government

We've all seen attack ads during campaign season; the efforts to deride one candidate's political record while propping up the opposition. It's likely safe to say we've become so numb to their existence, we don't always stop to consider the source behind these messages, we viewers just assuming Candidate A has paid for & approved their ad against Candidate B.

But what are we to make of disclaimers such as this?

     "Paid for by ________. Not authorized by any candidate..."

This is the question at the heart of Dark Money, which seeks to shine a light on recent political intrigue in the

In the current political climate, one might think the transition from comedy writer to politician would be rather seamless. In Al Franken, Giant of the Senate, Franken describes his struggles trying to get elected by the people of Minnesota in 2008, the balance he has been able to find when working with ideologically opposed members of congress, the work ethic that enabled him to more easily secure re-election in 2014, and the current political climate in Washington.

Franken's latest book is, of course, humorous with several moments where I laughed out loud or held the person nearest to me

It's the 1940s and the world is at war. People are dying everyday in a land far, far away. And a group of scientists have military orders to figure out a way to stop the violence, end the war, and bring American soldiers back safely. That is the world of the Manhattan project. Physicists, members of the military and their families move to Los Alamos, New Mexico, expecting an exciting new life only to find themselves confined to a small, unknown town unable to reach anyone in the outside world. Dr. Frank Winters leads a small group of misfits working on the implosion theory while Dr. Charlie

British Historian Tony Judt has written a brilliant polemic on the way we view government.  Judt’s Ill Fares the Land challenges the following notions on government: (1) government exists to aid us in getting richer, (2) public services can only be quantified by their economic value and therefore would be more efficient privatized, and (3) a free market is even possible without government regulation.  Peppered with historical examples from the late 19th century, the rise of fascism in the early 20th century, postwar-Europe, FDR’s New Deal, and LBJ’s Great Society, Judt documents how a shift

Anyone who has read the original text of Fahrenheit 451 is familiar with the central themes of censorship, governmental manipulation, blind faith, and betrayal. Anyone who hasn’t and doesn’t have time can benefit by reading Hamilton’s adaptation. In the 2009 introduction, written by Ray Bradbury himself, he challenges readers to “take the time to name the one book that he or she would most want to memorize and protect from any censors or “firemen.” And not only name the book, but give the reasons why they would wish to memorize it and why it would be a valuable asset to be recited and