This book covers the Bush Administration's last two years in office. The essays focus primarily on the federal government's handling of the crises perpetrated by the preemptive invasion of Iraq. This includes the misinformation coming from the White House, the incompetence of the military, the shoddy intelligence that was party to the decision to go to war, the horrendous waste of funds related to the war and military procurement, the instigation of torture of incarcerated combatants; use of rendition, no-bid contracting, and mercenary forces; excessive force on the collateral civilian population in the war zone, slipshod treatment of our wounded, etc. Generally, over the period from January 2001, and specifically from March 2003, to August 2008 the tawdry behavior of the United States Government under George W. Bush has nearly doubled the national debt, perpetrated two recessions, divorced this country from its allies and undermined a global approach to the deteriorating natural environment. As a result of this administration our country's tarnished image will take years to return to the luster of the "shining city upon the hill."

America is no longer the "Home of the Brave and Land of the Free." Americans are being stripped of our blood-bought rights and freedoms by greedy and incompetent politicians. Excessive taxes are reducing average citizens to government slaves. Gross mismanagement of our tax dollars and senseless borrowing from other countries are bankrupting America. An effort to redistribute wealth has instead resulted in a distribution of poverty. There are two houses that need attention in America today. One is the White House. The other is "Our House," the American home. By correcting the problems that emanate from these houses, we will solve a multitude of problems. This book offers realistic and Common-Sense solutions for many of the evils that threaten to destroy America. These solutions are presented using humorous stories from the Author's past and well-researched statistics on education, welfare, and government policy. "Common-sense needs to be renamed, uncommon sense because we now live in a country that doesn't seem to have it anymore. Those who have common-sense today almost possess a super power This book does a great job of revisiting and hopefully teaching a new generation the power of common-sense." Rick Burgess. Co-host of the Rick and Bubba Show "Ken English has written a treatise on America that everyone who loves this country needs to read. Not only is it a work outlining the underlying problems we must address in our generation, but also, it is a book that offers solutions-solutions that will work Packed with quotable quips and anecdotal explications, MORE COMMON SENSE is a must-read for every patriot." Carl Gallups. Author of Magic Man in the Sky.

The digital sensation that set fire to the cyber-world now invades the real world. Much has been said of the supposed rift between the Black and Brown communities, with accusatory fingers being pointed at both sides. The combined literary efforts in Raise Your Brown Black Fist seeks to dispel the rhetoric, and spit the truth. Whether breaking it down in layman's terms, or spitting the truth using Hip Hop vernacular, this is a must-read that can help in bridging the gap between the two communities

'All those interested in South Asia and its complex politics and culture should read this book' - Pankaj Mishra The demise of Pakistan - a country with a reputation for volatility, brutality and radical Islam - is regularly predicted. But things rarely turn out as expected, as renowned journalist Declan Walsh knows well. Over a decade covering the country, his travels took him from the raucous port of Karachi to the gilded salons of Lahore to the lawless frontier of Waziristan, encountering Pakistanis whose lives offer a compelling portrait of this land of contradictions. He meets a crusading lawyer who risks her life to fight for society's most marginalised, taking on everyone including the powerful military establishment; an imperious chieftain spouting poetry at his desert fort; a roguish politician waging a mini-war against the Taliban; and a charismatic business tycoon who moves into politics and seems to be riding high - till he takes up the wrong cause. Lastly, Walsh meets a spy whose orders once involved following him, and who might finally be able to answer the question that haunts him: why the Pakistanis suddenly expelled him from their country. Intimate and complex, unravelling the many mysteries of state and religion, this formidable book offers an arresting account of life in a country that, often as not, seems to be at war with itself. 'Thrilling, big-hearted' - Memphis Barker, Daily Telegraph 'Sets a new benchmark for non-fiction about the complex palace of mirrors that is Pakistan' - William Dalrymple

Things of Concern presents both opinions on contemporary relevant topics, and in-depth analysis and solutions; it addresses everything from terrorism to the war and more.

This book's central claim is that a close reading of Augustine's epistemology can help political theologians develop affirmative accounts of political liberalism. This claim is set in a scholarly context that is profoundly hostile to constructive theological readings of liberal culture. As a corrective to such antagonism, this book suggests that, far from being natural opponents, Christian communities can work fruitfully with political liberals based on common principles. A key component in this argument is the theological reevaluation of the ancient skeptical tradition. While the ancient skeptics are habitually treated by scholars as minor characters in the story of Augustine's theological development, this volume argues that they played a significant role in shaping both Augustine's theology and the subsequent character of the Augustinian tradition. By placing Augustine's reading of the skeptics in dialogue with contemporary culture, this book constructs a viable form of liberal Christian politics that is attentive both to his sin-sensitive account of public life and his eschatological vision of the church.

A large portion of the world lives in poverty, wars are commonplace, and natural resources are running out. The world is being mismanaged on a global scale, and no one seems to be offering solutions.
No matter how democratic the political system, there is still fierce competition for wealth and power. Our accepted values and unquestioned assumptions have led the world as a whole to push aside important ethical considerations.
DE WAELE offers new ideas to apply to world governance, taking an ethical approach that upholds the sacredness of life and human relationships. Only an ethically-based global governance can put things right-a system of ongoing ethical inquiry where economics and politics are oriented toward what is good for humans at the global, rather than the national, level.
Albert Einstein, one of the great scientific and humanitarian thinkers of the twentieth century, observed, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Think in new ways and be inspired to be part of the solution in "Governing the World."

