What Do You Read?

I had a friend on Facebook ask me this morning how anyone - regardless of political stripe - can determine whom reads what.

Do only Leftists read Marx?

Do only people on the Right read Ayn Rand?

While considering ways to approach this topic, I was reminded of David Fincher's film Seven - particularly the scene where Morgan Freeman employs the skills of an FBI friend who can get him a list of books checked out by people in the New York area. This list is of "flagged" text like Mien Kampf, one the books on Loughner's "favorites" list from his YouTube page.

In the scene, Brad Pitt's character mentions that they could end up catching a college kid doing a research project. To me, that rang true when looking through Loughner's list. Not in so much as I thought he was trying to learn from texts by Plato, Orwell, or Marx - as he is almost certainly not interesting in the actual context of these works so much as he is searching for validation.

But the question still stands - if you walked into someone's home and glanced over at their bookshelf and saw books on Communism, books on the possible cover-up of events prior and leading up to Sept. 11th 2001, as works by Mark Twain, Ayn Rand, and Glenn Beck would you be able to determine whether or not they were aligned politically Left or Right?

Most certainly not.

What is evident from the reactions of pundit, journalists, and even the average citizen in America that is actively following the continually unfolding events surrounding Loughner is that they either have little interesting in learning about him and what transpired between his first meeting with Rep. Giffords in 2007 and his assassination attempt last Saturday, or they are wanting to know everything about those years and those prior.

As much as many on the Left are far too focused on making this simply about Palin, those on the Right are equally as - if not more - guilty of making themselves the "victims" while ignoring Loughner's motives.

It is true that books hold power, but it's a power that can be used for good or for evil. Highlighting the Communist Manifesto as proof positive that Loughner was a Leftist is pure folly without careful consideration and analysis of all the elements that surround what happened before to Loughner before he pulled the trigger.

A Problem With Co-Opting Black Culture

Has anyone noticed the great "interest" that Glenn Beck is taking in members of the black community? Recently on his Fox"News" program he had a panel of all-black "conservaties" that spoke out against Obama and his policies. It didn't take a Rhodes scholar to realize what Beck was really doing. But now, he's taking it a step further.

I am drafting plans now to bring us back to an America that our founders would understand. … We need to start thinking like the Chinese. I’m developing a 100 year plan for America. A 100 year plan. We will plant this idea and it will sprout roots.

Thinking like the Chinese? Really? And this from the man that recently lambasted people for simply quoting Mao.

Beck's rallying cry was heard within the friendly confines of the retirement-community-for-wingnuts known as The Villages.

So what does this have to do with black culture and black history? Beck's proposed rally at the Lincoln Memorial just happens to be the anniversary of another speech that took place there - one that had much more significance to this nation than anything Beck could ever conceive of.

On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.

Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech was given on that day.

So here we have a conspiratorial, reactionary, serial fabricator promoting a book and saying that we need to think more like the Chinese. Sounds like Beck is the one that is in love with Mao.

More from Think Progress.

Pallin' Around With Oprah And Sarah

According to the almight Oprah, her interview with Sarah Palin really touched all the bases and should be a fantastic program - airing next Monday.

And while there will likely be dish on things like Trig, David Letterman, Levi, and what it was like to be a Rougey-Mavericky on the campaign trail last year, I wouldn't expect there to be any great discussion on policy - it's not really Palin's strong suit.

But this is standard fare for Oprah's interviewing techniques. She's ridiculously famous and snags all the "top names", but isn't exactly known to have truly hard-hitting interviews. In that regard, Palin is likely to get the treatment she believes she so richly deserves - a softball format only rivaled by the ego sucking droogies at Fox"News". But Oprah had a chance to do this right, as the interview was pretaped this week. I wonder if Palin required that she be able to sign-off on audience members?

So what's in the book anyway?

Kieth Olbermann tackled this on last night's Countdown.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

No index, eh? Are their footnotes?

Considering the auspices under what this furture tome that conservatives will be quoting for at least the next 5 years, I'm doubting the later.

