I have a dear  friend who has changed his life and is much happiet than at any time I've known him since we first met in 1979.

However, to accomplish this he had to fall under the sway of various 12-step groups, whose emembership in and attendance at their meetings seems to consume totally his life.  Sadly, our friendship has suffered for this, as we have fewer things in common these days than previously. He also left his wife and moved to Florida, but that had to do with an inheritence as much as it did with psychobabble.

He's hardly the same person who treated me as well as anyone ever has in my life, the man who treated me better than the brothers I never had would have treated me.  I mourn the passing of that man, yet realize it's selfish of me to do so.  I should celebrate the emergence of the new, happier, well-adjusted man he has become, even at the cost of some parts of our friendship, even if he had to internalized what i consider to be prodigious amounts of toxic psychobabble idiocy to do so.

Anyway, this got me to thinking -- I'm ill-disposed to all those self-help/inspirational/motivation/take charge/change your life types of literature.  Perhaps i fear them. But I thought, hmmm, this might make for an slightly amusing post if I can link it to some of my other political passions.  So, let me today introduce to you Xiaoming's Library of Israeli Self-Help/Inspirational/Motivaltional/Psychobabble Books :

1. "I'm OK, You're An Islamofascist Terrorist Homicide Bomber" ;

2. "What Color Is Your Merkava?" ;

3. "When Good Things Happen To Bad Countries  --  Expect The US To Be Deeply Involved And, Characteristically, Totally Bamboozled" ;

4. "When I Say "NO" To A Palestinian State, I Don't Feel Guilty.  In The Least" ;

5. 7 Hightly Effective Habits Of One Extremely Duplicitous Country" ;

6. "The Powerlessness Of Palestinian Thinking" ;

7. "Everything You ALWAYS WANTED To Criticize The Israelis For, But Kept Silent About  --  Becuase You Didn't Want to Spend The Rest of Your Life Being Dogged By And Denying Salanderous Libels About Anti-Semitism As Perniciously and Palbably False As They Are Predictably Monotonous" ;

8. "Aggress For Success" :

9. "How To Entangle Allies And Alienate Neutrals" :

10. "Co-Beligerent No More  --  How To Move On With Your Foreign Policy AFTER The US Has At Long Last Regained It's Senses, Kicked You To The Curbside Like Last Week's Household Rubbish, And Decided To Act Solely In It's Own Interests" ;

11. Looking Out For Number 1  --  [But DON'T EVER Let The US In On This Little Secret!"

Xiaoming Prize Time  -- every one of those titles is a parody of a actual book published in the US within the last 30 years [with one exception, much older].  Most, but not all, fall within those loosely defined areas of motivational/inspirational/self-help, but at least two could also be consider more practically oriented to career advice in the harsh capitalist workplace.  Your challenge is to figure out the titles of the books I have parodied above.  The first Board member to post 8 correct answers wins the prize -- a solid WEEK [7 days!!!] of a Xiaoming-free Politics Board.  Get all 11 titles correct and I'll make it 10 days.

I will be a very lenient judge, so if you're anywhere near the title, I'll give you credit.  If you should name a title that works but is not the one I had in mind, as long as I can verify the existence of that title you'll get credit, as well as an extra Xiaoming-free day.

ALL these titles are/were extremely well-known. Anyone who has shoplifted in a bookstore, took his offspring to a library, or just channel-surfed past Oprah anytime in the last 30 years will recognize a few of them instantly.  More than a few were best sellers in their day,  and I'm not all going to be surprised to find out that many, if not all, of the actual titles are still in print.

{Disclaimer -- nothing in the above, though obviously influenced by political sympathies not favorable to the state of Israel, is or should be construed as anti-Semetic.  Their intend is solely humorous, as the use, succesful or otherwise, of parody, irony, satire and sarcasm ought to alert even the most casual reader].