sorry more archiving

Not much white marble in George Pelecanos' gritty Washington



Kevin Wood Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

Soul Circus

By George P. Pelecanos

Little, Brown; 352 pp; 24.95 dollars


When most of us think of Washington, the first images that come to mind are of the U.S. Capitol building and the White House, of prosperous middle-aged white men in suits and ties going about the business of running the most powerful nation on earth.

Those familiar with the work of crime writer George P. Pelecanos may have a very different vision of the city. In Soul Circus, his 11th novel set in the roughest neighborhoods of Washington, Pelecanos gives the reader a close look at the world of gangs, guns, poverty and drugs that dominates much of the U.S. capital.

Pelecanos' Washington is a dark, dirty and dangerous place where even ex-cop private eyes like Derek Strange and Terry Quinn walk softly down some streets.

Soul Circus follows directly on the heels of Pelecanos' 2002 bestseller Hell to Pay and the 2001 novel that introduced Strange and Quinn, Right as Rain. Strange, a rock-steady pillar of the African-American community in his mid-fifties, has taken on the younger, hot-headed Irish-American Quinn as a partner in Strange Investigations.

Following up on the events of Hell to Pay, we find the two working for lawyers defending drug kingpin Granville Oliver. Strange has been retained to find the former girlfriend of Oliver's right-hand man, whose testimony can keep him off death row, while Quinn is involved in trying to find the ex-girlfriend of the loser brother of a local street gang leader.

As in his previous work, notably the three novels featuring hard-drinking investigator Nick Stefanos, even the heroes have flaws. The quick-tempered Quinn is unable to back away from the smallest affront and Strange has more than one skeleton in his own closet. While both act heroically on occasion and do their best to do the right thing, their very human weaknesses are what ultimately make the two protagonists sympathetic, realistic characters.

That gift for creating believable, detailed characters extends even to the most minor players in Soul Circus, with characters who pop up in only a few scenes expertly drawn with a minimum of exposition.

Where other authors might supply a quick stereotype or faceless cardboard cutout, even the counterman in the diner and the parents of the kids on the peewee football team Strange coaches have unique identities and distinct faces. Pelecanos has mastered the art of showing us a character through minimal but vivid description, realistic dialogue and believable action rather than long paragraphs of back story and explanation.

While mastering all the conventions of the hardboiled genre, Pelecanos is not a slave to them and manages to make political and philosophical points about race relations, gun control, feminism, masculinity and honesty without it interfering with the readers enjoyment of the story.

Pelecanos clearly argues that the easy availability of firearms is one of the greatest contributing factors to violent crime, even using Nick Stefanos, the hero of three of his earlier books, in a cameo role to drive the point home.

While offering a bleak view of life in the ghettos of Washington, Pelecanos also shows how small acts of decency can make a difference in the world and refuses to fall into the usual trap of having one tough good guy solve all the world's problems with his fists and a gun. Hollywood-style violence without consequences does not exist in the real world and Pelecanos shows how the death of anyone diminishes us all without preaching.

With Soul Circus, Pelecanos should garner the fame he richly deserves and take his place in the pantheon of noir greats alongside Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy.

hey wow cool! swift responses - just like an almost conversation. I agree that kindereggs are less than wonderful but don't think they should be banned. I wouldn't buy them for my kids for a few years yet as they are too young and could choke on the bits, and the chocolate is awful.

I'd be all for taking costa rica into the fold. their constitution bars them from having an army!

Kev,
I moved (or I should say my family moved, I was far too young to pick up the couch) to Michagan when I was 2 years old. We moved back to Canada when I was about 6. Apparently, was was very relieved because I didn't want to get drafted in the U.S. I was never officially an American citizen. I think the deciding factor to move back to Canada was when a knife fight in the school yard behind our house interrupted a patio party.

As far as the anex project goes, I think we have unofficially annexed Costa Rica. Ceri and I were there a couple of years ago and encoutered many Canadians. There is even a Canadian newspaper. I highly recommend Costa Rica as a vacation destination.

