Southpoint Collectibles

Book Review: All the Way Home

I'll admit to an attraction for this book as we have an old house, but not as old as the Gilded Age one the author comes across. A vintage Akron, Ohio mansion well past its' prime, the author finds ways to fall in love with it in spite of its' many shortcomings. There are a few surprises along the way with this Money Pit, such as finding $14,000 hidden away underneath an old bathtub with a 1930 date written. A good read and a lesson in perserverance.
All the Way Home - Buy at Amazon
 

Book Review: The State of Jones

Purchase The State of Jones at Amazon now.

The authors of this Civil War historic book tell the story of Newton Knight, a Jones County Mississippi livestock farmer who led a movement to support the Union cause in the midst of Rebel territory. Great liberties are taken by the authors in telling the tale, giving a decided slant towards making him appear as a saintly hero instead of a traitor to the Confederacy. The Confederacy is also descirbed by the Harvard Professor and the Washington Post writer in a thoroughly negative light, while giving the Union a pass as pushing the South into the War as a matter of economic survival and states rights. The authors have stated that their purpose of the book was to "explode the generally accepted notion that all white Southerners were fully united in a desire to form a new nation". Knight fought some during the war on the Confederate side, then defected, marrying a former slave. At one point in the early 1920s before his death, the U.S. Census even recorded him as being black instead of white. The county of Jones it will be noted was decidely against seceeding from the Union, as most of the county farmers raised livestock instead of cotton and had little need for slaves. The book encompases some of the more gruesome aspects of the war, including the Siege of Vicksburg, covering a period of sixty years in the life of Newton Knight from pre-Civil War through Reconstruction. An interesting read for the historical aspects, but needs to be taken in context, as the authors clearly slanted the scope of the book and it was formulated for the clear purpose as a screenplay for a future movie.

Currently Reading: Getting America Right

Have been reading Getting America Right: The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today. So far the 2006 book has been refreshing, with emphasis on practical questions to drive towards government being representative of what is in our Constitution and what our Founding Fathers intended.

The essential questions in the book that all Americans should ask from their government are:
Is federal action necessary?
Does this measure promote self-reliance?
Is it [fiscally] responsible?
Does it make us more prosperous?
Does it make us safer?
For any answers that are no, the programs should be not funded, canned, done away with.

Some of the grotesque ways that the U.S. government has expanded over the years, the waste, the graft of politicians getting rich from coddling with lobbyists and special interests are covered. Being written by the head of the Heritage Foundation one would expect heavy criticism of liberal programs by Democrats, which is included as well as the "borrow and spend" Republicans.

Unless you have been living in a cave, you realize that America today is seriously off the tracks. Our way of life is unsustainable. Runaway government spending and a resulting Federal budget deficit that is hovering at $13 trillion which can never be repaid have Americans on edge. The Federal Reserve bank continues to print money backed by nothing since President Nixon took us off the gold standard. Inflation has been a problem ever since. For good reason, the economy today is showing little results from "stimulus" packages and big bank bailouts, with unemployment at all time record levels, and the Obama Administration looking for ways to increase taxes in 2011 that will further hammer businesses, the Middle Class and the wealthy (who create the jobs along with small business).

America can be great again, but only with wisdom and integrity and a razor focus on accountability.
Read the book. Be fully informed. You will be like me and excited to vote come November.