Vladimir Putin, the virtual dictator of Russia and wannabe star in an Old Spice commercial (I’m referring to his riding that horse shirtless), is either an idiot or completely living in the Dark Ages.  (This isn’t an exclusive or—he could be both.)  In press conferences referring to Sochi, he talked about Russia’s treatment of LGBT people in a manner that is not much more enlightened than Uganda’s.  Moreover, he seems to think gays are pedophiles—“Just leave our children in peace,” he says.

This clearly goes beyond the usual Russian paranoia.  It’s completely inexcusable for the leader of a nation that pretends to be important on the 21^st century’s stage.  Moreover, it’s a Neanderthal attitude not commensurate with 21^st century progressive thought.  Of course, Putin is light years from being a progressive.  He’s ex-KGB and longs for the good old days of torture and gulags, days when no one dared say anything against the Kremlin mafia.

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[TANSTAAFL: Do you read this blog?  I’m not asking if you like the posts, just whether you read them!  If so, don’t be passive.  React.  Write a comment—chew me out if you like (no foul language, please).  You can even receive a free ebook—see the bottom of the “Free Stuff and Contests” webpage; or write an honest review of one of my ebooks in exchange for the ebook.  In general, buy, read, and review some of my books.  Your participation motivates me and helps defray the costs of this website and my ebook releases.  Be active.  Help indie authors provide you with inexpensive entertainment.  It’s a two-way street, folks!]

Some time ago, I wrote a post about our larger-than-life governor, Chris Christie.  Last Thursday, I watched him waffling and weaseling about Bridgegate.  Sure, his aide might have ordered the traffic problems with the GW Bridge as payback all by her lonesome (in the press conference, he fired her).  As the mayor of Fort Lee (featured prominently in my novel The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan, by the way) stated, it’s hard to imagine that someone would engineer such a payback in the first place and then be so stupid to leave an email trail.

I originally thought same-sex marriage would break the Big Man in Trenton, but this might be the real bye-bye to his hopes for representing the GOP in the presidential elections.  Let’s say it like it is: the action was nasty and illegal, traffic was tied in knots, and a 90-year-old woman died because paramedics couldn’t get to her (her relatives claim it wouldn’t have mattered, but they’re not doctors).  Christie’s aide will fall on the sword in an attempt to take the heat off her boss, but his reputation as a bipartisan wunderkind is damaged.  Whether he ordered the payback or not, he hired that aide, so he’s responsible.

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[TANSTAAFL: Do you read this blog?  I’m not asking if you like the posts, just whether you read them!  If so, don’t be passive.  React.  Write a comment—chew me out if you like (no foul language, please).  You can even receive a free ebook—see the bottom of the “Free Stuff and Contests” webpage; or write an honest review of one of my ebooks in exchange for the ebook.  In general, buy, read, and review some of my books.  Your participation motivates me and helps defray the costs of this website and my ebook releases.  Be active.  Help indie authors provide you with inexpensive entertainment.  It’s a two-way street, folks!]

One of the great battles of World War II, this offensive was really a series of battles that took place in and around what’s known today as St. Vith, Belgium.  How do I know this?  For one thing, it’s one setting I use in my new entry into the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” titled Aristocrats and Asssassins.  Detective Castilblanco jokes about his waistline being also “the Battle of the Bulge,” and that’s really the topic of this post.  I too have used this metaphor when referring to my over-indulging—many do, perhaps without realizing the origin.

Most people in the U.S. belong to one of two extreme groups: overeaters and undereaters.  The group they’re in varies from day to day and meal to meal, of course.  The second is especially concerning when it’s caused by poverty—too many children are hungry in this country relative to those in other industrialized nations, for example.  It’s also concerning when it’s brought on by eating disorders related to psychological problems, especially when those problems can be traced to a lack of concern for mental health in our healthcare plans.  But many of us are overeaters, especially around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the days surrounding those holidays.  I’m in that category.

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[TANSTAAFL: Do you read this blog?  I’m not asking if you like the posts, just whether you read them!  If so, don’t be passive.  React.  Write a comment—chew me out if you like (no foul language, please).  You can even receive a free ebook—see the bottom of the “Free Stuff and Contests” webpage; or write an honest review of one of my ebooks in exchange for the ebook.  In general, buy, read, and review some of my books.  Your participation motivates me and helps defray the costs of this website and my ebook releases.  Be active.  Help indie authors provide you with inexpensive entertainment.  It’s a two-way street, folks!]

