Keep Religion out of Politics

Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals should follow the teachings of Jesus and stay out of politics. This goes too for the so called Religious Right. When Christians try to jam down their beliefs, rules and laws into politics, they are going against the teachings of Jesus.Jesus never told Rome what to do. He didn't lead protests against the laws or norms of Rome. He confined his attacks to the leaders of Jewish religion, chiding them for claiming to be pillars of morality while being corrupt on the inside. For this and because of the fact he preferred the company of so called sinners over so called saints, as well as preaching it was important to forgive and love rather than condemn and hate, he was executed as a common criminal.Yes, I was born and raised a Roman Catholic, and continue to attend Mass and receive Communion on a regular basis. It is for this reason and because all I was taught in 12 years of Catholic schooling that I become angry with the Church Hierarchy when they interfere with politics, as was recently done when some bishops and cardinals preached that those who voted for Barack Obama were committing a Mortal Sin because Obama is Pro-Choice.I would love to discuss theology with these learned men. I would love to argue with their position. It might be fun to tell them I believe the number one abortionist of all time is none other than God himself who has performed an uncountable number of abortions. I would tell them a rose by any other name is still a rose, and the only difference between an abortion and a miscarriage is the name of the abortionist.But that would be irrelevant. God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. What is relevant is Jesus, the first religious leader who taught the separation of Church and State, and the need to keep them separate so religion is not used to oppress people, as is commonly done by the extreme right of all religions, be they Christian, Muslim or Jew.Listen to Pete being interviewed by Dave Ewen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Circle-Of-Seven/2008/11/15/Readers-Entertainment-Radio-with-guest-Pete-Klein-1 and Fran Siverman at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Francine-Silverman/2008/11/11/The-Radio-Host-Show-For more info, read his books: "Adirondack Hikes in Hamilton County" the hiking guidebook and the vampire novels "The Vampire Valkyrie" and "The Dancing Valkyrie," now available at http://www.lulu.com/ravenwolfpublishPete talks with writers about their books on Saturday evenings, 6:30 pm EST, by going to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-Dancing-Valkyrie

Deer Hunting and book signings

Coming Attractions
On Saturday, Nov. 1, from 6:30 - 7 p.m. on Blog Talk Radio, www.blogtalkradio.com/The-Dancing-Valkyrie Pete Klein will talk with Dan Ladd about his book: Deer Hunting in the Adirondacks.Deer Hunting in the Adirondacks is a 168-page soft cover book self-published by outdoor writer Dan Ladd. Dan has hunted in the Adirondacks for 32 years and enjoys many forms of outdoor recreation in this northern-most section of New York State. His writings appear weekly in The Chronicle newspaper in Glens Falls, monthly in Outdoors Magazine and occasionally in other publications including New York Outdoor News as well as on a number of Web sites. Dan has been the web author of ADKHunter.com since 2000.
BOOK SIGNING AND READINGINLET--Pete Klein, author of the recently published vampire novel, "The Vampire Valkyrie" will be at the Adirondack Reader, Inlet, on Friday, November 28, from 1-3 p.m.He will be signing copies of his latest book, plus copies of "The Dancing Valkyrie," and the hiking guide, "Adirondack Hikes in Hamilton County."
BOOK SIGNING AND READINGINDIAN LAKE--Pete Klein, author of the recently published vampire novel, "The Vampire Valkyrie" will be at the Indian Lake Library on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 11-1 p.m.He will be reading and signing copies of his latest book, plus copies of "The Dancing Valkyrie," and the hiking guide, "Adirondack Hikes in Hamilton County."
SHIRLEY ROE INTERVIEWShirley Roe will be interviewed on BlogTalkRadio by host Pete Klein on Saturday, Nov. 29, from 6:30 to 7 p.m. EST.The show will be about Roe's latest book, The Whittaker Family Reunion, plus Klein will talk to Roe about her being the Managing Editor and founder of Allbooks Review, founded in 2000 as a review source for POD authors.Everyone is invited to listen in and even call in by going to www.blogtalkradio.com/The-Dancing-Valkyrie

Christians don't follow Jesus

I've recently read several op/ed pieces where several authors continue to harp on the abortion issue. One area of attack their attacts focuses in on Catholic politicians who don't toe the line as Bishops and the Pope would have them do. These columnists who take the Pro Life position point to Bishops who ask priests not to give Communion to Catholic politicians who are Pro Choice.
To me, these Bishops and the Pope himself are not following in the footsteps of Jesus.
Why do I say this?
Look at the Gospels. No where in any of the Gospels is it recorded that Jesus went after secular rulers and secular law. One could say Jesus was the first advocate for the separation of Church and State. Not even when John the Baptist was imprisoned and then beheaded did Jesus protest. But Jesus did go after the religious leaders of his day, especially singling out those who made a big show of how moral they claimed to be.
It was because he went after the religious leaders of his day that they went after him and used secular law to have him crucified.
This is why I say all so called leaders of all the World Religions who strive to prove how holy they are in the political arena are not following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Abortion by any other name

Here are my thoughts on abortion - original as far as I know.
While I am and have been a Catholic for over 65 years of my 65 years of life, I don't agree with the Church nor do I agree with its efforts to make abortion illegal.
As far as abortion is concerned, I regard it as something which results from bad choices. No need to list all the bad choices made to result in a woman wondering if she should or should not have an abortion.
But what I would like to point out is how a rose by any other name is still a rose. Same with abortion. Call it an abortion when a woman decides to have an abortion or call it a miscarriage if God is the abortionist if you want - but the result is the same.
In my view, a human does not come into existence until it has both a heart beat and is breathing. In other words, it is not human until it is born and takes its first breath.
Looking at it from a legal standpoint, if we were to decide a human exists at the point of conception as John McCain believes, then we need to do several things.
One: the woman and those performing the abortion should be arrested and tried for murder, then executed or face life in prison, depending on the laws concerning murder.
Two: we would need to eliminate birthday parties and start having conception parties. Kids would like this because they could drive and drink at an earlier age by nine months, and adults would be able to have sex with them at 17 years and three months after their birthday. Conceptual Day would always be a guess.
What's my point? I am sick of people who try to show how moral they claim to be by being against abortion.
Afterthought. Jesus had little use for the "good" people of his day.

