Empire

Empire is a novel by Orson Scott Card about how the political and philosophical ideologies in our country have lead to divisions deep enough to plunge our nation into its second civil war. The left and right have become so absorbed in their own rhetoric that they feel the other side is either ignorant or evil. With our nation's leadership, the greater good of the populace plays second string to the posturing needed to maintain power and win re-election.

An ex-army special ops team leader, Reuben Malich, has completed several key government missions and distinguished himself in Washington. He is called state-side to work with high-level Pentagon officials on improving national security. Specifically, he is tasked with devising plans for how terrorists might assassinate the president in order to implement preventative measures. He is also directing an operation for high-level officials to distribute high-tech weaponry to U.S. allies to shore up democracies around the world. However, everything unfolds around him when the president and other top officials are assassinated by what appears to be a terrorist operation, following to the letter the exact plans that he drew up. In the aftermath of this horrible event, Reuben quickly sees that he is being set up to take the fall. The evidence before him makes clear that the assassination was an inside job. He then is forced to go underground along with his newly assigned aide, Bart "Cole" Coleman, to find out who was responsible.

Reuben and Cole end up in New York City to find that it is under seige by a group of Americans who call themselves the Progressive Restoration Movement. The weaponry that they possess is state-of-the-art and effective. Reuben and Cole learn that the assassination of our highest leaders was not a separate event from this takeover, but actually the starting point for a movement to start a civil war in the U.S. to restore our nation back to its constitutional-based government. The events in Washington and New York were planned by a brilliant mind who understood the delicate equilibrium that holds our nation to together. With an an astounding swiftness, the Progressive Restoration Movement begins to be taken seriously in state and local governments. Reuben and Cole see this movement for what it truly is, a power grab by ruthless agents who want to bring America to its knees.

This book had several noticeable flaws, mostly involving far-fetched story developments and a heavy undercurrent of Card's personal political views that were distractions to me. However, the book was at least above threshold by enough of a measure that I will move onto the second part of the story, Hidden Empire.

Observations 56

My occasional blog series "Observations" was created to be an outlet to share a variety of topics that pop into my field of view as a result of a condition that many bloggers are afflicted with known as "blogger's eyes". In this state we view the world on the constant look-out for topics on which to write about. Today's blog came about from random odds 'n ends of things that I have noticed over the past few weeks.

• I just saw the dumbest commercial ever. A man is sitting in an airplane seat rubbing his temples. He clearly has a headache. An asian stewardess sympathizes with his discomfort and offers him, using perfect english, an aspirin. He then replies in a loud voice and with exaggerated pantomime like he is talking to primordial ooze, "No I'm not having a heart attack, just a headache." Absolutely inane.
  
• I was at the dentist for a teeth cleaning the other day. As I sat in the lobby listening to their piped in easy listening station, they played a Bon Jovi tune. Bon Jovi is now considered easy listening? Did I miss a memo?
  
• Also at my recent dentist appointment, they did a procedure known as "varnishing" my teeth. Is it any wonder why my smile isn't white?
  
• An online friend of mine wrote a tribute to his recently deceased grandfather. It was simple, humble, and loving. With just a few stories from his past, I could understand the beauty of their relationship. It really touched me.
  
• For years I have written the number "4" the same way, with the top open and all line segments at 90 degrees. However, the other day I kept finding myself writing it so it was closed at the top with one slanted line. I think that I need to run some internal diagnostics or do some cranial disk defragmentation.
  

Downfall

The third book in Jeff Abbott's Sam Capra series is entitled Downfall and picks up just a short while after the second book The Last Minute ended. Sam had just risked his life dealing with an international criminal ring all in an effort is get his kidnapped son back. He had made an alliance with another covert group whose mission seemed to be about helping people. With support from this group called The Round Table, he eventually found his son and hoped to leave the world of slavers, arms smugglers, drug dealers, and illicit power brokers behind. The leadership of The Round Table made him a deal at the end of his quest. They would give him ownership of bars that they controlled around the world and he would manage these bars, working to turn a profit. In exchange, every so often they would ask him to assist in one of their operations, using his unique set of skills as an ex-CIA undercover operative.

Downfall starts when a woman comes into one of Sam's bars with two pursuers on her tail. She asks Sam to help her, which he does without question. At the end of the night, the lady is gone and one of her attackers, a Russian ex-Special Ops agent, lies dead on the floor of the bar and Sam has escaped death yet again. This is just the beginning of the end of the short peace that Sam had begun to lay claim to, a peace that included raising his son away from danger, away from deadly risk, away from always having to look over his shoulder. It turns out the lady is running from a clandestine group who controls her mother. A group whose members have each been given significant assistance that allowed them to reach the pinnacle of their fields. In return, they must unquestioningly submit to do whatever the group's leadership asks of them to bring about the downfall of others.

In one short night, Sam is unexpectedly pulled back into the life that he thought he had left behind. Given everything that has happened to him, he can never be sure which encounters are random and unrelated to him, and which are carefully orchestrated by his enemies. Ultimately, it seems that there is nobody who can be trusted to be who they claim to be. Fear is a greater motivater than duty, than honor, than past relationships. Sam must rely on his instincts, his sense of right and wrong, and the greater good to survive. When money, power, privilege, and position are offered, who can say no? A thrilling and fast-paced adventure. The next chapter of the adventure, set for release in July, is called Inside Man.

iTunes Latest - 19

Back in December of 2011, I discovered iTunes on my Mac. This service has really helped me to reconnect with my love of music. One of the things that I really like about music is that so often a given song has a strong association with a time or with a moment in my life. So, I thought that I would share my latest five downloads and a bit about my thoughts on each song.

• Straight On - Heart (1995) - I have been a Heart fan on the different steps of their journey from rock band to pop stars and back to rock band. I recently stumbled upon their 1995 acoustic set The Road Home and fell in love again with this song from my youth. I knocked down the wailin' wall, Ain't no sin; Got the feel of fortune; deal me in
  
• Painkiller - Three Days Grace (2014) - Hard rock isn't my bag usually ... however, every once in a while I come across a song with some rhythm, some teeth, and something that makes me scream out. This is one of those songs.
  
• The Good Life - Three Days Grace (2009) - This is first song from this group that stuck in my head. This is the kind of tune that becomes a fan favorite, that instinctively makes them feel good and sing along.
  
• The Downeaster Alexa - Billy Joel (1989) - This song is from the album Storm Front, the last Joel work where he was in the mainstream, before he semi-retired. This one is cut from the same mold as Captain Jack and rises above standard, dismissible, rock fare. A song for the folks who make their living off the ocean but who are struggling to survive.
  
• Alone - Heart (1995) - Once I found the acoustic album The Road Home, I had to go back for a second helping of this song from the band's arena pop days. Till now I always got by on my own, I never really cared until I met you
  

Unintended Consequences

I recently wrote a post asking the following question:

If you could wish for anything in the world and have it come true, would you wish for something for yourself, something for your family, or something for the world?

My online friend Bill noted that he would likely do something for himself because making some grand wish for the world would likely muck things up even worse. This got me to thinking at bit more on this.

• A wish for no more wars might be granted in terms of everyone being so apathetic that tyrants could operate out in the open unchecked.
  
• A wish that your sports team would win every championship might lead to a fan base that vanishes in short order leading to a league that closes down.
  
• A wish for jobless rates to be zero might mean a new socialist government where everyone makes the same wage regardless of what job they do. Of course, this would also likely include a completely corrupt government to boot.
  
• A wish for no child to go hungry might lead to unchecked population growth that would eventually lead to all-out war in the fight for resources.
  

Sometimes even a completely heart-felt, altruistic, and humble gift that seems like a no-brainer can lead to unintended consequences and much more pain and suffering than if we acted more selfishly. Of course, this is not an entreaty to folks to stop giving and trying to look out for others. It is more a considered thought into why we might make certain choices with a bit of perspective.

The Last Minute

The second book in Jeff Abbott's "Sam Capra" series is entitled The Last Minute, and picks up just after the first book, Adrenaline, ends. There we met CIA operative Sam Capra, who was working in a covert counter-terrorism team in London. When the building where he worked was blown up, Sam was labeled a traitor because it seemed his pregnant wife had something to do with the operation. Eventually, Sam came to learn that his wife was not who he thought she was, but through this life altering betrayal, he made the decision to reclaim the child, his child, that his wife gave up. The story of The Last Minute is about this quest.

Sam's wife was part of a criminal organization called Novem Soles, comprised of some pretty nasty folks. Not only were they involved in some particularly dark activities, including human trafficking, selling babies, distributing drugs, and illicit arms deals, they were amazingly well connected and well funded. This group had their own plants deep in governments and big business around the world, including the CIA and U.S. law enforcement. It is against this tide that Sam was trying to navigate. He was given the impossible choice by the group that had his child, either he agrees to kill a computer hacker who has evidence that would severely hurt major portions of their organizational leadership, or they would kill his son. Even though Sam understands that he is being played and that the chances are that he will never see his son again, he agrees to cooperate. From the start of this plan, Sam has been given a partner of sorts, a lady named Leonine whose child is also apparently being held by the same group.

Working against Sam are factions within the CIA who want to bring in the hacker and his evidence. However, it becomes clear to Sam that their motives are not what they seem to be. Sam is supported by another undercover group, that uses their funding and connections to try to help put down Novem Soles and other criminal groups. The story is fast paced, engaging, and has enough character development to keep the protagonists and antagonists from simply becoming two-dimensional cartoon cut-outs. A very enjoyable thriller that will keep you turning the pages. The next story in the series is entitled, Downfall, and I will move to that next.

Quick Hits 20

Sometimes I hear an utterance or catch a quick visual of something that sticks in my mind. As this sensory input rolls about in my head, several different outcomes are possible. It might be the case that after a moment of consideration, the input is deleted as uninteresting, trivial, or too much for me to deal with. However, another possible outcome is that the input keeps demanding my attention. It somehow wants me to wrestle with it and give it more than just a passing notice. In such cases, they can end up here, in my blog series called Quick Hits.

You have a friend at work who, from time to time, borrows his disabled mother's car. You notice that whenever he drives her car to work, he parks it in one of the handicapped spaces even though he has no physical issues of any kind. Does this change your opinion of your friend?

What do you think?