Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Today we are pleased to once again have Joshua Graham join us. Joshua is the author of the recently released Darkroom.

About Josh

Joshua Graham is the award winning author of the #1 Amazon and Barnes & Noble legal thriller BEYOND JUSTICE.

His latest book DARKROOM won a First Prize award in the Forward National Literature award and was an award-winner in the USA Book News “Bests Books 2011” awards.

Rhodes Review: What gave you the idea for Darkroom?

Joshua Graham: It started with the title, which I thought would make for a great double entendre, then I remembered how ghostly some of the images in an old fashioned darkroom looked when they were coming up in the developing solution on the contact paper.  They start off looking like a negative, then they turn out normal.  But I thought:  What if someone could see clairvoyant images in the darkroom, the way Johnny Smith did in THE DEAD ZONE by Stephen King, when he touches someone?

Rhodes Review:  It goes heavily into background in Vietnam, what was the research process like?

Joshua Graham:  It was fascinating! I learned a lot from historical records, but I also got a lot of firsthand information from people who were actually there, especially around the fall of Saigon.

Rhodes Review:  Is there any chance of the characters returning in other stories?

Joshua Graham:  Does the name Jodi Bauer sound familiar to you?  If you read BEYOND JUSTICE, you’ll remember that she was nick-named Jodi the Piranha, and was the defense attorney for the serial killer in that novel.  Well, the attorney that defends Xandra Carrick in the last part of the book comes from her law firm.  So, as you can see, my characters sometimes inhabit the same world.  And they might
even cross paths, who knows?

Rhodes Review:  Which character would you most and least like to invite to dinner?

Joshua Graham:  Interesting question.  Of course, I think Xandra would be a real kick to hang out with.   She’s got quite a personality and is not boring.  She’s feisty (as one reviewer put it) and she doesn’t let things go easily, so I bet she’d be fun to get into a debate with.  I’d also love to meet her father Peter Carrick and hear the stories he has to tell from the Vietnam War.  Who would I least like to invite to dinner?  Mark Collinsworth.  Everyone has their story, but his cocky attitude really grates me.  Great for a book character, but for a dinner guest, not so much.

Rhodes Review:  What do you think makes a good story?

Joshua Graham:  That which draws you in, such that you forget your reading a book.  And it should also provide a healthy dose of catharthis.

Rhodes Review:  What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

Joshua Graham:  Wake up, get the kids ready for school, have breakfast, study the Bible and pray, check email, social media, write, write, write…answer phone calls, emails, write, write, write…

Rhodes Review:  What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Joshua Graham:  Once in a while, I interview my characters.  Ask them probing questions, then let them answer in their own voice.  Some of them have gotten pretty mad at me, some of them have broken down, and still others have made me laugh so hard I was grateful I didn’t have a mouthful of coke.

Rhodes Review:  What was your favorite part of Darkroom?

Joshua Graham:  The surprises and twists.  Which ones?  Well, I could tell you…

Rhodes Review:  What was the hardest part to write in Darkroom?

Joshua Graham:  Definitely witnessing the human atrocities where innocents are killed and tortured.  These are things you never want to imagine.  But they have happened, tragically.  And in order to fully bring it to life, I had to put myself in the scene and imagine the details, the emotions, from different points of views.   As a husband and a father, these kinds of images (scenes) are always the most difficult to write (as it was in the opening chapters of BEYOND JUSTICE.)  My readers have had the same reaction to these pages as mine.  We all wanted to go and hug our children after reading them.

Rhodes Review:  What do you wish was different about Darkroom?

Joshua Graham:  Maybe that a major motion picture studio had already optioned it before the book was published?  So many people (early readers) have told me that this book must be made into a movie.   I even have an agent from one of the top Hollywood talent agencies who approached me and said the same thing.   On the other hand, it’s probably better that the book comes out first, because a book and a film adaptation are very different creatures, and must be viewed as such.

Rhodes Review:  Which of your books was the easiest/hardest to write?

Joshua Graham:  None of them are what I would call easy.  I already described
what was difficult about them to write.   But the truth be told, DARKROOM came through divine providence and inspiration.  I never completed a first draft as quickly as I did DARKROOM.  The words and story just flowed and I practically typed non-stop from start to finish.

Rhodes Review:  Does writing a book get easier as you write?  Ie. Is it harder to write your first book, then your 14^th?

Joshua Graham:  I’ll let you know when I get to book 14.   Each book has its own
challenges and rewards.  On one hand, being more experienced makes it easier.  But then, the challenge is to write with equal and better quality, and remain fresh.  After about 4 novels, I can tell you that the latter concern is becoming more and more of a challenge.  But it’s a challenge ALL writer’s must face, nothing new under the sun.

Rhodes Review:  If the author could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Joshua Graham:  C.S. Lewis, for sure.  He was a remarkably gifted man of deep insight and literary skill.  I love everything he’s written in regards to his literary, philosophical, and theological viewpoints.  And, from what I gather, we share a similar sense of humor—I think.

Rhodes Review:  How did you get interested in writing?

Joshua Graham:  I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember.  Even in the 1^st grade, with crayons and construction paper, my pictures had a separate sheet of paper with a story (caption).  Since then, I’ve enjoyed writing scripts for plays, movies, and all kinds of stories.   It was only later in life that I rediscovered this passion for storytelling, and at the urging of some great friends, decided to pursue it
professionally.  Little did I know it would alter my destiny and be there, ready and waiting, when my 12 year career in IT disappeared, making way for my life as a writer.

Rhodes Review:  What are some of your favorite books/authors.

Joshua Graham:  GOD:  The Bible

C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, The Screwtape Letters

Stephen King: The Dead Zone

John Grisham:  The Rainmaker

Rhodes Review:  Do you have any suggestions to help my readers become a better
writer? If so, what are they?

Joshua Graham:  For those interested in becoming a writer professionally, remember, the key characteristic needed more than talent, connections, more than anything else combined, is persistence.  Never give up until you’ve arrived.  Even then, you have to keep honing your skills, learning the business, making connections, learning from others.  You’ll either love the sound of that, or hate it.  Chose this path carefully, because like all things worthwhile, it will come at personal cost and sacrifice.  But it will also come with unspeakable rewards, if you are looking for the right things.

Rhodes Review:  If you were to do your career as an author again, what would you do differently, and why?