This real Man of the 20^th century was the inspiration for my character, the U.N. Secretary General, in the book Survivors of the Chaos.  I know that sounds self-serving and maybe diminishes Mandela’s greatness, but it’s a fact nonetheless.  He was a larger-than-life icon of South Africa’s struggle against Apartheid—he changed his country forever.  Moreover, he served and continues to serve as an inspiration for many who struggle against social and racial injustice everywhere, an inspiration that travels far beyond the small thoughts of an insignificant and unknown writer looking for a powerful character model.

There are forces for evil in this world like Franco and Hitler.  Mandela was a huge force for good.  But he just didn’t mouth the words—he lived them and suffered and gave dignity to his suffering.  He was not a perfect man—is anyone perfect?  I can’t speak for persons of antiquity.  I’m told that Buddha and Christ and Mohammed were perfect.  Didn’t know them.  Never saw their faces on TV.  Never listened to them vocalizing their words of wisdom.  But I, and countless others, listened to Mandela.  We experienced his goodness.  We heard his words of wisdom.  We saw him unite a country when he could have torn it apart.

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[Note from Steve: It’s been awhile, but here’s another potpourri of comments on current news—in other words, I’ll forsake my usual verbosity in order to cover more items that have caught my attention.  A lot of newsy comments for very little money?  Consider it a selection of tapas and pick and choose what you like….]

Item: Has our country gone mad?  Last week (Tuesday) we all received the news that the recall elections in Colorado were successful.  Dems Angela Giron from Colorado and John Morse from Colorado Springs were recalled and replaced by Republicans because they were strong supporters of gun control legislation.  This recall was backed by the NRA, of course, and now they will shiver the timbers of any legislator who dares to cross them.  The recall was also backed by the Koch brothers and other conservatives who had it in for these two because of other progressive misdeeds.  Colorado moves farther to the right…will it soon be competing with Arizona, Florida, Kansas, and Texas?  Just wait…they’ll soon ban teaching Darwinian evolution in schools.

Maybe the middle of the country and the South should secede.  I’d support it if they’d return all the federal funding they’ve spent over the years!  I urge all ski enthusiasts to boycott Colorado this winter.  Hit’em where it hurts—in their bank accounts!  (With the floods, that might not be necessary now.)  Yeah, I know, the Colorado districts involved are tiny and other people would suffer from the boycott, but Morse was State Senate President, or something like that—he was a representative for the whole state in that sense.

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I’m referring to geopolitics here.  I’ll admit the question is strange, but my answer is “yes, but only sometimes.”  Over a year ago, events in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia kicked off the “Arab Spring.”  The ones in Egypt, in particular, seemed so promising.  After Nassar and Mubarek, it seemed that Egypt, the most populated Arab country, was on its way to become a free, democratic, and secular country.  Unlike Iran, Israel, and many other “democracies” that are really theocracies, with varying degrees of repression, a traditional ally of the U.S. in the Arab world was coming around to the idea that a state religion is the antithesis of freedom—secularism seemed to reign.  But the Spring has sprung—came the elections, and the Muslim Brotherhood assumed power.

Now the U.S. is forced to dance along a very slim tightrope like that guy that went over Niagara Falls.  In a clumsy demonstration of Orwellian double-speak, the Obama administration  isn’t calling what happened in Egypt a coup (it’s probably one of the few policy decisions that’s bipartisan, though).  Of course it’s a coup!  When the military deposes an elected president, irrespective of the popular sentiment, it’s a coup.  It’s as if the people who hated George W. Bush or the people who hate Barack Obama had the U.S. military depose them.  That’s not appropriate in a democracy.  You throw the bums out at the ballot box (and this is the best argument for term and age limits and ending gerrymandering, by the way).  Democracy is incompatible with a military-led government.  Egypt is now a military dictatorship.

