May 13, 2013

Obama’s “transparent” government

The Good ‘ol Boys planning their next diabolical move.

Democrats, it seems, are finding it far easier to do all sorts of heinous shit and get away with it than their Bush-era Republican counterparts. The laundry list of deceptive and malicious actions by the Obama administration would have the White House burning if a Republican president were in office. Not to say that Bush didn’t deserve any of the scorn heaped on him and his administration, as they did, but Obama and his inner circle have taken a cue from Bush’s policies and injected them with steroids, while repeatedly denying every and any accusation thrown their way. Let’s review.

BP Oil Spill: In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the gulf of Mexico exploded and ripped open a gushing oil well at the bottom of the ocean for nearly 3 months. 210 million gallons of oil spread into the ocean, the 2nd worst oil spill in history. To compare, the Exxon Valdez released a total of 32 million gallons in 1989 and the affects in Alaska are still felt today. To assuage public fear, Obama essentially handed control over to BP in terms of containing the spill and assisted them in covering up the damage. The press were restricted and blocked from most areas, and US soldiers acted on behalf of BP to turn away cameras and the press in sensitive locations (particularly, where massive loss of animal life were detected). At night, BP cleaned up beaches with hired crew. BP dispersed a chemical called “Corexit” which attached to the oil and sank it from the surface of the ocean. Planes ran day and night spraying it over the water, and it was applied directly at the point of release at the bottom of the ocean.

Corexit has been determined to have worse health effects on humans and sea-life than the oil itself, both of which still exist in the ocean in immeasurable amounts and is affecting the ecosystem (note to anyone eating seafood…make sure it didn’t come out of the Gulf of Mexico before you eat it). Apparently, mutated shrimp and sea life with oozing lesions are still FDA-approved. As we have learned about the Obama administration, he is adept at covering up anything that may paint him or the economy in a poor light. If we don’t see the oil, then, it must magically be gone and we have nothing to worry about anymore. When was the last time you heard about the after-effects of the BP oil spill? You haven’t, unless you’ve specifically searched for it. Do yourself a favor and read up on it, the truth is out there (start with my links!).

Benghazi: A terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11th, 2012 killed 4 Americans including the US Ambassador there, Christopher Stephens. Obama’s administration, in an election year, did everything they could to cover up his administrations knowledge of the impending attack and the lax security which allowed the attack to happen. Hillary Clinton famously yelled at a hearing, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”, when referring to the White House’s initial claim that a Youtube video was responsible for fomenting Islamic anger, which was their explanation as to why they attacked the consulate in the first place. Come to find out, Obama’s administration purposely covered up the real reasons long enough to get through an election year.

Fast & Furious: Not the movie, but the drug cartel weapons scandal involving the Attorney General, Eric Holder. This was an operation that purposely allowed licensed guns to be purchased by drug cartel’s, with the purpose of tracking them and arresting higher level cartel members. Unfortunately for Obama, Eric Holder, and the hundreds of dead people at the hands of these guns (including Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry), this insane idea didn’t work and no cartel leaders have been arrested. Eric Holder, naturally, denied knowing anything about this program which was later refuted. Holder has since been held in criminal contempt of court due to obstructing the release of documents involved in a subpoena. Holder’s good friend Obama also stepped in to invoke executive privilege in withholding these documents from the court. Transparent government? Indeed.

IRS Political Targeting: Very recently, the IRS has come under major fire for purposely auditing and harassing specific groups of people, particularly those organizations associated with the Tea Party, or any group that is basically anti-government (or anti-big government…ie, any Republican organization). The US government using the IRS as an arm to attack its political enemies? No, not in the US you say! This is the same IRS that, combined with other government agencies, has recently purchased nearly 1 billion rounds of hollow-point bullets (Just in case you don’t pay your taxes, I guess). The same IRS that will be enforcing the “fee” Americans have to pay if they don’t join Obamacare later this year. I’d hate to be associated with the Tea Party if I was looking to get a kidney transplant next year…I may just “accidentally” get skipped over on the waiting list. Oh, and I’m sure Obama and his administration were never aware this targeting was going on.

Obama’s Secret “Kill List”: Taking a cue from his best friend and role model, President George W. Bush, Obama has created a “kill list” of suspects that he alone decides on whether to attack or capture. There is a fine line between war and innocence, and Obama has decided to be the one to draw that line and kill whomever he pleases. Of course, this “list” is highly vetted so he absolutely knows the target must be killed or captured for having done something wrong, or has the potential to do something wrong such as the American teenage son of a suspected terrorist who was killed for “guilty by association”. Oops! Certainly he was plotting something, or would, someday…somehow…maybe? Bush’s Pre-Emptive strike policy taken to an entirely new level.

