join now| sign in| help
Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:

Request Friendship
Send Request Cancel

DaniG

DaniG

I LOVE to read! I also enjoy traveling, scuba diving, cycling, hiking, skiing, photography, and music. I live in San Francisco with my husband, 3 italian greyhounds (Hali, Waldo, and Penny) and our green cheeked conure (Stella). I do not have a favorite book, instead I divide my "favs" into "top 10ish" (no order) and "current"---there are so... more »
  • San Francisco, CA, USA
  • member since March 2 2007

Public Notes

 
1 2 3 4 5  | Next » Last 
Displaying 1-20 of 106 notes
  • vinaymm

    vinaymm says

    hey can you tell me whats calamity physics about?

    posted 9 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Mohammad R

    Mohammad R says

    Editor John Feffer forecast the wars' consequences precisely in 2002:

    "The successful realization of bin Laden's secret strategy will happen not with a bang but with a whimper. Having failed to use the unipolar moment for the world's advantage, the United States runs the risk of following the examples of Russia and England and Turkey, all faded empires whose ambitions overreached themselves. In the worst-case scenario, the U.S. will become the sick man of North America, a victim of military hypertrophy, extremes of wealth and poverty, decay of civil infrastructure, and loss of competitive economic advantage."

    ________________________________________________________________________________________________

    How Bin Laden Bankrupted America
    The five ways

    by Jon Basil Utley

    Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:01:36 +0400

    For a man who spent years living in caves, Osama bin Laden sure knows his Sun Tzu and the basics of jujitsu. Sun Tzu's famous dictum was "know yourself" and "know your enemy." Jujitsu is based upon using your enemy's strength against him, e.g., like Jack in "Jack and the Beanstalk," who used the giant's own size and anger to get him to crash from his own weight.

    Bin Laden understood that the way to beat America was to turn its power back upon itself. His early stated aim was to bankrupt America. He knew his own weaknesses, and he profoundly understood America's, how its pride and fears could trigger irrational, self-destructive reactions.

    The genius of bin Laden's pinprick attacks, costing a few hundred thousand dollars, has left America reeling with two unending multi-trillion- dollar wars it doesn't know how to get out of.

    He knew that his own strength was mainly in his appeal to the minds of men, particularly to the lost dignity of Muslims trampled under the heel of their own dictators, Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and America's military. Getting rid of the "far" enemy was the way to take on the "near" ones.

    Instigating America to destroy Iraq was a triumph of genius. He must have known about the neoconservative cabal in Washington that was itching to start wars and destroy Iraq. In bin Laden's wildest dreams he then imagined that he could get an enraged America to destroy his enemies while, at the same time, isolating itself from allies and becoming seriously weakened.

    His prime Arab enemy, secular nationalist socialism, was embodied by the Ba'athist rulers in Iraq. Once destroyed, Muslim resistance could be channeled to religious fundamentalism as the only remaining force honest and profound enough to challenge Arab dictators and American soldiers successfully. In that sense he was allied with Israel, again an intelligent strategy of harnessing his enemies' strength, which, for different reasons, feared Iraq as the most modern, secular nation among the Arabs far more than it feared Muslim fundamentalists. Indeed, in Palestine, Israel built up Islamist Hamas at first as a counterforce to the secular PLO. Successful terrorists come from the well educated, not from fundamentalist fanatics.

    Next was his hope that he might get America to destroy his Shi'ite enemy, Iran. He almost succeeded in this too. His prime aim, though, was to get America bogged down in endless, resource-sapping wars on the Asian landmass and disrupt oil flows that benefited his enemies.

    Bin Laden understood how America's religious fundamentalists, who had inordinate power in Washington, could be encouraged to sustain religious wars. He "knew" them precisely because he understood his own Muslim fundamentalists, as indeed also the Israeli ones. All could work together in his scheming mind to wreck the global economy, which so benefited American power. In 2002 at a party in my home, I said to Peru's brilliant economist Hernando de Soto that, of course, bin Laden's objective was to drive America out of the Middle East. He replied to me, "Not just that, out of the whole Third World!"

