Politics – Page 50 – Public Intelligence Blog

One of Two Formula Books in My Four-Book Look

January 5, 2008

Mike Huckabee

I bought four of Governor Huckabee's books, and spent much of Sunday going through them. I've decided to do one review posted four times, to provide anyone visiting one of the four books to see four snapshots in one place. I am NOT looking for multiple votes. This is my bottom-line over-all assessment of one of the three people I believe is qualified to b;ring our Nation together, the others being Senator Obama, and Representative Paul, who will not win but could demand electoral reform when Congress returns. The two formula books lose one star each but in no way does this discredit the substance within each.

1998, Kids Who Kill: Confronting Our Culture of Violence is his first book and also the most earnest. I like this book, very much. The Governor weaves a rich tapesty of a culture of disrespect, too many bad laws, not enough community and faith, and I for one buy into his message: our society has fragmented and we reap what we sow. See also my reviews of:
Rage of the Random Actor: Disarming Catastrophic Acts And Restoring Lives
The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead

2000, Living Beyond Your Lifetime: How to be Intentional About the Legacy You Leave. I find this book equally earnest, with a very strong consistent appreciation for God and faith and community in faith, for stewardship. Like the first book, I give this one five stars. I now include this book with other positive books on religion, see my reviews of:
GOD'S POLITICS: Why The Right Gets It Wrong & The Left Doesn't Get It (H)
The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right
Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik

2007 Character Makes a Difference: Where I'm From, Where I've Been, and What I Believe, and 2007, this book, are both formula books, somewhat contrived, but earnest and sufficient to come to at least two conclusions:

1) This citizen is not going to let go of God or faith. He is completely different from Milt Romney, whom I consider to be just a little too slick about his Mormon loyalties (CIA officers who were Mormons would fall asleep at their desks because the Mormon church had them up working all night).

2) This is a sincere good man (I based this on seeing him elsewhere as well). I frankly think that he brings the right respect for faith and God, and we need some of that in the White House, not lies and treason documented in Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America. As an estranged moderate Republican and Methodist, outrages by the crimes committed in our name, I think its time we had a moderate faith in God back in the White House.

The latter book touches on various “mandate for change” issues, and one has to be somewhat dubious on his record, since more than one person from Arkansas has told me they lost income and the schools lost funding during his tenure.

We need change. I'd like to see Mike Huckabee lead a dialog with all congregations on God's Politics, the Left Hand of God, and Faith-Based Golden Rule morality in all our policies at all levels. Barack Obama is energizing the young, but still severely handicapped by his elderly advisors who are out of touch with global reality.

In my view, as a person who cares deeply about the Republic and has spent the last 15 years obsessing on global reality and a strategy for saving the Earth for seven generations and beyond, I would like to see Mike Huckabee being the evangelicals back into the fold, without the attendant lunacy and criminality that characterized the Bush-Cheney White House.

Please do not vote for this review in more than one place.

2008/01/052009/10/17

Review: Kids Who Kill–Confronting Our Culture of Violence

5 Star, Culture, DVD - Light, Politics, Religion & Politics of Religion

1998, the most earnest book (his first), January 5, 2008

January 5, 2008

Mike Huckabee

1998,this book, Kids Who Kill, the most earnest. I like this book, very much. The Governor weaves a rich tapesty of a culture of disrespect, too many bad laws, not enough community and faith, and I for one buy into his message: our society has fragmented and we reap what we sow. See also my reviews of:
Rage of the Random Actor: Disarming Catastrophic Acts And Restoring Lives
The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead

2007 Character Makes a Difference: Where I'm From, Where I've Been, and What I Believe
2007 From Hope to Higher Ground: My Vision for Restoring America's Greatness

Both of the above are formula books, somewhat contrived, but earnest and sufficient to come to at least two conclusions:

Please do not vote for this review in more than one place.