Department of Justice violating 1st Amendment: The newest scandal? The DoJ just got busted for unlawfully monitoring editors of the Associated Press. That’s Obama’s transparent government for you, secretly confiscating the phone records of a major media group. This is yet another violation of the Constitution. Remember that thing? AP and other news organizations, who often rely on confidential sources, will surely be passing paper notes to each other from now on instead of using any phone or electronic form of communication out of worry that someone in the government is watching them. Make sure you don’t report on anything too controversial, the DHS is watching you!

I wrote The Case for a New America in early 2010. It’s exhausting work tracking and collecting the long list of abuses, corruption, and outright illegality at the hands of the government. I’ve tried to stay away from it since then, because it’s really just the same shit, different day. Nobody goes to jail, and nothing changes. They just learn how better to subvert and hide the truth from the public. But, just when my jadedness seems to settle in, new levels of abuses seem to arise that get me pissed off again. Is this really the America we’ve come to accept as normal? Maybe I just need to stop reading the news like everyone else and watch Duck Dynasty. Quack!

May 1, 2013

Campaign to stop “killer robots”.

There appears to be a growing concern about “autonomous weapons” becoming a reality, and a campaign has been started to keep them from ever seeing the light of day. In other words…KILLER ROBOTS! See article: here. Considering my book “A Cold Black Wave” involves this very reality, I thought this would be an interesting topic to explore.

The article states the obvious, in that these machines do not actually exist yet AND the technology is readily available to make one in a short amount of time. In fact, I’d go so far to say that an enthusiast could create one in their garage. Xbox’s “Kinect” technology has already been used by kids to develop machines that can accurately shoot a basketball. Add a hydraulic arm with a gun attached, and now you’re shooting bullets.

Autonomous Predator drone firing Hellfire missile in 2025. It later testified at a Congressional hearing that it was bored and simply wanted to “blow some shit up”.

My book leaves a lot of questions unanswered about the machines that inhabit Josh and Leah’s new world (which will be answered in the sequel!), however, it’s not difficult to divine their purpose. Killer machines are not unique to science fiction, it’s an idea that’s been toyed with for decades. If a nation were to create autonomous machines to be used in combat zones, how would they be controlled? Today, the United States’ recruitment for drone pilots is going parabolic. The 21st century pilot and co-pilot are sitting thousands of miles away from their aircraft, controlling it remotely in a secured location on the ground. Drone pilots are the new fighter jocks.

The move from human pilots (controllers) to fully autonomous control by the machine isn’t a technological hurdle, but a moral and political one. In a world where everyone tries to blame someone or something else for their errors and wrongdoing, an autonomous machine that kills the wrong person would simultaneously serve as the perfect scapegoat for “collateral damage”. Programming is never perfect, right? A machine is still prone to errors, but those errors will be judged in percentages. What percentage of their murderous errors will be considered acceptable? 10%? 5%? If a machine is responsible for 100 “kills” per month, but 10 of them are children due to “error”, will that be an acceptable margin? Would that number allow the DoD to “wash” their hands of such things? Innocent civilians are killed in error by our drone strikes, but this has become an acceptable consequence in our “war on terror”.

The Terminator T-800. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As science fiction writers, it’s our responsibility to envision a future that takes a current or potential technology to its horrifying limits. I still consider James Cameron’s Terminator story to be the de facto end-game for autonomous machines (except maybe without the time travel), which eventually consider their creators to be the greatest threat to their existence and decide to wipe them out. Once you create something that can think and make decisions on its own, you unleash an uncontrollable force (if you have kids, well, case in point!).

While we’re infinitely further away from that reality than the first combat-ready autonomous machines, it certainly doesn’t hurt to start laying the groundwork now to prevent such technology from becoming an acceptable way to conduct warfare. As our world governments remain somewhat civilized, the need for such technology is not pressing. We still have the budgets and the manpower to wage our little wars with real people, and enough civilized people to voice outrage over egregiously horrifying incidents of “collateral damage”, that the risk of deploying autonomous machines outweighs the benefits. If, God forbid, we are ever faced with another world war, where victory must come at nearly any cost, then the deployment of killing machines will be seen as a “game changer” and the inherent risks worth whatever moral and political backlash that may stem from their usage.

If we’re willing to use nuclear bombs on cities filled with millions of people, certainly the use of killer bots will seem humane in comparison.

