AI War should be available for purchase on November 30. My birthday. :-) Amy and I spent the weekend working on timelines for various projects, and I feel pretty confident about hitting that date.
Another big chunk coming in a day or two, as well.
~~~~~
Got a post coming about what's going on in L.A. Family Court, as well. We got handed a custody evaluator named Albert Gibbs -- a father's rights advocate who once omitted reporting a girl's claim she'd been sexually molested by her father, in a case with some parallels to ours. Gibbs is a proponent of the theory of "parental alienation" -- basically a theory that says that children who despise Parent A, almost always the father, don't despise him for being, for example, a molester, or an abusive alcoholic, or for having killed someone close to them ... but because Parent B said nasty things about him.
I'm not dreadfully surprised by this; this is the very same court that gave OJ Simpson his children back after he cut their mother's head off. If you're an abusive father, you can't really hope for a better venue in which to try to get your hands on your children.
Fairly lengthy post coming on all that.
Also, my daughter Andrea has been putting together a blog of her own, covering some of this material. I'll link to it when it's up.
~~~~~
The polls have tightened up on Obama and McCain, shortly after McCain released an ad linking Obama to two very sexual white women. (Echoes of "Call me, Harold" ...)
Nasty, but I kind of admire it. I wish Democrats were willing to absolutely anything to win. Politics is war by other means. One of the absolutely genuine reasons to vote Republican -- if a Democrat won't stand up to the attacks of George Bush or John McCain (and so far Obama's not impressing me in this area) -- if he won't stand up to that, are you really going to trust him to stand up to al Qaeda?
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26 comments:
Let me be the first of many to say "Where do I sign up?"
Seriously. Where can I (pre-)order? I will throw money at you right this minute...
Thanks for the offer, no. I will take money when there are books available to be ordered, and not before.
[quote]
One of the absolutely genuine reasons to vote Republican -- if a Democrat won't stand up to the attacks of George Bush or John McCain (and so far Obama's not impressing me in this area) -- if he won't stand up to that, are you really going to trust him to stand up to al Qaeda?
[/quote]
If you become the enemy to defeat the enemy? What have you won?
I can understand that. I'll be patient then.
The new excerpts have made me realize how much I miss those characters. It's like meeting up with a friend from high school and falling back into the same old jokes and habits.
If you become the enemy to defeat the enemy? What have you won?
Losing from the moral high ground has never appealed to me. If you have to get down in the mud to win, you can always take a shower afterward.
I wouldn't drag a fight into the gutter myself. But I'm more than willing to fight there.
@Dan
I can respect where that answer comes from. I just hope that it doesn't come to that. If Obama can stay above these tactics, maybe that will pull more people into the process that are against the Rove mindset.
Also, on AI's release on November 30th. I'm really looking forward to it. I've avoided the released material so far. I want to wait until I have the entire book in hand and then I plan to take a day off of work just to read it non-stop. Trent still remains my favorite character even after all these years.
Losing from the moral high ground has never appealed to me.
That reasoning allows us to torture.
I understand what you're saying, but there are lines I don't think worth crossing. Whether this is one for the DNC or Obama is their decision. I don't think I'm too far from you on this particular issue, however ;).
Stuff like this is why Democrats lose national elections. They get wobbly in the knees when faced with unpleasant accusations ...
Not wanting to lose is the same thing as embracing torture? Really?
I'm not against torture in much the same way I'm not against the death penalty -- I'm OK with executing murderers. I'm OK with torturing terrorists who possess information we need ....
I'm against torture in much the same way I'm against the death penalty -- humans aren't smart enough to execute other humans. Where the death penalty exists, we demonstrably execute the innocent. Where torture is permitted, we demonstrably torture the innocent.
We are, or should be, a better society than that. That's a good, sane, sensible, and above all moral posture you could defend to anyone ...
Not that I expect that from Obama. He's facing his first major test in this election -- Clinton threw stuff at him, but it was minor by comparison, because she'd have needed his voters if she'd won. Now he's getting tested by a guy who doesn't need his voters and isn't worried about offending them ... and so far he looks like Gore, Kerry, and Dukakis.
On the upside, conservatives won't hate him the way they hate Clinton, when the election's over. So that's something.
That's my birthday too! Can't remember if I already knew that or not about you.
Looking forward to it. I'll buy in any format available.
You, me, Elisha Cuthbert, Bo Jackson, Billy Idol, Mandy Patinkin, David Mamet, Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, and Jonathan Swift. Good company.
Of course, we also get Dick Clark and G. Gordon Liddy. Luck of the draw.
If you want to assume that the books's coming on Nov. 30 as your own personal birthday present, fine by me.
Could be for Elisah Cuthbert too, of course...
Best of luck with your custody situation. Those are always complicated, and it sounds like you were just thrown another likely curve.
As always I'm excited about the AI War news. I'll be looking forward to my copy! It's a nice 30th birthday present to myself, I'm turning on Nov. 27th. :-)
[quote]I wish Democrats were willing to absolutely anything to win. Politics is war by other means.[/quote]
As a democrat - I agree.
