Posted on July 2, 2012, 1:22 pm, by cocktailhag, under
Book Saloon.
In the opening chapter of Parmy Olson’s gripping new book, We Are Anonymous, the CEO of the now-defunct HBGary Federal assumes the role of an unwitting character in a horror movie, haunted by inchoate dread, but unable to see how awful his demise will be. Due primarily to his own stupidity and overconfidence, a group [...]
Tags:
Aaron Barr,
Anonymous,
banana republic,
Bank of America,
Church of Scientology,
Corruption,
FBI,
Glenn Greenwald,
HBGary Federal,
Julian Assange,
Parmy Olson,
Police State,
Rupert Murdoch,
Topiary,
US Chamber of Commerce,
We Are Anonymous,
Westboro Baptist Church,
Wikileaks 2 Comments |
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Posted on June 24, 2012, 2:10 pm, by cocktailhag, under
Book Saloon.
My friend Gayle and I have tossed books back and forth for years, and I must admit that now that she’s retired, she’s getting way ahead of me, and further afield. Since she spent her career working with banksters, and I’m sort of a commie, we both reveled in the page-turning corruption potboilers that [...]
Under The Banner of Heaven: A Story of a Violent Faith Jon Krakauer, 2003 Having torn through Krakauer’s earlier books, Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, I had every expectation that this book would be an up-all-night page-turner, and I wasn’t disappointed. What I didn’t expect, though, was that it would end up being [...]
I’ve been traveling a lot lately, and thus reading more (political, natch) books than usual, but none seemed new and juicy enough to review. Fortunately, Karma chose to compensate me for the money I’d thus far wasted at Powell’s; I showed up at a Firebagger Meetup in Portland, and they had FREE BOOKS. I grabbed [...]
Tags:
Alaska,
banana republic,
Bill Kristol,
Caribou Barbie,
Dick Morris,
Fox News,
Fred Barnes,
National Review,
Rich Lowry,
Robert Bork,
Sarah Palin,
Teabaggers,
Victor Davis Hanson,
Wasilla,
Weekly Standard 15 Comments |
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Posted on March 9, 2011, 4:36 pm, by cocktailhag, under
Book Saloon.
Posting was light over the last few days because I was working in Seattle, but the attendant train rides finally gave me time to read the latest from one of my favorite authors, Jonathan Franzen. While it may sound a tad cliche and as such not entirely believable, I discovered Franzen long before Oprah did, [...]
Ever since this song came out in 1996, it’s always found its way onto my winter playlist because, cockeyed optimist that I am, I always believe that “this year will be better than the last,” and with that and the right amount of alcohol, I find this somewhat mournful song cheery. Some background… In December [...]
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/encounter/stories/2010/3054099.htm
There was Jessica Savitch. The video above shows the last, drug-addled broadcast of a grasping, narcissistic and damaged young woman whose relentless pursuit of fame landed her, days thereafter, in a watery grave at 34…. Having been a key figure who heralded a new era of profit-driven infotainment in TV News, Savitch was the first [...]
Tags:
"Almost Golden",
David Gregory,
Eyewitness News,
Fox News,
Fred Silverman,
Golden Girl,
Gwenda Blair,
Jessica Savitch,
John Cameron Swayze,
KHOU TV,
KWY TV,
Meet The Press,
Megyn Kelly,
NBC News,
NBC News Digest,
TV news 6 Comments |
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I had heard good things about Liar’s Poker author Michael Lewis’ new book about the financial meltdown, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, but as usual I procrastinated a bit about buying it, figuring it would turn up used at Powell’s before too long. Well, when I walked into work on Thursday and found [...]
Watergate was undoubtedly the first time I paid attention to politics, mainly because it was suddenly so interesting for a change. Had it played out on the comics pages, or even Perry Mason, I wouldn’t have believed it. I was only a kid at the time, but I was utterly fascinated and delighted when our [...]
Tags:
Chuck Colson,
Fox News,
G. Gordon Liddy,
James Rosen,
Jeb Magruder,
John Dean,
John Ehrlichman,
John Mitchell,
Legacy Project,
Len Colodny,
Martha Mitchell,
Powell's Books,
Republicans,
Richard Nixon,
Silent Coup,
Watergate 25 Comments |
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