tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73023361873315482422024-02-19T09:15:09.777-06:00FangPlaceA place to celebrate all things carnivore ... vampires, werewolves and other biters. And college dudes who go on quests, some of them, too. Oh, and cavemen... politicians. In other words, whatever I want to scribble about. (click on any book title to go to its 'buy page')
http://www.normcowie.comNorm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-80924405042707382582013-02-03T17:49:00.003-06:002013-02-03T17:49:56.602-06:00Where to find my blogs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've been a very bad blogger over the last year or so (spank... ouch), but I'm finally waking up to it again.<br />
<br />
But I have two blogs, both FangPlace and Humor Writers. I think for my own sanity I'm just going to concentrate on the Humor Writers blog for now because that's the one I'd like to grow.<br />
<br />
So please look for me at <a href="http://www.humorwriters.blogspot.com/">www.humorwriters.blogspot.com</a> . I hope you follow, like and all that.<br />
<br />
But no spanking.<br />
<br />
Norm</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-56834026134522949472011-12-06T18:56:00.000-06:002011-12-06T18:56:55.124-06:00A new letter to my Congressman regarding the payroll tax cuts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <i>I've been having a mostly one-sided letter writing exchange with my Congressman and thought I'd share my newest letter. </i><br />
<i><br />
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<i>If any of this applies to your Congressperson or Senator, feel free to copy, past and use it. I'm sure they will appreciate hearing from you!</i><br />
<br />
December 6, 2011<br />
<br />
Representative Adam Kinzinger<br />
Washington/Joliet<br />
<br />
Dear Representative Kinzinger;<br />
<br />
I didn't receive a response from you to my last letter, but that's okay. I know you've been busy protecting the wealthy. My understanding is that you would like to keep the Middle Class payroll tax cuts in place as long as it's paid for by raising the unemployment rate by canning 10% of the Federal workforce, most of whom are Middle Class. It would also help you in your claims that the Administration isn't helping create jobs, but I'm sure that was just unintentional, right? You're into the job creating thing by making the rich richer since they're created so many jobs over the last three years with their lower taxes. Can't upset that apple-cart, huh?<br />
<br />
Of course, it's probably too much to hope for that we could see a reduction of the number of Congressmen and Senators, or lobbyists, who outnumber Congressmen and Senators twenty to one. Or, even better, how about saving money by introducing a bill that takes away life-time pensions and insurance for congressmen and senators? <br />
<br />
Yeah, I know, that's a pipe dream of mine. I wish we all could vote ourselves pay raises like you.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I think you should consider checking with your constituency and making sure you are truly representing our interests in this whole payroll tax thing. I think both Republicans and Democrats support not raising everyone's taxes by $1000-1500. The difference seems to be in how to fund it.<br />
<br />
If you truly represented us, you really should canvas us, and I have a suggestion. You should Robocall the following poll:<br />
<br />
Would you prefer extending payroll tax cuts paid for by: <br />
<br />
a) a 3.25% tax on persons with over a one million dollar income <br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
b) cutting 10% of the Federal employee workforce and freezing the income on the remaining workers.<br />
<br />
On a related note, I've created a Kinzinger position page that I would like to run by you for accuracy sake before I start helping you spread your word to my friends and neighbors. Please have a flunky, er, assistant or someone respond and let me know if any of your positions have been misrepresented. You may appreciate the form of the questions which closely mirrors the style and technique of some political polls I've received in the past. Please keep to the yes/no answer format. <br />
<br />
Sincerely<br />
Norman Cowie <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Congressman Kinzinger's position page<br />
<br />
Supports extending the payroll tax cuts benefitting the Middle Class paid for by imposing a 3.25% tax on income over $1,000,000? NO<br />
<br />
Supports extending the payroll tax cuts benefitting the Middle Class funded by putting another 200,000-plus mostly middle class Americans out of work and freezing wages of the remaining mostly middle class Federal employees. YES<br />
<br />
Signed a pledge to special interest lobbyist (Grover Norquist) not to raise any taxes (including those solely on the wealthy) no matter what. YES<br />
<br />
Solely for political gain, would rather crash the economy than support anything presented by the current Administration that might improve the economy. YES<br />
<br />
Initiated job creation bills - (excluding so-called job bills that are simply tax cuts to billionaire/millionaires or trade agreements that don't protect American workers). NO<br />
<br />
Supports jobs bill. NO<br />
<br />
Supported the wealthy by refusing to allow their Reagan tax cuts to expire, even at the expense of America's debt rating being downgraded. YES<br />
<br />
Supports voter suppression making it more difficult for elderly, poor and inner-city to vote. YES<br />
<br />
Supported a one-time $500 tax on persons with over million dollar incomes to create half a million jobs . NO<br />
<br />
Supports all Americans being covered by health care. NO<br />
<br />
Supports subsidies to oil companies and wealthy agricultural businesses. YES<br />
<br />
Supports helping the poor, providing a social safety net and extending unemployment. NO<br />
<br />
Would like voters to believe jobs are lost to overregulation even when surveys show that less than 1% of employers claim to have reduced jobs as a result of regulatory effects. YES<br />
<br />
Willing to use the debt ceiling as leverage to force cuts to Social Security and Medicaid YES<br />
<br />
Tries to convince voters that the current debt was incurred by the current Administration, even while knowing it was incurred directly or indirectly by Congress and the previous Administration. YES<br />
<br />
Wants to delude people into thinking Social Security adds to the National Debt. YES<br />
<br />
Desires privatizing Social Security so Wall Street can make money on it. YES<br />
<br />
Would rather cut social programs than cut funding to defense contractors. YES<br />
<br />
Utilizes scare tactics against the public in order to continue funding defense. YES<br />
<br />
Would like voters to believe higher taxes on the wealthy destroy jobs despite no evidence to support the position and clear evidence to the contrary. YES<br />
<br />
Doesn't want voters to realize that the lower taxes of the last ten years haven't created jobs. YES<br />
<br />
Works for wealthy and special interests rather than the middle class. YES<br />
<br />
Willing to cut Congressional $160k government salary, tax-payer paid health benefits and pension for life? NO<br />
<br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-39672941110890792772011-12-03T22:48:00.000-06:002011-12-03T22:48:23.873-06:00Reading books for FREE, do you hear me? FREE (a word about Smashwords)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidUbxV1Dmv7N5QwDK9aE1N2H-0WMCpF6KOZQywNGsq3h0aomzRVE6hPrxMjzjlEPqWWFVui6j9Ob0FzUyVLlUju1304pO8HqMjp95L6owsQU9v92vqRn-mTf4KR-mT5n6vuKGvCwVY8mk/s1600/Bonk-and-Hedz-cover-3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidUbxV1Dmv7N5QwDK9aE1N2H-0WMCpF6KOZQywNGsq3h0aomzRVE6hPrxMjzjlEPqWWFVui6j9Ob0FzUyVLlUju1304pO8HqMjp95L6owsQU9v92vqRn-mTf4KR-mT5n6vuKGvCwVY8mk/s200/Bonk-and-Hedz-cover-3.jpg" width="131" /></a><br />
<br />
Hi, all,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidUbxV1Dmv7N5QwDK9aE1N2H-0WMCpF6KOZQywNGsq3h0aomzRVE6hPrxMjzjlEPqWWFVui6j9Ob0FzUyVLlUju1304pO8HqMjp95L6owsQU9v92vqRn-mTf4KR-mT5n6vuKGvCwVY8mk/s1600/Bonk-and-Hedz-cover-3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<br />
Today I want to talk about a cool way to read stuff... for cheap...or better, for free. It's called Smashwords. If you're a author, I probably don't need to tell you about Smashwords. But if you aren't, but like to read, you've may have never heard of it.<br />
<br />
Smashwords is a website authors use to put their ebooks onto Kindle, Nook, Sony, Ipad, etc. But the cool thing for someone who likes to read, it's a great source for free or cheap reads.<br />
<br />
Admittedly, some of the stuff on Smashwords is pretty bad. But I could say the same for Kindle or any book by James Patterson. But Smashwords has something Kindle and Nook doesn't. Multi-functional reader files.<br />
<br />
If you look up an ebook on Smashwords, you can either:<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;"><li>read the story on-line right there, </li>
<li>download a pdf file to your computer</li>
<li>download a Kindle file (once you download to your computer, just hook up your Kindle to your computer and drag the file into your Kindle).</li>
<li>download an <b>Epub</b> (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)</li>
<li>or just download it as a plain text</li>
</ol>In other words, it's all there, no matter how you want to read it (well, except a bound book - sorry).<br />
<br />
So now that I've clued you into Smashwords, here's the cool thing. Right now, I have four free short stories on Smashwords, Bonkers (caveman humor), <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/70878">Were </a>(a tick gets infected by a werewolf, <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95482">Mooned</a> (two pets witness their owner transform to a werewolf) and <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/79095">The Really Hot Adventures of Guy</a> (previously in the Heat of the Moment anthology).<br />
<br />
In addition, my first book, <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/78544">The Adventures of Guy</a>, is available absolutely free. <br />
<br />
If you like to read, you really should explore Smashwords. I suggest you start off by reading <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108824">Bonkers</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidUbxV1Dmv7N5QwDK9aE1N2H-0WMCpF6KOZQywNGsq3h0aomzRVE6hPrxMjzjlEPqWWFVui6j9Ob0FzUyVLlUju1304pO8HqMjp95L6owsQU9v92vqRn-mTf4KR-mT5n6vuKGvCwVY8mk/s1600/Bonk-and-Hedz-cover-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>Last thing. If you enjoy something you read on line, do the author a favor and rate the product. It helps. <br />
<br />
Norm<br />
