Lately, I have been on a non-fiction reading binge in an effort to understand what the heck has really been going on in the world, especially over the last 10 years and with respect to the global economic financial meltdown that started in 2008. Among the books I would recommend are:
1. Blackwater Jeremy ScahillThis book chronicles the rise of the world’s largest mercenary army/ies who are basically answerable to no one. |
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2. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine and Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis Thanks to these books I now understand what Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) and Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) really are, and how they brought the financial system to the brink. |
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3. Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross SorkinThis book outlines all the secret alliances and backroom deal making that went on to ostensibly save the world economy from collapse. |
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4. The Life and Death of Democracy by John Keane This book explores the origins, meaning and contemporary significance of democracy. |
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5. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin This book helped me understand what went on in the lead up to and during the 2008 US Presidential election in both the Democratic and Republican camps. |
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6. American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies that the Government Tells Us by Jesse Ventura One of my favorite reads. It’s described as an “explosive account of wrongful acts and ensuing cover-ups” and it deconstructs and provides tons of little-reported, but nonetheless true, facts about several major events of our lifetimes (all well researched and footnoted with sources). While much of what he had to share made me gasp, it also made a lot of sense. These are not capricious allegations he’s making, and he cites many credible sources who have spent years trying to get facts put before the public that we need to know in order to better hold governments and businesses accountable. Ventura’s “voice” is so distinct in this book – it feels like he is having a plain old heart-to-heart chat with you. And, to his potential detractors (and I am sure there are many who want to shout him down) he points out he is simply asking tough questions that need to be asked and answered. The issues he’s raising have been pursued many times over many years and the answers, as he stresses, have never been adequate. |
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Thank you for sharing. I feel your pain and I shed some tears because I can relate to it all. Your story brought back memories of my first dog, Bear. I had to put him down at the age of 14 1/2.
My 28 year marriage ended just over a year ag
Yes, chatting, especially about anything sexual is cheating. If my husband was doing that I would consider him cheating on me. Be sooooo careful when meeting this man, people can be who they want to be online.
Yes I have thick legs with thick ankles, my Dad's! Tights the same color as the dress or bone shoes with bare legs. Not a straight skirt and never patterned stockings or leggings!
Thanks for info on the books. I’m going to read Game Change next.
In Jesse Ventura’s American Conspiracies … regarding the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ventura asserts that “our government engaged in a massive cover-up” and had “ties to the hijackers.” He ventures that “unanswered questions remain about how the towers were brought down and whether a plane really struck the Pentagon” and that the “Bush Administration either knew about the plan” or “had a hand in it.” Do you actually believe this?
I do. Though I realize it’s just a matter of opinion. I was not there, nor did I lose anyone by it. I just know there is a great deal more that goes on among those echelons than we are privileged to know. The idea that we know what is going on in the word if we listen to the historical facts handed to us has been shattered for me years ago. But then again, how many out there really want to know the truth, especially if knowing means making sometimes painful changes or giving up a sense of emotional security?
Interesting … but I would like to hear from Lisa Mallett … Could you answer this question Lisa?
In Jesse Ventura’s American Conspiracies … regarding the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ventura asserts that “our government engaged in a massive cover-up” and had “ties to the hijackers.” He ventures that “unanswered questions remain about how the towers were brought down and whether a plane really struck the Pentagon” and that the “Bush Administration either knew about the plan” or “had a hand in it.” Do you actually believe this?
I am simply recommending some books to the VNmembership that made me think more deeply about world events/affairs and ponder ”unanswered questions.” It is up to each person to inform themselves and decide for themselves what they think and believe.
If the truth is a primary motive, it is necessary to genuinely test all perspectives. The objective is not to make one perspective the absolute answer to all questions, but rather to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each, so as to arrive at a more wholistic sense of what might have happened.
To accept or reject, out-of-hand, a cookie-cutter “explanation” manufactured by the government, obviates one’s personal responsibility to identify reality.
It is not historically unheard of, and therefore neither is it completely improbable, that ”the Bush Administration either knew about the plan or had a hand in it”. Personally, I think the highest probability is not that they “knew” nor that they had a direct “hand in it”, but rather that they strategically maintained a HIGHLY marketable commodity in regards to these events: that commodity known as Plausible Deniability. Think of this as deliberate and very strategic ignorance. In the parlance of the internet, you will hear this referred to as “they Let It Happen On Purpose” (LIHOP) as compared to the more radical perspective held by some, “they Made It Happen On Purpose” (MIHOP), which, personally, I consider pretty unlikely.