Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Islamist flag often seen in various locations during the Arab Spring, "No god but God."
Armstrong and Desrosiers posit seven characteristics of revolutions for students of World History to study. They are:
1. The economic crisis immediately preceding the revolution
2. The elite and other classes
3. Spread of revolutionary ideas among the intelligentsia
4. Goals of the revolution and major revolutionaries
5. Establishment of dictatorship
6. National mobilization in response to foreign hostility
7. Main legacy of the revolution
In the concluding paragraph they state:
"Were the events of the Arab Spring the beginnings of true social revolutions in the Middle East? In America, many speak of the 1% vs. the 99%: some wonder if Marx is being validated in contemporary society? Are members of the Occupy Wall Street movement the vanguard of some new revolutionary movement?" (pp. 45-46, Armstrong and Desrosiers)
However, the authors do not attempt to apply the seven characteristics of revolution to either the Arab Spring or the Occupy movement. The application of their ideas is suggestive at best, if not argued. Nonetheless, if you do attempt to apply their ideas to the respective movements, they do not apply at all. It is possible to argue that there was a financial crisis in the U.S. in 2008, thus, point #1 may apply here; however, no one seriously contends that an economic crisis tipped off the Arab Spring; it may safely be stated that political unrest reached a bubbling over point which erupted.
In Tunisia on December 17, 2011, a street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi protested the harassment he had suffered at the hands of police by committing suicide by setting himself ablaze. Since then, the governments of Tunisia and Egypt have been overthrown. A civil war has broken out in Libya. The king of Jordan has dismissed his cabinet and protests have taken place in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran.
What happened?
A revolutionary crisis seems to have gripped most of the Middle East so we may responsibly inquire into its motivating factors. The "Khilafah Conference (USA) 2011 - (Revolution in the Muslim World: From Tyranny to Triumph" Khilafah [Caliphate] Conference America 2012 - Revolution: Liberation by Revelation) more accurately identifies the motivating factors, and they are religious sensibilities, a characteristic that can be evasive when analyzing contemporary political movements.
If not a revolution in the definition of the authors, clearly there is a considerable movement afoot, one which I have identified as profoundly religious. In the Khilafah Conference video the Islamist revolution unites the Ummah. Ummah is an Arabic term denoting a grouping of individuals constituting a larger community with a single identity. The term is often translated as "community" or "people". For the community the revolution is assured with Aqeedah which refers to those matters which are believed in, with certainty and conviction, in one’s heart and soul. Opposition is to be found in non-Muslims or the Mushrikun which means polytheists, pagans, idolaters, and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah.
A Hizb ut-Tahrir video promoting the Islamic caliphate in Europe during 2011 asserts the same point.
The Arab Spring then is a religious revolution, not based in financial or economic difficulties although clearly chaotic conditions may be exacerbated by these issues.
Any number of recent debates in Egypt have taken up the points outlined above:
Debates in Egypt center around whether Egyptians should eliminate the Jews with the Caliphate, or remain content in their own territory, Egypt.
EGYPTIAN TV PANEL DEBATES CLERIC’S CLAIM THAT JERUSALEM WILL BE CAPITAL OF THE CALIPHATE, Safwat Higazi
Egyptian Sociologist States The Muslim Brotherhood Is "the seed of an Islamic caliphate"
Saadudin Ibrahim notes: "Of course, in 2012, this sounds like sheer fantasy, but all the major enterprises in history began as an idea. Some of ideas died while still in the cradle, while others developed."
Tareq Sweidan of the Muslim Brotherhood states that first there will be the "oppressive Kingship," the Egyptian army in control, but thereafter, will be "Khilafah upon the Prophetic method." The hadith Sweidan discusses prophesies the Khilafah Rashida ("rightly guided" Cf. www.alislam.org/library/books/Khilafat-e-Rashida.pdf). Sweidan proposes an active promotion of the Khilafah Rashida.
Hassan al-Banna, the movement’s founder, “felt the grave danger overshadowing the Muslims and the urgent need and obligation which Islam places on every Muslim, man and woman, to act in order to restore the Islamic Caliphate and to reestablish the Islamic state on strong foundations.”
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Qaradawi advocates establishing a "United Muslim Nations" as a contemporary form of the caliphate.