http://www.normcowie.com<br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-82462623469764174852011-10-12T21:53:00.004-05:002011-10-12T22:02:47.370-05:00A letter to, from, to and to again... my Congressman (a political post)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It's time for a political blog!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(yay! clap, clap)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As many of you know, I write humor books, including some with a political emphasis (see Bonk & Hedz, my newest one), and I'm not seeing the humor right now in 9% unemployment, stagnated government, lies by corporate paid media, and government representing money instead of citizenry. I fully believe both parties are at fault, but one in particular is particularly obstructionist. I wrote to my Congressman, who is one of these obstructionists. You might enjoy his response, and my response to his response. I don't know if he will respond to my second letter, although I am hopeful.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It's pretty fun, and pretty much says what's going on out there right now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My initial letter </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">VIA FACSIMILE</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">September 27, 2011</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Congressman Adam Kinzinger</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">RE: Job growth and regulations and the health bill</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dear Representative Kinzinger;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I hope you’re enjoying your vacation. I live in your district and at least in theory you are my representative to the United States Congress. I was looking through your website, and I see nothing about what you personally have done to facilitate the growth of jobs. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I see you took great credit for the repeal of the 1099 bill, which as a financial executive of a 30 million dollar company I strongly applauded, but I have to question the alleged savings because these 1099 rules never went into effect. So how could this have any impact on federal spending or cutting taxes? On future spending, yes, it would have had an affect, but it didn’t affect current spending, so it’s not a reduction at all. Fuzzy math.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The thing notably absent in your website was your plan on creating jobs. I see you wagging a finger at the President for his plan, but where’s yours? You’ve been in this job for nearly two years, in a staggering economy, and what have you done to improve it? Getting rid of regulations? That won’t do it, and as far as the regulations that supposedly restrict business, see the attached* which shows the importance of regulating people who would deliberately injure people for a buck. And you can’t lower taxes on companies like GE, because, well, they didn’t pay any. Same for the others who moved jobs out of the country. And don’t get me started on subsidies to oil.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Due to your absolute lack of effort on the subject, at least get on the President’s plan which is an effort to improve things for the middle class, rather than simply sitting on the sidelines poking holes in any efforts to move us out of this mess. I watched the debates the other night, which showed the Republicans are simply out of touch with the middle class right now, witness Gov. Romney’s great plan for saving the middle class by reducing taxes on interest income, dividend income and capital gains.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Is he kidding? Interest income? Dividend income? Capital gains? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The middle class doesn’t have these things. All we want is a job, a decent salary to spend on products (which would spur the economy way more than cutting corporate taxes), a retirement with enough money to get by and our health. All things being viciously fought by special corporate interests who fund their pet politicians. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> As to the health bill you would like so much to repeal, one of my daughters is working for barely minimum wage and going half time college. Because of the bill, she doesn’t have to spend $200+ a month for health insurance, which otherwise she could not afford. And you want to take that away? Shame, sir. She can’t afford your politics.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The bottom line, please jump on board the jobs program, or I will do my best to actively make sure a true representative of the middle class replaces you next time you run for office.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Sincerely,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Norman Cowie </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(*See end of email string for the attachment I had sent to my letter)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Kinzinger’s response</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">September 28, 2011</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Congress of the United States</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">House of Representatives</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dear Mr. Cowie:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Thank you for taking the time to contact me to share your views regarding our nation’s urgent need for job growth and creation. By hearing your thoughts and concerns on the issues, I am better able to represent you in Congress.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Right now, Washington, D.C. is the greatest barrier in the way of private sector job growth. Uncertainty and unpredictability due to the threat of higher taxes, more debt, and excessive regulation keep businesses from hiring. In order to grow our economy, we need to empower businesses, America’s real job creators.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I have supported and the House of Representatives has passed numerous bills to reduce burdens on American businesses. H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act, eliminates costly and redundant Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements on farmers. H.R. 910, the Energy Prevention Tax Act, prevents the EPA from imposing back-door energy taxes that were voted down by Congress. H.R. 2587, the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act, prohibits the federal government from telling a company, such as Boeing, where it can and cannot create U.S. jobs. The Senate needs to take action on these and many other bills. They are just the first step to creating sustained and meaningful job growth in America. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> On September 8, 2011, President Obama proposed a jobs plan to Congress that uses the same failed policies that have prolonged our nation’s economic turmoil. In 2009, the President claimed that his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package would keep unemployment below 8%. After 31 months, unemployment remains above 9% and economic growth has been minimal. The simple truth is we cannot spend and tax ourselves to prosperity. Instead of another flawed stimulus bill, which includes an estimated $467 billion dollars in permanent tax increases, America needs a comprehensive economic strategy that will support sustained economic growth for years to come.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> There are elements of the President’s proposal on which we can find common ground and which should be implemented immediately. I agree that the first thing we must do its reform our corporate tax structure. American corporations face some of the highest tax rates in the world, ranging from 15 to 35 percent, and must navigate a complicated system of tax deductions and credits. Small businesses, the greatest source of new job creation, often end up paying an unfair share of corporate taxes, because large corporations have the resources and loopholes to avoid them. In this global economy, we need a competitive corporate tax rate the incentivizes businesses to keep their profits and jobs in America.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I also believe we need to pass the three pending trade agreements with Columbia, Panama, and South Korea. The National Association of Manufacturers reports that manufactured exports support 25 percent of Illinois’s manufacturing jobs with 90 percent of Illinois’s exporters being small businesses. These free trade agreements will create more jobs in Illinois and the country, yet they have been sitting on the President’s desk. The President needs to stop stalling American job growth and send these free trade agreements to Congress.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> America cannot afford more of the failed economic policies of the past. We need to get Washington out of the way so small businesses are empowered to grow and create jobs. Restoring our economic prosperity is not something that can be done from Washington and with the government in the way. It’s going to come from the Main Streets of our cities and towns, and created by our nation’s greatest resource: Her people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Please be assured that as Congress works to reduce our deficit and restore confidence in American businesses, I will keep your views in mind.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Again, thank you for contacting me. It is an honor to represent you in the U.S. House of Representatives. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Please do not hesitate to contact me if my office can be of assistance to you on any issue of importance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Sincerely,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Adam Kinzinger</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Member of Congress</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">P.S. For more information about my work in Congress, please visit <a href="https://owa.evergreenoak.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.kinzinger.house.gov" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">www.kinzinger.house.gov</span></a> and feel free to sign up to receive updates through my email newsletters.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My response to his response</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">October 6, 2011</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dear Representative Kinzinger;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I was pleasantly surprised to receive a response to my letter. While I have your ear, I’ll say I wholehearted agree with you that we need to avoid the ‘...failed economic policies of the past.’ I also agree with you that large corporations avoid the bulk of taxes. But the rest of your points demonstrate that politicians (and ex-heroes - congrats on that, by the way) live in a different world than the Middle Class. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> As I alluded to in my letter, I’m a financial executive with a multi-million dollar company, and I will tell you absolutely that fair regulations don’t burden us. What does burden us is when financial companies take bailouts and then refuse to put the money back into the economy. Why is no one being prosecuted for this? Likewise, taxes aren’t the issue either. If business would pick up, we could hire more employees, make more margin, and taxes wouldn’t deter that. Create more jobs and local governments wouldn’t have to frantically scramble for cash.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Besides being a business financial executive, I write an award-winning regular business column which was nationally recognized by the National Association of Credit Management. I give speeches and seminars. I was NACM-Midwest’s Credit Executive of the Year. For more than a decade, my bio was in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry and others. In other words, I have some idea of business.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I was always a Republican, but the party has deserted me, pushing me to the middle. The first President I ever voted for was Gerald Ford. I was an avid supporter of George Bush Sr. when he ran against Ronald Reagan in the primaries before Reagan became President. With more than a passing interest in economics, I agreed wholeheartedly with Bush when he called Reagan’s economic ideas ‘Voo-doo economics.’ I realize Reagan was a hero to you, but how can you ignore the fact that his tax cuts raised our National debt 50% in his first term and another 40% in his second? And history has shown that ‘trickle-down’ economics is a fallacy. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> In fact, historically, the National Debt goes up during Republican terms and down in Democratic (with the exception of the current Democratic President paying the bills of the former tenant of the White House). I don’t know how the National Debt became the rallying call of the party that has done most to raise it, including deregulating Wall Street to the point they crashed our economy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I like to evaluate both parties from the middle, and your ideas don’t work. On your website you lambasted the other party for ‘shut down politics?” Wasn’t that pretty hypocritical? And in your letter, you alluded to unemployment. Great point. More than a half million public employees have been laid off by Right-wing Governors on some kind of crusade to advance their own agendas including selling off public assets to benefit their backers. How is that ‘job creation’? Take these out, and unemployment is under 9%.