Andrew Feinstein - The Shadow World

The arms industry and its powerful political friends have forged a parallel political universe that largely insulates itself against the influence or judgement of others by invoking national security. This is the shadow world.
Andrew Feinstein, The Shadow World, p. xxvii

The Oracle of Ottawa has some good news and some bad news. First, the good news; the world that we now live in is not so bad, the bad news is that it is all so much worse than you could possibly imagine. Andrew Feinstein was once an elected MP in the new South Africa, until he ran into the full force of  the shadow world. The Oracle of Ottawa was very fortunate to capture a hard cover first American edition out of a remainder bin for a very good price at his local Chapters store in Ottawa.

The currency of the Shadow World...

The book is very attractively designed, and printed to the highest standards, as is to be expected by Farrar, Straus And Giroux out of New York. It is of a very comfortable octavo size, with the posh, bright clay paper, that gives it that comforting weight in hand . The typographic design is the highest contemporary example of what remains of American craftsmanship.

What immediately engaged the Oracle of Ottawa was not so much all the details of the arms deals, but rather all the dirt and detail on how it is all brought off. How everyone in the decision chain is tracked, filed, cataloged and ultimately corrupted. The Oracle of Ottawa found this very interesting indeed. The Shadow World is a lot like a bag of Frito Lay potato chips, bet you can't read just one page! And that fact that Andrew Feinstein can write like Tom Clancy, and yet relate an even better story that is all true, cited and referenced is to the Oracle of Ottawa one hell of a feat.

Once the Oracle of Ottawa got right into it, a cold realization came upon him. This is not just a book about the shadow world arms trade, it is really an unofficial New World Order playbook! The Oracle of Ottawa was shocked and very appalled  at all the names of the great and good that popped up over and over in the text. Not to give anything away the Oracle will relate a few things that were found most interesting.

page xxviii - how the bank of American Presidents in Washington D.C. was used to send the 9/11 bombers their monthly allowance from a princess in the Royal Saudi family. (9/11 truthers will love this book...)

page 53 - how the Roman Catholic Church through the auspices of the Vatican Bank, accepted cash money, hand delivered by a Saudi Prince to throw an election in Italy.

page 205 - the name of a once very important Canadian MP and figure skater who is up to his neck in the shadow world.

page 223 - why Olaf Palme was really murdered.

page 264 - a most interesting story about Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands otherwise known as the co-founder of the Bilderberg Group! Yes Dear Reader, the shadow world is a strange house of many twisted rooms.

page 283 - the very weird and scary fingerprints of the Carlyle Group in and around the shadow world.

page 505 - how Pat Robertson was a good buddy of a certain third world dictator who lobbied for his interests in America in a hoped for return of a gold mine concession in Liberia! Praise the Lord and pass the ammo!

 All in, the Oracle of Ottawa couldn't put this book down. And it is a keeper at arms length for future reference. It has also occurred to the Oracle of Ottawa that Andrew Feinstein might not only have one hell of a good book, but rather, he may have given birth to a whole new juicy franchise! Could it be that Andrew Feinstein is the founder of the Jane's of New World Order dirt and filth? The Oracle of Ottawa can hardly wait for the next updated installment!  

Frankenstein - The Best Modern Edition

The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, Volume I, Chapter IV

Frankenstein is simply one of the most enduring archetype tales of Western Civilization. The Oracle of Ottawa has come to it a number of times in his lifetime. The first time as a child, when I read it in Classics Illustrated, No. 26. At that time the Oracle of Ottawa enjoyed it as a story of a crazy doctor that patched together his very own home made man. How twisted weird is that? And just a hell of a good story. Later on in life the Oracle of Ottawa read the actual novel, and still took it as a great ghost story, and began to ponder the utter intricate detail, and its ability to draw you in. The third time the Oracle of Ottawa, much older and wiser now, came upon the Belknap Harvard annotated edition in hard cover. Now the Oracle of Ottawa realizes that it is all more than just a superficial story. It is all so much deeper than that.

