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Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost--And How It Can Find Its Way Back

Mickey Edwards

Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost--And How It Can Find Its Way Back Mickey Edwards Amazon Price: $14.93
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Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The conservative movement--which once nominated Barry Goldwater for President, and later elected Ronald Reagan--was based on a distinctly American kind of conservatism which drew its inspiration directly from the United States Constitution--in particular, an overriding belief in individual liberty and limited government. But today, Edwards argues, the mantle of conservatism has been taken over by people whose beliefs and policies threaten the entire constitutional system of government. By abetting an imperial presidency, he contends, so-called "conservatives" have gutted the system of checks and balances, abandoned due process, and trampled upon our cherished civil liberties. Today's conservatives endorse unprecedented assertions of government power--from the creation of secret prisons to illegal wiretapping. Once, they fought to protect citizens from government intrusion; today, they seem to recognize few limits on what government can do. The movement that was once the Constitution's--and freedom's--strongest defender is now at risk of becoming its most dangerous enemy. Edwards ends with a blueprint for reclaiming the essence of conservatism in America.
Touching upon many current issues, this passionately argued book concludes that many of today's conservatives seem to have it all backwards. They have turned conservatism upside down--and this book calls them on it.

What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

Thomas Frank

What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America Thomas Frank Amazon Price: $10.88
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By: Holt Paperbacks
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Total reviews: 378 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

With a New Afterword by the AuthorThe New York Times bestseller, praised as "hilariously funny . . . the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests" (Molly Ivins)Hailed as "dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully sardonic" (Chicago Tribune), "very funny and very painful" (San Francisco Chronicle), and "in a different league from most political books" (The New York Observer), What's the Matter with Kansas? unravels the great political mystery of our day: Why do so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests? With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank answers the riddle by examining his home state, Kansas-a place once famous for its radicalism that now ranks among the nation's most eager participants in the culture wars. Charting what he calls the "thirty-year backlash"-the popular revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment-Frank reveals how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans.A brilliant analysis-and funny to boot-What's the Matter with Kansas? is a vivid portrait of an upside-down world where blue-collar patriots recite the Pledge while they strangle their life chances; where small farmers cast their votes for a Wall Street order that will eventually push them off their land; and where a group of frat boys, lawyers, and CEOs has managed to convince the country that it speaks on behalf of the People.

Kids Are Americans Too

Bill O'reilly, Charles Flowers

Kids Are Americans Too Bill O'reilly, Charles Flowers Amazon Price: $17.72
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By: William Morrow
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Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Four-time #1 bestselling author and veteran television news journalist Bill O'Reilly has more than 5 million copies of his books in print to date! His first book for younger fans, The O'Reilly Factor for Kids, held the honorable distinction of being the #1 bestselling nonfiction title for kids in 2005 according to Nielsen's The Book Standard.

Back again with a dialogue on rights that will have everyone talking, O'Reilly and his coauthor Charles Flowers dole out the kind of blunt, cogent, commonsense commentary you count on them for. Together they explore timely questions being debated in and out of courts today including:

  • Can a kid wear an antigay T-shirt on campus?
  • Does a school newspaper have the right to bad-mouth a principal?
  • Does a mother have the right to eavesdrop on her daughter's telephone conversations?

Some of the answers will surprise you. Some will empower you. All of them will make you think.

The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About--Because They Helped Cause Them

Iain Murray

The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About--Because They Helped Cause Them Iain Murray Amazon Price: $18.45
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Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

From a former environmentalist teacher, now a conservationist steward 4 out of 5 stars.
13 of 18 people found this review helpful.

I once proudly called myself an environmentalist. Now I am a conservationist and a steward.

I believe some wild spaces should be saved. I recycle (A lot!). I coordinate my school's paper recycling program. I own several of those little flourescent bulbs and I use them every day. I don't spray chemicals all over my yard. I don't dump motor oil down the drain. I pick up garbage when I walk the dog. I go camping. I go to the Earth Day celebration in downtown Indianapolis because it's a great place to get information on clean-up events and they give away free trees! I also love it when they assume that I must be an ultra-liberal just to be there!

