other quote for the day

"This Probably Ends with a Requirement That Every American Must Open a Bank Account"

Gerry Canavan, refering to proposed regulation of the banking industry

quote for the day

The lesson is that, in nearly every election, fear works. How did Republicans turn so many people against health care reform (see note below) and against Obama? Because they scared them. Republicans can, with a straight face, call Obama and Democrats "socialist" or whatever bugaboo word they want and then say that Democrats are to blame for the lack of bipartisanship. That's some shameless shit there. But it works.

The Rude Pundit

blindsided

While all the attention has been on a single senatoral race in Massachusettes, America has been sold down the river by the Supreme Court. Thirty years of disinformation, propaganda and outright lies have culminated in a group of activist judges making money the equal to free speech. Now, in the interest of "fairness", a corporation can do the equivalent of setting up a stadium-sized sound system next to your megaphone. All this because corporations (oh, and ordinary people, too, 'cause they're the same, right?) were being treated "unfairly" by limits on how much they could spend in order to get their point across.
So, get yourselves a burro, folks, unless you've got pot-loads of money already, because burros (or maybe an ox?) are standard equipment for peasants, and that's what we'll be in another generation or so. Practice your bowing and scraping. When money is more important than people, when money is the same thing as speech, when everything revolves around money, what chance do ordinary people, most of whom have little of that which is worshipped here, have at getting their "costly" needs taken care of?
None.

woot!

Hey, John Scalzi's* got a blog! I mean, I suppose that shouldnt be all that surprising. I guess a science fiction author without a blog would be more surprising, wouldnt it? Still, I'm happy to have found it, so I'm putting it out here to share and to remind me to put it into my next blogtroll list, which is probably about due.


* Look! He's on my list.

Dave's 2009 Book List

It's that time again! Here it is, Dave's 2009 Booklist; all the books I read during the last year (well, read clear to the end, that is). You'll notice that it's a little light on the non-fiction this year (again), so one of my new year's resolutions was to read more of it. We'll see how it goes.

As is always the case, the best titles are indicated by the presence of a link.

On the other hand, there are some authors that are terrific no matter what the title is, such as Terry Pratchett and A. Lee Martinez, which I dont recommend any specific books for, since they've all been wonderful.

Fiction:

