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Book Review: The Hidden Reality by Stephen Martino

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Back in July 2013, I reviewed the first book in Stephen Martino’s Alex Pella trilogy. At the time, I was struck by the novel’s fast-paced action thriller approach to telling a captivating story that included very strong overtones to our then-current political environment. The Hidden Reality is the second installment in the Alex Pella trilogy and is a true successor to The New Reality in both its tone and style. Just as with the first novel in the series, The Hidden Reality drops the reader directly into the action and moves at a fast pace to jump start the story from the very first page. If you are looking for a story that has a sleepy opening and then slowly lumbers through chapter after chapter until something major happens, then this is not the book for you! The Hidden Reality starts off hot and keeps the temperature up throughout the entire novel.

Fast-paced, action-packed storytelling aside, if you are looking for a novel that has compelling characters that you actually care about and can become emotionally-invested in as you read, then The Hidden Reality is your book. In fact, one of the primary reasons that I could not put this book down was because Martino writes characters that I could relate to and whose stories I wanted to read. His characters mean something to the plot and are not just throwaway placeholders or MacGuffins. Alex Pella, for example, is a hero that you want to cheer for; he’s someone that you want to see win in the end because he awakens the best parts of how we see ourselves. Putting aside the main character for a moment, the novel has additional characters who are absorbing – and for different reasons. Without giving away any of the major plot points, in the beginning of the novel a character named Jules laments to his fellow board members that their corporation is so large and so omnipresent in the lives of everyone on the planet that it has rendered humanity weak and somewhat mentally-stunted. He goes into a diatribe about people no longer having the fortitude or desire to rise up against these types of overwhelming power structures because they rarely think any more. As a reader, I found myself considering the many times that I have felt the same frustration as Jules. I thought about the times that I have passionately implored people to wake up to what is going on around them only to realize that I am stuck talking to people who are mostly wearing blank stares on their faces.

It is not a fun experience and I uniquely understood how Jules felt in that moment.

The brilliance of The Hidden Reality and of the entire Alex Pella series, though, is the deep connections that Martino’s dystopian future has with the often scary revelations that are becoming far too common in our own world. When our Internal Revenue Service was used as an attack dog for political purposes and the most prolific website on the internet (Facebook) is rolling out updates to its face-recognition software and strongly encouraging its more than one billion users to play along, one has to wonder how close we are to achieving Martino’s hidden reality today. The Hidden Reality features a global organization that can track anyone’s location based on their subatomic wavelengths, individuals who place implants in their eardrums to communicate, and the fusion and evolution of corporate behemoths into a global government. Are we really that far away from any of these headlines being published in our own media and in our own time?

The Hidden Reality combines a dystopian future with the mental rigor of a medically-augmented and futuristic plot to create an action-packed story that is fun to read and hard to put down. If I were publishing this review during the summer months, then I would strongly recommend you pick up a copy of this book to read while you are relaxing on the beach. As we are in the doldrums of winter, though, I cannot think of a better book to read while snuggled up by the fire on a cold winter day. When the temperature drops outside, I highly recommend you kick it up a notch inside by jumping into the Alex Pella series!

Incidentally, this was the first e-book that I read on Amazon’s Kindle app. I do not really have any complaints about the Kindle platform. In fact, I think it worked out pretty well considering that I had the Kindle app install on my Samsung Nook tablet (weird, right?).

Book Review: The New Reality by Stephen Martino

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Quite possibly the best thing about Stephen Martino‘s debut novel, The New Reality, is the fact that the action is fast-paced from the very beginning! There’s nothing worse than picking up a new book, getting excited to get into the story that you read about on the back cover, and then having to trudge through 100 pages of back story just to get things going. Martino avoids that entire concern by just getting right to the point and that, alone, made this one of the best thrillers that I’ve read in years. The fast-paced action aside, I also enjoyed the story that Martino tells – even if it may be a harbinger of things to come.

