2008, SciArt Media, 134 pages (as PDF)
This is a book of short stories from mostly young, certainly aspiring, New Hampshire writers that I helped to market for a fellow Free Stater five years ago. I don’t believe many of the links remain valid, so good luck finding this particular little collection. You can try locating James Maynard perhaps via the Free State Project organization Continue reading
Reviewed by Brian Wright“In many states and federally, the innocent agent doctrine is codified. Title 18 United States Code, §2(b) provides: ‘Whoever willfully causes an act to be done which if directly performed by him… would be an offense against the United States, is punishable as a principal.’
“In other words, if Bush personally killed an American soldier, he would be guilty of murder. Under the law, he cannot immunize himself from this criminal responsibility by causing a third party to do the killing. He’s still responsible. George Bush cannot sit safely in his Oval Office in Washington D.C. while young American soldiers fighting in his war are being blown to pieces by roadside bombs in Iraq, and wash his hands of all Continue reading
Someone must have loaned me this book from Toby Young when I wasn’t looking. A week or two ago, I was scrounging thru my top bookshelf for some lighter reading to accompany me on a trip up north, when I see How to Lose Friends peeking out from between a dog-eared road atlas and a software manual. I read a couple of pages and said this is just right.
With a title like this, you just have to believe you’re in for a entertaining and informative read. Moreover, you suspect the author, who is an Oakland University (Michigan) engineering professor—and was a good friend of my late brother Forrest, and is attending my small book discussion group on her work—with a colorful, enterprising past, will be followed by controversy on account of the ideas especially among her academic minions. Barbara told me as much when we met for coffee a couple of weeks ago: “Although I’m in the engineering college, even with that I run into a strong wave of PC disapproval.” (I’m paraphrasing.) Continue reading
Just another casual casualty of the drug warBrian Wright’s first book, New Pilgrim Chronicles, is the story of one man’s coming to the Free State of New Hampshire to help create more liberty everywhere. In contrast, Wright’s second political monograph recounts his experience with the “Drug Prohibition System (DPS);” it’s a true drug war story where an ordinary middle-class guy’s liberty is suspended for two grueling weeks by the harsh, senseless prosecutocratic world of prison-planet lite. Brian decided to use this dire personal experience—considerably more benign than what the poor or minorities are typically subjected to—to speak out, for those who have no voice, against the cruel, unusual system. Continue reading
Originally posted on Coffee Coaster 12/22/2008. Someone inclined to favor Democrats over Republicans in general recommended this book to me before the election, saying it provides a “really detailed, incredibly well-thought-out plan of what Barack Obama will do if he wins the presidency—of course with the consent of Congress, consistent with the Constitution, and only if the money exists. That last proviso—if the money exists—is the thin red-ink line I’m hanging my personal hopes on for this administration. Because, omigosh, if the Obamanon[1] executes even half of the objectives outlined in Change We Can Believe In, everyone in the country will need to volunteer their life savings. Continue reading
Goldie I picked up from a lady friend in Okemos, Michigan, who has always been a book person… and a fan of Goldie Hawn: entertainer, actress, producer, director, and human person seeking enlightenment, in no particular order.
It’s a nice respite from heavier fare, the sort of nonfiction I’m constantly drawn to dealing with the freedom movement and the eternal search for justice. Goldie Jean Hawn (her real name) was born in Washington DC, and grew up in a suburb of DC, Takoma Park, Maryland. She took dance lessons early and became quite accomplished in ballet, then in drama school, worked as a dancer, and found her way into TV and the entertainment business. Most of us remember her goofy “dumb blond” act on the series Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Continue reading