Boston - one horrible incident of living in the times of terrorists

 
My youngest daughter lives and works in Boston. She contacted me after the explosion to assure me she was okay. My concern abated, but it will be a long time before the people of Boston and the surrounding cities can walk the streets without thinking about the horrible event. Unfortunately, this is likely to happen again, if not in Boston, then somewhere else.

It will be interesting to learn if the two Chechens did this on their own or were part of a more extensive terrorist plot. Young men with typical Caucasian features, light coloring, and no background of associations with radical groups, present the worst case scenario for the national terrorist defense system.

We are in a not so undeclared war with people who operate outside the laws of humanity, which has no foreseeable end. While I am against the death penalty on most matters, I have no sympathy for American citizens who go to Al Qaeda camps so they can prepare themselves to set off bombs against the people of the world.  Taking the fight to the terrorists is absolutely necessary. They must know at all times that their next moment may be their last.

Mass murders, gun control, and much mistaken information.

The tragedy in Connecticut has generated a lot of discussion. Better gun control is immediately brought up. While I believe better gun control would help, it would not stop the problem. The attachment of Americans to guns of all sorts creates an environment and opportunity for anyone who wants an automatic weapon to obtain one. The information below boggled my mind when I heard about it.

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -Government records show just in the month of November, Americans tried to buy 2 million guns.There are nearly 130,000 licensed firearms dealers in the United States. 51,000 are retail gun stores according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.Compare that to: 37,000 grocery stores, 14,000 McDonald's restaurants, and 13,000 Starbucks stores nationwide.That means there two times more gun stores than McDonalds and Starbucks combined.Read more: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/20367936/gun-stores-outnumber-gas-stations-grocery-stores-fast-food-restaurants-in-america#ixzz2FS20fImy
 
Anyone in America who wants the same weapons our Special Forces soldiers are using can easily obtain them.

Much discussion about making sure people with mental illness don't get access to guns. Much easier said than done.

I read a long discussion about how the closing state psychiatric hospitals has caused these mass murders. Almost all of this information is wrong. How do I know? I did my clinical internship at Fort Logan Mental Health Center in Denver Colorado in 1970-71. State mental institutions were awful, people got sicker, not well. Two major events led to the huge downsizing of state institutions. First, new drugs came out that enabled schizophrenics and others with serious mental disorders to function in the community. They needed a lot of support and help to function, which unfortunately didn't come for the next 15 years. The other major factor was the rise of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Centers. 

In Colorado, they took money from the state institutions and funded the mental health centers in the community. California, not just Reagan, did defund mental health, resulting in people on the streets who should not have been released. The vast majority of serial killers and mass murderers suffer from a significant personality disorder. "Crazy people" rarely kill others, and autistic people are the least likely to kill others

Grover Norquist and the demise of the GOP

The news that Grover Norquist's influence over the GOP is declining comes at a time when the future of the party is being questioned. An endless number of postmortem analysis of the failed election attempt by Mitt Romney have focused on everything from the way he combs his hair to his casually writing off 47% of the population. Not enough attention has been paid to the damage caused by the "no new taxes mantra" enforced by Grover Norquist. Almost everybody would like to pay lower taxes, and certainly not want to see them increase. However, rational people recognize the inherent unfairness of the current tax laws and that circumstances can arise that necessitate increasing taxes. Or can they? On Nov. 20, 2011, CBS aired an interview between Steve Croft and Grover Norquist. Below is an excerpt from that interview.

"Kroft: But you make it pretty clear. If someone breaks the pledge, you're gonna do everything you can to get rid of them.
Norquist: To educate the voters that they raise taxes. And again, we educate people--
Kroft: To get rid of them.
Norquist: To encourage them to go into another line of work, like shoplifting or bank robbing, where they have to do their own stealing. 
Kroft: You've got them by the shorthairs.
Norquist: The voters do. Yeah". 

