In this collection of poems about politics and political life in America, Earl Baker tells the reader how our system of democracy really works in practice. Written to entertain as well as inform, it reveals how people in politics think and feel, what motivates them, and what makes our system successful despite the flaws and quirks. Taking his cue from Ogden Nash, Earl uses verse to express his thoughts with tongue-in-cheek humor, and makes some serious points as well.

It is easy to dismiss the Pharisees as Jesus' implacable adversaries, the hypocrites with whom he frequently debated and who even plotted his downfall. That picture, however, ignores other gospel passages that show Jesus on friendly terms with them. This study explores every New Testament reference to the Pharisees, paying special attention to Jesus' encounters with them, and offers a feasible resolution of the seeming discrepancies. Unlike those proposed by some scholars, this solution preserves the integrity of the gospel texts and also explains other paradoxical aspects of Jesus' ministry. This subject contains more than academic importance. Since much of the gospel record of the actions and teachings of Jesus falls within the context of his encounters with the Pharisees, some knowledge of these people with whom he so frequently engaged is an essential prerequisite to understanding Jesus himself. This study's historical reconstructions of the Pharisee movement origins, of its characteristics at the time of Jesus, and of Jesus' relationship with the Pharisees themselves, provide not only a clearer picture of the social and religious environment in which the Christian faith originated, but also fresh insight into Jesus.

It is easy to dismiss the Pharisees as Jesus' implacable adversaries, the hypocrites with whom he frequently debated and who even plotted his downfall. That picture, however, ignores other gospel passages that show Jesus on friendly terms with them. This study explores every New Testament reference to the Pharisees, paying special attention to Jesus' encounters with them, and offers a feasible resolution of the seeming discrepancies. Unlike those proposed by some scholars, this solution preserves the integrity of the gospel texts and also explains other paradoxical aspects of Jesus' ministry. This subject contains more than academic importance. Since much of the gospel record of the actions and teachings of Jesus falls within the context of his encounters with the Pharisees, some knowledge of these people with whom he so frequently engaged is an essential prerequisite to understanding Jesus himself. This study's historical reconstructions of the Pharisee movement origins, of its characteristics at the time of Jesus, and of Jesus' relationship with the Pharisees themselves, provide not only a clearer picture of the social and religious environment in which the Christian faith originated, but also fresh insight into Jesus.

DIVBased on a series of lectures delivered in 1840, Thomas Carlyle’s On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History considers the creation of heroes and the ways they exert heroic leadership. From the divine and prophetic (Odin and Muhammad) to the poetic (Dante and Shakespeare) to the religious (Luther and Knox) to the political (Cromwell and Napoleon), Carlyle investigates the mysterious qualities that elevate humans to cultural significance. By situating the text in the context of six essays by distinguished scholars that reevaluate both Carlyle’s work and his ideas, David Sorensen and Brent Kinser argue that Carlyle's concept of heroism stresses the hero’s spiritual dimension. In Carlyle’s engagement with various heroic personalities, he dislodges religiosity from religion, myth from history, and truth from “quackery” as he describes the wondrous ways in which these “flowing light-fountains” unlock the heroic potential of ordinary human beings. /div

Since its founding in 2006, Wikileaks has released over 1.2 million documents, exposing the deceit, treachery, and criminal acts of governments and corporations alike. Unfortunately, digesting this mountainous volume of information is akin to searching an unalphabetized, unindexed encyclopedia for a specific piece of data. This book is an attempt to turn an even more extensive body of data into comprehensible, comprehensive information on a critical and timely topic: The reality versus the myths of the concept known as 'American Exceptionalism'. For far too long, a duplicitous cabal of proven liars, criminals, and enemies of decency have conspired to usurp the Constitutional government of the United States, turning this once great nation into the very antithesis of everything our Founding Fathers designed and desired it to be. In so doing, they have conspired to invert our concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, heroism and hypocrisy, into their diametric opposites, in order to serve their own nefarious agendas. Hence, we have been manipulated into believing that those who murder innocents, rape, torture, and mutilate are honored heroes, while those who expose these evils, often at great personal risk, are condemned as traitors, when precisely the opposite is true. As revealed in this book, this is not new. Indeed, it has been a recurring theme throughout our history, but it is one that MUST be rejected if we are ever to truly BECOME the paragon of virtue and decency portrayed by our collective self-image. We will NEVER be able to claim the title ""Land of the Free and Home of the Brave', so long as we are manipulated into subjugating our freedoms in favor of illusory security; or honoring as heroes, craven, cowardly thugs who slaughter innocents thousands of miles away, while lounging in the safety and comfort of their cozy cubicles, coffee mugs in one hand, deadly joysticks in the other, and photos of their families smiling back from their desktops. Regardless of political persuasion, ALL honest Americans must face the truth, and must recognize that those who SAY they represent us, manifestly do not.