Vinci, but the point is that they're all losers. For example, Universal once made a film, The Hindenburg, premised on the wacky idea that an idealistic crewman put a bomb on the Hindenburg and blew it up. That theory was taken directly from A.A. Hoehling's Who Destroyed the Hindenburg? (1962). And in the 1980s, CBS produced a Simon & Simon episode premised on the idea that the gangster John Dillinger, killed by the FBI in 1934, had actually faked his own death. This wasn't the series writers' idea—it was the published theory of one Jay Robert Nash, author of Dillinger: Dead or Alive?
Each of these plaintiffs lost. The judges said what I've said: If the author calls it a fact, you can steal it. The first person to publish a historical theory, again in the words of Judge Frank Easterbrook, "does not get dibs on history." That's logic that the English courts would be well-disposed to follow.
Tim Wu is a professor at Columbia Law School and co-author of Who Controls the Internet?
Ann Coulter's How to talk to a Liberal is a great book. She's hot for her age too. don't let my wife know I said that :evil:
What's Prey about?
Has anyone read any good mystery novels? I'm in the mood for a mystery novel right now.
I've read Fear Nothing, and concur with Flynn- good stuff!
Sounds interesting. I will keep an eye out for that one. Unless someone I know possibly owns it and wants to lend it to me. *cough*Flynn*cough* :-D
Darn. I'll have to remember that one the next time I go to the used book store.
I'm currently reading a biography of Adolf Hitler, by John Toland. Very interesting to see how the social, political, and economic situation in Germany contributed to his rise to power...
That's got to be an interesting read, doc. I've occassionally thought of reading Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf. Interestingly, I just found a text copy of it online a few minutes ago. It's on the the website of the Hitler Historical Museum. Who woulda' thunk?
I read "Cell", the new one from King. I liked it but at first I got the impression that he used a lot of stuff from his earlier novels.
Matter of fact, I bought Mein Kampf years ago in Europe. There was a time when it was suggested reading in the army. I still have it.
What is also interesting is how the Ideas of the Nazi party are right in line with the Democrate's ideas here in the U.S. , You know like they are both socialist, they both believe in killing innocent people ( ie. Babies & jews ), They both believe in government control, They are both hypocrites, etc...
:-o
QuoteWhat is also interesting is how the Ideas of the Nazi party are right in line with the Democrate's ideas here in the U.S. , You know like they are both socialist, they both believe in killing innocent people ( ie. Babies & jews ), They both believe in government control, They are both hypocrites, etc...
Did your wife forget to give you your valium today? :lol:
Hell, they are all hypocrites. The democrats, republicans, liberals.......bought nand paid for.
I think I am a jeffersonian constitutionalist, or maybe a left/right wing subversive. One thing for sure, if your last name is not the same as mine, then you are bad, lol
Did your wife forget to give you your valium today? :lol:
[/quote]
Yes and she also forgot my Lithium and Haldol. I need my thorazine. I can feel the hair standing on the back of my neck. Oh no, goose bumps I better get into my straight jacket before my eyes start to roll back into my head :-o
Scary response. In case nobody knows, his wife is a chemist. :-D
Currently reading a bunch of graphic novels. I'll get around to reading a mystery novel eventually. I found a half-read one written by Nora Roberts in my room the other day. :-D
Been filling the need for humorous, fantasy, mystery books by re-reading some of my Thraxas novels. Those books never get old. :-D
Penthouse and Field and Stream is the best...Can't go wrong with boobs and dead animals :roll:
I like dead animals. Thaxas and Flynn can back me up on that.
What about the boobs, sicko? :-D
What the animal's boobs? I like those too. :-D
OK, Coup, you're starting to live up to the "sicko" label... The NSA (who probably monitor this site) might be knocking on your door in an hour or so... :-D
No you misunderstood me. I don't like them in a sexual way. I make sling shots out of them. The kids just love them. :-D
I guess making sling shots from animal boobs is a little sick too? :mrgreen:
All I can say is Coup makes reading some of these topics...interesting. You never know where he's going to pop something in. The animal things is creepy though...
Not as creapy if it was African Pigmys instead of animals.
I was thinking of the "starving pygmies down in New Guinea," but that's just me...
Hey those starving ones are cool. They are short with those pot bellies. It would be cool if FOX would have Pygmy fights. Now that's entertainment.
