I have some good book news and some bad book news. Bad news first: After all the months of waiting, Backwoods Home received two advance copies of Hardyville Tales this week. Uh oh. Something went wrong in the layout that makes the books difficult to read. The Duffys are considering various options. The book will find its way into all our hands. But there could be further delay. 🙁 But … the good news: Carl Bussjaeger, a long-time, hard-working friend of liberty who wrote the SF novel Net Assets has put the sequel online. You can satisfy your good-book jones…
2 CommentsMonth: September 2010
Good CounterPunch op-ed on why the “peace” president, the “openness” president, and the “dissent is patriotic” president is sending the FBI to terrorize anti-war organizers, calling the peace activists terrorist supporters. Hm. Barry Ritholtz is just discovering that the left-right political divide is bogus. He now sez it’s us vs corporations. Getting closer to the truth there, Barry. But still missing the point. Question (and A Clue) for ya: What’s the biggest corporate body in the whole, entire world? How come, in all the many articles about the CIA’s drone war in Afghanistan, nobody ever, ever, ever, ever, ever asks…
9 CommentsOkay, I realize I’m posting more blogstuff today than in the average week lately (four so far). But when you click on the link you’ll see why this news simply can’t wait a day longer! As soon as I receive my author’s copies, I’ll be paying off a few book debts I incurred last spring.
15 CommentsAccording to the New York Times (boldface and sarcastic remarks mine): Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone. … Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The…
3 CommentsWow. The census snoops are still snooping around? I thought that was over for now. But no, Ted Dunlap just had to draw his line in the sand. Good going, Ted. Hope you’ll keep us posted about what happens — and I hope nothing does. For the record, I never saw a census taker this year. While I was still living in the desert fifth-wheel, one showed up early in the spring, weeks before city folks got their forms in the mail, and left a form in a bag on the door. Made a nice litter bag, while the form…
9 CommentsHaving gotten the living room of my new (old) house to the point where I can sit in it without itching to paint something, I’m now tearing into the kitchen — a much bigger, more serious job. And a job on which I could use some advice from you more experienced wood-workers. Although the house is more than 100 years old, it had its last remodel somewhere in the late 1950s. Since then, all anybody has done is paint over the 50s stuff. I’ve decided to keep the 50s look, partly because it makes me laugh and partly because it’s…
16 CommentsInteresting idea. The Sabbath Manifesto is ten simple steps to fulfill one simple, ancient idea: on the seventh day, rest. The specific steps are behind the above link. And here’s more on the whys and whos behind the movement. The Sabbath Manifesto is by and for Jews, but there’s nothing in it that would preclude us non-Jews from adopting or adapting it. I think it’s a great idea. A year or two ago, I even set about to “do” a broader concept of Sabbath — rest and renew every seventh day, every seventh week, and every seventh month. I knew…
6 CommentsThe Bad Attitude Guide to Good Citizenship is DONE! Well, except for the afterword, which I’m going to redo and turn in next week. Other than that — it’s done and submitted to Paladin Press. Just looked to see when the first email arrived from Donna at Paladin proposing the project.A month ago today. From zero to completed manuscript (about 2/5 new material, 3/5 compiled columns — but even those had to be edited and updated, so still quite a project) in exactly one month. Whew! (Ulp. I also just realized, in re-reading Donna’s first message, that I didn’t really…
11 CommentsFueled by coffee (which I rarely drink, being a tea wuss), I just spent the evening not working on the Paladin book and am now about to get back to those almost-final polishings. Meantime I enjoyed an excellent noir thriller which is as much a meditation on love, loss, regret, memory, and obsession as it is a murder mystery. The Secret in Their Eyes. It won this year’s Best Foreign-Language Picture Oscar — one of the few times I think I might agree with the Academy voters on a foreign film (they usually vote too politically correct or two just-plain-sappy…
10 CommentsThe Paladin book is going into final edit before going off to the publisher and a S.W.A.T. magazine deadline looms this week. So the brain is a bit crowded right now (and that’s without … well, other stuff going on that involves three driven-to-distraction dogs and an overwhelmed but surprisingly calm guest kitty; more on that later). But, with a little help from my friends, here’s a bit of blogitude: Via Sam (thank you): What happens when an American traveler calmly refuses to answer questions upon his reentry into the “homeland.” Bold blogger, that guy. Larken Rose, who last time…
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