Brett Cottrell's Blog, page 2

A Letter from DC Residents to Jason Chaffetz (R-DC)

Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah threatened DC’s elected officials with jail if they legalize marijuana. Apparently, he thinks he's my congressional representative, which is odd because I live District of Columbia. I tried to contact him, but he only allows emails from his Utah constituents. But, if he can pretend to be our Representative, we can pretend to live in Utah.
If you are a DC resident, click here to email Representative Chaffetz – feel free to copy and paste the letter below . You’ll need a Utah address and zip code. I suggest something like: 191 S. Main St, Moab, UT, 84532 2503.    
Representative Chaffetz:
Forgive me if I entered the incorrect address on this form, but your recent attempts to subvert the will of the voters of the District of Columbia confused me. I thought I lived in the District, but since you seem to be my Representative, I must live in Utah, and so you see my dilemma.
My confusion is magnified by the amount of brainpower I am exerting reconciling your stated belief in individual liberty with your desire to deprive the people of the District of it.
I understand that you are upset that the District legalized marijuana, but subverting our electoral will and threatening our elected leaders with arrest is neither becoming nor necessary. Let me propose a simpler solution: Don't smoke it. This isn't' difficult. For example, I don't get baptized when I go to Utah, and you needn't smoke marijuana when you come to the District.
Since not one single resident of the District of Columbia voted for you, please reconsider your desire to legislate for us.

Rosarium Publishing Betting on Multicultural Novels and Comics

Rosarium PublishingPublishers Weekly just interviewed my publisher, Bill Campbell from Rosarium, about the importance of multiculturalism in literature and comics.

This quote from the article says it all:

“Yes, I am an African-American publisher, but it’s also important to me that a Native American creator has this outlet, or a Mormon, or a Latino.” Campbell said. “For me, it’s imperative that people are able to tell their own stories. They can build their own tables rather than ask for a place at the table,” he said."


The End of the World is Rye. By Brett Cottrell. Available June 2015. Pre-order it now!

What would you do for the perfect sandwich? Kill? Die? Well, if you were a rogue angel, you might cause the Apocalypse. And it looks like that's just what this darkly funny fantasy's rogue angel is about to do when he lands in a polygamist cult in Utah. Now it's up to the rest of God's divine posse, including Jesus and Lucifer, to save all of existence from certain destruction. In his debut novel, Brett Cottrell takes you on a provocative, celestial roller coaster ride that will have you laughing on the edge of your seat all the way to the gates of Hell.

The Supreme Court's Corporate Monster

In the Citizens United and Hobby Lobby decisions granting corporations the right to speak politically and practice religion, the Supreme Court used legal argle-bargle to create a Frankenstein monster.

Originally, the doctrine of corporate personhood was generally understood as a legal fiction allowing corporations to sue and be sued, evolving into a sort of due process. The men who wrote the Constitution were familiar with this doctrine, and when they used “person” or “people”  or “citizens” in the Constitution, they usually meant men, sometimes women, (almost) never enslaved people, and never corporations, unless with the above understanding. James Madison wasn’t at all concerned that corporations wouldn’t be able to bear arms or that a shipping company wouldn’t be able to go to church.


But, is it all bad? Yes. Since freedom of speech and religion are two of our most fundamental rights, then logically there’s no reason to limit corporate personhood to those constitutional protections. Should corporations have a right to a jury made up of corporations? Should we include corporations as persons in the census for apportionment? Delaware has almost one million corporations, should it get more representatives? If corporations are people – not property –  then isn’t using eminent domain on them enslavement? And, since to enslave is to own, shouldn’t it be against the law to own corporations? This is beyond insulting.
Whatever the intellectual merits of the five Justices who decided these cases, they committed a colossal mental blunder by confusing the created for the creator, the tool for the wielder. We do not call a play a playwright, a building an architect, a book a writer! It’s equally absurd to call a corporation a person.  They’re more like mannequins: they occasionally assume our posture and wear our clothes, but they will never laugh, never have a baby, never weep, and never contemplate their own mortality. No matter what we call them, they aren't people.
See:A New Pledge of Allegiance for a New American Flag
The End of the World is Rye. By Brett Cottrell. Available June 2015. Pre-order it now!