Now that I've said all of this, let me say that I am not an environmentalist. I used to be. Way back when, when I first started teaching, I showed movies to my kids in world geography that said the world as we know it is going to end by the year 2000. Mass flooding, all of the fish dead, mass starvation, etc. They were older versions of the "Inconvenient Truth" that featured Hollywood stars and quoted heavily from Gore's "Earth in the Balance".

I am now embarrassed by all of that.

Why? Because I fell for the hype and did not do simple things like check sources and see if what I was being told was backed up by other testimony. Sometimes, simple facts get in the way (like Ehrlich's "Population Bomb" book predictions never quite came true, like those predictions in the videos I showed to my class) and make it hard to follow that line of reasoning any longer.

So, what are the 7 environmental catastrophes:

1. DDT & Malaria in Africa
2. Ethanol as fuel
3. The "Pill" and its effect on fish downstream from water treatment plants.
4. The burning of Yellowstone and other National lands
5. The Cuyahoga River burning
6. The Endangered Species Act "Shoot, Shovel and Shut up!"
7. The Aral Sea

Positives:

This book is extremely well-written and approachable. It is also well-documented with more than 300 footnotes.

His commentary on DDT & Malaria is not only well thought out, but correctly placed as the first disaster since it causes around 1 Million deaths per year. He does not deny that DDT can have an affect on large birds, but he points out that it was not the use of DDT that caused it, but rather the mis-use of it. DDT is effective in small doses and does not need multiple applications to control bug populations. The multiple applications is a mis-use that makes it dangerous for birds (although it begs the question: Is any bird species worth 1 million lives every year - we are now up to nearly 40 million dead due to malaria carried by mosquitos). It does not cause human birth defects as Rachel "Silent Spring" Carson suggested. He skewers her research. Why it is still held up with pride as the start of the modern environmental movement is a mystery to me.

His commentary on Al Gore (do as I say, not as I do) and what he characterizes as the Church of Eco-Paganism are brilliant. He builds on Michael Crichton's commentary along the same lines and calls it a form of eco-Lutheranism (not to insult Lutherans - I am one and thought it was brilliant) since it is based on "Not one works, but on Faith alone," which is why the high priest of the movement, Al Gore, can use more than 20 times the electricity of the average Tennessean, own 2 more homes and jet around the world while telling us to cut back - he has the Faith!

The commentary on the Endangered Species Act was strong and largely built on an essay by the author of Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven D. Levitt. It studies the unintended consequences of the Endangered Species Act in which some people kill endangered species or destroy their habitats so they don't lose their property rights to a series of federal mandates.

Negatives:

His commentary on ethanol is strong, but goes overboard. His math sometimes does not make sense. He claims (correctly, I'm pretty sure) that all of the gasoline must be 10% ethanol. A few pages later he notes that if this were to happen an extra 55 million acres of corn would have to be planted. Well, we're already doing it. He also cites sources that claim we'd have to clear cut forests to plant all of this corn. I live in the cornbelt (Indiana) and I grew up on the farm. Every farmer has fields that are devoted to hay, straw or pastureland that will be converted to fields before we start clearing forests. Plus, increased yields (an achievement Murray points out in this chapter) will make up some of the difference as well.

The Aral Sea disaster (it was drained to provide water to meet Soviet cotton crop targets) is awful, but can only loosely be placed at the feet of environmentalists. He cites it as an example of poor choices of central planning and a cautionary tale to central planning schemes like Kyoto or carbon credits, but this is a loose association at best.

So, in sum, this is a pleasure to read. Well-cited, but not a perfect book.

Editorial Review:

Iain Murray's rollicking exposé reveals how environmental blowhards waste more energy, endanger more species, and actually kill more people than the environmental villains they finger.