Joshua Graham:  I might have spent a lot less time worrying about what others think because ultimately, the books I’ve written that drew the most negative comments from other aspiring writers, have gone on to become #1 bestsellers and have given me a new career (all thanks to God!)

Rhodes Review: Would you like a Snickers bar?

Joshua Graham:  If you even have to ask….

Connect with Josh at the following:

Website: www.joshua-graham.com/blog
FACEBOOK: http://joshua-graham.com/fb
Twitter: @J0shuaGraham

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	Paperback: 394 pages Publisher: Fiction Std (January 17, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1936558327 ISBN-13: 978-1936558322	Order book here:
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Characters:

Wayne Wilkins – Agent in “The Division”
Jonathan Rickner – Graduate Student of History and Archaelogy
Mara Ellison – Michael Rickner’s Fiancee’
Enrique Ramirez – Agent in “The Division”
Dr. Richard Leinhart – Professor to Michael Rickner

Synopsis:

Graduate students Jonathan and Michael Rickner, sons of eminent archeologist Sir William Rickner, are no strangers to historical secrets and archeological adventures. But when Michael is discovered dead in his Washington, D.C. apartment, Jon refuses to believe the official ruling of suicide. Digging deeper into his brother’s work, he discovers evidence that Michael was murdered to keep his dissertation research buried. Joined by Michael’s fiancée Mara Ellison, Jon travels to New York where he uncovers the threads of a deadly Depression-era conspiracy – one entangling the Hoover Administration, the Rockefellers, and the rise of Nazi Germany – and the elite cadre of assassins that still guard its unspeakable secret. Finding themselves in the crosshairs of the same men who killed Michael, Jon and Mara must navigate a complex web of historical cover-ups and modern-day subterfuge, outwitting and outrunning their all-powerful pursuers as they race through a labyrinthine treasure hunt through the monuments and museums of Manhattan to discover the last secret of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before their enemies can bury the truth – and them – forever.

Review

This book was quite the adventure from beginning to end. In the style of Dan Brown and other conspiracy fiction authors, Mr. Burns has weaved a tale going as far back as World War I.

The character development was well done. As a reader, I found I could believe the characters existed. The conspiracy itself as it played out was well described, and all fit logically together in the end. The author also included a brief history (through the characters) of events during World War I and World War II which I really enjoyed.

If there were one drawback, I’d say that some events seemed rather predictable. Whether it’s from me having read a lot of these types of novels, or the author telegraphing his scenes I don’t know. For me there wasn’t that sense of the unexpected that there should have been, except for one large twist which I didn’t see coming.

If given the chance, I would definitely read another of this authors books particularly in this series. It was a thrilling adventure, and kept me turning the page, which means the author accomplished his goal. I’d rate it for mid teens/adults due to the content, but overall a well told story, and if you get the chance to read it, grab a copy and do so.

About the Author

An avid reader since the age of three, Jeremy Burns was devouring novels by the time other children his age were still learning their ABCs. Blessed (and, at times, cursed) with a decidedly active imagination and an insatiable curiosity for nearly everything, Jeremy made learning and storytelling two of his chief passions. After earning his degree in History from Florida State University, Jeremy accepted a position teaching literature, creative writing, political science, and philosophy at an international school in Dubai.  Like the characters in his books, Jeremy is an intrepid explorer whose own adventures have taken him from Mayan ruins in the Yucatan to the pyramids of Egypt, from medieval castles across Europe to the jungles of Bangladesh, and beyond.  To date, Jeremy has traveled to more than twenty countries across four continents, seeking adventure, discovery, and ideas for future novels.  When not exploring a new corner of the globe, Jeremy lives in Florida, where he is working on his next thrilling novel.

Also check out Jeremy Burns on his Facebook page.  No Facebook account is required to access the page, but if you are a Facebook member, click “Like” to join in the adventure and show your support!

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Molly at Partners in Crime Tours for a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review. You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

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	Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Roundtree Press (January 16, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0983925534 ISBN-13: 978-0983925538	Order book here:
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Review

Mikey Weinstein is in a battle. His battle is to protect one of the constitutional freedoms that we as Americans hold dear. That freedom is the freedom to worship as we choose, or to not worship. In our constitution, we are told that congress shall make no laws respecting religion. In fact, Thomas Jefferson himself said that the constitution created a wall of separation between church and state. Now there are forces out there threatening to breach that wall. Mikey Weinstein through his efforts with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is standing guard over that wall.

In his book, No Snowflake in an Avalanche, Mr. Weinstein gives the reader a narrative on the struggles he and his family have gone through in their efforts. We start off seeing he and his daughter at home on fathers day, when they are interrupted. The interruption is that of someone painting a swastika and cross in their front yard. But that’s just the beginning.

Throughout the book there are various stories of our soldiers being forced into a specific ideology of “Christianity.” They are also attacked verbally and punished at times if they have a different religion particularly Judaism and Islam. The book includes sample letters from some of the soldiers seeking help or that they have helped. The letters are quite shocking in the tales they have to tell. In addition, there is some of the hate mail that his organization has received, and it is hateful. The tone of those letters varies between anti-islamic, anti-semitic to outright wishing death on him, his family and anyone connected to him.

I found the book very interesting, and very hard to put down. I also found the information it provided to be truly frightening. I’m certain there are those who will dismiss this book as just liberal propaganda or an attack on Christianity, but if you read it with an open mind, you’ll find the events to be truly terrifying. The threat is nothing short of an Americanized version of Al-Qaeda and to prepare against that, you need knowledge and proof. This book provides that proof and you’ll know what to look for.

Now I’m not here to speak on the truthfulness or accuracy of the information in this book the data he provides will do that. Only you can decide whether you believe it or not, and whether you want to further investigate the information provided, but I can recommend the book for its writing and for the information provided.

If you are concerned about the religious freedoms you have or don’t have being taken away. If you are concerned with living under a theocratic government, or just want to see some of the darker acts going on within our military and government, then pick up this book, read it, and get involved. Our freedoms need to be protected, or we lose them, and no one wants to live in the world shown possible in this book.

There is some strong language, and the subject matter is definitely not for young readers. I’d say it’s geared towards older teens and adults. Pick it up if you get the chance, give it a read, and drop back by here and let us know what you think about it.

