Sidebar: Book Report on the Fly

While Amazon.com seems to have a virtual monopoly on discounted books, Kindle downloads and such, it still can’t beat going to a local bookstore (in my case “Books a Million”) to look them over in hand. Although I’d never buy a book by one of these authors (or even one from someone who shares my political views), it’s still a good idea to read what they have to say.

So I looked over three books today that I’m going to discuss here; they all had certain similarities. They were prominently displayed in the “New Releases” non-fiction section at the front of the store, and naturally they were by people who were not “liberals” who seem to dominate in this area:

•  “Broke” by Glenn Beck
•  “Pinheads and Patriots” by Bill O’Reilly
•  “America By Heart” by Sarah Palin

Un-Broke my Heart. If I was going to buy any of these three, it would be Beck’s “Broke”. Wide paged, highly glossed with lots of color, it was replete with charts and tack notes; it seemed like a “Conspiratorial Libertarians for Dummies” kind of book in the way it was laid out. The “tack notes” were often entitled “Teachable Moments.” Now that the word “Liberal” has been successfully demonized and mischaracterized, he has now moved on to the word Progressives in order to do the same.

But on Page 120-1, he doesn’t celebrate Republicans either; he has a laundry list of the “bads” that George W. Bush accomplished during his administration, such as the Medicare prescription bill of 2003 which added hundreds of billions to the national debt, and the Homeland Security Act which added 100,000 government employees.

Of course, he spends a lot of time on Social Security and Medicare as the focus of the blame for America’s “broke” condition. Here’s a notable block quote on Page 205 called “Mr. Ponzi Would Be So Proud”:

It’s not exactly creative to refer to social security as a Ponzi scheme, especially when you consider that it was being called that just three years after it was created. The following excerpt is from an editorial that appeared in the Reading Eagle in August, 1938:

“No one will be told that the government does not take this money and keep it for the old age or for the needy day of the wash woman, but spends it as fast as it comes in for battleships, cooling systems, salaries, mileage of congressmen and all the miscellaneous expenses of government.

Those whose money is thus in government custody cannot get excited about it because they know the government’s ability to raise money is better than, say, the Boston wizard of finance, Mr. Ponzi, who once tried a similar idea in a private way, and went to jail for it.

Beck’s 8-point “Plan” is described nicely by this Amazon commenter (Craig Matteson of Saline, Michigan):

1) Realize that we have individual rights and that collective rights are an excuse to grab power and chain people to the government. 2) Realize that we have equality of opportunity and that trying to make equal outcomes is just a government way of grabbing more power to try and do something that cannot be done. 3) Believe in America and her greatness. 4) Refashion government to be closer to the people. Decentralization takes away power from the elitists who want government as free of actual control by the people as they can get it. 5) Give the Progressives a taste of the activism they have been giving us for more than a century. 6) Cut spending everywhere. A little, some more, and a lot. 7) Stop printing money. Create policies that support a sound currency with real value. 8) Live your own life so you are "out of the system". Don't allow yourself to become dependent on the government and vote for those that support liberty and responsibility rather than dependence.

The Number (6) has a title I  recall containing the word “hatchet.” All I can say in that regard is easier said than done. But "Broke" is a bargain, marked 50% off by BAM and almost half ($29.99 to $15.70) by Amazon. Not for me, I just read them at bookstores for free because that’s my 8-Point Plan (No. 8) of staying “out of the system” and not make some entertainer on Fox News rich. 

Not on my recommended list.

Pin The Head on a Patriot. Pinheads and Patriots could use a more appropriate title like “You’re a Pinhead if you buy this book” . It’s has been around for a while, and Bill O’Reilly promotes it (still) almost daily on his Fox TV show. Its short double-spaced 242 pages starts with bantering filler, and then goes into a list of people (such as Madonna, John Edwards, etc.) who he thinks deserve to be called a pinhead or a patriot, and concludes with a lengthy transcript of an interview with Barack Obama.

I did not spend much time with this book because I don’t think it’s cool to make a list of famous people and judge them in such a way, in a book no less. Some of it is O’Reilly’s personal opinion about people he’s never come to know personally, as well as decisions they may have made for which he does not know all the details. Pinheads as opposed to Patriots also implies that Pinheads not only have brains the size of pins but are not patriotic. What is antonym to patriotic? Disloyal, traitorous, untrustworthy, treacherous. 

This is how O’Reilly describes it in the introduction:

As you may know, each episode of my TV program, The O'Reilly Factor, ends with a segment called "Pinheads and Patriots," in which I call out both people who are doing good things (Patriots), and those who are doing awful, dumb, or evil things (Pinheads). Although the expositions range from the banal (dealing with Snoop Dogg) to the deadly serious (addressing the actions of world leaders), they are always about influencers -- individuals whose actions, good or bad, affect you. Research shows that this segment has become a hit with the Factor audience for this very reason.

I mentioned Madonna above because his gripe was her fake accent….to judge her a pinhead (not only that, Larry King's replacement Piers Morgan says he's "banned" Madonna for an interview on his new program for the same reason!). For which I will say: I have family members whose jobs relocated them to southern states; after a period of time, they developed slight southern “drawls.” I think it is a natural phenomena.  Secondly, how is her adopting an English accent an awful, dumb or evil thing, and finally, how does it affect you or me?