In the above interchange, Norquist's lust for power dribbles down his cheek like excess blood on a vampire's fang. If someone breaks their pledge to Norquist, the voters aren't going to give that person's opponent in the next primary as much money as they need to win. Norquist and his minions will. The flood of money from outside a state to make sure pledge breakers don't get elected usurps the right of local voters to choose the person they want to represent them. Ultimately, this isn't about taxes were pledge it, it's about one man's need for power

John Koster, The Rape Thing' Does Not Excuse Abortions

John Koster, a Republican congressional candidate in Washington state, said Sunday that "the rape thing" is not a good enough reason for a woman to have an abortion."  

Koster joins Richard Mourdock who said that pregnancy from rape is "something God intended," Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) who said victims of "legitimate rape" almost never become pregnant, and Rep. Tom Smith (R-Pa.) who compared pregnancy as a result of rape to "having a baby out of wedlock."

This isn't about right wing/tea party-GOP-Taliban/ candidates saying things that are stupid. It reveals a view of life that is beyond insensitivity. They are close to condemning women for getting raped, as if they were were responsible for their own tragedies.

The more they say, the worse it gets. 
"Incest is so rare, I mean, it's so rare," he said. "But the rape thing-- you know, I know a woman who was raped and kept the child, gave it up for adoption, and she doesn't regret it."

He added, "On the rape thing, it's like, how does putting more violence onto a woman's body and taking the life of an innocent child that's a consequence of this crime -- how does that make it better? You know what I mean?"

KIRKWOOD, MO - SEPTEMBER 24: U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R)

Akins comments have cost him a Senate seat which was within his grasp until his utterances revealed a meanness devoid of sensitivity to women who have suffered a horrible tragedy.

There are undoubtedly more men who share the views of the four cited above. For them, it is fortunate that the election will be over and no one will be asking them questions that can destroy their careers by revealing who they really are.

Richard Mourdock and the Tea Party Taliban

Mourdock Accepts Impact Of Controversial Rape Remarks

 GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said Monday he can't "unring the bell" on comments he made last week about rape, and he's joining a national Republican effort to shift discussion away from his remarks.

"You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, you can't unring the bell," Mourdock said Monday. "I apologize that anyone might have been offended by it personally, and we've moved on and are talking about what people are talking about."

Richard Mourdock - Caricature (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

Mourdock also told reporters he was surprised by the reaction to his remarks after last week's Senate debate and didn't realize he had said anything controversial.

 This is not just an instance of insensitivity about the subject of rape. Rather, it's the continued radioactive leakage of extremely conservative Republicans whose views on society in general, and women in particular, is appalling to the rest of society. The Tea Party has its own unique vision of the world. They can't why anyone would take issue with what they say, because they only speak the "truth."




"When I walked off the stage, I expected -- walking to my green room -- high-fives, because I had no idea that the statement that I made would possibly go a direction that it went," he said.
The direction that statement took last week knocked not only his campaign off track, but provided ammunition for national Democrats looking for women voters in key swing states. The Mourdock campaign has used the Democratic responses in fundraising appeals to supporters, while also arguing federal spending and the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya are more pertinent issues.
Top Republicans working the Sunday talk show circuit attempted to right the ship this weekend, answering questions about Mourdock's comments at times with statements about the attack. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, one of the tea party's biggest winners in 2010, told Fox News Sunday that abortion is not an issue voters are talking about.

Feathered Dinosaurs Upsetting to Creationists

The traditional view of dinosaurs has been changing in recent years based on new evidence, which indicates that dinosaurs had feathers and links them ever more closely to birds.In an article in Slate on September 19, 2012, Brian Switek documents the changing picture of dinosaurs that is emerging as a result of new science. Evolutionists, welcome new evidence and data so they can have a more accurate understanding of what the dinosaurs were like and how they lived.

Biblical literalists, often called creationists, are upset by the changing picture of dinosaurs and have launched a campaign to "Take dinosaurs back."

"The dinosaurs of our childhood aren’t around anymore. The sluggish, swamp-bound pea-brains that haunted museum halls and trundled through picture books have been eviscerated by agile, hot-blooded, and, often, feathery dinosaurs that more accurately reflect what Tyrannosaurus rex and kin were actually like. What’s more, thanks to a heap of lovely fossils, we now know that even the most fearsome of the tyrant dinosaurs were closely related to the avian dinosaurs—the birds—that flit around our backyards today."

 Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis—said, “Dinosaurs have been held hostage for decades” by his mortal enemy, the nefarious “secular humanists.”  Ham is upset that natural history museums,  which actually run research programs and contribute new facts and hypotheses to our understanding of prehistoric life, unlike the Creation Museum that uses the traditional evidence of dinosaurs as a static, dumb slow-moving creature.

The first dinosaurs evolved about 230 million years ago, and, with the exception of birds, perished about 6

The creationists argue that dinosaurs were created on Day 6 of creation week 6,000 years ago, with birds being brought into existence on Day 5. the idea that dinosaurs might have had feathers extend the birds, which further confuses "creationism science," one of the great oxymorons of our time.

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The Republican war on the middle class

The Republicans in the House of Representatives are making war on the middle class by denying them a tax break they so desperately need. Failure to extend the payroll tax relief will cost a million jobs according to some economists. Do the Republicans care? Evidently not.
The quote below was taken from a New York Times article. Yes, we all know that the New York Times a Liberal newspaper. The statement below, is not a value judgment on someone's position. Rather it states positions clearly enunciated by both parties.

"the looming question remains unresolved — how to pay for the extension. House Republicans want to cut middle-class programs, Democrats want to raise taxes on millionaires, and neither seems inclined to give ground."

On television tonight, the latest polls showed an approval rating for the Republican Party of 20% and the president's approval rating was 49%. The people can clearly see where the fault lies.  Everyone knows that the conservative wing of the conservative party is blocking passage of a law that would extend the tax cut.  Eric Cantor, not John Boehner, is is in control of the House of Representatives. For all intensive purposes he and his cohorts are in control of this country's economic fate. That is one scary notion.I believe Mr. Canter to be an honorable man. However, this is not about honor, it is about an a rigid mindset that will not give an inch.

Addressing the country's deficit is an important issue.,but it is not the only issue. If the government fails to act in ways to maximize economic stability, the impending economic crash a number of experts are predicting will become an inevitability.  The blood will be on the economic hands of the Republican Party.

The publishing revolution is over and we have won.

In a recent post, I talked about the digital revolution in the publishing world. Since then, I joined the Indie Book Collective. I think I needed a waiver to join because I have a publisher, and my novel, Unholy Embrace, was published as a softcover. In joining the collective, I became a full-fledged member of the revolution. What does this mean? In the short-term, I will be selling packages of my short stories on Amazon, Smashwords, and other Internet sites. Hopefully I will make some money from this endeavor.

The long-term consequences of joining this revolution are very important. When I finish my second novel, I don't have to worry about finding a publisher. I will publish it digitally at a time of my own choosing, with a price that makes the most sense for me, not a publisher. Isn't self-publishing a meaningless effort to bolster one's ego? Not anymore. Authors are making money, and more importantly, reaching significant numbers of readers without a single tree being chopped down. The picture to the left is like the "Don't tread on me," flag that flourished early in the Revolutionary war for Independence. I think that's a good analogy. Imagine yourself as an author. Which would you choose: to have an attractive hardcover edition of your book that few people buy and read, or published digitally and have a significant number of people buy and read your book.? Rhetorical question.

But what about getting a novel reviewed? Isn't it true that most reviewers will not touch a self-published novel? That depends on which reviewers we are talking about. The reviewers tied to the hardback and paperback trade will most likely continue not to review self-published authors. Fortunately, there are a significant number of reviewers who only review indie books. While none of these reviewers works for midsize and major newspapers, or has a national reputation (at the present time), they have readerships that are interested in reading good books not traditional reviewers.

Authors can get their books properly digitalized by submitting them to a site such as Smashwords. This will likely become a more competitive market. So, I write the novel, I published the novel, the novel is reviewed, and hopefully people will buy the novel so they can read it. Isn't that what it's all about?

Jailed Afghan rape victim freed

The headline for this post is revolting. The description of what happened to this woman reveals a twisted and bizarre mindset. It is incomprehensible to me that a woman would be jailed after a man rapes her. Yet, this  happened in Afghanistan, and not for the first time. I assume that if I talked to a man from Afghanistan he would tell me that I did not understand the way his society functions. My response would be, "When you imprison women for being raped, you have a grotesque imitation of a society."