*UPDATE*: New article released today titled, “Navy unveils squadron of manned, unmanned craft“. They herald the use of unmanned drones as they can conduct riskier missions that would traditionally put a human pilot in danger. Currently, drones used by the US are limited to aircraft. That won’t always be the case once someone develops a single machine that can do the work of 12 grunts. Why send 12 young men down a hostile street when you can send a machine?

April 16, 2013

Heat

18 years later, still my all-time favorite film and Michael Mann’s best work. Never, ever to be confused with the upcoming Sandra Bullock/Melissa McCarthy buddy-cop-comedy film “The Heat”.

April 8, 2013

Jesus raised the dead, but you can raise beds.

Tired of watching TV all of the time? Feeling unproductive? Hate the taste of store bought veggies? Make yourself a little more useful and start a raised bed this spring, and start growing your own food! I have 5 raised beds I’ll be cleaning out today and preparing the soil, as my indoor seeds are already a few inches high and with their true leaves (that means they’re super cool right now and partying under the grow lights).

Stick some plants in me, I dare ya!

To make this little endeavor easier on you, I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do to get started and about how much it will cost. What’s great about raised beds is that you can place them just about anywhere and then fill ‘em with dirt, but it’s easier if you already have a spot on your lawn. This won’t be painful or expensive, trust me. In fact, you’ll save money on veggies, they’ll taste better and be chock full of nutrients that are sorely lacking in their store bought cousins.

1. Sun. Your plants need sun. Some only need about 6 hours of light, but bigger feeders like tomatoes want 8 or more to grow properly. Find a location that gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight.

2. Buy or build a raised bed. I bought cedar planks and nailed them together myself, but you can purchase a nice 4ft x 4ft bed here: Pre-Made Raised Bed. This is plenty of space for a starter bed. You have 16 sq feet to garden in, and if you follow the Square Foot Gardening Method you can fully maximize the space. So perf!! A Raised Bed will cost between $15-$30 depending on whether you build it yourself or buy it.

3. Dirt. Ya need some dirt ya’ll. You need to fill that raised bed with a lot of dirt, since that will be the primary growing medium for your plants. If you build over concrete or any kind of material plants can’t use (nothing toxic, please!), you may want to consider stacking another 4×4 raised bed on top to make the soil nice and deep. If you have native soil under the bed, you’re good. I had municipal compost delivered to my house for $40. Most cities have free compost available, or, you can seek out local community gardens that sometimes off free compost. For municipal compost, you can pick up as much as you want for free. I had mine delivered because I needed A LOT. Lastly, you can buy compost from Home Depot or local garden shops but it can get a little pricey doing it that way, even at $2.50/bag. You can mix a few bags of that in with the free compost just to amend the soil a bit. I don’t recommend just digging up your native soil from somewhere else in your yard and using that exclusively, as it may not be nutrient-dense enough for gardening. If you do, make sure you mix in some good compost with it. Compost will range from free (municipal/community garden) to $2.50-$5/bag (which could cost roughly $40-$60 to fill a 4×4 raised bed).

God made dirt, so eat the dirt. Eat it!!!

4. Water, water everywhere! If you’re lucky, rain will fall on your plants once a week and deliver a good inch of it and you’ll never have to do any of your own watering, you lazy bum. As we generally don’t get that lucky, you need to ensure you can deliver a good inch of water to your plants each week. The best way to do so is by using an irrigation hose. You’ll wind this through your plants, which will deliver water to all of your plants without much attention from you, the Master Gardener. Drip irrigation also prevents soil from splashing up on your plants, which is a good way to spread plant diseases. Irrigation Hose costs about $12-$15.

5. Plants. Ok, so after all this back-breaking work and pocket-busting expenses, we can finally stick some plants in the dirt and yell at them for not growing fast enough. I enjoy growing from seed because I can buy special heirloom types you won’t find in any store and, likely, any of your neighbors gardens. When you show off red and yellow green beans, yellow tomatoes, or purple carrots, you can bask in the glow of super-coolness and be the envy of everyone who has ever wanted to eat a purple carrot. The easiest option is to simply purchase starter plants from any local garden shop, community garden, or even Home Depot or Lowe’s if you’re desperate. All you have to do with these is dig a hole for ‘em, stick ‘em in the dirt, and water ‘em. Make sure you follow the spacing/planting directions. Tomato plants look small at first, but by the time they bear fruit, they’ll be huge so you want at least a foot between plants. They also need stakes planted with them, so as they grow, you can tie them to the stake so they don’t collapse under the weight of those huge tomatoes. Starter plants can be anywhere from $2-$6 per plant. A pack of seeds costs as little as $1 for 50-100 seeds.

