Get Out of Our House: Revolution!, Tim Cox, Bridgeway Books, 2008
To say that the American people do not think that Congress is doing a good job is a huge understatement. This book provides an interesting proposal to change that.
The first step is to visit http://www.goooh.com ("Get Out of Our House"). It costs money to sign up at the
site, to weed out those who are not serious. Those who are serious will have to answer over 100 questions about how they will vote on various issues. They are Yes/No questions, designed to provide no political wiggle room. If enough people from a certain Congressional district sign up and pledge money, the special interests used to buying elections are bypassed. The people who signed up get together to choose a Congressional candidate, the person who best represents that district. After being elected, if, at any time, the person votes contrary to the way they voted on the questionnaire, they are obligated to resign.
The answers to the questions coming from Cambridge, MA or San Francisco are going to be different than the answers coming from Dallas. That's the idea; the object is to find the person who best represents that district. Among the questions: Will you vote to replace the current tax system with the Fair Tax as proposed by Linder and Boortz? Will you vote for a government-controlled National Health Care System that offers "free" health care to all? Will you vote to amend the Constitution to exclude people with a law degree from serving in the House? Will you vote to make birth control pills available for free to every girl under the age of twenty-one? Will you vow to support a completely free press at all times? Will you vote to declare that a person who commits a crime, and is subsequently found guilty of said crime, has forfeited all but his most basic rights from the moment his crime was committed until the moment he is released?
The problem is not getting this or that member out of the House of Representatives, and then everything will be all right, but getting everyone out, and starting from scratch. Many proposals have been put forward to do just that; this one deserves serious consideration.
Showing posts with label cox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cox. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Web Craze
Web Craze, Ron Cox, Cox Publishing, 1999
Matt Carrigan, a twenty-year veteran of the CIA, is fed up with the spy business and wants out. After escaping from an Iraqi prison, where he had spent the previous two years, Matt wants nothing more than to go back to America, quit the Agency, and see if he can rekindle a romance with Lisa Avery, his old girlfriend. Of course, it's not that easy.
He is enticed into one more assignment. All over the country, older people are suddenly and inexplicably killing their loved ones. These people are the epitome of Mr and Mrs Average American. It gets serious when all 300 people in a small town in Wyoming are discovered murdered. The initial thought is that this is the beginning of a militia takeover of America. That is quickly dismissed when the phenomenon of people banding together and committing random acts of murder starts happening all over the world.
It is discovered that the phenomenon is spread by the Internet. A person doesn't have to go to any particular web site, just being on the Internet at all for even a couple of minutes is enough for anyone to be taken over. A national alert is broadcast, telling people to stay off the Internet, and attempts are made to shut it down, but no one can get to every corner of the Web.
The cause of the phenomenon is a hacker virus, which grew and mutated while on the Web. It combined with a very popular shoot-em-up computer game, then expanded to the point where it can recognize, and deal with, any attempt, anywhere, to stop it.
Matt and Lisa race against time in the Pentagon, practically the last safe place in America (the President is already in a safe bunker in Utah), to deal with the virus. While they are separated for a time, Lisa somehow gets infected and disappears. Matt has to find her without killing her (she certainly wants to kill him), while being the only one who can sit in front of a computer for any length of time to enter the proper anti-virus commands, due to his mind-control abilities.
This one is really good. It's eerily plausible, it's well done, it would make a great movie and about the last half of the book is one long roller coaster ride. The reader will never again look at the Internet in the same way. Political suspense fans will love it.
Matt Carrigan, a twenty-year veteran of the CIA, is fed up with the spy business and wants out. After escaping from an Iraqi prison, where he had spent the previous two years, Matt wants nothing more than to go back to America, quit the Agency, and see if he can rekindle a romance with Lisa Avery, his old girlfriend. Of course, it's not that easy.
He is enticed into one more assignment. All over the country, older people are suddenly and inexplicably killing their loved ones. These people are the epitome of Mr and Mrs Average American. It gets serious when all 300 people in a small town in Wyoming are discovered murdered. The initial thought is that this is the beginning of a militia takeover of America. That is quickly dismissed when the phenomenon of people banding together and committing random acts of murder starts happening all over the world.
It is discovered that the phenomenon is spread by the Internet. A person doesn't have to go to any particular web site, just being on the Internet at all for even a couple of minutes is enough for anyone to be taken over. A national alert is broadcast, telling people to stay off the Internet, and attempts are made to shut it down, but no one can get to every corner of the Web.
The cause of the phenomenon is a hacker virus, which grew and mutated while on the Web. It combined with a very popular shoot-em-up computer game, then expanded to the point where it can recognize, and deal with, any attempt, anywhere, to stop it.