Whoah.Whoah. This thread is about books. When did it devolve into animal boobies and pygmies? :?
Refer to Reply #63, courtesy of our favorite Marine, and read south from there...
I blame the sailor in Florida... :lol:
Hey, I was just commenting on the previous post. :?
Everything was fine until you brought up animal boobs which brought my lunch. It didn't taste as good the second time around. Thanks a lot. :wink:
At least I wasn't talking about animal nipples. I was trying to have some couth.
Quote from: flew-da-coup on 05-02-2006 -- 07:01:48
At least I wasn't talking about animal nipples. I was trying to have some couth.
Too late! :-D
I am re-reading The DaVinci Code in preparation for the forthcoming movie. Religious implications aside, it's a helluva good read! Tom Hanks should be interesting in the lead role...
Quote from: docbyers on 05-03-2006 -- 12:22:16
I am re-reading The DaVinci Code in preparation for the forthcoming movie. Religious implications aside, it's a helluva good read! Tom Hanks should be interesting in the lead role...
As long as he doesn't use that annoying laugh of his, you'll probably be right.
Has anybody read a good book recently that's not The Da Vinci Code?
See Spot Run.
Uh...I was looking for something aimed at an older age group. 8-)
Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity
by John Stossel
There are lots of things "everybody knows" these days. "Everybody knows," for instance, that radiation is deadly, especially when food is exposed to it. "Everybody knows" that public school teachers are underpaid, and public schools underfunded. "Everybody knows" that outsourcing puts Americans out of work. The trouble is, in these and so many other cases, what "everybody knows" is flat wrong. Now, in Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity, John Stossel exposes the errors behind hundreds of media-generated myths -- and reveals that the truth is often the opposite of what we've been taught to believe. Just as important, he also reveals who benefits from the deception -- whether it's big government, greedy lawyers, or special-interest groups looking for political advantage at taxpayers' expense.
Running parallel to his investigative reports for ABC's 20/20, Stossel's book covers everything from consumer cons and health myths to environmental scare-mongering and big-government propaganda. Get the facts and research behind HUNDREDS of myth-busting revelations like these:
MYTH: Radioactivity is deadly. Keep it away from food!
FACT: Food irradiation saves lives.
MYTH: "Outsourcing" takes jobs away from Americans.
FACT: "Outsourcing" creates American jobs.
MYTH: Overpopulation causes poverty.
FACT: Population has nothing to do with poverty.
MYTH: A higher minimum wage helps poor workers.
FACT: A higher minimum wage puts more poor workers out of work.
MYTH: Farm subsidies help save family farms.
FACT: Most farm subsidy money goes to giant agri-businesses.
MYTH: "Sweatshops" exploit workers in poor countries.
FACT: "Sweatshops" help workers escape poverty.
MYTH: The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) helps make America less sexist and racist.
FACT: The EEOC fans the flames of sexism and racism.
MYTH: Aside from the obvious physical differences, men and women are pretty much the same.
FACT: Science reveals that there are many differences -- mental, emotional, behavioral, and more.
MYTH: Women earn less than men because of sexism.
FACT: Women earn less for sound economic reasons.
MYTH: Government regulation is necessary to protect consumers from unethical businesses.
FACT: Competition protects us -- if government stays out of the way.
MYTH: Government should put price controls on prescription drugs to protect the poor and sick.
FACT: Price controls will harm the poor and the sick.
MYTH: Business believes in free markets.
FACT: Most businesspeople will use government regulation to stifle competition if it serves their interests.
MYTH: Education is too important to be left to the private sector.
FACT: Education is too important to be left to a government monopoly.
MYTH: Private schools enable segregation.
FACT: Public schools are more segregated the private schools.
MYTH: Vouchers will hurt public schools.
FACT: Vouchers will force public schools to compete -- and make them better.
MYTH: Premium gas is better for your car.
FACT: For 90 percent of cars sold today, high-octane is no better.
MYTH: Malpractice lawsuits protect patients.
FACT: Malpractice lawsuits encourage doctors to perform unnecessary procedures, endangering patients.
MYTH: To invest in stocks, follow the experts.
FACT: Stock "experts" get it wrong more often than right.
MYTH: Global warming is a catastrophe in the making.
FACT: Global warming is just a gradual trend coming out of what scientists call the "Little Ice Age."
MYTH: Cracking your knuckles is bad for you.
