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Vol 4: 13 July 8, 2010
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"Cursed greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power has caused."
-- Virgil
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Some Are More Equal Than Others
The Book: Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights, second edition
 Why Read It? National radio personality and bestselling author Thom Hartmann highlights a little-known fact: corporations in the United States enjoy the same protections and rights as people do. This twist in the law has implications far greater than you can imagine.
The Bottom Line: This book recounts the story of how an offhand comment by a Supreme Court justice led to the Fourteenth Amendment -- originally passed to grant basic rights to freed slaves -- becoming the justification for granting personhood and all associated rights to corporations. In this thoroughly revised edition, Hartmann includes more research and detail, including commentary on the ramifications of the 2010 Supreme Court rulings on corporate personhood.
Read an excerpt here and buy the book for 30% off.
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The Book: Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, second edition
 Why Read It? Bestselling author David Korten explains how Wall Street institutions have perfected the art of creating phantom wealth -- mere numbers on paper -- without producing anything of real value and without any thought of the social consequences. It's easy to point fingers, but as the recent market crash taught us, we all bought into the so-called dream, and we all paid the price. explains how Wall Street institutions have perfected the art of creating
The Bottom Line: The bestselling first edition of this book explored the economic collapse of 2008. In this revised edition, Korten revisits the economy today, two years later, and shows how little has changed since the last time and how, now more than ever before, we need to move to a new economic model based on shared accountability and social and environmental stewardship.
Read an excerpt here and buy the book for 30% off.
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For media and review copies, please contact Publicity Manager Katie Sheehan.
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Corporate Malfeasance
 In this issue of the Communiqué, we explore how American corporations exploit certain factors to maximize their profits while lessening their accountability to the citizenry. David Korten contributed this issue's list of Ten Controversial Yet Common Sense Principles for a New Economy.
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Other News
 + Famous literary recluse Harper Lee actually gave an interview on the fiftieth anniversary of her book, To Kill a Mockingbird -- Sort of.
+ Mental Floss publisher Will Pearson correctly points out that while publishers are afraid of angering fundamentalist Muslims with any visual depictions of the Prophet Mohammad, there has been a statue of the Prophet in the U.S. Supreme Court buidling since 1935.
+ All those authors who complain about the long road to getting published should perhaps listen to the 82-year-old who just landed her first book deal.
+ Journalist Allison Flood investigates the growing trend toward launching books that also have their own iPhone apps.
+ The infamous book thief known as the Tome Raider has been caught -- again.
+ Chris Walters test-drives Amazon's new enhanced Kindle books.
+ Apple's CEO Steve Jobs is all about empowering individuals but still maintains, "I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers."
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Freebies
+ Party! Are you going to be in Manhattan on July 21? Why not drop by Mark Levy's book launch party?
+ Free Excerpt from a New York Times Bestseller: War, by Sebastian Junger. Read the excerpt here.
+ Free Software: Track and find your lost or stolen laptop here.
+ Free Audiobooks: Find audiobooks galore for your computer or iPod/iPhone here.
+ Free Training Video preview: Preview Eileen McDargh's Gifts from the Mountain (a $595 video) at no cost here.
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 Title: Walk Out, Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now
Authors: Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze
Release Date: Spring 2011
Synopsis: This work is a learning journey into eight diverse communities that have walked out of a world of individualism organized around a "take as much as you can" philosophy and walked on to develop a healthier, more resilient world based on people partnering together to "create with what we have." |
 This tip is mine. Every time I start feeling down, I watch a short video that reminds me that strangers can make an incredible difference in the life of an ordinary person -- at no cost and for no personal gain other than the satisfaction of doing good. Watch the video here.
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 Last time, I issued this challenge. Not surprisingly, no one answered correctly. This puzzle was a twist on the legendary (and still unsolved) Incompatible Food Triadprevious guess as to how he looks was dead-on!
This issue's challenge (which does have a solution) can be found here.
Puzzle. And Mike Lytle finally sent in his photograph (see above), and it appears that my
Send me your thoughts, but whatever you do, don't send this guy your business card.
Were you able to figure out what this strange site is all about? Good! Now start on this odd puzzle.
P.S. -- this isn't real, is it?
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