Belknap - Harvard edition

The Annotated Frankenstein is a masterpiece of American printing. It warms the Oracle's soul that Americans still print books in the actual United States of America, right down to the silk like end papers! The margins are as wide as Texas, and the annotations are very scholarly and deep. Which will provide many searches on Wikipedia, that will take you to post graduate depth in no time. Just follow the links. And best of all it is cheap! Or in a more sophisticated phrase; represents excellent value. This is the most definitive edition, that balances content perfectly with artistic craft and beauty. And all that detail, will still bring the goose bumps to you just like the first time you read it when you were a little kid. Well actually with all the background thrown in, it actually makes the book even more scary!

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster

 As the Oracle of Ottawa came to Frankenstein for the third time in his life, he realized that this is much more than a scary story. It is a masterpiece, a damming indictment of a system that the author observed being born in her lifetime, but as of yet, did not have a name for. It is the story of a mere mortal of a man that thought he could cheat God so to speak. He would use all the methods that had recently been discovered, and combine them in his own selfish way that would create something greater than the sum of its parts. But as you have no doubt noticed in earlier readings he did not ponder the effects of his creation on the greater common good, and, of course, the results were monstrous.

On top of the text of Frankenstein, there is included a ton of fascinating information. The Oracle of Ottawa found the chronology just fascinating. And I won't give anything away. But the editors did miss one or two interesting dates. For example, in 1776, was the publication date of Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations! And in 1818 the first edition of Frankenstein was published, the same year as the birth of Karl Marx...              

The Bible - A Reading Plan That Works

Man lives, not directly or nakedly in nature like the animals, but within a mythological universe, a body of assumptions and beliefs developed from his existential concerns.
Northrop Frye, The Great Code, p. xviii

The Oracle of Ottawa still can't believe that he finally read the whole thing! It was all in and done on Thursday last. All 2180 pages of it. (Oy!)  The Oracle of Ottawa could never read as fast as Harold Bloom at 400 pages per hour in his prime! The Oracle of Ottawa doesn't think he can break the 40 page an hour barrier, but never the less, he gets it done.

The "Red Brick" This is what you want, exactly...

It was all started by watching Northrop Frye on TVO's show Big Ideas. They found a whole wack of video tapes of the great Northrop Frye lecturing at Victoria College and they ran one on the Introduction to The Bible course that was very popular back in the 1980's, when even then, Northrop Frye was all but a legend in his own time. The Oracle of Ottawa was fascinated with the approach, and vouched safe the fact that you will never get through Milton if you don't know your Bible. But the thing that got me sucked in was the realization that the Oracle of Ottawa had never read the Apocrypha!  

That was how it all started about three months ago. This will be a piece of cake the Oracle thought. There were several editions and translations on hand in the secured bunker. But, much to the surprise and chagrin of the Oracle, he only had one version of the Bible that contained the Apocrypha! And that turned out to be The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, in the Augmented Third Edition of the New Revised Standard Version. College Edition, An Ecumenical Study Bible. ( Did you know that in the time of the King James Version, around 1611, that it was against the law to print a Bible without the Apocrypha?) The fluke of circumstance turned out to be a Godsend. Read on and the Oracle will explain...

It is all about the covenants. If you can grasp that little idea you have the job wacked. And the perfect place to start is at the Apocrypha, the period between the old covenant(s) and the new covenant(s). The Oracle found it all most interesting reading. Especially the Book of Ruth! What a Babe! This has to be some of the earliest feminine literature there is. And it was hot X rated stuff, it made the Oracle all tingly several times. Glass ceiling my ass... Any way as you read on into the Maccabees, you realize that the world at that time was changing rapidly, the old ways were not working like the past and there is a detected longing and hope for something better. Soon you will have read right through, and there will be a lot to ponder.

Now after reading the Apocrypha, read all the essays that are located after the New Testament. This stuff is utterly fascinating gold. Did you know that a talent weighed 75 pounds? After this section you will certainly know the difference between a Philistine and a Pharisee! And the Oracle surely enjoyed the essay on the work of Northrop Frye! The words in the words and the importance of the words in the right order, you will eat this stuff up.