One of our afternoon panelists commented that sometimes people tend to posit a simplistic victim-oppressor analysis. We examine the past and determine who has been victimized and who is oppressed. Some educators perform this exercise in the case of Egypt, and the Middle East generally: i.e., Mubarak, bad, what he is replaced with, good. This analysis suggests that if the Muslim Brotherhood replaces Mubarak this could be a good thing. But as I consider covering the Caliphate in my World History classes I am reminded of what is stated in, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens states that the Koran is a rehash of Jewish and Christian myths. Islam, with no Reformation, and no internal self-critical tradition, is the least adjusted world religion to the obvious contradictions of living in the modern world with a pre-modern mindset. Any historical example to critically examine the claims of Islam has resulted in repression (p. 125). The accounts of Muhammad (d. 632) "are hopelessly corrupted into incoherence by self-interest, rumor, and illiteracy" (p. 127). "The first full account of his life was set down a full hundred and twenty years later by Ibn Ishaq, whose original was lost and can only be consulted through its reworked form, authored by Ibn Hisham, who died in 834" (p. 129). In addition, there is no way of determining how the competing accounts and traditions were collated and edited to form the text of the Koran. We are left with conjecture and hearsay as to the actual message of Muhammad.
The chaotic manner in which the Koran was assembled gave rise to the more pressing issue of succession, a controversy characterizing Islam and one in which Muslims have never solved. Continuously Islam has strenuously opposed critical examination of the Koranic text. The apparent unity of Islam masks a great insecurity and anxiety about the text not shared by other religious traditions (p. 126). "But Islam when examined is not much more a rather obvious and ill-arranged set of of plagiarisms, helping itself from earlier books and traditions as occasion appeared to require" (p. 129). With its lack of originality Islam nonetheless demands obeisance from non-believers yet "there is nothing--absolutely nothing--in its teachings that can begin to justify such arrogance and presumption" (p. 129).
The primary issue of a critical and scholarly account of Islam based on the Koran requires a similar willingness, as Jews and Christians have allowed and benefited from, to examine the Scriptural claims to objective, scholarly examination. The consensus of religious obscurantism though has precluded "free inquiry and the emancipating consequences that it might bring" (p. 137).
Meanwhile, rogues, terrorists, mullahs, and misguided Islamists predominate and prey unmolested upon unwary victims.
As a result, the question of authority looms large since there is no program to critically examine the Koran, religion poisons everything, but an institution could politically unify Islamists.
The Caliphate
It is important to understand what the caliphate is, its place in Muslim majority societies, and its significance historically, over time.
The cornerstone of Islamic theology, the caliphate, or khilafah, is the central, authoritarian government that was implemented after the death of Muhammad by his disciples in 632 AD. It derives its authority from and governs by Shariah law, and is presided over by a “caliph,“ or ”successor” who holds both legislative and spiritual power.
Per the tenets of Islam, this “state” is not limited to encompassing only Muslims across Muslim lands, rather, the goal is to ultimately establish a global caliphate that would mandate people of all walks to embrace Islam or to at least to submit to being governed by Islamic law. The khilafah is also the form of government endorsed by the Muslim Brotherhood.
In March 1924, reformer and president of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, constitutionally destroyed the “Khilafah State.” Today, an organization dedicated to the reestablishment of a global caliphate, Khilafah.com, stated that Ataturk’s move marked the end of “an illustrious era of Islamic rule” and that, since then, “the dark shadow of the West has engulfed the world.”
Prince Orhan Aal Othman, the Grandson of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, blames Theodore Herzl, the Jewish Zionist, as the cause of the Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate
#3250 - Prince Orhan Aal Othman, Grandson of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II: Herzl Was the Cause of the Fall of the Ottoman Empire
Transcript
http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/3250.htm
To illustrate what Islamists believe regarding Islam and the caliphate, consider the following passage from one of their sources:
"We assert, without compromise, that it is only by the establishment of the Khilafah State, that the practical solutions of Islam can once again provide a real alternative for the entire world. The ‘Clash of Civilisations’ first discussed by Samuel Huntington is real and inevitable. We endorse the notion that there is a civilisational difference between Islam and the West and that the problem for the West is Islam and the problem for Islam is the West. By arguing this, we also maintain Islam, as a universal ideology, came for all of humankind, Muslim and Non-Muslims, and as such it is only Islam that serves as a Rahma (mercy) for all mankind."
