It is 1996. Teenage Alex languishes in his garage den smoking weed, imagining a future of travel and sunshine between completing chores set by his mother. The date is set, the only hurdle is cash. While mowing the front lawn he meets double-glazing salesman, Fox, and lands a job as a canvasser for Baston Window company. Money issues and empty days are over. Alex gets sucked into the business of knocking on doors and daytime drinking, nights out in seedy pubs with Fox, corrupt boss, Harold, and the rest of the sales team, while falling for beautiful, aloof, Brigitte, in the telesales department. Before long, Alex is lured into crime, his finances are depleting and he’s sleeping on a sofa in a shabby flat with fellow canvassers, James and Kevin. He’s too caught up in his undeclared obsession with Brigitte to meet another girl, and his old friends have moved on. It’s time to leave the tangle of this new life, but pending sales and Brigitte make it harder than he thought. A classic coming of age tale in the cheap but flashy world of double glazing, Windows 96 is an amusing, yet insightful look into not only the character’s lives, but human nature. Readers who miss the buzzing vibe of the nineties, as well as those who enjoy well-written character-driven stories, will follow Alex on his road of good intentions until the final page.
How politics in America works today, how it got that way, and how it’s likely to change through reform—these are the themes that pervade every chapter of Cal Jillson’s highly lauded American Government: Political Development and Institutional Change. America’s past is present in all aspects of the contemporary political system. Jillson uses political development and the dynamics of change as a thematic tool to help students understand how politics works now—and how institutions, participation, and policies have evolved over time to produce this political environment. In addition, Jillson helps students think critically about how American democracy might evolve further, focusing in every chapter on reform and further change. New to the Ninth Edition Highlights the 2016 Presidential and Congressional campaigns and elections. Projects the likely legacy of Barack Obama’s presidency. Includes important Supreme Court events and decisions including the death of Justice Antonin Scalia and the affirmation of gay marriage. Covers the continuing challenges of and to the Affordable Care Act. Presents new material on race, ethnicity, gender, and political participation. Explores growing income inequality and its implications. Pays increased attention to social media and new media in politics. Updates all data in tables and figures through the 2016 elections. Offers the most compact yet comprehensive text package available. Features of This Innovative Text Key Focus Questions at the beginning of every chapter prepare students for the major points to be covered. "The Constitution Today" chapter-opening vignettes illustrate the importance of conflicting views on constitutional principles. Key terms are defined in the margins on the page where they appear, helping students understand important concepts in context. Colorful figures and tables enable students to visualize important information. "Struggling towards Democracy" features provoke critical thinking through examining the "then and now" of democracy in America. "Let’s Compare" boxes analyze how functions of government and political participation work in other countries—now framed by new critical thinking questions. "Pro & Con" boxes bring to life a central debate in each chapter and highlight competing perspectives; new discussion questions in each box prompt students to consider the different arguments and weigh in. End-of-chapter summaries, suggested readings, and web resources help students master the material and guide them to further critical investigation of important concepts and topics.
In October 2007, a new phenomenon appeared in the sky, was named the Comet Holmes, and is being claimed and acclaimed by the Hopi Nation as the Blue Star of their prophecy. The Blue Star is the harbinger. Between now and somewhere in 2013-2014, when the Red Star appears, great shifts in human consciousness will continue. With the fulfillment of the Mayan Long Count calendar in 2012 and the appearance of the Red Star, many are predicting that human consciousness will rise to the next level. Although there may be catastrophic events associated with this period, and life as we know it will surely change, if we do the work, this will not be the Apocalypse. In The Astrology of 2012 and Beyond, Garrison explores the changing sky, starting with the movement of Pluto into Capricorn, a region it hasn’t inhabited since 1733. It’s revolutionary times coming for individuals, governments, and the planet. Garrison draws on traditional astrology and her understanding of the Hopi prophecies and their relationship to the Mayan 2012 predictions, as well as the ending of the 13,000 year masculine kundalini cycle, to offer practical advice and information that will help us evolve through the next four years, including what to expect during the nearly inevitable polar shift.