About the Author

Mikey Weinstein is the undisputed leader of the national movement to restore the obliterated wall separating church and state in the most technologically lethal organization ever created by humankind: the United States armed forces. Described by Harper’s magazine as the constitutional conscience of the U.S. military, a man determined to force accountability, Mikey’s family has a long and distinguished U.S. military history spanning three consecutive generations of military academy graduates and over 130 years of combined active duty military service in every major combat engagement our country has been in from World War I to the current Global War on Terror.

Mikey is a 1977 Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. Mikey has been married for over 35 years to his wife, Bonnie. He is the proud parent of two sons and one daughter. His oldest son and daughter-in-law are 2004 Graduates, and Mikey’s youngest son graduated in the Class of 2007 from the Air Force Academy and is the sixth member of Mikey’s family to attend the Academy. His father is a distinguished graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Mikey spent 10 years in the Air force as a “JAG” or military attorney serving as both a Federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.

A registered Republican, he also spent over three years in the West Wing of the Reagan Administration as legal counsel in the White House. In his final position there, Mikey was named the Committee Management Officer of the much-publicized Iran-Contra Investigation in his capacity as Assistant General Counsel of The White House Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President of the United States. Mikey has held numerous positions in corporate America as a senior executive businessman and attorney.

After stints at prominent law firms in both New York City and Washington D.C., Mikey served as the first General Counsel to Texas billionaire and two-time Presidential candidate H. Ross Perot and Perot Systems Corporation. He left Mr. Perot’s employ in 2006 to focus his fulltime attention on the nonprofit charitable foundation he founded to directly battle the far-right militant radical evangelical religious fundamentalists: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation. (http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org)

Mikey has appeared innumerable times on all of the major cable and terrestrial TV news networks and is a frequent guest on national radio networks as well. His constitutional activism has been covered and profiled extensively in the print media including the Associated Press, The New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, the Denver Post, The Guardian and many other national and international newspapers and periodicals including Time magazine.

St. Martins Press in New York released Mikey’s book, “With God On Our Side: One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military” in October 2006. The paperback version was released in February 2008 with the Foreword being written by Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV. The book is an expose on the systemic problem of religious intolerance throughout the United States armed forces. Mikey recently made his international film debut in the Hollywood adaptation of James Carroll’s New York Times best selling book detailing the 2,000 year bloody history between the Church and the Jews, entitled “Constantine’s Sword”, and directed by Oscar nominee Oren Jacoby.

Mikey was named one of the 50 most influential Jews in America by the Forward, one of the nation’s preeminent Jewish publications. He also has received a nomination for the JFK’s Profile in Courage Award and received the Buzzflash Wings of Justice Award. In addition Mikey was honored by a distinguished civil rights organization Jews for Racial and Economic Justice with the Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk-Taker Award, for those who have taken extraordinary risks in the pursuit of justice.

Reviled by the militant radical evangelical fundamentalist Christian far-right, Mikey has been given many names by his enemies including Satan, Satan’s lawyer, the Antichrist, That Godless, Secular Leftist, The Antagonizer of All Christians, The Most Dangerous Man in America and, most recently and perhaps most colorfully, The Field General of the Godless Armies of Satan.

On October 11, 2011, for the third consecutive year, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was officially nominated again for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize (its fourth total nomination).

On November 7, 2011, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State presented Mikey Weinstein with AU’s first ever Person of the Year Award. In their press release, AU describes MRFF as “the leading voice protecting church-state separation in the military.”

AUTHOR SITES:

Military Religious Freedom Foundation”

Seattle Community Media Interview.

Be sure and enter our Giveaway for Mr. Weinstein’s book by going here and see our interview with Mr. Weinstein here.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Mr. Weinstein and Mr. Cornell for a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review. You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

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Today we’re pleased to welcome with us, Mr. Mikey Weinstein, author off the book No Snowflake in an Avalanche.

Mikey Weinstein: We’re very greatful that you’re taking the time to take a look and give us your thoughts and want to thank you for making the effort.

Rhodes Review: A lot of people would say you and the book are anti-Christian, and that it’s just a liberal attack on religion. How would you address that?

Mikey Weinstein: Well, I would say they’re full of shit. Let me explain why. That is a canard. That’s like saying that if you fight back against bullying in schools, you know that new movie Is out bullies, that you’re against bullying. In our situation we have just between 80 and 90 people that work in our foundation around the country. Most of our folks are full time volunteers. The vast majority of our staff are Roman Catholic and Protestant. We had 27,385 clients as of a few hours ago. It is just like a universal constant. It stays right around 96% of our clients are Christians. About 3/4s are Protestants of pretty much every denomination alone. We have 21 different varieties of Baptists alone. The other ¼ of the 96% are Roman Catholic. Only 4% of our clients are non Christians. Ironically some of our best donors are very conservative Republicans but don’t want people to know what their names are.

Our largest organization supporter is none other then the California Council of Churches IMPACT Organization. They interviewed and followed us for many years then made the decision to endorse us. Get this, there are 5,500 individual protestant churches in the state of California, 21 Different protestant denominations, and it’s 1.5 Million California Protestants. So if we are anti-Christian, that’s news to our staff, our donors, our endorsers, our clients. If you saw the video (link) I tried to explain we are absolutely at war with the American Christian Fascistic Taliban and that’s what the book is focused on and those are Fundamentalist or Dominionist Christians, they follow the great Commission

Mark 16:15 – And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Matthew 28:19 – Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

They feel they have the right to scream Jesus in a crowded theater. They feel there is no time, and there is no place, and there is no manner that can restrict them from proselytizing. That’s why one of our largest growth areas is Evangelical Christians. We now have them on our advisory board, as clients and donors. Of the 368 Clients we have from the Air Force Academy, the only one that is out is a Conservative

Evangelical Christian Republican. Even the Evangelicals follow the great commission, but they refuse to proselytize in a manner that is constitutionally noxious. So to say that is like saying we’re against all of Islam because we’re also against the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, etc. Of course we’re against Fundamentalist Islam. 10% of every Muslim American in the U.S. Military is our clients, and we never have any of them saying you’re anti-Muslim because we’re fighting the Fundamentalists in Islam. We don’t hate anybody’s God, we don’t favor or oppose anyone’s faith, we support our Constitution. It allows everyone to celebrate what faith they have or no faith. The rules are since we have a social contract in this country, you need to follow the rules of the law. And we have a Constitution that represents that social contract that there is a place, time and manner you can proselytize to your hearts content, but we also have the rules when you can’t do that, and if you want to violate it, then we’ll see you in that court.