Essentially, he’s taken something he’s already done (on his television show) and re-circulated it into a book, and copied in a transcript. Along with his own promotion on Fox News and his website, I’d call it one cold, un-fresh piece of banality.

But if you’re still interested, you can get "Pinheads and Patriots" at Amazon at almost 50% off ($27.99 to $14.70) but it’s still only 20% off at BAM (another 10% if you’re a member).

Yo Mama Grizzley. "America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag" follows Sarah Palin’s first book "Going Rogue: An American Life." It’s a short volume like O’Reilly’s book, 272 pages, but narrower columns in the pages, and no index (I believe her previous book did not have one, either). It also has a nice center color “photo” section so Sarah can show off how she hunts, camps and cleans fish with coifed hair and full makeup.

Sarah Palin seems to have a fixation with the words “America” as well as “common sense” as if she owns them and no one else has them. She describes herself as a “Commonsense Constitutional Conservative.” But those words heaped up for readers over and over offer only glittering generalities, as well as the Faith, Family and Flag, which she defines as: Faith (through religion or the moral values transmitted in our secular culture), Family (limited government: “the state knows better than the feds, the city knows better than the state, and the family knows better than the city”), and the pollyannish Flag (understanding that we are an exceptional nation with an exceptional message for the world), and that this is “hallowed ground on which we all can stand.” Wow, so original!

Chapter Five “Rise of Mama Grizzlies” was probably the most interesting to me as a woman. When Palin was running I had a chance to see one of my favorite authors in person, Camille Paglia, who was giving a tribute at a local college, who happened to writing a column for Salon Magazine in which she called Palin a “new Feminist” because, in her words:

Conservative though she may be, I felt that Palin represented an explosion of a brand new style of muscular American feminism. At her startling debut on that day, she was combining male and female qualities in ways that I have never seen before. And she was somehow able to seem simultaneously reassuringly traditional and gung-ho futurist. In terms of redefining the persona for female authority and leadership, Palin has made the biggest step forward in feminism since Madonna channeled the dominatrix persona of high-glam Marlene Dietrich and rammed pro-sex, pro-beauty feminism down the throats of the prissy, victim-mongering, philistine feminist establishment.

(Madonna again?) Paglia re-iterated her admiration of Palin (calling her a “true feminist”) during a question-and-answer session, adding that some of her liberal friends “were mad at her” because of it. But that is what I like about Camille, she does not take sides, although some see that as a weakness or equivocation. 

Paglia’s comments about Palin seem to be reflected by Palin herself in this chapter. Palin claims the Feminist movement is stifled by liberalism and obsessed with abortion, and that you can be a feminist and be pro-life. I see some truth in that: I never believed the mantra “you can have it all” because I could not see how one could not be overwhelmed and exhausted by multi-tasking and power shopping. To me, it was career OR children, not both. I also believe you can be pro-life because, after all, you can make that choice. I agree with her criticism of Hillary Clinton on her “I could be baking cookies” comment back when Bill was first running for president (Camille holds Hillary in high disdain) but I find Hillary more of an example of feminism because of her accomplishments. 

When I compare Hillary to Sarah, what immediately comes to mind is the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler skit on SNL where a moment approaches comparing how Hillary fought a long, difficult battle for the presidential nomination and lost, but Palin practically gets it handed to her (after all, McCain isn’t exactly young, and she’s one step away) simply by McCain choosing her as a running mate. That’s my problem with Palin, she has not really had a mountain to climb; it’s sort of like what I’ve heard it said about George W. Bush: Born on third and thinks (s)he hit a triple. Yes, she has political savvy and is an opportunist, but she hasn’t had the type of obstacles that Hillary or other feminists have experienced. She is not the first, and easily slips into position on the backs of them, yet her political beliefs are those that could turn it all back.

Palin also does not give credit where credit is due. She holds prominent Republican woman like Michele Bachmann and Nikki Haley in high esteem for holding high office, yet having, in Bachmann’s case, five children like Palin. But Nancy Pelosi has five children too; in my home state of Michigan we had our own Sarah Palin, good-looking two-term governor and Democrat Jennifer Granholm, who also served as attorney general (i.e., she’s a lawyer), and has three children. So what’s the big deal? 

My problem with Palin is her lack of depth (already attested to by some Republicans). I also find her to be, for lack of a better term, catty (or a tad snarky?), which is something anti-feminist regardless of your political affiliation. Her deliberately not mentioning accomplished Democratic officeholders with large families is a good example of that. Both qualities seem to show in this book. 

Not recommended either, but that's just me.

You can get it at BAM at 20% off, (or at your local Target at 30% off) or at Amazon for over half off ($25.99 to $11.97).

Nut so fast. Just to be fair, as I put the books back and returned to the table where I had been sitting, I noticed another book, by *liberal* Whoopi Goldberg called “Is It Just Me, or is It Nuts Out There” with a photo of Whoopi on the cover, looking like she’s sitting on a commode in a public bathroom. And it was another even shorter (compared to Palin and O’Reilly’s) little book (200 pages) with a lot of bullet lists….only it wasn’t marked down…I’d never buy this one, either.