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Raising personal taxes on the wealthy will go a long way to restoring our country. This will not hurt the economy, because these ‘job creators’ will then put more money into their businesses instead of into their pockets. The true job creators are the middle class. If they have more money in their pockets, they will pump it into the economy instead of a vacation home in Italy. So we need the jobs bill, and our representatives in Washington have to stop playing politics. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> If you want to really show your support for the people, how about introducing a bill that takes away life-time pensions and insurance for congressmen and senators? Or introduce one penalizing corporations for sending jobs overseas? Or push the Attorney General to arrest the Wall Street crooks? And stop fighting health care!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Sincerely</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Norman Cowie </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I forgot something and sent a third letter a couple minutes later</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Oct 6, 2011</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Congressman Adam Kinzinger</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As a post-script to my letter sent a few moments ago, as you are undoubtedly aware, sixteen of the wealthiest French citizens signed a petition asking their government to impose a special tax on them to reduce their deficit. The government responded introducing such a bill that will affect these French patriots.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Where are the American patriots?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Oh, that's right, they're hiding behind politicians</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Norman Cowie</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Here’s the attachment to my original letter (note: this mayor was never charged with a crime, but several officials of the Village were, and many documents implicated the mayor. Rarely did anything happen in the Village without his direct knowledge and direction)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://owa.evergreenoak.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://fangplace.blogspot.com/2011/09/note-to-my-poisoner.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">A note to my poisoner</span></b></a><b> </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
Someone poisoned me.<br />
<br />
Repeatedly, secretly, deliberately, and over a twenty year period.<br />
<br />
Worse, I know who did it, a guy named Chester Stranczek ... <br />
<br />
...and why ...<br />
<br />
...money.<br />
<br />
The poison: vinyl chloride, a colorless organic gas known to cause cancer and which is unsafe at any level.<br />
<br />
Chester Stranczek was a small town mayor... wait, I'll call him Chester, no, Chet, because though I never met the man personally, I might as well be on a first name basis with him because he personally affected my health with his slimy little plot.<br />
<br />
Here's the story. Crestwood Illinois is a small village near Chicago. A staunch Republican, Chet became its mayor in 1969 promising low taxes, continuously posting personal, hokey political messages for the town to read on a changeable sign in front of the hall. Any money saved on spending would be refunded to the townspeople, in person, by a grinning mayor who shook their hands as they came to pick up their money. Seriously, they had to pick it up personally from the mayor in a fantastic public relations ploy.<br />
<br />
And they loved it, and him - at least the seniors did. The village and seniors thrived, though his penny pinching ways doomed the village's children to small, barely sustained libraries, schools and play areas. But that didn't matter to Chet, because kids can't vote and don't pay taxes. Read <a href="https://owa.evergreenoak.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://readingonwaldenblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/01/crestwood-mayor-chester-stranczek-americas-best-small-town-mayor-plans-to-resign/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">this</span></a> article someone wrote gushing about Chet. Then read on.<br />
<br />
Yep, people loved their Republican mayor, and no one bothered to run against him at re-election time. And Chet continued to take care of the elderly with a miserly nod to the young of the town.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Chet discovered a great new way to save money. The water the village was bringing in from Lake Michigan was a bit pricy, so why not supplement the water with water from an old well that had been closed down by the EPA due to its unsafe drinking water? Who'd notice, huh? The well had been contaminated by vinyl chloride leached into its system from an old dry-cleaning operation. I mean, sure, the water wasn't safe, but it was free. And if they noticed, so what, they were saving money, right?<br />
<br />
So Chet started feeding this contaminated water into Crestwood's drinking water, saving the citizens hundreds of dollars in water bills. And no, he didn't tell anyone, and they trusted him, because after all, he was Chester, their wonderful mayor. This went on for twenty years.<br />
<br />
People started getting sick. Bad stuff. Cancers, leukemia, nasty stuff. And as the numbers of people with cancer starting reaching alarming levels, the EPA took notice, investigated, and discovered Chet's little plot.<br />
<br />
Of course, by the time they discovered this, Chet had already gone off to Florida to enjoy his retirement, having handled the reins to his son who was mayor now. So the son was run out of town, the well closed and sealed and Chet's off drinking pina coladas in Florida while I, who drank eighty cups of Crestwood contaminated coffee every day, examine my bald spot to try and determine if my hair loss is genetic or something that vinyl chloride had a hand in. <br />
<br />
See, the moral of this story is we need the Environmental Protection Agency. I know a certain party is doing its best to convince people we don't need 'Big Government,' but for me, I need to know there's someone out there watching over the Chets of the world. The ones who will knowingly poison someone for a buck.<br />
<br />
I don't trust corporations to take care of their own emissions. I believe the polar bears are swimming where there used to be ice. I don't trust Big Oil to drill responsibly in a a manner that won't wipe out wildlife. I don't trust politicians who take money and then vote the way they are paid. I want regulators watching Wall Street. See what happened to our economy when regulations were relaxed? We crashed. They're trying to put their greedy little paws into our retirement income now. They aren't trying to save us anything, they just want to siphon billions in fees and administrative costs off the top.<br />
<br />
But that's another story.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I'll keep checking out my stool samples for signs of blood.<br />
<br />
Oh, and Chet? Enjoy your retirement, you SOB.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-16850101829341506842011-10-04T19:25:00.003-05:002011-10-04T19:27:51.152-05:00Not a Dresden wannabe ... a Dresden just-as-good-as<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533378-hounded" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Hounded (Iron Druid Chronicles, #1)" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xgF5-9zSL._SX106_.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533378-hounded">Hounded</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4414255.Kevin_Hearne">Kevin Hearne</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/219013957">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Here's the thing... my favorite series ... of all ... is Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Yes, he beats out Hitchhiker's Guide... and Lee Child's Reacher novels, Evanovich's Plum wackiness.<br />
<br />
Dresden beat them all in my book...or, er, the books all beat them out in my book, ... er,not my books, like the ones I wrote ... but...<br />
<br />
Never mind that.<br />
<br />
Anyway, the problem with Dresden is Butcher can't crank them out as fast as I can read them. So what to do between Dresden books? Well, there's Child, Evanovich, Adams and all of them, but still, I start going into Dresden withdrawal.<br />
<br />
And then I discovered Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles.<br />
<br />
Stop, I know what you're going to say. "iron druid," yeah, pretty bad.<br />
<br />
But the books are awesome, like Dresden, but not like Dresden. There are so many comparisons, like snarkiness, cool special effects (well, in a book way), fun likable characters, a cool dog, sexy sidekick ... <br />
<br />
Some people might be bugged that they are too similar, but it works for me. They are just awesome.<br />
<br />
Get all three: Hexed, Hounded, Hammered, and whatever future book he writes!<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com%3cbr%3e/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.normcowie.com</a><br />
<br />
fantasy/humor author<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/971750-norm">View all my reviews</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-59374333380814042212011-10-02T10:53:00.002-05:002011-10-02T10:53:32.926-05:00Heads You Lose book review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9556239-heads-you-lose" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Heads You Lose" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1288293192m/9556239.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9556239-heads-you-lose">Heads You Lose</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/74189.Lisa_Lutz">Lisa Lutz</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/169689266">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Hah, I just saw this in my 'currently reading' file at Goodreads, though I finished it months ago. So here's a belated rating (based entirely on faulty, balky, demented memory).<br />
<br />
Here's the thing. I loved all of Lisa Lutz's Spellman books, which were as fun and wacky as anything Evanovich put out (I recommend both authors whole-heartedly and even whole-kidneyly).<br />
<br />
But this book falls a bit short, mostly due to her partner, David Hayward, who is also Lutz's ex-boyfriend, emphasis on the 'ex.' <br />
<br />
The story was a bit lackluster, with chunks of 'why did they say that?' (mostly from him)... but that said, I really, really recommend this book. And here's why.<br />
<br />
Capitalizing on their 'ex' status, they alternated writing chapters, never telling the other where they were going, what they intended, and at the end of each chapter as they lobbed the WIP at the other, they would defy, demand, reparte, accost and insult the other to do a better job, or stop killing off their favorite not-yet-developed characters.<br />
<br />
In other words, the emails back and forth at the end of each chapter were a hoot, and made the book not just worthwhile, but fun (two of the stars on my rating are entirely accountable to this).<br />
<br />
So if you're looking for a great book, don't get this one. But if you like insults and snark, get it.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.normcowie.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/971750-norm">View all my reviews</a><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-35401597439684632042011-09-27T08:54:00.000-05:002011-09-27T08:54:22.661-05:00My letter to my Congressman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I sent the following to my Congressman (with little hope of getting a response). Included with the letter was my previous post on how the mayor of a town knowingly poisoned me - and everyone else in town - by deliberately feeding vinyl chloride-infected water into the water supply.<br />
<br />