Now after the Essays section, start the New Testament, yah! Put a first bookmark right there. Now with your second bookmark place it at the beginning of the last book of the Old Testament, which of course is Malachi, the last of the minor prophets. Now place your third bookmark at the book of Genesis. Now everyday start at the New Testament for as long as you can, then get in a few pages from the last of the Old Testament. Then try to get one page or two from Genesis.

Since the text of the New Testament is more modern and familiar, you will finish these books of the New Covenant before the Old Testament. When you have wacked, or rather finished reading the New Testament, take that first bookmark and place it at the start of the second book of the Old Testament, after Genesis. Now when you have read Malachi proceed to the next unread book at the end of the Old Testament. Now what you will see happening is that you are working into the middle. And the shorter books at the end of the minor prophets will spur you to continue.

With dogged determination, you should have the whole project end at around the prophet Jeremiah. Individual results will vary of course due to native pig headedness, desire and level of intelligence. When you get it  in and all done, you will think differently and understand the incredible haul of the development of what we call Western Civilization. And you will certainly be able to proclaim that you lived up fully to the promise and potential of your baptism, as you damn well should!    

The Best Apocrypha

Wisdom was created before all other things...
Sirach, 1:4, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Augmented Third edition 

It all started with the reading of The Great Code: The Bible And Literature by the great Canadian Northrop Frye. The search for enlightenment and the ensuing "thinking about thinking" project has taken some very weird twists and paths. After literally burning through the Great Code, and continuing with The Words of Power, the Oracle of Ottawa often felt the top of his head seemingly to loosen. It was all so masterful.

The one you really want...

 What really peaked the Oracle of Ottawa's interest was the discussion of the importance of the Apocrypha. The discussion of its importance in the Bible peaked the Oracles interest very much indeed. So much so, that I was determined to dig up a copy and get right on it. Left to right, front to back, Starting at the top left of the first page straight through to the bottom right of the last page, like ole Norie always said, there is no other way.

After going through my (extensive) stash of bibles, a very wondrous collection of various translations and printings over time, the Oracle of Ottawa was shocked to discover that he had only one Bible that had the Apocrypha! And that was The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Augmented Third Edition, in the New Revised Standard Version. I bought it brand new a couple of years ago, and it only cost a little over twenty bucks, out the door, all in. All 2300 plus pages of it. If scholarship is measured by the pound, it was one of the best deals I ever cut!

The Cyrus cylinder...

 The only problem was that Northrop Frye was not very big on the Revised Standard Version, but it was all that I had at hand and I got on it. It seems that the editors of the New Revised Standard Version took Northrop Frye to heart and seriously, the NRSV is very literary in its style. And, if you check out the excellent essays in the back, they made a note of Northrop Frye's criticism, and mention him by name, and claimed to have fixed the problem. All the Oracle of Ottawa can tell you dear reader is that the editors were true to their word and claim.

Long story short, the Oracle of Ottawa enjoyed the Apocrypha very, very much. The annotations are excellent, along with the confirmation references, such as this passage is confirmed in the Dead Sea Scrolls, with the proper text reference number. Don't ask me why, but the Oracle of Ottawa loves that stuff. The literary style and the content was enjoyed mightily. These books are very important, since it lays out the ground to the time just before the coming of Christ. After the Apocrypha you will have a most visceral feel the Gospels that follow. And the Book of Judith? It simply has to be the most X-rated book in the whole Bible! Some say it is the first historical novel, but the Oracle of Ottawa says it is the earliest example in any language of feminist literature. Judith made her way in the world. No glass ceiling whining from this hot babe, she just cut her way through.

Another aspect that really interested the Oracle of Ottawa was the Maccabees books. Especially the mention of Cyrus and the detailed description of the return from bondage with his full support. While reading the Apocrypha check out the subjects and rulers on Wikipedia as you are reading. It will deepen your understanding deeply and very quickly, especially from the historical and literary views. While checking out Cyrus the Oracle of Ottawa learned of the Cyrus Cylinder! Most fascinating...        