Khilafah.com goes on to assert that “the only challenge” to encroaching Western dominance “must come from Islam.” Thus, to Islamists, the caliphate is vitally important in their fight against Western democracy and to ensure the adoption of Islam and the implementation of Shariah law across the world.
For example, Sheik Ahmad Abu Quddum, of the Jordanian Tahrir Party, states that jihad will spread Islam, and non-Muslims will be second-class citizens in the coming Caliphate
Those who closely follow the words and deeds of terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda will recall that establishing a global caliphate founded upon Islamic law has been among the militants’ most fervently declared goals.
Hamas MP and Cleric Yunis Al-Astal: The Jews Were Brought to Palestine for the 'Great Massacre' through which Allah Will 'Relieve Humanity of Their Evil'
Yunis al-Astal, the cleric in question, told his listeners that “Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad. Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam…”
Al-Astal preached in June of 2010 that it was the duty of Palestinian women to martyr themselves by becoming homicide bombers.
"When jihad becomes an individual duty, it applies to women too, because women do not differ from men when it comes to individual duties," he said in a June 23, 2007 interview. Al-Astal also called Jews "the brothers of apes and pigs" who should "taste the bitterness of death” in the interview.
The parliamentarian returned to this slur recently, saying that Rome “has planted the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam.”
Writing for the New York Sun in 2005, Daniel Pipes noted that the Islamists who assassinated former Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat in 1981 adorned their holding cages with banners that read: “caliphate or death.” He continued:
Bin Laden spoke of ensuring that “the pious caliphate will start from Afghanistan.” His chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also dreamed of re-establishing the caliphate, for then, he wrote, “history would make a new turn, God willing, in the opposite direction against the empire of the United States and the world’s Jewish government.” Another Al-Qaeda leader, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, publishes a magazine that has declared “Due to the blessings of jihad, America’s countdown has begun. It will declare defeat soon,” to be followed by the creation of a caliphate.
While some might argue that there is a difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and state-recognized terrorist organizations, consider that the Brotherhood is no innocent lamb. Founded by an Adolf Hitler admirer, the Islamic militant group is the predecessor of Hamas, Hezbollah and even al Qaeda, and is often cited as a parent to each of the terrorist groups.
One of the reasons some believe the Muslim Brotherhood is a moderate group is via its seemingly extensive community service work. It operates under the veneer of a socially-conscious organization focused on youth-outreach, school and mosque development, and even the coordination of sporting events for the “good” of the community.
Once examined under a more discerning lens, however, the true colors of the Muslim Brotherhood emerge. Of the militant Islamist group’s dual identity, scholar Martin Kramer stated: “On one level, they operated openly, as a membership organization of social and political awakening. Banna preached moral revival, and the Muslim Brethren engaged in good works. On another level, however, the Muslim Brethren created a ‘secret apparatus’ that acquired weapons and trained adepts in their use. Some of its guns were deployed against the Zionists in Palestine in 1948, but the Muslim Brethren also resorted to violence in Egypt.
Kramer goes on to explain that the Brotherhood enforced their own moral teachings “by intimidation, and they initiated attacks against Egypt’s Jews.”
My final installment as a review of this issue will be posted tomorrow; it will review contemporary analysts who react to the thought of a Caliphate.
Finally, however, for my in-class final version I will need Islamist examples akin to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa to present examples of peace within the Islamist tradition.
In "Egypt: How Obama Blew It," by Niall Ferguson, in Newsweek, 13-02-2011, the Egyptian revolution and the coming Caliphate was analyzed.
An army in control is not a democratic, liberal, revolution. Moreover, Obama was taken completely by surprise. The only organized organization is the Muslim Brotherhood advocating sharia law and the restoration of the Caliphate. Any appearance of a liberal, peaceful, democratic revolution is extremely unlikely. The Egyptian revolution is most similar to the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979. Almost all revolutions are characterized by internal chaos and foreign aggression.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmr1uUZae6Q
In a 2011 interview Niall Ferguson spoke with The Telegraph about what he believes the world may look like in ten years.