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Congressman Adam Kinzinger</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">RE: Job growth and regulations and the health bill</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear Representative Kinzinger;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I hope you’re enjoying your vacation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I live in your district, and at least in theory you are my representative to the United States Congress. I was looking through your website, and I see nothing about what you personally have done to facilitate the growth of jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I see you took great credit for the repeal of the 1099 bill, which as a financial executive of a 30 million dollar company I strongly applauded, but I have to question the alleged savings because these 1099 rules never went into effect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So how could this have any impact on federal spending or cutting taxes? On future spending, yes, it would have had an affect, but it didn’t affect current spending, so it’s not a reduction at all. Fuzzy math.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The thing notably absent in your website was your plan on creating jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see you wagging a finger at the President for his plan, but where’s yours?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ve been in this job for nearly two years, in a staggering economy, and what have you done to improve it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Getting rid of regulations?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That won’t do it, and as far as the regulations that supposedly restrict business, see the attached which shows the importance of regulating people who would deliberately injure people for a buck. And you can’t lower taxes on companies like GE, because, well, they didn’t pay any. Same for the others who moved jobs out of the country. And don’t get me started on subsidies to oil.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Due to your absolute lack of effort on the subject, at least get on the President’s plan which is an effort to improve things for the middle class, rather than simply sitting on the sidelines poking holes in any efforts to move us out of this mess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I watched the debates the other night, which showed the Republicans are simply out of touch with the middle class right now, witness Gov. Romney’s great plan for saving the middle class by reducing taxes on interest income, dividend income and capital gains.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Is he kidding?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interest income? Dividend income? Capital gains?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The middle class doesn’t have these things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All we want is a job, a decent salary to spend on products (which would spur the economy way more than cutting corporate taxes), a retirement with enough money to get by and our health. All things being viciously fought by special corporate interests who fund their pet politicians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As to the health bill you would like so much to repeal, one of my daughters is working for barely minimum wage and going half time college. Because of the bill, she doesn’t have to spend $200+ a month for health insurance, which otherwise she could not afford. And you want to take that away? Shame, sir. She can’t afford your politics.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The bottom line, please jump on board the jobs program, or I will do my best to actively make sure a true representative of the middle class replaces you next time you run for office.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sincerely,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Norman Cowie<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-38643198126971905582011-09-25T09:01:00.000-05:002011-09-25T09:01:50.352-05:00A note to my poisoner<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<br />
Someone poisoned me.<br />
<br />
Repeatedly, secretly, deliberately, and over a twenty year period.<br />
<br />
Worse, I know who did it, a guy named Chester Stranczek ... <br />
<br />
...and why ...<br />
<br />
...money.<br />
<br />
The poison: vinyl chloride, a colorless organic gas known to cause cancer and which is unsafe at any level.<br />
<br />
Chester Stranczek was a small town mayor... wait, I'll call him Chester, no, Chet, because though I never met the man personally, I might as well be on a first name basis with him because he personally affected my health with his slimy little plot.<br />
<br />
Here's the story. Crestwood Illinois is a small village near Chicago. A staunch Republican, Chet became its mayor in 1969 promising low taxes, continuously posting personal, hokey political messages for the town to read on a changeable sign in front of the hall. Any money saved on spending would be refunded to the townspeople, in person, by a grinning mayor who shook their hands as they came to pick up their money. Seriously, they had to pick it up personally from the mayor in a fantastic public relations ploy.<br />
<br />
And they loved it, and him - at least the seniors did. The village and seniors thrived, though his penny pinching ways doomed the village's children to small, barely sustained libraries, schools and play areas. But that didn't matter to Chet, because kids can't vote and don't pay taxes. Read <a href="http://readingonwaldenblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/01/crestwood-mayor-chester-stranczek-americas-best-small-town-mayor-plans-to-resign/">this</a> article someone wrote gushing about Chet. Then read on.<br />
<br />
Yep, people loved their Republican mayor, and no one bothered to run against him at re-election time. And Chet continued to take care of the elderly with a miserly nod to the young of the town.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Chet discovered a great new way to save money. The water the village was bringing in from Lake Michigan was a bit pricy, so why not supplement the water with water from an old well that had been closed down by the EPA due to its unsafe drinking water? Who'd notice, huh? The well had been contaminated by vinyl chloride leached into its system from an old dry-cleaning operation. I mean, sure, the water wasn't safe, but it was free. And if they noticed, so what, they were saving money, right?<br />
<br />
So Chet started feeding this contaminated water into Crestwood's drinking water, saving the citizens hundreds of dollars in water bills. And no, he didn't tell anyone, and they trusted him, because after all, he was Chester, their wonderful mayor. This went on for twenty years.<br />
<br />
People started getting sick. Bad stuff. Cancers, leukemia, nasty stuff. And as the numbers of people with cancer starting reaching alarming levels, the EPA took notice, investigated, and discovered Chet's little plot.<br />
<br />
Of course, by the time they discovered this, Chet had already gone off to Florida to enjoy his retirement, having handled the reins to his son who was mayor now. So the son was run out of town, the well closed and sealed and Chet's off drinking pina coladas in Florida while I, who drank eighty cups of Crestwood contaminated coffee every day, examine my bald spot to try and determine if my hair loss is genetic or something that vinyl chloride had a hand in. <br />
<br />
See, the moral of this story is we need the Environmental Protection Agency. I know a certain party is doing its best to convince people we don't need 'Big Government,' but for me, I need to know there's someone out there watching over the Chets of the world. The ones who will knowingly poison someone for a buck.<br />
<br />
I don't trust corporations to take care of their own emissions. I believe the polar bears are swimming where there used to be ice. I don't trust Big Oil to drill responsibly in a a manner that won't wipe out wildlife. I don't trust politicians who take money and then vote the way they are paid. I want regulators watching Wall Street. See what happened to our economy when regulations were relaxed? We crashed. They're trying to put their greedy little paws into our retirement income now. They aren't trying to save us anything, they just want to siphon billions in fees and administrative costs off the top.<br />
<br />
But that's another story.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I'll keep checking out my stool samples for signs of blood.<br />
<br />
Oh, and Chet? Enjoy your retirement, you SOB.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
(hey, did this depress you? if so, lighten up and read my political humor book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bonk-caveman-woman-story-ebook/dp/B00572N0W6">Bonk & Hedz, a caveman... and woman ... story</a>)<br />
<br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-60824990093659644302011-09-12T08:09:00.000-05:002011-09-12T08:09:50.734-05:009/11 - We lost the warAs I was driving into work today, listening to the aftermath of yesterday's observations and prayers for the 9/11 victims, it occurred to me that the terrorists won. They got what they wanted, well, a lot of it.<br />
<br />
Since 9/11, we lost many of our freedoms. X-rays at airports are more invasive than ever. The government can listen to our cell phone calls, invade our privacy, intrude without warrants. We're spending billions, no, trillions on Iraq and Afghanistan, and our economy sank to Depression levels. Lobbyists and politicians latched onto 9/11 for personal gain. While the economy faltered, Halliburton got fat. Well, fatter. No, more like obese.<br />
<br />
And gas? Well, we still need it. Why? Because lobbyists for Big Oil own the parts of our politicians not already in the pockets of pharmaceuticals and Defense. The unholy trinity of drugs, defense and Wall Street feed and prey on our weaknesses. <br />
<br />
If it weren't for oil, we wouldn't care about the Middle East. It would just be a big desert wasteland of no importance to us. Instead our warships patrol the seas, protecting oil tankers at US taxpayer expense, while pirates terrorize unprotected American citizens just out for a vacation sail.<br />
<br />
Gas costs over four bucks here in Chicagoland. Can someone please explain why we can build an Ipad, but we can't improve on the internal combustion engine invented over 100 years ago? Did you ever see the documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?"? Watch that film, which shows we had the technology to get away from gas and oil decades ago.<br />
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And why, when our economy is a shambles, does a certain segment of our political leadership absolutely refuse to cut Defense, preferring instead to cut everything important to the poor and middle class?<br />
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Why does this same political leadership refuse to let Medicaid negotiate the price of drugs, which would drastically lower the costs overall to the American taxpayer?<br />
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Bought and sold, that's why.<br />
<br />
And while these same politicians claim they want smaller government, they used 9/11 as an excuse to create Homeland Security, the (misnamed) Patriot Act and other Federal agencies, so they could restrict our freedom, all under the guise of protecting us from terrorists. <br />
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The parts of the government they want to shrink are those parts that protect Americans. The EPA (clean air and environment, so they can pollute to their hearts' content), financial regulation (so they can take our money without government intervention). Do you know why the price of gas is over $4? It's not because of a shortage in oil. It's because of Wall Street speculators.<br />
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In other words, they want to watch us, but they don't want anyone watching them.<br />
<br />
9/11 just gave certain special interests excuse for free rein to take away our money and our rights ... and for what?<br />
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So they can have their corporate jets, not pay taxes, pollute the world, and just not give a shit about their fellow man ... or that polar bear swimming around where there used to be ice.<br />
<br />
The terrorists got what they wanted. A less free America, a financially crippled America, a war-weary-just-sick-of-it-all America. And our own in-house terrorists helped them along.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