Rhodes Review: I liked where you mentioned you even had a few Jedi clients.
Mikey Weinstein: I’d never heard of the Jedi Faith before, I think it’s a lot like Bahai. It’s not our position to sit there and say “What a ridiculous faith”, that is more than a slippery slope, one of our most well known clients, a highly decorated combat Medic, told us when he was told he had to stand in formation and bow his head to a Jesus prayer, mandatory, military, U.S. Army Formation, he told his first sergeant he didn’t want to do it. The sergeant told him he could follow his own religion when he wanted to, but when the Army tells you you’re going to do this. He told the first sergeant “My religion requires me to absent myself from people attempting telepathic contact with imaginary beings.”

Rhodes Review: You and your family face a lot of hatred and hostility as well as anti-semitism. How do you cope with that on a day to day basis?

Mikey Weinstein: That’s a tough question. I’ve told people that we’re not activists. We’re actually civil rights fighters. It’s like I’m talking to you with a gun stuck in my face. This is not like riding a unicorn through a cotton candy forest handing out lollipops to little forest animals who are singing in English in unison. This is a bloodsport. This is very, very hard. It’s dangerous, lonely, and expensive. The book was to try to make people understand. It’s like what Gandhi said was right: There are four phases of fighting, the first stage they ignore you. In stage two, they ridicule you. In stage 3, they fight you. In stage 4, you win. We’re well beyond ignore, we’re well beyond ignoring and ridiculing, we’re into fighting and winning. This comes at a cost. You know the quote from Voltaire where the title of the book comes from “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible”. Here’s another that explains this “It is very dangerous to be right in manners, upon which the established authorities are wrong.” . He also said “Courage cannot see around a corner but goes around it anyway. “ It’s something we realize we have to do. We’re not going to stop. We’re not going to be cowed. We do our best to protect ourselves with our weapons, our security, our firearms, whatever we’ve got. We’re trained to drive home in different ways, sit in restaurants in certain ways. I’m not asking everybody to be fighting this everyday, I’m just asking for one day of the lion. Give me just one day. Help us fight. It’s not like I don’t care about the starvation and violence in Darfur, or the HIV Crisis in Subsahara Africa, or global warming, or how to save the whales. I do. But the people we’re fighting want to use nuclear weapons to bring Jesus back. Dealing with this type of oppression and marginalizaton, we’ve had our windows shot out of our house, animals slaughtered, swastikas and crucifixes painted on our house, and we get it, you don’t like us being here. We also understand it’s important. The bill of rights which includes the first amendment where the Separation of Church and State exists, even though the Christian right says we don’t see those words there, they were put in to protect the minority. Frederick Douglas said “Power concedes nothing with a demand” so me, my family, and my foundation are the demanders of the commanders. The others out there are afraid to speak, to deal with the tyranny of the majority. The book is intended to be a primal scream to get people to understand, to make a call to action.

Rhodes Review: Tell us about the Chaplaincy of full Gospel and the Imprecatory Prayer. I remember similar prayers for the President?

Mikey Weinstein: About 12 days ago, the judge granted a summary judgement motion. He couldn’t see causation. We thought the judge was going to let it go to a jury, and let the jury decide. Yet the judge did not grant summary judgement.. The judge said how can you see a correlation between someone praying for someone to die and anything that happens to you.

[For the Readers: An Imprecatory prayer is a prayer wishing harm on others. In Obama’s case, it was for his days in office to be few and his children to be left orphans. In Mr. Weinstein’s case, it tends to be prayers for violence and death upon his family.]

Mikey Weinstein: Where are you going to post this review?

Rhodes Review: My own website, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

Mikey Weinstein: How many of these have you done in the past, you ask good questions.

Rhodes Review: Probably about 30 or 40.

Mikey Weinstein: Wow, I don’t’ want to take up your whole night, please continue with your excellent questions.

Rhodes Review: Is this just a problem in the airforce, or is it all branches?

Mikey Weinstein: Do you have a pen. Hold your pen up six inches over your desk. What made the pen drop?

Rhodes Review: Gravity.

Mikey Weinstein: Correct. That is exactly how systemic and ubiquitous and out of control Fundamentalist Dominionist Christianity is, in the technologically most lethal organization ever created by human kind which is our U.S. Military. We have roughly 1,000 military installations scattered around the world, in 150 countrys, as we garrison the globe. This is a national security threat to our Country. It’s inextricably entwined into the very DNA of the Pentagon or as we call it the Pentecostalgon. One of President Eisenhower’s most famous speeches was where he warned about the rise of the Military Industrial Complex. We’re facing this enormous Fundamentalist Christian Parachurch Military Corporate Congressional Complex. It is the very particulate of the department of Defense.

Rhodes Review: Can you tell us about the 68 Nuclear Missile Launch officers? The Jesus Rifles?

Mikey Weinstein:  The 68 Nuclear Missile Launch Officers were part of the Jesus Loves Nukes situation, I believe that’s chapter 14 of my book. The Jesus Nukes occurred late July/August last year, the Jesus Rifles were around January 2010.

We’ve had a lot of our stories go viral. The Nazi SS flag being used by the Marine Scout Snipers had over 16 Million News Hits alone. Nature Abhors a vacuum. If you’re being persecuted in the military because of your religious faith, you can’t go to the EO people, you can’t go to the inspect general, you can’t go to the Chaplain, You can’t go to the Lawyers, you can’t go to your chain of command, they’re the biggest perpetrators.

We think somewhere between 28 and 32 percent of the senior enlisted and officers are Fundamentalist Christians. People say what’s the big deal, but here’s the problem. The problem is they’ll come out and outrank 80% of the military. These other organizations such as the ACLU doesn’t speak military, we do. In every conceivable way, this is a template ofFundamentalist Christian Facism. We’re our own worst enemies in regards to Afghanistan, etc.

Rhodes Review: Are there any political leaders that we can depend on who are unaffected by this? It seems we’re in trouble either way sometimes.

Mikey Weinstein: No. In an election year they won’t touch us. I spent a lot of money with a very well appointed lobbying interest in Washington D.C. until they came and told us to stop paying them. I’m a registered Republican myself. Under Republicans it’s man exploits man. Under Democrats it’s just the opposite. It’s not a left or right issue, it’s a right or wrong issue. Martin Luther King Jr. said “In the end we remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” And there comes a time where silence becomes betrayal.