FACT: Crack away.
Whether it's a myth, a lie, or just plain stupid, Stossel takes it all on. Prepare to be surprised -- even outraged -- as you learn how conventional wisdom is often wrong. Highlights include:
Stossel on education: "Americans spend much more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that outscore us on international tests."
On "underpaid" teachers: "K-12 teachers average $45,081 a year. But most teachers only work nine months a year. If you look at the average hourly K-12 teacher wage ($30.91), it's more than chemists ($30.64), computer programmers ($28.98), registered nurses ($26.87), and psychologists ($28.49) make."
On "overpopulation": "[Famine-struck] Niger's population density is nine person per square kilometer, miniscule compared to population densities in wealthy countries like the USA (28), Japan (340), the Netherlands (484), and Hong Kong (6,621). The number of people isn't the problem. Famine is cause by things like civil wars and government corruption. . . ."
On gas prices: "If the price of a barrel of oil stays high, lots of entrepreneurs will scramble for ways to supply cheaper energy. . . . At fifty dollars a barrel, it's even profitable to recover oil that's stuck in the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, [which] alone contain enough oil to meet our needs for a hundred years."
On "sweatshops": "In poor countries, the factories the well-fed American protesters revile routinely pay twice what local factories pay, and triple what people can earn doing much harder and more dangerous work in the fields."
On farm subsidies: "In 1984, New Zealand eliminated farm subsidies cold turkey. Farm productivity, profitability, and output have soared since the reforms. The Federated Farmers of New Zealand say that the experience 'thoroughly debunked the myth that the farming sector cannot prosper without government subsidies."
On drug prices: "Less than a third of marketed drugs have enough commercial success to recover the cost of their research and development. The hated pharmaceutical companies make big profits, but I want them to make big profits because they have to make huge investments, suffer lots of failures, and go through ten to fifteen years of testing before they can bring me the drugs that might save my life or alleviate my pain."
On stock "experts": "Over the years ending October 31, 2005, only 5.72 percent of actively managed mutual funds had beaten the 500 stocks that make up the Standard & Poor's Index. In other words, 94 percent did worse. Over that fifteen-year period, you had a 94 percent better chance of making money if you ignored the advice from those well-paid professional stock pickers."
On PBS: "PBS is welfare for the well-off. . . . Compared to other Americans, PBS viewers are 44 percent more likely to make more than $150,000 a year. . . . The free market serves its customers, and in the TV business, the customers are viewers. PBS, on the other hand, is broadcasting by bureaucracy. This is a bad idea. We need separation of news and state."
On bottled water: "Many people believe that bottled water is cleaner. So we sent bottled and tap water samples to microbiologist Aaron Margolin, of the University of New Hampshire, to test for the bacteria, like E. coli, that can make you sick. 'No difference,' he said."
Coulter Attacks the Cult of Liberalism
by Lisa De Pasquale
In "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," HUMAN EVENTS legal affairs correspondent Ann Coulter lays out one of the most original and perceptive philosophies on the cult of liberalism.
She states, "Under the guise of not favoring religion, liberals favor one cosmology over another and demand total indoctrination into theirs. The state religion of liberalism demands obeisance (to the National Organization for Women), tithing (to teachers' unions), reverence (for abortion), and formulaic imprecations ('Bush lied, kids died!'' 'Keep your laws off my body!' 'Arms for hostages!'). Everyone is taxed to support indoctrination into the state religion through public schools where innocent children are taught a specific belief system, rather than, say, math."
For years liberals have relied on a strategy of faking out the American public in order to win elections. Instead of accurately articulating their beliefs and engaging in an honest debate, they scour the nation for the perfect patsy. A hysterical mother who is willing to go on national television and call the President a "furor" and "evil maniac" is akin to seeing the stigmata. Liberals' ecstasy over Cindy Sheehan, Max Cleland, and the widows who made a spectacle of themselves in the midst of the 9/11 Commission epitomizes their secret weapon for winning back America -- a doctrine of infallibility in which victory goes to the most hysterical.
