Archives for November 2013

Animal cruelty, for the sake of dental implants, at Georgia Regents University

While we were visiting Miami for the Readers' Favorite book awards ceremony, my friend Claire Stanton Wells sent me a link to this article about Georgia Regents University and unnecessary, painful dental experiments being performed on dogs under the guise of scientific research. Quite frankly, the story got my blood boiling. It shouldn't be very difficult to guess which side I will naturally take in this controversy -- the side of the dog, of course. Otherwise, I should be forced to give back the gold medal I just received for my book Always a Next One: true stories of dog fostering. I simply cannot and will not tolerate the idea of dogs or cats being tortured or  allowed to suffer needlessly, especially not here in my home state. The salient facts in the article were quite clear--dogs have been used for the purposes of experimental dental surgery, and then put to death for a piece of their jaw. For those of us dedicated to the cause of animal rescue, this needless and barbaric practice is totally unacceptable. It flies in the face of everything rescue groups stand for. Life is a precious gift, not to be squandered for frivolous reasons. These poor animals deserve better. Humane advocate Nathan Winograd has demonstrated that given time, no-kill shelters will work. Man's best friend should never put to sleep for lack of space, or the want of a good home. Only incurably sick animals, or those suffering from severe injury that cannot be healed and rehabilitated should ever be humanely euthanized. Aggressive spay-and-neuter or "SNAP" programs have … [Read more...]

The 2013 Readers’ Favorite awards ceremony

Our journey south for the Miami Book Fair and Readers' Favorite International Book Awards ceremony was a fantastic experience. The timing was also quite fortuitous. Final touches on the whopping new 13,000 square foot location for Nautical Ventures were still underway, so my cousin Hank McDowell and his wife Lauren had time to give us a tour of South Beach and Miami from a local's perspective, culminating with a pleasant dinner on the veranda at the Miami Yacht Club while reminiscing about the foolish days of our youth in Savannah. That alone was well worth the trip. But before I forget, here's a note to future attendees about the book fair: Miami is a coastal city, and on a peninsula. The tropical weather can and does change rapidly, from torrential rain to bright sun and back in short order. In retrospect, carrying a poncho or umbrella would have been prudent at the Miami Book Fair. But as we huddled under the vendor tents, the spontaneous rain shower became a great opportunity to shop for books. During one such interval my wife and I had the leasure of meeting Stephan Earl, author of the children's book Kayla and Eli Discover Jazz. We found Mr. Earl gregarious and engaging. His books are colorful, educational, and entertaining, so we got an autographed copy for my youngest grandson. If you have a preteen kid or grandchild who loves to read, you should check out his website. Miami is also headquarters for M2Hospitality. His client list includes U2, the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics sports teams, Jeff Gordon, Beyonce and Jay-Z, Leonardo Di … [Read more...]

The worst sort of liberal

What is the worst sort of liberal? A person who says something really terrible, then accuses his most hated political enemy of making the offensive statement. For example, meet liberal Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. Theoretically, he gets paid big money to express his opinions about politics, not mine. But in a recent column purportedly about Chris Christie and the Tea Party, Cohen wrote about newly-elected mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio: Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) [emphasis added] This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all. Really! What exactly constitutes a "conventional view?" For whom does Mr. Cohen claim to be speaking? The columnist suggested that he had been misunderstood by his usually reliable liberal readers when they called for him to be fired. He even had the audacity to claim that it hurt his feelings to be called a racist. Oh, cry me a river, Mr. Cohen. I believe the applicable expression for him would be hoisted with one's own … [Read more...]

Communication barriers

In the movie Cool Hand Luke, actor Strother Martin famously said, "What we've got here is failure to communicate." I certainly know how that feels. Let me give you a couple of examples, from my distant past... Once upon a time, before I began writing books and novels, I spent almost two decades developing computer software. During the first seven years, I wrote and then supported components for international banking applications, as an employee of Unisys Corporation. Our Finesse banking application had been designed and developed in Atlanta with domestic U.S. financial institutions as our target market, but naturally a major bank in Australia became our first customer. My boss shipped me, the "single guy" on our team, Down Under with the software. I spent the next four months in Perth, helping a small development team customize the product extensively so it would comply with international banking requirements. Lucky me. However, I encountered the communications barrier almost immediately on the trip, during my very first pub crawl, only hours after the fourteen-hour trip from L.A. to Sydney. We had a very serious communication problem there in the bar, even though everybody at my table spoke fluent English. Our misunderstanding happened while a trio of secretaries were plying me with round after round of free beer, saying they wanted to keep me at their table, entertaining them with my American accent from the Deep South. From my own perspective, I was a very lucky man. Three beautiful young women were buying my drinks, in a very … [Read more...]

A disgusting new low for Mike Luckovich

There are several reasons I refuse to subscribe to my local newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That I would be helping pay the salary of the cowardly Mike Luckovich ranks at the very top of the list. Luckovich relentlessly bashes conservatives, especially those associated with the Tea Party. There is no balance to his world view. On those rare occasions he goes after the liberal Democrats on an issue, the kid gloves are invariably worn. Today's cartoon may be his most obnoxious and offensive ever, which is really saying something. It pictures an elephant, obviously representing Republicans, on CNN's Crossfire program. His debate opponent across the table? None other than the icon of Christianity himself, Jesus of Nazareth, to represent the Democrat perspective. The topic of debate displayed was: "Should corporate subsidies for the rich be cut instead of food stamps for the poor?" In fairness, the cartoon does inspire a fair question to ask -- what would Jesus do? Would Jesus advocate giving away "free" cell phones to able-bodied people perfectly capable of work, but too lazy? Would Jesus have given Solyndra half a billion taxpayer dollars to squander, with zero accountability and nothing to show for it? Would Jesus support politicians who seem hell-bent on bankrupting an entire nation, spending more than three dollars for every two dollars of revenue? Did Jesus say it was okay to lie in order to achieve your goals? For politicians to steal from their political opponents in order to buy votes from their constituents? Was Jesus a … [Read more...]