The New Reality is a medical thriller set not too far in the future (the year is 2080, though the story jumps to 2081 soon after it starts) with very real connections to today’s political world. As the story moves along, the reader is introduced to different characters situated on a global landscape ranging from America to the Arab states and more. For example, the main antagonist – Ari Lesmana, known as “the Malik” – seems to be born from the hype that surrounded President Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign. The main protagonist is a scientist and medical entrepreneur named Alex Pella who is cast in the same mold as a Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos. During the story, Martino ties Lesmana to a citizenry with a near-brainwashed level of euphoric fanaticism. From my perspective, that connection closely followed the bizarre euphoria that followed Obama’s supporters after 2008. I never understood that – he’s just a politician, not the Second Coming. Calm down, people. Anyway…

Martino does an excellent job of bringing the reader into the panic that surrounds The Disease and, particularly, the desperation that Pella and his team feel as they try to find a cure before it’s too late. Unlike many recent releases in the thriller genre, The New Reality brings the reader a fast-paced, action-packed adventure that moves as fast as you can flip a page. There are no long, drawn out segments of the book to bore you to tears. Instead, Martino writes in a style closely resembling that of Dan Brown and Harlan Coben. And that is the style that this story needs to be told in because of the amount of movement that the characters experience during the story. One chapter takes place in America while the next chapter takes place in a high-tech, super-fast airplane while the following chapter might be in Israel or somewhere in the Arabian Peninsula. If you like reading a strong “thrill of the chase” novel that actually has a significant story to tell, then this is the one for you. And watch out for the storyline extension at the end of the novel – it’ll leave you hungry for the next book in the Alex Pella series!

The New Reality is the perfect book to read while you’re laying on the beach this summer, too. As I’ve noted, the story moves quickly and Martino moves the core discussion along in each chapter. You won’t be left waiting for dozens or hundreds of pages to find out why a certain character said something in a prior chapter – the answers are given to you as fast as you can read them and put the pieces together. Martino’s experience as a neurologist certainly plays into his ability to write a strong medical-based thriller. If you’re a fan of this genre, looking for a great book to read this summer, and/or just looking for a book that has characters with depth, a story with resonance, and a real lesson to teach today’s political leaders, then The New Reality is for you. Plus, based on the high level of quality in his first novel, I think we’ll be seeing more of Martino in the literary world. Give the Alex Pella story a shot – I really think that you will enjoy it. I definitely did!

Some Thoughts on Medical Reform Without Bankrupting Our Economy

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Once again, we’re pleased to bring you some thoughts from Mr. Joseph P. Martino of Millburn, New Jersey. This time around, Mr. Martino presents a plan for medical reform that won’t bankrupt our country’s economy. As this is one of the hottest topics being discussed and debated around the nation right now, we’re glad to bring you some thoughts from our resident poet, writer, motivator, and inventor. Enjoy!

New world model for medical reform that will not bankrupt a nations economy. how to reform medicare/medicaid programs,prevent hospital insolvency and balance the federal deficit over the long term.

Medicare and the Health care industry world wide is broken.i am mainly addressing the problems. America is experiencing but facets of this plan could be adapted by most other countries. There is also a shortage of doctors, besides the fact that medical students are loaded with medical school debt. There is a long term solution: medical students lacking in adequate financial funds should have the cost of their medical school education paid for by the federal government.. the graduating doctors would not be burdened with school loan debt under this medical reform plan.

This would not be a giveaway or money loser for the federal government. the federal governments would recover all of their initial investment plus, over the long term. Let me explain: By accepting government funding for his/her medical school education, the student doctor would agree to provide free medical office treatment/care to a percentage of poor patient deemed so by the federal government. The doctor’s obligations,time of service and percentage of free patient treatment would be determined by existing federal agencies. the participating doctors as as stipulated for the free government medical school education would not be able to bill the governments medicare/medicaid programs. thus assuring the government of the return of their free medical school investment plus. the poor patients would not have to receive free hospital emergency treatment under this program. hospitals would not be burdened by providing free treatment to the poor preventing hospital insolvency.

