BobHarris.com - The GOP goes nuclear on Tuesday

Books! Actual books!

"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... his comic timing never fails"

-- The Wall Street Journal

"Pulls you in like a good sports story"

-- The New York Times Book Review

"Endearingly frank... jubilant... lighthearted and fast-paced"

-- New York Newsday

"A surprisingly touching memoir"

-- Entertainment Weekly

"Snappy and informative"

-- Associated Press

"Effortlessly funny and informative... tender, human, and very wise... A must for anyone who loves Jeopardy!, or has ever seen it, or is breathing."

-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"I haven't seen Jeopardy! since I was a kid, and yet I was charmed and amused by Bob Harris's fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful book. Through sheer force of personality, he takes this brainy TV show and makes it funny and easy to relate to."

-- Ira Glass, creator and host, This American Life

"A surprisingly intimate, entertaining book."

-- Orson Scott Card, 4-time Hugo Award winner, author of Ender's Game

"Funny, enlightening -- and just might help you win a million bucks on Jeopardy!"

-- A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All

"A masterful job of describing the feel of Jeopardy! in the heat of battle... I knew Bob was a great guy and a fantastic Jeopardy! player. Now I've found that he's also a wonderful writer. I think I'm starting to hate him."

-- Brad Rutter, top money-winner in Jeopardy! history

Books I'm Getting

Who Hates Whom:
Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts,
and Various Things Blowing Up —
A Woefully Incomplete Guide™

“Revelatory... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”

— Boston Globe

"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."

— New York Observer

"Only Bob could make a user’s guide to our increasingly hostile world this absorbing, this breezy, and—ultimately—this hopeful.”

— Ken Jennings, author of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs

“Fascinating, enlightening, and surprisingly: NOT TOTALLY DEPRESSING. A gimlet-eyed look at the world we endure that’s also suitable for enjoying with a gimlet.”

— John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise
and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

"All three [presidential] candidates should read all three of these [recommended] books, but McCain gets first crack at Bob Harris's "Who Hates Whom“... a lighthearted overview of the insurrections and civil wars in the world today."

— Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought, in the New York Times Book Review

Main

FAS

The GOP goes nuclear on Tuesday

Tag it now -

Sunday, 22 May 2005

It's on. The GOP is going to try to seize the courts this week.

This is about so much more than a couple of nutjob judges. This is about the very nature of the court system itself. This is about an upcoming GOP attempt to stack the Supreme Court to fit the angry-Jesus-in-a-business-suit vision of a small group of extremists.

Do you like laws that protect workers and the environment? Do you like (what remains anyway) of our clean water, decent public schools, and minimum wage? Do you like your ability to choose when to bring life into this world and how you decide to leave it? Do you enjoy still having the barest protections over who can enter your home or access your personal and financial history?

That won't all change immediately. But if we lose this one, it's all in serious jeopardy.

You think I'm exaggerating?

The very same people who have no problem whatsoever with torture and imprisonment without trial are about to seize the ability to install any judges they want -- for life -- in your federal court system.

Think about that for a while.

You can still call the key Senators and tell them to vote against the nuclear option.

MoveOn has a petition worth signing.

WorkingForChange.com has an email generator.

People For the American Way has an excellent Action Center for more.

What particularly galls me is that tens of thousands of innocent people have died in Iraq, supposedly for the sake of democracy... and the very same people who spout the rhetoric of freedom to rationalize all the killing are so eager to dismantle the checks and balances which protect our own democracy back home.

The good news: Diebold isn't counting the Senate votes. They'll have to vote in public, and they know they'll be accountable to us and to history.

Let's win this one.