His two key points to consider for the Middle East include:
Tiny possibility we get western-style democracies in the Middle East
More alarming to think about a "restored caliphate"
Victor Davis Hanson and Peter Berkowitz analyze the causes of Middle Eastern events (including the role of social networking), rise of the Caliphate, and discuss possible outcomes for the Middle East states enmeshed in popular unrest. They evaluate the implications for Israel and conclude with an assessment of Obama's handling of these events and how the United States should respond to the ongoing unrest.
The Arab Spring may be analyzed more correctly, according to Hanson and Berkowitz, as bereft of Western-style liberal democratic ideas in favor of Islamist characteristics. First-hand evidence on the ground confirms this impression. Abu George, a Christian resident of Aleppo's Aziza district stated: "We saw what happened to the Christians in Iraq. What is going on in Aleppo is not a popular revolution for democracy and freedom. The fighters of the so-called Free Syrian Army are radical Sunnis who want to establish an Islamic state." The prominent Middle Eastern historian Bernard Lewis has pointed out that in Egypt for example the language of Western-style democracy has only recently been translated, there are no Arabic equivalents for these words, and Islamist Middle Eastern countries have produced "zero" democracies in a thousand years. It seems unlikely that the Arab Spring will result in a Western-style democracy. The ordinary person on the street in Egypt will more likely result in a regime that is anti-Semitic, anti-American, and an Islamist motivated regime. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is analogous to the Jacobins during the French Revolution.
During transitional times technology is often acclaimed as the harbinger of the revolution as Marx argued that the telegraph encouraged revolution. Today, Twitter, and social media is viewed by progressives as indicative of the one-world ideal global governance that they envision, likewise, the social media that is used by Islamists is interpreted as countering the nation-state in favor of the Caliphate.
The extent of the Abbasids Dynastic Caliphate, 750 - 1258 A.D.
Khilafah Conference Map
Iran has called for a Unified Muslim World Coalition, or a Caliphate.
The term caliphate "dominion of a caliph ('successor,')," (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfa, Turkish: Halife ) refers to the first system of government established in Islam, and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah (nation).
According to Berkowitz and Hanson, American policy should re-assert the decades old, bi-partisan, Truman Doctrine affirmed through the Bush administration which was to promote a freedom agenda. Obama has abandoned the bi-partisan, historic American principled approach to Middle Eastern policy. Obama's transformation in U.S. policy will most likely promote the two examples of theocratic regimes in the Middle East: Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Saudis invited Iran for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting, 5 August 2012.
The Caliphate is unlikely to be workable in practice but the death and destruction that will accompany the aspirations of those who favor a Caliphate will be catastrophic.
Cf. http://www.aina.org/news/20120802194350.htm
Cf. Victor Hanson and Peter Berkowitz -- Revolution in the Arab World
Monday: Introduction to Major Revolutions in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa; Teaching
Peace and Revolution in the classroom
Tuesday: Young Perspectives on Peace & Revolution; Teaching Level Breakout Sessions
Wednesday: Peace & Revolution through the Arts; The Role of Faith & Spirituality
Thursday: Science & Technology; International Video-conference
Friday: Final Group Presentations; Best Practices and Implications for the Future
A detailed finalized agenda will come in your resource binder.
Assignments:
1. Everyday participants are expected to blog about the days’ activities. An email will be sent to you inviting you to the online blog. Please accept the invitation. A gmail account is necessary to join the blog.
2. Participants will be responsible for completing a unit of lesson plans and activities which they will use in their classrooms. Groups of 3-4 will complete a “unit.” Groups will be decided on the first day and based on area of interest and/or grade level. The units should comprise of at least 3 lesson plans and two activities. Groups will present their units on the last day of the institute. Groups are encouraged to use visual aids to effectively share their ideas to the other groups. A final written version of the unit is due Friday August 17th.