 One thing leads to another, seeking enlightenment is like that...

David Graeber - My Lite Summer Reading

It is rather striking to think that the very core of the Christian message, salvation itself, the sacrifice of God's own son to rescue humanity from eternal damnation, should be framed in the language of a financial transaction.
David Graeber, Debt - The First 5000 Years, p. 80 

Late into the depths of the silence of the night, the Oracle of Ottawa ponders many things. If  the Oracle was alive when the first English edition of Karl Marx's Capital came out and I saw it in a bookstore and picked it up and scanned it; would he have known how important it was? If the Oracle of Ottawa was alive just after the Second World War, and saw the first edition of the "General Theory" by Maynard Keynes, would he have realized its importance and slammed down the full retail price? The Oracle of Ottawa prides himself on his ability that he can spot the really great talent that only comes along a few precious times in every life time.

David Graeber - The next one....

It was one of those recent times that when the Oracle of Ottawa was convinced that he was indeed alive at the "end of history". Then I happened onto the very recent work of David Graeber, formally of Yale University, and now lauded as possibly one of the greatest anthropologists alive today. If you can get your hands on a copy of Debt - The First 5000 Years, I heartily recommend that you jump on it real fast, especially if it is the first edition! The Oracle of Ottawa has a sneaking suspicion that it will be worth a ton down the road.

The Oracle of Ottawa's experience is that works on economics and anthropology are seldom page turners! But that young lad David Graeber has blown that stereotype clean out of the water. Reading "Debt" is like watching a flock of sheep crossing a mine field. The fist sheep steps on a claymore, flies up into the air, only to land on another mine, which sort of causes a horrific chain reaction of flying blood, guts, grunts and wool! Mr. Graebers work will have the same effects on your ideas. But if you have been wondering, especially since 2008, whether everything you were taught in the school system was "really" true you will find deep and pleasurable gratification, with many references that you can check out yourself, that indeed, you were very perceptive! To read such a perfect dismantling and debunking of all the old sacred cows and their burgers is mighty educational, and very entertaining...

A conversation with anarchist David Graeber - Charlie Rose, 2006....

Slogging Through With Leszek Kolakowski

'Genuine' works of literature are those which seek to to mirror the world as a whole,and it is for the critic or ideologist to ensure, as far as he may, that the work embodies a true reference system giving significance to its component parts and subordinating them to an over-all artistic purpose.
Leszek Kolakowski, Main Currents of Marxism, Book Three, p. 1018

It was earlier this week that the Oracle of Ottawa turned past page 1,000 of Leszek Kolakowski's monumental work; Main Currents of Marxism, only about another 200 odd pages to go! How sick is that? The Oracle of Ottawa got the unabridged complete edition, containing all three volumes, all piled into one very large volume, that was masterfully printed by W. W. Norton & Company. Not only did the great Pole get all the main currents, but he seemed, in this readers estimation, to get each and everyone of the slightest eddy currents also!

Leszek Kolakowski

This work is the most complete history of Marxism as a philosophy that this humble reader has seen to date. It is most exhaustive and very extensive. It covers everyone from Marx to Marcuse.  And many of the players were known personally by Leszek Kolakowski. For anyone who is interested in the historical effects of Marx on the history of the world, what more could you ask for? No one can truthfully say even today, no matter where they live, that Marx has had no affect on them. As the great Canadian economist John Kenneth Galbraith said (The Affluent Society) Marx  (still) affects you, no matter if you were or are aware of him or not!

The Oracle of Ottawa must warn you that Main Currents of Marxism is not for the faint of intellect. Truth be told, the Oracle of Ottawa had to lay the work aside for periods of time, to let it all sink in. One should not be discouraged that it will not not be dealt with like a work of pulp-able science fiction that is somewhat precariously perched upon the present day "best sellers" list. This is a work for the ages, and in turn will go mostly unnoticed and unread by the great unwashed masses. And the fact that the work contained thirty years of the life of Lezek Kolakowski should give the reader of just average intelligence some solace if it takes a few months to get carefully through. Diligence however, as per usual, will be, in this case very well rewarded.