Random House is a Coward

Once again American business has submitted to pressure from Muslims.

Here I am talking about the great publishing house, Random House, who cancelled publication of a new novel from Sherry Jones, The Jewel of Medina, a fictionalized story of one of Muhammad's wives. Why? Because it might "incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment" of Islamists.

The book publishing industry is supposed to stand up for freedom of expression. I guess that doesn't apply to freedom of expression involving anything Muslim.

No other religion is granted the ability to censor the written word as is the Muslim religion. I guess that is because no other religion has violently attacked this country for so called religious reasons.

If the USA is ever again to be regarded as "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave" this nonsense must stop.

New Vampire Novel

"The Vampire Valkyrie" takes off where "The Dancing Valkyrie" concluded and resumes the tale of young female vampire who just may become the most dangerous vampire in vampire fiction to date.
The new novel,"The Vampire Valkyrie," by Adirondack author Pete Klein, is the story of a young woman who is an erotic dancer at a topless club she owns in Schenectady, NY.

Indian Lake—August 5, 2008 — A vampire like no other, "The Vampire Valkyrie" continues the tale of Mary Hoffman, aka Erica, the Dancing Valkyrie, who fights to protect her erotic dance club and her girls from mobsters who want to control her and her club - or kill her if she resists.
A Schenectady City Councilwoman wants to pass legislation to close down or strictly limit the operation of adult businesses, an a upstate crime boss wants control of Mary and her club and a New York City crime family seeks to discredit the upstate crime boss through Mary and her club. Many people die, both the innocent and the guilty, as a result of Mary's determination to save herself, her girls and her club, while wondering if she should stop being involved with humans and just kill all who infringe upon her freedom as a vampire.
The new novel is now available at www.lulu.com/ravenwolfpublish and will soon be listed in Books in Print, Ingram's database in the US; and Bertrams & Gardners, Nielsons Bookdata in the UK and at most popular online book sellers from Japan, the US and Canada, and the UK, France and Germany.
Klein says, "When I found Anne Rice and her vampire novels, I felt someone was finally seeing beyond the cli' ches that had developed over the years. But I wanted to probe deeper by developing vampires, not demons, created by God for whatever reason God might want to create vampires. They would have to be of flesh and blood. They would have to be a unique creature not yet captured or studied by humans. Mary was the result, a vampire more deadly than any vampire I have read about in books or seen in the movies - deadly but strangely moral in the ways of a vampire."

Book Publish and Promoting

Thoughts on Lulu.com

My feeling about Lulu comes down to money. For about $100 you get an ISBN and what they call Global Distribution , which means your book is printed by Lightning and distributed through Ingram to online and regular retailers who chose to purchase a print on demand (POD) book.
Cost per book is based upon pages. To give you two examples: my Adirondack Hikes in Hamilton County costs me $7.66 when I order for local sales, while the Dancing Valkyrie cost me $9.18.
I did all the work; writing, editing etc.
For someone who wants extra help, services are available for a cost.
My reason for going the POD route was simple. Time. I do have an old and dear friend, a literary agent at Harold Ober Assoc. Inc., NYC. She did accept The Dancing Valkyrie and sent it out to a traditional publisher who took 7 months before passing on it. I know a first rejection does not mean a manuscript will never find a home. I also know it is not unusual for a manuscript to go through many publishers before finding a home. But considering I was approaching 65, which I now am, I thought "who knows how long I will live" and decided to go with the least expensive POD I could find.
When one considers even a book published by a traditional publisher has no guarantee sales will exceed a few thousand copies and even a $5,000 advance on royalties might never hit the breakeven point for the publisher, I think it is a mistake for those who choose to self-publish, to lay out more money for a book than the traditional publisher is willing to front.
Out of curiosity, I recently checked out Xlibris and saw where they charge from $299 to $12,999 to publish with them. The $299 only gets you an ISBN and a web page listing with them. To get a package similar to what Lulu offers for about $100 would cost you $499.
Do the math! I think some of these POD outfits are selling a dream that will probably never be reached.
All marketing efforts have been done by me.
In addition to the above, Lulu has some stock front and back covers available for free. They also have templates for covers as no charge. If you use the templates, just convert to jpg and send. Pay for services are also available.
I convert my document to PDF using the free CutePDF.
After you download everything to Lulu, within a short period of time, you order a proof copy which should not take more than a week to receive. After receiving, if everything is up to snuff, you place an order for the distribution package you want, decide on the price and set up your own Lulu web page - and you are done.
The way everything is set up, even a caveman could do it.
By the way, want your book reviewed? I can highly recommend AllBooks Review. Both of my books were reviewed there for modest fee, with reviews posted on Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc. I am a reviewer there and, if you want, you can choose me to do the review. Check them out at: http://www.allbookreviews.com/
"Adirondack Hikes in Hamilton County" the hiking guidebook and the vampire novel "The Dancing Valkyrie" are now available from Pete Klein at http://www.lulu.com/ravenwolfpublish
New! Talk about book and promote it with Pete Klein (no charge and you can later download the podcast for your marketing) on Saturday evenings, 6:30 pm EST, by going to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-Dancing-Valkyrie
For more information, email Pete Klein at kleinpete@hotmail.com