"A book cover is a promise that the book itself either keeps...or breaks."

Lowell T.
The covers on the right are my ideas for books yet to be written.

Need I say more? I was going to put a big photo of Sarah, Rush, Glenn, etc. on the cover, but I didn't want to get sued. Beside, it would be redundant, wouldn't it?

As Malcolm once said about "Negroes", "white" Americans have been "took, had and bamboozled" - by other "whites". The latest economic meltdown is just the most recent evidence. But there's a long and sad history, starting with the terms "white" and "Caucasian".

It's about time...isn't it?

What happens when the secessionists finally succeed? You'd be surprised. Or would you?

I just thought of this this morning, January 22, 2010 - the morning after the latest bonehead, anti-American Supreme Court decision.

I was waiting for someone to write this book. But nobody did, so here I am once again to the rescue.

In the tradition of James Weldon Johnson's "Autobiography of an Ex Colored Man" and William Styron's "Confessions of Nat Turner" I thought I'd begin this series of books. Should it be fiction or non-fiction? You decide. Email me at lowellt@hotmail.com with your vote.OK? I'll be waiting here by my modem.

Most sentient beings seem to agree that the consequences of too much capitalism has pretty much put our species on the fast track to extinction. Right? But few are talking seriously about the devastation of our mental atmosphere, especially here in the capitalist capital of the world. Well, let the games begin, here.

Nobody asked me but here's my gratuitous comments on the state of the American Experiment. From George Washington to Booker T.. From Abe to Zsa Zsa, you'll get a second opinion on the gaudy spectacle they call the US of A from a member of its original "captive audience".

Now it can be told - the so-called experts, pundits, scholars, academic wunderkinds, etc., are clueless about so much that what they do actually know "fer sure" doesn't really compare. This is an exposé of the knowledge priesthood - and not a second too soon. I just read a piece by David Brooks on the NYTimes site that is exhibit A in the case against the punditocracy. No, I take that back. Alan Greenspan's "beats the hell our of me" response to Congressional questioning about how his Ayn Rand philosophy proved so wrong in our latest economy crash is Exhibit A. As Malcolm said, in essence, "We been took, we been had and bamboozled" by false profits (misspelling intended).

Out of a Job...And Lovin' it.

Out of a Job...And Lovin' it.
Isn't it about time our politicians told us the truth about the economy...and then design a way to deal with it in our post-industrial nation?

Making a Good Living.

Making a Good Living.
There's seldom been a better time to re-think your priorities. This is not your momma and daddy's job market. Maybe you should think about whether you really want to live their lives. I know it's kinda philosophical, but I'm in one of those moods.

Governed by Greed

Governed by Greed
Taking a hint from Deep Throat in "All the Presidents' Men" (at least in the movie version), I found that almost everything in American life can be understood if you "follow the money". In this book I plan to do just that, starting with our nation's first "killer app", slavery.

THE SKINNERZ

THE SKINNERZ
This is my first attempt at fiction on this site. In fact, it's not really fiction. It's a new category I just made up called Finction or Fuinction. (Don't ask me how to pronounce it). Or you can call it Functional Fiction, which I define as fiction designed to serve a purpose in the real world. I know, I know, real writers aren't supposed to care about that. But since I'm a writer without portfolio, I can do whatever I damn want. Right? Want to find out more, email me at lowelltho@gmail.com, OK?

America, AB

America, AB
How will the election of the nation's first "Black" President change US? Let the speculation begin.

Paying the Skin Tax

Paying the Skin Tax
Stuff happened since I posted this Cover a few weeks ago, 1. I found out somebody had already used "SkinTax" as a title for a poetry book a few years ago. 2. Henry Louis Gates became the poster boy (man?) for paying his Skin Tax and exhibit AA for the phrase. So I changed my title to "Paying the Skin Tax" and wrote a comment on Gates Gate on HuffPost. (Click on the cover if you want to read it).

DuhMocracy in America

DuhMocracy in America
We Americans love to lambast our politicians as we cynically watch them being bought and sold by our Monetary Masters. But what if we suddenly had to actually run the country ourselves? What if the much-touted "People" were really in charge? I'm talking about your idiot cousin and your barely sentient uncle J? Scary isn't it? I like to think of this book as the new millennial sequel to Tocqueville's 19th century tome, "Democracy in America". But, what do you think? Email me at lowelltho@gmail.com. BTW: I just my first vote from Dennis L.. He gives ""Duhmocracy..." Title 9; design 5" (which he upgraded to 6 after he realized my scratchy style was on purpose).

I came up with this when atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens launched their attack on all things religious a few years ago. At first, not being faithful to any particular religion myself, I thought it was good to finally hear from the non-believing peanut gallery. 

But then I read reviews and parts of each book and felt a little conflicted.

On one hand, I liked their pluck and their willingness to express what many people think but would never think of saying.  They all were pretty articulate and even entertaining in their own ways. But they each expressed their faith in no-faith with a snarky certainty that rubbed me the wrong way. I thought, "There's got to be a better answer to this age-old conflict than this". "Faith in Good" is my answer. If you'd like to find out more, email me at lowelltho@gmail.com.

In 1957, a business journalist named Vance Packard wrote a book that woke Americans up to the dark magic of the ad industry, The Hidden Persuaders. Weapons of Mass Manipulation is its new millennial successor, not written by a journalist, but by moi, a man who spent his adult life creating ads. I guess you could call me a recovering adman, putting my communications skills to better use.

How much should we know about the self-appointed guardians of our freedom? More than we do. My idea is based on the old journalist's motto, "If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out".

Friday, September 18, 2009

To my readers

As you can tell, I'm still trying to figure out how to make this blog work. Since I'm not a techie and don't want to spend my life writing html code, I'm trying to work around the blog format to create something a little more visually eclectic and less text-based than most blogs, but it ain't easy.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I'm so happy and grateful for the genius of those techies who created and developed the internet and the blogging system that I feel a little guilty saying anything but words of high praise. 

I just want to let you know that I recognize the glitches in my blog and plan to work them out as I go along. Lucky for me, most of the folks who are discovering the blog seem to like the idea and content enough to bear with me. And since I finally got enough nerve to tackle trying to add a counter to my site about a week ago, (Google Analytics) I found out I'm getting visitors from 10 countries. World domination can't be too far away.

In the meantime, I'm going to use my actual posts to just touch base now and then and to add key words so that search engines can find the covers, titles and stuff I'm posting. OK?