There were very few people of the 20th century who fate had perched in such a perfect position, place and time as Leszek Kolakowski. There were even fewer people that had such rock solid guts and sense of purpose and fate to fulfill their destiny. Although a dissident and outcast in the times of the Soviet Union and still practically unknown in the West, Leszek Kolakowski is considered today as one of the greatest Poles to have ever lived in modern times, even more so that he lived to observe and enjoy total vindication in his lifetime.

Here is a small bio, in Polish, but you can get the real sense and greatness of the man. If you doggedly stick with it, you will become a greater person....

Signalling At Ottawa Public Library

In the process of experimentation there are endless opportunities for error, and the free search for truth therefore involves friction and waste.
L. T. Hobhouse, Liberalism, p. 59

Could you imagine the uproar in the City of Walmart, er, ah, the City of Ottawa if a person with a graduate degree in Library Science was promoted to the position of Chief Urban Planner for the City of Ottawa!? Why all the land rapers and soulless corporate house flipping whores would be in a totally catatonic state. But when a want'a be failed urban planner (?) gets set up as the replacement for the retiring Head Librarian of the the venerable Ottawa Public Library, well you just get the contractor spin doctors out and put the story into the Sunday edition of the skanky Ottawa Citizen! Nobody reads the Ottawa Citizen, especially on Sunday... You only buy the Ottawa Citizen for the TV guide... (and the cat box and bird cage....)

A library is not a "business"...

 For the first time since the utterly disastrous amalgamation of the City of Ottawa the new head of the Ottawa Public Library will not be a librarian! One can only surmise which office that this decision came from. But the signal it sends is wrought with doom if you are a fan of the Ottawa Public Library. And when you hear the expression that the Ottawa Public Library is a "business", well you can conclude that the decision came down from the Prime Ministers Office, not the mayors office. And as you may have have noticed anything that is named McDonald is getting a pretty free ride today.

Ottawa Public Library - Main Branch
Future site of Bayshore Phase III?

Did you know dear reader that the Ottawa Public Library is the largest French-English library in North America? Did you know that it is the second largest public library in Canada? The only larger public library is  in the City of Toronto! With an annual budget of over 50 million dollars, don't you think the incompetent powers that presently are could get a search on for a posh "Cadillac" Head Librarian? Why the Oracle of Ottawa has a pretty good picture of the successful candidate already! Let us take a break from the spiral to the bottom and shoot high... Lets see... Undergraduate degree from a prestigious College at Oxford, you know, a Rhodes Scholar.  The University of Oxford has books! Over 11 million of them! And a very large percentage of them are all but priceless. One hears that the Oxford library science program is world class. A side degree in the "Greats" and /or philosophy would be utterly perfect also. Why not? The stature and presence of the second largest public library in Canada deserves a Head Librarian with a doctorate in library science. I mean really...

Now dear reader, we all know what a job like this should pay. I figure the starting salary should be about $125,000 per year to start. And then there are the language requirements. Ottawa, even in the 'Harper Government' era,  is a very cosmopolitan city, don't you know! Why the Oracle of Ottawa figures that the new Head Librarian of the Ottawa Public Library should be able to speak the big four languages of the Western Civilized World, don't you? That of course means English, French, German, and Spanish. A bonus should be offered and payed if the new Head Librarian could speak the core languages of the Classical World also, those being of course Greek and Latin. The Oracle of Ottawa deeply regrets that all pass arts degree trots from Cartoon U need not apply....

Books are sacred. A Library is not a "business". It does not market and sell products for the purpose of "profit". Go back to the drawing board and start the open selection process for a proper and posh Head Librarian. Chop chop, of you go little people....