Samples of earlier Lesson Plans:
http://www.ceas.sas.upenn.edu/lessonplans.shtml
"Helping Students Analyze Revolutions"
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=138e91c5002bcba9&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3Dfd25038e49%26view%3Datt%26th%3D138e91c5002bcba9%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26realattid%3Df_h5ebjerz0%26zw&sig=AHIEtbRZQAz4Ua_OMkUSup3dDgy6QEih6w&pli=1
Bill Ayers Says Promote The Violence That Already Exists To His Revolutionaries
http://blogsmithconsulting.blogspot.com/2012/06/bill-ayers-says-promote-violence-that.html
Are We in Revolutionary Times?
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/303037/are-we-revolutionary-times-victor-davis-hanson#
US CALIPHATE CONFERENCE AMERICA 2012 -- REVOLUTION: LIBERATION BY REVELATION
OCCUPY: AMERICAN SPRING – THE MAKING OF A REVOLUTION
‘THIS IS REVOLUTION NOT REFORM’ — OCCUPY WALL STREET ORGANIZER TO ‘EXCITED’ AL SHARPTON: WE ARE ANARCHISTS AND REVOLUTIONARIES,‘THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION IN THIS COUNTRY’
Khilafah Conference (USA) 2011 - Revolution in the Muslim World: From Tyranny to Triumph
Khilafah Conference (USA) 2011
Revolution in the Muslim World: From Tyranny to Triumph
June 26th 2011
Hizb ut-Tahrir America
http://hizb-america.org/khilafah-conference-2011
Trailer for the Khilafah Conference in the UK 9th July 2011
Trailer for the Khilafah Conference to be held in the UK on the 9th July 2011 which will present the Islamic Vision for the Ummah against the backdrop of the unfolding events in the Arab world.
The Battle of Big Ideas, Part 1: CONSTRAINED vs. UNCONSTRAINED
To keep these messages coming go to http://www.declarationentertainment.com
Before you can build a political house, you have to know what materials you have on hand. In Part 1 of The Battle of Big Ideas, Bill looks at the two visions of Mankind that Thomas Sowell has labeled "Constrained" and "Unconstrained," and the examples of their twin Revolutions: the Constrained American Revolution and the Unconstrained French Revolution.
Victor Hanson and Peter Berkowitz -- Revolution in the Arab World
Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and military historian, professor of classics, and the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is the author of numerous books, the most recent of which are Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome, which Professor Hanson edited, and The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern, a volume of his essays.
Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
He is also cofounder and director of the Israel Program on Constitutional Government, has served as a senior consultant to the President's Council on Bioethics, and is a member of the Policy Advisory Board at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
"The Revolutionaries' Revenge" by Sally Zelikovksy
Islamism (Islam+-ism; Arabic: إسلام سياسي Islām siyāsī, "Political Islam", or الإسلامية al-Islāmīyah) is a set of ideologies holding that Islam is "as much a political ideology as a religion"[Esposito, Political Islam: Beyond the Green Menace by John Esposito, vii]. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary (see below). Leading Islamist thinkers emphasize the enforcement of Sharia (Islamic law); of pan-Islamic political unity; and of the elimination of non-Muslim, particularly Western military, economic, political, social, or cultural influences in the Muslim world, which they believe to be incompatible with Islam.[Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism by DALE C. EIKMEIER From Parameters, Spring 2007, pp. 85-98. Accessed 6 February 2012].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamist
Arab Spring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring
The "Khilafah Conference (USA) 2011 - Revolution in the Muslim World: From Tyranny to Triumph" (http://youtu.be/KRMGhasUlWc)
Ummah is an Arabic term denoting a grouping of individuals constituting a larger community with a single identity. The term is often translated as "community" or "people" (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3424503216.html?key=01--2160D527E1B106B170F021C046F01333554354F3E34710F720F0B60651B617F1371197357)
Aqeedah which refers to those matters which are believed in, with certainty and conviction, in one’s heart and soul (http://islamqa.info/en/ref/951).
non-Muslims or the Mushrikun which means polytheists, pagans, idolaters, and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah (http://sarasohaib.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/what-is-an-al-mushrikun/)
Islamic caliphate in Europe during 2011 asserts the revival of the Caliphate.
