When truth is in short supply
935183
Charles Colson is a leading Christian commentator and apologist. His daily radio commentary, Breakpoint, provides short, punchy and pithy observations on the current scene, be it social, political, moral or cultural.

His incisive commentary is fully informed by a thoroughly biblical world view. Thus he offers a good counter-balance to the relativistic, politically correct and postmodern mindset. Those who may have missed these radio commentaries (or simply prefer the printed word) will be grateful to see many of the better and more recent broadcasts collected into a single volume.

The commentaries are broken own into seven sections: individualism and rights; marriage and family; tolerance and society; the arts; Christianity and culture; the media; and spirituality in culture. Each section contains around a dozen of the short, but meaty, commentaries.

Taken together, the 90 or so pieces cover many of the current events and social issues being discussed today. With so much uninformed commentary, and/or viewpoints representing every perspective but that of biblical Christianity, it is good to see a decidedly Christian version of events.

In an age where truth is in short supply, where morality is hard to come by, and everyone seems to be doing what is right in their own eyes, the words of reason, wisdom and truth found here make for refreshing reading.

The trouble is, it is not just secularists who are so much in need of biblical truth. Many who call themselves Christians are also desperately in need. Too many believers have slavishly followed the trends of the world, instead of setting counter-cultural trends of their own.

This book will help believers to get back to where they should be, and will also help non-believers to rethink many of their currently held positions. It is time to challenge the lies that are so prevalent and pervasive in contemporary culture, and this volume offers a great place to start with in such an important task.
771136
Sam's little book, pages are about 6.5 x 4 inches and number fewer than 100 when blank pages and notes are excluded, offers little in enlightenment on the topic of lying.  In particular, there is almost no discussion of the deep psychological reason why people lie.  The only thing in the book which could be considered informative was his discussion of "white lies", the harm they can cause, and the possible good which can come from telling the often painful truth.  Then he blows that by saying in so many words that sometimes white lies are OK.  That, which anyone who know squat about human behavior knows, gives everyone an out and they will continue to lie.  This little, light weight book will inform few and is unlikely to change anyone's behavior.  Two stars for attempting to address a difficult and important topic, but he fails in significance and in depth.  In short, disappointing, and certainly not worth the price.
3451970
Not as exhaustive as Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, but a good quick reference on O'Reilly alone.  Leave this on the coffe table when Uncle Liberty Murrica shows up.
378683
The fact that this author would even allude to the fact that Jesus and Mary were lover shows the lengths a person will go to get someone to buy the book. Because of this, readers should be aware that a lot of suppositions will be made by the author to tantalize but not educate. How can one trust what he/she is reading in this book? Only lovers of pure fiction will enjoy it because truth is lacking here.
516411
This book is okay, but leads the reader to believe a lot of seemingly evidential events with nothing to back it up.
1825091
This is NOW offered for less than a dollar - I'd have paid ten times what I did for my original copy; greed is not involved in getting this very important information out ... pretty hard to refute this unless of course ... well, I love some very important people in my life who just can't grasp this truth even now!
3213194
Thank God that this information is coming out!  People need to know the truth about how the politics of food are destroying our health and environment in the name of corporate greed.  We need to know that we have the power to vote with our dollars if we only know the truth.  This book will reveal why there are so many conflicting opinions out there.  There are so many sources of false information funded by corporate shadows that we are split on all issues.  It is time to take the knowledge and power back.
195034
The truth is out there. Although these days its a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. Anything by Yogi Bhajan is worth reading . The truth will set you free!
858230
Even if you do not agree with everything said in this short book, it is a satirical (and somewhat truthful) way to view the world from a different perspective. It may be a revelation for some readers, especially for Millennials, but, when reading this book, do not expect a massive in depth analysis of modern society.
1049203
There are only a few real axioms in life, and I would say that among them is the fact that we will never know the full and unabridged truth about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
There are those who know the truth and they are those in power, and they would like to stay there.  In a free democracy where we pride ourselves on electing our own officials, meaning ideally that 'they' are in fact 'us,' they instead act as though truth was their own personal property, and the rest of us are doomed to either err or trespass.  Gerald Posner has written a persuasive brief for the prosecution, but it is only truly convincing to those who take his sources at face value and do not follow up his efforts.  Thirty years after the assassination, Gerald Posner relived the unbridled media endorsements of the Warren Report.  The media lined up to sing praises for a book some had not read, and some before the book was even finished (EX: Stephen Ambrose wrote comments on dust jacket of the first edition of the book, which were conveniently removed after it was shown that the book was not finished when he wrote his glowing endorsement).
But the proof is in the pudding (or the lack thereof).  When Posner was asked to produce materials for the Assassination Records Review Board in the mid-1990s he declined, as did a number of pro-solution individuals who made quite a name promoting their own ideas without the realities of detailed substantiation.  This was kind of a 'put up or shut up' program where the Board had the power to send prosecute people who were dishonest with them.  I asked Gerald myself if he would publically produce the index he wrote for the twenty-six volumes of the Warren Commission evidence, as some doubt that he could have read and indexed all that information the time he claimed.  He refused.  I asked him to publicly produce any part of the tape recordings of witnesses he claims he both interviewed and tape recorded (whereby he asserts that credible witnesses like James Tague changed their story in a way that serves the pro-solution concept), when those witnesses state that they never spoke to Posner at all!  If this were a legitimate attempt to offer a credibile solution to the question of the assassination, Posner would cooperate with government inquiries, offer some form of credibile evidence as to his personal work, and answer the critics in an honest and open manner.  To date, he has not.
In 1997 I personally offered Gerald $10,000 to debate me publicly, with the money to be donated to a cause of his choice, which he declined.
The points raised about Posner's character and credibility stand even today.  Having spoke to several of the witnesses who claim shoddy and distorted work by Posner and to the Posners themselves, I can only say that this case is far from closed.
319097
I like brevity but this book may be too brief at about 85 pages, so it is basically a set of conclusions.  Nevertheless, it provides a lot of interesting information about what most people suspect: that the whole political-economic system is rigged and heading for a collapse.