As Coulter writes:
Finally, the Democrats hit on an ingenious strategy: They would choose only messengers whom we're not allowed to reply to. That's why all Democratic spokesmen these days are sobbing, hysterical women. You can't respond to them because that would be questioning the authenticity of their suffering. Liberals haven't changed the message, just the messenger. All the most prominent liberal spokesmen are people with "absolute moral authority" -- Democrats with a dead husband, a dead child, a wife who works at the CIA, a war record, terminal illness, or as a last resort, being on a first-name basis with Nelson Mandela. Like Oprah during Sweeps Week, liberals have come to rely exclusively on people with sad stories to improve their Q rating. They've become the "Lifetime" TV Network of political parties. Liberals prey on people at a time of extreme emotional vulnerability and offer them fame and fortune to be that month's purveyor of hate. Victory goes to the most hysterical.
By embracing phony prophets, liberals strip away any honesty and credibility they may have once had with the public. Unlike Christians, liberals can't shield themselves from criticism by referring to their most outspoken nuts as just a small group of fringe leaders. On the contrary, their leaders are writing curriculum for public schools, cloning obnoxious "apple-polishers" at colleges and universities and intimidating small towns with baseless lawsuits.
In the aptly titled chapter, "The Liberal Priesthood: Spare the Rod, Spoil the Teacher," Coulter peels back the political correctness surrounding the public education bureaucracy, "We are simultaneously supposed to gasp in awe at teachers' raw dedication and be forced to listen to their incessant caterwauling about how they don't make enough money. Well, which is it? Are they dedicated to teaching or are they in it for the money? After all the carping about how little teachers are paid, if someone enters the teaching profession for the big bucks, aren't they too stupid to be teaching our kids?"
Books like "The Professors," "Brainwashed" and "The Shadow University," exposed liberals' stranglehold on college campuses. But it wasn't until 10th-grader Sean Allen taped his world geography teacher's rant against President Bush that many Americans woke up to the reality of what is going on in K-12 public schools. During his world geography class, Jay Bennish engaged in a 20 minute tirade against President Bush and America, leading to the unoriginal conclusion that Bush is like Hitler. Coulter writes, "Anyone who uses this adolescent cliché should not be in the tenth grade, much less teaching it." Congratulations, Jay Bennish, this clever observation makes you qualified to replace a nose-pierced barista at Starbucks!
Comparing priests and teachers, Coulter notes, "The worst scandal to hit the real churches in 20 years is the priest child-molestation scandal -- which pales in comparison to the teacher child-molestation problem." By comparing studies done on the number of children sexually abused by priests and those sexually abused by teachers and accounting for unreported cases, Coulter concludes that there are roughly 821 children abused by priests per year and 32,000 children abused by educators per year. Given the increasingly explicit sex-education curriculum foisted on children and the incessant assurance from "experts" like Dr. Jocelyn Elders and U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop that it's OK for children to be sexual beings, it's no wonder that predatory teachers treat them as such.
Much of "Godless" exposes the contempt that liberals have for science, especially as it relates to disproving their religious doctrine. Using their strategy of capitalizing on sympathetic messengers, liberals counter science by parading Christopher Reeves, Michael J. Fox and the Reagan family in order to distract from the evidence favoring adult stem cell research over embryonic stem cell research. Coulter puts together an impressive list of successful achievements using adult stem cells, including repairing spinal cord injuries, treating sickle-cell anemia, restoring bone marrow in cancer patients, restoring eye sight and repairing weakened heart muscles. However, adult stem cell research does lack one crucial element -- it doesn't involve the destruction of life. Coulter writes, "At least embryonic stem-cell researchers have a clear financial incentive to lie about adult stem-cell research. Liberals just want to kill humans. ... Stem-cell research on embryos is an even worse excuse for the slaughter of life than abortion. No woman is even being spared an inconvenience this time."
The final chapters of "Godless" should be required reading for all science classes, much like "Treason" should be required for all American history classes. Coulter illustrates why evolution is so important to the church of liberalism, "Liberals' creation myth is Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which is about one notch above Scientology in scientific rigor. It's a make-believe story, based on a theory that is a tautology, with no proof in the scientist's laboratory or the fossil record -- and that's after 150 years of very determined looking. We wouldn't still be talking about it but for the fact that liberals' think evolution disproves God."