I'm going to be watching the interview, but my expectations are set rather low, as yours should be as well.

Double Teamed

Is anyone suprised that The Bush Twins were hell on wheels?



Now you can read all about it.

President George W. Bush's twin daughters were a Secret Service nightmare, a new book claims.
Jenna and Barbara Bush would pull every trick imaginable to lose their security detail it has been claimed.

'Jenna would purposely try to lose her protection by going through red lights or by jumping in her car without telling agents where she was going,' author Ronald Kessler writes in 'In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect.'

Of course, none of this is suprising. When conservatives cut loose, they cut loose. Whether it be binge drinking in Mexico, picking up hookers outside the 7/11 on weekends, wearing diapers while you are getting banged by a tranny in Cabo, or snorting lines of crank off the bare ass of a 17 year old Puerto Rican, you can be guaranteed that the people that present themselves as purer than others are tainted beyond belief.

Levi's Literature

Apparently Levi Johnston can write too:

THE battle between Levi Johnston and Sarah Palin isn't over yet. Johnston -- best known for impregnating the former vice-presidential candidate's daughter, Bristol -- "is shopping a book," his bodyguard/publicist, Tank, tells New York magazine. And it seems the book will focus on the Wasilla, Alaska, political family. "There are still many untold stories about the Palins," he said. Until the tell-all is released, though, Johnston is considering "a leading role" in a movie and a possible upcoming TV "docu-drama."

And when your source is "Tank" then you know you've got some solid intel on the Palin clan.

Seriously, can these people get any more white-trash without all moving into a trailer?

With Palin's recent threats about filing suit against any and all that defame or slander her and her family, is this really the move that Levi wants to take? Moreover, if he wants to have a more active role in his child's life, he needs to at least maintain a modest amount of civility.

While this book - hopefully written in something other than crayon - will likely cater to those that are more concerned with what sexual position Bristol favored than what life was like dating the daugher of a political figure, it's a safe bet that publishing houses will pay top dollar for this no matter how poorly it is written.

Teh Ghey Sexor Caused Me Brain-Pan To Itch

This story out of West Bend, Wisconsin is just the type of nonsense that Bill O'Reilly would love to showcase on his Fox"News" show:

There is a little dustup going on in the town of West Bend, Wisconsin. The local bluenoses noticed that there are books that discuss human sexuality in the library — and some of them are even written for teenagers! Teenagers, of course, never think about sex and have no interest in the subject unless some vile prurient publication stirs them up, so the crusaders for purity are stridently demanding that these books be removed from view.

One particular target of their fury is a book by Francesca Lia Block, Baby Be-Bop, which commits the sin of writing positively about young gay men and negatively about gay bashing. A group called the Christian Civil Liberties Union has filed suit over the book, since it exists at the library, and they don't like it.

One would think that you couldn't use the term "Civil Liberties" in conjunction with "Christian", but it seems they feel their "liberties" are in danger. Not only that, but they are filing suit and claim that their "emotional" and "mental well-being" were damaged.

The Milwaukee branch of the Christian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) has filed a legal claim that says a book that is available in the West Bend Community Memorial Library is offensive.

Robert C. Braun of West Allis, Joseph Kogelmann of Milwaukee, Robert Brough of West Bend and the Rev. Cleveland Eden of Milwaukee, representing the Milwaukeebased group, filed the claim with the city of West Bend clerk's office.

Named in the claim are the city of West Bend, Mayor Kristine Deiss, the West Bend Library Board and Library Director Michael Tyree. The group is seeking $30,000 per plaintiff, Deiss’ resignation and a racist book be removed and publicly burned or destroyed as a deterrent to repeating the offensive conduct, the claim states.

I find it hard to believe that a group of "elderly Christians" were at the library one day and suddenly fell over in a seizure brought on by a book simply sitting on the shelf.

Did they read it? Was it encoded with some hidden message that, when read, caused the reader to have this sudden urge to kill?



And what of all the other books in the library that discuss sex? Why they don't count. It's perfectly alright to have books - some written by " respectiblepeople" - that talk about "straight sex".

