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A Voice That Ought To Be Heard Mar 05, 2010
By Steve Roeser
In the late 1980s, during the Reagan/Bush era, Michael Beram was writing songs and making some recordings under the name Dr. Michael Pemulis for the Arizona punk label called Placebo Records.
I believe I still have my copy of the Pemulis album "Priorities," which I thought was great. Unfortunately, the Placebo label was soon to end, and Beram eventually stopped recording as "Pemulis."
But another guy who started HIS writing career in the late '80s, a fellow named David Foster Wallace, was apparently a fan of punk rock, had access to records from the Placebo catalogue, and did not fail to notice Dr. Michael Pemulis--or, at least, sure liked Beram's "stage name."
"Michael Pemulis" became the name of a character in "Infinite Jest," the late Wallace's most famous novel. By the time someone brought this to Beram's attention (not that long ago), he'd already been doing some serious writing of his own, for many years. Politics, and all of its insanity, is what Beram has been dwelling on ever since Bush Sr.'s son (the "Shrub"?) and Dick "Go Eff Yourself" Cheney were inflicted on us all in year 2000.
Beram's book collects a decade's worth of his online columns (a few dating back earlier than 2000), each of which is dated exactly when it sprang forth from Beram's formidable and often comedic brain.
I suggest getting the book and skipping around--front to back, back to front--and if you are a parent (as Beram is) you will enjoy this even more for the columns that pertain to his young daughter, and his concerns about the world she is growing up in.
A few of my favorites from the book include "No Greater Sin Than Desire" from May 25, 2008 ("Just look at poor Hillary Clinton. Her all consuming desire to become president has made her a sad, miserable, almost tragic figure."), "Run Ralph Run" from February 24, 2004 ("As Nader likes to point out, Bush makes one long for the days of Nixon."), "Jesusnomics 101" from August 24, 2002 ("May I humbly submit that one would have to look long and hard to find a link between the philosophy of Jesus Christ and the actions of George W. Bush.") and --among others--"Spreading The Wealth" from November 2, 2008 ("The ratio of top executive pay to employee pay used to be 35 to 1. It is now over 400 to 1.").
You are not going to find this kind of writing, or writing that is this consistently good, just anywhere. Beram still has the sensibility of a creative artist, but his logic ranks him right beside most political pundits I've ever read. His humor, passion and intellect are obvious, but his unusual take on things and his deft mental excursions are just enough to keep him out of mainstream consideration--so far, anyway...
If his style were more derivative (meaning far less original), more cookie-cutter, left or right (he's really neither), more CARDBOARD, then he would already be nationally-known for what he writes.
But Beram is primarily just a good husband, good citizen, a responsible parent and honest person, somebody who dislikes flim-flam (Donald Rumsfeld, anyone?)--and won't sit still for it--and, when he writes, he's a true individual whose clear thinking bursts through. Beram is a genuine guy who hopes for and dreams of a better world, but in the meantime he's going to tell you exactly what's on his mind about the one he sees right now when he wakes up every day. He continues to crank out the online columns.)
His book belongs on the New York Times bestsellers list, but Beram knows the chances of that happening are probably as remote as George W. Bush going down in history as one of the greatest U.S. presidents. All the same, his views are well worth reading, and considering. And you will be greatly entertained in the process.
Get this book! Jun 06, 2009
By Another Voice
The Lone Voice has done his research, is not afraid to tell it like it is, and does it in an entertaining way in this series of essays. We are living in a time of great evil, but this time it is not the Germans, but the Americans, committing the evil (perhaps on a smaller scale). Hopefully the tide has turned with the election of Obama, but history will ask the American people, like the German people, how we could have let it happen. The Hitler supporters of then, and the Bush supporters of now, will forever have to live with their exposed ignorance, lack of judgment, or just plain evil. It gives me some comfort to know that the next time I see George W Bush's face shape-shift into a reptile before my very eyes, their will be a Lone Voice crying out from the wilderness. Buy and read this book!
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