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http://www.normcowie.com<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-47465896082005057162011-09-05T10:53:00.000-05:002011-09-05T10:53:50.065-05:00Kiss this book goodbye...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8782261-kiss-her-goodbye" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Kiss Her Goodbye" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298539040m/8782261.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8782261-kiss-her-goodbye">Kiss Her Goodbye</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/50948.Mickey_Spillane">Mickey Spillane</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/205435352">1 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
Max Allan Collins ... super-author<br/>Mike Hammer... iconic character<br/><br/>Mix these two fantastic ingredients, and voila... a tepid, meandering mess that couldn't carry me to page fifty.<br/><br/>I've loved movies based on Max Allan Collins books, I even met him in a bar at an author conference, and a few of my friends (Joe Konrath) know him, so I was excited to put my hands on this book. So much for that expectation.<br/><br/>Having never read a Mike Hammer book probably hurt, because if I had read earlier works then I might have understood the fawning attention other characters lavished on Hammer. But that shouldn't matter. Any book should be good enough to catch and keep your attention, be it the first book in a series, or a later book cobbled together by another, albeit superstar author. This one felt saccharine and contrived, at least through the first fifty pages.<br/><br/>I'm old enough now that I won't waste my time finishing a book just to see if it will turn and finally hook me 100 pages in. And as a fellow, though far less known author, I don't have the luxury of being able to write books that don't get your attention right off the bat.<br/><br/>So for me, time lost that I'll never recover. I won't compound my mistake by reading the rest of the book.<br/><br/>Norm<br/><br/><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.normcowie.com">http://www.normcowie.com</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/971750-norm">View all my reviews</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-33396090837641328512011-08-23T20:50:00.000-05:002011-08-23T20:50:42.625-05:00I blew out a flipflop .. so where's the damned margarita?<a href="http://amzn.to/r1TtW2">http://amzn.to/r1TtW2</a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFv0DJuQGM10zBOq6WX9MnQZmWcXL9NoBwq8YL7S9Nj97lPhN-cHUZKwEA9yKakk_ttD6nUu0x4lo5WazROVW5ytrAhI3Esg4yIf7CczFxnbt6jfepaQnF0v4ApomRqrLDqMgc00gjf60/s1600/broken+flipflop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFv0DJuQGM10zBOq6WX9MnQZmWcXL9NoBwq8YL7S9Nj97lPhN-cHUZKwEA9yKakk_ttD6nUu0x4lo5WazROVW5ytrAhI3Esg4yIf7CczFxnbt6jfepaQnF0v4ApomRqrLDqMgc00gjf60/s320/broken+flipflop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I can't tell you how many times I heard Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville without ever appreciating the emotional, devastating angst of when he stepped on a beer tab and blew out his flipflop. I mean, it sounds funny, and I grinned picturing it.<br />
<br />
(wait a sec...let me freshen up my wine glass ...)<br />
<br />
*** ELEVATOR MUSIC ***<br />
<br />
(okay, sorry, I'm back. Found some chips and salsa, too. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, emotional trauma)<br />
<br />
Back to my story. So there I was, surrounded by palm trees...well, I was in LAX, not Florida... his story takes place in Florida, right. Anyway, I was trying to get an early flight back to Illinois, but couldn't. So I'm stuck in California. Yeah, I know, there are worse places than California, huh. Like maybe Waterloo, Iowa.<br />
<br />
So get reservations at the LAX Ramada, no, Raddison... Radison? Radish? Anyway ...<br />
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(dammit, there's a fly buzzing around me. Must want my salsa. Get out of here!)<br />
<br />
Where was I? Oh, yeah, LAX. Oh, and how come there aren't good looking stewardesses anymore? Are they all off cheerleading for XFL teams or something?<br />
<br />
Sorry.<br />
<br />
So I've got my reservations, and I'm tired, just want to sleep, and I head off to the bus shuttle to the hotel. Some blonde skinny pierced chick sees my yellow reservation hotel slip and she says, "hey, do you know where the shuttle.."<br />
<br />
Before I could answer, it happened.<br />
<br />
Yep, total flipflop blowout.<br />
<br />
(wait a sec while I load some salsa.)<br />
<br />
*** crunch, crunch, wine slurp ***<br />
<br />
Damned good salsa, made with tomatoes, green peppers and onions all from my own garden. Good stuff.<br />
<br />
Back to the story. Yeah, somehow the toe of my left flipflop caught on one of the rugs near the exit of the airport. It ripped up the cloth that went between my big toe and its second lieutenant. So the flipflop was just hanging there suspended from the loops that go over the sides of my foot.<br />
<br />
Blonde pierced chick was looking at me, so I tried taking a step. And couldn't. That one tiny broken part of the flipflop invalidated the whole of the rest of the flipflop, making it totally unsuitable and unsuited for travel. It wasn't gonna go anywhere.<br />
<br />
I tried walking, but it was like a horse with a broken leg. The flipflop just dangled from my foot, refusing to get back into its flipflop position. I leaned over and tried to tuck the cloth in between my toes, but no dice. Nothing. I tried to tie it around the toe, but it wasn't having it either.<br />
<br />
Giving pierced chick an apologetic look, I headed off to find a flipflop store. And I found out there wasn't one...at least on this side of Security. And I wasn't going back through the 'let's see Norm's innards' x-ray machine. So I walked barefoot to the shuttle and went to the hotel. Once there, I knew barefoot wasn't going to cut it anymore, so I put on the flop (there was no longer any flip to it), and shambled along to the reservation desk. After signing in, I found out where the gift shop was, and shambled that way sliding my foot like a new-born zombie.<br />
<br />
Gasping, I limped into the gift shop and said to the pregnant girl chomping gum at the counter, "Where are your flipflops?"<br />
<br />
It was California, surely this was a given.<br />
<br />
Sure enough, she languidly pointed to a remote corner and I shuffled over. Ah, a veritable paradise of flipflops.<br />
<br />
All sizes.<br />
<br />
All colors.<br />
<br />
All uniquely crafted.<br />
<br />
And ... all female.<br />
<br />
And now I realize why Jimmy Buffett needed the margarita after busting his.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
Hey, I have a new book out! Bonk & Hedz, caveman humor. Get it on Kindle for less than $2<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bonk-caveman-woman-story-ebook/dp/B00572N0W6">http://www.amazon.com/Bonk-caveman-woman-story-ebook/dp/B00572N0W6</a><br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-50252159098314643722011-08-04T20:18:00.000-05:002011-08-04T20:18:16.891-05:00Nookie, and a bit of Were<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA9VSoVqgBYb_IofnukW4t1YTdfW43t1dYjrXM1CrHWRw98PljgC13deGU8-emTpeiYZuM598JSCPq_BDCJdl9nImE_KtiXrgx9DE57dpL3SlgtZZ7b7LILXKRScFhOcWVZqRlwQmqngM/s1600/were+cover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA9VSoVqgBYb_IofnukW4t1YTdfW43t1dYjrXM1CrHWRw98PljgC13deGU8-emTpeiYZuM598JSCPq_BDCJdl9nImE_KtiXrgx9DE57dpL3SlgtZZ7b7LILXKRScFhOcWVZqRlwQmqngM/s1600/were+cover.jpeg" /></a></div>I've been sort of weirdly busy lately. No, not writing books. But fortunately, I'm cranking out the books at a rate I'm happy with ... two books within a year, Bonk & Hedz and WereWoof, so I don't mind the wasted time so much if it gets more of my products on the shelves. I'm up to six books now. <br />
<br />
What's consuming me now has been getting them into salable (salable?) format. Making them available as ebooks in Kindle, Nook, Sony and anywhere else that puts it into peoples' hands.<br />
<br />
Kindle is easy. But getting the book into Nook is harder. There's a site called Smashwords, but whipping the formatting into shape often ends up with me feeling like the whip-ee instead. But I think...maybe... I have it figured out. I successfully put WereWoof into Nook, and it seems like Bonk & Hedz and The Adventures of Guy will be on soon. At least I hope so. It seems to take a bit of time for Smashwords to appear in the Barnes & Noble's system, so I'll keep checking. <br />
<br />
One of my test stories for Smashwords was my short story Were. It's fun and free. Check it out here <br />
<a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/70878">http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/70878</a><br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-18888980905726029762011-07-27T22:19:00.003-05:002011-07-28T10:07:56.346-05:00Political Commercial<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I usually don't use my blog for anything other than my book information, even though some of my books (at least my adult books) definitely skirt political issues ... usually those things that my characters find patently ridiculous about politics (which is about everything about it).<br />
<br />
But I'm going to make an exception .. because of what's going on with the debt ceiling crisis, and more particularly, President Obama's speech the other night and Speaker of the House Boehner's infuriating response.<br />
<br />
Some of what I say may cause people to 'unfriend' me, or whatever, but I'm willing to take that chance as long as they read what I say first.<br />
<br />
I'm a registered Republican. The first President I voted for was Gerald Ford, a Republican. I voted for George Bush Sr. in the primaries up to when he lost to Reagan and then became his VP. I liked Bush because he called Reagan's 'trickle-down' economic ideas 'Voo-Doo Economics.' Bush was right. He served as a two term VP to Reagan and I patiently waited for him to ascend to President and go back to his pre-Reagan economic plan. He won but he didn't go back economically, and that's when the Republican Party began to desert me.<br />
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So while they journeyed right, I stayed where I was and Clinton came along and got my vote. He took the three trillion dollar plus debt that Reagan and Bush saddled us with and he balanced the budget! In fact, he left Bush Jr. with a surplus! I voted for Gore and imagine if he had won. Cleaner air, higher taxes on the rich, and we'd probably still be in great shape.<br />
<br />
Instead, Bush gobbled the entire surplus up with his wars (don't get me started on Halliburton and Cheney) and tax cuts, and ran the National Debt higher than all of the Presidents before him ... COMBINED. With the tax cuts, the rich got richer and the Middle Class essentially vanished. The deregulations in finance led to banks going wild, playing with our money, and when they crashed they took our economy (and most of my 401k) down with them. Then we bailed them out and asked them to stimulate the economy, but they kept the money instead.<br />
<br />
We never asked for it back, we never prosecuted anyone ... it just went into their pockets.<br />
<br />
Now the billionaire Koch brothers (owners of conglomerates, Georgia Pacific, et. al.), stepped in because with a Democratic President and Senate, they knew that restoring the tax cuts would mean cutting into their stash of money (a note here, the 400 wealthiest Americans have as much wealth as the bottom 150,000,000 Americans).<br />
<br />
Anyway, the Kochs knew if they control the media (Fox), and kept saying the same things over and over again, middle class Republicans would rally to them. Middle Class Republicans like catchy sayings.<br />
<br />
On that note, here's something Rush Limbaugh said the other day. He said there's no such thing as Global Warming. He said it just feels warmer than in the old days because we have air conditioners now.<br />
<br />
Um. Maybe we should ship a few of those air conditioners up to the polar bears swimming around in what used to be ice.<br />
<br />
