“Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies” by Michelle Malkin

The Obamacare Health Bill – by the Statists (HR 3200)

…

Margaret Anne Barnes, author of books examining landmark events in Southern history, has died after a long battle with emphysema. She was 80.

The Decatur, Ga. woman died Thursday evening in Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, said her son, David Dukes of Decatur.

“She was the greatest mother in the world,” Dukes said. “She did everything in the world for me. She was just a really delightful person, everybody was charmed by her.”

Dukes said his mother had a “real appreciation for Southern justice,” which led her to write about real-life events in Georgia and Alabama history.

Books by Ms. Barnes:

• The Tragedy and the Triumph of Phenix City, Alabama
• Murder in Coweta County
• A Buzzard is My Best Friend

We have read the Phenix City book and learned about a horrible event in the history of this area and how law was eventually established.  There was no slant to her book, just straight forward writing about the events that occurred as remembered by people that were there and official records from that time.

May God comfort her family during this time.

Sure I could have gotten a lot of what I learned from news stories, articles and his website, but as always with books by the subject, you get an insight to what makes the person tick.

And what makes the Dog tick?  In two words: God and Beth, and not necessarily in that order or ever apart.  The love this man has for both and the effect each has had on his life are more evident as you finish the book and flip on the latest half  hour show on A&E.

This man is not a fake.  To think otherwise leads me to think you’ve not had any hard times, prevailed over odds that would put most under the ground and made something of yourself. 

Take a gander if you want to learn more than the superficial you hear on the news, or may preceive from the show.  This man has chosen a path guided by God and his love for family and friends.   Truely, if you are ever fortunate to become this man’s friend, you are more – you will be family.

Its always a reminder when you know others overcame more to overcome the small in your life. 

Thank you God for “The Dog” and the molding done through the years to give us this man today.

The author leaves the impression that Phenix City, AL is still the human waste disposal it was before martial law was ordered and it was cleaned up to be the respected community today. Rose leads the reader to believe all the blacks in Columbus, GA live below Macon Road and all the whites live north of it — still. That is not true. And his superior European attitude about the US’s way of dealing with our criminals is your typical “look down your nose” type.

As for the story of Gary – consider Mr. Rose is an advocate against the death penalty and believes that the oppression of the “black man” still goes on in the ‘evil’ south to this day. And eventually he ended up on Gary’s legal team.

clipped from www.ledger-enquirer.com Mark Shelnutt has dined at the Big Eddy Club — twice. But that doesn’t make him a conspirator in the case against Carlton Gary. “Carlton Gary comes to Columbus in August 1977 and gets arrested in South Carolina in 1979, and everything happens in that time,” Shelnutt said. Rose was getting a free pass with the arguments in his book, Shelnutt said, and he spent more than 90 minutes detailing problems he believes run through its pages. Shrouding the case beneath the looming specter of racism in the South is Rose’s method of bypassing the case’s facts, he said. It’s ammunition to lead the reader away from the evidence — ammunition that tells the reader that judges, attorneys, detectives and everyone involved in the case are part of the conspiracy. Rose casts the case in the light of racism, Shelnutt said, and the Big Eddy Club is its symbol. “Nothing will ever change the fact that Carlton Gary is black and the victims are white,” Shelnutt said.

Can you tell me the last time the world waited with baited breath, going to a bookstore at midnight to have a party?   Let me know if there is an answer to that question.

Harry, Ron and Hermione are in their place of history now.  For seven books we watched a young boy in the worst that society could throw at one grow, learn, love, hurt and become a man.  There are so many lessons to be learned throughout all seven books, about loyalty, love, greed, acceptence and more that cannot be put into words.   Children read and absorbed all that is Potter, but I can also hope they learned too.  JKR was careful in the lessons she bestowed throughout the seven books.  No one-sided bent was given, as I see it, just a basic moral foundation that all children, and adults, should know from birth. 

Hagrid – the largest of the characters in not only stature, but heart, is loved by all who surround him.  Snape an ugly person inside and out cannot even be found to have one friend.   It really is what comes from within that is more important. 

There are so many more lessons I saw.   Honesty.  Loyalty.  Faith in what is Right.  Some of our politicians could learn from Harry Potter and friends.  These books will be read and reread throughout  generations to come.  More authors will come forth with great books, but I do not see for a long time another Harry Potter.

Thank you JK Rowling for a wonderful ride and a great ending

• Office JK Rowling Website
• MuggleNet

I have to many to read!

I started “Culture Warrior” by Bill O’Reilly and finished “Born In Death” by J.D. Robb.

But as I was shopping today, I decided some sappy romance was in order, and walked out of the grocery store with two of them and one true crime.   Help me I’ll be reading through January 17th!

Here is what I have available:

“Twice Kissed” by Lisa Jackson – started, got bored with it.

“Faithless” by Karin Slaughter, started but it got put down and hidden under other stuff until today.

“Showdown” by Ted Dekker.  I’ve read two chapters, it’s going to the library.  NOT my style.

