The following three reviews are made in light of the damage that Israel, supposedly a friend and ally of the United States, has done to America and America's causes over the years. The invasion of Iraq and subsequent loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in Iraq are only the latest chapters in a Zionist-Jewish-Israeli anti-American/pro-Israel monolith that has grabbed American ignorance and goodwill by the throat.
Assault on the Liberty
By James Innes
Reintree Press, 1979
ISBN 0--9723116-0-2
320 pages
9" x 6" x 1"
Amazon price $25
EBay price $10
"During the Six-Day War that occurred 37 years ago, an international tragedy failed to capture the public imagination. Israel's deliberate attempt to destroy the USS Liberty and murder its crews is a disturbing episode in the American-Israeli relationship that was willfully suppressed by both sides from entering the general public consciousness." A reviewer's comments after reading this revealing book about a deliberate Israeli attack on a United States spy ship operating in international waters with a large American flag flying (which was shot up by Israeli pilots). In this brazen attack in 1967, 34 American sailors were killed and 171 wounded. Israel never really apologized sincerely for the transgression, since it need not fear American reduction of the billions of dollars it gets every year from the US Congress influenced by pro-Israeli/pro-Jewish interests.
They Dare to Speak Out
By Paul Findley
Lawrence Hill Books, 1985
ISBN 13: 978-1-55652-482-0
404pages
9" x 6" x 1"
Amazon price $12.89
EBay price $8.65
Paul Findley spells it out clearly and succinctly in his long recounting of Americans who have attempted to buck the Israel-first interests in their own nation, the United States of America, and have lived to regret their honesty, perseverance and loyalty to their own nation. Congressmen, media professionals, students, academics and decision makers of all sorts across the United States, including religious leaders, have all been incited against, lied about, threatened, wrongfully called anti-Semites and basically left to dry whenever any of them attempted to cry out against Is Israeli travesties in Palestine or here at home in the United States. The attacks were and continue to be orchestrated by an entrenched "Israel First!" lobby inside the United States and operating out of Tel Aviv. America's interests are merely incidental to those of Israel, and the shock is that this is even true in the Halls of the Congress of the United States.
The Power of Israel in the United States
By James Petras
Fernwood Books, 2006
ISBN 13: 978-1-55266-215-1
191pages
9" x 6" x 1/2 "
Amazon price $11.53
EBay price $6.85
This book has been a challenge to finish in a sense, because given the instances of pro-Israeli pressures on various groups, including the US Congress, to get its own way constantly, it was as if things could not get worse in the next chapter. But they did. Having read the other two books on the same subject, cited above, I was, I thought, prepared for more of the same. But I was wrong. It is not the same - it is worse. When one sits down wth an objective mind and takes in some of the human rights violations that Israel has gotten away with not just in the Middle East but inside the United States itself, one wonders just who our congressmen and representatives are working for. With American interests heavily damaged by an Israel First policy at home and abroad, culminating first in the 9/11 attacks and now in a global war, Washington is still being led around the nose by Jewish/Zionist/Israeli interests to make sure that what Israel wants Israel gets. The only thing at the moment keeping the United States from obeying its "closest ally" is the realization that a third war will not go down very well. Read this book because it uncovers so much sad miscreant behavior that it is important to read it and take up a cudgel against this monolith.
February 18, 2007
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 Korat Post Book Review
Practical Situational Thai
Author: Peter Faller
Copyright 2006
ISBN 974-9985-42-7
Printed by Amarin Printing and Publishing Public Co., Ltd.
http://www.amarin.co.th
161 pages, 21 cm by 14.5 cm by 1 cm.
Local list price: 395 Baht
According to author Peter Faller, Practical Situational Thai has four main objectives:
1. to produce a practical Thai language [learning] book.
2. in teaching Thai [through phonetics] to include knowledge and appreciation of Thai culture.
3. to produce an enjoyable book.
4. to personalize the book and add intrigue.