With the help of the ACLU, liberals and their lawsuits have intimidated school districts into teaching evolution or what Coulter calls -- quoting mathematician David Berlinski -- "the last of the 19th century mystery religions." It's the equivalent of pointing and yelling, "Witch!" In Dover, Pa., a small group of parents backed by the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the school district to prevent the teaching of intelligent design in a high school biology class. The judge ruled in their favor and the school district was ordered to pay the plaintiffs' legal fees, in excess of $1 million. Coulter explains, "After Dover, no school district will dare breathe a word about 'intelligent design,' unless they want to risk being bankrupted by ACLU lawsuits. The Darwinists have saved the secular sanctity of their temples: the public schools. They didn't win on science, persuasion, or the evidence. They won the way liberals always win: by finding a court to hand them everything they want on a silver platter."
For those of us who had to endure countless viewings of "Inherit the Wind" when biology teachers had a hangover and needed the lights off, Coulter gives the true history behind the Scopes trial in Dayton, Tenn. This phony trial was conceived by civic leaders and the ACLU, who agreed upfront to pay for costs incurred by the defense and the prosecution. Coulter writes, "The rest of Tennessee was not so thrilled with Dayton's public relations stunt. Chattanooga Congressman Foster V. Brown summarized the whole affair when he said the trial was 'not a fight for evolution or against evolution, but a fight against obscurity.'"
Liberals weren't the first to use Darwinism to justify a political movement. After reading "The Origin of Species," Karl Marx wrote, "This is the book which contains the basis in natural history for our views." Coulter writes, "While Marx saw the 'struggle' as among classes, Hitler conceived of the struggle as among the races. 'Mein Kampf' means 'My Struggle,' which Hitler described in unmistakably Darwinian terms."
From Darwinism to Nazism to Liberalism -- finally, some proof in favor of evolution!
In the mockumentary, "This is Spinal Tap," one of the band members points out to a journalist that while most amp volume knobs go to 10, theirs go to 11. To borrow from the philosophy of Spinal Tap, Godless is Coulter at 11 -- at her funniest and most insightful. In "How to Talk to Liberal (If You Must)," Coulter writes, "People don't get angry when lies are told about them; they get angry when the truth is told about them." Perhaps the best compliment one can give to "Godless" is that it will totally enrage liberals.
I like mad liberals. It's very funny.
Coulter Says Book Examines 'Mental Disorder' of Liberalism
by Lisa De Pasquale
In an exclusive interview with HUMAN EVENTS, Ann Coulter explains what motivated her to write her just-released book Godless: The Church of Liberalism (Crown Forum, 2006), how faith played a role, what "virtues" the Church of Liberalism promotes and much more.
What led you to write Godless: The Church of Liberalism?
It's the third of a trilogy. Slander was about liberals' methods, Treason was about the political consequences of liberalism, and Godless is about the underlying mental disease that creates liberalism.
How did your own faith contribute to your book's premise?
Although my Christianity is somewhat more explicit in this book, Christianity fuels everything I write. Being a Christian means that I am called upon to do battle against lies, injustice, cruelty, hypocrisy—you know, all the virtues in the church of liberalism. As St. Paul said, if Christ is not risen from the dead, then eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
How do you think Godless will be received by conservatives? How about liberals?
Hmmmm, well, I think conservatives will say, "Oh I see. They're Godless. Now I understand liberals." Liberals will say, "Who-less"?
In Godless, you mention that a far greater number of children are sexually abused each year by educators than by priests. You also write about the sex-education programs in public schools. What suggestions do you have for parents on dealing with these issues?
As an emergency measure: home school. As a long term solution: encourage your home-schooled children to become public school teachers and destroy the temple of liberalism.
A large portion of the book addresses the left's contempt for science. Why do you think the left is uneasy with the scientific facts you discuss regarding AIDS, gender differences, IQ and embryonic and adult stem-cell research?
Because science is not susceptible to their crying and hysterics.
Why do you think the left uses mouthpieces like Cindy Sheehan and Max Cleland to advance their message?
So they can engage in crying and hysterics and hope this will prevent us from responding.
George Clooney said that it was difficult making his movie Good Night and Good Luck because so many people had read your book, Treason, which exposed the truth about Soviet agents in the U.S. government and exonerated Sen. Joseph McCarthy. What impact do you hope Godless will have on the political scene and people's misconceptions about evolution?
I would like evolution to join the roster of other discredited religions, like the Cargo Cult of the South Pacific. Practitioners of Cargo Cult believed that manufactured products were created by ancestral spirits, and if they imitated what they had seen the white man do, they could cause airplanes to appear out of the sky, bringing valuable cargo like radios and TVs. So they constructed "airport towers" out of bamboo and "headphones" out of coconuts and waited for the airplanes to come with the cargo. It may sound silly, but in defense of the Cargo Cult, they did not wait as long for evidence supporting their theory as the Darwinists have waited for evidence supporting theirs.
