Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 1/11 - Madness

Just before Christmas, the Westchester Journal News published the names and addresses of gun owners in its area, a misguided strike whose consequences the staff did not consider thoroughly. Not only did the publication attract fierce criticism, it has suffered threats. Now - you guessed it - the paper has hired armed guards to protect its employees. Writers love irony. Life is so damn fascinating.

Goldman Sachs personifies the crony capitalism that infuriates many Americans on both siides of the political aisle. Its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, dubbed Obama's proposed tax increases "appropriate." Apparently, they were not appropriate for his own charges, at least not this year. The firm usually hands out its bonuses in January. This year it did it in December to avoid the higher rates that went into effect in 2013. And this is a company that has received 1.6 billion in tax-free financing to build its headquarters. Those in government and corporate offices must laugh at the rest of us, saps that we are.

The Academy Award nominees have been announced and there is a bit more controversy than usual. In the category of Best Director, Katherine Bigelow, the only woman ever to have won the honor (The Hurt Locker {2008}), and Ben Affleck have been snubbed. There respective films, Zero Dark Thirty and Argo, almost universally acclaimed by critics, could not in good reason have been left out of the Best Picture category, so the nominators may have gone after those most responsible for these works. There is speculation in the press that the artists are being punished for views that are too pro-American and anti-Islamic. Zero Dark Thirty has been attacked for a scene involving water-boarding that has a neutral rather than condemnatory tone. Torture is ugly, but if authorities suspected a terrorist attack was imminent it would be madness not to pursue information, by any means necessary, that would prevent the deaths of innocents. As far as if it is warranted in the capture of an individual terrorist, the question is at least debatable, although I'm sure 90% of the public would have approved it in the case of Osama Bin Laden. If water-boarding may have led to the demise of OBL, how could it have been left out of the film? Liberals demand compassion for violent offenders but have zero tolerance for those assigned the dirty work of the War on Terror. Oh, I forgot - there is no War on Terror. Does, should principle trump the potential deaths of scores of humans? "That way madness lies." (King Lear, Act III, Scene IV by William Shakespeare)

It was a rain-abbreviated session for the floating book shop. I thank the woman who purchased Elizabeth Stout's Olive Kitteridge, a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Visit Vic's sites:

Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb

Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6

Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h

Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3