Texas pride, like everything else in the state, is larger than life. So, too, perhaps, are the state’s challenges. Lone Star Tarnished, 2nd edition approaches public policy in the nation’s most populous "red state" from historical, comparative, and critical perspectives. The historical perspective provides the scope for asking how various policy domains have developed in Texas history, regularly reaching back to the state’s founding and with substantial data for the period 1950 to the present. In each chapter, Cal Jillson compares Texas public policy choices and results with those of other states and the United States in general. Finally, the critical perspective allows us to question the balance of benefits and costs attendant to what is often referred to as "the Texas way" or "the Texas model." Jillson delves deeply into seven substantive policy chapters, covering the most important policy areas in which state governments are active. The second edition includes completely rewritten first and second chapters, as well as updates throughout the book and revised figures and tables. Through Jillson's lively and lucid prose, students are well equipped to analyze how Texas has done and is doing compared to selected states and the national average over time and today. Readers will also come away with the necessary tools to assess the many claims of Texas’s exceptionalism.
This book explores the deterioration of the promise of the American dream, particularly for Black Americans. Cal Jillson traces the source and cause of that decline to race prejudice, first in the stark form of human slavery and later in various forms of racial and ethnic discrimination, that has distorted American progress over the past four centuries and now portends American decline. Employing historical analysis of race and ethnicity in American life from colonial to modern times, the chapters examine the various understandings of race and ethnicity in American public life and politics and ask what those understandings imply for political and policy approaches to addressing injustice and restoring the American dream. Drawing on sources from political science, history, sociology, and economics, this book will supplement a main text in upper division courses on race and ethnicity, political sociology, public opinion, demography, and public policy.
It is 1996. Teenage Alex languishes in his garage den smoking weed, imagining a future of travel and sunshine between completing chores set by his mother. The date is set, the only hurdle is cash. While mowing the front lawn he meets double-glazing salesman, Fox, and lands a job as a canvasser for Baston Window company. Money issues and empty days are over. Alex gets sucked into the business of knocking on doors and daytime drinking, nights out in seedy pubs with Fox, corrupt boss, Harold, and the rest of the sales team, while falling for beautiful, aloof, Brigitte, in the telesales department. Before long, Alex is lured into crime, his finances are depleting and he’s sleeping on a sofa in a shabby flat with fellow canvassers, James and Kevin. He’s too caught up in his undeclared obsession with Brigitte to meet another girl, and his old friends have moved on. It’s time to leave the tangle of this new life, but pending sales and Brigitte make it harder than he thought. A classic coming of age tale in the cheap but flashy world of double glazing, Windows 96 is an amusing, yet insightful look into not only the character’s lives, but human nature. Readers who miss the buzzing vibe of the nineties, as well as those who enjoy well-written character-driven stories, will follow Alex on his road of good intentions until the final page.
Using the developmental history of Taiwan as a starting point, Flexibility, Foresight and Fortuna critically examines several prevalent formulations of domestic development and international economy. The authors examine Taiwan's policy performance from, in turn, the developmental, the dependency, the statist, and the trade-off perspectives on political economy. They reject these approaches in favour of the key ideas of flexibility, foresight and fortuna as an explanation of Taiwan's relatively unusual success in achieving domestic development and upward mobility in the international system.
Discover wellness in a cup—with dozens of tea-licious recipes and treatments to benefit body and mind! “A fascinating book.” —Anne Gittleman, PhD, author of The Fat Flush Plan It picks you up and calms you down, warms you and refreshes you. With black, white, red, green, and herbal varieties, there’s a tea for every taste, and now this time-honored superfood is trending as the drink of choice for health-conscious people of all ages and cultures. This fascinating book boils down the rich history of tea—as well as the ever-expanding list of health and weight loss benefits found in its leaves. You’ll discover: · How black and white teas are heating up the beverage world with antioxidants and nutrients that lower heart disease, stroke, and cancer risk, and fight inflammation, viruses, and bacteria. · How age-defying spa treatments made from tea can soothe your skin, soften your hair, and give you an all-over glow and peace of mind. · The latest knowledge from top medical researchers and tea experts on how the superfood can tackle digestive problems, depression, anxiety, aches and pains, and add years to your life. · Over 50 home cures you can stir up to boost energy and lessen stress, and treat the common cold, insomnia, and more. · Comforting recipes like Warm Scones with Jam and Devonshire Cream, Assorted Finger Sandwiches, Scrumptious White Tea Scallops, and Russian Tea Cookies paired with the perfect brew—hot or iced. Better health is just a sip away. With this book (sweetened with lively stories) you’ll learn the hottest tips to improve your health, boost brainpower—and even clean your house!