What would you do for the perfect sandwich? Kill? Die? Well, if you were a rogue angel, you might cause the Apocalypse. And it looks like that's just what this darkly funny fantasy's rogue angel is about to do when he lands in a polygamist cult in Utah. Now it's up to the rest of God's divine posse, including Jesus and Lucifer, to save all of existence from certain destruction. In his debut novel, Brett Cottrell takes you on a provocative, celestial roller coaster ride that will have you laughing on the edge of your seat all the way to the gates of Hell.

Huckabee Serious

When Mike Huckabee isn’t running for President, he’s busy running for President.  You’d think he’d get tired.
Recently, heexpressed concern that schools are places of carnage and violence because God got expelled. His strange solution to violence in schools is to teach a text not only full of violence, but that demands we partake in it. The Bible.
If taken seriously, Huckabee’s unquestionable text, while admittedly having some good teachings, would nevertheless require that our society: kill people who don’t listen to priests, kill witches, kill gays, kill fortunetellers, kill rebellious children, kill adulterers, kill fornicators, kill followers of people who reject its teachings, and kill nonvirginal brides. 
If violence begets violence, then we shouldn't glorify it.
If this murderous gibberish and nonsensical pseudosciencethat Huckabee claims is “objective truth” came in another wrapper, we’d laugh it out of the classroom and deride it with deserved scorn. If his solicitous crowds weren’t so taken by his folksy humor, they might see that he’s precisely the type of publicly praying hypocrite Mathew warned about.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t good in the Bible. But, if you think the Bible can magically solve your pile of problems, then you’ve just added another problem to your pile.
See:God Given Rights are Often WrongsRomney v. Jesus: The Tale of the TapeBible Bans Female PresidencyThe Bible: Intelligent Design or Shoddy Workmanship?

The End of the World is Rye. By Brett Cottrell. Available June 2015. Pre-order it now!
What would you do for the perfect sandwich? Kill? Die? Well, if you were a rogue angel, you might cause the Apocalypse. And it looks like that's just what this darkly funny fantasy's rogue angel is about to do when he lands in a polygamist cult in Utah. Now it's up to the rest of God's divine posse, including Jesus and Lucifer, to save all of existence from certain destruction. In his debut novel, Brett Cottrell takes you on a provocative, celestial roller coaster ride that will have you laughing on the edge of your seat all the way to the gates of Hell.

Rosarium Publishing Call for Submissions

Rosarium Publishing
Call for Submissions
Deadline: February 28th, 2015
Rosarium Publishing

Rosarium is seeking comics, illustrations, prose, and essays for an anthology against police brutality.

"APB: Artists against Police Brutality is a comic book anthology with one primary goal: show pictures and tell stories that get people talking. We are looking for artists across the disciplines to lend their talents and critical eye for this artistic examination of the US justice system and its treatment of communities of color. We are looking for personal stories, biographies, sociopolitical and historical analysis that shed a light on shared experiences across these communities, not just to act as an echo chamber, but to be used to change minds outside of these communities."

Click here for more information or check out the APB Facebook page.

Rosarium PublishingCall for SubmissionsDeadline: February...

Rosarium PublishingCall for Submissions
Deadline: February 28th, 2015
Rosarium Publishing

Rosarium is seeking comics, illustrations, prose, and essays for an anthology against police brutality.

"APB: Artists against Police Brutality is a comic book anthology with one primary goal: show pictures and tell stories that get people talking. We are looking for artists across the disciplines to lend their talents and critical eye for this artistic examination of the US justice system and its treatment of communities of color. We are looking for personal stories, biographies, sociopolitical and historical analysis that shed a light on shared experiences across these communities, not just to act as an echo chamber, but to be used to change minds outside of these communities."

Click here for more information or check out the APB Facebook page.

The End of the World is Rye - Available from Rosarium Publishing June 2015

I'm happy to announce that my debut novel, The End of the World is Rye, will be available from Rosarium Publishing in June 2015.

