Hate Talk and the Radical Right; The House of Cards

There  are two books that are really worth reading that I wanted to highlight.  They are perfectly timed as both of these authors have anticipated some of the most critical issues of our time.

RIGHT WINGNUTS

Favorite Quote:

“It’s a neat trick. Not only has the village lunatic gained permission to continue wandering the town square poking everyone he dislikes in the eye with a sharp stick, but he gets to claim victimhood when the victims respond angrily. Unfortunately, in the process, the whole village is transformed, and not for the better.”

David Neiwert has been studying right wing extremism for years and when hate speech crosses the line into…fascism.  Yeah, that’s what I said.  His book deals with most of the issues that have been raised on A Time for Change for the last 5 months and cogently tries to make some sense of it all.  In essence Mr. Neiwert, an award winning journalist, has coined the term “eliminationism,” which means “a politics and a culture that shuns dialogue and the democratic exchange of ideas in favor of the pursuit of outright elimination of the opposing side, either through suppression, exile, and ejection, or extermination.”  Sound familiar?  You betcha.

He believes that the country is undergoing some  ”para-fascism” since approximately the 1990’s and that as the fringe impacts the GOP conservative movement, that segment of our society has become ever more belligerent, paranoid and increasingly violent as best evidenced by some of the outrageous behavior that has been posted here, including Glenn Beck’s pouring of gas on a a guest (yes, I know it was water, but it was still very weird to say the least) to Michelle Bachmann’s cries for revolution!

If you want to try to make sense of out this madness, I recommend this book.  You can see excerpts on the blog “crooks and Liars” where Mr. Neiwert contributes regularly.

WALL STREET AND THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN

How many times have you heard someone say, “How did this happen?” I know I have heard it plenty and it has been excruciatingly painful to see the panicked look on people’s faces as their savings goes up in the bubble of excess on Wall Street.

The author, William Cohan, is a former investment banker who describes what happened and makes it perfectly understandable for those of us who are not as Wall Street savvy.  The bottom line?  The culture of greed, where an anything goes as long as it makes money mentality, failure to self-police, management incompetence, lack of regulation and the deadly combo of the mortgage backed securities and the housing market bottoming out  is the explanation of how we got here.  However, Cohan delivers the truly shocking behind the scenes details that may make you reconsider ever investing again, including blatant lies to investors.

If you want the behind the scenes story as to what really got the economic meltdown ball rolling, then you will want to read this book.

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