I can dream, can't I?

Love this headline over at Doug Ross: "Once the employer mandate kicks in they'll be hunting Democrats with dogs in this country".

Monday movie

Spencer Tracy’s not taking any guff off of Ernest Borgnine in this scene from Bad Day at Black Rock.

From the shelves of the Paco library

I am delighted to finally have the opportunity to write about a book published by someone I actually know. Marilyn Peck, an Australian artist and poet, and a long-time friend of Paco Enterprises, has written her first novel, The Dragon Bone Consortium. Part detective story, part international thriller and part treasure hunt, the book is a thumping good read, in which Marilyn picks up the threads of a real life mystery - the disappearance of the fossilized remains of Peking Man - and weaves a yarn about the ultimate recovery of the missing bones, and the price in human lives placed on their return to China by a violent and increasingly unbalanced emissary of the Chinese government.

In the 1920s, a series of excavations initiated at Dragon Bone Hill, near Beijing (f/k/a Peking), uncovered the 750,000-year-old remains of an early hominid, dubbed Peking Man. It was one of the most exciting paleontological finds in history; however, although casts were made of the bones, the original specimens vanished in 1941 during the Japanese invasion and occupation, and have never been recovered.

The novel opens 65 years later. An elderly Chinese couple, Harry and Jenny Han, own and operate a native plant nursery on the central coast of Queensland, Australia. One day, Harry stumbles across some strangers who are poking about a remote section of the property. He goes missing, and his wife suddenly makes a decision to sell the nursery at auction. Their grandchild, Suzy, who was raised by the Hans, is living in Sydney and is baffled by the news that her grandmother wants to sell the nursery. Her puzzlement turns to shock when she finds out that, after the auction has taken place (the property has mysteriously sold for much more than its appraised value), her grandmother dies. It quickly turns out that she was murdered.

Thus begins a rapid-paced plot encompassing the search for Harry Han and his wife's murderer, the startling connection between Harry and Jenny and the Peking Man remains, and the fulfillment of a decades-old mission, all against the background of rival "treasure" hunters and their deadly machinations. There are several interesting sub-plots - the blossoming love affair between Suzy Han and Mike Kavafis, the manager of the nursery; the curious involvement of an American CIA operative; a corrupt local policeman's involvement in the illicit drug trade - that contribute to making this novel an enthralling page-turner. And ominously looming over all is the villainous Ho Ah-shek, an insanely ambitious agent of the Chinese government whose single-minded determination to acquire all the glory of returning the fossils to their original home places him at the epicenter of a storm of violence and murder.

The Dragon Bone Consortium is an auspicious beginning to Marilyn Peck's career as a novelist, and it has left me hungering for more. Highly recommended (and available through Amazon).

Sunday funnies

Loctite glue: nothing if not versatile.

Ten worst first times.

Happy Zak is looking for investors (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Great new ObamaCare ad.

You really can't judge a book by its cover.

If you're having trouble meeting new people, maybe you need to be more, er, creative.

Bear-proof.

ObamaCare: a game the whole family can (and will) play.

Caring for humans: a cat’s guide.

Just because

A 1937 LaSalle.

Mexicans take up arms in defense of their communities

When government can't protect people from the criminal element (or, worse, is in cahoots with it), you get vigilantism.

Happy Feet Friday

Freddie Slack dishes out Pig-Foot Pete.