The Pan-American "Huckleberry Finn" for the Twenty-first Century, a memoir of the young author's struggle with two realities, one Anglo-Saxon and the other Hispanic. In this picaresque "coming-of-age" memoir, we see a vision of North America's future in twenty-five years, when the Hispanic population becomes the majority and changes not only the demographics of the United States of America, but its culture. The author sweeps us along on a whirlwind of culture shock. He chronicles the adventures of a disgruntled industrial-age young man who feels a tribal and instinctual reluctance to accept the Third World's view of the United States, and America's foreign policy. But before he can assimilate the profound changes in language, culture, and reality, along comes a new relationship and an earthquake that stops a war only to kill twenty-two thousand people, and changes blind patriotism into something else.
A divorced man vacationing in Hawaii, during the off season, thinks he's losing his mind - all the women he meets seem like witches. He doesn't realize a conference of body-mind-spirit aficionado, witches, Wiccans, mediums, spiritualist and other Magic Thinkers, meet on the Big Island of Hawaii. A couple of chance encounters with one convinces both "it was meant to be" and so he joins two beautiful young nudists on a whirlwind tour of the Big Island's charms, and learns some frightening aspects of Godless Goddesses. "Women who read romances feel worthless. Sluts watch porn and feel perfect. The bigger a man's ego, the smaller his you-know-what. Men with tiny thingees overcompensate. They become muscle builders, or drive sports cars, and indulge in risky behavior. Women see that, they nod and lower the head, raise the eyebrows, roll the eyes, and say, "I knew it, no ding-a-ling." All the two-ton, gonad-dangling ball-and-socket hitched pickups in the world can't make up for a limp spaghetti or a puckered raisin. God made a mistake; Adam's rib wasn't a boner, it was a womb. God gave man a penis and a brain, and enough blood for one. Men get excited, the blood runs south, the tongue comes out, and a doglike brain takes over. That's why a man will stick his nose where it doesn't belong, and try to bury his bone by humping your leg while dancing. Men will do anything if they think it's foreplay. My last ex-boyfriend whined "I feel insecure. I can't stop thinking that you don't need me." He came the closest to being right. I appreciate a man who tells me what he wants or needs from me, so I can tell him to learn to get along without it. If you want to give me advice, ask, and I will tell you what to say. If a man can afford me, I might tolerate him. If you love me, I will take advantage of you. If you hurt me, I will destroy you. I think, therefore I am single. I don't want to be divorced. I want to be a widow." Sincerely, Your Next Girlfriend
The Cold War phrase “weapons of mass destruction” continues to be used despite significant changes in international political cultures, military concepts of operation, and technology advances. Today, the term “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD) is used to address many things, from grams of ricin and barrels of industrial chemicals to megaton nuclear weapons. As a direct result of the decision to refer to all nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons as well as biological, chemical and radiological (CBR) hazards as “WMD,” we have lost the ability to accurately develop, assess, and discuss policy concerns relating to the contemporary use of unconventional weapons on the battlefield and within the homeland. This book uses a public policy framework to examine how the U.S. government, and in particular the U.S. military, should address the potential use of unconventional weapons in the 21st century. It defines the problem, identifies the policy actors and reviews policy options. It discusses past policy efforts before offering a critical review of current strategies and how WMD issues are integrated into the current military Joint Operating Concepts (deterrence, cooperative security, major combat operations, irregular warfare, stability, and homeland security), and proposes new national framework for countering WMD. The aim is to answer such questions as what does counterproliferation mean and whether the U.S. government is adequately prepared to protect U.S. citizens and its armed forces from adversaries developing unconventional weapons.
International Encyclopedia of Public Health, Second Edition, Seven Volume Set is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to the major issues, challenges, methods, and approaches of global public health. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this new edition combines complementary scientific fields of inquiry, linking biomedical research with the social and life sciences to address the three major themes of public health research, disease, health processes, and disciplines. This book helps readers solve real-world problems in global and local health through a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach. Covering all dimensions of the field, from the details of specific diseases, to the organization of social insurance agencies, the articles included cover the fundamental research areas of health promotion, economics, and epidemiology, as well as specific diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and reproductive health. Additional articles on the history of public health, global issues, research priorities, and health and human rights make this work an indispensable resource for students, health researchers, and practitioners alike. Provides the most comprehensive, high-level, internationally focused reference work available on public health Presents an invaluable resource for both researchers familiar with the field and non-experts requiring easy-to-find, relevant, global information and a greater understanding of the wider issues Contains interdisciplinary coverage across all aspects of public health Incorporates biomedical and health social science issues and perspectives Includes an international focus with contributions from global domain experts, providing a complete picture of public health issues
All too often in conflict situations, rape is referred to as a 'weapon of war', a term presented as self-explanatory through its implied storyline of gender and warring. In this provocative but much-needed book, Eriksson Baaz and Stern challenge the dominant understandings of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings. Reading with and against feminist analyses of the interconnections between gender, warring, violence and militarization, the authors address many of the thorny issues inherent in the arrival of sexual violence on the global security agenda. Based on original fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as research material from other conflict zones, Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War? challenges the recent prominence given to sexual violence, bravely highlighting various problems with isolating sexual violence from other violence in war. A much-anticipated book by two acknowledged experts in the field, on an issue that has become an increasingly important security, legal and gender topic.