The return of the federal government’s initial investment would be through Medicare/Medicaid savings. for what i understand in the United States of America that For every 1% Medicare saves over a one year over the course of 15 years would factor to a total savings of $1 trillion dollars for the federal government. It is easy to understand what the federal government would save as the pool of participating doctors grows. This practice could later be expanded to include the more expensive tests and other medical specialties and providers, such as x-ray, lab and other technical tests procedures and other specialties thus providing additional savings to the federal government. the trillions of dollars saved by the federal government over the long term would balance the federal deficit.

So what do you think about Mr. Martino’s plan? Feel free to use the comments section below to let us know your thoughts. We look forward to hearing from you!

What I Hate the Most About the Start of a New School Year

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Don’t get me wrong by the title of this entry. I’m essentially a professional student and I love the feeling of the last few days of summer just as much as the first few days of school. I know that’s a rarity, but there are some folks out there that love the whole idea of learning and increasing one’s knowledge, etc. Needless to say, this is a fun time of the year in my book.

However, there is one thing that I absolutely hate about this time of the year and you can find it on Facebook. That’s right, an anti-Facebook message on JerseySmarts.com!

What I hate is when all of these teachers and education industry people get on their Facebook accounts and complain that they have to go back to school. WHAT?! You’re complaining that you’re dreading going back to school!?! First of all, what balls to say that in New Jersey where there are thousands of laid off workers who only wish they were going back to school!

Second, it’s your JOB! Sure, I bitch about my commute quite often and yes, I might get annoyed at one of my managers from time to time, but you’ll NEVER catch me (or anyone with any common sense) complaining that they have a job to go to tomorrow. That’s utterly ridiculous!

And, without fail, the same bevy of complaints come in from teachers and education industry people that are in near-comatose states of mind because they’ve spent the last three to four months sitting around doing as close to nothing as possible. Get real, people! The entire world is out there working everyday of the summer and teachers have the gall to complain that their three to four month vacation is coming to an end? Shut up!

Complain about your commute, complain about your bratty little kids that you teach, complain about the extremely overpaid administrators in your districts…but don’t complain that you have a job to go to and don’t complain that you actually have to work for a living. Good grief! And people wonder where this entitlement mindset comes from with some of these teachers?! Then again, it was no surprise to anyone with a year-round job (i.e. 90%+ of the entire workforce) that teachers complained about having to pay into their healthcare system. I wonder if the teachers heard that collective laugh when they started complaining about the 1.5% or 2% (I don’t remember what it was) that they had to start contributing.

A final thought – I’m a guy for education reform at all levels. For example, teachers should absolutely pay more into their retirement system, but they should also receive an increase in pay (not necessarily on par with the money that they’re paying into the system, but some small increase to bring them closer to a living wage). That said, teachers are government employees – plain and simple. When the government has no money, then teachers should not get raises. It’s part of having a government job.

However, one of my favorite education reform ideas is increasing the school year. Think about it – we prepare our students for the real world by telling them, “You’re on vacation from the end of June through the beginning of September – go have fun!” Completely ridiculous. What does that prepare them to be in life? Well, I guess you could argue that it prepares them to be teachers, but we have enough of those already! I bring this up because imagine the complaints coming from the teachers and education industry if summer vacation was reduced from two and a half months to two or three weeks!? Ha!

A Response from Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen

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Some weeks ago I sent an e-mail to my Congressman, Rodney Frelinghuysen, telling him that I really was concerned about the plans that were going around Congress at the time regarding health care reform. To be honest, I sent the e-mail so long ago that I don’t believe the same proposals are currently floating around Congress. Be that as it may, I did receive a nice e-mail from the Congressman’s office which I’ve posted below for you. Granted, I understand that this is probably a form e-mail, but hey – there is still some decent information in the message if you are living in the Congressman’s district.

Dear Joe:

Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to a government takeover of our health care system. I appreciate having the benefit of your views as I share them.