2008/01/052011/10/22

Review: Living Beyond Your Lifetime–How to be Intentional About the Legacy You Leave

5 Star, Future, Politics, Religion & Politics of Religion, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution

Final Review of Four Books Taken Together

January 5, 2008

Mike Huckabee

1998,Kids Who Kill: Confronting Our Culture of Violence, is his first book and also the most earnest. I like this book, very much. The Governor weaves a rich tapesty of a culture of disrespect, too many bad laws, not enough community and faith, and I for one buy into his message: our society has fragmented and we reap what we sow. See also my reviews of:
Rage of the Random Actor: Disarming Catastrophic Acts And Restoring Lives
The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead

2000, this book, I find equally earnest, with a very strong consistent appreciation for God and faith and community in faith, for stewardship. Like the first book, I give this one five stars. I now include this book with other positive books on religion, see my reviews of:
GOD'S POLITICS: Why The Right Gets It Wrong & The Left Doesn't Get It (H)
The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right
Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik

2007 Character Makes a Difference: Where I'm From, Where I've Been, and What I Believe
2007 From Hope to Higher Ground: My Vision for Restoring America's Greatness

Both of the above are formula books, somewhat contrived, but earnest and sufficient to come to at least two conclusions:

Please do not vote for this review in more than one place.

2007/12/132010/09/14

Review: Day of Reckoning–How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart

5 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Congress (Failure, Reform), Consciousness & Social IQ, Corruption, Culture, Research, Democracy, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Politics, Priorities

One of A Handful of “Must Reads” for Christmas

December 13, 2007

Patrick Buchanan

Amazon ate my earlier review, probably because they did not like all the links I included to make the point that while Patrick Buchanan is dead on target as an individual minds, there is a *huge* convergence of public opinion from left to right that boils down to this: government is broken, from war criminals in the White House to doormats in Congress abdicating their Article 1 responsibility to balance the power of the Executive.

This book is a perfect complement to that by Lou Dobbs. This may well be one of the most important books at the dawn of the 21st Century, along with Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit‘ The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, and A Power Governments Cannot Suppress.

I regret the loss of my detailed review, here are just a few of the notes from the flyleaf:

+ Insufficient focus on Cheney, but does correctly evaluate Wolfowitz as a madman.

+ Tars Bush's ideology as a “false God”as “modernity's Golden Calf.”

+ Respect Gore Vidal in citing “perpectual war for perpetual peace.”

+ Opens book with excellent discussion of the cost of lost wars and the mismantling of artificial nations (there are 177 failed states today,up from 148 in 2006 and 75 is 2005.

+ This may be the most credible and thoughtful author on the subject of treason in modern times. He explicitly accuses corporate chiefs who favor globalization and “transnationalism” with being traitors to the Republic.

+ He states that Islamic militarism is not a threat to America. I agree.

+ Pages 153-154 provide a brilliant articulation of seven reasons why China is not a threat to the US.

+ I note: “This is the epitaph for the village idiot.”

A few other books supporting his thesis that 2008 is a tipping point year:
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq
9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Fourth Edition

AA Mind the Gap — Vote and/or Comment on Review

2007/11/062009/12/27

Review: A Foreign Policy of Freedom–Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship (Paperback)

5 Star, Biography & Memoirs, Congress (Failure, Reform), Country/Regional, Culture, Research, Diplomacy, Economics, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Philosophy, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Strategy, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution

30 years of speeches, straight common sense

November 6, 2007

Ron Paul

I would normally give a book like this four stars because it is a collection of speeches entered into the Congressional Record over a 30-year period with no overview. I give it five stars because of the integrity and consistency of the author, and because he is the only person now running for President that has a completely serious book available for review.

I was disappointed that there was no strategic overview touching on each critical foreign policy region or each of the high-level threats to humanity such as depicited by the Earth Intelligence Network in support of the Transpartisan Policy Institute, but my disappointment is tempered by the realization that the author, in citing Thomas Jefferson on the dedication page, to wit: “Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship with All Nations–Engangling Alliances with None” (First Inaugural Address, 1801) makes it clear that it can indeed be “that simple.”

Throughout the book the author touches on truly fundamental themes:

1) Restoration of the Constitution as the fouindation for all Congressional and Executive policies, budgets, and decisions.

2) The importance of avoiding the cost of foreign adventures while investing in domestic needs for education, infrastructure, energy independence and so on.

3) The importance of having a currency backed by real wealth, not the fabricated wealth used by the banks to enrich themselves at our expense.

4) The importance of civil liberties, sound decision-making, and ethics

I'd like to see this honest man win and be President. His integrity and intelligence are absolute, something no other candidate can claim. However, unless he can pick a transpartisan Cabinet in advance of the election, and guide that Cabinet in producing a balanced budget that eliminates our multi-trillion unfunded future obligations, he will be no better than the others, and even at a disadvaantage, because voters hear platitudes. They need to see real policies with real budget numbers, or they will not see the difference between this author and the others in tangible terms they can appreciate.