You frequently write about liberals' using the courts to advance their agenda. Should conservatives start doing the same by electing and embracing conservative activist judges?
Only long enough to get liberals to admit that judicial activism isn't so much fun when the rabbit has the gun.
As a popular speaker on college campuses, you've become very familiar with the "apple-polishers" and their liberal professors. What can conservative students do to combat liberalism on their campuses?
I recommend bringing a tape-recorder to class, taking lots of notes and then writing a bestselling book like my friend Ben Shapiro's Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth. If every right-wing student reading this wrote a book about his college experience, they would all be bestsellers because normal Americans will not believe what is happening on college campuses across America.
What do you enjoy most about your life as a best-selling author and columnist? What do you enjoy the least?
Enjoy most: the prospect of having an impact on the public debate. Irritating liberals is a close second. Enjoy least: the travel.
In your column following the terrorist attacks on September 11, you revealed that when you wrote your columns, you pictured Ted and Barbara Olson reading them at their breakfast table. How does having such a specific audience help you while writing?
When I was writing High Crimes and Misdemeanors, the magnificent writer Joe Sobran gave me the greatest advice a writer could ever get. I called him in desperation, because I was pulling my hair out trying to write the Whitewater chapter. I explained to him that the reason Whitewater was so hard to write about was that the financial transactions comprising Whitewater were incredibly complicated—and they were complicated for a reason: to hide what was really going on. After I whined for about five minutes about how impossible this made it to explain the scandal, Joe told me to write down exactly what I had just said to him—in fact, to write the entire chapter like I was writing an e-mail to him. I did, and the Economist (written by the only economists on earth who liked Hillary's health care plan) described it as one of the clearest explanations of the Whitewater scandal out there.
So now I write everything like I'm e-mailing one of my friends—often a friend I've been arguing with about whatever I am writing. I think the writing is better, and it's a lot more fun.
Also, I noticed that when I e-mailed my friends asking them to explain some point of law to me so I could put it in my book, I'd get a lot of convoluted jargon that read like an 18th-Century legal brief. But when I sent them an e-mail casually asking, "Hey, what do you think of William Ginsberg [Monica Lewinsky's attorney]?" I would get back some of the most beautiful prose ever written. So I recommend to all writers that they write like they're sending an e-mail to a friend—or enemy, for some really punchy writing.
What books do you look forward to reading this summer?
I think I'll just keep reading Godless over and over again. I love it so!
Was in the US last week visiting relatives and stumbled on a great book at a Virginia shopping center. 'The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades)' by Robert Spencer. Great reading and very enlightening....Five stars from me.
I got to check that one out.
For Father's Day, I got my Dad the books Gulag by Anne Applebaum, Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose, and Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden. Probably have to wait until I visit my folks to read them myself. :-D
Thraxas, do your parents still live down here?
Yes.
I just finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince...
I saw the ending coming, but I hoped it wouldn't go the way it did. Oh well...
I must be the only person in the world who hasn't read Harry Potter. 8-)
Thraxas, are you coming down anytime soon? I would be cool to hook up for dinner or lunch. Like old times.
Wasn't planning on it to be honest with you. That could change though. I'll let you know. :-D
I'm reading Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson. It takes place in a post economic/social collapse world, a second dark age is you will. I'm barely into the book, just into the 100s, but its been a quality read so far. The main character undertakes a journey from the great lake states to Montana to reach his brother's ranch to ensure some degree of safety. Along the way, he is befirended by a wolf, from which he learns a few things about surviving on his own. Right now, he's been taken on as another hand for a travelling peddler. So far, I'd recommend it.
I recently started reading Stephen R. Donaldson's "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" series continued. This is the first of a new 4 book series which describes the journey of Linden Avery's return to "The Land".
I enjoyed the first 3 books starting w/"Lord Foul's Bane", so interested to see where this story leads.
I just finished 110 People Who Are Screwing Up America, by Bernard Goldstein. An excellent read...
