My arrogant opinions about politics, culture, science fiction, and whatever else I feel like talking about.

Book Review

        Something I had to share.  Someone posting as "hradzka" reviews John Ringo's Paladin of Shadows series.  His take can be pretty well summed up by this:

        I feel about the PALADIN OF SHADOWS series the way that a lot of people feel about ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN: it is so horrifically awful that it becomes TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME.  Unless, of course, you have triggers about some or all of this stuff, in which case my recommendation is TO RUN AS FAR AND AS FAST AS YOU CAN.  I will, however, say that GHOST and its sequels are *excellent* for reading out loud to people, particularly friends who are horrified and actively begging you to stop.  (And you will be inclined to disregard such pleas, because you will need to share the pain.)  I should note that, as you may have gathered, the series — GHOST in particular — is not just slaughtering terrorists and deeply skeevy sexual stuff.

        [SNIP]

        Anyway.  Mike has rescued a number of nubile college women from rape and torture at the hands of jihadists, slaughtered innumerable terrorists, killed the president of Syria and Osama bin Laden, and plugged the author's favorite bands and movies.  Also, the United States has, as a punitive measure, dropped a low-yield nuke on Syria.  You would think that would be enough for a book.  Hah.  As I said earlier, that is JUST IN PART ONE.  In part two, Mike, independently wealthy after getting the bounty for Osama, is now doing a lot of fishing on his newly-purchased and heavily-armed yacht.  He meets up with two young college girls and invites them onto his boat, where he promptly introduces them to the joys of BDSM.  With emphasis on scenes that incorporate non-con and slavery scenarios.  But don't worry!  He gets their moms' permission first.

        No, really.  He does.

        [SNIP]

        As you can tell, GHOST is a pretty horrifying read.  I re-skimmed it writing this, and I had honestly forgotten just how painful to the psyche it is.  So you may ask: *Hines, why the hell were you reading this?*  And the answer is: because I read the *second* book *first.*

        Yes, that's right.  I mentioned it above, but in case you'd forgotten: this is a series.  And while the first book seethes with anger and disturbing sexuality, the second, while not exactly mature or brilliant, is solid guilty pleasure for those who like men's adventure.  The second book also features, amazingly, some characterization.  Where the first novel only focused on portraying Mike's hard-assedness and the depths of his depravity, the second features big chunks of him just interacting with characters *without killing or fucking them.*

        [SNIP]

        Once you get past GHOST's initial spleen-venting, the PALADIN OF SHADOWS series falls into a much-maligned, much-loved genre which, for lack of a better name, I call "Man Builds Stuff and Gets Lots of Pussy."  This is, quite frankly, what got me reading the series: I am not much for stories of a guy just killing terrorists and getting laid a lot; but let him start building a small kingdom while killing terrorists and getting laid a lot, and I am there.

        So someone sent it to John Ringo, who replied to the author:

        Thank you for the best review of the Ghost books I've ever seen.

        Go read the whole magilla.  Then read the series.

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        Lord, Lord, please give me the chance to vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife for President.

Posted by: saintonge at 15:57 | link | comments
baen books, and now for somthng compltly dif

And By the Way

        Over at my personal blog, I'm looking for some esoteric information about a rare astronomical event.  If you can supply it, I'd be grateful.

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        Lord, Lord, please give me the chance to vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife for President.

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                 End of Exhibit.

Posted by: saintonge at 04:14 | link | comments
and now for somthng compltly dif

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

        The more I watch the Wright/Obama follies, the more fun I have.  It's hard to tell what is the most embarrassing thing being said by or about Wright lately.

        In the honorable mention category, we have Rev. Deborah F. Grant, who said, "the scrutiny of Wright is unfair, because he is being examined through a political lens.  'He has not been called to be a politician. He's been called to speak the gospel.' "  Somehow, when I read the gospels, I missed the part where Jesus blamed AIDS on Uncle Sam.

          But Wright himself takes home a prize for saying "Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy.  He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn't make me this color."

        Who'd have guessed that Wright thinks being black is a terrible wrong, akin to putting someone into slavery?  'Say it now and say it loud, I AM BLACK, but I ain't proud — in fact, I'm pretty pissed off at the white man for making me this color.'