Tripping On Steve Keen

The belief that a capitalist economy is inherently stabilising is also one for which inhabitants of market economies may pay dearly in the future.
Steve Keen, Debunking Economics, p. 213

The Oracle of Ottawa is off his routine. The usual subject matter has been getting pretty boring. And on top of that the Canadian public has finally clued in and it is all back on track. My work on those recent subjects are all but done now.(See earlier postings...) The truth of the matter is that the Oracle of Ottawa has been side-tracked by a most amazing book written by one Steve Keen, of the University of Western Sydney, way down under, called Debunking Economics...

Steve Keen - equilibrium is bunk!

Frequent fliers to the Economy of Media know that the Oracle of Ottawa loves his books and is most interested in economics. And that he has read all the major "classical" economists texts in their unabridged entirety. Including the General Theory by Keynes in a very, very, early edition. Why the Oracle of Ottawa even read all the small print, how sick is that? And he still can't understand why every one says it is a "difficult book"? A lot of the trouble was due to war time paper and printing restrictions. The Oracle of Ottawa has always thought that Keynes was always a very good read!

But over the years the Oracle of Ottawa has been getting that anxious nervous feeling that a lot of what is taught to young economists is all very, very, well, wrong. This feeling got worse and worse as the Oracle of Ottawa put together a rather nice pile in a stock portfolio over the years, by breaking all the rules that are taught to all the up and coming portfolio mangers. According to the text books the Oracle of Ottawa has just been really lucky, so far...

But according to Steve Keen the Oracle of Ottawa may just be a very early adaptor! All the Oracle of Ottawa can tell you is that if you read one economics book this year make it Debunking Economics! This guy could be the most important economist in our lifetime. This guy is as important as Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Maynard Keynes! So that of course means that he will never win the Nobel Prize for economics, because he is too right! But the upside is that he will be famous forever!

The part where he utterly demolishes the Efficient Market Hypothesis is worth the ten times the price of the book! And I am sure that Warren Buffet would back him up on his conclusions... The Oracle of Ottawa wasn't lucky at all, he was just and truly freaking brilliant!  

And he is a very relaxing guy to listen to, unlike most stuffy pedantic Nobel Laureates. Watch this guy, he is going to be very important and world famous...

Love And Capital - Best Book of 2011

The traditions of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.
Karl Marx, MECW, Volume 11, 103-104, 106

The Oracle of Ottawa reads at least a hundred books a year. No Tom Clancy, no John Grisham. Only non-fiction works of science, economics, history and philosophy. He is also very careful of the text he chooses. Only complete unabridged texts will do. He has even been known to do extensive research on the text before he acquires it. The Oracle of Ottawa is on a mission from God. The search for enlightenment is not to be taken lightly.

Karl Marx and daughter Jenny Marx

It is seldom that I come across a real page turner in the non-fiction genre. And even rarer is one that is written by a woman. The year past has been very good to the Oracle of Ottawa indeed. I first saw Love and Capital by Mary Gabriel in a local Chapters retail store. As all my dear readers know the Oracle of Ottawa has developed in to real little Marxian scholar in the last few years. And anything new about Karl Marx is looked into deeply, immediately. Open Love and Capital anywhere and start to read, and it is riveting. The style is like oil, smooth and viscous. And it flows for ever. Bet you can't read just one page!

I have read a few Karl Marx biographies and I have a few more standing by to be read. But I am sure that Mary Gabriel's book will become the modern standard. It is based on the familial level, which I do not believe has ever been attempted before. And it contains some real new revelations which I will not give away here. Having access to the secret Stalin files was surely a help. And it was put to very good use by the author.

There were two theories that I had developed  from my reading of the text of various works of Marx. First the Communist Manifesto was written in bars by a couple of wild young lads with the world by the tail, with unlimited tomorrows. I was right on that one partly. The final editing of the work was done at the kitchen table with the wife Jenny. I did not know that. The second theory that I have developed was the that the turning point of the "young" Marx into the "raging" Marx occurred with the death of his son Edgar on April 6, 1855. This event more than any other in Karl Marx's life started the gestation of Das Kapital. And only a woman could have caught all the nuances and the importance as well as it is related in Love and Capital. Mary Gabriel gave this book years of her life and I am predicting it will surely be one that will live forever.

