He CAN read!

Now that George has learned which way is up when holding a book, the reading list is rather disconcerting.

Here is what the holidaying emperor is reading this summer: (when he should be talking with Cindy Sheehan)
1. "Salt: A World History" by Mark Kurlansky. This book chronicles the rise and fall of what once the world's most strategic commodity and the cause of great strife. Synonymous with wealth, it was a backbone of many trade routes and France's tax on salt was a contributing factor in the Revolution. In the 20th century refrigeration came along and salt became ubiquitous.
Consider the similarities to our current 21st century addiction and dependance upon oil. It's only a matter of time before it's status as wealth is a thing of the past. In the meantime however, the covetting of it is destroying the very planet and our own humanity while a precious few grow shamefully rich at the expense of others. It seems shrub is making an attempt to actually inform himself as to the purp0se he's serving for his puppet masters! Where'd all this money and political capital come from anyway? Oh - salt, I mean oil $$$ The author's reaction upon learning that his book was on the WHcriminal's reading list: priceless....

"My first reaction was, 'Oh, he reads books?' "

(it's satisfying to know that Kurlansky is a bush critic who's spoken against the war. I guess they don't check out the authors before recommending reading to the puppet)
2. The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History" by John M. Barry. "This author is also a self proclaimed bush critic, but has consulted regularly with the white house regarding a possible future pandemic of influenza. I'd like to beleive, as the author seems to, that the administration is making preparations to deal with such an event. My more reasoned and jaded opinion is that they are preparing such an event. It would be another useful tool in the Empire's arsenal. They are more than twisted and evil enough to use bio weapons on a global scale while creating a pretense of attempting to vaccinate their own population against it. So a few million of their own will die...Big deal. Small price to pay for having wiped a few billion opponents of the Empire off the face of the planet, right?
3. "Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar" by Edvard RadzinskyBush obtained an advance copy of the English translation which is not due out for public consumption until November, so the WH has had their eye on this one for a while.
Alexander II ruled Russia from 1855 to 1881. was known as the "Czar Liberator" because he freed millions Russian slaves. (two years before Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.)
Alexander II's reforms were sweeping and caused great division even after he attempted to stop them: the right backlashed and the left resorted to violence and targetted killings. The author's claim:

"We, Russia, created the first great terrorist organization in the world, we are the father of terror, not Muslims."

All this backlash happened because Alexander was out of his depth...he'd emancipated the serfs but didn't want to give them too much - it would threaten his autocracy; so what does any good Emperor do: take repressive measures.After surviving a number of attempts on his life, it was ultimately ended by the home made bomb of 'anarchists' who felt that while they'd been given limited freedom, their status still did not give them equality with that of the 'educated' classes.
Shrub must be attempting to glean what he can of Alexander's mistakes. Not because he wants to be more fair, but because he no doubt worries about his own safety and how the vitriolic nature of opposition to his rule is growing. The left continues to rise in it's revulsion to his police state and any who are not among the elite few who are profitting from the war will come to see this sooner or later whether they want to or not. What will be his 'anarchist's' bomb? How will he avoid becoming a victim of his own reforms? How far can he push the police state before it's citizens take objections of real consequence?
Help us all....he's learned to read.