Anyway, the Koch brothers actually got a bunch of their Republican Governors together and launched a massive plan to sell/privatize government assets, strip unions of bargaining power and basically rid themselves of the Democrats, once and for all. They used their Republican-nominated Supreme Court to agree that Corporations can pay whatever they want politically under the guise of 'free speech.' And they took over the media. So while a hundred media covered a twenty person Tea Party rally in Washington, the same media totally ignored hundreds of thousands of angry Wisconsin citizens who closed down their capital. And the same media is ignoring as the right wing Wisconsin politicians are being recalled left and right.<br />
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Yes, people are finally awakening to the Corporate agenda led by the Koch Brothers and their stooges.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I sent the following letter to my Republican Congressman today, with a copy going to Speaker Boehner. I don't expect them to respond:<br />
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Dear Representative XXXX<br />
<br />
You are my Representative in Washington, and frankly, I don't feel very represented right now.<br />
<br />
You and your colleagues are jeopardizing my daughters' futures, my financial future and our country's financial future with your grandiose scheme to hold our nation hostage in the interest of advancing a political cause that isn't supported by the majority of Americans.<br />
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People who know anything about history and economics know that Social Security has nothing to do with the National Debt. And anyone with a memory knows that most of the current National Debt was racked up by the wars and by the bailout made necessary by financial deregulation, rather, than as the Speaker of the House tried to say, the health bill. In fact, Mr. Boehner was conspicuously silent on the true causes of the deficit in his address to the Nation in what was a transparent attempt to shift blame.<br />
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So for Congress to use this same National Debt to risk our nation's debt standing, and on the way jeopardizing mortgage, installment, charge card and student loan interest rates is abhorrent.<br />
<br />
If you have any plans of being a true leader, you should introduce a bill calling for all Congressmen, Senators, President and other elected national leaders to sacrifice your own government pensions and government health plans, since all of you can afford to get by without these easier than we shrinking members of the middle class can.<br />
<br />
Anyway, for now, just raise the debt ceiling as it should have happened automatically to pay the bills Congress already incurred. Or at the very least, take Social Security off the table because it's completely unrelated to the mess at hand.<br />
<br />
Signed,<br />
Norm Cowie<br />
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So that's my two cents. A lot of my friends are Republicans. I don't hate them for disagreeing with me. I think though, that they disagree because they are misinformed (deliberately, I might add). They just don't realize that if they make less than $250k, their Party doesn't represent their interests. And I think it's clearer today than ever.<br />
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And what are my credentials you might ask. Fair enough. I'm a Vice President Finance of a multi-million dollar company. I've been a leader in the credit community for twenty seven years, with expertise in economics and finance. I write an award winning bi-monthly article in a credit magazine and was Credit Executive of the Year with the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Credit Management. If that's not enough, I'm a good swimmer (grin).<br />
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Feel free to copy it and send to your elected officials, or forward to your friends, or unfriend me. You have the right to do any of these, because this is, after all, America.<br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-43003296375509330542011-07-02T21:46:00.000-05:002011-07-02T21:46:50.909-05:00Formatting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Writers Block?<br />
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Hah, never had it. Writing isn't difficult.<br />
<br />
But I've been beating my head against something called 'formatting.' I'm trying to get my books all into electronic format, with varying degrees of success.<br />
<br />
As of right now, the only one that's formatted correctly is Fang Face. And there's a reason for that ... my publisher did it. The only other one without a format issue is The Next Adventures of Guy .. mostly because my first publisher is from the cave days and doesn't offer any of their authors' books on Kindle or Nook. Which is one of the reasons I refused to renew The Adventures of Guy with them when they asked.<br />
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In the last three months I've tried putting four books on Kindle. Well, I succeeded with all four, but I don't like some of the format issues. And I've totally struck out with Smashwords, because their more ticklish system simply rejected my efforts to put in WereWoof, which would put the book in Nook and other places.<br />
<br />
But now I'm hopeful I have the formatting issues straightened out, and to test it, I'm putting my short story, Were on Smashwords right now as a free short story ebook. As we speak, I'm moving further up Smashword's queue, and I'm crossing my fingers that when I wake up in the morning, I'll find out it was successful.<br />
<br />
If not, I might pull out one of my remaining hairs. If it was successful, I'm going to format WereWoof, The Adventures of Guy, The Guy'd Book and Bonk & Hedz so that they all look great under both Smashwords and Kindle.<br />
<br />
So wish me luck!<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/">www.normcowie.com</a> <br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-85131237466251084642011-06-20T22:00:00.000-05:002011-06-20T22:00:22.931-05:00To Publish or Not to Publish<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Okay, so here's something cool. I started writing <i>Bonk & Hedz</i> the first week of December and finished it 71 days later. Now it's just over six months from the first day I started writing and I already submitted it to Kindle and Create Space.<br />
<br />
How different is that than when my first book came out? I signed a contract with a traditional publisher and the book hit the streets about a year later. And that publisher is so behind the times, they still don't offer their books on Kindle or B&N. <br />
<br />
There's a revolution going on in the publishing world, led by people like <a href="http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/">Joe Konrath</a> and Barry Eisler who champion self-publishing and spreading stuff all over the e-world. <br />
<br />
But the publishers and agents have their own champions like <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ut6p24SNhskJ:mikecanex.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/joe-konrath-needs-to-shut-the-fuck-up/+joe+konrath&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com">Mike Cane</a> who wrote the elegantly and delicately phrased blog titled "Joe Konrath Needs to Shut the F**k Up" (follow his link if you don't believe me). And Cane rather staunchly defends the old publishing formula.<br />
<br />
For me, I'm keeping a foot in each world. I have had three traditionally published books, which enabled me to qualify for full (rather than associate) membership in The Mystery Writers of America and SCBWI, and, who knows, maybe my membership in Missouri's Guild had some strings attached to it.<br />
<br />
But I'm also moving into the self-publishing world, aka 'indie publishing', whereas it's more like the wild west. There's no vetting of books. Anyone can be an author, and in less time than it took for me to get Bonk and Hedz into the current.<br />
<br />
And some of those books are truly horrid. There's a reason publishers and agents rejected the books.<br />
<br />
Here's why I think that doesn't matter. First of all, that's what previewing is all about. The wonderful thing about ebooks is, at least with Kindle, you can download the fist twenty or so pages before spending your hard earned buck, or, in some cases, 99 cents.<br />
<br />
But most of the traditionally published books I've sold seem to have been because I had some kind of hand in personally promoting them. Sad, but true. My small press publishers didn't really add a whole lot to the effort. So why should someone else get a cut, adding cost to the book (my author copies, too), and being the decision makers on everything, be it pricing, publication date, distribution and cover?<br />
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For the validation? Yeah, maybe, a little. But I think I'm done being validated. I want to sell books. I want to make my books available for the public, for a reasonable amount not dictated by someone else, and I want my efforts to count.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFv7v-SWDY24zc8W05bqnyBtn3oWmV5D05ZQqSgjBaHbC9bI4Z8R-oXUXytLxLY92MGomWIp2-9G613rfXcNWJPQzv9bWvKN6X1_YbddxyFMUrjM4pCtRQCL5oRMGQB75bAqeHsx7FLk/s1600/Bonk-and-Hedz-cover-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFv7v-SWDY24zc8W05bqnyBtn3oWmV5D05ZQqSgjBaHbC9bI4Z8R-oXUXytLxLY92MGomWIp2-9G613rfXcNWJPQzv9bWvKN6X1_YbddxyFMUrjM4pCtRQCL5oRMGQB75bAqeHsx7FLk/s320/Bonk-and-Hedz-cover-3.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>When Bonk & Hedz is through Kindle's set-up process, it's going to carry a price tag of ninety nine cents on Kindle. I couldn't do that with my publisher. And later, if I like, I can increase the price. It's all up to me. Someone could buy Bonk & Hedz, The Adventures of Guy (originally traditionally published), The Guy'd Book and WereWoof for a total of less than three bucks, three more if they want to get Fang Face.<br />
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In other words, seven dollars would put five of my books in your Kindle. Make that six books and eight dollars when the rights to The Next Adventures of Guy revert back to me sometime in the next half a year. <br />
<br />
So for now, the word is publish. I shall publish. And my next one is ... Bonk & Hedz.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
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Get my books <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Anorm%20cowie&page=1">here </a><br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-64825756210796975182011-05-29T13:41:00.000-05:002011-05-29T13:41:01.157-05:00The Case for Free ... or for 99 centsAs some of you may know, since <a href="http://www.amazon.com/WereWoof-ebook/dp/B004U35APS/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306692776&sr=1-1">WereWoof</a> came out I've been giving it away to anyone who asked for it. Free PDF's. <br />
<br />
Why give a book away? Well, to sell more of them. In a weird, perverse, goofy kind of way, it seems to be working. WereWoof is outselling my other books this month, and is currently my highest rated book.<br />
<br />
Weird, huh?<br />
<br />
The ratings aren't going out of the roof or anything, but the key is if you create buzz, people will come take a look. <br />
<br />
But it all comes down to the quality of the work. Lately, I've downloaded a few books into my Kindle to 'check out' some intriguing self-published books, and I've been largely disappointed by the works. Shoddy editing, poorly constructed phrases, awkward scenes. In other words, there's some crap out there.<br />
<br />
So in the rush for everyone to dump their books into the e-world, we've lost some of the quality assurance that keeps the pot clean for other dishes. I recently downloaded one that the author claims was edited and re-edited, poured over by his reading book and vetted by just about everyone.<br />
<br />
Oh yeah? Well, then all of them missed some very obvious grammatical goofs, and the dialogue was strained at best.<br />
<br />
Does this mean ebooks suck? No, not even close, but many of them do.<br />
<br />
But here's what I REALLY, REALLY like about ebooks. Samples. You can download a sample of a book and read it before buying it. I love samples. If I want to check on an author's stuff, but am overloaded on reading projects, I just download a sample of his/her book into my Kindle, and later, when I'm not so busy, I read the sample. If I like what I read there, I download the whole book.<br />