“Born to be Wild” by Catherine Coulter

“Bloodlines” by Jan Burke.  Found it in the car?!

“Monday Mourning” by Kathy Reichs

“The Bourne Ultimatum” by Robert Ludlem.  May just wait on the movie.

Today I got:

“No Regrets” by Ann Rule

“Sugar and Spice” – an anthology with Fern Michaels, Beverly Barton, Joanne Fluke and Shrley Jump.  Sappy Christmas related romance novelets.

“Gifts of Love” – an anthology by Kay Hooper and Lisa Kleypas.

Think I’m set?

What are YOU reading, or have laying around to be read?

I’m reading:

“Culture Warrior” by Bill O’Reilly and “Born In Death” by J.D. Robb.

Let me know.  I’ll keep bumping it up throughout the weekend as people respond.

___

Stacy for adding this feature to her blog for giving me this idea.

___

**If I could figure out how to use Asides in Word Press, I’d do it that way (hint to the smarter folks out there).  :whistle:  I think I’ll just post every now and then what I’m reading and forget about the complication of “asides” Yuck!

One is a gadget called the AutoChef (I heard the line “auto-wash” from the movie Fifth Element when I typed that, but I stray).  Evidently ingredients for various dishes are placed in the AutoChef and then when a meal is needed, you program what you want and wham bam, out comes your meal.   Kind of a high-tech way of micro-waving stuff, only you don’t have to mix anything.  No dirty dishes either as they go back into the AutoChef to be cleaned.  I’m hooked – give me three please!

Another feature of Ms. Robb’s 2059 work are flying cars. Don’t need one of them thank you.  The people around this neck of the woods fly enough in their cars without the help of a special engine.

There is the “I need my eyes adjusted” fix – lazer surgery during lunch.  

I love the parts where Eve runs up on “girlie” stuff – that I would kill for now.  But …what I was most fascinated with when starting to read this series of books (Born In Death comes out November 7th) was the communications devices they use – the link.  Souped up Blackberry is the best way to describe them.  No one has “hard-line” phones in 2059.  Sorry Ma Bell.  From communication ala visual, to printing out documents (yes for some reason there still is paper in that world ugh), to managing your life, these devices I read about in the first book are now coming forth faster and faster.  Heck, I’m ready to dump my PDA and Cell-Phone for a Blackberry myself. 

But what about security?  Sure you can lock up your PDA or cell-phone, even your Blackberry’s from what I understand, but Tokyo has come up ahead of everyone else, again.

TOKYO (AP) – A new mobile phone in Japan takes security pretty seriously: It can recognize its owner, automatically locks when the person gets too far away from it and can be found via satellite navigation if it goes missing.

The P903i from NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s top mobile carrier, comes with a small black card about the size of a movie-ticket stub. The card works as a security key by connecting wirelessly with the cell phone.

If an owner keeps the card in a bag or pocket, the phone recognizes when the card moves too far away and locks automatically to prevent someone from making a call. The user can choose to have the phone lock when it is 26 feet, 66 feet or 130 feet away.

People who lose their security cards can punch in a password to unlock the phone. But they will have to buy a new card to set the lock again.

The extra security is handy because, like other recent Japanese phones, the P903i can be used as a credit card or a prepaid cash card.

I don’t recall what security features Ms. Robb uses in her books, but since she seemed to peer into the future on this, I bet there is something there and I missed it over the excitement of the books!

I’m wondering now that the “link” seems to be coming forth faster than anticipated, features upgrading every day, when are we going to get the AutoChef and flying cars?

Like I said above, I’ll take three AutoChefs and skip the car please!

It turned out to be a waste of money and time.

I’m a southern gal — yes, okay, transplanted yankee but having been down south long enough to know I was born in the wrong part of the country — so this book set in New York City should have been my first clue NOT to buy it.

It is about the fashion industry, mainly in the magazine area.   I don’t buy them, or even bother flipping through them. 

I should have read the reviews at Amazon.com.  It has an average reader review of three out of five stars.

The first reader review nails it:

Fashionistas around the globe have been salivating for the publication of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA since its first announcement. For those in love with all things Vogue et.al., who wouldn’t want to read a deliciously biting roman a clef about a woman who is probably Anna Wintour and then some? Alas, that’s the problem with the book, it only caters to those in the fashion know, which results in a shallow exercise of style over substance.

While author Lauren Weisberger has a grasp of sustaining a narrative, but the predictable scenarios she concocts are hardly the stuff of good fiction or, sadly, biting satire. Bitchy asides and brand names are stretched thin, for sure.

I forced myself to finish this book just to see if the bitch Miranda gets hers in the end.  I flipped over so many pages I properly only read about 1/2 of it total.  I have been told I’m self-centered, and if you ever have, trust me on this, we have nothing on Miranda.

The best part of the whole book was when Andrea finally grew a spine and the last two chapters.

Don’t bother folks — it sucks to high heaven.

I will stay with my favorites from now on.