Blogtrek

Some real spam

I got an unsolicited email this morning from Mike Evans who has written a book called Beyond Iraq and is apparently trying to use email to hawk it. In so doing, I believe he's spamming. This is because I found this notice at the end of the email:

You are subscribed to the Pastor Update list, keeping you up-to date on items of interest to Churches and Pastors. If you wish to stop receiving these messages, simply use this link: http://www.nmailer.com/unsub/index.html?e=aa_42-5214

Huhh?? I never subscribed to any pastor list. Where does he get the idea that I am a pastor of some sort? He says I can stop the messages by clicking that link; I think he got part of that email address of his by doing a takeoff or spoof on author Norman Mailer. I am not going to click on that link since I have been warned that this will merely confirm to spammers that this is a valid address. I tried to reply directly and got a "can't deliver" squawk from the postmaster.

In any case, this isn't any book that I would be interested in. Its full title is: Beyond Iraq: The Next Move: Ancient Prophecy and Modern Day Conspiracy Collide. The words "ancient prophecy" indicates to me that the author uses religion and the Bible to make assertions about our present world instead of the scientific method. There is no way that the Bible is the immutable work of God; it is a collection of human writings from an era that may have little relevance to the present world. I agree with the one-star rating on Amazon.com (where the book has the incredible rank of 10) that says that any book with "ancient prophecy" in its title is not worthy of serious consideration. I wouldn't say "any", but rather "almost any", but I agree with the rater and agree that it deserves the lowest rating. I did read some pages of the book and they seem to be a rehash of Planeattack and other recent events; nothing new. A better book to read, in my opinion, is the one I referred to earlier by Clyde Prestowitz, Rogue Nation.

In any case, I regard the message as spam and hope that I don't get any more messages like this. Further, anybody hawking a book to me by sending me a spam message telling me that I have subscribed to a list that I never subscribed to may very well find a one-star review of his book in Amazon.com.