Bush Books

Dress it up all you want call it humor, call it a cartoon, call it what ever you want the polictics of hate is still the politics of hate be it from the right or the left. It just appears the left is more juvenile in its presentation. For humor with a different slant and a few more facts give the book Liberal Fascism (ISBN: 978-0-385-51184-1) a read if you can bring yourself to hear a different view. If not the book may be talking about you.

I got this from my dad's "estate." He died a year ago and my mother passed to me something I thought I'd enjoy.

It starts with a Foreward by Terry Jones of Monty Python. That's funny, of course, but gets you thinking, particularly on Dubya's "reasoning" for going to Iraq. The book then proceeds with a GW Timeline, a sort of resume on how George has never really had to work for anything, and those things on which he has worked have been abyssmal failures.

Between the quotes, the comics and the resumes of the other Bush lieutenants--well, actually, I think he's their lieutentant, I actually learned something! There's little details on Cheney, for instance, or Condie Rice that if I choose to I can research--as I have. But I wouldn't have known of them if it weren't for the book.

(You're wondering, "What are they?" C'mon. You want to find out, read it!)

I find George Bush more laughable than frightening. It's his administration and their power--and destruction of US credibility--that I find frightening. If you feel that way, you'll enjoy this gem. If you're still one of Dubya's fans, it won't convert you. That's why I give it only four stars.

But if you want to learn a little and laugh while doing it, this is a great medium by which to do so!

This is an extremely useful and compact book. It is about A4 size, 96pp long and with softcovers

It is a really punchy and concise book about the Maori history of New zealand. It includes lots of early pictures and maps of Auckland with the sites put it. I really enjoyed this book because it talked of things which had long gone with European settlement and the suburbs - small lakes, rivers and even mountains removed or leveled to make way for houses, streets and growth.

This also has a small but good prehistory of the region (pre-European) including the conflicts, the tribes, the legends etc

It has some wonderful additional stuff, the nights of the moon which was the Maori calendar (the days were described by the moon. there is also a Maori place-name glossary in the back for auckland names and include a brief description and sometimes possible reasons for it - whether pre-european or not.

There are several turn of the century pictures around Auckland. which show how isolated Auckland was then, now a city of over 1 million people.

My main problem with this is two fold. Firstly I think the maps need to have the current Auckland names on them. Using the Maori names is really great, but it makes it difficult to relate it to what is there now without better references in it. Secondly I think the whole of the Gulf should have been included. There is some brief reference to it such as Rangitot and briefly Browns Island, but I don't understand why Waiheke is not included. Maori were very mobile with canoes and trading, and the island is a short hop from Maraetai - if not Auckland itself.

Otherwise I think this is a great book and we will be recommending it to any visitors to Auckland. I think it is one of the best reads, and easy to follow. It is really enjoyable and has an air of authority about it as well.

This could have been called the tail of two authors / Presidents. The book covers the Presidency of George Bush Sr. and similar to the Administration, the book has two faces. To me it seams that the foreign affaires sections of the book held the better writing style and most of the excitement or accomplishments. The domestic affaires section writing was just a bit less interesting; it lacked a certain spark that a good political book has. Given these two slightly different styles I would assume that the authors spilt up the duties and one wrote the domestic section, the other the foreign affaires section. One could also draw an interesting parallel with the actual Bush administration as they did a good job on everything outside the U.S. With this said, the authors take a critical look at the Bush years and they do not give it high marks outside of the Gulf War. The book is actually quite negative toward the Bush Administration, but in line with the current historical view of his presidency.

I also found it interesting, reading the book, on how many similarities there seem to be with Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. I can only assume that as time goes on a few books with come out with a detailed analysis of the father son team to compare and contrast the two administrations. If you are interested in that kind of thing this book would give you a good look at the job the father did. Overall, I found the book for the most part far and accurate in my opinion. If you are a big fan of Bush Sr. then this book will leave you a bit upset as the authors take a very critical look. It did drag at times and was not the exciting insider's tail that tends to make for the most interesting of political administration overviews. It did offer a very good record of what took place during the administration.

Minus Time is a novel featuring a broken family. Barbara is an astronauts and David is a "scientist". Their son and daughter, Paul and Helen, basically have not seen the parents for years. Throughout the story, it can clearly show that the two teenagers are a bit upset as well, they are depressed because they do not see their parents. They have the feeling of being isolated and lonely. Helen even feel that she does not really belongs to the family because her parents will choose to meet their desire rather than caring the kids. From the adult's view to look at this novel, it is a great personal achievement where both parents are able to meet their goals and do the job they desire for. Barbara became the first Canadian-astronauts, and David was able to explore various natural disasters. The story is filled with emotions, including character feeling and the sense of achievement. It was truly an upset where a family is basically separate. Yet, it is the way to bring out the theme.

Despite being published in 1949 this book seems very current. Were Vannevar Bush transported from 1949 to the present I suspect he could be up to speed on military matters in a couple of months.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book are Bush's insights into the process of innovation.

A beatiful book that you just can't put down. Details the lifetime search for owls in the australian bush by the author David Fleay. Whether for a scientific study or for pleasure, read this book.

This amazingly thorough study investigates the aristocracy (which Bush uses as a synonym for "nobility") on the Continent as a class or order, with very little mention of individuals and their peculiarities or departures from the norm. His approach is synthetic with heavy reliance on secondary sources, but in that regard this multi-volume work has become the standard resource. The crux of noble privilege, he says, is that for the past thousand years it has been "not merely an expression of social superiority or of economic and political advantage" but "essentially a juridical fact." Such privilege existed not because of lax enforcement of the law but by explicit legal provision, and the special privileges of the nobility remained generally secure on the Continent until the French Revolution swept most of them away. Moreover, while titles and lands had long been the result of a contract between the aristocrat and the monarch, especially in France, by the 17th century the failure of a noble family to fulfill its obligations toward the ruler no longer resulted in demotion to the ranks. Beyond these general points, and following a discussion of the historical roots of the titled class, the author considers in great detail the nature and character of fiscal exemption and private taxation, judicial privileges and indemnity from state service, parliamentary and office-holding privileges, and the right to rank and title. All of these topics are heavily footnoted and Bush includes a very lengthy bibliography.

Professor Steve Ropp, Director, International Studies Program, University of Wyoming, wrote the following about this book in January 1994:

"I found The Panamanian Problem interesting and particularly insightful with regard to the political reasons behind the breakdown of negotiations with General Noriega in May of 1988."

His goal for Texans to take "renewed personal responsibility" for their lives was one he took on for himself. Although a lot of the material here can be found in other sources, this is is a very current biography, ending just before Bush's defeat of Senator McCain in the 2000 Republican presidential primary. Wukovits traces W's life from childhood until then using quotes from family, friends, fellow business people, and government officials. Not a white-washed account, the negatives as well as the positives of his life are treated fairly objectively. Black and white photos, notes, index, and a list of works for further reading are included.