Clearly, any time a child or a parent goes without the care they need, it represents a very serious crisis for that family. And, I understand that health care costs are escalating every year. But as health care represents 17 percent of our total economy, we have to get any “reform” right. Unfortunately, the President and the Congressional Majority are not “getting it right.”

They seem intent on a government takeover of health care that would have devastating consequences for families and small businesses. Such a takeover will raise taxes, weaken Medicare, ration care, and let unelected government bureaucrats in Washington make medical decisions that may end up denying access to medical and life-saving treatments.

Despite what the President says, more than 180 million Americans are at risk of losing their current private health care under a government-run plan. In addition, proposed Medicare cuts could threaten the very existence of our fine local hospitals. Moreover, the House Majority’s current health care plan is financially unsound and will add to, and not lessen, our staggering national debt.

Instead, Congress should work to empower doctors and patients by making health care more affordable, more accessible, and more accountable. The American people deserve the freedom to choose the health care that is best for their families!

I support health care reform, but we must preserve what works: protecting the doctor-patient relationship in addition to allowing people to choose the personal care that suits their individual needs.

At this point, there is no firm date for the House health reform debate to begin but you should anticipate that it will be a rushed process. Speaker Pelosi says she will unveil a new health care bill, “when it’s ready.” Of course, this is another way of saying that H.R. 3200 will be rewritten behind closed doors and we will have little time, if any, to review its contents!

Fundamentally, I support reform efforts to make quality health care affordable and accessible for every American, but any proposed reform needs to proceed slowly and carefully and must be bipartisan.

Once again, thank you for contacting me.

Sincerely,
Rodney Frelinghuysen
Member of Congress

For those of you looking for more information about the Congressman, you can head over to his website and learn more about him.

Maureen Dowd Is A Racist And Should Be Fired

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Like many folks, I like to read the New York Times on the weekend. I read the online version because it allows me to go right to the sections that I want to see. On the weekends, my favorite section is the magazine, but I don’t want to get off course.

From time to time I read through the editorials and opinion pages online. The reason why I normally don’t read through that portion of the newspaper is because the bulk of the writers’ views are slanted so far to the left that to call their opinions those of the Democrats or even the far left would be an insult to both groups. However, hate-monger Maureen Dowd wrote such a hate-filled, racist piece of garbage yesterday that I felt compelled to post about it in this space.

The idea of Dowd’s hate-filled column is that she thinks Representative Joe Wilson yelled, “You lie!” to President Barack Obama during his speech the other night due to being a racist. She even pulls up some old information on the Representative that she believes proves her point. Frankly, reading her piece made me physically ill. Here are some of her hate-filled, racist rants:

But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!

In this quote, Dowd admits that she hears and sees the world through the ears and eyes of racist. How someone can insert “boy” into what they hear is beyond me. It’s reprehensible and gives us a window into Dowd’s true hatred of white men. Why didn’t she hear, “You lie, honey!” and claim that Wilson was gay instead of racist? Oh, because she’s a racist and hate-monger.

Wilson clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber.

No, you racist, sexist asshole. Wilson heard a man who has – by the President’s own words – been unclear about his position on healthcare and he reacted. Did Wilson react correctly? Not at all. He reacted like a child and he ought to be ashamed of himself. But what type of hate-mongering moron could have listened to that childish outburst and interpreted it as racist? How pathetic?

I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer — the frantic efforts to paint our first black president as the Other, a foreigner, socialist, fascist, Marxist, racist, Commie, Nazi; a cad who would snuff old people; a snake who would indoctrinate kids — had much to do with race.

What a complete scumbag Dowd is! She says that the protests over the summer were efforts to paint Obama as a socialist, fascist, etc? And that it is based in racial politics? What type of crack is this idiot on? Did some people at those rallies have inappropriate signs? Yes. Did MANY more people at the anti-Bush rallies have worse signs? Yes. Did this filthy hate-mongering fool Dowd chastise them? No…she joined them. Talk about being a racist and a sexist pig.

