The One with The Bourne Ultimatum

189. Title & Author: The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum (662 pages)

Genre: Fiction—Thriller

Completed: 14 July 2011

Summary & Review:

After more than a decade of calm, Jason Bourne’s arch enemy, the assassin known as Carlos the Jackal, announces his return by targeting two of Bourne’s closest friends. With a wife and two small children to protect, Bourne realizes the only way his family will ever have peace and safety is if he kills the Jackal. His hunt takes him through the Caribbean then on to Paris and finally to Moscow. Not only does he finally face the Jackal, he also uncovers a secret cabal within the United States government known as Medusa.

I didn’t think this novel, the third in the Bourne Trilogy, was nearly as strong as The Bourne Identity (Review #9). Where Identity was focused, Ultimatum was jumbled. There was quite a bit of the story devoted to this Medusa cadre but nothing ever came of it; there was no resolution to satisfy the reader. Actually, that entire storyline was wholly unnecessary. The book would have been greatly strengthened if Ludlum had devoted all of the pages to the final saga of Bourne vs. The Jackal.

Also, the 662 page length was a little long, especially because Bourne had the Jackal in his sights only to lose him a dozen times which served not to heighten the tension, but to annoy the reader. When Bourne finally (finally!) gets the Jackal, my response was more one of thinking, “It’s about time!,” than any sort of excitement about the outcome. But, Ludlum is a different class of thriller writer than many out there today, so my complaints about Ludlum need to be taken with a grain of salt. He is still, even on his off novel, much better than average.

Rating: 7.0

Arguments Summed Up: The Revolution

Title & Author: The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul

Genre: Nonfiction--Politics

My Rating: 8.5

Summed Up: Ron Paul rejects the notion that maximized individual freedom and a constitutionally restrained federal government are anachronistic notions from a bygone era. He says, “My message is one of freedom and individual rights. I believe individuals have a right to life and liberty and that physical aggression should be used only defensively. We should respect each other as rational beings by trying to achieve our goals through reason and persuasion rather than threats and coercion. That, and not a desire for ‘economic efficiency,’ is the primary reason for opposing government intrusions into our lives: government is force, not reason.” Freedom to Paul is more than just economic freedom, but involves liberty in every aspect of our lives.

In assessing the current foreign policy of the United States, Paul adheres to a non-interventionist stance more similar to the ideals of the Founder Fathers in his opinion. He says that our nation-building strategy is bankrupting the country and ruining the image of America across the world. While he does not excuse terrorists such as those who committed the atrocities on 9/11, he believes that such people would be forced to deal with their own domestic issues if the United States was not such a visible presence and thus, a visible target. In short, Paul only advocates war as a defensive measure, after there has been an initial act of aggression by an enemy and all diplomatic solutions have been exhausted.

Paul then goes on to vigorously defend the Constitution and show how far we have strayed from the text and original intent of the document. In past congresses, law makers were forced to show where in the Constitution it justified whatever they were attempting to pass. That notion is now ridiculed and scoffed at.

The Constitution was written mainly to limit the power of the federal government, not to limit the freedoms of the people. Unfortunately, portions such as the Interstate Commerce Clause and the General Welfare Clause have been wildly abused to authorize government to perform tasks that the Founders would never have approved of. Paul rejects the notion of a “living Constitution,” for if a constitution’s meaning is constantly shifting, what is the point of even having a written constitution? As Paul says, a living Constitution is actually a dead Constitution.

In terms of economic freedom, Paul argues against tariffs, income tax, and government subsidies. Whenever government gets involved in regulating the market, prosperity is decreased. Government has no right to steal from the labors of citizens or to favor one group of men over another. Welfare programs are better left to communities and private organizations, allowing more precise and effective management of poverty and other issues.

One of Paul’s most common targets is the monetary policy of the federal government, especially in regard to the Federal Reserve. When there is an entity immune from audit and oversight that completely controls the money supply of the country, personal freedom cannot exist. With a simple order, the Fed can make worthless the savings and thrift of the citizens through inflation caused by increased supply of paper money. Paul advocates a return to the gold standard so that citizens’ money is linked to a commodity with substantive value rather than paper notes that are too easily manipulated and jerry rigged.

You can read my review of The Revolution here.

The One with The Midnight House

188. Title & Author: The Midnight House by Alex Berenson (481 pages)

Genre: Fiction—Thriller

Completed: 4 July 2011

Summary & Review:

In a secret prison nicknamed “The Midnight House” hidden in a Polish forest, a ten-man joint Army-CIA team uses any means necessary to extract information from high value terrorists. But, upon their return home, members of the team are brutally murdered and CIA agent John Wells is assigned to find their killer. As Wells traces the murky history of “The Midnight House” he discovers that the team hid a secret that could shake the already tenuous bond between the United States and Pakistan.

This wasn’t the most patriotic of novels to finish on Independence Day. Berenson’s sympathies have been the subject of my complaints before (see The Silent Man, #163) and this novel continued his strange moral equivalence of American interrogation techniques and Islamic terrorism. Throughout the book the protagonist John Wells would make remarks about how he loved Islam and how simple it was and what great values it had, etc. But, the plot of the novel was filled with Islamist terrorists plotting and/or succeeding in murdering thousands of innocents and using Islamic teachings as their inspiration to do so. Too much of the book was spent criticizing American military and intelligence techniques and justifying Islamic terrorism. That doesn’t sit well with me.

Thank you to my lovely wife who gave me a Groupon to a local bookstore where I bought this book.

Rating: 6.5

Audiobook Update: I recently finished The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer. I found it to be quite enlightening. I also listened to The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith which was a forgettable novel set in post-Stalin, Soviet Russia. Finally, I also listened to The Broker by John Grisham and was disappointed to find that I didn't like it as much as I did when I read it the first time years ago.