2007/09/032009/10/17

Review: The Power of Israel in the United States

5 Star, Atrocities & Genocide, Congress (Failure, Reform), Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Politics

80% on Target

September 3, 2007

James Petras

This book is a perfect counter-point to They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby. I review that book also, and recommend both books to every American, just as I recommend the books below that document how the Saudis have bought the Bush Family and the Republican and Democratic parties, neither of which represents We the People.

I would normally remmove one star because the author is a bit over the top in blaming everything on the Zionists and the Neo-Conservative servants, but I went with five stars to offset the mindless rapid Zionists (I hold moderate Jews in total respect). The same week that WIRED Magazine had a cover story on a new two way sustainable energy grid, Dick Cheney was meeting secretly with Enron and Exxon. Iraq happened because Dick Cheney wanted it to happen, the Zionists provided the lies, and the Congress and the media both were intimidated into ignoring General Tony Zinn, General Shinseki, and others including myself, who said quite clearly that this was an insanely bad thing to do with an incalculably high cost.

Over-all this is an extremely welll-researched, well-written presentation of fourteen chapters that are logical and thoughtful and absolutely meritorious of full consideration.

I was very surprised to read, very carefully, two chapters dissecting two of my personal heros, Sy Hersh and Noam Chomsky, and must confess that the author provoked in me thoughtful concern and reflection. I trust Sy and Noam, but the author is so well-organized that he causes me to realize that everybody has multiple levels of agenda, and that we must all take greater care in discriminating our sources of information.

Congressman Jim Moran, who represents my district, has personally said that Zionish have too much influence on Congress, and I agree. Tom Moran has been a very good representative, and he speaks the truth.

Here are some books and a DVD that can put the totally unacceptable Zionist influence on the USA in a larger context:

Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government–And How We Take It Back
The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future – and What It Will Take to Win It Back
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror
Why We Fight
Fog Facts : Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin (Nation Books)
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)

2007/09/032009/10/17

Review: They Dare to Speak Out–People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby

5 Star, Atrocities & Genocide, Congress (Failure, Reform), Politics, Religion & Politics of Religion

Harder Read But Most Worthy, Start with the Other Book

September 3, 2007

Paul Findley

This book is a perfect counter-point to The Power of Israel in the United States. I review that book also, and recommend both books to every American, just as I also recommend the books that document how the Saudis have bought the Bush Family and the Republican and Democratic parties, neither of which represents We the People. Completely apart from the venal immorality of Dick Cheney (see my review of Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency in which I itemized the 23 high crimes and misdemeanors documented by that book), the fact is that Congress has been bought by multiple parties, and no longer represents We the People.

This book is a harder, longer read, so I recommend you start with the other book. As with the other book, this book is a strongly documented and very lengthy catalog of the sins of the Zionists and the Israeli Government, not at all against the moderate Jews and their legitimate concerns. I have seen Gaza and Beirut, and what Israel has done to the Palestinians, to the former “Paris” of the Middle East, combined with their Assault on the Liberty, is unforgivable.

This book logically catalogs how the Zionists intimidate even such a person as Ted Turner, who was forced to back down when he said both sides were committing terrorism (there is in fact a UN Resolution that finds Israel guilty of genocide and racism, but then that is one of those “fog facts” that our totalitarian monsters choose to ignore.

The author organizes the book around how Zionists silence the small and the weak, while buying out the Oval Office, the Congress, the media, while also subverting academic freedon.

I especially like the author's conclusion, “What Price Israel?” The US taxpayer is subsidizing Israeli genocide and Israeli idiocy, and the US and Israel appear to be the last two countries to continue to believe in the value of force that is both unaffordable and unsustainable in an unconquerable world.

Congressman Tom Moran, who represents my district, has personally said that Zionish have too much influence on Congress, and I agree. Tom Moran has been a very good representative, and he speaks the truth.

Here are some books and a DVD that can put the totally unacceptable Zionist influence on the USA in a larger context:

Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government–And How We Take It Back
The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future – and What It Will Take to Win It Back
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Fog Facts : Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin (Nation Books)
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)

Category: Politics

Review: From Hope to Higher Ground–12 STEPS to Restoring America’s Greatness

Review: Kids Who Kill–Confronting Our Culture of Violence

Review: Living Beyond Your Lifetime–How to be Intentional About the Legacy You Leave

Review: Day of Reckoning–How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart

Review: A Foreign Policy of Freedom–Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship (Paperback)

Review: The Power of Israel in the United States

Review: They Dare to Speak Out–People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby