Sixth Post

I have started the nest book in the installment (yes I know I am really lame), and so far it’s even more eventful than the first. At the beginning of the novel, the author’s oldest brother comes home from Catholic Private School in Salt Lake City. When he hears about “The Great Brain’s Reformation,” he laughs and tells J.D. (the author), that Tom is just fooling their parents in order to get a bike for Christmas. Then times passes quickly until summer vacation, when Swen comes back from Salt Lake City Again, and boy is everybody in for a surprise. He begins to talk with odd expressions that according to him are “popular with us city folk.” When Tom gets sick of being called old man by his brother, he begins to call him grandpa, which everybody gets a kick out of. In response, S.D. begins to call him little school boy kid, which irritates Tom. He asks his father if he can start to work at his newspaper company as a printer, but his father claims he’s too young. Tom then asks for his father’s old, unused printing press, and begins his own paper. This paper, The Adenville Post, is based almost solely on gossip (which he thinks is good news). Though he and his teem of reporters manage to uncover the bank robbers who had recently stolen one-hundred-thousand dollars from the bank, his father is disgusted with the gossip portion of The Adenville Post, and punishes T.D. severely, as well as tells him: “it [the newspaper] showed mw that you are too young to do anything at the Advocate other than deliver papers.” This book also contains moral issues, like publishing private affairs, such as arguments that spouses are having with each other.

More Adventures of The Great Brain by John Dennis Fitzgerald

Fifth Post

I know this is another late post, but late slip to the rescue Mrs. B so if your not here today, then you know. Once again, I finished my book, and with lack of a better option, I chose to read the Great Brain series over again (I know it’s kind of ridiculous, but they’re nice to read late when I can’t concentrate). This series is sort of a biography of the author’s brother as a kid then a teenager. It takes place in Adenville, Washington, a few hours train ride from Salt Lake City. The author, John, is about 8 at the time of the first book and his brother, Tom, is 10. Tom is known in town for his “great brain” which he uses for varied purposes. For example many times he used it to swindle people out of money, but there are a few times when he “saves the day” by finding lost kids or something to that effect. This book was once again, riddled with moral and ethical issues. Pretty much every time that Tom or T.D. (Tom Dennis) swindles somebody, he gets caught by his mom, and is forced to return all of his money. However, there was a time when a kid in town who had recently had his leg amputated was feeling useless and suicidal. Tom helped him learn how to play games, fight and do all his chores again. In return the boy, Andy, was going to give him his brand new erector set (the Andy’s parents were okay with this because Tom had essentially saved their sons life). Then, Tom declines the set and gives back his brother, J.D. his Indian Belt that he swindled out of him earlier.

The Great Brain by John Dennis Fitzgerald

Annotations

Question:
Should the United States have the right to invade people's privacy for "national security" purposes?

Staff and Agencies. “FBI abused PATRIOT Act powers, audit finds.” The Guardian 9 March
2007. 9 March 2007.
This article is about the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 or the USA PATRIOT Act. Specifically, it is about the audit that was conducted of the FBI in 2007 to investigate if their usage of the Act was legitimate and legal. They found over 1000 times when the FBI overstepped their boundaries outlined in the USA PATRIOT Act. For example, the justice department found that the FBI not only overstepped the boundaries outlined in the PATRIOT Act, they sometimes obtained information, such as phone calls, when it wasn’t necessary. Also, the article points out that the FBI uses the PATRIOT Act as an excuse to send out more national security letters: they sent out 8,500; 39,000; 56,000; 47,000 in 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2005 respectively. These letters have been controvertible since 2001 because of their “loose” use.

Lichtblau, Eric. “U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Crimes From Drugs to Swindling.” 28 Sept
2003.
Eric Lichtblau has been a reporter the majority of his life, most recently the LA Times and the NY Times, and at both agencies he covered the Justice Department. He won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Also, he is the author of the book, Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice. This article was again about the USA PATRIOT Act, and once again how it was being used by the government. The United States has been using their USA PATRIOT Act, which is meant to prevent acts of terrorism. However, they have begun to use it to convict everyday criminals, from “Drugs to Swindling,” as the title clearly states. The Justice Department said in an interview that they were “simply using all the tools now available to them to pursue criminals -- terrorists or otherwise.” However, many Americans believe that this is another Bush-Cheney plan to expand the government’s jurisdiction.

Fourth Post

Not really sure what to blog about now that I’ve finished my outside reading book. So I guess I will just comment on another book I’ve started reading. It is called Dragon Keeper (yes I know it’s a lame title). It is set in Imperial China, during the Han dynasty. I just started it a couple days ago and so far, it is from the point of view of a slave. This young girl, Ping, is eleven was sold to the dragon keeper by her parents as a child so that they could repay a debt. She progresses into doing all her Master’s duties for him. This dragon keeper thing was established by the current emperor when he was bitten by a dragon when he was young. He had all twelve of them sent away to a magnificent, secluded palace that he was supposed to visit often. The dragon’s behavior supposedly predicted the well-being of the emperor. At the time when Ping is at the palace, there are only two dragons left, and one day one dies from grief and the Dragon Keeper, Master Lan has her pickled. The next day, she begins to befriend the other dragon and he becomes more and more healthy. In a while, the girl is ordered to go and steal booze from the emperor’s stash, but when she is looking for the kitchen, the emperor arrives for the first time in years. When he discovers that Master Lan has been neglecting his duties and pickled a dead dragon, he is furious. He has been planning to sell the remaining dragons to a poacher who will kill them for their “usefulness”. Ping decides to flee with the dragon and his mysterious stone and that’s pretty much where I am right now. So once again, there is a theme of morals. The girl is super patriotic and stealing from the emperor (wine) and pickling the dragon both pose a huge problem to her moral code. The only reason she agrees is because her master makes her and threatens her with violence and even death.