Matt and Lisa race against time in the Pentagon, practically the last safe place in America (the President is already in a safe bunker in Utah), to deal with the virus. While they are separated for a time, Lisa somehow gets infected and disappears. Matt has to find her without killing her (she certainly wants to kill him), while being the only one who can sit in front of a computer for any length of time to enter the proper anti-virus commands, due to his mind-control abilities.
This one is really good. It's eerily plausible, it's well done, it would make a great movie and about the last half of the book is one long roller coaster ride. The reader will never again look at the Internet in the same way. Political suspense fans will love it.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Roadside Ron
Roadside Ron, Ron Cox, Cox Publishing, 1997
This is the story of Ron, living near Chicago, with two grown children, and happily married, or so he thought. Finding himself suddenly divorced, he packs up his van and motorcycle, and heads west to start over. He gets as far as Borrego Springs, California, and finds himself fixing carburetors in a small gas station owned by an elderly man named John. One of Ron's dreams is to buy a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle and drive it across America. His girlfriend, Billy Jo, who runs a local ranch with her widowed father, is not happy about it, but she understands Ron's thinking.
In a nearby town, Ron runs across another biker, Maddog, with a sick carburetor. Maddog is a big, hulking type who one does not want to get angry. After Ron gets Maddog's bike to purr like a cat, the two become fast friends. Later, Ron is set upon by a group of thugs who want to separate him from his bike. Maddog comes along at the right time with an escape route. Now that his bike is working properly, Maddog decides to visit his mother in Indiana, so the two ride together.
The other reason Ron wants to make the journey is to visit Gloria in New York, a woman with whom he has been carrying on an e-mail correspondence for the past year. After some interesting adventures along the way, and a couple of days visiting his kids near Chicago, Ron meets Gloria in the rich Scarsdale section of New York City. Ron is surprised, to say the least, to learn that Gloria is in an abusive marriage to a rich, powerful man who treats her like pond scum. Ron convinces her that she doesn't have to take it; she gets on his bike, and, after selling her wedding ring back to the jeweler where it was bought, he gets Gloria on a plane back to her home in Minnesota.
On his way back to California, Ron calls Billy Jo. Her father, who barely acknowledges Ron's existence, tells Ron that she is gone for a week. Ron can't help but think that his trip has destroyed his relationship with Billy Jo.
This is much more than just a biker novel. It's a tale of following your dreams, of things, and people, not always being what they seem, and riding a motorcycle with no particular destination (a rarity in this rush-rush world). Anyone who has ever been on a motorcycle, or even just drooled over a Harley in a cycle shop, should read this novel. It is strongly recommended.
This is the story of Ron, living near Chicago, with two grown children, and happily married, or so he thought. Finding himself suddenly divorced, he packs up his van and motorcycle, and heads west to start over. He gets as far as Borrego Springs, California, and finds himself fixing carburetors in a small gas station owned by an elderly man named John. One of Ron's dreams is to buy a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle and drive it across America. His girlfriend, Billy Jo, who runs a local ranch with her widowed father, is not happy about it, but she understands Ron's thinking.
In a nearby town, Ron runs across another biker, Maddog, with a sick carburetor. Maddog is a big, hulking type who one does not want to get angry. After Ron gets Maddog's bike to purr like a cat, the two become fast friends. Later, Ron is set upon by a group of thugs who want to separate him from his bike. Maddog comes along at the right time with an escape route. Now that his bike is working properly, Maddog decides to visit his mother in Indiana, so the two ride together.
The other reason Ron wants to make the journey is to visit Gloria in New York, a woman with whom he has been carrying on an e-mail correspondence for the past year. After some interesting adventures along the way, and a couple of days visiting his kids near Chicago, Ron meets Gloria in the rich Scarsdale section of New York City. Ron is surprised, to say the least, to learn that Gloria is in an abusive marriage to a rich, powerful man who treats her like pond scum. Ron convinces her that she doesn't have to take it; she gets on his bike, and, after selling her wedding ring back to the jeweler where it was bought, he gets Gloria on a plane back to her home in Minnesota.
On his way back to California, Ron calls Billy Jo. Her father, who barely acknowledges Ron's existence, tells Ron that she is gone for a week. Ron can't help but think that his trip has destroyed his relationship with Billy Jo.
This is much more than just a biker novel. It's a tale of following your dreams, of things, and people, not always being what they seem, and riding a motorcycle with no particular destination (a rarity in this rush-rush world). Anyone who has ever been on a motorcycle, or even just drooled over a Harley in a cycle shop, should read this novel. It is strongly recommended.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)