One of the most important aspects of the author's stated list of objectives is to try to make Thai language learning enjoyable as well as rewarding, and to impart as much of the Thai culture as possible in the process of learning the language. The principle is already at work in most language learning instances - the more fluent one becomes in another language, the more that one understands of a language and its culture, the more one internalizes/adopts some of the cultural nuances of the natives of the host country where the language is being learned.
The individual begins to appreciate not just the differences between his or her own culture and the one being learned, but also that there is more than one way to view a situation or to analyze even facts. This awareness is one of the most valuable gifts of language learning - it permits the learner to begin to have true insight into the culture of the host country or of the one under study.
The author's enthusiasm for the book is reflected in its structure and organization. In the book's twenty-five story structure, each story begins with a dialogue followed by a vocabulary section and ending with key expressions/phrases. Although cited as unique by the author, the material is not dissimilar to that provided to this reviewer by the United States Peace Corps back in 1965, and reflects some other material of its genre produced both in Thailand and abroad over the years.
The phonetics style used throughout the book to try to teach foreigners how to properly pronounce Thai is helpful once you get the hang of it. It is strongly suggested that an online link be set up to aid with pronunciation. Committed learners will take advantage of this facility. As well, it seems that it's easier on the reader to place the Thai phonetics immediately after the English for each sentence, rather than going through the entire dialogue in English and then the same thing in phonetics.
In the last section About the Author, there is no mention of TEFL or TESL or TOEFL, etc., or any teaching experience. While the author is fluent in Thai, his teaching background has gone undeclared. Thus one of the issues is whether the book will prove to be as useful as the author declares.
Language and social identitiy are key to the lesson material, stated by the author. Recognizing that Thais like to have fun and that living in Thailand can indeed by enjoyable as well as fulfilling, Peter Faller has woven teaching material into a contextual two dozen lessons that are basic enough to get the beginner started and detailed enough to help the intermediate Thai language learner through cultural experiences that he or she is certain to meet in the Land of Smiles.
The technique of using a novel approach - literally - to teach language, as well as adding humor, is not totally unique, but when it works it works really well. Readers appreciate the real hands-on material they are holdling because they live it day in and day out in Thailand, and can apply what's being covered in the book to new situations and in learning Thai absed on past experience with the book as a guide.
Although the original description "Thai language book" was a bit misleading to this reviewer, as it was then supposed that the book was written in the Thai language [rather than being a Thai language learning book], despite this the book itself is a welcome addition to the Thai language learning world - which seems to be growing larger and larger each day. Just how it stacks up against other books already on the market is another question. There are many more experienced Thai language teachers, many of them foreigners, who have also produced excellent Thai language learning material - anyone know Mr. Andrew of The Nation Channel? But as the author points out, one of the main objectives of Practical Situational Thai is to bridge communication and cultural differences. This is a somewhat unique approach and will undoubtedly contribute toward how foreigners learn Thai.
I would be interested in hearing directly from others who either bought the book or who have been using it in their classrooms to let us know current experience with it. Readers may contact the author at pfpracticalsituationalthai@hotmail.com with indidivual comments.
See the Bangkok Post's 12 January 2008 review of this book at: http://www.bangkokpost.com/Outlook/12Jan2008_out04.phpJohn Fortran
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Korat Post Book Review Non-fiction/travel
Northeast Thailand
THAILAND'S EMERALD TRIANGLE
Author: Lawrence Whiting
Contact: lawrenceinphana@hotmail.com, tel. 045-463419
Copyright 2006
ISBN 974-94902-2-1
Falling Rain Publications
Printed by Ubonkit Offset PrintingDistruibuted in Thailand by Orchid Press, also available at Asia Books, Kinokuniya, BS2 and Bookazine. See Amazon.co.uk for listings of Mr. Whiting's books. See also Wikipedia reference.
Length: 156 pages
Dimensions:
20.5 cm by 14.5 cm by 1 cm.