P.T.
Kinder eggs are evil and should be banned worldwide. They are environmentally nasty and could cause young children to choke. Not to mention the wasted time trying to put the toy together.
And the chocolate sucks.

"Land of the Free" my ass!

If Kev's book review($23, eh....) has left any doubt in your mind.....
Any nation that would ban Kinder Eggs oughta be #1 on the Axis of Evil list. Here's a LINK to a story explaining the whole sordid tale.

P.S. I think the Turks and Caicos should anex us.

Jason, didn't you once tell me you were born in Michigan?

As far as the island thing is concerned, I think its a great idea. It would seriously change the Turks and Caicos and in the long run I think it would have an impact on Canadian culture too.

sorry, just archiving stuff from the yomiuri site

The power of sex, drugs and cheap strawberries



Kevin Wood Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

Reefer Madness

By Eric Schlosser

Houghton Mifflin, 310 pp, 23 dollars


Those picking up this book expecting a collection of lurid tales from the counterculture--after all, it is named for a 1937 propaganda film about how smoking marijuana turns clean-cut kids into ax-murdering maniacs--may be in for a surprise.

Having exposed the "dark side of the all-American meal" in his 2001 best seller Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser turns his considerable talents to an examination on the trillion dollar underground economy of the United States.

The book is built around expanded versions of three previously published magazine articles on marijuana laws, illegal immigrant labor and the pornography business, bracketed by an introduction and conclusion that discuss the role and nature of the shadow economy.

By and large, Reefer Madness is a damning debunking of the free market mantras and moral hypocrisy of pro-business political conservatives.

Schlosser begins with a look at the economic and legal consequences of the largest U.S. cash crop--marijuana.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan declared the opening of the "War on Drugs" in 1980 and in 1982 appointed the first "Drug Czar," Carlton Turner, who believed smoking pot was responsible for young people being involved in "anti-military, anti-nuclear power, anti-big business, anti-authority demonstrations" and that marijuana use caused homosexuality.

Schlosser points out the inconsistencies in the way offenders are sentenced in different parts of the country. "In New York State, possessing slightly less than an ounce (28 grams) of marijuana brings a 100 dollars fine, if it's a first offense. In Louisiana, possessing the same amount of pot could lead to a prison sentence of twenty years." He details the way some law enforcement agencies have become financially dependent on the income derived from property seizures connected to drug investigations.

In particular, Schlosser highlights the way the political race to demonstrate how tough candidates are on drugs has resulted in penalties that far outweigh the crimes they claim to punish.

"A conviction for a marijuana offense can mean the revocation or denial of more than 460 federal benefits, including student loans, small-business loans, professional licenses, and farm subsidies... federal welfare payment and food stamps. Convicted murderers, rapists and child molesters, however, remain eligible for such benefits."

He exposes the injustice of mandatory minimum sentencing rules that send people to prison for more than 20 years, and often for life, for offenses as minor as selling drug paraphernalia such as water pipes.

The second section details the plight of migrant workers in the California agricultural industry, mainly through an examination of the use of illegal immigrant labor in the strawberry farming business. Schlosser contends that the farm industry in the United States (and to a growing extent the meatpacking, textile and other industries that rely on cheap, semi-skilled labor) has become dependent on illegal immigrants. The underground economy relies on untraceable, untaxable cash transactions, and Schlosser asserts that nearly 30 percent of workers in Los Angeles County are now paid in cash.

Large agribusiness corporations skirt labor laws through sharecropping arrangements straight out of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, while the law punishes illegal immigrant workers far more severely than those who employ and exploit them.

"Left to its own devices, the free market always seeks a work force that is hungry, desperate and cheap--a work force that is anything but free" concludes the author.

The final section traces the history of the pornography industry in the United States by looking at the various attempts over the years to legally define obscenity and rule on what people can or cannot legally see, while telling the story of the founding father of modern porn, a former comic book salesman who built an industry that generates the same revenue as Hollywood's domestic box office receipts.

