What about Tad Williams' Otherland series?
on
A Good Summer Read?
·
· Score: 1
I browsed through these comments and while several people mentioned the Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, no one (that I saw) suggested his Otherland series, 4 MASSIVE volumes that could conceivably keep you going all summer. And they take place (you eventually learn) to a large degree completely INSIDE a virtual universe. This unique concept allows Williams to cleverly combine elements of fantasy within a scifi/hacker concept.
The 4 volumes are City of the Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass and Sea of Silver Light. The first one was reviewed on/. here: http://slashdot.org/books/980803/087207.shtml
If you think the Patriot Act was bad, wait until you see the Patriot Act II !
PATRIOT ACT II PUTS EVEN CITIZENSHIP IN JEOPARDY By CHARLES LEVENDOSKY c. 2003 Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune (EDITOR'S NOTE: Charles Levendosky, editorial page editor of the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, has a national reputation for Bill of Rights commentary. His email address is levendos@trib.com.)
Since Jan. 9, the Bush administration has been sitting on draft legislation it intends to shove through Congress when that elected body is in a state of panic-for instance, when we are at war with Iraq or suspect a massive terrorist attack is imminent.
That's precisely the view taken by House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, D-Mich, in a letter he wrote to the Department of Justice. The proposed Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (DSEA) is not merely radical, it grants the U.S. Attorney General nearly unchecked powers in a wide arena of law enforcement. DSEA greatly expands the powers the USA PATRIOT Act granted the Department of Justice and federal law enforcement agencies.
Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Vice President Dick Cheney, as president of the Senate, each received a copy of DSEA on Jan. 10, according to a control sheet issued by the Department of Justice's Legislative Affairs Office. No other member of Congress received a copy.
For months, Justice Department officials were telling Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., ranking Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that the department was not drafting another anti-terrorism bill. Now, here it is full blown, Patriot Act II.
The DSEA isn't a working paper. It's a complete proposal for legislation. One cannot escape the ramifications. The thoroughness of DSEA is meant to discourage congressional changes, deletions or amendments. In total, it contains another wish list for federal law enforcement authority, while minimizing any checks on that authority.
Elements of a leaked copy of the confidential document were made public on PBS's television program "NOW with Bill Moyers" on Feb. 7. The 120-page document contains 33 pages of analysis; the other 87 pages contains the proposed legislation.
The first 11 sections of DSEA would broaden the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the authority of the secret FISA court the act created.
For the rest of the article, which details a number of provisions of Patriot Act II, see: http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/e ditori al/5230068.htm
Slashdot Mirror
I browsed through these comments and while several people mentioned the Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, no one (that I saw) suggested his Otherland series, 4 MASSIVE volumes that could conceivably keep you going all summer. And they take place (you eventually learn) to a large degree completely INSIDE a virtual universe. This unique concept allows Williams to cleverly combine elements of fantasy within a scifi/hacker concept.
The 4 volumes are City of the Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass and Sea of Silver Light. The first one was reviewed on /. here: http://slashdot.org/books/980803/087207.shtml
If you think the Patriot Act was bad, wait until you see the Patriot Act II !
e ditori al/5230068.htm
PATRIOT ACT II PUTS EVEN CITIZENSHIP IN JEOPARDY
By CHARLES LEVENDOSKY
c. 2003 Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Charles Levendosky, editorial page editor of the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, has a national reputation for Bill of Rights commentary. His email address is levendos@trib.com.)
Since Jan. 9, the Bush administration has been sitting on draft legislation it intends to shove through Congress when that elected body is in a state of panic-for instance, when we are at war with Iraq or suspect a massive terrorist attack is imminent.
That's precisely the view taken by House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, D-Mich, in a letter he wrote to the Department of Justice. The proposed Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (DSEA) is not merely radical, it grants the U.S. Attorney General nearly unchecked powers in a wide arena of law enforcement. DSEA greatly expands the powers the USA PATRIOT Act granted the Department of Justice and federal law enforcement agencies.
Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Vice President Dick Cheney, as president of the Senate, each received a copy of DSEA on Jan. 10, according to a control sheet issued by the Department of Justice's Legislative Affairs Office. No other member of Congress received a copy.
For months, Justice Department officials were telling Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., ranking Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that the department was not drafting another anti-terrorism bill. Now, here it is full blown, Patriot Act II.
The DSEA isn't a working paper. It's a complete proposal for legislation. One cannot escape the ramifications. The thoroughness of DSEA is meant to discourage congressional changes, deletions or amendments. In total, it contains another wish list for federal law enforcement authority, while minimizing any checks on that authority.
Elements of a leaked copy of the confidential document were made public on PBS's television program "NOW with Bill Moyers" on Feb. 7. The 120-page document contains 33 pages of analysis; the other 87 pages contains the proposed legislation.
The first 11 sections of DSEA would broaden the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the authority of the secret FISA court the act created.
For the rest of the article, which details a number of provisions of Patriot Act II, see:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/