New Volume[s]

• Silent in the Sanctuary, Deanna Raybourn (Mira 2009).  B&N.  A cheap throwaway paperback edition.  I like the first in this series (Silent in the Grave) and thought I'd pick up this second installment.  I couldn't find it in hardback; this cheap paperback was all I could lay hands on.  I probably won't read it because the cover makes it look like a Harlequin romance. 
  

New Volume[s]

• The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (Broadway 1998).  B&N.  I've been meaning to buy this one for a while, but it kept getting pushed further down the list.  I came across it in the bookshop the other day while looking for something else. 
  

In which I meaure my manhood by the linear foot.

A quick assessment tells me that my library runs to about 11 books per
linear foot. At current levels I am running about 20 feet short. With
new editions being added at a rate of approx. 25 per month, I'll be
snowed under by this time next year. I've been drawing plans for a new
bookcase and hope to start construction next weekend. Not sure where
I'll put it, though. My good lady has suggested the roof!

"No one is above the law."

What a silly thing to say.  Of course there are people who are above the law.  To suggest otherwise is to be naive or a liar. 

Now Nancy Pelosi wants to investigate Bush administration officials for the illegal firing of federal prosecutors.  Her motivation: "No one is above the law."

Now you and I both know that Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to investigate Bush administration officials because of so deep concern for law and order; she wants to investigate because she is a vindictive b***h.

I should also note that Barack Obama does not want to proceed with such investigations, saying we need to look to the future, not the past.  He's just as political as she is, of course, and, were it to suit him politically, would pursue investigations forthwith. 

The most interesting thing to draw from this article, though, is that Pelosi is already disgreeing with Obama.  Could she be setting herself up for a challenge in 2012?

People Behaving Rationally

It's always a pleasure to see people behaving rationally. The American military are meeting their recruitment goals once again. The NYTimes reports that this is a result of both a relative lull in violence in Iraq and a poor jobs market. People are reconsidering the military because it offers a steady paycheck and excellent benefits, two things not on offer many other places. Now both parties are better off: the military gets much-needed manpower and workers get good jobs.

As rational actors, people generally act in their own self-interests, and in turn they help others. As Adam Smith said in The Wealth of Nations:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

"Obama Kicks Off 'Whistle-Stop' Tour"

Damned silly Americans. 

What's he traveling to Washington by train for?  And hasn't he already been in town for weeks?  Do you mean to tell me that he went to Washington only to leave Washington so that he could ride back to Washington on a train? 

Well that certainly makes all the sense in the world.  In a time when those bloody colonists are making such a fuss about the price of petrol for their oversized motors, their dear leader is making useless trips about by train. 

Even Her Majesty travels about by plane, and a commercial one too, and no mistake. 

The purpose of this "whistle-stop tour" is to appeal to Americans to persevere, so says the Wall St Journal.  Couldn't he tell me that on Tuesday when countless millions will be hanging on his every word even as icicles hang from their very noses.

I tell you George Bush won't be getting a whistle-stop tour once he's packed his bags.  Schlepping back to Texas under cover of darkness, more like.  Good for him.  He deserves a nice quiet retirement.  Atleast he'll have done with that lot the White House Press Corps.  He could never put a foot right by them.  Let them have a go at Mr President Obama. 

New Volumes

• World Without End, Ken Follett (NAL 2008).  A gift.  A story of the Medieval struggle between old and new ideas set against the backdrop of the Black Death.
• Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One, Thomas Sowell (Basic, 2008).  B&N.  A new edition of Sowell's classic work. 
  