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Irwin, Robert, Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents;
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Karsh, Efraim, Islamic Imperialism: A History;
Kasser, Rodolphe, The Gospel of Judas;
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Kiplinger's: Personal Finance;
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KM World: Content, Document, and Knowledge Management;
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Livingston, Jessica, Founders At Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days;
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Louis J., Freeh, My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror;
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Marcus, Greil,Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes;
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McCluskey, Neal P., Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education;
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McLynn, Frank, Marcus Aurelius: A Life;
McManus, John, Deadly Brotherhood, The: The American Combat Soldier in World War II ;
McMaster, H. R., Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam;
McNamara, Patrick, Science and the World's Religions Volume 1: Origins and Destinies (Brain, Behavior, and Evolution);
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McNamara, Patrick, Science and the World's Religions Volume 3: Religions and Controversies (Brain, Behavior, and Evolution);
Meacham, Jon, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House;
Mearsheimer, John J., and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy;
Meier, Christian, Caesar: A Biography;
Menzies, Gaven, 1421: The Year China Discovered America;
Perrett, Bryan, Cassell Military Classics: Iron Fist: Classic Armoured Warfare;
Perrottet, Tony, The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Olympic Games;
Peters, Ralph, New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy;
Phillips, Kevin, American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush;
Pick, Bernhard; Paralipomena; Remains of Gospels and Sayings of Christ (Sony Reader);
Pimlott, John, The Elite: The Special Forces of the World Volume 1;
Pitre, Brant, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper;
Plutarch's Lives, X: Agis and Cleomenes. Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. Philopoemen and Flamininus (Loeb Classical Library®);
Podhoretz, Norman, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism;
Posner, Gerald, Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK;
Potter, Wendell, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans;
Pouesi, Daniel, Akua;
Premier IT Magazine: Sharing Best Practices with the Information Technology Community;
Price, Monroe E. & Daniel Dayan, eds., Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China;
Profit: The Executive's Guide to Oracle Applications;
Public CIO: Technology Leadership in the Public Sector;
Putnam, Robert D., Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community;
Quintus of Smyrna, The Fall of Troy;
Rawles, James Wesley, Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse;
Red Herring: The Business of Technology;
Redmond Channel Partner: Driving Success in the Microsoft Partner Community;
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Roberts, Ian, The Energy Glut: Climate Change and the Politics of Fatness in an Overheating World;
Rocca, Samuel, The Army of Herod the Great;
Rodgers, Nigel, A Military History of Ancient Greece: An Authoritative Account of the Politics, Armies and Wars During the Golden Age of Ancient Greece, shown in over 200 color photographs, diagrams, maps and plans;
Rodoreda, Merce, Death in Spring: A Novel;
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Scheuer, Michael, Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War On Terror;
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Scheuer, Michael, Osama Bin Laden;
Scheuer, Michael, Through Our Enemies Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America;
Scholastic Instructor
Scholastic Parent & Child: The Joy of Family Living and Learning;
Schopenhauer, Arthur, The World As Will And Idea (Sony eReader);
Schug-Wille, Art of the Byzantine World;
Schulze, Hagen, Germany: A New History;
Schweizer, Peter, Architects of Ruin: How Big Government Liberals Wrecked the Global Economy---and How They Will Do It Again If No One Stops Them;
Scott, Sir Walter, Ivanhoe;
Seagren, Eric, Secure Your Network for Free: Using Nmap, Wireshark, Snort, Nessus, and MRTG;
Security Technology & Design: The Security Executive's Resource for Systems Integration and Convergence;
Seibel, Peter, Coders at Work;
Sekunda N., & S. Northwood, Early Roman Armies;
Seneca: Naturales Quaestiones, Books II (Loeb Classical Library No. 450);
Sewall, Sarah, The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual;
Sheppard, Ruth, Alexander the Great at War: His Army - His Battles - His Enemies;
Shinder, Jason, ed., The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later;
Sidebottom, Harry, Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction;
Sides, Hampton, Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West;
Simkins, Michael, The Roman Army from Caesar to Trajan;
Sinchak, Steve, Hacking Windows Vista;