From CNN

 An Afghan woman imprisoned for adultery after a relative raped her has been freed after President Hamid Karzai intervened on her behalf. The woman, identified only as Gulnaz for her own protection, had been sentenced to prison for 12 years after she reported that her cousin's husband had raped her two years ago. Wednesday, she was free at a women's shelter in Kabul, with her daughter..

 Her plight gained international attention when the European Union blocked the broadcast of a documentary about her ordeal, saying it would further jeopardize her safety. Afghan Justice Minister Habibullah Ghaleb and a judiciary committee both proposed a pardon. Karzai then ordered authorities to decree Gulnaz's release.

 Afghani men do not need to be protected from the Taliban as much as Afghani women need to be protected from Afghani men.

Governer Rick Perry: Wrong on intolerance and wrong on his facts

Governor Rick Perry of Texas showed something other than Christian spirit when he took time  to say the following:

"I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm Christian. But you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know that there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in schools." He went on to say, "As president, I'll end Obama's war on religion and I'll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage."

Governor Perry will have a very difficult time finding any written statements or recorded words documenting president Obama's war on religion. That's because president Obama's war on religion exists only in the mind of Governor Perry.  I hope the governor did not say what he did because he is a victim of mad cow disease.

When Perry expresses his concern over the inability of children to pray in school, I assume that he's speaking on behalf of Jewish, Moslem, Hindu, and children of other faiths, not just Christian children.  There should be no shame attached to a person being a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, or a member of any other religion. Shame occurs when people cloak themselves with religion and use it to make vile utterances

New Age of Publishing Books is Now

If, the world is flat as Thomas Friedman says it is, then the world of publishing is becoming paper thin. There was much ado when Amazon said it was going into the publishing business. Authors can make their pitch to Amazon and get the best deal possible. So what's the difference, you ask? Amazon has a fraction of the overhead  of traditional publishers. Amazon can afford to let the public make decisions about what he wants to read. Traditional publishers can print books and have them collect dust.

Amazon is only the beginning of the revolution, sort of the tip of an iceberg that's coming dead on a ship too slow to move out of its way. For those authors that don't like dealing with Amazon, there are other alternatives. Take a minute to visit Smashwords. On their website, you can buy novels, novellas, and all sorts of short stories. Probably the low end stuff many people would say. Most people don't know that John Grisham sold novels out of the trunk of his car. Stephanie Meyer's overly large manuscript was read by an assistant to the literary agent who probably would've immediately tossed the 125,000 word sumission into the circular file. The old publishing model was failure avoidant. Accumulate as many best-selling authors as you can and publish their novels until the readership disappears or the ink dries


If Amazon is the publisher, it will want to sell the novel on its site, not competing websites .Smashwords will sell your novel, short story, etc. on its website, but it will also place novels at Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and any other site that sells novels and pays their bills. Barnes & Noble has entered the publishing business. I'm not a shill for Smashwords. I haven't put my first short story up for sale there, yet. But it will happen soon. Most importantly, I know it will sell. It's about vampires and werewolves, two lovers, and a battle that makes the gunfight at the OK corral seem like a tea party at Buckingham Palace.
This post is based on what I've learned in the last two weeks. Most assuredly, there are many things I don't know about in the new age of digital publishing. But I hope to have fun learning them. This is the first of at least two posts on this subject. The next post will focus on the changing nature of the relationship between the writer and the reader

Districts Pay Less in Poor Schools, Report Says

Never under estimate the federal government's power for discovering the obvious. A newly released study showed that students in poor neighborhoods are frequently taught by low-paid rookie teachers who move on as they gain experience. The quote below from the New York Times is priceless. Everyone in America knew that poor schools had the most inexperienced and often poor teachers. Is there some conspiracy to deprive these children of a quality education? Maybe, but the single best explanation is that good teachers don't want to teach children who "don't want to learn." I put the last four words in quotation marks because a number of elite schools have demonstrated that these children can make significant progress, and many go on to college in these exceptional schools.

