Books, movies, politics, and whatever I want

Archive for September, 2009

Damn You John Ringo! Damn You!

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

First off, ya…I’m  a big fan of John Ringo‘s books, and he’s written a lot of them. I’ve been reading the Sluggy Freelance comic, which gets a lot of references in his books, even longer and I’m a long time Schlock Mercenary fan too.

I took a peek at the leaked advanced chapters for his next book, Live Free or Die, over at Buckley’s site (ya, that Buckley) and Ringo explains in the forward that this book is “sort of playing about” in the Schlock Mercenary universe, but back when the galactic civilization first made contact with Earth.

Now  to highlight what an evil being John Ringo is (something he freely and perhaps just a bit too gleefully admits), this book won’t be released until February 2010.   Oh…Baen will have an e-ARC version available earlier, which could be mine for about the cost of the hardcover that won’t be out for another four months.

Ok, so both John Ringo and Baen Books are EVIL!  I say that with the highest level of respect for their grasp of the capitalistic system.

While I’m here, I’ll put in a good word for Baen’s ebook sales.  No DRM (i.e. the copy ‘protection’ crap that assumes that paying customers are thieves), available in multiple formats, and when new books are released in hardcover, you can pick up the e-book version, direct from Baen, for usually $6.  If that is still too much for you, check out what they have on the net for free! If you haven’t read of any of John Ringo’s books, you can read seven of his book for free.

Update: It’s late January, so you can pick up a DRM free e-book version of Live Free or Die at Baen‘s webscription.net site for $6. Or you could wait a little longer and get Live Free or Die as a hardcover from Amazon for $17.16. My bet is that Baen will make more money off that $6 e-book than the hardcover with a suggested retail price of $26.

Update: Live Free or Die was my Monday Book Pick for 2/1/2010.

Mean while, in California, state regulations kill 3.8 Million jobs

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Yup, burdensome and excessive state regulations have cost the California economy 3.8 million jobs in the small business  market.

That’s right folks, the small businesses that employ most of the people. The small businesses that are competely unrepresented on our Dear Leader‘s so-called “economic team.”

This helps explains California’s current unemployment rate of 12.2%.

This is the result of the far left policies of the California legislature. If it wasn’t for the Governator acting as a rational brake on their policies, California would be flirting with Michigan’s 15.2% unemployment rate.

Obama and Chavez and Castro, Oh My

Monday, September 28th, 2009

PJTV sent reporters to Honduras to get the real story.

The Truth About the Honduran Coup & Our President’s Wrong Move.

It’s 24 minutes you should watch to find out what the MSM won’t tell you.

Monday Book Pick: The Forever War

Monday, September 28th, 2009

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

The classic anti-war military SciFi book seen by many as an answer to Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (the Monday book pick from Feb. 9, 2009). Haldeman claims that isn’t how he wrote it, and Robert Heinlein thought it was a damn good good book. An opinion I share.

Monday Book Pick Archive

Mean while, in Germany

Monday, September 28th, 2009

German voters decide to deal with their economic downturn by electing a right of center majority that plans to cut taxes in order to stimulate economic growth.

According to Bloomberg, voters rejected the plans of the “Social Democratic challenger to raise taxes on top earners.”

I’m betting that their plan will work better than our Dear Leader’s socialist fantasies.

Inserting a bit of reality…

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

If Edward R. Murrow were to rise from the Dead, high on his agenda would be to bitch slap the shit out of Keith Olbermann.

Friday B-Movie Pick: Steel Dawn

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Steel Dawn

The next B-Movie to honor the late Patrick Swayze, is this post-apocalyptic action flick. Good martial arts scenes in this one. Not surprising, since Swayze studied both dance and martial arts while growing up.

Friday B-Movie Archive

Worst thing about Facebook

Friday, September 25th, 2009

I’m not a big user, but I’d have to say the worst thing about Facebook is all the damn “Mafia Wars” spam that floods your newsfeed.

Now the crap is starting to invade Twitter too.

Sheading some light on ObamaCare

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Reason Magazine presents some cold hard facts on ObamaCare:

The real reason Obama insists upon making the young and healthy buy insurance they don’t want is not the relatively minor free rider problem but the potentially ruinous adverse selection problem: The most expensive patients are the ones who are most likely to sign up for coverage. To keep the official 10-year price tag of his plan below that magical $1 trillion threshold, he needs to balance sick people who rack up big bills with healthy people who pay for insurance but don’t use it. Instead of acknowledging this reality, Obama portrays the healthy uninsured as irresponsible leeches.

Yup, here is a dose of reality for all those idealistic young folks who voted for Obama without a real clue of what he was actually planning, he just views you as a money source he can leech off to support his socialist policies.

Welcome to the farm, Coppertop.

Tuesday Book Pick:The Tuloriad (The Legacy of Aldenata)

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

The Tuloriad (The Legacy of Aldenata)

by Tom Kratman with some help by John Ringo

The latest in the Posleen War series. Ya, this is supposed to be the Monday Book Pick, but I’m late with the post.

Monday Book Pick Archive.