<br />
So for now, my books are inexpensively priced on Kindle. A buck will buy you The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Adventures-of-Guy-ebook/dp/B004PLNORQ/ref=sr_1_5_title_1_ke?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306692776&sr=1-5">Adventures of Guy</a>, which was originally traditionally published. A buck will buy you <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Guyd-Book-ebook/dp/B003DA4BPE/ref=sr_1_3_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306692776&sr=1-3">The Guy'd Book</a>, which wasn't. And a buck will get you WereWoof, a self-published book whose prequel was traditionally published. You can get four of my ebooks for less than six bucks combined.<br />
<br />
I asked anyone who asked for a free copy of WereWoof to put their reviews up on Amazon. So far, three have, and though I didn't ask them for a good rating, the ratings have been four stars or better. And no, I don't know these people, so they didn't give me the hometown discount.<br />
<br />
That's because the bottom line is the writing. Write well, entertain your readers, then worry about whether you make money.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com">www.normcowie.com <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-5VifdSSHq04dJ61Qap6-LnCmiT8sq5nwKJTMungHmcPijUdAOWdSEPo3gkzBYGdLv6ShtSBIrUENZUjL1etOGfnBM8m0q2sEvPnzLr6mv6HcXEVhkwXoyE3Crs9PSIX7gq2PDzzEdo/s1600/werewoof_cover+600+pixels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-5VifdSSHq04dJ61Qap6-LnCmiT8sq5nwKJTMungHmcPijUdAOWdSEPo3gkzBYGdLv6ShtSBIrUENZUjL1etOGfnBM8m0q2sEvPnzLr6mv6HcXEVhkwXoyE3Crs9PSIX7gq2PDzzEdo/s320/werewoof_cover+600+pixels.jpg" /></a></div><br />
</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-3674821470589599142011-05-25T22:22:00.000-05:002011-05-25T22:22:15.595-05:00Excuses and stuff<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I gotta admit, I'm not doing much writing nowadays. I finished Bonk & Hedz a couple months ago, and then got back to my third Adventures of Guy WIP (70% done).<br />
<br />
But I'm easily distracted, and not writing much. I think a lot of it is because I'm distracted because I'm jumping through all of the hoops necessary to get Critter #2 enrolled at UofI. And I injured my knee a couple months ago, and it's distracting.<br />
<br />
But I will get back to it. I wrote Bonk & Hedz extremely quickly (for me) ... 71 days, so maybe some detox time is okay.<br />
<br />
Plus I'm trying to get a handle on the new ebook world. Borders is basically insolvent, agents are dealing with a shrinking market that can't seem to grab the tail to the explosion that is ebook. Why use an agent? Why sign up with a traditional publisher who will put your book on the shelves in a year or two when you can do it yourself in a week or two?<br />
<br />
It's a strange time. I know I released WereWoof onto Kindle just a couple months ago, and it's already rated higher than my other books. Who'd a thunk?<br />
<br />
Anyway, right now I'm sorta playing the field, and letting everything soak in. In the meantime I'm reading a lot, posting some reviews, spending a lot of time with my family, and catching up on ebooks. June will be an absolute crazy month, with speaking engagements and book events galore. So this little breather is nice.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
(news flash: three books on Kindle for less than a buck, and one for just three. that means you can buy four of my books for a grand total of six bucks. what a deal!)<br />
<br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-83215030310561553032011-05-25T22:12:00.000-05:002011-05-25T22:12:20.878-05:00The Fang reviews Anne Rice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7790906-of-love-and-evil" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Of Love and Evil" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1277843974m/7790906.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7790906-of-love-and-evil">Of Love and Evil</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7577.Anne_Rice">Anne Rice</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/171124918">1 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
I've never read Anne Rice before, though, like many, I loved the Interview with the Vampire movie. Still, though, I'd never read anything.<br />
<br />
So I plucked this book off the shelves and in two quick days, read this rather short tale.<br />
<br />
And when I say 'short', I mean mercifully short. <br />
<br />
What a lame story. The main character, let's call him Mr. Wimpy (though she called him Toby or Lucky or Fox or something else more tepid than anything else)... anyway, Mr. Wimpy is an ex-assassin.<br />
<br />
Yeah, you're thinking all macho, right?<br />
<br />
Well, no. <br />
<br />
Mr. Wimpy apparently is an ex-assassin who in time time previous (told either in a prior book or the weak backstory in this book), realizes he is evil, repents, and Heaven's angels decide he would be the perfect person to travel through history remedying evilness everywhere.<br />
<br />
Except Mr. Assassin is a wimp. He, in Rice's words, continuously 'weeps.' Barely a page goes by where either this tough dude isn't weeping, or the angels or weeping or a freaking demon is weeping. Once I counted three weeping sessions in two pages. He tries to fight a demon with a lute, for crying out loud. Er, I mean, weeping out loud.<br />
<br />
What kind of assassin is this?<br />
<br />
Frankly, if this is what Rice's books are like, I'll wait til the movie comes out.<br />
<br />
As a fellow, albeit less known vampire writer, I'm ashamed for this book.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.normcowie.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/971750-norm">View all my reviews</a><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-29744602992388200812011-05-20T08:32:00.002-05:002011-05-20T08:32:39.920-05:00Reading Fish<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2584352-the-order-of-odd-fish" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Order of Odd-Fish" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1206590558m/2584352.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2584352-the-order-of-odd-fish">The Order of Odd-Fish</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2803575.James_Kennedy">James Kennedy</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/159828959">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
When I told James Kennedy I'm not yet (still trying) a fan of Neil Gaiman because the books are so layered, thick with prose which slows down the pace, he said, "oh, you won't like mine, then."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Well, James wasn't right. Yes, there were long, rambling descriptions. Yes, it was a deep slow-developing plot. and no, it wasn't one of the roller-coaster mile a minute paces I enjoy. But the same things I typically don't like in a book were the things I enjoyed about this.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I loved the where-did-he-come-up-with-this ludicrousness of the story. Rich, varied, wild descriptions of funky scenes and characters. I found myself surrounded by a strange new world.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
And I liked it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
It took a bit before the plot got going, but he kept me entertained and amused while I waited for the train to leave. And once on the train, it took off.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This isn't the kind of book I would write, and it's not necessarily the kind I would read, but this one worked for me. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.normcowie.com</a> <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/971750-norm">View all my reviews</a><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-3484042139835805352011-05-20T08:22:00.000-05:002011-05-20T08:22:41.088-05:00The Fang reviews I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6609694-i-kissed-a-zombie-and-i-liked-it" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1278523656m/6609694.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6609694-i-kissed-a-zombie-and-i-liked-it">I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/345739.Adam_Selzer">Adam Selzer</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/159829188">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
I have to hurry and post my review because if you believe some people, the world is going to end tomorrow (May 21). And if that happens, perhaps we'll all wake up and be zombies ourselves.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyway, I enjoyed this book, despite not liking zombie books as a rule. I just don't get the whole brain-eating thing. But Selzer put together a quick, light read and I liked how he gave plausible (well, if anything zombie-related can be called plausible) explanations for why zombies stumble around groaning 'Stella'... er, 'brains.'<br />
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<br />
<br />
It wasn't particularly deep, but, you know, it doesn't need to be. My books aren't either, so I won't throw those stones.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
He proves even a zombie book can be fun.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.normcowie.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/971750-norm">View all my reviews</a><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-90305467324691020312011-05-09T09:25:00.000-05:002011-05-09T09:25:55.213-05:00WereWoof review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fmS62lzkKvdfht9fpHvjfT_xCBnRZVSfNIq8osQCiskEviftl47dFu3WDErqC6Za8ZH5GSOduB9t5zDGlGYbTVzES5Dmon59JkHRntyybuDg61wuNHeNjx83LSuH8MpFXFi8XsH-NRk/s1600/werewoof+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fmS62lzkKvdfht9fpHvjfT_xCBnRZVSfNIq8osQCiskEviftl47dFu3WDErqC6Za8ZH5GSOduB9t5zDGlGYbTVzES5Dmon59JkHRntyybuDg61wuNHeNjx83LSuH8MpFXFi8XsH-NRk/s320/werewoof+cover.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>If you haven't gotten your free PDF of WereWoof yet, it means you haven't asked me for it. For a limited time, I'm giving it away. Vampire/werewolf fun.<br />
<br />
Ginger Cook took me up on my offer and wrote a great review on her site <a href="http://thebubblewrapchronicles.blogspot.com/">The Bubble Wrap Chronicles</a>. <br />
<br />
Thanks, Ginger.<br />
<br />
Just email me at n.cowie@comcast.net and I'll send you a free copy. <br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/">www.normcowie.com</a><a href="http://www.normcowie.com/">http://www.normcowie.com</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-11626767510361732542011-05-01T22:13:00.002-05:002011-05-01T22:13:30.819-05:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8665134-after-the-golden-age" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="After the Golden Age" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1291781850m/8665134.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8665134-after-the-golden-age">After the Golden Age</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8988.Carrie_Vaughn">Carrie Vaughn</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/164918808">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
I love Carrie Vaughn's Kitty werewolf series, but I also know that just because I like one of an author's series, it doesn't mean I'll like that author's other books. For example, I love Jim Butcher's Dresden series, but couldn't get into his other sci-fi series. Love Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, but her other books are too sugary. Couldn't get enough Hitchhiker's Guide, but Dirk Gently isn't quite as magical.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE (dumb title, by the way) started pretty cool, with Celia West getting kidnapped so the bad guys can use her as a hostage to control her superhero parents. Unlike her parents, Celia has no superpowers, unless you include her powers of sarcasm (which, in my opinion, was the best thing about the book).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But then it settled down and a lot of the fun sucked out of the story. Some of the characters, particularly Captain Olympus, developed slowly or not at all. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But then it suddenly morphed into a deeper read with some unexpected twists that led all the way to an ending with some emotional punch which made it all worthwhile.<br />
