Review of In the Dark: A Novel (Hardcover)

While this standalone novel departs from the excellent Tom Thorne series written by Mark Billingham, apparently he couldn't resist including his favorite protagonist in a cameo role.In this story, however, we are introduced to a whole new set of characters including Helen, a very pregnant policewoman, days away from giving birth.

Helen's significant other also is on the job.He is killed while on an apparent drug gang initiation, during which a new member shoots at a car that has flashed its headlights at the one in which he is a passenger.As a result, the victim's auto swerves into a bus stop smashing into Helen's mate and killing him.Helen then begins to look into her partner's recent activities, and to wonder whether he was on the take.Despite her swollen belly, Helen undertakes an investigation of her own, leading to all kinds of ramifications.

The graphic descriptions of drug culture and the kids involved in the operations are matched only by the intricacy of the plotting.There is more than one twist when the story takes another turn.The novel is as well-written as anything the author has done, and highly recommended.




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Review of It Could Happen Here: America on the Brink (Hardcover)

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Glens True Story Blog: The lie that is Capitalism

I think it's important to establish first that I am a Conservative Christian Republican although some of my views here are contrary to my party's ideology. I do although support true capitalism, but true capitalism in America does not exist and we need to take drastic measures to realign the country with the dream our founding fathers had.

I grew up with a great respect for free markets and this notion of Laissez-Faire economics. I was a product of Corporate America and truly believed that we are the America we are because of these principles. Oh how sadly I have been misled. First lets address the context to which Adam Smith described "the invisible hand" and Laissez-Faire Economics. If you do not know the term Laissez-Faire its literal translation is "let the business alone," a philosophy that free markets will always regulate themselves. While this is a brilliant concept it has been grossly distorted through the eyes of Corporate America. Regan's trickle down economics started a landslide of Corporate Power and I would have to argue that Corporate America has become a Monarch, reigning over all the power and all the money, making it harder and harder for middle class Americans to voice their hopes and dreams.

When Smith coined this concept it was in direct relationship to local business, that a localized community would regulate supply and demand. Unfortunately it has been the catalyst of income concentration to a minute percentage of the US population, and many middle class Americans do not understand the concepts they so rigidly fight to uphold, myself formally one of them. Bruce Judson does a phenomenal job at walking you through history in his book titled "It can happen here, America on the Brink." A society can not sustain without a middle class, and we have allowed the weakening of Unions, and the creation of a greed machine called Wall St. to erode this middle class.

Wall St. operates on one factor, profit at all costs, CEO's being rewarded for layoffs and cost cutting as long as profit was achieved. An obscene example of this was something that I previously supported. I, as did many, said that the AIG bonuses were guaranteed to the AIG executives, and that in the name of capitalism and free markets the government should not take away their bonuses. What a naïve thought! Had the government not bailed out these banks would they have still received their bonuses? Possibly from the bankruptcy judge but even that is debatable. Wall St. has been rewarded for helping destroy the economy of our country. I helped and so did you, were we rewarded? While I do now support the stimulus ( I didn't prior to understanding our history and where we are as a country), I think that we need heavy government regulation on the banking sector. We need to ensure that people, not profit, are considered when making crucial decisions concerning corporations.
I believe that federal government involvement should be minimal in a healthy society, with laws set up to protect its people and not their bank accounts.

The key word is healthy, America is by no means healthy, we have four out of five factors present prior to every major revolution in history (Judson 2009). The free markets have failed and now if we do not realize the necessity of government intervention, we set our president up to fail and in turn our country. A month ago I would have debated FDR's role in history, but after hours of reading and research I think he was one of the greatest leaders we have had. He was a true leader, not afraid to say he didn't have all the answers.

Americans are looking for a quick fix and that does not exist. If anyone tells you they have the answer they are either lying or mis-informed. I wish our president would step up to the plate and let everyone know that its going to be a rough road ahead. Stop telling us jobs will improve in 3-6 months when all economic indicators point the other way, and tell us he doesn't have all the answers. Tell us he will work to restore the middle class at the expense of corporate America and I will stand up and support his decisions.



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Review of The Financial Lives of the Poets (Hardcover)

Jess Walter writes here in the tradition of James Thurber, E. B. White, and Peter DeVries.This is one of the very best books of 2009, at once a mid-life crisis novel, a work of social and political criticism, and a comic romp.

