Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 198
July 18, 2012
Mini-Reviews #4…
#15: Henry Crumpton, The Art of Intelligence. 5+. It’s not often that I give anything above a 3 in one of my mini-reviews, but here it is! I saw Crumpton’s interview on CBS’s Sixty Minutes last May 13 and liked his story. I gave into temptation and bought his new book. Maybe I shouldn’t say any more than “Wow!” Like a good spy, Hank often seems apolitical, feeling motivated in one meeting with Dubya where the ex-president thumps him on the back and says, “Go get’em” but nobly trying to work w...
July 17, 2012
Romney’s peccadillos…
I’m talking about those little pecados: his off-shore bank accounts, his reluctance to release his tax returns, and his three years in limbo at Bain. These are small sins indeed, but they’re huge for the way they provide the American voting public a glimpse into this snake-oil salesman’s GOP-style of thinking.
Let’s take those three years at Bain. Either he lied then or he’s lying now. Like the little kid who tells white lies, Mittens can’t keep them straight. Either you were doing zilch at Ba...
July 12, 2012
Irish Stew #10…
Item: I told you so. It didn’t take long for Mittens to realize that the Chief Justice gave this dog of a candidate a juicy bone. He flip-flopped from calling the IRS’ penalty in Obamacare for not having health insurance a fine, to agreeing with Roberts’ calling it a tax. This means that the tax-and-spend accusatory media blitz against Dems can have some consistency and follow the party line. Of course, the GOP candidate, who was in the Hamptons on Long Island this last weekend, kissing the y...
July 10, 2012
The dirtiest presidential campaign ever?
Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case and their refusal to hear the Montana challenge, many of us worry that the 2012 presidential campaign will be the dirtiest in history. There seems to be an unlimited amount of funding destined for mud-slinging from both sides. The new rules of the game appear to be reduced to one: “The candidate with the most financial backing is the winner.” The Supreme Court is partly to blame for that, of course—corporations are persons? C’mon! Only in Rom...
July 6, 2012
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #30…
#171: Inexpensive summer reading? For Kindle users, check out my entire catalog on Amazon. For Nook and other non-Kindle users, remember that Full Medical is on sale in Smashwords’ Summer/Winter promotion at 50% off. You will need a coupon and your code is SSW50. Better yet, buy the entire “Clones and Mutants Series” (Full Medical + Evil Agenda) for hours of entertainment and excitement—another type of roller coaster, perhaps. For young adults and adults young at heart, try The Secret Lab—als...
July 5, 2012
Starship Enterprise…
Trekkies know that there were two starship Enterprises, the first named after the aircraft carrier and the second after the first. I claim there are three. In a few days, the true first starship Enterprise will end its life as a museum on the decks of the old aircraft carrier Intrepid berthed in New York City’s harbor.
The demise of NASA’s shuttle program ranks as one of the most asinine decisions the government has ever made in its mismanagement of science funding. Another, of course, was the...
July 3, 2012
Chief Justice Roberts–ultra-conservative scam artist?
By now, you know that the Chief Justice didn’t vote with his ultra-conservative brethren, Justices Alito, Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas. It’s amusing how everyone from the Chamber of Commerce to the rest of right-wing America are wringing their hands or screaming traitor. His decision to side with the liberal judges seems a betrayal to the conservative cause. The GOP is using the result to rally the bigots of the land and the money is pouring in. Tea Partiers are apoplectic. I guess right-winge...
June 29, 2012
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #29…
#163: The free promo is over but Pop Two Antacids… is still a bargain! The Fathers’ Day promo of Pop Two Antacids and Have Some Java is over. (If you missed it, you can still download the book—only $0.99 from Amazon.) I thank all readers who downloaded it…enjoy! I’d like to send a special thanks to European readers. Detectives Chen and Castilblanco are New Yorkers first and foremost, but they often resonate with readers across the U.S., Canada, and overseas, so welcome! Mystery, suspense, and...
June 28, 2012
Irish Stew #9…
Yes, there are numbers 1 through 8 (see the archives). I haven’t done one of these in a while, but enough is happening that I’d like to comment on a number of issues. Here goes:
#1: Internal contradictions in the Supreme Court’s immigration decision. The Obama administration is cheering because the SC basically said that general immigration policy must be controlled at the federal level. The governor of Arizona and similar ultra-conservatives are cheering because cops can still ask for immigra...
June 26, 2012
Soldiers and priests…
There are two classes of people who shouldn’t participate in the political process—soldiers and priests. The reasons for the first are so obvious that DoD Instruction 1334.01 forbids it, but only when the soldier is in uniform. Other DoD policies actually encourage participation in political life, a practice also encouraged by the GOP and discouraged by the Dems (because all our armed services are now volunteer, soldiers tend to lean toward the right—the Pentagon and its supporters are not kn...