“When Cal Thomas speaks, I try to listen. I’ve been listening to him for a LONG time!" — Mike Huckabee “For more than 40 years, Cal Thomas had a front row seat to some of America's most contentious public policy debates. And for more than four decades, Cal wielded his pen to speak truth to power and to advance traditional conservative values. Cal's stories and tales from that front row—as the watchman—are sure to entertain!” — Mike Pence "A new bestselling page-turner." — Washington Examiner “This is what I have done—and am continuing to do—as I seek to serve God first and then my country.”—Cal Thomas Cal Thomas—one of the most popular syndicated columnists in the country—is America’s “Watchman” in the night. In A Watchman in the Night, Cal Thomas takes the reader on a “road trip” through over fifty years of journalism and American life, serving as a “watchman” on culture and politics and seeking to conform it to a standard that never changes. A watchman “keeps guard over a building at night, to protect it from fire, vandals, or thieves.” Thomas is a believer that certain values and principles never change and has critiqued misbehavior and wrong-headedness by people on “his side” from the start. “If values and Truth mean anything,” Thomas says, “they must be applied equally. Hypocrisy and heresy cannot be ignored no matter the source.” In the book, Thomas does not stigmatize labels, such as “conservative” and “religious,” because Thomas says: “It allows people to define me and others by their perception of those labels. Ask me a question and I will give you my answer. For over fifty years in journalism, Thomas has offered incisive, humorous and often corrective commentary to our social, political, and religious conversations. An early commitment to addressing publicly what he sees has marked Thomas’ entire career. Cal has always called both parties, both sides of the American political divide, to account, to take the high road and to honor our civic and religious ideals with compatible behavior to the very best of our ability. This increasingly “radical” approach to public life has won him many friends on both sides of the political aisle, hundreds of thousands of faithful readers of his columns, and a continuous barrage of accolades and “hate mail,” much of it charming when it is not too foul to repeat. Cal came to the Christian faith while a young journalist at a dinner led by Dr. Richard Halverson, Pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD, and later, Chaplain of the United States Senate. This experience informed the rest of Cal’s life as he hosted his own private dinners for members of the press and members of Congress from both parties leading to deep friendships with Senator Ted Kennedy and many others, friendships which became a hallmark of Cal’s life despite wide political differences. For over two decades, Cal has hosted the National Prayer Breakfast Media Dinner as a continuation of his commitment to the reality that a relationship with Jesus Christ can change a person’s life and ultimately change a nation, and that things of such import are best discussed over dinner. The book includes tones about faith, but focuses on American social, cultural and political currents. A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America is a living history of our times, of who we were then and who we are now and who we might become (for better or worse) in the future, and a remarkable chronicle of modern American life.
The fifth edition of this popular text is now expanded and updated to better fit the needs of a stand-alone Texas Politics course. Jillson continues to approach the politics of the Lone Star State from historical, developmental, and analytical perspectives, while giving students the most even-handed, readable, and engaging description of Texas politics available today. Throughout the book students are encouraged to connect the origins and development of government and politics in Texas--from the Texas Constitution, to party competition, to the role and powers of the Governor--to its current day practice and the alternatives possible through change and reform. This text helps instructors prepare their students to master the origin and development of the Texas Constitution, the structure and powers of state and local government in Texas, how Texas fits into the U.S. federal system, as well as political participation, the electoral process, and public policy in Texas. Texas Politics offers instructors and students an unmatched range of pedagogical aids and tools. Each chapter opens with an engaging vignette and a series of focus questions to orient readers to the learning objectives at hand and concludes with a chapter summary, a list of key terms, review questions, suggested readings, and web resources. Key terms are bolded in the text, listed at the end of the chapter, and included in a glossary at the end of the book. Each chapter includes "Let's Compare" boxes to help students see how Texas sits alongside other states, and "Pro & Con" boxes to bring conflicting political views into sharper focus. Tables, figures, and photos throughout highlight the major ideas, issues, individuals, and institutions discussed.