Until now, however, researchers lacked nationwide data to prove it. That changed Wednesday when the Department of Education released a 78-page report. Its conclusion: Tens of thousands of schools serving low-income students are being shortchanged because districts spend fewer state and local dollars on teacher salaries in those schools than on salaries in schools serving higher-income students.

Unfortunately, the schools led by exceptional educators and backed up by the best teachers are rare exceptions. It's not just a matter of salary or experience. The conditions under which a teacher has to work are extremely important. Most of the poor children go to schools, which are the oldest and most dilapidated in each school district. If school districts weren't able to keep up all the maintenance in the past, and build new schools when necessary, it is going to be more difficult in the future when monies are going to be tight tightly budgeted. With so many people are out of work and/or owning homes that are worth less than they paid for them, they are not going to vote for increases in taxes to provide more money for the schools. 

If you are an experienced teacher with demonstrated competence and seniority, would you rather work in an old rundown school with rust and mildew, or, in one of the districts where the schools have all the bells and whistles? Would you rather teach children who are frequently underfed, often neglected, and have little motivation to learn, or teach motivated children wanting to learn, well fed, and cared for by their parents who expect them to go to college? Don't reach for your pencils these are rhetorical questions.

The report went on to document that the problems began in 1965 with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which channels money to educate poor children. The report cites a loophole that allowed school systems to report educator salaries on a district wide basis, which masked the difference between schools with low-income children and those with middle or upper middle class incomes. That's another surprise. Can you imagine people working the system for Washington? Ask the bankers. Maybe they could load the school districts the money lady..

Michele Bachmann: Evolution-Only Approach In Schools Amounts To 'Censorship By Government'

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It seems we have returned to the place where religious belief determines scientific fact. It's one thing to have a theory that guides your research. It's quite another to have a belief system that overrides the facts, or at lease changes The interpretation of them to fit the belief system.

"Bachmann also stated, "If you look at scientists there is not a unanimity of agreement on the origins of life." She made similar remarks in 2006. "There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design," she said."

Religious belief systems don't depend on empirical evidence, But rather on faith. If they find empirical evidence that supports their beliefs, that's fine. If the evidence doesn't support their beliefs, then they don't believe in the evidence. Or, they cobbled together bits and pieces of "evidence" and assemble a shaky theory to support their belief system.

 Christian Conservatives have a right to believe in anything they want to. But when they exert pressure to determine the science that is taught in schools, they are infringing upon the lives of all the people that don't share their religious beliefs. No one ever said ever said that Darwinian evolution explains every fact and has no contradictions. Of course it does. That is the nature of theories. A scientific theory has to stand up against new findings that threaten its assumptions. Religious theory, particularly those based on the assumption that the Bible is the written word of God need to be kept in the churches and not in the school system.

Ms. Bachman is not alone in disbelieving Darwinian evolution. But when she makes statements that hundreds of scientists support our belief system, She's twisting the facts to support a belief system that's based on twisted facts. 

The so-called theory of "creative design" will never go away despite its paucity of facts, because it isn't based on facts but rather on religious beliefs.

On December 20, 2005, Judge Jones issued his 139-page findings of fact and decision ruling that the Dover mandate which required the statement to be read in class was unconstitutional. The ruling concluded that intelligent design is not science, and permanently barred the board from "maintaining the ID Policy in any school within the Dover Area School District, from requiring teachers to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of evolution, and from requiring teachers to refer to a religious, alternative theory known as ID."

Our system of government was created to protect the rights of minorities. That system shouldn't be used to allow minorities to impose their beliefs on the majority of the population

Miley Cyrus Woes

"Miley Cyrus Alludes To Smoking Weed, Being A Stoner," was the headline on Huffington Post and many other print and web media. Is anyone surprised? Doubtful. Should anyone care? My initial reaction was to say no. However, here is a young woman on a train bound for places other than glory.If the headline is true, there will be a future filled with drug-induced crises, comebacks, more drug-induced crises, followed by more comebacks. Hopefully, there will be a substance-abuse free future for her. but by then, time and experience will have etched deep lines on her soul. The lessons she will have learned by then, she could have learned earlier, at a cheaper price.