The logic, or lack thereof, of this group decrying the use of taxpayer money for this book baffling. Where do they think they are going to get their $30K for each "victim".

( h/t to Yellow Dog )

Everyone Loves Books

Definately getting this one with my Barnes and Noble gift card.



What did you get for Christmas?

Chuck Palahniuk's New Book

Already being touted as a hybrid of The Manchurian Candidate and South Park, look for Palahniuk's new book to hit stands May of next year.

Here's the write-up from Amazon.com

“Begins here first account of operative me, agent number 67 on arrival midwestern American airport greater _____ area. Flight _____. Date _____. Priority mission top success to complete. Code name: Operation Havoc.”

Thus speaks Pygmy, one of a handful of young adults from a totalitarian state sent to the United States, disguised as exchange students, to live with typical American families and blend in, all the while planning an unspecified act of massive terrorism. Palahniuk depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of this thoroughly indoctrinated little killer, who hates us with a passion, in this cunning double-edged satire of an American xenophobia that might, in fact, be completely justified. For Pygmy and his fellow operatives are cooking up something big, something truly awful, that will bring this big dumb country and its fat dumb inhabitants to their knees.

It's a comedy.

I'm Going To Tell On You

Naturally, if you are a high-level member of an exiting Presidential administration, you've got to get your book-deal on.

Karl Rove's new book ( I'm not certain of the title, but it's probably going to be something like If You Don't Like George Bush Then You're A Baby Killer ) that he apparently wrote in between guest appearances on various Fox"News" shows and allegedly spending time with his family is going to have a "list". It's a list of people that weren't nice to his friend, George.

It's probably going to be long list.

Rove states that...

“There were people who never accepted the legitimacy of George W. Bush and acted accordingly,”

Also reserved for between the covers of Rove’s book is his checklist of the “great many of the political actors in this town (who) never accepted him as a legitimate president.”

“I’ve got behind-the-scenes episodes that are going to show how unreceiving they were of this man as president of the United States,” Rove said, adding: “I’m going to name names and show examples.”

More here from the Statesman website.

Thankfully, this will only be a list of people that work "in Washington". Had this been an open-ended list, you would be better off going out and purchasing a phonebook for every state.

You Mean You Actually Take Jonah Goldberg Seriously?!?!

The Doughy Pantload - known to his "friends" as Jonah Golberg - is bad enough by himself.

Not content with knowing the definitions behind the labels he likes to toss out at people - the latest word that he is throwing around is Facism - he prefers to just make up definitions as he goes along.

Even if well recorded history proves him wrong again, and again, and again, he just keeps it up.

Here's an excerpt from his latest collection of pages with words on them, Liberal Facism:

To sort of start the story, the reason why we see fascism as a thing of the right is because fascism was originally a form of right-wing socialism. Mussolini was born a socialist, he died a socialist, he never abandoned his love of socialism, he was one of the most important socialist intellectuals in Europe and was one of the most important socialist activists in Italy, and the only reason he got dubbed a fascist and therefore a right-winger is because he supported World War I.

Really?

I mean, it's just that I was under the assumption that Mussolini was a "facist" because he founded the "Facist" party.

He even gave a speech about this book to a gathering of the Heritage Foundation. But, those guys don't know what their talking about anyway - it was his kind of crowd.

But, Golberg's revisionist history aside - what's REALLY scary is when people start taking his socio-political diatribes seriously. Take, for instance, this character who reads Liberal Facism and then - apparently - has this epiphany while watching the movie Wall-E:

I am about two thirds of the way through Liberal Fascism (brilliant, by the way, and utterly absorbing), and so I find myself in “spot the Fascist” mode in just about everything I do – especially in regards to popular culture and movies

uh, oh - here we go....

Your dissection of the fascistic elements in “Dead Poet’s Society”, for example, really raised my eyebrows, as I have always really enjoyed the movie and know it quite well, but was not previously equipped to notice those sort of elements.

Dead Poets Society?!?! Really? Oh, Jesus....

