I often get emails announcing releases of new books because writers and publishers want me to promote their novels.

Here is the first line from a promotional release of a book titled “In the Void of Lies”: “In the Void of Lies is a tale of infidelity and redemption intermingled against the passage of the healthcare bill.”

I quoted it verbatim, people. What was this author thinking when he decided to promote his novel with such a horribly written blurb? The rest of the blurb is as pathetic as the first sentence.

Why are the illiterate so eager to inflict their bad grammar and non-existent vocabulary on the universe?

I’m in Missouri right now and last night I saw a newscast on a local channel about the growing number of bullying incidents. A State Representative was saying that schools as well as local and state governments had to be held responsible for not managing to stop the bullies from terrorizing their victims.

As usual, everybody was held responsible for the behavior of bullies except the people who had the greatest influence on their upbringing, the parents. Parents in this country traditionally enjoy every right to do whatever they want with their children but are never held to any responsibility whatsoever for the results of their parenting. All these conversations about how schools and governments can stop bullying are completely useless because they expect the educators and the authorities to correct somebody else’s screw-ups without going to the source of the problem.

Bullying could be addressed very easily and very effectively by fining the parents of bullies for every instance of bullying. They are the ones who inflicted these little treasures onto the rest of society, so it stands to reason that they should pay. If a child breaks a window or vandalizes a car, the parents get to compensate the damages. So why aren’t we requiring that the damage bullies do to other human beings is being compensated monetarily?

The fines for bullying should be heavy and grow exponentially with every fresh instance of bullying. Maybe when the irresponsible parents are finally forced to sell their plasma screen TV to pay the fine, they will find time to start spending time with their children and doing something to turn them from little animals into normal, healthy members of society.

More than anything in the world, Peacock desires admiration and his/her perfect partner will be willing to play the part of an admiring audience. Peacock will be endlessly entertaining but will never tolerate any competition in the limelight.

Peacock doesn’t beg for attention and admiration. They have to come naturally. If they don’t, Peacock simply loses interest. If Peacock and Partner go to a party and Partner draws attention to him/herself instead of staring at Peacock with silent adoration, Peacock will feel personally betrayed.

If Peacock gets cheated on, s/he feels completely bewildered. How could anybody lose interest, even for a moment, in such a fascinating show?