"The End of the World Is Rye is a top-notch urban fantasy. Funny and sharp, it doesn't choke a good story in whimsy. Fans of Preacher and Sandman will have a great time with this one."-- Garrett Cook, Time Pimp
What would you do for the perfect sandwich? Kill? Die?
Well, if you were a rogue angel, you might just cause the Apocalypse. And it looks like that's just what he's about to do when he lands in a polygamist cult in Utah. So, now it's up to the rest of God's divine posse, including Jesus and Lucifer, to save all of existence from certain destruction.
In his debut novel, Brett Cottrell takes you on a provocative, celestial roller coaster ride that will have you laughing on the edge of your seat all the way to the gates of Hell.

Mike Lee Confuses His Tantrum With Work

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid (Senator Lee)  are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."
Bertrand RussellWhile justifying the Tea Party government shutdown, Utah Senator Mike Lee said "I'm working. I'll continue to be paid."

Sure, this insults thousands of soldiers, law enforcement officers and essential government employees currently working without pay, but let's not miss the big picture: Mike Lee thinks the Tea Party's collective tantrum is work. This kind of delusion usually warrants a drug test.

It might seem like Mike Lee and his Tea Party chums resemble Ahab chasing after their white whale, Obamacare. But this is wrong.  Ahab knew how to sail. Mike Lee is flailing at sea, bailing the ocean into his sinking boat. Mike Lee isn't Ahab. Ahab would take off his peg leg and beat him with it. Either way, they both crash the boat and don't care who they take down with them.

If Mike Lee isn't a complete fool, it isn't for lack of trying. Even Republicans agree that Lee and his ilk have lost their minds about Obamacare. John McCain took Lee's messiah, Ted Cruz, to the woodshed, and Representative Devin Nunes (R Calif.) called the Republicans leading the shutdown "lemmings with suicide vests." It's hard to blame this mess on Democrats when most Republicans blame it on themselves.


When a crazy angel starts a polygamist cult in Utah, all Hell breaks loose!Get Brett Cottrell's new novel, The Valley of Fire, today!Click to buy it on Amazon"Rolling on the floor laughing...one of the funniest books I've ever read." -Goddiscussion.com
"If you like action and fantasy - with perhaps a dash of speculative Theology - pick this one up!" -Mormon Alumni Association Insanity Lives!

The BurritoSexual

Please practice safe sex. Always wrap your burrito.
The BurritoSexual: Once you go burrito, you never go back.

Starship Troopers: Meh.

 Fair. I expected more from my first Heinlein book, Starship Troopers. The story gets bogged down in military minutia and I found myself thinking, "get on with it..." As for the characters' philosophy of morals, it was oversimplified, hyper-masculinized (based on contemporary stereotypes) dogma attempting to justify what, in the history of the civilized world, has always failed - rule by the military. It must fail either because by its very nature it will get conquered from without or toppled from within due to the oppression necessary to sustain it. I don't know if Heinlein believes all this, but his characters did. For example, the idea of no moral instincts. Sounds good, that we're born with a tabula rasa, but it isn't true, nor is it provable, and even if it were, it wouldn't prove what he thinks it does. There is no moral tabula rasa. The ability to think morally presupposes a capacity to do so. You can preach morals at seals and worms all day long, and it won't matter - they lack the capacity. And a capacity presupposes a predilection. Whether we have a "moral instinct" or not depends on what you think a moral instinct is, but we certainly have both the capacity and its concomitant predilection. If we take the moral theory from Starship Troopers, we're born with a blank slate and then have morals beaten into us. But, since according to this theory, we have no innate moral sense, the morals we have beaten into us are only "moral" or "good" in the subjective sense, and we've no reason to believe they're any better than any other moral system.  These are only morals in the sense that they are called such, and have no other claim to the title. Heinlein dances around the concept of Duty as it relates to morals. If, as I assume, he's referring to Kant's deontological imperative, I suppose it's a sound starting point for a secular moral theory. But, where Kant noted the starting point, Heinlein's characters butcher it into a force-based subjectivism based almost entirely on the powerful's view of survival. On the plus side, the book made me think.