Gardening can be really complex and confusing and dangerous. It’s a good thing Home Depot is there to tell you what to do so you don’t lose a limb or your mind.

There you have it. Let’s say you purchased a raised bed, bought some compost to mix with free compost or native soil, an irrigation hose, and some starter plants and seeds to fill your bed. Total Cost: about $100. That’s a reasonable cost to getting a garden raised from the dead of your backyard. Not to mention, the initial cost will carry over to subsequent years where you’ll only spend money on additional compost (or none at all, if you start your own compost) and plants. You’ll also save a lot of money on vegetables you’d normally buy, and have the convenience of having a variety of herbs you probably would buy in the store, only use a bit, then throw the rest away.

One tomato plant can grow a good dozen or so 1 lb. tomatoes (of the Brandywine type). It’ll cost you at least $2-$3 per 1 lb tomato in the store, and won’t taste nearly as good. Most store-bought fruit and veggies are harvested before they’re ripe, so by the time they arrive at the store they only LOOK ripe. Tomatoes are the biggest offenders, as shippers pick the tomato green, preventing it from achieving it’s full flavor. Cucumbers and other fruit are glazed with a thin wax to preserve it long enough to not rot by the time it gets to the store. In 2 or 3 days, it’s mush. One cucumber plant will yield 12 cucumbers, and they’ll keep in your fridge for a month (or for years as pickles!).

Jesse Ventura about to cut down some weeds!!

When the scourge of insects and disease eventually rear their ugly heads (and they will), it’ll be tempting to go all Jesse Ventura on them and “Spray’n Pray” with chemicals. But, it’s worth trying the organic route because that’s part of the benefit of growing at home: knowing what you’re eating hasn’t been saturated in chemicals. Going organic takes more patience and time, as you’ll need to be perceptive of insect/disease damage and find out how to combat them without chemicals. If you do use chemicals, they have “safer” organic ones you can use, but are still not recommended in high dosages.

Good luck!

March 27, 2013

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Thank you to LG Castillo for including me in the The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, with her new adult paranormal romance LASH due out on May 6th, 2013!

As part of the blog hop, authors connect to each other’s blog and while doing so, we post the answers to TEN questions about our upcoming novel. Dustland, due out later this year, is the focus today:

1: What is the working title of your book?

Dustland. I wanted something much simpler than my last novel, “A Cold Black Wave”. A central element to the story is gold, which was commonly referred to as “dust” back in the day…hence, the title!

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

I have two daughters. I wanted to write a “western” that didn’t involve a bearded loner gunning down thieves on a dusty street, so I envisioned two women taking the place of such a character, and what would their experience be like? Also, being from California, the early years of the gold rush seemed like the perfect setting for the story. Thousands of greedy prospectors flooding into a state recently taken from Mexico, where law is non-existent and it’s every man for himself? Could be some drama in there somewheres…

3: What genre does your book come under?

Historical Fiction.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Mia Wasikowska as Samantha Stanton, Elizabeth Moss as Judy Stanton, Daniel Day Lewis as William Christensen and Bill Moseley as Arcane Wilcox.

Daniel Day-Lewis

Mia Wasikowska

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Two sisters track their father’s killer into the gold fields of California in 1849, as the country lurches towards civil war over the newly acquired territories from Mexico.

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

American actor Bill Moseley

Self-published! (Then a 6 figure deal with a major publisher, movie rights, and lots of free swag for being awesome).

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It’s about 75% complete, but in the end it’ll have taken me about 6 months writing (very) part-time. Much faster than the 18 months it took to write my first novel though!

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I hate to make comparisons. Not that any of my stories won’t draw comparisons (good and bad), or that I wouldn’t want to be compared to the greats…I’ll just let that be determined by the reader!

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I love history, and I grew up in the Central Valley of California and was able to go through and visit a lot of the old gold mining buildings and towns. I wanted a “western”, but not set in the typical time period (post Civil War) or the typical setting (life on the trail, or good guy/bad guy in a frontier town). The California Gold Rush provided such a setting. Gold “dust” became the dramatic catalyst in the story, and ultimately brings all of the character’s together in violent fashion.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Dustland explores a period in American history that defined California, and the country. Many hours of research went into the details of the story to bring this time period to life, but more importantly, this is about the characters that inhabit this world and the motivations that drive them.