    The actual crash in America came about because of the wars, in several ways:

    First, financing the wars with debt was the final straw that broke the camel's back. No one knew how much debt would break America, but doubling the national debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion, with new trillions being borrowed now, finally did it. A government at war seeks political support. Spending billions for an unpopular war and its waste makes it far more difficult to deny billions for more welfare. That's why America is called a warfare-welfare state. Welfare began in Germany in the 19th century when Bismarck sought popular support for his military ventures. It was the trade-off.

    Second, the destruction of Iraq, and Bush's constant threats to start bombing Iran, which could have closed down the Strait of Hormuz, brought about sky-high oil prices, which then busted world prosperity. Still, bin Laden might not have imagined that hedge funds would feed the speculation, and that Bush would not release oil from the petroleum reserve, which could have broken the price, because he wanted to keep it in reserve for war against Iran. Then the subsequent collapse of oil prices dried up a major source of foreign buyers for U.S. government bonds, which finance America's wars and reckless debts.

    Third, all of Washington's attention was absorbed by the wars, leaving little time or energy for dull domestic issues such as debating reforms to the financial markets. Anyone who questioned the wars' costs was dismissed as unpatriotic. Lies are part of waging war, and losing discredits and exposes the leaders' lies. From discredited American leaders, it was a short step to discredited American financial markets.

    Fourth was the toxic alliance of neoconservatives and religious fundamentalists. The neocons were academic Washington policy wonks who dreamed of ruling the world. The "fundies" provided electoral support, because they viewed America as doing God's work among the foreign heathens. Their extremists indeed wanted chaos in the Middle East to "hurry up" God's plans for Armageddon. Instead they served bin Laden's goals.

    Fifth, war spending deficits were in effect a massive Keynesian pump-priming operation, bound in the end to leave an economic hangover. Wars make the economy boom with seeming prosperity, but they are actually incredible wastes of resources. Over $200 million for each new fighter plane, $1,000 a day for mercenaries, massive corruption and incompetence in the military occupation – even bin Laden could not have anticipated how costly the war would become.

    All of this was indeed foreseen by the wars' many critics, but they could not break through in the major media against the powers and lies of the Bush administration.

    Editor John Feffer forecast the wars' consequences precisely in 2002:

    "The successful realization of bin Laden's secret strategy will happen not with a bang but with a whimper. Having failed to use the unipolar moment for the world's advantage, the United States runs the risk of following the examples of Russia and England and Turkey, all faded empires whose ambitions overreached themselves. In the worst-case scenario, the U.S. will become the sick man of North America, a victim of military hypertrophy, extremes of wealth and poverty, decay of civil infrastructure, and loss of competitive economic advantage."

    At least Americans are told that Washington "succeeded" in preventing any more attacks on the homeland. Maybe, but the more likely reason there have been no further attacks was explained in a letter to the editor of Foreign Policy magazine [.pdf] by researcher Laura Garcés:

    "But one could venture that Osama bin Laden has no reason now to expose himself and expend massive resources when he accomplished exactly what he wanted: billions of dollars of expenditures in launching wars, the total neglect of infrastructure, the loss of thousands of tourists who are wary of staying in line for hours dealing with airport. Decay and bankruptcy is what he sought, and fear is what he wanted to instill. Can anyone doubt that he succeeded?"

    posted 11 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Garcon

    Garcon says

    2008 Gastoni Award Winners
    By Dave Gaston

    4-5 Stars
    China Road / Rob Gifford
    Dual, The / John Lukacs
    Evolution / Jean-Baptiste De Panafieu
    Long Walk, The / Slavomir Rawicz
    Man Who Loved China / S.Winchester
    Only Yesterday / Fred Allen
    Peace Like A River / Leif Enger

    5 Star Audio Books
    Beatles, The / Bob Spitz
    Kill A Mockingbird, To / Harper Lee
    Outliners / Malcom Gladwell
    Reaching For Glory / Michael Beshloss
    Taking Charge / Michael Beshloss

    3+ Stars
    21; Burning Down House / B Mezrich
    Book Thief, The / Markus Zusak
    Beautiful Mind, A / Sylvia Nascar
    Consider The Lobster / David Wallace
    Living Great Lakes / Jerry Dennis
    Looking for Alaska / P Jenkens
    New World Coming / Nathan Miller
    Three Cups of Tea / Greg Mortenson
    When Engulfed Flames / D. Sedaris
    Your Inner Fish / Neil Shubin

    What does it take to win a Gastoni?
    Well, for starters, you better write a book on a topic I love. Next, your writing style has to be exquisite (to the point of awe and envy). Finally, your story telling has to be transporting. To sum it up, I quote Somerset:

    “When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me.”