We live in an America where most people don’t speak truth to power. They don’t have the guts to do it, especially If it’s a spouse, teacher, particularly a boss, they’re too terrified. Most Americans are too docile to tell others to “shut the fuck up” if they’re talking in a movie theater, so how do you expect them to stand up and fight if they’re being told there is one approved solution for religion. It’s not a small matter. It’s well beyond racial, gender, sexual orientation. None of those have an ideological book telling you what to do. Of course the people we’re fighting, the Fundamentalists, have that stench, they are anti-semitic, islamophobic, misogynyistic, and homophobic.  They also have a virulent hatred of the constitution.

Rhodes Review: There are those who might think this was just another conspiracy theory such as birtherism. What would you say to such critics?

Mikey Weinstein:  Well I would tell people there were 300 spartans at the battle of Themopoly. In honor of those 300 brave men, give me two seconds of your time, give me six hundred seconds, that’s 10 minutes and go to Military Religious Freedom.org and look at the video, listen to the audio, read the text particularly the part that says you ought to read the book. Read the Book. There’s a reason Harper’s Magazine referred to me as the Constitutional Conscience of the Military, and I’m proud of that.

This isn’t about self-grandizement. I’m 57 years old, I don’t care if anyone likes me. Trust the message whether you like the message or not. I wrote the book because I knew I wouldn’t be happy until people were unhappy. Until people face some level of discomfiture, they won’t do anything.

Have you ever gone on a picnic? You and your wife go on a picnic and are surrounded by flies, no big deal, but if there’s suddenly hornets and wasps, that’s going to scare the shit out of you, you’re going to do something about that. So we had to make ourselves into hornets and wasps, because people won’t pay attention to anything else. Remember power pays attention only to demands.

The Department of Defense’s only weaknesss is bad press or being hauled to the federal or state court. There’s two things I want to say here. When you tell somebody they lack integrity, character, courage, intelligence, trustworthiness, honorability, and honor, because of their chosen religious faith, or lack thereof, there’s no difference between that and telling them they’re stupid because of the color of their skin or because they were born with a vagina.

What we’re dealing with here is a Fanatical religiosity. Not the enemy we’re fighting, not jihadist Islam, but Fundamentalist or Dominionist Christianity. You have one of it’s biggest leaders, Rob Parsley of World’s Harvest Church. He’s very fond on Sunday, and I’ve seen him on the videos, he’ll sit there and promise them a 200 mile long river, 4 ½ feet deep filled with nothing but human blood. Then he’ll say “Therefore my brothers and sisters, rejoice, rejoice because the worst is yet to come.”

So we’re dealing with a fundamentalist, fanatical religiosity tied in with a putrescent disgusting version of patriotism, and an unfettered access due to this draconian specter of vertically entrusted military command influence. What you have is a metastasizing cancer, a fundamentalist Christian, unconstitutional cancer that is of such magnitude that it’s almost impossible to believe unless you are complicit.

If you have a little tickle in your throat, your wife gives you hot tea. If that doesn’t work you see the doctor. The doctor gives you antibiotics. That doesn’t work they give you a shot. But ultimately at some point you need those adenoids and tonsils to come out. And we’re way beyond the stage of hot tea. It’s in our public schools, it’s in our sanitation departments, it’s in our cops. But they don’t have laser guided and nuclear weapons. If I can increase the level of trust and communication 1000 fold between the dark forces of Christianity then and only then can I fairly describe the relationship between them and us as two ships passing in the night.

Someone asked my wife how much do you owe? What did you have to give up, probably a lot huh? She was crying when she made the statement, “No, we didn’t have to give up a lot, we had to give up everything.” There is no retirement fund. There is no retirement home. There is no sense of security. But we’ve made the decision that someone has to do something. If you rescue a child who crawled into the street are you called a hero. No you are doing the right thing. I know the people we fight consider me at best to be an asshole, but to the people who we represent most of whom are protestants and catholics, and all of whom wear the uniform of this country, or have worn it, we are badasses, and we work hard to be hornets and wasps and bees.

Sorry if that’s too long winded.

That’s why this review is so important. We’re hope merchants. We’re supposed to give our clients AARP. Anonymity, Action, Results, and Protection. We have to give people hope. At any one time, we have a dozen clients on the cusp of suicide. It’s a horrible feeling of marginalization and people can only take it so long. I’ve had clients who were Muslim whose commanders told them the only good Muslims were dead Muslims, and they fantasized about killing themselves with a note saying “Am I a good Muslim now.”

There’s a saying “One often finds their destiny on the road one takes to avoid it.” I didn’t ask for this to happen. I was at point A in my life in 2004 when I was faced with anti-semitism and I didn’t care if I lived or died, someone was going to get a beating, and I was going to do it. Now I’m at point B, whenever I see unconstitutional religious tyranny of any type from any client, I don’t care if I live or die, someone is going to get a fucking beating, and I’m going to be the one to do it.

For those on the religious right, those fundamentalist Christians who say separation of church and state isn’t in the constitution. I’ll ask them if they were arrested and taken to jail, would they have the right to a fair trial? They’ll always say yes, but it’s not. You have the constitutional right to a speedy trial and a public trial, but not a fair trial. That right is given by something called legal precedent case law just like Miranda rights.

Remember we’re dealing with an American populace more focused on Dancing with the Stars, and the book is intended to be a wakeup call.

Rhodes Review: What advice would you give to those wanting to get involved?
Well, I would say read the book, buy the book, get the book to as many people as you can. Donate to us. We’re the tip of the spear. It is a way to reach out to politicians, they will not touch us. And finally give me that one day as a lion.

We’d like to thank Mr. Weinstein for joining us here at Rhodes Review and for taking the time to talk to you about this issue, and about his book.  As part of this, We’ve been given permission to offer two signed and personalized copies of his book, “No Snowflake in an Avalanche” to our readers.  To Enter the contest go here.  And be sure and read our review of No Snowflake in an Avalanche here.

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April 19 has become a date marking horrific violence in this country’s history.

The date is not well known like September 11 or December 7, the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Unlike dates that commemorate great military victories or the end of World Wars, April 19 is about a different kind of violence.

Violence between citizens of this nation and the government itself.

Like most traditions it began as a coincidence, but later transitioned into a date of significance for members of sovereign citizen groups like the Posse Comitatus.