Smith, RJ, The One: The Life and Music of James Brown;
Software Development Times: The Industry Newspaper for Software Development Managers;
Software Test Performance;
Solomon, Norman, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death;
Song, Lolan, Innovation Together: Microsoft Research Asia Academic Research Collaboration;
Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays, tr. Robert Fagles;
Sound & Vision: The Consumer Electronics Authority;
Southern, Pat, The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History;
Sri, Edward, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do In The Liturgy;
Sri, Edward, Men, Women and the Mystery of Love: Practical Insights from John Paul II's Love and Responsibility;
Stair, John Bettridge, Old Samoa; Or, Flotsam and Jetsam From the Pacific Ocean;
Starr, Chester G., The Roman Empire, 27 B.C.-A.D. 476: A Study in Survival;
Starr, John Bryan, Understanding China: A Guide to China's Economy, History, and Political Culture;
Stauffer, John, Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln;
Steyn, Mark, America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It;
Strassler, Robert B., The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories;
Strassler, Robert B., The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War;
Strassler, Robert B., The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika;
Strategy + Business;
Streete, Gail, Redeemed Bodies: Women Martyrs in Early Christianity;
Sullivan, James, The Hardest Working Man: How James Brown Saved the Soul of America;
Sumner, Graham, Roman Military Clothing (1) 100 BC-AD 200;
Sumner, Graham, Roman Military Clothing (2) AD 200-400;
Suskind, Ron, The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11:
Swanston, Malcolm, Mapping History Battles and Campaigns;
Swiderski, Richard M., Quicksilver: A History of the Use, Lore, and Effects of Mercury;
Swiderski, Richard M., Quicksilver: A History of the Use, Lore, and Effects of Mercury;
Swift, Jonathan, Gulliver's Travels;
Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution;
Talley, Colin L., A History of Multiple Sclerosis;
Tawil, Camille, Brothers In Arms: The Story of al-Qa'ida and the Arab Jihadists;
Tech Briefs: Engineering Solutions for Design & Manufacturing;
Tech Net: The Microsoft Journal for IT Professionals;
Tech Partner: Gain a Competitive Edge Through Solutions Providers;
Technology & Learning: Ideas and Tools for Ed Tech Leaders;
Tenet, George, At the Center of the Storm: The CIA During America's Time of Crisis;
Thackeray, W. M., Vanity Fair;
Thompson, Derrick & William Martin, Have Guitars ... Will Travel: A Journey Through the Beat Music Scene in Northampton 1957-66;
Tolstoy, Leo, Anna Karenina;
Trento, Joseph J., The Secret History of the CIA;
Twain, Mark, The Gilded Age: a Tale of Today;
Ungar, Craig, House of Bush House of Saud;
Unterberger, Richie, The Unreleased Beatles Music & Film;
VAR Business: Strategic Insight for Technology Integrators:
Virgil, The Aeneid
Virtualization Review: Powering the New IT Generation;
Visual Studio: Enterprise Solutions for .Net Development;
VON Magazine: Voice, Video & Vision;
Wall Street Technology: Business Innovation Powered by Technology;
Wallace, Robert, Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to al-Qaeda;
Wang, Wallace, Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won’t Tell You About the Internet;
Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization;
Warren, Robert Penn, All the King's Men;
Wasik, John F., Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream;
Weber, Karl, Editor, Lincoln: A President for the Ages;
Website Magazine: The Magazine for Website Success;
Weiner, Tim, Enemies: A History of the FBI;
Weiner, Tim, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA;
West, Bing, The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq;
Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence;
Wilcox, Peter, Rome's Enemies (1) Germanics and Dacians;
Wise, Terence, Armies of the Carthaginian Wars 265 - 146 BC;
Wissner-Gross, What Colleges Don't Tell You (And Other Parents Don't Want You To Know) 272 Secrets For Getting Your Kid Into the Top Schools;
Wissner-Gross, What High Schools Don't Tell You;
Wolf, Naomi, Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries;
Wolf, Naomi, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot;
Woodward, Bob, Plan of Attack;
Woodward, Bob, The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House;
Wright, Lawrence, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11;
Wright-Porto, Heather, Beginning Google Blogger;
Xenophon, The Anabasis of Cyrus;
Yergin, Daniel, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power;
Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of this blogger. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited, before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but not hostile, libelous, or otherwise objectionable statements. Original writing only, please. Thank you.
A tax on toilet paper; I kid you not. According to the sponsor, "the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act will be financed broadly by small fees on such things as . . . products disposed of in waste water." Congress wants to tax what you do in the privacy of your bathroom.
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