Book Collecting

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National News wire - The Infinite Echo

There is an intrinsic quality to holding an old book in your hands. An unmistakable quality, of life, of knowledge and perhaps of understanding. I'm a book collector, and I seek satisfaction accordingly, one bound volume at a time.

I suppose I could forgo the unmitigated pedantic verbosity, but it is with an obsessive mind with which I seek these aged tomes. The madness is not mine alone, but is in fact, shared by many. So many are afflicted by this madness in fact, that for centuries, books have been collected, by the young and the aged, the intellectual, the clever, and the crooked. In simpler words, collecting books can be for anyone, even the insipid.

So where can one locate such literary jewels? I like to start by reminding everyone that your local library is a wonderful place to find a good book, providing you are willing to return it in a reasonable manner. Don't overlook your local library.



As for collecting antique books for the keeping, one can start nearly anywhere used books are sold. Yard sales, flea markets, and the like are usually productive sources. Most antique dealers carry at least a small supply of old books. In such cases, the books are generally in very good, if not excellent condition. Ditto for used book stores, but that seems somewhat obvious.

Personally, I favor the thrift stores, many in my area which have half price day every other Saturday. Over a period of six years, I have built up a rather impressive collection of antique and classic books in this manner. I have amassed everything imaginable, from Bronte to the Official Report of the Warren Commission (the official report on the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy.)

Of course, these days there is probably no greater source for information than the internet. Antique books are available in countless locations throughout the net, including eBay, Amazon and others. I have purchased many used and antique books over the internet, and have never been displeased by the product I received, however, I would recommend researching your purchase thoroughly before laying down the big bucks. Needless to say, but I will anyhow, some things are not always as advertised. Just use a little common sense and by all means, enjoy the process. Collecting old books may sound kind of geekish, and you know, perhaps it is. Still, it is a rewarding hobby that can bring more hours of entertainment and satisfaction than you'll ever find time for.



There are numerous buyers guides available to help you in your search. Some are pricey, but all are informative. Some buyers rely a great deal on these little gems. Others find pleasure in simply seeking out the gems on their own terms.

Of course, even book collecting is not without peril. I am reminded of an out of the way place just off the interstate in western Arizona. In most respects, I suppose it's much like any other used book store, book cases crawl upward toward the rafters, loaded down with ceaseless piles of books. Magazine racks stretch and yawn, with endless copies of Arizona Highways, and old copies of Life Magazine. But it isn't the building or the books that catches ones attention upon entering the establishment. It's the proprietor, and ancient astronaut of sorts. Perhaps a product of the sixties, or perhaps simply not interested in time, (or clothing) it seems, a fact that becomes apparent only after one has already entered the store, your eyes forever scarred by the sight of the weathered old timer, wearing nothing more than a very, very tiny strap of leather. It's a price I am personally unwilling to pay in my quest to find old books. You have been duly warned.

So with that off my chest, (so to speak) happy hunting, and hopefully you'll find time to read some of those great works you find. Collecting books is a hobby that will bring you a lifetime of knowledge and enjoyment. Now get out there and start looking.


Coming Soon!
More books reviews, including Candide- Voltaire, The Sun Also Rises- Ernest Hemingway, Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row- John Steinbeck.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Cuba Allows Digital Access to Hemingway Documents

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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The Cuban Heritage Council has announced it will allow access to thousands of pages of documents once belonging to American novelist Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway wrote many of his greatest works while living on the island, which he called home for more than twenty years.

Ada Rosa Alfonso Rosales, director of the Museo Ernest Hemingway, located in Havana, answered questions about the documents. "We are talking about 3,194 pages of documents, close to 2,000 plus of documents, some already digitalised," Rosales stated. "For practically the first time, this is being made available to students and researchers," she added.

Hemingway spent much of his adult life in Cuba, where he lived with his wife on a fifteen acre estate called the `Finca Vigia` approximately fifteen miles from downtown Havana. There he wrote some of his most memorable novels, including the literary classic ‘The Old Man and the Sea”

The archive is purported to include coded messages Hemingway is believed to have sent while drunkenly pursuing German submarines operating just off the coast of Cuba. The collection also includes photographs, letters and manuscripts, as well as an unpublished epilogue to Hemingway's novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

An additional thousand or so documents have yet to be scanned and added to the archive, but will be made available upon completion. Academics and researchers can request electronic copies of the rare documents from Cuba's Heritage Council.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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The War Prayer

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National News wire - The Infinite Echo

"O Lord our Father,
our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle –
be Thou near them! With them – in spirit – we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.

