First impressions of the New World on two travellers from the Old Book

Another gem by Al Franken. The difference, to me, between how Al Franken writes and how, say, Ann Coulter or Bill O'Reilly write (or Rush Limbaugh, for that matter), is this: He researches. He goes to the source of information for clarification. He backs up what he's saying with other sources instead of spewing his opinion and calling it fact. He doesn't say, "I have said it, so it must be true."

And? He's funny and clever as all hell.

The Truth, of course is his follow-up to Lies and focuses more on how GWB got us involved in the Iraq war and some of the more infamous shenanigans of his inner circle. It begins with the heartbreaking (to him) defeat of John Kerry in 2004 and then goes on to talk about how Bush and his cronies have used terror and intimidation to get the American people to kowtow to his administration.

Another eye-opening book, to say the least, in terms of the filth-infested wool we, as Americans, have allowed our president to pull over our eyes. And of course, I read this while GWB was still president, so I was even more irritated and outraged and ready for that bastard's term to be finished.

Franken also touches on the Terry Schiavo case and how Bush and his crew disgustingly used that woman's plight (with the permission of her parents and siblings) to try to further insinuate themselves into the lives (and deaths) of Americans. Luckily for us, it backfired on them. Of course, Terry Schiavo's situation should never have been in the national spotlight to begin with, if you ask me.

Obviously, Franken writes with a liberal slant. That's no secret and he doesn't try to keep it as such. He's proud to be a Democrat, proud to be a liberal, and so if some of his barbs at conservative Republicans seem a little harsh, they are also ultimately, sadly apt in the harsh light of day.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. And his writing style is so easy and flows so smoothly, I nearly got through it in one sitting.

By the way, Franken is a comic genuis, in case you didn't know.