Saturday Open Thread

Tasty food. Photographer unknown.

Hungry?

Hash browns and gravy with sausage. I think there's an egg also.

I like mine with onions.

What are you having for breakfast? I'm also having English muffins with honey, and a little cheddar cheese. And a Coke Cola.

Also a BLT on white, with potato salad to go. LOTS of potato salad. And half a pie. That will do me for lunch and dinner.

Just lying around watching Season 3 of Roseanne on DVD. And reading Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner. Also Victor Davis Hanson's Carnage and Culture. Yummy books, both of them.

Open Thread: What are you reading, watching, eating, doing?

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This I Believe: Our Noble, Essential Decency

(Robert Heinlein, "Our Noble, Essential Decency", from This I Believe (1952))

I'm writing this before the election for two reasons.

1) Because I don't want anybody saying I was influenced by winning or losing the election. That's not what this is about. And

2) Because I want everybody who hasn't voted yet to remember the stakes.

The above recording is Robert Heinlein in 1952, reading his personal declaration on Edward R. Murrow's old radio show, This I Believe:

I am not going to talk about religious beliefs but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults, and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults.

Take Father Michael, down our road apiece. I’m not of his creed, but I know that goodness and charity and loving kindness shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike. If I’m in trouble, I’ll go to him. My next door neighbor’s a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat—no fee, no prospect of a fee. I believe in Doc.

I believe in my townspeople. You can knock on any door in our town, say “I’m hungry,” and you’ll be fed. Our town is no exception. I found the same ready charity everywhere. For the one who says, “The heck with you, I’ve got mine,” there are a hundred, a thousand, who will say, “Sure pal, sit down.” I know that despite all warnings against hitchhikers, I can step to the highway, thumb for a ride, and in a few minutes a car or a truck will stop and someone will say, “Climb in, Mack. How far you going?”

I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime. Yet for every criminal, there are ten thousand honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but it is a force stronger than crime.

I believe in the patient gallantry of nurses, in the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land. I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

I believe that almost all politicians are honest. For every bribed alderman, there are hundreds of politicians—low paid or not paid at all—doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true, we would never have gotten past the Thirteen Colonies.

I believe in Rodger Young. You and I are free today because of endless unnamed heroes from Valley Forge to the Yalu River. I believe in—I am proud to belong to—the United States. Despite shortcomings—from lynchings, to bad faith in high places—our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history.

And finally, I believe in my whole race—yellow, white, black, red, brown—in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth—that we always make it just for the skin of our teeth—but that we will always make it, survive, endure.

I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching oversized braincase and the opposable thumb—this animal barely up from the apes—will endure, will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets—to the stars and beyond—carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage, and his noble essential decency. This I believe with all my heart.

In a week, Americans will finish voting. We believe that "our side" is the correct one to lead the country forward. So do "they". Most of us are sincere in our beliefs and think that those who disagree are merely misguided, not evil. The vast majority of us want the best for the country and our fellow citizens.

Many of us on the Left feel that the elections of both 2000 and 2004 were stolen, and we fear (with good reason) that 2008 may go the same way. We fear that Americans will not elect an African-American to the White House, or that a President-elect Obama will be assassinated, or that there will be violence during his term in office.

Some on the Right fear that international terrorism will somehow "win" if McCain is defeated, or that the evils of socialism will come to America, or that good Christians will be given the Mark of the Beast. They fear that "leftist radicals" will riot if Obama is defeated, or that an obstructionist Congress will halt what they believe is progress in the Middle East or Afghanistan or in fighting illegal immigration.

We are all Americans. We are all confined to this small globe we call Earth. Those of us who are entitled to vote next week will make a decision that will have world-changing effects on every soul on the planet.

We are all in this together. All of us -- "yellow, white, black, red, brown", as Heinlein said -- will suffer the consequences and share the achievements of the next four years. And the next eight years. And the next century, which will be dominated in no small part by decisions we American citizens make in the next seven days.

Regardless of the outcome of the election, regardless of the individual gains and losses, regardless of the emotions left behind in the wake of broken promises, missed expectations, and suspected irregularities, we must remember...

Our Noble, Essential Decency

and that

We Are All in This Together

as we lurch forward toward our preferred futures.

Breathe.

Vote.

Endure.

Sustain.

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Author Tony Hillerman dies at 83

We lost another literary star today. I truly enjoyed Tony's books. I am a huge mystery fan, cut my teeth on Sherlock Holmes and have loved the genre ever since. Tony was a wonderful discovery I made in High School-- I especially enjoyed his sense of place and character.

PHOENIX (AP) — Tony Hillerman, author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels and creator of two of the unlikeliest of literary heroes — Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee — died Sunday of pulmonary failure. He was 83.

Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman, said her father's health had been declining in the last couple years and that he was at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque when he died at about 3 p.m.

Hillerman lived through two heart attacks and surgeries for prostate and bladder cancer. He kept tapping at his keyboard even as his eyes began to dim, as his hearing faded, as rheumatoid arthritis turned his hands into claws.

"I'm getting old," he declared in 2002, "but I still like to write."

Anne Hillerman said Sunday that her father was a born storyteller.

What a wonderful epitaph for a writer.

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FDL Book Salon With Gov. Madeleine Kunin

FYI/ Tracy Russo is hosting a book Salon today over on Firedoglake w/former Governor Madeleine Kunin. The book is Pearls, Politics and Power.

If you have not participated in one of these salons yet, I highly recommend it. Very interesting and informative. It is a good use of blogs and technology in general to bring our progressive community together.

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On Air Thursday Afternoon

Well, the big bad four are all in one place at the same time! Great to see all the GNB founders here together. (I love tagging along on this ride) Had a fabulous lunch and shared a "ridiculously great brownie" with Mrs. R.