I can't help but think of Taylor Swift, who recently appeared on 60 minutes. Her head seems to be screwed on right and her thinking clear. She Is not only in charge of our own life, but in charge of the  major corporation she has become. She showed  a combination of wisdom and courage when she acknowledged the impact of her behavior on her young fans. She almost looks and sounds too good to be true. But Thus far,Ttere are no shocking pictures or revelations to indicate she is other than what she says she is. Miley Cyrus could do far worse than hanging out with Taylor Swift.

A Hero Emerges- Senator Tom Coburn Steps Forth

The American system of government could not be more broken. Both parties stand miles apart in their stated beliefs and values and hurl invectives at each other. In the midst of this, a hero has emerged, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.  The following headline is a rocket bursting through political hypocrisy and greed. . Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released a report detailing special tax breaks for wealthy income earners that could give members of the supercommittee common ground for raising tax revenues.

 Sen. Coburn is not a liberal Democrat, a four letter word to many in this country, but rather a conservative Republican. It took an immeasurable amount of political courage for him to say the following.

“From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multimillionaires are even receiving government checks for not working,”

His report found that millionaires enjoy $30 billion worth of tax giveaways in federal grants every year. His staff found that millionaires received $74 million worth of unemployment checks from 2005 to 2009.  In 2009, 18 people earning more than $10 million a year received an average of $12,000 in unemployment benefits. These people didn't take advantage of a loophole. rather, they were the beneficiaries of a tax and political system that is morally bankrupt.

I can understand people having a value system in which they seek to reduce the size of government and to minimize the tax burden on the vast majority of working Americans.I cannot comprehend why members of Congress would seek to preserve a system that gives handouts to millionaires. From my perspective, a substantial number of congress persons seek to enshrine a government dedicated to increasing the wealth of the most affluent
I am not a socialist. If I were a rich man I would seek to hold on to as much of my wealth as possible. However I would not expect the government to actively work towards increasing my wealth.

The death of the Liberal arts education curriculum.

Recently, Michael Crowe, President of Arizona State University argued for the maintenance of traditional liberal arts courses. He did so in response to Florida's Gov., Rick Scott, call for reductions in state appropriations for particular academic disciplines so that public universities can focus resources on producing graduates in the STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and math. although I am a proponent of a liberal arts education, I am unable to agree with Mr. Crowe.

Over 40 years ago I graduated with a Bachelors degree in psychology from a well-rounded liberal arts program.  I have no doubt that it made me a more complete person with a better understanding of the world around me. However, I went on to get a doctorate, which is how I earned a living. The realities of present day society are different than they were four decades ago.Getting a bachelor's degree in psychology, sociology, or English literature is not going to pay for an apartment in a major city, let alone student loans that have grown immensely.

My youngest daughter obtained a degree in mechanical engineering and in 2000 had no difficulty getting a well-paying job in Boston. She met other young woman her age who had liberal arts degrees from some of the finest universities in America. Many of them worked as "executive assistants" earning 60% of what she did. Before people get $50,000 or $100,000 in debt for their college education, they need to think about how they are going to pay it back. I think it is a shame that many of the courses that I took and enjoyed will no longer be offered. But the times change and what worked 40 years ago does not work today.

Afghanistan: A Problem without a Solution?

During the past six months, I have read numerous articles and watched television news stories about what is happening in the war in Afghanistan. Last night, On 60 Minutes, I saw evidence that we are fighting a war with no end in sight. CBS correspondent, Lara Logan was embedded with troops of the 101st Airborne in areas of Afghanistan immediately adjacent to Pakistan. She exhibited bravery that few people associate with correspondence these days.

Ms. Logan didn't just talk to the troops about the conditions they were confronting. She went on a mission with a captain in the 101st airborne that showed the intensity of fighting at this front line position. When the American soldiers arrived at the small native village, the chief of the village showed no inclination to talk or work with the captain. On the return mission, the unit came under heavy fire and the captain demonstrated an incredible indifference to bullets whizzing by him as he tried to extricate a truck stuck in the rocky terrain. The captain described an endless supply of soldiers coming in from Pakistan. No matter how many his men killed, more of the enemy pour across the border. He described the non-Afghani soldiers as well trained and willing to die. The captain's efforts to win over small isolated villages were meeting with little success. If the villagers cooperate with us, they are dead the next time that the Taliban enter their town.