    On a more personal note, the time I spent reading and listening to books this year was pure escapism. It felt like I spent most of it in a hospital waiting room (which is not true). When I’d start obsessing about my girl Gracie’s cancer I’d crack a book and ride it hard to block the worst of my fears. At night, when I needed to find a path to sleep, I’d take the easy road and escape down a story line. A good book is a gift.

    Our family has so much to be thankful for this year. For starters, Carrie and I have our girl back! She now has about an inch of fine blond hair sticking straight out of her 5 year old head. At school they call her Q-tip. Her teachers call her Q-T-tip. I’ll post a couple holiday pictures of the family up on her website: caringbridge.org/visit/gracegaston

    Your friendship is counted among my many blessings. Merry Christmas to you and your family, My best for the New Year, Dave

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • tomcat

    tomcat says

    Hey thanks for adding me, here's to great reading !

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Thomas Clancy

    Thomas Clancy says

    Hi DaniG. thanks for accepting my invitation!

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • MD. S

    MD. S says

    hi
    you have realy good choise.


    may read tranlation of Gitnjali author Rabindra Nath Tagore


    All books by Tagore are really touchy..

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Abby R

    Abby R says

    Hey. If you liked 'The Lovely Bones' try 'It's Kind of a Funny Story'. It's a great book and one my favorites.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Muawia Dafalla

    Muawia Dafalla says

    Hi, I found your shelf interesting.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • hameza d

    hameza d says

    Hi Dani
    Thanks for the friendship

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Ric W

    Ric W says

    Hi Dani
    Thanks for the friendship and I like the choices on your shelf. Some great classics.
    I noticed your Bronte because I'm especially into the Victorian Novels right now. My third novel, The Scrimshaw - due out in September - takes place in two separate time periods, modern and Victorian. And I introduced two new characters in the Victorian portion. Well my publisher liked it and wants me to spin them off into a separate series.
    So-o-o I'm now into all things Victorian. Therefore if you know of any books that really give the flavor of the 1850/60's I'd love to hear about it.
    Thanks and all the best,
    Ric

    Ric Wasley - Author
    * Shadow of Innocence
    * Acid Test

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Suze

    Suze says

    Hey there! Just wanted to say hi and 'we miss you' from the Brilliant babes!

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Micha B

    Micha B says

    Check out my new book about my life working on a cruise ship.(I live in Marin)

    Permanent Passenger: My Life on a Cruise Ship if moving up the ranks, people love the book and laughing their guts out!

    Go to - www.permanentpassenger.com

    You will love the book

    Micha Berman

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Murty

    Murty says

    "I LOVE to read! I also enjoy traveling, scuba diving, cycling, hiking, skiing, photography, and opera." Diverse interests, you have a right balance. So you love your shelf as much as you love yourself. Thumbs Up!!!!

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • vikas d

    vikas d says

    thanks for accepting my friendship request Dani .

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Przemek K

    Przemek K says

    Thanks for being here, it's nice to sit down by your shelf. I'm still looking for a great story teller - I see much of choice on your site.
    Cheers to all reading breed,
    Przemek

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • M. Syre

    M. Syre says

    First of all thanks for adding me to your friends' list. To start with, our group SYREDOM has initiated a discussion on art versus creativity (inborn capacity). Your input in it would strengthen the group. Without you our group is nothing. So welcome to join our group Syredom by initiating to be its member and giving your precious comments on the on-going discussion. M.Syre.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • starcrossed

    starcrossed says

    Done any scuba diving or skiing lately? Or grea hikes? What are you reading these days, that you can recommend to another adventurous woman?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • harshavpriya

    harshavpriya says

    U've got a pretty good collection. i refer to it all the time.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • tapbirds

    tapbirds says

    Greetings! I requested your Shelfari friendship because I noted how many books & favorite authors we have in common. Hopefully you won't mind if I try to glean information from you regarding books & authors that I haven't read. Plus it is good to know other San Franciscan readers with similar tastes! Best wishes and good reading in 2008!

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
1 2 3 4 5  | Next » Last 
Displaying 1-20 of 106 notes


© 2006-2009 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close