Howard Dean had a rally outside. We are all so grateful to him for his 50 state strategy and the people powered movement he helped get started.

I volunteered at the Progressive Book Club table this morning and met Mr. "Nixonland" Rick Perlstein himself. Very impressive fellow-- lots of big brains here at the Austin convention center.

We are now working on signal flow with Tokyo Terri who is getting ready to start filming folks for her Unofficial Netroots Nation Podcast

More as we go along on this crazy big show.

P.S. HS and LM are very funny. I mean it, very funny.

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GNB Reading Room; What Are You Reading Now?

I know some of us are still slogging through Nixonland. (a worthy but weighty read) What else are folks reading. AND what is on your TBR pile? (To-be-read)

What do you recommend for a leisurely day on the beach or by the pool (hooshing it up or not as the case may be)?

What do you recommend for my gazillion hour flight next week to Netroots Nation?

What do you recommend to view this year's election in an historical perspective?

also- Anything we should avoid? Read any disappointments lately that are a "can/should be passed by?"

P.S. those going to Austin, I went to a good bookstore there when I was last in town, BOOKPEOPLE. I''ll be stopping in there for sure again next week.

P.P.S anyone from the area? I hear there are great used bookstores too-- any recommendations complete with addresses please?

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Catherine Banner, The Next J.K. Rowling?

There is a young woman from Cambridge making a bit of a buzz in the publishing world.

She started writing her novel at the age of 14, scribbling down sentences as she sat at the back of the classroom. Five years on, Catherine Banner is being tipped as the new JK Rowling. Now 19, Miss Banner is celebrating the publication of her work, The Eyes Of A King. The fantasy novel - the first in a trilogy - hits the shelves today and there is already talk of a film version. - Beth Hale

Lauren Buckland, Miss Banner's editor at Random House Children's Books, said: "She is a remarkable talent and definitely a writer to watch. "She has created a brilliant book - it's got pace, great characters, and a real sense of adventure which leaves the reader wanting to know more. "She may even take on JK Rowling."

About the book;

Leo North lives with his younger brother, Stirling, and his grandmother in Malonia, a world parallel to England. His life is dismal: his family is extremely poor and it is not known if his parents are still alive. His only future prospect is to become a soldier, something Leo does not look forward to.

The steady routine of his life is broken when, one day, he finds a blank book lying in the snow. He takes it home and, magically, writing appears in it, telling him about Aldebaran, a magician, Ryan, the exiled prince of Malonia, and an English girl named Anna. From a book that his father has written, Leo learns how King Lucien came to power, and how the Golden Reign ended. Mysteriously, it all ties in with Leo's life.

Tragedy soon descends upon Leo, and he turns his back on politics and magic, retreating inside himself. But he cannot escape from the story of Aldebaran, Ryan, and Anna, and soon his world changes in a way that he would never before have thought possible.- Mrs. Magoo Reads, Book Blogger

Catherine seems like a creative young woman with a ton of talent, and a good head on her shoulders. And I was in the market for a fun summer book to supplement all of the somewhat stressful reading in what is likely to be an intense political season.

Has anyone read this one? What other fun summer books do you recommend? What's on your to-be-read pile, or your in your beach bag?

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My Favorite (Living) Science Fiction Writer

Daniel Keys Moran is God

And he blogs.

If you're not lucky enough to have read the writings of Daniel Keys Moran, wow... lucky you.

As a serious science fiction reader since age seven or eight when I first figured out that the rocket ship on the end of the library book meant good reading, usually, and who grew up on Robert Heinlein and other greats, I'm here to tell you...

I believe Daniel Keys Moran is the greatest science fiction writer alive today.

Yes, I know some people will say it is John Varley, just on the strength of The Persistence of Vision with the novelette by the same name, which I at least feel is the greatest novelette I've read in my life, just as I think Of Mice and Men is the greatest novel, and The Sandman as a whole, is maybe the best literary work as a whole I've ever read. And I include all those great Russian novels and the boring English ones. And even Steinbeck whom I love so much, such as The Winter of our Discontent, and the brilliance of Shakespeare. (I'm talking here strictly about the written versions -- movies are a different deal.)

Daniel Keys Moran is something else.

Yes, I know you have your opinions. You should post them in comments.

I recommend you start with The Long Run, followed by The Last Dancer. Then go back and pick up The Armageddon Blues and the minor works, which I hesitate to call minor -- really I should say shorter -- as some of them haunt me to this day.

(Yes, I do mean Realtime.)

Who do you think is the best living science fiction writer? And why? What one or two books should people new to this author read to best learn to love her or him? What is a great short story by them on line we might read?

And yes, okay fine... you can include fantasy as well. Just so we don't get into that old argument. *grins*

Be polite to each other please. Even if they are obliviously (also obviously) dumber than dirt and know nothing about real science fiction, and you are showing them the greatest writer in history, if the dumb fools would only listen!

If they won't get it... move on.

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Book Thread, Bitches!

Okay, so Doc' posted up the books he currently is working on getting through below. I just finished reading Juan Coles' book Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East and really enjoyed it. A great read and stunning how the Bush administration has fallen into some the exact same traps that Napoleon did more than 200 years ago. Highly recommended.

These other books were written some time ago but I enjoyed them a lot and also recommend you read them, if you haven't already.

This is about a Leo Marks' experience with the SOE during the war. I liked this book so much I have actually read it 3 times.

John McPhee has alot of books Uncommon Carriers and Founding Fish are just 2 recent ones. My introduction to McPhee was the 1990 title "Looking for a Ship" which is about the U.S. Merchant Marines.

oh, and although I can recommend one of the books Doc is reading "The Zen of Fish". I found "Sushi Economy" interesting but more a collection of magazine articles than a book.

Anata wa? (and you?)

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