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On Tuesday, I did a review of my limited experiences at the Montclair Film Festival.  One thing that I noticed, especially in Michael Moore’s discussion, was that film makers tend to consider TV negatively.  “Small wonder!” you might say.  But books certainly are transformed to TV as much or more than they are to the big screen.  If literature is an art form, are things derived from it also art forms?  Most people associated with the film industry would say films are an art form.  So, is TV an art form?

Michael Moore focused on the active-passive difference, claiming that TV is much more passive than cinema.  The latter has an audience that moves to some building, maybe miles away, buys their tickets, and sits down to enjoy a film (that’s a bit myopic, of course, in these days of Netflix).  TV takes away everything except maybe enjoying the film, but many of us watch anything to just be watching something.  I don’t buy the argument.  Both are passive and demand less mental interaction with their viewers than a good book demands of its reader.

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The Montclair Film Festival (Montclair, NJ) is in its second year.  For 2013 (from April 29 to May 5, to be precise), it expanded, with more venues, films, speakers, and discussion sections (over 80 films and events).  We attended last year.  Because I’m an incurable people watcher (even though I’m introverted and don’t enjoy being in large crowds), I observed that there is a large overlap between films and book lovers.  Thought-provoking films make people think while they enjoy the film and lead to discussions afterward—these are the films shown at the Montclair Film Festival.  A thought-provoking book does the same thing.

“Thought-provoking” is a sloppy term.  I can easily enter a vicious circle—a thought-provoking book is one that makes you think beyond its plot and characters to more substantive issues.  Even a vampire romance can make you think of issues you might not consider outside of your reading.  My sci-fi thrillers will make you think too—they’re entertaining extrapolations into the future.  What I observed at last year’s crowd at the Festival was that thought-provoking films and books have a common audience—people were talking about films and books.

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Most days I’m thankful I’m not a lawyer.  I’m not addressing those legal duties that involve helping people with their wills, estates, tax issues, births, deaths, etc.  A lawyer can make a good living doing this, it’s a feel-good way to occupy your time (especially if you throw a few pro bono jobs in toward helping out people who can’t afford lawyers), and a service that most people need to survive in modern U.S. society at different times in their lives.  I’m not addressing the legal duties of corporate lawyers either, those who protect corporations from people who would sue them, or personal damage lawyers, those who raise grievances of a person or groups of persons.  I’m also ignoring the fact that we’re a litigious society and support many more lawyers than most other nations because of that—a practice that is not only insane but generates a humongous drag on the national economy.

No, most days I’m just glad I’m not a constitutional lawyer…or a higher court justice, which, many times, amounts to the same thing.  My problem (that’s what many people call it, but not me) is that I can’t see all the nuances and hidden meanings these people come up with.  I generally hack away at problems just using good old common sense—arguments in constitutional law seem to lack that key ingredient and the lawyers either ignore it or don’t have any of it themselves.  Again, the latter includes high court judges…especially the ones on the Supreme Court.  They have exalted positions in our society, as if they were sitting on the right-hand (or left-hand, as the case might be) of God, but they are mere mortals that often lack the specific knowledge and common sense for making intelligent decisions.  Moreover, as lawyers they were trained to argue any side of an issue—no real identification with it at all.

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Sen. Mitch McConnell is unpopular in Kentucky right now.  No, he didn’t bore his constituents with almost thirteen hours of bloviating browbeating like the junior senator from that horsey state.  Mitch doesn’t have the bladder or colon for that.  But his track record is not great.  After promising in 2010 that Obama wouldn’t have a second term, he led the GOP to defeat in 2012, marching like a lemming right behind Romney over that electoral cliff, and, with other GOP leaders, wielding the paintbrush that painted the GOP into a tight ideological corner where they’ll be hard-pressed to escape.  Now, he’s teamed with Boehner to bring the government to its knees, this deadly duo obviously thinking that small government means no government.

The Kentucky electorate is strange.  They support main Southern attractions like the Kentucky Derby in Lexington and the Creation Museum in Petersboro, the former where handsome thoroughbreds are shot if they pull up lame and the latter where Bible lovers can revisit their dinosaur-riding ancestors.  Not quite Disneyworld attractions, but close enough for coal-mining country.  If the mining magnates let them, some Kentuckians could afford to participate in those wonderful, awe-inspiring attractions and feel right at home with their brethren from next-door West Virginia.  Good, hard-working people they are, and they expect their senators to be the same.

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