Liberalism is a Mental Disorder: Savage Solutions

Michael Savage

Liberalism is a Mental Disorder: Savage Solutions Michael Savage List Price: $25.99
By: Thomas Nelson
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Total reviews: 178 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

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Dr. Savage, sage prophet of the airwaves, has been diagnosing liberal mental illness for more than a decade. Now, in his third and most insightful book, he strikes at the root of today's most desperate issues, providing a hefty dose of his unique conservative medicine, including:

  • Homeland security: "We need more Patton and less patent leather. . .Real homeland security begins when we arrest, interrogate, jail, or deport known operatives within our own borders. . .One dirty bomb can ruin your whole day."
  • The ACLU, National Lawyers Guild, and MoveOn.org: "I believe it's time for the heads of . . . left-wing agitation groups who are using the courts to impose their will on the sheeple to be prosecuted under the federal RICO statutes."
  • Illegal immigration: "I envision an Oil for Illegals program. . .The president should demand one barrel of oil from Mexico for every illegal alien that sneaks into our country."
  • The Doctor is in and the diagnosis is clear. Read Liberalism is a Mental Disorder and find out what you can do to treat it.

    Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives

    George Lakoff

    Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives George Lakoff Amazon Price: $8.00
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    Total reviews: 200 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

    Editorial Review:

    Don’t Think of An Elephant! is the antidote to the last forty years of conservative strategizing and the right wing’s stranglehold on political dialogue in the United States.

    Author George Lakoff explains how conservatives think, and how to counter their arguments. He outlines in detail the traditional American values that progressives hold, but are often unable to articulate. Lakoff also breaks down the ways in which conservatives have framed the issues, and provides examples of how progressives can reframe the debate.

    Lakoff’s years of research and work with environmental and political leaders have been distilled into this essential guide, which shows progressives how to think in terms of values instead of programs, and why people vote their values and identities, often against their best interests.

    Don’t Think of an Elephant! is the definitive handbook for understanding and communicating effectively about key issues in the 2004 election, and beyond.

    Read it, take action—and help take America back.

    About the Author George Lakoff is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a founding senior fellow at the Rockridge Institute. He is one of the world’s best-known linguists.

    Since the mid-1980s he has been applying cognitive linguistics to the study of politics, especially the framing of public political debate. He is the author of the influential book, Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, (2nd edition, 2002). His other books include Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About The Mind (1987), Metaphors We Live By (1980; 2003) [with Mark Johnson], More Than Cool Reason (1989) [with Mark Turner], Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge To The Western Tradition (1999) [with Mark Johnson], and Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics Into Being (2000) [with Rafael Núñez].

    Somebody's Gotta Say It

    Neal Boortz

    Somebody's Gotta Say It Neal Boortz Amazon Price: $11.25
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    Customer Reviews:
    Total reviews: 132 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

    A great read.. 5 out of 5 stars.
    1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Finally, a book worth reading. Neal Boortz says exactly what needs to be said, and in a very forthright and simple way. This should be required reading for all citizens of voting age. Looking forward to the next one by Neal.

    The Talkmaster Rules! 5 out of 5 stars.
    1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Wonderful book...says what many think but are afraid to say. It contains something to offend just about everyone!

    Editorial Review:

    Neal Boortz, the High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth, has been edifying, infuriating, and entertaining talk radio audiences for more than three decades. Now, the author of the smash New York Times bestsellers The FairTax Book and FairTax: The Truth returns to gore every sacred cow in the pasture—from the country's rampant civil idiocy and liberal catchphrases like "giving back" to the subversive agendas behind children's books and the scam artists behind "High Art."

    Full of irresistible wisecracks and irrefutable libertarian wisdom, Somebody's Gotta Say It is one man's response to America at a time when the government overreaches, the people underperform, and the truth hurts.

    33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask

    Thomas E. Woods Jr.

    33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask Thomas E. Woods Jr. Amazon Price: $10.17
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    Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

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    News flash: The Indians didn’t save the Pilgrims from starvation by teaching them to grow corn. The “Wild West” was more peaceful and a lot safer than most modern cities. And the biggest scandal of the Clinton years didn’t involve an intern in a blue dress.

    Surprised? Don’t be. In America, where history is riddled with misrepresentations, misunderstandings, and flat-out lies about the people and events that have shaped the nation, there’s the history you know and then there’s the truth. In 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask, New York Times bestselling author Thomas E. Woods Jr. reveals the tough questions about our nation’s history that have long been buried because they’re too politically incorrect to discuss, including:

    Are liberals really so antiwar?

