The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Jon:

I'm as anti-the-Faux-Ranger as anyone here, I suspect...

...but I think some of the things creeping in at the end of this are a -bit- farfetched.

More likely, to me, is that in this case the Pres actually -does- want to do good, and sees a unified command-and-control structure as the way to do that. The fact that that would enrich Halliburton et. al., is probably just a (very) welcome bonus...

C'mon. Who can't look at the pictures there and -not- want to help? I loathe the Vacationing Chimp as much as the next guy... but what the hell would he -do- with a ruined city if he did get control of it? Hell, Iraq has oil. He's got his eye on that to ensure the future of the country (bad plan though it is, I can see exactly why they'd do it). New Orleans has... what, exactly? A port that was enriching him and his through export handling anyway?

FEMA blew chunks on this one, and it's because they were starved to death. The National Guard were in the wrong place because they were incompetently sent there. People were let die because they were poor. Bush & co are trying to find an angle to exploit...

...but I just can't see ascribing some strange "take over the states" to an even nominal republican, who wants -less- to worry about and -less- to stand in the way of his making money and exploiting the world, not the counterproductive headaches of centrallizing states under military command.

>Speaking as a reader, I find that knowing that a book is available for free changes the author/reader relationship, and for the better.

That's the same reason I tend to buy/consider buying books from writers who offer writing advice on their sites, if they have it to give. These people move from Deity Authors to People I Kinda Know, and I always like to support my friends. Likewise with those who "trust me" enough to give me their books for free. I like being (abstractly, since these folks don't know me) trusted, and it makes me respond by liking the truster.

What isn't clear to me is, if Cory and John and the Baen folks' method takes off and 60-70% of authors make their books available online for free, it won't return things eventually to the current status quo, and maybe make things worse overall... "I can't afford to keep up with -all- my 'friends,'" my own thinking might morph into. "And all these great books are free!" Thus I'd never "get around" to buying the print copies ("get around" quoted because I suspect it would be much more deliberate, but I'd sell it to myself as "one day...")

In other words, it would, I tend to think, erode the bond if everyone did it. And without that bond-advantage, things are back to writers not getting the benefit of the doubt from the reader. Add that to the postulated preponderance of largely free stuff, and it may turn out to be a disincentive to purchasing.

Now, sample books, that's another thing altogether. If a writer is giving away a book they wrote in the beginning/middle of their career, but not giving away the farm (that's the Baen model, yes?), then I can see readers using these books as an intro to whatever writer, and falling in love with the style or whatever, and buying new stuff.

I remember my father making for me, back a couple or so decades ago, a three-tiered chessboard to play a variant I found in Dragon Magazine. I can't remember anything about the game other than the board, alas.

>Southeast corner of Broadway and 23rd

Thanks! I've been sniffing these things for years now and have always been too scared to try 'em. Somehow the whole "I have walls" thing makes me feel more secure eating food. But now I know where to go, even if it is a 10-block hike. :)

Isn't infernokrusher sensibility just Chuck Palahniuk in bib overalls?

See? The administration's plan is working. Outsource compassion to the comparative few who'll pay for it. It's not the government's job to be compassionate on the taxpayer dime for the men and women they put in harm's way, when such things cost pennies per taxpayer. Much more efficient to outsource it at the cost of tens and twenties and fifties of dollars to the folks who actually care.

Added bonus: if they can keep making folks with hearts pay for things like phone cards and common decency, those suckers^b^b^b^b^b^b^b great patriots won't have money enough left to donate to political organizations that oppose the junta.

Second bonus: these folks can always, always, always turn to the Church for help! The Armies of Compassion are geared up and ready to assist! For, you know. A few words about Our Savior, and a moment spent in prayer.

Fucking. Disgrace.

Someone remind me to register Republican for the next election so I can at least do the tiniest bit to nudge the Repub party back to the center through the primaries...

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