        I could never have made this shit up.

        Still, Rev. Jeremiah wasn't completely loony, all the time.  I thoroughly agreed with the part where Wright stuck it to Obama, saying that the Sen. was distancing himself from his pastor was because the Holy Senator was really just playing politics.  I'll add: "And badly."

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        Lord, Lord, please give me the chance to vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife for President.

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                 End of Exhibit.

Posted by: saintonge at 02:44 | link | comments

What the Fuck?

        Someone wrote about journalistic integrity with reference to Bill Moyers!

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        Lord, Lord, please give me the chance to vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex- boyfriend's wife for President.

Posted by: saintonge at 10:33 | link | comments

Good Advice That Won't Be Taken

 

        'Barak Hussein Obama should drop out of the Presidential race.'  So says Chris Wilson of Slate.

        Wilson is the tactful sort.  He doesn't say that Obama's problems with Rev. Wright make it nearly impossible for him to get elected.  Nor does he add that losing to McCain, in a year when Republicans are very unpopular, is going to taint him for the future.  But those are good reasons.

        Instead, Wilson says that Obama should do it to "regain his messiah creds."  When Hillary goes on to blow the election, he becomes the de facto party leader.  In 2012, he gets the nomination and beats McCain.

        I'd add that this gives Obama the chance to distance himself gracefully from Rev. Wright without looking like a sell-out, and to move to the center politically without seeming like an opportunist.  It does leave the danger that Hillary would win, but Obama's young enough to wait for 2016.  It also leaves the danger that McCain would win, then get re-elected in 2012 — but losing an election is always possible.

        But B. Hussein O. won't do it.  And he won't because he is precisely the left-wing ideologue/opportunist that he's increasingly seen as.

        I only regret that he'll probably get McCain elected.

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        Lord, Lord, please give me the chance to vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife for President.

Posted by: saintonge at 08:18 | link | comments

Am I The Only One Left Who Can Do Math?

      I was just looking at the exit poll results for the PA primary, as posted by CBS, and noticed thise line:
                                Clinton Obama
Black            (15%) 10%       90%

        But further down we see:

Black 30-44 (14%) 58%      42%
Black 45-59 (30%) 63%      37%
Black 60+    (28%) 68%      32%

        Now presumably, the figures in parentheses after "Black" refer to percent of all primary voters, while those after "Black 30-44" etc. refer to percentages of black primary voters.  Now, if you multiply the percentage figures in parentheses by the percentage figure in the "Clinton" column and total them, you get 46%.

        So apparently, Hillary Clinton received around 10% of the vote of black Democratic primary voters, and more than 46% of the vote of black Democratic primary voters, all in the same election.

        If someone could explain this to me, I'd appreciate it.

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        Please, Lord, please give me the chance to vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife for President!

Posted by: saintonge at 09:34 | link | comments

Fear's For Hillary

        I'm really worried about the future of my gal Hillary.

        For months now, I've told my friends that I anticipated, come November, taking anti-nausea medication, getting drunk, and then voting Democratic for President.  For someone like me, enrolled in the Republican Party in the womb, this was not a welcome thought, but I couldn't bear the prospect of voting for McCain.

        Now, after seeing Obama's campaign, I think I can force myself to back "Straight­lyin' John" if I have to.

        It's difficult to express the depths of my loathing for McCain.  Suffice it to say that, for someone who bills himself as a conser­vative to be an enemy of both the First and Second Amendments is just plain unaccept­able.

        But the more I watch the Obama cam­paign, the more scared of the man I become.

        It started with this video, which re­minds me of a Fascist rally.  It's just gotten worse with the revelations of how many anti-Americans he's friendly with.  Yet this clown, whose only saving grace is his politi­cal incompetence, looks like the Democratic nominee.

        I pray this cup pass away from me.  I'm still rooting for Hillary to pull it out, and give me a chance to vote for a female Demo­cratic weasel, with no scruples whatsoever and driven by naked ambition.  But increas­ing­ly, it looks like I'll be stuck with Johnny Boy instead.

        Lord, lord, what did we do to deserve this?

Posted by: saintonge at 07:36 | link | comments