Please visit author K.L. Kerr’s webpage at http://penrefe.com/ and thanks for visitin’!

March 27, 2013

How Boxing Can Make Us Better Writers---Lesson One

Reblogged from Kristen Lamb's Blog:

Many, many moons ago I was in martial arts (I started Tae Kwon Do when I was 13). Because I'd had roughly eight years of dance, I tended to rely a bit too much on kicks when sparring, and I knew this was a weakness (especially since I was the only female competitor back in those days).

In short, I wanted to get better with my hands.

So, you want to grow tobacco?

Dave’s not here!

Tobacco. Hate it? Love it? Regardless of what you think of it, tobacco is enjoyed and reviled worldwide. Cigarettes in particular are heavily taxed, and smokers have been banished to the outer limits of darkened street corners to enjoy their vice. Now, I’ve never had a cigarette in my life. I enjoy cigars, but I’m not going to pretend that they’re any healthier. I smoke roughly 2-3 per month on average, but the experience isn’t simply to get nicotine. It’s for the unique flavor each cigar possesses, and the social aspect. A quality cigar is, to me, like a nice wine or a good scotch. Like wine and scotch, each year, brand, and type offer distinct flavors that are usually pretty complex, with descriptions of vanilla, chocolate, licorice, oak, cherry, etc. not uncommon.

So, yes, there’s a big difference between cigar tobacco and cigarette tobacco. The majority of people smoke cigarettes because they’re addicted, and it’s part of their daily routine. Having a smoke with a cup of coffee may be enjoyed by some, but most cigarette

smokers find themselves outside on a 10 minute breaking smoking like a locomotive before hustling back in to their stressful job.

Tres Amigos

I’m one for taking on projects and trying new things so in 2011, I grew my first tobacco plants. There is a great website that’s pretty self-explanatory: http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/ This is where a bunch of new and old tobacco growers share their experiences, tips, and photo’s of their growing adventures. The growers range from farmers with large plots of land to a backyard enthusiasts. Growing your own tobacco has grown in popularity, particularly for cigarette smokers who are feeling the pinch of paying about $8 for a single pack (In Rhode Island). Consider that a single tobacco plant can produce enough tobacco for about 4 packs of cigarettes. At that rate, you would need to grow 91 plants in order to have a years worth of cigarettes. Sounds like a lot? Read on!

If you’re a pack-a-day choker…erm, smoker…you’re paying about $3,000/year on cigarettes. From http://www.newhopeseeds.com you can purchase 100 tobacco seeds for $2.50. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of growing from seed, you can buy up to 12 starter plants for $30. 12 plants = 48 packs (or $384 if you bought the equivalent number of packs in the store). There’s all different types of seeds…Burley types are generally for cigarettes. ”Virginia Gold” is one of the easiest to grow, in that as soon as the leaves dry, they can be smoked. What is termed a “field smoke” is when you go out one day, find an old dried leaf hanging on the stalk, roll it and light it up on the spot to have a taste. With cigar-type tobacco, you generally can’t do this without getting a smoke that tastes like a dried up cows bunghole (not that I’ve ever smoked a dried up cows bunghole, but it’s unpleasant).

Factory workers in Cuba enjoy listening to Nickelback all day while rolling cigars in triple digit heat.

I probably won’t grow cigar tobacco again, because the easy part is growing it. The hard part is harvesting it at the right time, drying it properly (it can’t dry too fast or too slow), and then curing it ( a process of slow decomposition). Some bright sonofaguns have built homemade contraptions to cure their cigar tobacco in, providing artificial heat and moisture to super-accelerate the curing process. For cigarettes, however, you mostly just need to dry the leaf before smoking it, and remove the time-intensive curing process for the cigar smokers. It’ll taste better if you cure, but you can flavor your tobacco afterwards to make it taste more like the Menthol’s you’re used to. I’ve considered growing again, but next time I’d buy Virginia Gold and just sell the dried product to some “roll it your own” friends and leave the cigars to the professionals.

People have been trying all sorts of “do it at home” projects over the years. This is one project that isn’t going to be sold to you at your local Wal-Mart store or late-night infomercial. Tobacco helped build this country to what it is today, and for all those Doomsday Preppers out there, the intrinsic value of tobacco cannot be overstated. If it’s not part of your post-apocalypse plans, you’re missing out on “money growing on stalks”. If you simply want to sound like a backwards hillbilly at your next office party and proudly announce “I’m growin’ tobaccy!”, this little project is sure to turn heads in your general direction.

So “Get American” and grow some tobacco!

Life is a story. Write it.