This section also serves as a primer on the fine art of tax evasion, tracing the efforts of porn magnate Reuben Sturman to skim off and hide hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid funding the government's long-running campaign to convict him on obscenity charges.

While the section is somewhat outdated in that it lacks much information on the financial impact of the Internet on the porn industry, it does provide a revealing look at a legal industry that is largely subterranean.

Overall, the strength of Reefer Madness is Schlosser's ability to put a human face on abstract statistics and tie dry historical facts to interesting human drama.

The only real complaint is that each of the main sections of the book could, and should, have been expanded to fill entire volumes of their own.

Ok, I take it back. You are Canadian. Only a Canadian would complain so much about being called "Un-Canadian". I do wish people would stop quoting a beer comercial when trying to affirm their heritage though.

By the way, I was born in Grimsby. You don't get much more canadian than that.

No, the only way I will come back to Canada is if I can get a job there. As far as being a Canadian is concerned, just because I don't live there doesn't it doesn't make me any less Canadian. I still crave Molson, Hockey Night in Canada and peameal bacon. I still drink too much on July 1, and no, it not just to celebrate you and Ceri anniversary. I still apologize when someone steps on on my foot in an elevator, I still say 'zed' not 'zee', and spell things properly (centre, colour, theatre goddammit!) I still don't zip up my coat until it hits -5 C, I still say 'eh' and am teaching my children to do so. I still know how to pronounce Atawapiskat and Kapuskasing, I still tell newfie jokes, listen to the Rheostatics, think Stompin' Tom Conners is a genius and I still drink a nice hot cup of maple syrup each and every morning....I Am Canadian!

Where were YOU born?

Niv,
what the hell is this "we" business? (with regard to the Carribbean Island stuff). You haven't been Canadian for several years now. Why do you care whether we annex an island or mother Russia for that matter? Are you saying that the only way you'll come back to Canada is if we add another province? ("this one goes up to 11").

I think the new quote speaks for itself

Apparently reading in public while bearded is now considered a suspicious activity in the "land of the free"
check this out!

Is there something in the water supply in Ottawa?

First we decriminalize ganjah and now we want to annex a Carribbean island

what do we think of this idea?
The links on the cbc site also point to a reasonably slick looking website for a newly formed citizen's group called CFATP - Canadians For A Tropical Province....I'm not really sold one way or the other and I think the outcome of bringing Turks and Caicos into Confederation is probably impossible to predict with complete accuracy as I think the long-term socio-cultural implications are profound and will affect the "Canadian Identity"(tm)
At first glance it seems to appear to probably maybe perhaps be a good idea even if it does sound like something out of a Richard Rohmer novel.



Canada's Caribbean ambition
Justin Thompson, CBC News Online | July 15, 2003


Quebec City too cold in February? Fredericton frosty in December? Nunavut November not for you? Fear not, there may be help: at least one member of Parliament and a handful of interest groups are asking the Canadian government to annex a little slice of sun-splashed heaven: the Turks and Caicos, a Caribbean gem with an average wintertime temperature hovering between 28 and 29 C.

Canadian Alliance MP Peter Goldring (Edmonton Centre-East) thinks it's a wonderful idea. He's drafted a motion to ask the government to look into the issue, and plans to introduce it in the fall. "I think around 100 per cent of people (in Canada, and Turks and Caicos) like the idea," he told CBC News Online in July 2003.

Currently a British overseas territory, the Turks and Caicos (actually a grouping of 40 islands located 250 kilometres east of Cuba) have a history of being on the wish lists of Canadian politicians.

PROS CONS
Agreeable weather: 350 days per year of sunshine; average temperature: June-October 29-32 C
November-May 27-29 C
No passports required for Canadian citizens
Same time zone as many Canadians (Eastern Standard)
Air Canada offers direct flights
English is the official language
Could be first island home to an NHL team
Hurricane-prone
Currency is the U.S. dollar
Would make plum hideout for wayward senators

DEPENDS ON YOUR PERSPECTIVE
Controlled drugs and pornography not allowed through customs
Public nudity is illegal

In 1974, NDP MP Max Saltsman tried to use a private member's bill to persuade the government to consider annexing the islands. He reasoned that there should be a warm-weather destination for Canadians to spend money on Canadian soil.

