Al Gore; Internet Pioneer makes good in Hollywood

What has Al Gore been doing since inventing the Internet? He has invaded Hollywood in an attempt to jump-start his political comeback that’s what. Some say he has been busy inventing global warming in the process.

Many say the science presented in Al Gore’s documentary is flawed. It probably is. The strange little man with the wild eyes (eerily gleeful, actually, on the topic of hydrocarbon levels in Greenland) who appears everywhere this topic is discussed, waving his arms and gesticulating, if I’m not mistaken, is the same strange little man who was gleefully pronouncing global cooling as a major threat not too many years ago. Leave it to Al Gore to trot this character (I think the strange little man is slightly mad) out to further his political aspirations.

But a brief look at Al Gore’s career may be in order. He served in Congress from 1977 until 1993. He then was Vice-President for eight years. I assume through all that time, global warming was either not on the radar screen of politicos, or Al was preoccupied with inventing the Internet.

Now lets see…wasn’t the Mideast oil embargo in 1973? Weren’t long lines at the gas pump, gas rationing, and concern over our dependence on foreign oil major issues before Al entered the Congress, or the Clinton Administration? They were. And what did Al, or anyone else in Washington do about it for all those years. Simply put, nothing. Couldn’t Al have launched a hue and cry for energy independence and alternative fuels through all those years at the public trough? You bet he could have, but he didn’t. Nor did anyone else in Washington.

I remember well in 1961 when President Kennedy called for a national effort to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade of the 60’s. And I remember with pride how in 1969 the Kennedy vision became reality. I remember thinking how our country, if properly led, could accomplish anything. Then in 1973, I waited for the President (the President of Watergate fame), or his successor(s) to sound a similar clarion call for energy independence and alternative fuels development. All it took was leadership and this country would have answered the call with willing hearts and minds. The leadership never came. Not from Al Gore, nor from anyone else.
This current call from Al to deal with this global crisis will also go unheeded in Washington until every drop of Mideast oil has been exploited. And then it won't matter how many caribou, polar bears, walruses, or shrimp colonies in the Gulf at impacted. We will rape and pillage the rest of the natural world that we control with as much wild-eyed glee as the strange little man who follows Al Gore around today. The strategy is painfully obvious.

It doesn't matter how many US soldiers have to die defending Mideast oil until every last penny of profit has been wrung from the current supply chain. Or as President Bush recently said, "sometimes money trumps politics."

Reviews of "Sidekick Harry and the Remarkable Three"

I received the following review of my book "Sidekick Harry and the Remarkable Three" from Mike Ratliff. Thanks to Mike for reviewing my book and offering such wonderful insights:

When I was in High School in the late 1960’s Joseph Heller’s book Catch-22 seemed to be everywhere. I loved the black comedic humor found in his book as well as in Stanley Kubrick’s movies such as Doctor Strangelove. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 ranked right up there with them. I have yearned for some contemporary author to take up the reigns of this wonderfully entertaining medium. When I agreed to review Sidekick Harry and the Remarkable Three by Dallas Wilkinson, I had no idea that the author would take me on a ride that rivaled those I loved from Heller and Vonnegut. As I read this wonderful book, I contemplated on how to put into words what I was experiencing. As I finished it, my first words were, “What a ride!”

Sidekick Harry and the Remarkable Three consists of a multi-layered, dynamic plot revolving around the main character, Harry Bennett. Harry isn’t particularly religious, but he gains the nickname, Sidekick Harry, because he gives God all the credit for his stock picking acumen. As the star employee of a large investment firm, LBJ, his skill at picking winners makes the company the industry leader. However, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and his wife’s mugging cause Harry to succumb to a nervous breakdown. The chapters dealing with his hospitalization, the hallucinations from the drugs they put him on, and the flashbacks to his and his family’s past are highly entertaining. I laughed so hard my sides hurt.

The supporting cast of characters is priceless. Wilkinson’s chapters containing the meetings of the Great Minds (the group of people attempting to create a one-world government) are masterful combinations of horror and hilarity. Even though I was reminded of Heller and Vonnegut as I read, Wilkinson has created his own unique writing style. The interplay during these meetings shows how the Great Minds are very small and silly people who have huge egos but are painfully childish in their emotional development.

Sidekick Harry and the Remarkable Three presents a world as seen from the viewpoint of a man who listens to God and learns to walk by faith. He sees the extreme left and extreme right political groups as bizarre puppets of the Great Minds. In an attempt to create their one world government, they plot to destroy the monetary system of the United States by pumping counterfeit money into the economy. About the same time, Harry is duped by the Great Minds to run for president. They infiltrate his political campaign with a woman whose grandfather was killed by Harry’s father. She wants to destroy him. They set up the political campaign to destroy and discredit Harry. The hilarity that results from his political campaign with no money is priceless.

I believe Dallas Wilkinson is destined to become a truly remarkable author. Sidekick Harry and the Remarkable Three was both entertaining and thought provoking with its very precise and relevant social commentary. The author who can create a story that combines wonderful humor and a call for social reform is bound for greatness. I believe Dallas Wilkinson has shown in this book that he is the one.