These traveler's impressions across cultural and psychological spaces portray the two sides of this coin called life, oftentimes belligerent toward each other. In casting light on that dream of total freedom and the daunting contradictions inherent in its being and attainment, they represent a dialectic in our seemingly unending journey toward the shadow of the good life as we ceaselessly jettison virtue against vice. At a level, they confront a certain tyranny of thought, in more ways than one, challenging us to go beyond the comfort of our ideas and our upbringing and to dare to look at the world in ways hitherto only dreamed of. Another way this challenge is portrayed is in regard to language and the cannons of poetry. Because literary writing in this so-called global society may rightfully be considered as war by other means, the reader will quickly observe the, literally, take-no-prisoner approach embedded in many of the pieces - the generalized despondency on the ground and the unprecedented cacophony of voices in the 'global village' calling for nothing less. The general conclusion of these poems would be the deferment - promise of living even as they constitute a heightened harkening for us to live beyond existence.
The 2nd edition of Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict provides timely and useful information about antagonism and reconciliation in all contexts of public and personal life. Building on the highly-regarded 1st edition (1999), and publishing at a time of seemingly inexorably increasing conflict and violent behaviour the world over, the Encyclopedia is an essential reference for students and scholars working in the field of peace and conflict resolution studies, and for those seeking to explore alternatives to violence and share visions and strategies for social justice and social change. Covering topics as diverse as Arms Control, Peace Movements, Child Abuse, Folklore, Terrorism and Political Assassinations, the Encyclopedia comprehensively addresses an extensive information area in 225 multi-disciplinary, cross-referenced and authoritatively authored articles. In his Preface to the 1st edition, Editor-in-Chief Lester Kurtz wrote: "The problem of violence poses such a monumental challenge at the end of the 20th century that it is surprising we have addressed it so inadequately. We have not made much progress in learning how to cooperate with one another more effectively or how to conduct our conflicts more peacefully. Instead, we have increased the lethality of our combat through revolutions in weapons technology and military training. The Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict is designed to help us to take stock of our knowledge concerning these crucial phenomena." Ten years on, the need for an authoritative and cross-disciplinary approach to the great issues of violence and peace seems greater than ever. More than 200 authoritative multidisciplinary articles in a 3-volume set Many brand-new articles alongside revised and updated content from the First Edition Article outline and glossary of key terms at the beginning of each article Entries arranged alphabetically for easy access Articles written by more than 200 eminent contributors from around the world
Presented as a successor to the Cold War era book An Introduction to Strategic Studies, this volume explores issues of military security through a framework that links the issues of technology and world politics. Arguing that the technological aspect of the global strategic environment is partway through a centuries- long process of transformation sped up by the advent of the information age, the authors examine such issues as different levels of industrial development on security, what they argue is the relative infrequency of the use of force between states, the use of military threats such as mass destruction, concepts that military means create problems in themselves such as fear of war and insecurity, and finally, ways in which regulatory schemes such as disarmament can be put to use to solve some of those problems. Paper edition (unseen) $22.50. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This unique new work of reference traces the origins of the modern laws of warfare from the earliest times to the present day. Relying on written records from as far back as 2400 BCE, and using sources ranging from the Bible to Security Council Resolutions, the author pieces together the history of a subject which is almost as old as civilisation itself. The author shows that as long as humanity has been waging wars it has also been trying to find ways of legitimising different forms of combatants and ascribing rules to them, protecting civilians who are either inadvertently or intentionally caught up between them, and controlling the use of particular classes of weapons that may be used in times of conflict. Thus it is that this work is divided into three substantial parts: Volume 1 on the laws affecting combatants and captives; Volume 2 on civilians; and Volume 3 on the law of arms control. This second book on civilians examines four different topics. The first topic deals with the targetting of civilians in times of war. This discussion is one which has been largely governed by the developments of technologies which have allowed projectiles to be discharged over ever greater areas, and attempts to prevent their indiscriminate utilisation have struggled to keep pace. The second topic concerns the destruction of the natural environment, with particular regard to the utilisation of starvation as a method of warfare, and unlike the first topic, this one has rarely changed over thousands of years, although contemporary practices are beginning to represent a clear break from tradition. The third topic is concerned with the long-standing problems of civilians under the occupation of opposing military forces, where the practices of genocide, collective punishments and/or reprisals, and rape have occurred. The final topic in this volume is about the theft or destruction of the property of the enemy, in terms of either pillage or the intentional devastation of the cultural property of the opposition. As a work of reference this set of three books is unrivalled, and will be of immense benefit to scholars and practitioners researching and advising on the laws of warfare. It also tells a story which throws fascinating new light on the history of international law and on the history of warfare itself.
The script to the multimedia podcast novel. Gnathal, a virginal game-boy-human-cellphone, goes into debt to buy a custom automobile to seduce a gypsy fortune-teller belly-dancing professional escort who calls herself Vampire Elvirus. The State will not allow him to come of age, and when he expresses his frustration, he gets fired. He joins the DevaCops, gets kidnapped, and escapes to live as a hermit amongst Genetically Modified Organisms. When the equestrian daughter of a SuperUser rescues him, Daddy doesn't approve of their relationship until Ganthal becomes the murdered Godhead "Christopheles Rex," who promised to erase the inequities of iniquity, raise the late departed, and decease the ceased. Drugged into a confession, sentenced to Civil Death, Gnathal doesn't know he must enlist the aide of his lust object to rescue his fiance, who carries the seed of a new human race, or something worse... Our near future, as human cellphones that need a revolution.