It began in 1985. Jim Ellison was the leader of a sovereign group called CSA (The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord. On April 19, 1985, three hundred federal officers surrounded his compound in northern Arkansas. Ellison surrendered and was later convicted of conspiracy and weapons charges. Aside from traditional firearms, the federal officers rounded up hand grenades, plastic explosives, blasting caps, land mines and even a US Army anti-tank rocket. One of Ellison’s men, Richard Wayne Snell was charged with murder and his execution took place ten years later as fate would have it, on April 19.

April 19, 1993 the FBI stormed the Branch Davidian complex outside Waco Texas, killing seventy six members, including seventeen children. David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidian group was sought for illegal weapons charges, something sovereign groups adamantly believed was not a crime, but a right. This came on the heels of the Ruby Ridge shootings which had enraged members like Tim McVeigh. Terry Nichols and McVeigh saw Waco as yet another illegal intrusion by a corrupt
government.

Following Waco, April 19 became a date of significance for sovereign groups. They would use the date as a symbol and cause to retaliate against the government.

On April 19, 1994 militia leader Linda Thompson issued a call for sovereign citizen groups  to assemble in Washington DC, armed and in uniform. The purpose of the assembly was the forced repeal of the Brady Bill and the arrest of Congressmen and Senators for treason.  She identified herself as the acting adjutant general of the Unorganized Militia of the United States. Although later rescinded, her call to arms became known as the Thompson Ultimatum.

At nine pm April 19, 1995, CSA member, Richard Wayne Snell, was put to death by lethal injection in Arkansas.  Twelve hours earlier, Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols had ignited a truck bomb outside the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City killing 168 people.

For McVeigh and Nichols the date was not a coincidence.

NOTE:

Between now and April 19th, you can get Redemption Day free for Kindle Reading Devices or the Kindle for PC/Ipad App.

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	Paperback: 438 pages Publisher: Story Plant, The (March 27, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1611880343 ISBN-13: 978-1611880342	Order book here:
		Order E-book here:

Characters:

Clark Hayden – Graduate Student in Robotics

Synopsis:

Clark Hayden is a graduate student trying to help his mother navigate through the loss of his father while she continues to live in their house near Washington DC. With his mother’s diminishing mental capacity becoming the norm, Clark expects a certain amount of craziness as he heads home for the holidays. What he couldn’t possibly anticipate, though, is that he would find himself catapulted into the middle of the terrorist operation. As the holiday festivities reach a crescendo, a terrorist cell – which happens to be across the street – is activated. Suddenly Clark is discovering things he never knew about deadly chemicals, secret government operations, suspiciously missing neighbors, …

Review

This was an exciting, fast paced thriller. The main antagonist, was a strong Muslim woman. That could be a positive or negative, since Women are not typically in charge of terrorist groups. However, in the context of this story I think it worked. She was cold and calculating, just the way a good villain should be.

There were also plenty of twists along the way. If I were to have one complaint, it would be that there seemed to be way too many peripheral characters and more than enough story line characters. I think 6 or 7 investigators at all different levels, all with their own goals/stories was a little much and tended to be a little confusing.

But the characters that were there were for the most part believable. There was a romance though that seemed a bit quick. Small complaints aside though, when the overall story is looked at I think the plot and the story were well written, and this is an author I would read again.

I’d recommend this to older teens and adults due to the language and mature content. But for a fast paced thriller and a good weekend read, I think you’d probably like it.

Excerpt:

AUTHOR’S NOTE

(This part is true.)

In late 1999 a woman from Vienna, Virginia, a suburb ten miles from the White House as the crow flies, called the CIA. The woman, a fifty-something mother of three, phoned to report what she referred to as potential terrorists living across the street from her middle-class home. She went on to explain what she had been seeing in her otherwise quiet neighborhood: Strange men of seemingly Middle-Eastern descent using their cell phones in the yard. Meetings in the middle of the night with bumper-to-bumper curbside parking, expensive cars rubbing ends with vans and common Japanese imports. A constant flow of young men, some who seemed to stay for long periods of time without introducing themselves to anyone in the neighborhood. The construction of a six-foot wooden fence to hide the backyard from the street only made the property more suspicious.

Upon hearing a layperson’s description of suspicious behavior, the CIA promptly dismissed the woman and her phone call. (Ironically, the woman lived less than a quarter of a mile from a CIA installation, though it was not CIA headquarters as was later reported.)

In the days and weeks following 9/11, the intelligence community in the U.S. began to learn the identities of the nineteen hijackers who had flown the planes into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. In the process of their investigation they discovered that two of the hijackers, one on each of the planes that hit the World Trade Towers, had listed a particular house in Vienna, Virginia as a place of residence.

The FBI and various other agencies swooped in on the unassuming neighborhood and began knocking on doors. When they reached the house of a certain mother of three, she stopped them dead in their tracks. She was purported to have said, “I called the CIA two years ago to report that terrorists were living across the street and no one did anything.”

The CIA claimed to have no record of a phone call.

The news networks set up cameras and began broadcasting from the residential street. ABC, NBC, FOX. The FBI followed up with further inquiries. The woman’s story was later bounced around the various post 9/11 committees and intelligence hearings on Capitol Hill. (Incidentally, after 9/11, the CIA closed its multi-story facility in the neighborhood where the terrorist reportedly lived. In 2006 the empty building was finally torn down and, as of early 2011, was being replaced with another office building).

There has been much speculation about what the government should have or could have known prior to 9/11. The answer is not simple. There have been anecdotal stories of people in Florida and elsewhere who claimed to have reported similar “terrorist” type activities by suspicious people prior to 9/11. None of these stories have been proven.

What we do know is that with the exception of the flight school instructor in Minnesota who questioned the motive of a student who was interested in flying an aircraft without learning how to land, and an unheeded warning from actor James Woods who was on a plane from Boston with several of the purported terrorists while they were doing a trial run, the woman from Vienna, Virginia was the country’s best chance to prevent 9/11. To date, there has been no verification of any other pre-9/11 warnings from the general public so far in advance of that fateful day in September.

For me, there is no doubt as to the validity of the claims of the woman in Vienna.

She lived in the house where I grew up. She is my mother.

Mark Gilleo. October, 2011. Washington DC.