O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with hurricanes of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."

Mark Twain 1905

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Condoleezza Rice - A Trail of Failure

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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For Condoleezza Rice, her years as Secretary of State have been nothing if not Catastrophic. The once rising star of the Bush administration has proven herself inept at a multitude of levels, unable to cope, let alone demonstrate even a modicum of palpable intellect or diplomacy. She has been an embarrassment to herself and the Bush administration.

Since Rice assumed the position January of 2005, the White House agenda to promote freedom and democracy worldwide has resulted in monumental failure. Under her watch the crisis in the Middle East has been severely exacerbated. The US has already suffered the loss of over 4500 lives fighting an un-winnable war against an un-definable enemy.

As for Condoleezza, her demeanor has gone from swagger to stammer. She has lost her confidence. She has lost her nerve. She has lost her credibility.

It must be painful to watch helplessly as one's reputation implodes under scrutiny. Her jingoistic prediction of pending mushroom clouds were accepted as fact by millions of good Americans and right about now many of those same Americans feel deceived. True to form, Condi has never publicly expressed remorse for the lies.

Condoleezza's trail of failure runs long. Victories have been few and insignificant at best.In nearly every notable instance, her style has led to a deterioration in diplomatic relations.

North Korea, Iran, Syria, Lebanon; take your pick. All have seen their relationship with the US languish under the Bush administration. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has taken an ugly turn for the worse, while the ongoing genocide in Darfur has been all but ignored. The situation is grim.

Still, don't any real shift in administration policy as long as Bush remains in the White House. George W. Bush chose to be a war president. Indeed, war will be his legacy and failure his longest shadow. As Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice has contributed in no small way to the undoing of this administration. Hers is a trail of failure, a trail that can only lead to a dead end.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Bonfire of the Bushisms

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo

For those of you somehow still unfamiliar with the president’s unique elocution, perhaps this post will assist in bringing you up to snuff. Fair warning dear readers, this stuff is as disturbing as it is funny.

So grab yourself a fresh cup of coffee, and enjoy a few Bushisms. If you find them as funny as I do, you can read a whole bunch more at: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushisms2000.htm

With that having been said…
Ladlies and Gentlemums,
Let’s Rumble!

"America better beware of a candidate who is willing to stretch reality in order to win points." —George W. Bush, aboard his campaign plane, Sept. 18, 2000

"We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers." —George W. Bush, Houston, Texas, Sept. 6, 2000

"I'm gonna talk about the ideal world, Chris. I've read — I understand reality. If you're asking me as the president, would I understand reality, I do." —George W. Bush on abortion, MSNBC's "Hardball," May 31, 2000

"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?" —George W. Bush, Concord, N.H., Jan. 29, 2000

"I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2000

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." —Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000

"If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for anything! If you don't stand for something, you don't stand for anything!" —George W. Bush, Bellevue Community College, Nov. 2, 2000

"I'm not really the type to wander off and sit down and go through deep wrestling with my soul." —George W. Bush, as quoted in Vanity Fair, October 2000

"Never again in the halls of Washington, D.C., do I want to have to make explanations that I can't explain." —George W. Bush, Portland, Oregon, Oct. 31, 2000

"They said, 'You know, this issue doesn't seem to resignate with the people.' And I said, you know something? Whether it resignates or not doesn't matter to me, because I stand for doing what's the right thing, and what the right thing is hearing the voices of people who work." —George W. Bush, Portland, Ore., Oct. 31, 2000

Now then, wasn’t that fun?
It’s just such a tragic shame it’s true.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo

Obama Loses It

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo

Not that anyone cares, but Barack Obama has lost it.
He has lost my respect, that is, and along with it went my support. In truth, I have not decided who I’ll be voting for in the Democratic primary, but I know it won’t Obama. He, along with Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and John Edwards have already been eliminated from consideration.

So what has Senator Obama done to betray my confidence? I don’t care for politicians who dick the dog, and I can think of no better words to describe what he has done. You see, he has publicly stated that he does not support the impeachment of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. Now, I am willing to listen to reason, but his explanation was wholly dog-shit! He says, and I quote,

"There's a way to bring an end to those practices, you know: vote the bums out, that's how our system is designed."

It doesn’t require much brains to figure out what is disingenuous about that remark. Neither Bush nor Cheney are up for re-election, so you can’t very well throw them out at the polls, now can you. His statement has no veracity.
It is the kind of comment one can expect from a coward, not from a world leader. The system is in fact designed to allow us to “throw the bums out”. It’s called impeachment.