• Murder in Mesopotamia, Agatha Christie (Black Dog & Leventhal 2007).  B&N.  My quest to read everything Christie wrote continues.
• The Tuesday Club Murders, Agatha Christie (Black Dog & Leventhal 2007).  B&N.  See my comments supra.
• Sad Cypress, Agatha Christie (Black Dog & Leventhal 2007).  B&N.  See my comments supra.
• Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie (Black Dog & Leventhat 2007).  B&N.  See my comments supra.
• The Mystery of the Blue Train, Agatha Christie (Black Dog & Leventhal 2007).  B&N.  See my comments supra.
• Appointment with Death, Agatha Christie (Black Dog & Leventhal 2007).  B&N.  See my comments supra.
• Acing Income Taxation, Samuel A Donaldson (West 2008).  Amazon (used).  A well-thumbed copy of an awesome (I'm told) book that provides a step-by-step approach to dealing with the tax code.
• On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan (Anchor 2008).  Alabama Booksmith.  A newlywed couple struggle with the pressures of the honeymoon suite.
• They Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel, Jasper Fforde (Penguin 2003).  Alabama Booksmith.  Recommended to me as mindless reading by a bookstore staff member.  I require mindless reading, you see, because the law requires most of my finite brainpower.
• The Widows of Eastwick, John Updike (Knopf 2008).  Alabama Booksmith.  Signed First Edition.  Long-awaited sequel to Updike's popular The Witches of Eastwick.
• Necropolis: London and Its Dead, Catharine Arnold (Simon & Schuster 2007).  Alabama Booksmith.  The changing ways in which London disposes of its dead. 
  
• Fundamentals of Partnership Taxation: Cases and Materials, Stephen A. Lind (Foundation 2008).  Samford U. Bookstore.  The intricacies (and near-incomprehensibilities) of the law of partnership taxation.

Fourteen additions to my heavy-laden shelves this week.  A bit much, I'll agree, but those Agatha Christie's were on sale and match the others I have.  I couldn't just pass them up.  I know they're mindless drivel, but, as I've explained, the law is a jealous mistress and demanding of my faculties.

Sir John Mortimer Dies

Sir John Mortimer, creator of the beloved old barrister Horace Rumpole, died today at 85.  Mortimer has provided me countless hours of reading, most recently his slim volume Where There's a Will. 

R.I.P.

Ministry of Inefficient Behaviour Directive No. 138321

§ 1.01 Directive.
Effective immediately, any person or persons convicted of riding on, in, or about a bicycle, as defined in this section, in a subject zone, as defined in this section, shall be subject to a term of house arrest for a period of thirty days and a fine of $1,500.

§ 1.02 Rationale.
It is the purpose of this directive to curtail that behaviour which has become so trying to the director, namely the traveling by bicycle on a surface more particularly suited to travel by motorcars. The director finds such behaviour not only highly annoying but also inefficient. It is the opinion of the director that the traveling by bicycle in an area also heavily traveled by motorcars is inefficient in that such behavior brings an intolerably high risk of grave bodily injury or death to the cyclist and an equally intolerable high risk of myocardial infarction to the director when such behavior by the cyclist requires him to reduce the speed of his motorcar to avoid causing said grave bodily injury or death to the cyclist.




§ 1.03 Definitions.
As used in this section, the term "bicycle" means any vehicle with two wheels in tandem propelled by pedals.

As used in this section, the term "subject zone" means any geographic area within a two-mile radius of the immediate location of the director.

As used in this section, the term "director" means the author of this blog, the Right Honourable Horace Wimsey.

§ 1.04 Defenses to Other Actions.
No action shall lie in any court for the bodily harm or death of one found in violation of this directive.

Being picked for high office...

has a special way of drawing grand jury investigations.  See here for the latest.

Eventually only those with spotless records (and therefore zero tolerance for risk) will be running the place.  Is zero tolerance for risk a quality you seek in your leaders?  It's not one you seek in an insurance company.

Always a pleasure to have my bad behavior rationalized for me

This post makes me feel much better about my addictive behaviour. I was seriously thinking of joining a Alcoholics Anonymous-type group to help me get a handle on my excessive book buying. Now that a penny-pinching blog tells me that buying books is cheaper than other forms of entertainment, I don't feel the need to cut back.

Activity	Cost per Hour
Movie ($7.00 Ticket, 2 Hour Movie)	$3.50
Cable TV ($40.00 per month, 2 Hours a day)	$0.67
Book ($15.00, 6 Hours)	$2.5
Baseball Game ($40.00, 3 Hours)	$13.34
Concert ($50.00, 2 Hours)	$25.00
Night Out ($50.00, 4 Hours)	$12.50
Internet	Pennies?