Another thing I noticed from the text; Jenny Marx, the daughter always is wearing a crucifix! And even when photographed with her "atheist" father Karl Marx! Perhaps another myth bites the dust? And another shocker, Karl Marx and his family celebrated Christmas and New Years just like you and I. That fact wasn't in my high school history book....

Letter to Warren Buffett

Platitudes are safe, because they're easy to wink at, but truth is something else again. 
Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway, Letter to William J. Kennedy, October 29, 1959, p. 192

Dear Mr. Buffettt;

First, I would like to congratulate on your recent vestment with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I caught it on the BBC, and the only question in my mind was, what took so long? I figure you  should have won it during the Clinton administration! I have been meaning to write for the longest time just to say thanks for being so free with your methods and being so candid with your investment experiences both good and bad. Your methods work pretty good....

Warren Buffett (left) confers with President Obama

I am hoping that this letter will be brought to your attention somehow in a lag to your busy schedule. Maybe you will be at home while the " Indefensible " is in for it's 10,000 hour overhaul. I am sure you have heard about the Borders Group Chapter 11 filing. Since you made a lot of money reading and sitting over the years, which is really good advice, I am hoping you see a profitable "workout" here. We are figuring if you could breathe life into those New York banks, Borders would be a walk in the park!

The brand factor alone here is awesome. It is a boring business and should be. From what little I know it just appears a few bad but recoverable mistakes have been made. Also I can't help but think that there are hidden real estate assets all over the place. Another reason I am bringing this up is that there is no competition to Amazon in Canada and the United States.

Borders Flagship Store...

Also, if you decide to beat this dog into shape, there is a whole country north of you that is just thirsting for some more choice. We have only one major book retailer in Canada; Chapters. As far as I can tell it is a total monopoly. If any one has the power to deal with the red tape of Heritage Canada you are it. And the requirements that they would ask are not very onerous. Stock Canadian magazines and some defined space to Canadian publishers, the usual  stuff. Aside from that you could literally transplant an American Borders to Canada and I am pretty sure it would fly. Also there would be a ton of tax write-offs in the United States and Canada.  ( Woo-Hoo!!)

But I must be realistic, a work-out of only $1.2 billion is hardly worth your attention. Its just that you have had so much success with print and media in the past I just had to try and get this by you. In closing I hope you, Astrid and the kids are fine.
                                                                                                     All The Best;
                                                                                                   Oracleofottawa

 It is never wasted time to listen, when this man is talking.....

E-Book Readers, A Bilderberg Group Conspiracy?

And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Revelation 10:10

Have you tried reading a " E-book reader" ? It is readable for a short period of time. But I can't read as long on it as a I can a printed book. In Canada they are available from the one and only book seller left. And the owner of that entity is a Bilderberg Group member! Fancy that coincidence! In the United States they are available from one large online retailer. First guess won't count.....Hmmm... Why do you think they are trying so hard for you to give up the printed word?

Gutenberg Bible, New York Public Library

There are some groups of people in this world right now, as we live and breathe, that want to take us back before the time of Karl Marx...They want to make the world a flat paying field.. The only thing they aren't telling you is that they don't want the Third World to eventually match the First World ! They want to reduce the First World to the Third World!

Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton

You have to load an E-book reader from a USB port right? How easy would it be for that Bildeberg Group lackey to sell you an E- book with a cleaning virus that would clean all those knotty books from your E-reader. Like that copy of Mein Kampf you downloaded from the internet for no cost.. Or / and the complete works of Marx and Engels... I could go on but I don't want to upset you...

In reality as in all evil schemes, the blow back will come and it will be surprisingly severe and completely unexpected. The E-book reader will eventually create a more intense demand for printed books, and especially, ironically, rare books and Modern First Editions.... Believe me, life works out like that in the end every freaking time.....