I took my kids to see “Wall-E” over the weekend, and although I really did enjoy the movie, I was at various points struck by what I perceived as strongly fascists elements in the story and the aesthetics. Possibly I am REALLY over-reaching, ...

Gee, ya think so?

thanks to the fact that I am still tripping out over your book’s eye-opening thesis, but some elements seemed to fall right into the aesthetic and political traits you cite so often in LF:

Oh, I'm trippin-out man! Seriously, I'm buggin the fuck out! You've opened my eyes to so much shit, it's unreal man!

Get a fucking grip on yourself. You sound like Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now.

1) The entire issue of environmental concern and crises mongering, which pervades the movie, although admittedly in a fairly good-natured form that tends to avoid being preachy

2) The portrayal of the corporate consumer world as bad, with its attendant “system” that lulls the populace into a stupor, and which is then countered by the back-to-the-soil, making-it-real rebellion lead by the Captain after his spiritual awakening learning about the tribal roots of human society.

3) The use of the color red to mark those who have experienced liberation from the “system”

4) The mass rally on the Lido deck near the end of the movie, with its ordered ranks of humans staring up in awe at the Captain as he fights the system, and the green banners flying all around them as they do.

5) Eve shaking off her programmed directives and getting in touch with her emotional, passionate inner self when she sets out to save Wall-E.

Oh, my, God......you're still going, aren't you?

There were other things that tingled my “fascist sense”, or whatever, although I can’t immediately recall what they were.

Just picturing this guy, or Jonah, in a spiderman suit is about to make me loose my Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers...............ugh.

Are we done yet............oh, we're not.

I’m only asking out of mild curiosity, and am certainly not suggesting Wall-E is some sort of propaganda, or whatever. It’s a pretty enjoyable movie, and my kids had a ball, and I don’t think anything evil will come from its influence on them. But still, these things struck me immediately, as I was watching the film, and would love to get your feedback on them.

Do I just have a case of LF hangover? Or are these, in fact, fascistic elements that I’m seeing?

Seriously? You really want to ask that question?

Thanks! And keep writing – LF is a fantastic book; I just bought my dad one for his birthday. He’s a Kennedy liberal who fancies himself a compassionate conservative. Can’t wait to get his reaction it!

Well, it might not work as well as quilte Charmin, but i'm sure he will love it - thanks.

Wait......

I have to stop and breathe for a second. Ok, it's passed.

If you want a simple, short, direct answer to this - just read what Andrew Stanton says of the film in his interview with Christianity Today writer Mark Moring:

I wasn't trying to make the humans into fat, lazy consumers, but to make humanity appear to be completely consumed by everything that can distract you—to the point where they lost connection with each other, even though they're right next to each other. The reason I made them look like big babies was because a NASA guy told me that they haven't yet simulated gravity perfectly for long-term residency in space. And if they don't get it just right, atrophy kicks in and you begin to lose your muscle tone—you just turn into a blob of goo. For a while, that's what I did with the humans in the movie; they were just big blobs of Jell-O. But it was so bizarre, we had to pull it back. So I said, well, let's just make them look like big babies. That's where all that came from.

I wasn't trying to make some sort of mean-spirited comment on consumerism or today's society. I was going with just the logic of what would happen if you were in a perpetual vacation with no real purpose in life. So I went with the idea that we'd become sort of big babies with no reason to grow up. I definitely saw humanity as victims of this system that they were in. They were just big babies that needed to stand on their own two feet.

The last thing I'm going to do is try to make a message movie!

That last part is pretty important.

To say that movies don't have messages is pretty stupid in and of itself. To claim that there is a hidden "bad" message ( which is what conservatives think is the definition of "facist" - just anything that is "bad", I mean, how fucking vague can you get ) is an even worse thing to do. But, that doesn't stop people like the alleged "reader" from sending Jonah Golberg emails about Facist movies directed at children.

I bet you it was just a letter that Goldberg wrote himself and tried to pass it off as some rabid fan that is in some sort of stalker-style love.