In this concise and detailed work, Salim Lamrani addresses questions of media concentration and corporate bias by examining a perennially controversial topic: Cuba. Lamrani argues that the tiny island nation is forced to contend not only with economic isolation and a U.S. blockade, but with misleading or downright hostile media coverage. He takes as his case study El Pais, the most widely distributed Spanish daily. El Pais (a property of Grupo Prisa, the largest Spanish media conglomerate), has editions aimed at Europe, Latin America, and the U.S., making it is a global opinion leader. Lamrani wades through a swamp of reporting and uses the paper as an example of how media conglomerates distort and misrepresent life in Cuba and the activities of its government. By focusing on eight key areas, including human development, internal opposition, and migration, Lamrani shows how the media systematically shapes our understanding of Cuban reality. This book, with a preface by Eduardo Galeano, provides an alternative view, combining a scholar's eye for complexity with a journalist's hunger for the facts.

Virtually every trouble spot on the planet has some sort of religious component. One need only consider Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and Palestine, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Russia, and China, to name but a few. Looming behind national issues, of course, is the problem of regional Islamist extremism and transnational Islamist terrorism. In all of these sectors, religious tensions, ideas and actors are of great geo-political importance to the United States. Yet, argues Thomas Farr, our foreign policy is gravely handicapped by an inability to understand the role of religion either nationally or globally. There is a strong disinclination in American diplomacy to consider religious factors at all, either as part of the problem or part of the solution. In this engaging and well-written insider account, Farr offers a closely reasoned argument that religious freedom, the freedom to practice one's own religion in private and in public, is an essential prerequisite for a stable, durable democratic society. If the U.S. wants to foster democracy that lasts, he says, it must focus on fostering religious liberty, especially in its public manifestations, properly limited in a way that advances the common good. Although we ourselves have developed a remarkably successful model of religious freedom, our foreign policy favors an aggressive secularism that is at odds with the American model. It is essential, says Farr, that we take an approach that recognizes the great importance of religion in people's lives.

The International Directory of Government is the definitive guide to people in power in every part of the world. All the top decision-makers are included in this one-volume publication, which brings together government institutions, agencies and personnel from the largest nations (China, India, Russia, etc.) to the smallest overseas dependencies (Guadeloupe, Guernsey and Christmas Island, etc). Institutional entries contain the names and titles of principal officials, postal, e-mail and internet addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and other relevant details. Key features: - comprehensive lists of government ministers and ministries - coverage of state-related agencies and other institutions arranged by subject heading - details of important state, provincial and regional administrations, including information on US states, Russian republics, and the states and territories of India.

Looking for a different take on life besides the drivel thrown your way by the mainstream media, mindless internet surfing, or boring cable shows? Then check out "Politics 101: The Right" "Course," a fun, fact-driven guide that teaches you about all the contemporary issues facing America today.

Eschewing the dry, detailed political books of today, Joseph M. Weston Sr.'s view on politics explores the differences between liberals and conservatives and their opposing viewpoints on hot button topics. The material is divided into over sixty sections, and you can instantly find what you want using the table of contents. Weston tackles such issues as

bigger government vs. smaller government;

left leaning media;

liberal and conservative philosophies; and

crucial constitutional issues.

A fun questionnaire at the end of the book enables you to see where you land on the political spectrum. Will you make a left or right turn in your political views? The choice is yours

It's time to get informed. With "Politics 101: The Right Course," you'll learn everything you need to know about politics today.

Asserting that 'Lenin was closer to Max's Weber's "Politics as Vocation'" than to the German working-class struggle', Italian philosopher and radical theorist of 1960s 'operaismo', Mario Tronti has engaged in a lifelong project of thinking 'the autonomy of the political'. These essays mark the conjunction of the English-language edition of Tronti's 1966 "Workers and Capital" with the centenary of Weber's famous 1919 lecture.

With the aim to write the history of Christianity in Scandinavia with Jerusalem as a lens, this book investigates the image - or rather the imagination - of Jerusalem in the religious, political, and artistic cultures of Scandinavia through most of the second millennium. Jerusalem is conceived as a code to Christian cultures in Scandinavia. The first volume is dealing with the different notions of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages. Tracing the Jerusalem Code in three volumes Volume 1: The Holy City Christian Cultures in Medieval Scandinavia (ca. 1100-1536) Volume 2: The Chosen People Christian Cultures in Early Modern Scandinavia (1536-ca. 1750) Volume 3: The Promised Land Christian Cultures in Modern Scandinavia (ca. 1750-ca. 1920)

The guilty verdicts handed out to three Arkansas teens in a horrific capital murder case were popular in their home state -- even upheld on appeal. But after two HBO documentaries called attention to the witch-hunt atmosphere at the trials, artists and other supporters raised concerns about the accompanying lack of evidence. Now, award-winning journalist Mara Leveritt provides the most comprehensive look yet into this endlessly shocking case.

For weeks in 1993, after the murders of three eight-year-old boys, police in West Memphis, Arkansas, seemed stymied. Then suddenly, detectives charged three teenagers -- alleged members of a satanic cult -- with the killings. Despite stunning investigative blunders, a confession riddled with errors, and an absence of physical evidence linking any of the accused to the crime, the teenagers were tried and convicted. Jurors sentenced Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley to life in prison. They sentenced Damien Echols, the accused ringleader, to death. Ten years later, all three remain in prison. Here, Leveritt unravels this seemingly medieval case and offers close-up views of its key participants, including one with an uncanny knack for evading the law....