The type of combat situation we saw on 60 minutes goes far beyond "Winning the Hearts and Minds of the People." General Pertraeus, who had much more success in Iraq, assured the president and the American people that with additional soldiers the country could be stabilized under what passes for Democratic leadership in that country. Please note I didn't say, "Win." Unless we find a way to seal off the border with Pakistan the war with the Taliban will go on forever. Is this another Vietnam, where no matter how many soldiers we pour into the country the fight continues to rage?

Recent polling has shown that the majority of Americans have now decided they are not in favor of our efforts in Afghanistan. However, there is still staunch support for our continued presence in that country as evidenced by the headline in the September 28, 2010 Christian Science Monitor.

" Afghanistan war: Is the US in it to win it? America's engagement in Afghanistan remains vital. Now is the time to renew our resolve and pursue our broad-based strategy, not look for an exit."

The article written by Kurt Volcker cites General Pertraeus statement, "We are in this to win." With the corrupt government in Kabul and a continual supply of soldiers crossing the border from Pakistan, the question must be raised as to whether it is possible to actually "win." At the same time, it is obvious that if we pull out of Afghanistan, or withdraw to the major cities, the Taliban will take over most of the country and Al Qaeda will have a training ground for far more terrorists than it had in 2001 when we first invaded the country. I don't pretend to have a solution. The question is whether the administration, or anyone in this country (Republicans included), has one.

The Phantom Paragrapher review of "An Unholy Embrace" by Neil Benson

The Phantom Paragrapher

Review of  "An Unholy Embrace" by Paula Zone 


Are you loving the whole mortal/vampire love storyline ? Edward and Bella in Twilight , Elena and Stefan / Damon in Vampire Diaries , Dylan and Claire in The Gates (though Claire is now turned) , Alexander/ Jagger and Raven in Vampire Kisses and Dimitri and Rose in Vampire Academy or Hugo and Elizabeth in The Point and who can forget our Sookie Stackhouse and Eric/Bill.

With Vampire Novels now on the rise for the last two years , reading an article -the world of Vampires has hit the money-making world of $7 Billion Dollars in Books, Movies, TV and Merchandise.

Today's Review is that whole mortal/vampire love affair but in today's book it contains the twist of the female being the Vampire and the mortal being the male.

Review : Unholy Embrace - Neil Benson -2010

A popular storyline lately has been the tale of the mortal/vampire love story and the majority of them have ended up writing the male as a Vampire and the female as the lovestruck mortal. One thing that I really liked in Neil Benson's book is that he decided to use gender reversed roles and make the male the lovestruck mortal and the female the Vampire. Having it this way, was a nice change for once.

The story starts when Frank and Nessa are out on a date and are attacked by Werewolves, the attack causes Nessa to extract her fangs and go all- vampirey , something that Frank hasn't really experienced before. From then on , we are transported back to the beginning -where they first met and how their relationship started and of course how they reached the point in the story.

What follows is Nessa explaining and opening her 400yr old heart to Frank and telling her story on how she became a Vampire starting in Hungary all the way to her travels via Vienna and Paris to the Present time in New York.

We read as the Werewolves attacks are just the beginning as Nessa has been on the run nearly 400 years and has been tracked by Narice - the vampire lover of the Vampire who turned Nessa and in return Nessa Killed out of vengeance.

When Frank realises the consequences and danger of being with Nessa , can he stand strong and embrace the unholiness of being with a Vampire or will he take the white feather coward option out and leave Nessa to follow a path of a normal life ?

An excellent story that shows readers in a paranormal and supernatural way that no matter what happens and how terrifying obstacles can be - love between not only mortals but mortals and supernaturals can stick tog

http://www.amazon.com/Unholy-Embrace-Neil-Benson/dp/0982679505/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274835629&sr=1-2