Ugh, I need a shower now.

So, You're A Fan Of Conservative Talk Radio?

Conservative talk-radio has a very unique mystique to it. It tempts you to listen to it, mainly because the more prominent and 'powerful' in it's ranks prefer to use divisiveness, hate, fear, and often racism, to get their points across. But hey, those are often seen as the building-blocks of the conservative movement.

Today, I discovered this book:

Written by veteran media critic and Emmy winner Rory O'Connor, Shock Jocks features unsparing profiles of the ten worst conservative radio talkers in America, including Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus and the rest. Shock Jocks highlights the politicized and often factually challenged world of talk radio that dominates a sizable portion of America's airwaves, and shows how misogyny, racism, and utter contempt for other human beings is disguised as “free speech”. This scathing account also details the progressive alternatives fighting for airtime, and what you can do to help.

If you live in small-town America - like I do - you're more than likely not going to find this book at your local library. However, you are more apt to find books written by the people that this book is about.

Interesting.

Summer Reading Suggestions : Brotherood of the Diappearing Pants

If you're a political junkie - as I've found myself becoming more and more over the last few years - you've either got your favorite satirical author(s) or your still trying to find them. Al Franken is great, but there's just something missing from his work. Not to demphasize what he has done and continues to do, but I guess Al's just starting to get a little predictable. Right now my two favoirte authors are Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer, authors of -



Here's a brief synopsis.

In the months prior to the 2006 midterm elections, a series of scandals rocked the Republican Party, which helped set the stage for the vigorous undressing that the GOP ultimately received at the hands of Nancy Pelosi and company. Along with the President's own feckless foreign policy, this guilt-by-association helped turn a tsunami tide of public sentiment against the administration and its party. The party was undoubtedly hurt most (at least as far as scandals are concerned) by Congressman Mark Foley's tireless efforts both to establish a national child predator database and to keep his own name off of it. Foley managed to drown an already foundering party — proving for the umpteenth time that when it comes to politics, there's nothing that the public remembers and reacts to quite like a lurid sex scandal. But while Foley's prominence thrust the story into the media spotlight, his is just the tip of a very large, very phallic iceberg. Indeed, there's far more to the conservative creep-fest than the high-profile Foley scandal, Clarence Thomas's Dadaistic come-ons, and Bill O'Reilly's many chickpea-related indiscretions. It's enough, at least, to fill a book.

I just started this book last night and I'm certain I will have it completed tonight.

In an era where far too many people take themselves far too seriously, it's nice to have author's like Amann and Breuer to cut through all the self-agrandization and bullshit in order to put things into perspective.

They are also the authors of:

Fair and Balanced My Ass

Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly

and they both run Sweet Jesus I hate Bill O'Reilly.com.

Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove

I'm a big fan of poltics now.

Not sure how this all came to be. I think it was somewhere around the 2004 election after I had moved back to my hometown, cleaned-up, and started to get my life back on track when I noticed how much George W. Bush's "America" sucked. There was nothing that made me think that I had it any better in Bush's "America", but I was smart enough to see that many people had it worse.

Now, some would say that I 'hate' America for saying such things. Well, it's those same people that deify George W. Bush on a daily basis. And, those same people really don't give a second thought about people like you, or me, and just about anyone that doesn't eagerly lick the dirt from their boots.





Tomorrow, a new book about one of the men ( if not THE man ) that created George W. Bush. This book on Rove will be a great read for those that want to get inside the mind of the man the Conservative movement labeled 'The Architect' and the man that others called 'Bush's Brain'.

Of course, you're also guaranteed to hear lots of people ( read: Fox"News" ) defending him and trying to create an aura of good-will and 'patriotism' around him. I'm sure that it will start tonight, if it hasn't already.

You can read and excerpt here.

It's been stated that Rove once claimed of Bush, "That man could be President". Of course, the folly of that statement was that he shouldn't have been.



KARL ROVE SPEAKING ABOUT HIS INVOLVEMENT/LACK THEREOF IN THE Don Siegelman CASE