I mean, you probably weren't, but just in case I have a curious stalker or something...

I was reading this: Acoustic Ladyland: Kathy Shaidle Unplugged

Kathy has put together some of her best pieces into an e-book. Short and sweet and easy to read. My favorite is Being an American trapped in a Canadian's body. Obviously!

Labels: Books, Kathy Shaidle

... I plan to spend my time reading my newly arrived Glenn Beck book - An Incovenient Book. Looking forward to the weekend!

Labels: Books

With Canadian book retailers not dropping their prices to reflect the higher Canadian dollar (yesterday it was $1.04US), my impromptu trip south of the border is fortuitous indeed. My strong dollar will allow me to pick up a stack of titles which back at home would cost me more than 40% more.

And an editorial in Today's Star (of all places) is right here with me:

In a bid to keep consumer anger from ricocheting onto the government, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty summoned the Retail Council of Canada to Ottawa to stress he wanted to see prices reduced to reflect the soaring dollar. What Flaherty got in response was a long list of excuses why Canadian prices must be higher than in the U.S. After failing to get any movement from retailers, the only thing Flaherty could tell buyers was "to shop around and look for discounts. It's important for people to realize there is power to shopping around."

As gratuitous as that advice might sound, it contains much truth. It is consumers who determine which businesses prosper and which ones fail. It was shoppers who forced Eaton's to close its doors for good. And just yesterday, Sears Canada Inc., one of the country's largest retailers, blamed cross-border shopping for part of a 2.9 per cent drop in sales in its last quarter, which ended Sept. 29.

Consumers don't need Flaherty to tell them they can often get American prices on the Internet, or by driving to Buffalo. And where price discrepancies are big enough, that is what they will do.

As an aside, I'm surprised that the Star is touting the market-driven economy. It's not like them to support the consumer in his choices. Oh well, maybe it's a guest editor.

Labels: Books, Economy

Mr. Right was recently reading The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham (published 1957), and he came across a startling passage.

'Look, suppose we consider this thing from a more civilized standpoint - after all, this is a civilized country, and famous for its ability to find compromises. I'm not convinced by the sweeping way you assume there can be no agreement. History has shown us to be more tolerant of minorities than most.'

It was the girl who answered this time:

'This is not a civilized matter,' she said, 'it is a very primitive matter. If we exist, we shall dominate you - that is clear and inevitable. Will you agree to be superseded, and start on the way to extinction without a struggle? I do not think you are decadent enough for that. And then, politically, the question is: Can any State, however tolerant, afford to harbour an increasingly powerful minority which it has no power to control? Obviously the answer is again, no.

'So what will you do? We are very likely safe for a time while you talk about it. The more primitive of you, your masses, will let their instincts lead them - we saw the pattern in the village last night - they will want to hunt us down, destroy us. Your more liberal, responsibly-minded, and religious people will be greatly troubled over the ethical position. Opposed to any drastic action at all, you will have your true idealists - and also your sham idealists: the quite large number of people who profess ideals as a form of premium for other-life insurance, and are content to lay up slavery and destitution for their descendants so long as they are enabled to produce personal copybooks of elevated views at the gates of heaven.

'Then, too, with your Government of the Right reluctantly driven to consider drastic action against us, your politicians of the Left will see a chance of party capital, and possible dismissal of the Government. They will defend our rights as a threatened minority, and children, at that. Their leaders will glow with righteousness on our behalf. The will claim, without referendum, to be representing justice, compassion, and the great heart of the people. Then it will occur to some of them that there really is a serious problem, and that if they were to force an election there would very likely be a split between the promoters of the party's official Warm-heart policy, and the rank and file whose misgivings about us will make them a Cold-feet faction; so the display of abstract righteousness, and the plugging of well-tested, best-selling virtues will diminish.'

'You don't appear to think very highly of our institutions,' Bernard put in. The girl shrugged.

'As a securely dominant species you could afford to lose touch with reality, and amuse yourself with abstractions,' she replied.

Chilling.

Labels: Books, Fiction, John Wyndham, Midwich Cuckoos

...read about those who can.

As y'all know, I've been doing quite a bit of running around lately, what with Hawaii closely followed by DC for the MilBlog conference. So while it seems I've been eternally on holiday (at least, that's how it seems to my boss), I'm actually quite burnt out.

So I'm curling up this weekend without the laptop, and reading. Mr. Right found me a book at Chapters called Boomsday by Christopher Buckley. About a blogger who suggests that we lighten the economic load by convincing baby boomers to commit suicide. Really the only way America can save Social Security.

Anyway, I love you and I bid you adieu. I have a pitcher of iced tea to make, and a couple of books to read (that have nothing to do with demographics or jihad).

Labels: Blogging, Books

My stack runneth over with unread books. I'm just not getting through them as fast as I'd like.

I'm halfway through Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel, which is a fantastic read. There were points where I was just cringing while reading it, and had to put it down. Ver disturbing.

I have The Listening Heart: Vocation and the Crisis of Modern Culture by A.J. Conyers, which was sent for review. Must get to that one next - it's only fair.

Kathy gave me Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork for Christmas. I've yet to get to it.

I still have Fallaci's The Rage and the Pride, which I've had since October.

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, by Robert I. Sutton, PhD. How could I resist with a title like that?

Steve Emerson's Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the US. Typical RightGirl fare.

Freakonomics. Been wanting to read that one for a while. *sigh* Someday, I hope.

Ian Burama's Murder in Amsterdam, about the killing of Theo van Gogh.

There are others, but the stack was getting so high that I had to take them out for safety reasons. They'll be in the next stack, I'm sure.

What's in your stack?

Labels: Books

Further to yesterday's popular post about the "Apartheid" demonstration in front of Indigo last week, I have decided to have a little get-together at that self-same Bloor/Bay Idigo on Friday after work.

If anyone is up for it, I'll meet you at the Starbucks. See ya!

Labels: Books, Israel, Palestinians, Toronto

As you may have read, I was not permitted (by Mr. Right, who worries about me) to bring any political books on vacation to the Dominican. So I've been making up for lost time since getting back.

Marky Steyn's America Alone, followed by Ann Coulter's Godless (given to me for Christmas by one of my near & dear), and now I'm on Melanie Phillips' Londonistan.

Blogging will continue to be scarce while I catch up!

In my ears while I read:

Running with the Devil - Van Halen
Calling You - Blue October
Kiss Me Black - The Birthday Party
Don't Get Angry - Blue Rodeo
Path of Thorns - Sarah McLaghlin
Waltz for Eva and Che - Madonna & Antonio Banderas
Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols
Cry, Cry, Cry - Johnny Cash
Date Rape Song - Sublime
Fuck Them All - Mylene Farmer

Labels: Books, Music