But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.

Here we have a two-fer! First, Dowd shows that she’s a liar by claiming that no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at President Bush. What a crock of shit. They may not have done it in the Capitol building, but anyone who has 1/4 of a brain knows that the Democrats had a field day calling President Bush a liar over Iraq! Need we forget the false, “Bush lied, people died,” crap? How does the New York Times employ this idiot?

And then she goes on that some people just can’t believe that a black man is the President. Are you fucking serious? How about the fact that some people can’t believe that President Bush was President? Or that a guy with the lack of morals like Bill Clinton was President? Or that a guy who was an actor like Ronald Reagan was President? Talk about making a mindless point…Dowd’s hate-filled column is flush with them!

You can read the rest of her racist, sexist tirade here, if you want. But the real kicker in all of this stuff is that the White House – President Obama’s White House! – completely disagrees with Dowd.

Now, what will it take for Maureen Dowd to be fired? She spouted off on a racist rant against Joe Wilson. Both Republican Joe Wilson and the Democratic White House have indicated that she was wrong. Her rants are clearly those of a demented person who views the world through a racist and sexist lens. And the New York Times is going to allow her to stay on their staff?

For shame.

Another Option for Healthcare Reform?

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Going back and re-reading some of my posts over the last few weeks makes it pretty apparent that I’m finally taking a long-overdue interest in my health. Between the optometrist visit, the dentist visit (including follow-ups), and the doctor visits, I’m trying to get myself in the best shape possible. Part of this is because I haven’t been to these various doctors in so long, but I’m really going to these places because I have health benefits and I feel that I should use them…before the government finds a way to mess up healthcare.

Speaking of healthcare, one of the subscribers to this blog (by the way, have you subscribed to the blog yet? If not, go to the top of this page and subscribe there!) sent in his proposal to reform healthcare. It’s interesting, to say the least. Frankly, I think there is merit in the proposal, which is copied below from a recent op-ed:

A proposal to reform medical care and save the federal and state governments and the American taxpayer billions over the long run.

Federal and state governments would pay all costs of a medical school education for students who otherwise would not be able to afford a medical school education. No student would be excluded, provided that upon completing medical school, the doctor would be obligated to provide a percentage of their time and practice for treating low-income patients deemed eligible by federal and/or state governments.

The doctor would be obligated to treat a small percentage of eligible low-income people for free (office visits only). The percentage and number of years of obligation to do so would be decided by peer review. The less money provided to the students for their medical education, the smaller the percentage of their obligation for treating the eligible poor.

Participating doctors would not bill Medicare, Medicaid, insurance companies for the treatment of the eligible poor, thus saving federal and state governments billions of dollars in the long term.

The cost of the free medical school education provided by federal and state governments would be offset by the savings achieved by not having doctors bill Medicare, Medicaid and the insurance companies. Students in any stage of medical school would immediately be eligible to participate.

Doctors would have the option to treat eligible patients in their office, at hospitals or clinics. Clinic space could be provided for out of office visits.

The same premise can be applied for health providers and caregivers willing to participate under the same above rules and obligations. The federal/state governments would defray all cost to all eligible health providers and caregivers to open up their medical practice/office. Doctors, labs, chiropractors, and therapists would be eligible under my proposed program.

The potential saving to the federal/state governments from non billing by participating caregivers would be enormous.

Regarding unnecessary diagnostic tests that are ordered by doctors out of fear of medical malpractice, a meeting of the minds could be convened among federal and state policy leaders, bar association representatives, medical insurers, and health providers, to come to an agreement of understanding as to limiting diagnostic tests deemed unnecessary.

Joseph P. Martino
Millburn, New Jersey

What do you think?

Closing in on the End of Summer… And the Beginning of School

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Although there are millions of school children that consider this to be one of the worst times of the year, I always liked the beginning of the new school year. And with school starting in two weeks for the majority of New Jersey’s school-aged population, I’m sure that a lot of these kids are hoping to get the best out of the remaining days of summer vacation as they can.

