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

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.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Books, Informational, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.