Greetings, all!

For those of you not in the know, my first short story collection is coming out next year courtesy of Brown Paper Publishing. In the meantime, each of the short stories is going to be published in their literary journal, which you can either purchase or download. The journal looks great, but for those who prefer to read on their computers, the publisher also provides each of the featured story online at no charge. If you want to purchase the print journal, click here.

For those of you who prefer to read the stories online (hey, it's okay ... I'm not mad that you're not buying a print copy!), follow one of the links below. None of the short stories is particularly vulgar, etc., and are safe for work.

Cherries and Blueberries, by Ken Brosky

Labor Ready!, by Ken Brosky

Frolf, by Ken Brosky
 

Well, here we go! It's time for the weekend homework, and this week I'm going to provide you with a number of links to Web sites that you can use again and again. I'll try and do this again in the future, but for now, this will give you a great head start. Bookmark these.

Climate Progress -- Run by a scientist who's actually conducted empirical research on global climate change, this is a great resource. He's funny, intelligent and has no problem calling out Democrats or Republicans who are unwilling to accept scientific facts. Global warming is real, it's important, and we have technology available right now to begin combating the problem.

David Sirota -- One of my favorite columnists and author of Hostile Takeover. Sirota takes Republicans and conservative Democrats to task, focusing mainly on corruption related to lobbying issues and how bribery can affect a politician's decisions. In addition, he makes a point of showing the positive side of government and how grassroots organizations are making a real difference. Well worth subscribing to.

Paul Krugman -- A liberal economist, one of the best on this planet. Krugman's analyses on everything from the dangers of unregulated forces to universal health care to classic economics is always well researched and intelligent.

Enjoy these. The most recent posts are excellent.
 

For those of you who love to support local authors, etc., or just enjoy reading good fiction, I have two short stories in the first issue of Predicate, a literary journal put out by Brown Paper Publishing (and we're talking about publishing something else, too ...).

Here's the best part of the deal: buy a copy through their Web site, and you get a FREE $10.00 Amazon.com gift card! You can't beat that deal, that's for sure. Plus, you get to read two short stories by me and a bunch of other fiction from other authors. Cool!

Click here to go to their site and buy a copy and get the gift card for free.
 

Dupont, it seems, has been attempting to buy up all recorded copies of the military marching tune "Napalm Sticks to Kids." Dupont, a maker of napalm, most likely sees this type of song as a threat to its consumer-friendly image. After all, Dupont has its fingers in every aspect of our society, and you better believe it's still profiting on the death of human beings. In 2003, before the U.S. could "sanitize" Saddam Hussein's report to the United Nations, DuPont was listed as one of the companies that supplied Saddam with materials necessary for his chemical, biological and early nuclear weapons programs.

Why should this bother you? Well, if you enjoy smoking pot and wonder why it's illegal, you can partially blame DuPont. If you're wondering why hemp is illegal, you can partially blame DuPont. While FDR was trying to improve working conditions, DuPont/General Motors was working its employees to death and assembling a terrorist group known as the "Black Legion" to fight unionization efforts in the American Midwest.

DuPont also helped those nefarious bigots in Germany (I can't actually say the real word, but it rhymes with "hotsies").

Scary? You bet. For more history of the company, click here.

How does this relate to you? Because this company is so streamlined into our culture that it's impossible to boycott. How do we quantify or qualify the positive contributions of a corporation or the negative contributions? DuPont's war profiteering may be bad, its collaborations with Germany during and before World War II may be horrendous, but this IS the same company that gave us Spandex. Sure, DuPont poisoned babies on a regular basis (then covered it up), but they also invented Teflon. Your call.