For me, though, I like this time of the year because I get to prepare my course that I teach at the local college. Since it is an “American National Government” course, I always have new information to put into my PowerPoints and new documents to make copies of for handouts. And, given the age group of the students that I’m teaching, I always get a lively discussion no matter what the topic. New topics for extended discussion this semester will include healthcare and paternalistic governments versus those governments that take a more hands-off approach.

I also enjoy getting a reading from the students on where they fall along the political spectrum. The reason why I enjoy this is because most of them consider themselves to be liberal, but once we start talking about an issue they advocate for traditionally conservative positions – a clear example that many of our young minds today are focused on doing what everyone else is doing…or what the loudest voice is doing. From the last couple of years teaching this course, I’ve discovered that most of the vocal students lean left, but that the best written papers are from those who lean right. Pretty odd occurrence, I think.

This semester I’ll also be teaching an online course for one of the oldest online colleges in the nation – Thomas Edison State College. TESC pioneered the idea of having older folks receive their Bachelor’s Degree via submitting a portfolio of their professional experience and receiving credit for it instead of actually having to go to class. Plus, they were the first online-only college (and they’re highly regarded, too).

The class that I’m teaching at TESC is an undergraduate course in nonprofit leadership. I’m looking forward to that one since it ties in directly with my own academic research as well as my day job. Should be a lot of fun coming up in the next few weeks!

The Healthcare Debate Proves One Thing…

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Watching this healthcare debate going back and forth definitely proves one thing…our government is a mess. And it’s not the “form” of government that we have (a democratic republic) that is a mess, rather it’s the people who are currently in elected positions that don’t understand the nature of our country.

When I see both Republicans and Democrats casting off the concerns of their constituency, it makes me wonder how these people keep their offices. Why are there not more recall elections? Where is the political passion in America that we recently saw in the Iranian reformists, for example? Why are there not mass gatherings in Washington DC demanding that the Republicans in Congress and the Democrats both in the White House and the Congressional leadership begin listening to their constituents?

Look, I know that a minority in this country want both a public option for healthcare and a single payer system, but this country was not set up for the majority to be overwhelmed by the minority. In other words, while we listen to the minority voices and take their views into account, those views should not run this nation. Healthcare does need to be reformed so that more people can receive more coverage. But until our elected officials begin to listen to us, nothing will be accomplished.

Unless a third party rises up with a platform based off of the majority of the population’s concerns…

Modifying Certain Health Information Tracking

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Sorry, this entry does not have anything to do with reforming the way the health care system operates. It actually has to do with me and a small change that I am making. First, though, understand that I am what they call an information freak. I love tracking information – especially when the statistics that are generated are beneficial to me and those things that are important to me. To this end I’ve been tracking certain statistics as they relate to my health.

For example, each week I track the amount of steps that I take via my pedometer and I record the weekly number on my Google Calendar application. I also track which days and what time during the day that I visit the gym. Simple things like this – I think they give you powerful pieces of information to cull through when you’re bored.

Anyway, about a year ago I stopped tracking my daily caloric intake. That probably wasn’t such a good idea so I’ve decided to start tracking that again via FitDay.com. This is the program that I used last year when I was watching what I ate and it’s pretty powerful. Oh, and best of all – it’s completely free.

The other minor modification that I’m making in my health information tracking is when I start my week for logging my weekly steps. In other words, I used to start my week on Monday and stop my tracking at night on Sundays. And there was some reason for doing this as I recall. Something about tracking on these days makes for a better overall weekly count – I really don’t remember. Well, after doing that for a few years I think I’m going to change to a regular week by starting my tracking on Sunday morning and ending on Saturday night. I can’t recall a reasons to track my weekly steps any differently.

By the way, the week before last I set a new record for the amount of steps walked in a week. I broke the previous week’s record of 75,550 by recording 85,472 steps. Not bad at all – especially when you consider that you’re supposed to walk 70,000 steps in a week. 🙂