So I have concluded as much, and will not support the little coward another minute. Obama can go to hell for all I care. I’m throwing my support behind Bill Richardson, until he says something equally stupid, which I doubt.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo

George W. Bush, Piltdown Man of La Mancha

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo

Confused?
Don't worry, it'll all make sense soon enough.

You see, George W. Bush would like us to believe history will remember him as a man who stood by his convictions. Much like Don Quixote, who rose up against a perceived evil, only to find he was chasing the unobtainable, Bush sees his cause as a noble one, even if it was all based in pure fantasy.

In doing so, Bush the younger drew his sword and spilt the blood of thousands. His little game of shoot em up has escalated into a full scale mash-up of Hell meets high-water. I don't care for the word "quagmire". The definition falls way short of describing how bad the situation in Iraq really is.

In truth, I doubt George W. Bush has ever ventured near La Mancha. Had he done so, he would have soon learned it was not inhabited by dragons. Still, I digress.

Lets move on to "Piltdown Man." The reference may seem somewhat left field for those not familiar with the story, so here's the set-up.

Until the invasion of Iraq, Piltdown Man represented perhaps the most extraordinary hoax in modern history. As the story goes, a pair of archaeologists claimed to find a human skull in a gravel pit near the town of Piltdown, purported to be the five hundred thousand year old missing link between man and monkey. The skull was in fact constructed from parts of several different skulls, including the jaw of an orangutan. Varnish was then applied to give the finished product a look of consistency. Amazingly, it took the scientific establishment forty years to catch on.

Does this scenario sound at all familiar? Indeed it does!

George W. Bush wants us to believe that in forty years or so, history will recall his presidency as strong and steadfast. He sees himself riding off into the sunset mounted upon his trusty steed, the White Knight, the enemy of evil.

I, however don't see it happening that way. I suspect history will be far more accurate, and much less flattering. At best, George W. Bush will be regarded as the Don Quixote of presidents. Mission accomplished, the windmill is dead, Jim.

More likely, George W. Bush will be remembered as the reigning Piltdown Man, an unmitigated fraud that has pushed America back into the stone age.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo

Cheney Feeling the Heat

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo

Could vice president Richard Cheney soon find himself under increased legal scrutiny for his personal role in the Valerie Plame scandal? Experts say yes. Indeed, the heat is always highest closest to the flame and Mr. Cheney is already experiencing meltdown.

Cheney has never really demonstrated any palpable respect for his position as vice president, or for the laws of our government. His is about him and nothing else. The unlawful invasion of Iraq has proven to be a massive debacle for the Bush administration, costing tax payers billions in un-accounted for US dollars… much of which vanished while under the care of Cheney’s cronies and fellow war profiteers, Halliburton. Cheney has nothing to say about the missing dough. Perhaps he doesn’t actually think it’s missing. The vice president doesn’t have much to say about his spurious ‘Energy Task Force’ these days either. After all, a quick glance at the available task force documents tell a sad tale indeed. America has been taken for a ride.

The ‘outing’ of Valerie Plame was business as usual for this administration. Dick Cheney does not react favorably when his motives are questioned, a fact I can personally attest to. It is nothing new for him to set the dogs after anyone he believes may be interloping. Richard Cheney does not play nice, nor does he play fair. By all accounts, the man is simply not a straight shooter.

Still, the heat is on, and Mr. Cheney is starting to get a little crispy around the edges. Speaking from both sides of his mouth, he touts the British pullout from Iraq as a positive sign of improved conditions, while at the same time claiming a similar pullout by US troops would embolden the enemy, as though every angry Iraqi thinks with a singular mind. The man isn’t stupid… he is criminally dishonest. My guess is that a pullout of British troops will not adversely affect the bottom line at Kellogg Brown and Root, where-as any pullout of US troops would cut overall funding, and Halliburton’s ever so lucrative cash cow would cease to milk. Don’t kid yourself… Richard Cheney butters his bread with the blood of the fallen.

Still, like any heartless vampire, lonesome Dick cannot survive long under direct illumination, and as such he can be expected to do whatever he deems necessary to assure his activities are conducted among the shadows. Nonetheless, Dick Cheney is feeling the heat, a rather ironic twist for a man who has made a career out of scorching the ground beneath his feet.

Editors note:
Richard Cheney and members of his staff are regular readers of National Newswire, although it’s supposed to be a secret. As a consequence, I expect to be ‘outed’ for one thing or another before this administration packs it in. Actually, I’m flattered. One would think with the war and all, those fellows would have more important matters on their minds

Que Sera, Sera, I suppose.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo