Chapter Twenty-four

It's October, and Halloween is just a week away. The leaves are turning, the temperatures are lower, and we'll be "falling back" on the clock pretty soon. This month, I've got a few interesting items for you.

Non-fiction

The Killer Book of True Crime - Tom and Michael Philbin ($14.95/$1.00, 327 pages, copyright 2007, Trade Paperback)
This caught my attention because I've been reading a lot of crime fiction lately. It's broken down into chapters that deal with such diverse topics as Robbery, Organized Crimes, and Mass Murder. The authors also try to lighten things up by adding Q and A's, jargon explanations, and some "Crimes can be funny" sections. I enjoyed it.

Imaginary People, a Who's Who of Modern Fictional Characters - David Pringle ($24.95/$.25, 509 pages, copyright 1987, Hard Cover)
Now who wouldn't want to read through/own something like this? It's a World Almanac Book, and lists characters from books, television and movies in alphabetical order - from Abbott, Judy to Zuckerman, Nathan. I thought it was fascinating, following the cross-referenced characters and their relationships. The only problem with this is that it was compiled in 1987, and obviously does not include all of the modern-day cultural icons of the last 24 years. I enjoyed it.

Series

Ghosts - Ed McBain ($5.99/$.50, 213 pages, copyright 1980, Paperback)
This is subtitled "A Novel of the 87th Precinct", one of that series of police procedurals that McBain (real name Evan Hunter) is most famous for. I haven't read one of these in a long time, but it's easy to fall right in step with, in this case, Detective Steve Carella as he investigates a double murder that may or may not involve ghosts. And, McBain throws in several other members of the detective squad, and what they're working on to boot. I enjoyed it.

Miscellaneous

Don Camillo's Dilemma Giovanni Guareschi ($.50/$.50, 256 pages, copyright 1954, Paperback)
Here's a curious little volume. It's not really a novel, but a series of short stories that pit the Catholic priest of a small town in Italy against it's Communist mayor in a series of amusing little situations. And they all fit snugly together as if they were written this way. I remember reading some of Guareschi's stories as a young, Catholic school boy and enjoying these games of wit. They're kind of dated now, but I still found it enjoyable.

Masques - Bill Pronzini ($4.99/$.25, 269 pages, copyright 1981, Paperback)
Yes, I know, it's Halloween time and this book deals with Mardi Gras but the chills it generates make it acceptable reading for this time of year. The set up is simple - a man vacationing in New Orleans gets a mysterious phone call from someone demanding something that the man doesn't have. Then you add in the mania of Mardi Gras, and mix it with voodoo, and drugs and a couple of surprises at the end that I didn't see coming. I enjoyed it.

I would like to take this opportunity to point out something that I have found interesting. We refer to things as either "true" or "untrue", "real" or "unreal". So, it would appear that the side that is of lesser importance is referred to with the negative prefix (i.e., non-, mal-, mis-, un-,  etc.). I find it interesting that when it comes to writing, we have Fiction or Non-fiction. I'm just saying. Just a reminder that next month will be the Second Anniversary issue of this blog. Stay tuned and..

Keep Reading!

Special Insert #7 - Some "Modest Porposals"

Some "Modest Proposals on How the Federal Government Can Save Money/Generate Revenues



  Politics is not the type of subject that I normally devote an entire Special Insert to. I have ranted in a few past posts, but I thought that this time I'd share some thoughts that I've had recently. I tried sharing these as a Note post on FaceBook, but that whole process is all screwed up.

So...we're into the process of narrowing down which Republican will run against President Obama. Over the next year, we will hear a lot of proposals - from both sides - on how to reduce government spending and/or generate income. I have a few of my own ideas, which I will list now before any of these candidates steals them.

1.) Eliminate Redundancies

They always talk about this, but never give any concrete examples. Well, here's one from me. I asked myself,  "Do we really need a North Dakota AND a South Dakota?" And my answer was "NO". Make it one state called Dakota. This eliminates the need for 2 separate state governments; saves them the costs involved there; and saves the Federal Government the money they used to send to both since they won't need it anymore. AND we can do this to the Carolinas and the Virginias.

2.) Services Sharing

This is being tried in many places in nearby areas, but I don't know the results so far so I'm proposing a Pilot Program using the 2 smallest States. I say that the services that the States of Delaware and Rhode Island provide for their citizens be taken over by larger states nearby - say New Jersey and Massachusetts respectively. This would make their state governments obsolete, and the money that is saved there (minus a percentage to the larger states) would allow the Federal Government to hold on to whatever they would normally have sent.

3.) Branding/Naming Rights

There's a lot of money to be made here - consider Citi Field or MetLife Stadium. Of course, it would probably only apply to large corporations or really wealthy people. I propose that we start with the 3 states I mentioned in Article 1 above. Carolina could become Carolina (Rice)tm, Virginia could be Virginia (Slims)tm, and Dakota could be Dakota (Fanning). Pure profit.

ALSO, since we would be eliminating several state governments that would effectively remove them as individual states which would no longer require representation in Washington. This would reduce the Senate by 10%, and open up a lot of prime real estate in D. C. which the Federal Government could now rent to lobbyists. (Since Representatives are based on population, I can't see any changes here.) More income!

I may just be kidding around with these, but don't be surprised if you hear something like these during the debates. And remember....

You heard them here first.