Review: Guerrilla Politician: The #1 Guide in America for 3rd Party Candidates

4 Star, Democracy
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

David Lory Vanderbeek

4.0 out of 5 stars Rough around the edges, useful starting point, March 12, 2015

This book is rough around the edges and overlooks prior works by others with the same level of patriotism and hard-earned experience. It is however very timely, very honest, very much on point, and I therefore recommend it without reservation.

Continue reading “Review: Guerrilla Politician: The #1 Guide in America for 3rd Party Candidates”

Review: Unstoppable – The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State

4 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Capitalism (Good & Bad), Congress (Failure, Reform), Corruption, Crime (Corporate), Democracy, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization)
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Ralph Nader

4.0 out of 5 stars Valentine for the Real Conservatives — Bland and Not Transformative, March 9, 2015

Positive up front: reading a book by another person is like getting a few hours of their time to yourself, so any book by Ralph Nader is a substantive value to anyone interested in ethics and governance. However, this is not the transformative book I was hoping for, and I even have to wonder if all the great minds providing blurbs even read the book. For the long critique of this book, which I totally embrace, see Herbert Calhoun's 3-star review, This is Both an Accurate and a Useful Treatise, But …?, October 25, 2014. I'd like to see it voted up, Mr. Calhoun, whom I have had the privilege of meeting at Amphoras in Vienna, is one of the most intelligent and broadly read individuals I have ever encountered.

Second positive up front: in terms of inspiring generations of independent thinkers some of whom have become thought leaders in their own right, Ralph Nader is special. Jim Turner — co-author with Lawrence Chickering of Voice of the People: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life and Theresa Amato, whose own book Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny contributed to my radicalization, stand out.

Continue reading “Review: Unstoppable – The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State”

Review (Guest): American Coup – How a Terrified Government Is Destroying the Constitution

4 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Atrocities & Genocide, Censorship & Denial of Access, Congress (Failure, Reform), Corruption, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Culture, Research, Democracy, Economics, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Impeachment & Treason, Intelligence (Government/Secret), Justice (Failure, Reform), Military & Pentagon Power, Misinformation & Propaganda, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Public Administration, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, True Cost & Toxicity, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized)

cover american coupWilliam M. Arkin

4 out of 5 Stars. We Live in “Forever-War”

By Amazon Customer on September 22, 2013

Essentially: We now live in a time of “forever-war.”

The worry about the government instituting martial-law is sooo 1990's because we now truly live a martial life. And we've accepted it. There is no “over there” anymore when it comes to the militarization of our lives. Over there is here. We live to assist the government in everything. See something, say something. And the bottom-line of everything that the government does in the name of national security is not to serve, protect, or assist you but to preserve itself. It's all part of the Continuity of Government (COG) and it's been in place for many years but it spectacularly grew into the multi-headed hydra immediately after 911.

Continue reading “Review (Guest): American Coup – How a Terrified Government Is Destroying the Constitution”

Review (Guest): Revolution 2.0 The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power A Memoir

5 Star, Civil Society, Democracy, Information Society, Information Technology, Intelligence (Public), Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Politics, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized)
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Wael Ghonim

5.0 out of 5 stars The true origins of the Egyptian revolution . a must read now more than ever, May 5, 2012

By Wessam ElmeligiSee all my reviews

Wael Ghonim has become an iconic figure of the Egyptian revolution since he anonymously started the Facebook Page, “We are All Khalid Said,” criticizing police brutality in Egypt after young activist Khalid Said was beaten to death in broad daylight by the police in Alexandria for posting a video on police corruption on the internet. In the first few days of the revolution, Ghonim was kidnapped by plainclothes policeman but released later. He appeared on a talk show at a time when the protests were reaching a dead end. Instead of delivering a fiery speech full of revolutionary fervor as expected, he wept and apologized publicly to the parents of protesters who were killed during the protests, saying “don't blame us, blame those who are power hungry.” His tearful words ignited the protests again.

Continue reading “Review (Guest): Revolution 2.0 The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power A Memoir”

Review (Guest): Lords of Secrecy – The National Security Elite and America’s Stealth Warfare

5 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Atrocities & Genocide, Congress (Failure, Reform), Corruption, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Culture, Research, Democracy, Economics, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Impeachment & Treason, Intelligence (Government/Secret), Justice (Failure, Reform), Military & Pentagon Power, Misinformation & Propaganda, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Public Administration, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Threats (Emerging & Perennial), Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized), War & Face of Battle
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Scott Horton

5 out of 5 Stars.

Excessive control that is out of control . . .

By Still Singin' on February 16, 2015

LORDS OF SECRECY is one of the finest books I've read on national security “creep.” Scott Horton manages to retain at least some distance from obvious bias, but some of the information he lays out would cause any legitimate American citizen clenched teeth and a few well-placed emphatic comments.

Continue reading “Review (Guest): Lords of Secrecy – The National Security Elite and America's Stealth Warfare”

Review (Guest): OPEN POWER – Electoral Reform Act of 2015 – Open Source Activist Tool-Kit with Long Comment by Robert Steele

3 Star, Democracy
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Robert David Steele

3.0 out of 5 stars Last Exit to Democracy, February 26, 2015

By Retired Reader

The author of this book, Robert Steele, has been a dedicated and patriotic advocate of reforming the U.S. Intelligence Community for over thirty years without noticeable success. Now he has taken on a bigger and much more important cause, reform of the U.S. Electoral System to restore real Democracy in this country. This book is the first salvo of that effort.

Continue reading “Review (Guest): OPEN POWER – Electoral Reform Act of 2015 – Open Source Activist Tool-Kit with Long Comment by Robert Steele”

Review: Occupy the Economy – Challenging Capitalism

6 Star Top 10%, America (Founders, Current Situation), Banks, Fed, Money, & Concentrated Wealth, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Civil Society, Congress (Failure, Reform), Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Democracy, Economics, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Misinformation & Propaganda, Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Public Administration, True Cost & Toxicity, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized)
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Richard Wolff with David Barsamian

5.0 out of 5 stars SIX STAR Primer on the Necessary Socio-Economic Revolution, February 28, 2015

SIX STAR (my top 10% across 2000+ non-fiction book). This is an extraordinary book full of straight talk and common sense that sets the stage for a socio-economic revolution, first in the USA and then elsewhere. It does not address the many isolated incidents of collaborative capitalism and the commons that are in motion around the world — for that look up Michel Bauwens and the work of others on the economic commons — and it neglects the coincident need for a political revolution which is what my latest book on Open Power is about — but on balance this is easily a six-star offering.

Continue reading “Review: Occupy the Economy – Challenging Capitalism”