<br />
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<br />
So all in all, a quick, mostly fun read. But not with the magic of her Kitty series.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.normcowie.com</a> <br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/971750-norm">View all my reviews</a><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-54221226327751106552011-05-01T20:33:00.000-05:002011-05-01T20:33:45.291-05:00Lost, then found<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRn1Q5RiTtoJcBhUW3bT4zzIP_FGW1CPsktex8lZDCc6fAjE2vvnT8PHMix1OXpx1UnDIfktlKlgeQqOUjpUcaZEjIqdDesyN54izp69UaCB7Kc60_3vG_GzIbTrxfBD1xnvUqpujeyE/s1600/lost+wallet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRn1Q5RiTtoJcBhUW3bT4zzIP_FGW1CPsktex8lZDCc6fAjE2vvnT8PHMix1OXpx1UnDIfktlKlgeQqOUjpUcaZEjIqdDesyN54izp69UaCB7Kc60_3vG_GzIbTrxfBD1xnvUqpujeyE/s320/lost+wallet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I just wanted to pop onto here for a moment to discuss an aspect of human nature that's pretty cool.<br />
<br />
Writers regularly examine emotions and people, carefully crafting a person that is not like us at all. How to do this? Imagination, empathy, awareness.<br />
<br />
I frequently write female characters into my books, and they are tough, sensitive strong people. That's because what I see about women make me feel they are strong, not weak as many might think. When I do presentations in schools, women strength is a normal theme, and the kids love how I describe how the female lion does all of the hunting while the male sits at home watching ESPN and playing with his pretty mane.<br />
<br />
But today's blog isn't about that. I see selfishness every day, particularly out of a certain political party, and sometimes I get down or angry when I see how some people just don't give a crap about those less fortunate than they. And I tweet angrily about how the middle class is getting decimated in the name of greed.<br />
<br />
So basically I've been a bit surly lately. <br />
<br />
But today I went out somewhere and lost something. It wasn't particularly expensive, but it was worth the trip back to the store to see if anyone had found it and turned it in. During my fifteen minute drive, I was contemplating where I would go to replace the item. So at least the trip wouldn't be a waste.<br />
<br />
When I got to the store, I went to the counter and asked if anyone had turned it in.<br />
<br />
"Why, sure, honey," the lady said. "Here it is." She reached under the counter, and sure enough, someone had turned it in.<br />
<br />
Huh, I thought.<br />
<br />
I hadn't expected this. I guess I'd forgotten that time my wife and I found a folded pile of twenty dollar bills in the supermarket parking lot. We discussed it, wondering how we could get it back to the right person. But I remember thinking, "this is important to someone. This could be an important piece of their weekly budget, and they might suffer without it." We returned it to the supermarket.<br />
<br />
Yeah, I know. Did the money ever go back to the person who lost it? Did the person in charge of the Lost and Found just chuckle at how innocent we were, and chuckle evilly while slipping the bills into her pocket? I don't know. I sure hope not. What I really hope is some dejected person drove to the supermarket, on a fool's mission to see if someone would actually do the decent thing. And then the flush of joy to see that his or her money was there, just waiting for her to claim it.<br />
<br />
I sure hope that happened.<br />
<br />
My daughter found some money at her high school one time, and she turned it in. To our surprise, the school later sent her a letter commending her on her action. She was surprised, because she just knew it was the right thing to do.<br />
<br />
I'm glad my kid thinks like this and I hope this is a reflection of her parents.<br />
<br />
Anyway, to the unknown person who thoughtfully picked up my lost item and made the effort to make sure I'd get it back ...<br />
<br />
Thanks, I needed that.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
www.normcowie.com<br />
<br />
(three ebooks for less than a buck!)<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-2569550300351931882011-04-26T20:33:00.000-05:002011-04-26T20:33:03.848-05:00Norm's review of Slaughterhouse Five<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4981.Slaughterhouse_Five" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Slaughterhouse-Five" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1227252234m/4981.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4981.Slaughterhouse_Five">Slaughterhouse-Five</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2778055.Kurt_Vonnegut">Kurt Vonnegut</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/163804224">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<br />
I gave a school presentation a week ago to a eight high school writers group, and afterward the English teacher told me how much she'd enjoyed reading my book THE ADVENTURES OF GUY. She said my humor reminded her a lot of Kurt Vonnegut.<br />
<br />
I didn't know how to respond ... mostly because I'd never successfully read through a Vonnegut book. At the time I thought I'd only started one of his books, some book about modern day piracy, and it was okay, but I didn't see it as being all that comedic.<br />
<br />
When I told her this, she said, "wait, you have to read one of his books." She rushed back to her room and came back with a paperback copy of Slaughterhouse Five. "I have a few of these, take it," she assured me, pushing it into my hand.<br />
<br />
So I started reading, and after the first chapter I was shaking my head. It read a lot like a diary, and one that was barely interesting at all. I re-read the cover, and everyone enthusing what a great dark humorist Vonnegut.Not to my eyes, I thought, but I soldiered on, because, after all, a teacher had assigned this to me. But I couldn't help thinking that like most books assigned to me to read, it wouldn't get published in today's world.<br />
<br />
But starting with the second chapter, he kicked it into another gear, and now I could see how he pricked the social conscious with a comedic sword. The dialogue was almost an afterthought, used when necessary, but didn't diminish the overall effect of the story. And when he wrote himself into the book as a very, very minor character, I thought, "genius." And, about three quarters though, I realized I'd read the book before. Weird.<br />
<br />
The end itself, was just a bit anticlimactic - almost abrupt - but still successful in bringing the book to a satisfactory enough conclusion.<br />
<br />
The bottom line? I enjoyed the book, saw where she could see similarities to my own work, but I'm not sure how a book like this would play out if it were written in today's highly competitive publishing world. To many agents, this might not have made it out of their slush pile. <br />
<br />
Yeah, I know, who am I, a far less known writer, to dare say this about the mighty Vonnegut? They made a movie about this, for crying out loud. He was a god, me, not so much. Feel free to read my books and judge my writing - because as a reader I feel I can judge this.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.normcowie.com</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/971750-norm">View all my reviews</a><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302336187331548242.post-84978449243603677112011-04-23T12:28:00.003-05:002011-04-23T12:40:11.260-05:00Borders Boarded<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkTNRfAS3JmkLJKfDS4QC6K6yUXBd3nKpCxUhHJH4hLz9aQLTv21RuaWm0XCTcLmdMcu4YgKdk7c8Jt4NavTuijnD-P9Lq7xE_Q90wyCcyjAdGmY7AR0SOUZQE6IjzhyprU-mQoZZil8/s1600/borders+boarded.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkTNRfAS3JmkLJKfDS4QC6K6yUXBd3nKpCxUhHJH4hLz9aQLTv21RuaWm0XCTcLmdMcu4YgKdk7c8Jt4NavTuijnD-P9Lq7xE_Q90wyCcyjAdGmY7AR0SOUZQE6IjzhyprU-mQoZZil8/s320/borders+boarded.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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I didn't want to see it.<br />
<br />
Borders... closed.<br />
<br />
I remember meeting store manager Raeann Racine, and her agreeing to host my first ever book signing for my new book, The Adventures of Guy. She knew I had written big chunks of the book, sitting in her coffee shop, OD'ing on white chocolate mochas. She knew she could expect to see my daughter Lauren after birthday or Christmas put gift money in her hands, spending it all on her favorite Manga.<br />
<br />
Still though, I don't think I expected much because unknown new authors can't expect much (though some don't realize this and their first signing is a shock).<br />
<br />
Mine was a shock, for another reason. When I came in the front door of Borders, there was a picture of me on the front door that Raeann had gotten off my website. She greeted me with a smile and offered me a white chocolate mocha. <br />
<br />
Then she took me to my books. She had locally advertised the event, and there was a table set up in the coffee-shop with a microphone, water, pens and fifty copies of The Adventures of Guy in a beautiful rack display. <br />
<br />
I gulped. <br />
<br />
Fifty copies takes up a lot of room.<br />
<br />
I had passed out fliers promoting the event, but after talking with other authors I didn't expect many people to show up. And now I had fifty books sitting there, waiting for me to move them to the cash register.<br />
<br />
About four people did show up, so the advertising had some kind of response. Some Borders employees filled out the crowd a bit more. So with less than a dozen people there, I soldiered on and spoke about my books.<br />
<br />
All four people bought the books. But that left more than forty-five books. <br />
<br />
Gulp again.<br />
<br />
I couldn't leave that many unsold. I knew that, and I also didn't want to do that to Raeann. But there was no way I was going to sell anything sitting in the coffee shop.<br />
<br />
So moved the books to the front of the store and started greeting customers as they came in, handing them my book, smiling a lot (even when they turned me down). I stayed there for six hours and sold twenty six books.<br />
<br />
I felt awful, not realizing that twenty six books is awesome for a new author.<br />
<br />
But I didn't know that, so I offered to come back the next week. Raeann said 'sure,' and I trundled off back home.<br />
<br />
When I came back, a more modest display was set up, near the front. She had seen how I liked to work, and set it up the way I left it. This time I sold all but six. She seemed really pleased and had me sign the stock. Later, I saw the books in a display called, "Emerging New Authors." <br />
<br />
She introduced me to the Orland Park store manager, and made sure to tell them how hard I work. They learned this themselves, and soon my books were in 'Staff Picks' in both locations.<br />
<br />
I went back to Borders Matteson for many more signings. She liked me and knew I hustled to sell the books. If I asked to come out, she said yes. She liked having me there in the Christmas season and we liked to set me next to where people would wait in long lines. I would entertain the people, talk books, let older ladies sit in my author chair. I never sat. <br />
<br />
When Fang Face came out, it was the #2 seller in their store for Christmas behind some diary written by some wimpy kid. <br />
<br />
When I heard Matteson would be one of the first casualties of Borders' reorganization, it was like a spike had been driven into my heart. I felt like Dracula the day after. I visited Raeann and thanked her for all of her support. I will have to mention her in my next book's acknowledgements. Hopefully, she will stay in the book market.<br />
<br />
So a month later, it was with extreme sadness that I drove out to Borders one last time. I sat in the deserted parking lot, looking at the building, reminiscing about writing, selling and reading books. <br />
<br />
To see it one more time.<br />
<br />
Goodbye.<br />
<br />
And thank you.<br />
<br />
Norm<br />
<br />
www.normcowie.com<a href="http://www.normcowie.com/"></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the fang at www.fangface.homestead.com</div>Norm Cowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16686763415358589497noreply@blogger.com1