* * *

Ariana turned on the nightlight and closed the door to her daughter’s room. She walked down the carpeted hall towards the light stretching out from the plastic chandelier over the dining room table. Her husband’s chair was empty and she quietly called out his name. No response. As Ariana turned the corner to the kitchen and reached for the knob on the cabinet over the counter, eight hundred pages of advertising crashed into her rib cage, sucking the wind from her lungs. As his wife doubled over, Nazim raised the thick Yellow Book with both hands and hit her on her back, driving her body to the floor.

“Don’t you ever disobey me in front of others again.”

Ariana coughed. There was no blood. This time. She tried to speak but her lips only quivered. Her thick-framed glasses rested on the floor, out of reach. Her brain fought to make sense of what happened, what had set her husband off. It could have been anything. But every curse had its blessing, and for Ariana the blessing was the fact that Nazim didn’t hit her in front of Liana. A blessing that the child didn’t see her mother being punched. The reason was simple. Nazim was afraid of his daughter. Afraid of what she could say now that she could speak.

The curse was that Ariana never knew when she had crossed the line. She never knew when the next blow was coming. She merely had to wait until they were alone to learn her fate for past indiscretions.

Ariana gasped slowly for air. She didn’t cry. The pain she felt in her side wasn’t bad enough to give her husband the satisfaction.

“When I say it is time to leave, it is time to leave. There is no room for negotiation in this marriage.”

Ariana panted as her mind flashed back to the Christmas party. She immediately realized her faux pas. “I didn’t want to be rude to Maria. She spent days making dessert. She is old. Do we not respect our elders anymore?”

Nazim pushed his wife onto the floor with his knee, a reaction Ariana fully expected. “You are my wife. This is about you and me. Our neighbor has nothing to do with it.” Nazim looked down at Ariana sprawled on the linoleum and spit on her with more mock than saliva.

“Maria is my friend.”

“Well, her son is coming home and she doesn’t need you.”

Nazim dropped the yellow book on the counter with a thud and went to the basement. Ariana gathered herself, pushing her body onto all fours and then pulling herself up by the front of the oven. She looked at the Yellow Book and her blood boiled. It was like getting hit by a cinderblock with soft edges. When it hit flush, it left very little bruising. As her husband intended. For a man of slight build, Nazim could generate power when a beating was needed.

Ariana took inventory of herself, one hand propping herself up on the counter. She had been beaten worse. Far worse. By other men before she met her husband. Her eyes moved beyond the Yellow Pages and settled on the knife set on the counter, the shiny German steel resting in its wooden block holder. She grabbed the fillet knife, caressed the blade with her eyes, and then pushed the thought from her mind.

Her husband called her from the basement and she snapped out of her momentary daze. “Coming,” she answered, putting the knife back in its designated slot in the wood. She knew what was coming next. It was always the same. A physical assault followed by a sexual one. She reached up her skirt and removed her panties. There was no sense in having another pair ripped, even if robbing Nazim of the joy would cost her a punch or two.

Christmas, the season of giving, she thought as she made her way down the stairs into the chilly basement.

March 27th:  Review~ Writing To The Heart Of The Matter
March 28th:  Review & Guest Post~The Top Shelf
March 29th:  Review~CMash Loves To Read
March 30th:  Review & Guest Post~Tontowilliams’ Electronic Scrapbook
April 1st:  Review~Me and Reading
April 2nd: Review~Sweeping Me
April 5th:  Joel Andre, Author
April 9th:  Review~Practical Frugality
April 10th:  Review~Rhodes Review
April 11th: Review~Coffee and a  Keyboard
April 12th:  Review~b00k r3vi3ws
April 13th: Review~Writers and  Authors
April 16th:  Review~ Book Lover Stop
April 18th: Review~ The Book Faery Reviews
April 19th:  Review~ Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book
April 20th:  Review~ Jagged Edge Reviews
April 20th:  Review & Guest Post~ Read 2 Review
April 21st: Review~ Purple Penguin Reviews
April 23rd:  Review & Interview~ Words By Webb
April 26th:  Review~ Kickin Back With Kiwi
April 30th:  Review~ The Many Thoughts of a Reader
May 1st:  Review~ Reviews By Molly
May 3rd: Review~ Ryder Islington’s Blog
May 8th:  Review~ Keenly Kristin
May 11th: Review~ Jersey Girl Book Reviews
May 14th:  Review~ Books and Needlepoint
May 15th:  Review & Interview~ Hott Books
May 16th:  Review~ Simply Stacie
May 19th: Interview~ Hott Books
May 22nd:  Review~ Blue Archipelago Reviews
May 24th:  Review~ Everything Distils Into Reading
May 26th:  Review~ Sweeping The USA
June 4th:  Review~ Celticlady’s Reviews
June 7th:  Review~ Kim’s Bookish Place
June 8th:  Review~ Froggarita’s Bookcase
June 9th:  Review~ JeanBookNerd

About the Author

Mark Gilleo holds a graduate degree in international business from the University of South Carolina and an undergraduate degree in business from George Mason University. He enjoys traveling, has lived and worked in Asia, and speaks fluent Japanese. A fourth-generation Washingtonian, he currently resides in the D.C. area. His two most recent novels were recognized as finalist and semifinalist, respectively, in the William Faulkner-Wisdom Creative writing competition. The Story Plant will publish his next novel, SWEAT in 2012.

Be sure and enter our Giveaway for Mr. Gilleo’s next novel Sweat soon to be released by going here.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Cheryl at Partners in Crime Tours for a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review. You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

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Thanks to Mr. Aronica at The Story Plant I’m able to offer my readers 1 signed copy of this book to be released this summer. To enter, follow these simple rules:

1) One Entry if you’re a follower [You can follow through Google Friend connect to the right, you can also sign up to follow through Twitter or Facebook].
2) An Additonal Entry if you blog about this contest.
3) An Additonal Entry if you’re a new follower.
4) One entry each for posting on facebook and/or twitter.
5) Must leave a comment letting me know how you follow me, blog link to this post, facebook/twitter link, etc.
6) Contest will continue until 04/24/2012.
7) This giveaway is open to residents of US. No PO Box addresses (street mailing only).

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	Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (January 10, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0316098752 ISBN-13: 978-0316098755	Order book here:
		Order E-book here:

Review

The election of Barack Obama, the nation’s first black President was one of the most historic elections in the history of the country.  But before the streamers had even finished floating to the ground, the controversies started.  His election gave birth to birthers, the Tea Party, and many forms of ugliness.  How does a man survive in this hostile world, and more, how does his wife?