Abercrombie, Joe - Best Served Cold
Anderson, Poul - Starfarers
Baxter, Charles - The Feast Of Love
Berry, Dave - Big Trouble
Brin, David - Earth
Buckley, Christopher - Supreme Courtship
Cherryh, C. J. - Regenesis
Cherryh, C. J. - The Morgaine Saga
Clarke, Arthur C. + Frederick Pohl - The Last Theorem
Codrescu, Andrei - Wakefield
Cohn, Rachel + David Levithan - Nick And Nora's Infinite Playlist
Cornwell, Bernard - Sharpe's Company
Cornwell, Bernard - Sharpe's Eagle
Cornwell, Bernard - Sharpe's Gold
Cornwell, Bernard - Sharpe's Sword
Crusie, Jennifer - Getting Rid Of Bradley
Crusie, Jennifer + Bob Mayer - Agnes And The Hitman
Crusie, Jennifer + Bob Mayer - Dont Look Down
DeCandido, Keith R. A. - Star Trek TNG: Q & A
Doctorow, Cory - Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom
Donaldson, Stephen R. - Mirror Of Her Dreams
Donaldson, Stephen R. - A Man Rides Through
Dufresne, John - Requiem, Mass
Elliott, Kate - Traitor's Gate
Fforde, Jasper - all 6 Thursday Next books
Flint, Eric + Ryk E. Spoor - Boundary
Flynn, Michael - The January Dancer
Fox, Helen - Eager
Gaiman, Neil - Neverwhere
Gaiman, Neil - The Graveyard Book
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel - 100 Years Of Solitude
Garfield, Brian - Hopscotch
Haldeman, Joe - The Forever War
Harris, Charlaine - All Together Dead
Harris, Charlaine - Club Dead
Harris, Charlaine - Dead And Gone
Harris, Charlaine - Dead As A Doornail
Harris, Charlaine - Dead In Dallas
Harris, Charlaine - Dead To The World
Harris, Charlaine - Definitely Dead
Harris, Charlaine - From Dead To Worse
Hobb, Robin - the Liveship Traders trilogy
Hogan, James P. - The Minervan Experiment
Hudler, Ad - Man Of The House
Jacoby, M. Ann - Life After Genius
Jewell, Lisa - Roommates Wanted
Kelby, N. M. - Whale Season
Laurie, Hugh - The Gunseller
LaZebnik, Claire - The Smart One And The Pretty One
Leonard, Elmore - Maximum Bob
Lindsay, Jeff - Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Lindsay, Jeff - Dearly Devoted Dexter
Lindsay, Jeff - Dexter In The Dark
Lipman, Elinor - The Family Man
Lutz, Lisa - Revenge Of The Spellmans
Mahajan, Karan - Family Planning
Martinez, A. Lee - A Nameless Witch
Martinez, A. Lee - In The Company Of Ogres
Martinez, A. Lee - Too Many Curses
Marusek, David - Counting Heads
Marusek, David - Mind Over Ship
Mazetti, Katarina - Benny And Shrimp
McCaffrey, Anne - Dragonsinger
McCall Smith, Alexander - The World According To Bertie
Michner, James - Tales Of The South Pacific
Modessit, L. E. - The Eternity Artifact
Newark, Elizabeth - The Darcy's Give A Ball
Pace, Alison - City Dog
Palmer, Philip - Debatable Space
Pinkwater, Daniel - Young Adult Novel
Pournelle, Jerry - King David's Spaceship
Pournelle, Jerry + S. M. Stirling - The Prince
Pratchett, Terry - Carpe Jugulum
Pratchett, Terry - Equal Rites
Pratchett, Terry - Going Postal
Pratchett, Terry - Making Money
Pratchett, Terry - Men At Arms
Pratchett, Terry - Nation
Pratchett, Terry - Night Watch
Pratchett, Terry - The Fifth Elephant
Pratchett, Terry - The Truth
Pratchett, Terry - Thud
Pratchett, Terry - Unseen Academicals
Resnick, Mike - Starship: Mercenary
Resnick, Mike - Starship: Mutiny
Resnick, Mike - Starship: Pirate
Resnick, Mike - Starship: Rebel
Rich, Lani Diane - A Little Ray Of Sunshine
Robbins, Tom - "B" Is For Beer
Rosenblatt, Jill Amy - Project Jennifer
Rowling, J. K. - the whole Harry Potter series
Scalzi, John - Agent To The Stars
Schmidtberger, Paul - Design Flaws Of The Human Condition
Schroeder, Karl - Pirate Sun
Schroeder, Karl - Queen Of Candesce
Schroeder, Karl - Sun Of Suns
Schulz, Charles - The Complete Peanuts, 1950-52
Stephenson, Neal - The Diamond Age
Stirling, S. M. - In The Courts Of The Crimson Kings
Stirling, S. M. - The Sky People
Taylor, Billy - Based On The Movie
Viera Rigler, Laura - Rude Awakenings Of A Jane Austin Addict
Willis, Connie - Bellwether
Willis, Connie - DA
Willis, Connie - Inside Job
Wilson, Charles - Axis
Wilson, Charles - Spin
Zusak, Mark - I Am The Messenger

Non-Fiction:

Michaelis, David - Schulz And Peanuts
Wallechinsky, David + Amy Wallace - The Book Of Lists: The 90's Edition
Wasik, Bill - And Then There's This

Previous Lists: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.

lame post

Damn, I love Hark A Vagrant

I got nothin'

Yeah, I know, nothing going on here. Bored, a bit, I think. I've been putting stuff on the art blog lately, though, so you might keep an eye on that.

thursday matinee

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Even Better Than the Real Thing
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Walt finally wins a bit

Zits

You know you're getting old when you sympathize more with the dad than with the kid.

late night snack

I'm taking a little break right now from watching the first season of Northern Exposure, having a second helping of our family's traditional New Year's dish, pozole. Actually it's my wife's traditional dish, I dont recall having one in my house growing up. I did add the sliced cabbage though, which, for me at least, really makes the difference between weak chili and a tasty bowl of goodness.

When I'm done with the bowl, I'll go back to the show with our traditional desert, a lovely slice of lemon pound cake. Yum.