Free Books Post Paid

My spouse says that it's time to clear off a few inches on the bookshelf. Since we have limited space I am not allowed to accumulate books willy-nilly, as is my wont.

We have similar concerns regarding the CD collection. Someday we'll rip it all to a handful of I-Pods and be done with the storage issue.

Anyways, I have a few titles that I would be willing to mail to anybody who expresses interest in either reading these books themselves or finding another use for their contents. If you're just looking for flammable material to add to the woodstove then I politely suggest you contact these jerkwads.

Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff. He succinctly explains what "framing" is, how conservatives have employed these concepts to their political advantage, and how progressives must counter these attempts to hijack political discourse. Short and easy.

The Republican Noise Machine by David Brock. This outlines the recent history of conservative media ascension, told by someone who was once an insider.

The Truth, with Jokes, by the inestimable Al Franken. Humor and history combined in such a way that even college freshman would stay awake to read the whole thing.

The Long Emergency, by my homeboy James Howard Kunstler. My mother used to live in the building where he maintains an office. Anyways, pay attention to this guy. He is "teh" bellringer regarding Peak Oil, sprawl, and the consequences that derive from our collective denial of the meaning of these.

Righteous, Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement, by Lauren Sandler. Scary. Our youth is even more into the idea of state-as-religious-entity than many in government and religious heirarchy right now. I read this just before Ted Haggard (his church is noted in the book,) left the leadership of the New Life congregation and joined the Crystal Meth-odists.

Bush on the Couch, Inside the Mind of the President, by Justin A. Frank, M.D. A psychoanalysis of our sociopathological president. Most of this information comes as no news to those of us who read up on young Georgie, say in the Texas Observer, before he obtained national office but Frank's insights are penetrating and ring clear.

Big Lies, the Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How it Distorts the Truth, by smokin' Joe Conason. Nuff said. Intellectual ammunition, with the emphasis on truth and appeals to human decency.

And Conservatives Without a Conscience, by John W. Dean. I confess to once heckling Dean when he spoke at SUNY Plattsburgh back in the day. I was in highschool but visiting a friend there, and Dean was working through his Watergate involvement. Conservatives, or rather our modern corruption of them, have treated Dean and his spouse very badly lately, showing him their true colors, and most of his book contains psychological rather than merely political insight into conservative misbehavior.

These books all go very well individually or as a sustained course of reading. To me it's worth the ten or twenty bucks it may cost to pass these along.

You can e-mail me at crowdog@hotmail.com with an address for you or another interested person and I will pop items in the mail on an as-come basis.