In Jodi Kantor’s book we get to look into the four years of the Obama Presidency.  Each chapter is dedicated to 3 or 4 months over the 4 year period.  As a reader, one gets to see the feelings/behind the scenes functioning over some of the biggest political issues.

You also get a glimpse into the personal lives of the President and First Lady.  You get to see how she struggled to find her own voice.  You’ll see the personal conflicts between her and Rahm Emanuel.  In short, you get a good glimpse at the stresses that go with being President, a job I wouldn’t take for any amount of money.

I thought the book was well written, very well researched, and it kept me engaged.  Being a bit of a political junkie, I remembered most of the scenes that took place and really enjoyed seeing some of the behind the scenes stuff that was involved.

Whether you are a fan of this President or not, I think you’d probably this book interesting, just for a look at what the President’s job is actually like.  Pick it up, give it a read, and stop back here and let me know what you think.

About the Author

Jodi Kantor began her journalism career by dropping out of Harvard Law School to join Slate.com in 1998. Four years later she became the Arts & Leisure editor of the New York Times, the youngest person in memory to edit a section of the newspaper. She has been covering the Obamas since 2007, writing about their faith, friends, marriage, roots, and family, among other topics. Jodi is a recipient of a Columbia Young Alumni Achievement Award, was named to Crain’s “Forty Under Forty” list of New Yorkers, and appears regularly on television. Though she is a Washington correspondent for the Times, she lives in Brooklyn with her family.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Anna at Hachette Book Group for a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review. You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

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	Paperback: 328 pages Publisher: Greenpoint Press (September 6, 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 0983237026 ISBN-13: 978-0983237020	Order book here:

Review

I don’t think any of us over a certain age forget where we were or what we were doing on September, 11, 2001. I remember I’d just arrived at work and booted up my computer. A co-worker said some idiot flew a plane into a building in New York. Then the second plane hit. Then the Pentagon was hit. The towers came down in a cloud of dust. People were running. People were jumping from buildings. The whole day was a blur of emotions ranging from fear and anger to sadness. The book I’m reviewing is a collection of essays based on the experiences of the responders to 9/11. These people were the cops, firemen, doctors, priests. It covers a wide range of people and experiences, but all with a common theme.

Each essay is moving. Sometimes the writer is a little angry, angry at the government who lied to them. They were lied to about the air being safe to breath. They feel betrayed that the same America who loved them on 9/11 now doesn’t want to take care of them. They sacrificed their health and in some cases their lives to do what they felt were right.

Over 900 responders have died since 9/11 of medical complications related to working at Ground Zero. Many more suffer from PTSD. As one of the writers said, it’s normal for cops and firemen to suffer from PTSD. They witness one or two traumatic events and it sets them off. In the case of 9/11, a lot of the responders didn’t witness one or two traumatic events but hundreds.

One article details a program called POPPA that was created just for that purpose. Police especially, from what the various writers said, can’t go through their deparment for mental health. If their fellow officers found out they’d be ostracized and unable to do their job. So many just suffer through it. POPPA was created to offer them a program that was connected, but still had an agreement to privacy.

The one thing I took from the book is that all those who volunteered to help whether it was rescuing survivors, getting people out before the buildings fell, recovery, or cleanup are owed by us. They’ve given their all in some cases to their country, and deserve to get something back for that.

The essays themselves are beautifully written. You can almost hear each persons voice telling the story. You can pick up on their sadness, their anger, their frustration. The book is divided into four parts. The first part Caught in the Collapse details those who arrived first and some of who were caught when the building fell. The second part details various peoples experiences in looking for survivors. The third part deals with the recovery process, while the final section details the different areas of help that the responders need. The last section is about trying to start over after the tragedy. Each section begins with a series of pictures showing scenes from around Manhattan on 9/11.

It’s a deeply moving book, and while I know some will say they can’t read it, that it will hurt too much, I think they need to. I recommend this book to anyone old enough to understand. It wasn’t just those who died that day that we need to remember. We need to remember those who are still living that we can help. It’s hard to tell what the end death toll will be, but we can do what we need to in order to try to minimize it. We owe it to these people.

You can visit 911 responders remember to see some videos of those who submitted essays for the book, and read more from the different responders.

About the Author

Benjamin J. Luft, M.D., is the Edmund D. Pellegrino Professor of Medicine at SUNY Stony Brook and an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of Lyme disease and AIDS-related conditions. As a native New Yorker he was deeply impacted by the 9/11 attacks and was inspired to establish the Long Island World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, which provides care to more than 6,000 disaster responders and has become an incubator for several important research and treatment programs that emphasize both mental and physical well-being. Dr. Luft has also established several important projects commemorating 9/11, including the “Remembering 9/11 Responders” oral history program.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Rebecca at Cadence Marketing for a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review. You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

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	Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Revised edition (Jan. 18, 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 0062023470 ISBN-13: 9780062023476	Order book here:
		Order E-book here:

What’s your political view. Are you conservative, and think those liberals are destroying the country. Or are you a liberal that thinks the conservatives in this country have a greedy stick up their butt. Whichever side you fall on, I think you’d find this book very interesting. I found many opposing views in this book. Some of it supported my views, some of it didn’t. But the authors explained things in such a way that it made sense. While some books on finance could be dry, this one was actually entertaining. It leaves you a lot to think about, particularly on a lot of the hot button issues. It explains in detail almost every budget related issue from defense spending, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to social security, medicare, and the Healthcare legistlation from last year.

I did notice at Amazon and Barnes and Noble that there were two version of this book. One came out in February of 2011 and is updated with more recent information. The one available for e-readers is about 2 years old so information won’t be as fresh. If you are going to purchase a copy (see my links to the stores above), I’d suggest getting the printed copy over the electronic copy so you have the most up to date information.

Whichever side of the political aisle you fall on though, I think you’d find this book to be a valuable reading experience. The authors have another one out on the energy crisis that I very well may check out. It doesn’t matter what your politics are, as Americans we all must be informed, and when books come along like this, that explain everything impartially, you should grab them and read them.

About the Authors:

Scott Bittle is the executive editor of publicagenda.org, twice nominated for the Webby Award as best political site. He is also an award-winning journalists. As an executive vice president of Public Agenda, Jean Johnson has more than twenty years of experience understanding public attitudes on a broad range of issues and has written for USA Today, Education Week, and the Huffington Post. They’re also the authors of Who Turned Out the Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Anna at FSB Associates for a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review. You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

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