This countdown of the vast left-wing conspiracy is from the author of BIAS and ARROGANCE, Bernard Goldberg. His selections come from Congress, Hollywood, the airwaves (or cable), journalism, academia, and sometimes everyday life. They include Bill Moyers, Dan Rather, Eminem, Michael Jackson, Barbara Walters, Barbra Streisand, Noam Chomsky (of course), Phil Donahue (of course), and, at number six, Jimmy Carter. Others are perhaps less well known known, like Katha Pollitt and Ted Rall. And the winner--number one on the list--is, of course, Michael Moore. Goldberg also includes a few names who are not what he considers ultra-liberal, like Jimmy Swaggart, David Duke, and Michael Savage. But he draws his list of problematic souls primarily from the left side of the aisle. Goldberg is sometimes downright funny as he explains exactly why he would cast people he sees as smug, PC hypocrites into the various circles of hell. At other times, he is full of serious outrage, elucidating how, individually and as a group, they undermine everything Americans hold dear.
Check out Myths, Lies And Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel--why Everything You Know Is Wrong by John Stossel
An interesting read!
Game Cooking: From the field to the grill
Awesome book! Shows you how to field dress a varity of game and how to make chipmunk dumplins. :-D
Man I bet those are tough to field dress!
Al Franken's landmark bestseller, "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right"
Man, you are just ASKING for it! :-)
But I like that...Welcome to our forum!
Yeah, Al Franken has a real reputation of being fair and balanced. I love it when the left has someone like him for a mouth piece. Speak louder Al you help the right everytime you do.
Poke..poke.. Val :-D
Quote from: flew-da-coup on 07-12-2006 -- 05:21:36
Yeah, Al Franken has a real reputation of being fair and balanced. I love it when the left has someone like him for a mouth piece. Speak louder Al you help the right everytime you do.
Poke..poke.. Val :-D
Just kiddin' anyway! That guy drives me nuts...he's worse than Micheal Moore!
Although I am left leaning, it hurts to have such blatantly idiotic and annoying mouthpieces!
I know what you mean. We have plenty of them on the right.
Quote from: flew-da-coup on 07-13-2006 -- 04:35:58
I know what you mean. We have plenty of them on the right.
Pat Robertson only gets bad when he's off his medication... OK, well, maybe he is bad all the time. I talk to God on a fairly regular basis, but I don't have the hotline number like Pat does... :wink:
If you did, you could leg press a ton like Pat says he did. :lol:
I had knee surgery Monday, so right now I feel like a one-legged man in an a$$-kicking contest...
Leg press a ton... Uh huh. Right...
Hey Doc, Walk on your hands like those dudes in the circus do. It will give you a new perspective. If you get mad just start throwing crap around until your wife decides she's had enough and kicks you in the injured knee. Hahaha
Just kidding. I hope you get well soon. I am sure your hopped up on hydrocodone or something better. Be careful with that stuff. Obey your doctor, Doc.
Ironically, no. My doctor asked me if I wanted some Vicodin, and I said no; none of that stuff works for me. Darvoset, Percoset, Vicodin- they all have no effect on pain. I stick with 800mg of Ibuprofen and leave it at that. My wife thinks I'm some kind of "tough guy," but the knee's been screwed up for 30 years, and now that it's fixed, I just have a different pain than I did before. Arthroscopic is the way to go, though. Three minor incisions, minimal swelling, doesn't hurt too much...
whiskey and vicodin causes user-induced comas that is gur-ron-teed to knock out bejesus out of any pain.... :-D
My knee has been a little flakey lately. I hope I don't have to have surgery anytime soon. Right now they just crack real load when I bend them all the way.
Mine was noisy as hell, but I went in for a cyst on the top of the tibia, between the bone and the knee- hurt like hell after an hour of walking behind the lawn mower... The doc was looking at the MRI films and doing the long, low whistle routine, which didn't make me feel any better at all. Then he explained that an hour in surgery would fix everything good as new, and I'd be back to work the next day, no rehab, no physical therapy. They removed the cyst, then scoped the knee to repair bone, cartilidge and tendon damage caused by 30 years of basketball, soccer, roofing, and general mayhem... I'll let you know how it feels in a week or so, but go have yours checked out by a good ortho doc, and see what they say.
That's what happens to Air Forec and Navy knees when they are not to to use and exercised! :-D
They get brittled and stiff!