Illustrations:
Local list price: 450
Ubon [AKA Ubol, Ubonratchathani] has a special place in this reviewer's heart because it is where I met my Thai wife back in 1967/68. She was working for the American military as a switchboard operator at Warin radar complex, and I happened to see her one day at the officer's club there sitting with friends. We also were engaged in Ubon, and over the years have visited the province many times as her sister settled there with her Thai policeman husband.
Ubon is right on the Mekhong River, in an area being called the Emerald Triangle by the Tousism Authority of Thailand as it is situated where Thailand, Laos and Cambodia share common borders. Hunting online for the Emerald Triangle, however, won't be as simple as it seems. You will more likely to be taken to three counties in the American state of Alabama or possibly another Emerald Triangle in California where Mary Jane production is well known, etc. Thailand's Emerald Triangle, however, is more than a geographical location touching three countries. It is an excellent armchair read beside a warm fireplace as snow flurries drift down outside, or a good way to pass the time on a long flight.
As the author indicates, Isan, or northeast Thailand, while making up a third of Thailand's land mass really offers little organized tourism for foreigners. Most local tour facilities are marketed in Thai only, and foreigners are not well versed in the language, so they miss a great deal of information that exists in Thai. Thailand's Emerald Triangle brings a lot of this out. Karoke bars, country clubs, restaurants, temples, old never-to-be-built-again wooden shophouses, and more are to be found throughout this detailed travel guide.
One shortfall of the book is perhaps the fact that telephone numbers are not provided, so in case you do want to call ahead you can't unless you get the number from another source. This, however, is not overly difficult as TAT has several booklets with detailed contact information on resorts and places to stay and eat in every province of the country. If the author were ever to update for another printing, we would also suggest smaller localized maps with references to individual places to eat, to go for entertainment, visit a temple, etc., to help the reader get around more easily. Still, this book is for reading and taking in the vast amount of information provided.
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Korat Post Book Review Non-fiction Hobby - Tropical fish
...AND STILL KING
Author: Frank G Anderson
Copyright 1993
ISBN 9789748815749
R/C Modeler Corporation
Printed by Freshwater & Marine Aquarium Magazine
Length: 65 pages
Dimensions: 20.5 cm by 14 cm by 0.5 cm.
Illustrations:
Local list price: -
Discus fish, a freshwater wonder, have traditionally been known as the King of the Aquarium for several reasons, perhaps the main one being their near-majestic presence in a room when visitors walk in. Their very size, character, coloring and behavior make them attractive to anyone, including people who don't normally take much of an interest in tropical fish.
In Thailand the discus fish, or Symphysodon, has been bred for decades, following on the heels of earlier researchers and adventurers like Dr. Harbert Axelrod, Jack Wattley and Warc Weiss, among many others, who first brought this Slouth American native back to America and England, and later by Germans to Germany, for research and breeding.
A cichlid, as the more common angelfish is, the discus fish is an egg-layer but requires a great deal more care in water conditions and environment. They are disease-prone and easily infected by carelessness or oversight. Generally, as well, parents will eat their own eggs or fry and breeders over the years have come to learn how to artifically raise the fry by an eggyolk-based mixture, then feeding larger specimens with ground beefheart.
At adulthood the discus fish can reach sizes of seven inches in diameter (the fish is disc-shaped and thus its name). Cichlids are territorial and the discus is not any different. It will, however, often be shy in the presence of other fish. Most fishkeepers who have discus will advise not to keep them with other species but to put them in their own tank and don't mix them. The reasons for doing so include not just being shy, but of discus prone to bacteria and parasitic infestation from other fish. Prices? Full-grown proven breeding pair can be bought in Thailand, for example, for as little as $50, while smaller young discus can be purchased for as little as $1. Discus are nearly impossible to sex, so if the hobbyist plans to breed them, he or she is advised to purchase some half dozen, hoping that the odds will be in favor of the task at hand. A quick online search for discus will easil yprovide links to local breeders and suppliers. |