Unfortunately for sun-loving Snowbirds, the proposal was rejected.

In 1988, members of the Turks and Caicos government resolved to approach the Canadian government about establishing a special relationship. But alas, the idea of annexing a warm-weather island took back seat to the debate over free trade with the United States (something some Canadians consider annexation of a different variety).

Peter Goldring hopes this time around it will be different. "I have been talking with a number of members of the (Turks and Caicos) government," he told CBC News Online. "And I have indications from a couple of them that this is an issue they want to pursue."


Goldring says annexation could be mutually beneficial: Canada can provide good health care, economic ties, defence, and a steady flow of winter-weary Snowbirds; Turks and Caicos would give Canada a warm, friendly 11th province - a southern destination where the Loonie could land without breaking a wing.

Plus, says Goldring, tongue planted firmly in cheek, "Paul Martin would have a place to park his fleet."


QUICK FACTS:
Capital: Grand Turk (Cockburn Town)

Currency: U.S. dollar

Area total: 430 sq km (consists of about 40 islands, eight of which are inhabited)

Natural resources: spiny lobster and conch

GDP: $128 million (199 estimate)

Population: 18,738

Sources: CIA World Factbook, Turks and Caicos Tourist Board

Cousin drummo B. Wood can be found at drwoo@pipcom.com , he has been invited to join in here but hasn't responded really. I know he doesn't check his mail for long periods sometimes so don't expect an immediate response.

does anyone here know a current e-mail address for Brent? Does he still even have a computer?
Cliff

God is an iron.
So is Jay, read his first post.
The pathos begins.

There is no danger
Of loosing your geek license.
In the near future.

My morals questioned
By an ex-Kirby salesman?
Pot calls the kettle.

A careful re-read
Shows why you should not piss off
A co-editor.

A firecracker
Hollows out a blob of dough
And is very loud.

You asked for hauku.
Since I acted upon it...
I want a sonnet!

First, I hate blogs. Nothing more pathetic than reading the ramblings of people who can't get anyone to listen to them under normal circumstances!

Second, as a bona fide computer geek, I could loose my geek license just by posting in here so please don't tell anyone.

Third, (and this is mainly in response to Peter's post about downloading the latest Weird Al tune), DON'T STEAL MUSIC!

Fourth, I remember the year that Chris Scales showed up at a halloween party dressed in a suit and proclaimed he was a Fascist. It changed my life yet I do not see any mention of that characteristic in the list.

Fifth, Thanks to everyone who set off fireworks on July 1st in celebration of Ceri's and my wedding aniversary. Much appreciated.

And Last, because I didn't go back and read all of the posts, I would like someone to sum up all of the postings in a Haiku.

Thanks.

"Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, wrote an article about fascism which appeared in Free Inquiry magazine -- a journal of humanist thought. Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Chris Scales (Jay's head), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile). He found the regimes all had 14 things in common, and he calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The article is "Fascism Anyone?" Lawrence Britt, Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20."

The 14 characteristics are:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokes people and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often is the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associate who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Do try this at home...

Go to http://www.google.com/

Type in "weapons of mass destruction"

Hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button

Read the error message.

P.S. The links work, too....

egads the blogger people have changed the interface.....

happy Canada day all
don't forget to drink plenty of maple syrup

After buying Nick a copy of Roch Carrier's "The
Hockey Sweater" for Christmas last year, the book sat on the shelf for couple of months but lately it has become his favorite bedtime story
with dad. Now when I comb his hair he insists I comb it 'like Maurice Richard, the greatest hockey player ever' and if hockey or even Canada is mentioned he is quick to point out that the 'Montreal Canadiens are the best hockey team in the world'

who says I'm raising my kids without any religion?

happy fathers's day