There is an awakening. There is a stirring. Within the Amish culture, proud of their forefathers' traditions, there is a desire within many for deeper spiritual things. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled." Somehow, following the path that the majority walk inside their church doesn't provide that spiritual satisfaction for many. It's time to pursue where God is leading the individual.
Since 1980, most elections in the United States have been marked by a “gender gap” in which women are more supportive of Democratic candidates than men by nearly ten percentage points. Women at the Polls finds that this gender gap is quite extensive as it exists in almost all demographic groups and as it is based on similar differences in the political attitudes of women and men over a wide array of issues. This suggests that women are becoming an important constituency in U.S. politics.
The Weiser Field Guide to Ascension tackles the vast topic, so often misconstrued, of the idea of ascending into a universal consciousness, and creates a literal handbook to the historical, biblical, and highly topical implications of the concept of Ascension, raising consciousness, the earth shift and changes of 2012, and The Great Shift.
Neoliberalism, which advocates free markets without government interference, has become increasingly utilized and controversial over the last three and a half decades. This book presents case studies of Chile and Taiwan, two countries that seemingly prospered from adopting neoliberal strategies, and finds that their developmental histories challenge neoliberalism in fundamental ways. From one perspective, the political economies of Chile and Taiwan might appear to be poster children for neoliberalism. Both took aggressive policy actions (Taiwan in the 1960s and Chile in the 1970s) to create market-driven economies that were well integrated into the capitalist global economy. Subsequently, these two countries were cited as ‘economic miracles’ that opened their markets, resulting in rapid economic growth and development. A closer examination of the two nations, however, turns up very significant differences between them. In particular, Taiwan, with its much more statist approach to development, outperformed Chile by a considerable margin; and some of the experiences of Chile departed markedly from neoliberal predictions. The authors argue that Taiwan’s strategy was the more successful of the two, primarily because it discarded the ideology of neoliberalism and unfettered laissez-faire. Scholars, educators, and students studying globalization, political economy, and/or economic development will find this book an irreplaceable addition to the discussion of neoliberalism.
Cody Parker is the new kid in school. He's overweight, scared and hates his new life in Dullsville, Maryland, aka Baltimore, where he's a target okay, a big target for brutal teasing. But he loves baseball. And despite his size, he plays third base like a dream. Too bad he's competing for the starting job on the Orioles of the Dulaney Babe Ruth League against budding hoodlum Dante Rizzo, who vows to squeeze Cody's head like a grape if he beats him out. Life gets even more complicated when Cody's school, York Middle, is beset by a rash of mysterious thefts, a crime wave that threatens to sideline Cody and ruin a golden season for the Orioles. Will Cody ever succeed in getting people to see him for who he really is?
A beautiful, lyrical exploration of the places where nature is flourishing in our absence "[Flyn] captures the dread, sadness, and wonder of beholding the results of humanity's destructive impulse, and she arrives at a new appreciation of life, 'all the stranger and more valuable for its resilence.'" --The New Yorker Some of the only truly feral cattle in the world wander a long-abandoned island off the northernmost tip of Scotland. A variety of wildlife not seen in many lifetimes has rebounded on the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl. A lush forest supports thousands of species that are extinct or endangered everywhere else on earth in the Korean peninsula's narrow DMZ. Cal Flyn, an investigative journalist, exceptional nature writer, and promising new literary voice visits the eeriest and most desolate places on Earth that due to war, disaster, disease, or economic decay, have been abandoned by humans. What she finds every time is an "island" of teeming new life: nature has rushed in to fill the void faster and more thoroughly than even the most hopeful projections of scientists. Islands of Abandonment is a tour through these new ecosystems, in all their glory, as sites of unexpected environmental significance, where the natural world has reasserted its wild power and promise. And while it doesn't let us off the hook for addressing environmental degradation and climate change, it is a case that hope is far from lost, and it is ultimately a story of redemption: the most polluted spots on Earth can be rehabilitated through ecological processes and, in fact, they already are.
For more than a decade, the interdenominational Fellowship of Merry Christians has been publishing The Joyful Noiseletter, an award-winning newsletter filled with church life humor. Sure to add zest and fun to any speech or sermon.
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