Hahaha. I guess that's why your head has a clicking sound coming from between the ears. Hahaha. :-D
I wasn't lucky enough to get a Division Officer that was lazy. I had a CWO4 that made us PT and it sucked. Everyone else would laugh at us because we were made to PT in the mornings. By the way, as you guessed my Div.Officer was a Marine. He thought we were marines or something? :? Damn it !! I am a Sailor. I'm not supposed to run around and do 8 count bodybuilders. I guess the Navy thought since we had shore duty that we needed something to remind us that we were still in the military.
I did my PT every day with my boss in Germany- on the raquetball court! The short, overweight master sergeant would stand there in the middle of the court, not even move, while he ran me ragged chasing balls he'd banged into the corners... I'd come away bruised, bleeding, and sweating like a Happy Valley garbage collector, while he was dry as a desert and breathing normally... 'Course, he was my boss, so I had to let him win! :wink:
Yeah, I just left a joint command (MALS-24 in HI) and our SGTMAJ and CMC used to bang heads all the time. Whenever we would go on humps the sailors would too. And our PT runs where brutal, even as a Marine! My SGTMAJ thing was that you're at a Marine Command so when in Rome...Plus he was a Force Recon Marine working with a bunch of air wing pogues! :-D We diffently had the most in-shape squids! :mrgreen:
Now the Chair force....... :oops:
Quote from: PMEL_DEVIL-DOG on 07-13-2006 -- 14:56:05
Now the Chair force....... :oops:
Hey, I had to do PT...in basic! Hard to fit in, between lattes and lap dances! :lol:
The track we ran PT on at Lackland was nice and flat, no hills, bushes, trees, rocks, and at 5:30 in the morning, a nice, comfortable temperature. We were always a little winded after a grueling mile and a half, but the air conditioned chow hall helped a lot during breakfast...
Our sister flight next door in the dormitory did lap dances to raise extra money for charities- very convenient, and you really felt like the money went to good causes... :wink:
You Marine guys experienced something different than that in Basic?!? Must've been awful...
Quote from: docbyers on 07-14-2006 -- 13:23:20
Our sister flight next door in the dormitory did lap dances to raise extra money for charities- very convenient, and you really felt like the money went to good causes... :wink:
The problem with the sister flight was that they smelled as bad as we did! I remember in week 4 when they finally got into blues and makeup...it was like I hadn't seen a woman in months! Kinda like the TDY thing. A deployed 1 soon becomes a 8 for lack of competition.
Back on topic, finished reading Stephen R. Donaldson's latest...have to go back and start the whole Chronicles over again.
They didn't have women on our base when I was in boot camp. Back then it was called the military and the girls went to a seperate base for boot camp "Lite". Those were the good ole days when men were men and the girls weren't allowed in combat. I don't think I would fair to well watching females in the same boot camp doing less of a workout than me.
"How to kill a Mockingbird....with a Sledgehammer! :-D
With a Remington 1100 12ga.
I started Reading The Rings of the Master series by Jack L. Chalker. It's been pretty good so far. It's a four book series in which mankind is locked into it's more primitive times by a computer to prevent the destruction of mankind. It follows the path of an American Indian and A Chinese highborn on their path to release mankind from the rigid control of the system and its minions. The rings refered to in the series title are five rings with microcircuitry in them to shut down the Master Control system. If the rest of the series holds up to the first book, it will prove to be a good read.
I just finished Godless: The Church of Liberalism, by Ann Coulter. A good read, and very educational!
Conservative high priestess Ann Coulter continues to excoriate liberals in books with one-word titles. This time her focus is on the sins of the Left, and particularly its views on religion in general and on those who believe, as well as its positions on church-state relations. Coulter argues that liberalism is very much like a church, with a hierarchy, priests, mysteries, acolytes, and its own explanation for everything in the universe. She is in her most Inquisitional mode, and her many fans will appreciate her rhetoric and cheer her on., Conservative high priestess Ann Coulter continues to excoriate liberals in books with one-word titles. This time her focus is on the sins of the Left, and particularly its views on religion in general and on those who believe, as well as its positions on church-state relations. Coulter argues that liberalism is very much like a church, with a hierarchy, priests, mysteries, acolytes, and its own explanation for everything in the universe. She is in her most Inquisitional mode, and her many fans will appreciate her rhetoric and cheer her on. (GODLESS became an immediate bestseller upon publication in June, 2006 helped along by the book's headline-making comments about a group of 9/11 widows and a public row with Hillary Clinton.)