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
 

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.
 

What's the point in having a Congress at all when President Bush makes signing statements on every single piece of legislation that crosses his desk? Let me explain in further detail for you with the help of Constitutional scholar John W. Dean:
 
"Suppose a new law requires the President to act in a certain manner - for instance, to report to Congress on how he is dealing with terrorism. Bush's signing statement will flat out reject the law, and state that he will construe the law "in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, the national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties."

The upshot? It is as if no law had been passed on the matter at all."

 This is especially troubling when it comes to torture, which you should definitely be upset about.

But most importantly, this has a giant impact on the occupation of Iraq. Bush's most recent signing statement suggests he might consider putting permanent bases inside Iraq in the future, suggesting he has absolutely NO INTEREST in bringing our troops home anytime soon, or ending this war. This is the same president who talked extensively about not "passing the buck" to the next president, and yet what we have now is an absolute quagmire and another state--Afghanistan--teetering on the brink, economic instability and a slew of other problems that the next president will have to tackle.

I say this with absolute confidence: The president is an authoritarian. He is a monarch. He does not care what laws Congress passes, because he will simply sidestep them when needed.

Click here to contact Gwen Moore, our representative. Tell her that she should focus on bringing this into the public light. Tell her this issue is important.

 
Want to learn more about Bush's many, many, many signing statements? Click here.

 

Yours,

 Ken Brosky

 

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.