Mike Ratliff

Author – Walking the Walk by Faith

Our "booming" economy...Oh really!

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s first novel (1952) entitled “Player Piano” envisioned a world where automation had entirely replaced factory workers. Vonnegut’s world consisted of a very small wealthy elite class; an equally small and elite (5 Ph.D.’s were minimum requirements) technical expert class; and everyone else in a permanently obsolete worker class.

In Vonnegut’s view, the worker class was content with a monthly government stipend, with being housed in government-provided “cookie-cutter” houses, and with finding enjoyment in the mundane entertainments of a purposeless existence.

I first read “Player Piano” thirty years ago and at that time I didn’t believe American workers were docile enough to go willingly into the black night of permanent obsolescence. Today, I’m not so sure. My big question is whether they are going docilely, or being pushed.

According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI, “The state of jobs and wages” by Lee Price and Jared Bernstein, 2006), real income for working class people fell last year (2005) by 1 to 2 percent. They further state that the “unprecedented 26-month decline in jobs followed by sluggish job growth ever since has caused many people to simply withdraw from the labor force.” Yet government spokesmen and stock market analysts tout our current economy as “booming” with high profit growth and low unemployment.

Yet, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 15.3 million Americans are under-employed. All of this at a time when good US jobs are being exported via outsourcing and the de-industrialization of America. The economy is strong for those who have money invested in the stock market. For less advantaged Americans, it is deplorable.

Here in heartland America, just a few examples from my circle of friends bear witness to this fact:

· Elaine; 51-years-old, 20+-year employment as a pharmacy technician earning over $10/hour; unemployed due to outsourcing and now working part-time for $7/hour at a retail store.
· Monica; age 46, 20+year employment in the insurance industry earning over $10/hour; unemployed due to downsizing and now working two part-time jobs at just above minimum wage. She’s a single mother of two teen-agers.
· Joanne; age 55, 20+-year history in social work; currently unemployed due to cutbacks in her local school district and finding only part-time work opportunities at very minimal pay.
· Ana; 46, 20+-year history as a translator and manager; currently unemployed due to outsourcing. She is a single mother with a ten-year-old daughter.

Is it really true that our economy needs the flood of illegal aliens continually pouring into this country? Are they merely pawns in a much larger game? The game of lower wages for working-class Americans is the one being played…especially if they are both middle-class and middle-aged.

God's Plan

God had a different plan. The world’s plan was for Pam to have an abortion. The plan thought best by the caring staff at CPC was adoption. But God had a different plan.

A victim of early childhood abuse in her biological family…adopted by Christian parents as a result…adoption seemed a perfectly reasonable and loving plan for Pam’s own unplanned pregnancy. That’s what Pam’s adoptive mother thought was best. But God had a different plan.

The lingering trauma of childhood abuse was not the only dilemma facing Pam. This trauma resulted in Pam being emotionally immature for her years. Her housing arrangements did not allow children. She would be homeless if she brought this baby into the world and did not choose adoption. The relationship which produced this baby was irreparably broken with no hope of support for the baby or mother likely. Also, Pam was bi-polar. The rapid cycling between elation and depression was controlled with psychiatric “medicine” but these drugs could not be taken during pregnancy. Pam would have to face the normal fears of an expectant mother without these medications. And Pam’s system would need time to cleanse itself of these medicines. Pam was carrying her unborn child during this cleansing period and the doctors warned of possible birth defects as a result.

Donna was assigned as Pam’s “mommy mentor”. Donna’s only qualifications for this assignment were that she too had been adopted as a child, that she too was a mother, and that she was a Christian. At their initial meeting, Pam’s desire to keep this baby and to raise it herself was stated without hesitation. That unquenchable desire to be a “mommy” was all that equipped her for the road ahead. Donna was overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation. She prayed that God would “make a way where there was no way” and help her and Pam through what promised to be a very trying time.

Weeks passed. Donna and Pam spent long hours viewing instructional videos, talking about the day-to-day trials as well as the unspeakable joys of motherhood, spending time in prayer…and becoming close friends. Donna was introduced to Pam’s immediate family, participated in Pam’s baby shower, and was with Pam on the day of her delivery. Their only plan was to trust in the Lord with the simple faith of a child.

Today, Pam and Malachi are doing wonderfully well. Pam attends church regularly and is thrilled with motherhood. Malachi is calm, peaceful, healthy and happy. There will be trials. There will be hardship. There will also be the undying mother’s love for her child. And…that…was God’s plan.

How often do we allow inconvenience, embarrassment, economics, pride, or even political gain to thwart God’s plan? How often does that God-given desire in a woman to give life to that which is in her body, fall by the wayside, a victim to human judgment and frailty? How many wandering souls must appear at Heaven’s Gate to be loved, accepted and wanted only by Him; the One who knew them first in their mother’s womb?

So…you want to write a novel? Or more specifically, you want to get a novel published? Or, even more specifically, you want someone to actually read your novel? If you write and no one reads, isn’t that akin to the proverbial tree falling in the forest where no one hears its crash? But writing is only part of the journey. You have to get published to be heard. And here, as my late father used to say with equal parts backwoods humor and rural wisdom, is “where the cheese gets bindin’.”

Urban myth has it that you merely write a manuscript, carefully prepare your manuscript for a publisher’s review, find a publisher (or even more idealistically, an agent), have loads of help from that publisher in the editing and promotion of your future best-seller, then reap the rewards of fame and fortune once your book is on the shelves at Borders, Waldenbooks, and the like. That myth apparently lurks in the minds of a large majority of people who discover that I have a book published. I believe that the majority of people have the notion that they “always wanted to write a book” and that they can not only do so, but apparently believe the world is anxiously awaiting the arrival of said book. It’s a nice myth. You merely put pen to paper and…presto…fame and fortune await.

But unless you are already established like John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, or J.K. Rowling, your writing and publishing experience will likely be much different. True, lightning does strike, lotteries are won, unknown rich uncles do leave distant relatives in their wills, and an occasional publishing phenomenon like “The Celestine Prophecy” or “Harry Potter” does occur. As an aspiring and yet unknown author, you have approximately the same chances of experiencing any of these eventualities. As long as you realize this, then by all means, write to your hearts content. Perhaps my experience in the publishing maelstrom may prove of some value in preparing you for what to expect on the second half of that journey…getting published!

I began writing my first novel almost as a hobby. I was a full-time Information Technology (IT) professional and viewed myself as, at least, a part-time writer, and hopefully, soon-to-be professional writer. When I completed my first novel entitled “A Silence in Heaven”, I was quite proud of my accomplishment. I then entered into my true part-time avocation…that of a professional manuscript submitter, or perhaps more accurately, a submissions junkie.

In this capacity, my duties included (but certainly not limited to) becoming a word processing whiz (the better to respond to the myriad publisher demands for specific formatting of submissions)…becoming expert on the intricacies of mailing bulky manuscripts…and developing relationships with local printers which verged on intimacy, the better to secure decent rates on the volume of printing required to support my submissions habit.

Years passed and I showed steady progress on my submission skills. I went from frequent non-response to my submissions, to form letters with the REJECTED box checked, to nice, encouraging hand-written rejections from editors and agents. This provided an endless stream of “fixes” for my habit. The pinnacle of my success as a professional manuscript submitter came when my unsolicited manuscript passed the initial screen and was elevated to FULL-READ status with an exclusive publishing house, before receiving the anticipated REJECTED notification via e-mail four months later. I was thrilled.

Not only had I achieved a lofty plateau in my submissions career, FULL-READ status, I had done it all electronically. Electronic submissions were unheard of in the publishing industry when I innocently entered into my chosen profession of manuscript submitter. This rejection opened up bold new vistas for my aspirations. All I had to do was find publishers who accepted electronic manuscripts and I could achieve even greater heights of submission/rejection success and feed my habit in a much more cost-effective manner.

Then a life-threatening illness nearly cut short my submissions career. The doctors thought it was due to a diet too high in fat or the fast-paced high-stress thirty years I had spent working in the IT profession. Both contributed to my severe heart-disease. But I knew the truth. It was my submissions habit that nearly forced me to premature extinction. The sleepless nights preparing manuscripts, the financial burden of submitting them, and the anxious months of waiting for the emotional release of my REJECTED notices…these were the things that were killing me softly.

I had to do something. I had to break this vile habit. In near desperation, I turned to Publish America (PA). I had no “rose-colored” glasses in considering PA. I had researched them. From what I gleaned off the Internet, I considered them basically a vanity publisher with a twist. They didn’t charge for their services. What I found with them was quite different.
I found a wealth of resources on all aspects of publishing. I found a helpful staff of people all motivated to help me as an author. I found a strong and supportive community of authors. My book is as well covered as I would expect any trade-paperback to be from any publisher and all of this cost me…not one penny!

More importantly, I found a company single-handedly attempting to revolutionize a tightly-controlled, elitist industry…one that is badly in need of re-engineering. In my IT career, I had been on both the receiving and the giving end of many industry revolutions and could recognize one right away. Much of the negativity which abounds on the Internet concerning PA is a direct result of PA’s progress in that very revolution. PA has done the hard part in this revolution. They have suffered the “slings and arrows” from the vested interests who are feeling the heat of their presence. It is up to the PA authors to take things from here through to a true Internet based re-engineering of the publishing industry. And there are enough of us to truly make the sting of our presence felt in the marketplace.

Subsidy and vanity presses are taking a beating. Why would anyone use them when PA will provide the same services at zero cost and with no less a burden on self-promotion by the authors? For that matter, why would you ever bother to submit to a “traditional” publisher when as an unknown author you’re going to receive roughly the same support from PA as you would from Random House?

So if you need to break a life-threatening submissions habit…if you are not afraid of participating in a little revolution…or if you just appreciate a good American underdog story…then discount much of what you’ve read and strongly consider joining the PA army of authors. We are legion, we have good products, and we are making in-roads into the last bastion of resistance…the book distribution and retail outlets.