Worldwide War? No Thanks.

At the risk of being branded a "crazy left-wing blogger," I have pasted a message from the ACLU below. I hope you will sign the petition against what appears to be one of the more Orwellian ideas to come out of the Bush Administration in quite some time:


This sounds so outrageous, it seems like a joke or something out of "The Onion."

Attorney General Michael Mukasey is demanding that Congress issue a new declaration of war so that anyone that this president or the next one declares to be an "enemy combatant" can be held indefinitely without a trial.

The new declaration of war would make the entire globe — including the United States itself — a “battlefield” where the president decides who will be locked up forever.

With only four weeks left in the Congressional schedule and only six months left in the Bush presidency, Mukasey’s ridiculous power grab should be laughed out of town. But given this Congress’ track record, the Mukasey proposal is no laughing matter. Especially because it also includes a cover-up of the Bush administration’s systemic torture and abuse of detainees.

We can’t take for granted that Congress will reject this outrageous proposal. We have to meet it with an immediate wall of protest that says to Congress: “Don’t you dare.”

I just told my members of Congress to reject the dangerous Bush/Mukasey plan. You can do the same thing here:

http://action.aclu.org/mukasey

The Motion Picture Event of the Fall?

Not Indiana Jones or The Incredible Hulk, but the story of a real, live action-adventure hero who made an infamous aircraft-carrier landing a few years back. Yes, Oliver Stone's W is slated for release on October 17. I may just have to go that night. Anyone else looking forward to this cinematic event? Leave a comment below.

The Last Stronghold Has Fallen

According to the New York Times, "The cassette will grow even rarer now that audio book publishers are dropping them." And despite my thankfulness for iPodean convenience, I have an irrational twinge of nostalgia for my Sony Walkman and the mix tapes I made and received once upon a time in 1988.

Do any of you have equally fond memories of tapes? Please share them in a comment below.

The Kite Runner, a review

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

My review

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

A devastating and inspiring work, if a flawed one. On the positive side, there are beautiful and heart-rending descriptions of both Afghanistan and the friendship at the heart of this book. It's impossible not to be profoundly moved by the journey of the narrator and protagonist Amir— geographically from his boyhood home in Kabul to his adult residence near San Francisco, and ultimately, the denouement of his trip back to Afghanistan. Amir's spiritual journey is no less affecting, as he struggles to overcome internal demons brought about by his complicity in tragedy. Where The Kite Runner trips up is in the improbable twists of plot leading Amir on his path. Characters reappear in convenient places and their actions are so symbolic and useful to the narrative that they wind up seeming contrived. None of this ruins the overall power of the book, but its formulaic presentation makes Hosseini's writing seem fit more for Hollywood than for literature.


View all my reviews.

Blogging Again, After a Brief 1,000-Day Hiatus

So a couple of friends of mine at work who keep blogs of their own (you know who you are, Slowtech and Chapter 11 Studios) have inspired me to get back into the blogging business. I've been enjoying the window into their lives so much that I thought I'd share a glimpse or two of who I am with anyone in cyberspace who's interested. If you know me at all, you know there'll be more than a bit of world affairs here, but unlike the previous incarnation of this blog, I'd like to include all of my life—work, family, sports, music, assorted other diversions—and of course, politics. To kick things off on a lighter note, here's a link to my paid blogging gig over at blog.bookingbuddy.com.