You cannot take a knife to a gunfight. If your opponent goes nucleur - you cant expect to win conventionally. There are some fine points raised in this thread about becoming your enemy in order to defeat them. I truly understand those concerns - but in the imho you can keep the moral high ground if it is your opponent who goes there first.
You can make changes if you don't win - and you cant win if you keep absorbing enemy attacks. As a former SF I can tell you that - initiative is the key to all battles and Obama needs to seize it.
** Very much looking forward to your book. Not fully in the loop regarding your custody battle, but as a Father who gave it my all for my son I understand. Hang in there.
Actually, if you are close enough, a knife works just fine in a gunfight. Tends not to jam, nor run out of bullets, and you can get killed just as dead with a blade as a bullet ...
Sorry about the custody crap. I used to do private eye work years ago. We once followed a woman who was a prostitute; her ex-husband wanted custody of their six-year-old child. He lost, because there was no evidence that she was a bad mother.
I can see that. The child's welfare should trump all.
You would think that if there was some suspicion that a father had been in any way connected to the death of a baby, that would be the end of the story in a custody dispute. Or that the wishes of the children, especially those past puberty, would count a great deal.
Yep, fathers used to have zero rights, and that's wrong, but you don't address that by forgetting the basic premise: What best serves the child?
Trust me, I'm not anti-father -- being one myself, I see the father's perspective quite clearly.
We fought the assignment of Albert Gibbs for six months and had him rammed down our throats anyway. Not a big surprise there -- as noted, this is the court that handed OJ Simpson his kids after he murdered their mother, so we're not expecting sanity from them. We don't expect honest work from Gibbs, which is OK, we're prepped for him -- but I'm guessing he'll wish when we get done he hadn't caught this case. Whatever happens with him is going to happen in the bright lght of day ....
Great !!!Where will it be avaliable ?
[quote]Actually, if you are close enough, a knife works just fine in a gunfight. Tends not to jam, nor run out of bullets, and you can get killed just as dead with a blade as a bullet ...[/quote]
If your close enough to use a blade it has ceased to become a gunfight now hasn't it.
Not if the only tool you have is a gun. That makes it a mixed match, gunfight/knifefight.
I make the point because you can indeed take a knife to a gunfight if you how to get close enough to your opponent to control how it goes down.
Of course, the smart fighter, assuming he couldn't avoid it altogether, would have both and know when and where to best utilize 'em ...
But if you are former SF, you already know that and you are just pulling on my chain a little, hey?
I don't know why blogspot doesn't support bbcode -- it certainly should. But it doesn't. If you want to quote, cut and paste and then italicize, or some such. Blogspot does permit the i and b html tags.
Obama seems to be taking the "make fun of them" tack. He's charismatic enough that I think he pulls it off well: Obama Town Hall
IMHO all this boils down to...
personal convictions. I won't drag issues into the gutter, I won't fight there either. If I die over my feelings, so be it. In the end though, that is my PERSONAL feeling.
I've brought a knife to a gunfight, and I've brought a M224 60mm mortar to a knife fight....Hmmm, which is better? Which is "more" moral?
Can you die for you convictions?
Are you absolute in them?
If not, take a shower later and be happy. If so, suffer for your beliefs, whatever the cost.
Remember this, terrorist's feel this way as well. If you can't meet violence with an equal measure of peace, then you'd better meet them with an equal measure of violence, or you will LOSE. UNEQUIVOCALLY!!!
If you can't accept the outcome of the "equal measure of peace", then you'd better get damn ready to fight, and hope they respond to it.
It's worked well in the Middle East for the last coupla thousand years, right?!
Just a little :)
Love your books. Sleel forever.
Isn't Sleel a character from Steve Perry's "Matador" trilogy? You may be confusing it with "The Sleem" alien race from DKM's "The Last Dancer."
J.D. --
Protos and I were having a little side discussion. He was ragging me about guns and knives, him being an ex-Special Forces guy. Why the Sleel mention.
Well, Obama's started hitting back. I'd have been infinitely happier if he'd hit first instead of hitting back after taking incoming for two weeks, but at least there's enough time to November for him to get his feet on this stuff. If he's going to.
Michael Black,
All you can do is follow your own conscience. The United States didn't get to be the greatest power in the history of the world by emulating Carthage, hopever.
Victor Vescovo sent me a great picture. Believe I'll post it.
Perry I think I like you :)
Sleel? .... hows my fugue? :D
Dan, that is a biting picture haha. Not sure everyone will appreciate it but I laughed quite hard. Re Obama, still plenty of time, right now its the silly season and most 'citizens' are still not tuned in. I believe the debates will really set the tone. We should get a nice bump from the convention too.
Emotionally I agree torture and execution should be used in specific situations.
Intellectually I know "it's wrong" to do either. I can't help thinking how many Americans were (emotionally) convinced we had to attack Iraq (or vote for Bush either time, though I have doubts enough people "really" voted for him. Either time.).
If there is a reality to recognize of late perhaps it's that we can always expect to have our emotions tweaked far more than our reasoning? If we're thinking it sure does seem to get in the way of jet stream policymaking....
Best of luck on the custody issues. I hope the "light of day" proves to be properly illuminating.
And the next AI War segment? Please don't tell me I just picked a number and you ran away....
-Mark Owen
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