The prose is constantly engaging, witty throughout, sparkling here and there with gems of insight, fresh and delightful turns of phrase, irony within irony.The story is built around the economic downturn and the ensuing consequences that rain down on individual families, a parable for our time.There are several surprising twists in the plot.Don't read reviews that will give them away, but wait to discover them in the book.

The picture on the face of the dustjacket is of a man in free-fall toward the dark land below against the sunset-orange of the October sky.Fittingly the narrative takes place in October, traditionally the month of market crashes and Halloween.It is much more attractive than the Amazon picture suggests, a treat to behold, easy to open and easy to read.

When the awards are passed out for best novels of the year, this one should be on the short list.



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Review of Catastrophe (Hardcover)

When the critics start calling this book "Extreme Right Wing Dribble", remember that the author of this dire warning was Bill Clinton's Political Advisor for two decades. He helped make him President of the USA. So if Dick Morris is warning that a very dangerous Government created tidal wave is approaching, maybe we all should take time to check it out and head for the high ground if he is correct? This is not the only voice screaming in the wilderness. Glenn Beck has just published a book of similar warnings called "Common Sense."
This 359-page tome has 16 chapters included in three major sections. Those overall sections are titled "How Obama Is Causing A Catastrophe," "How Congress Causes Catastrophe" and "How Special Interests Cause Catastrophe." The authors don't pull any punches or go easy on any of the guilty parties responsible for this oncoming tragedy. "At a time when we needed a pragmatic centrist to lead us out of recession, we got a doctrinaire socialist who wants to use the crisis to put the government in charge of the economy and enact European Socialism here in the United States. Cars, banks--what's next? He will keep at it until Washington governs every major business in America and sets all our salaries." Never mind that socialism has never worked anywhere in the history of the world.
The individual chapter headings provide a pretty decent idea of the book's content. "Obama's War on Prosperity", "The Bank Bailout That Bombed"," Obama's Health Care Catastrophe", "Obama's Blueprint for Political Domination", "Christopher Dodd and Charles Rangel: From Idealistic Reformers to Privileged Insiders" and "The Sheer Chutzpah of Countryside Financial Executives" reveal much and the material in those chapters backs up the chapter titles. The book also has an excellent introduction and nearly forty pages of Appendixes.
The basic theme is "It's time to take back our country. Now. It's that simple. It's that urgent."
"Obama has cancelled the war on terror and declared a war on prosperity."
The President was not kidding when he told "Joe the plumber" that what he knew about was redistributing wealth. He stopped talking about "Civil War Reparations" early in the campaign and the media went along with burying that hot button issue. The same media ignored Mr. Obama's almost complete lack of work experience and his connections with ACORN which is about to change it's name and go underground and probably re-emerge in control of the tax payer funded "AmeriCorps" and/or a Homeland Security Army. Acorn isn't really "COIN of the realm." It may be the administrations muscle, but it's not yet government financed.
Does anyone else hear any echoes of the rise of Hitler and Nazism?
"Upper-income taxpayers must feel a bit like hogs at the Chicago stockyards--being fattened with stimulus spending so they can be slaughtered with tax increases two years down the road...all to make a nice breakfast for the federal government.""Obama cannot succeed by waging war on the rich. It didn't work when FDR tried it, and it cannot work now."
The speed at which all these changes are being pushed through under the Liberals two favorite disguises "Crisis" and "For the Children" resembles an out-of-control train. As Morris and co-author McGann so clearly report, this government is not only bankrupt but also it is in the process of bankrupting all future generations of Americas. The twin crisis of a bankrupt Social Security System and Medicare will arrive within the next eight years and there will be no money to save it. Worse, the United States won't be able to borrow the money either. Our freedoms and our economy are on the verge of a virtual collapse. Wake Up America! The Snake Oil Salesmen have arrived. Normally, this recession would be over. Not this time. Why?
Believe it or not, it's because the new administration doesn't want it to return to normal and its programs are consciously designed to impede any recovery. Mr. Morris, by the way, predicted all this in print and on television more than a year ago when everything in the economy appeared rosy and now he can sit back and say, "I told you so!" Unfortunately he doesn't want to be able to do that, because the next steps in his predictions will take away most of America's wealth and freedoms. This is a very important read for anyone interested in his freedom and well being.



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