Smith explains that today's economic problems are due to self-serving elites who chase worldwide profits through Globalization regardless of the consequences for the areas they leave or enter.  The mechanism is the worldwide mobility of capital to seek lower costs and higher profits.  The political-economic theory supporting this is neoliberalism, supported by both the Bush and Clinton Dynasties.

There is of course nothing new about elites serving themselves at the expense of everyone else.  It has been going on for thousands of years.  What is new is that today's elites have modern global technology, which accelerates the process.  People increasingly recognize this but they are not that familiar with how capital moves behind the scenes.

What people are most familiar with is the institutions that promote this status quo to the public.  These institutions include the news media, academia, and Hollywood.  The journalists, professors, and entertainers inhabiting these institutions get upper middle class pay, or higher in some instances, to support the neoliberal status quo and thus they take the front lines in defending it.  Politicians and government bureaucrats doing the same thing are a bit less vocal.

This book was written just before Trump was elected but the elite response to his victory shows how it operates.  The 2016 election was supposed to be between the Bush and Clinton Dynasties.  When the outsider Donald Trump entered the race, the three main propaganda elements (media, academia, Hollywood) went into a state of hysteria which has continued to this day.  He attacked the two main elements of the neoliberal status quo: open borders for more profits and welfare for the victims.

The teleological imperative (as Smith would say) for the neoliberal state in America is a small elite which owns most of the capital and thus most of the profits from this system.  After the well-paid propaganda elements get their take, the next level would the technicians (preferably from cheap foreign labor) who would manage the increasingly computer-automated economy.  There would still be a small lowly paid service sector to do those things computers cannot do.  But the fate of most of the population would be some form of welfare.

It used be that the Republican Party stood more for Wall Street but now both parties are equally indebted there.  The main difference seems to be that the Democrat Party has adopted the welfare state as its main constituency while the GOP sees it as a necessary evil to be limited whenever possible.  Meanwhile Hollywood and television try to keep the masses entertained with endless rubbish while the news media does the same with sensational news which is rapidly emulating the National Enquirer.

Above all, elections have become a form of entertainment meant to make voters feel they control things.  The country is already mostly run by nonelected officials such as government bureaucrats, federal judges, and Federal Reserve bureaucrats who control much of the economy.  But this is not enough, the elites cannot even stomach the pretense of any outsider controlling the diminished power of the White House, which is why the elite attacks on President Trump are non-stop.
1894176
They Say ThE TrUtH Doesnt Need Long Explanations Well Heres The Truth.  You Are A Magic Being That Lives In A Magical World. Read It!!
1822605
We find in this book the important -sounding observation that  lying is a  "present violation of the  nature of speech." This nugget  from a book that defends a vast tradition that invented casuistry itself.  That is rich. This is a prima facie embarrassment.  But it appears recently that Catholics have become worried about their very famous proximity to diplomatic fudging of all sorts. Thus Robert George has recently come out against "Lying" as if it is a big moral deduction. All the organizations he has been involved with are founded on casuistry. Thus it is the purest falderal for him to present himself as an arbiter of proper decorum on the issue, not to even speak of morality. Those connected with him in his efforts are guilty of exactly these kind of falsehoods. Of course they think they have the higher ground, but their tactics prove otherwise. Methinks the woman protests too much.
1230284
One of the most coveted things that a leader at any level needs and requires is accurate information, because that breed of information is vitally important to help leadership make mission critical decisions. Often times, that truthful or accurate information is not necessarily "good news" so underlings try to sanitize it, shape it and mold it into a form that they think their boss will accept more readily. This practice of massaging the message tends to lead to groupthink where insulated leaders are forced to make incomplete judgments based on suppositions, mediocre consensus and half-truths. This frequently delays the delivery of important "bad news" until it's too late to do anything about it. In this book, Harvard Business School's Michael Roberto offers proven ways to spur constructive and honest dissent, improve the decision making process with those insights while helping the organization come in line behind those decisions. Soundview likes this book because it promotes institutional candor and sharing toward effective action while simultaneously showcasing the five myths of leadership decision making and how those myths can be neutralized.
2654032
I like that the statements are backed up by sources though not as much as I would like.  I would like to see all of this information updated with source material and access information.  These things seem so extreme that they can't be believed!  how can we possibly accept such stuff as factual.  It must be a mistake!
3332443
Gets you thinking about how you may need to look deeper into "facts" that people give you.  There is a small lie in most assumptions.
2331081
The United States is the LAST place people of the world would expect to find PROPAGANDA but that is what's happening in the US, as scary as that sounds. This is a time for the true brave souls like Amy Goodman to come forward and inform us of the truth. Everybody likes the comfort of letting others take care of business, but it's time to start facing the truth about what this country stands for. It's time to help the cause of free speech. What's the real price of oil? What's the real reason we're financing a war in the Middle East? How many innocent people are suffering so we can enjoy insulation from the truth? We are still "A sleeping Giant". Please read this book and wake up to the truth as unpleasant as that is. I want my county back! I have never been an activist, but the time has come to be part of the solution. Thank you Amazon for not censoring comments.