    Was the Civil War all about slavery?

    Did the Framers really look to the American Indians as the model for the U.S. political system?

    Did Bill Clinton actually stop a genocide in Kosovo, as we’re told?

    The answer to all those questions is no. Woods’s eye-opening exploration reveals just how much of the historical record has been whitewashed,overlooked, and skewed beyond recognition. 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask will have you wondering just how much of your nation’s past you haven’t been told.

    Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy

    Gwyneth Cravens

    Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy Gwyneth Cravens Amazon Price: $18.45
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    Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

    Editorial Review:

    In this timely book, Gwyneth Cravens takes an informed and clarifying look at the myths, the fears, and the truth about nuclear energy.

    With concerns about catastrophic global warming mounting, it is vital that we examine all our energy options. Power to Save the World describes the efforts of one determined woman, Gwyneth Cravens, initially a skeptic about nuclear power, as she spends nearly a decade immersing herself in the subject. She teams up with a leading expert in risk assessment and nuclear safety who is also a committed environmentalist to trace the path of uranium—the source of nuclear fuel—from start to finish. As we accompany them on visits to mines as well as to experimental reactor laboratories, fortress-like power plants, and remote waste sites normally off-limits to the public, we come to see that we already have a feasible way to address the causes of global warming on a large scale.

    On the nuclear tour, Cravens converses with scientists from many disciplines, public health and counterterrorism experts, engineers, and researchers who study both the harmful and benign effects of radiation; she watches remote-controlled robotic manipulators unbolt a canister of spent uranium fuel inside a “hot cell” bathed in eerie orange light; observes the dark haze from fossil-fuel combustion obscuring once-pristine New Mexico skies and the leaky, rusted pipes and sooty puddles in a coal-fired plant; glimpses rainbows made by salt dust in the deep subterranean corridors of a working nuclear waste repository.

    She refutes the major arguments against nuclear power one by one, making clear, for example, that a stroll through Grand Central Terminal exposes a person to more radiation than a walk of equal length through a uranium mine; that average background radiation around Chernobyl and in Hiroshima is lower than in Denver; that there are no “cancer clusters” near nuclear facilities; that terrorists could neither penetrate the security at an American nuclear plant nor make an atomic bomb from its fuel; that nuclear waste can be—and already is—safely stored; that wind and solar power, while important, can meet only a fraction of the demand for electricity; that a coal-fired plant releases more radiation than a nuclear plant and also emits deadly toxic waste that kills thousands of Americans a month; that in its fifty-year history American nuclear power has not caused a single death. And she demonstrates how, time and again, political fearmongering and misperceptions about risk have trumped science in the dialogue about the feasibility of nuclear energy.

    In the end, we see how nuclear power has been successfully and economically harnessed here and around the globe to become the single largest displacer of greenhouse gases, and how its overall risks and benefits compare with those of other energy sources.

    Power to Save the World is an eloquent, convincing argument for nuclear power as a safe energy source and an essential deterrent to global warming.

    Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad

    Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad Amazon Price: $23.36
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    The Straight-Talking Former Ambassador Takes Listeners Behind the Scenes at the State Department and the U.N.

    A veteran of three Republican administrations and a nominee for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, John Bolton reveals how the U.S. can lead the way to a more realistic global security arrangement for the twenty-first century and identifies the next generation of threats to America.

    With no-holds-barred candor, he recounts his appointment in 2005 as Ambassador to the United Nations, his headline-making Senate confirmation battle, and his sixteen-month tenure at the United Nations. Bolton offers keen insight into such international crises as North Korea's nuclear test, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and much more. Recounting both his successes and frustrations he also exposes the operational inadequacies that hinder the U.N.'s effectiveness in international diplomacy and its bias against Israel and the United States. At home, he criticizes the pernicious bureaucratic inertia in the U.S. State Department that can undermine presidential policy.

    A fascinating chronicle of the career of a distinguished lawyer and diplomat, Surrender Is Not An Option is sure to become a staple for everyone interested in international affairs.


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