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2/5/2005

Colorado Teens Fined for Giving Cookies to Neighbor :.

Funny, I was just thinking about how long it would take for me to get arrested/sued if I tried to keep a few chickens in the backyard:

A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.

The pair were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs after neighbor Wanita Renea Young, 49, filed a lawsuit complaining that the unsolicited cookies, left at her house after the girls knocked on her door, had triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day.

Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small claims court ruling by La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker, a court clerk said on Friday.

The girls baked cookies as a surprise for several of their rural Colorado neighbors on July 31 and dropped off small batches on their porches, accompanied by red or pink paper hearts and the message: "Have a great night."

The Denver Post newspaper reported on Friday that the girls had decided to stay home and bake the cookies rather than go to a dance where there might be cursing and drinking.



Journalists Paid to Write for Military Web Site :.

Rumsfeld's flunky will definitely get to the bottom of this. Tell me another one:

The Pentagon’s chief investigator is looking into the military’s practice of paying journalists to write articles and commentary for a Web site aimed at influencing public opinion in the Balkans, officials said Friday.

At the request of Larry Di Rita, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the Pentagon’s inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, is reviewing that case and also looking more broadly at Pentagon activities that might involve inappropriate payments to journalists.



Music Industry Sues 83-Year-Old Dead Woman :.

RIAA twits continue to win over hearts and minds...

Gertrude Walton was recently targeted by the recording industry in a lawsuit that accused her of illegally trading music over the Internet. But Walton died in December after a long illness, and according to her daughter, the 83-year-old hated computers.

"My mother was computer illiterate. She hated a computer," Chianumba said. "My mother wouldn't know how to turn on a computer."


2/4/2005

Cryptogon Readers Contribute $80

KH $30 - We go waaaaaaay back. Thanks, momma!

PP $50 - PP was tempted by the recent offer of premium content about the weird .mil agency and the information it was after:
Damn you for raising my curiosity!

Actually, keep up the good work, always meant to help you out but now you make it irresistible.
Thanks PP!



Sites You Might Enjoy

infoprophecy.org - Dan's young mind has been warped by sites like WRH, GNN and Cryptogon. He coded IP from scratch. Nice work!

freeinternetpress.com - More excellent coverage.



Master List Of Dead Scientists & Microbiologists :.

This is the most extensive list I've seen.



Allawi Faces Defeat as Iraqi Cleric's Team Leads the Polls :.

I don't remember the name of the analyst, but something like a year ago, he said that if legitimate elections were allowed in Iraq, they would produce a Iran-alligned Shia theocracy in short order. Well, my hat is off that that man.

Allawi is losing? This is really weird. It's about as weird as the U.S. NOT finding WMDs in Iraq. (I'm still scratching my head over that one.) The WMD debacle and this election were events the U.S. should have been able to easily manage, but for some reason, didn't. WMDs should have been found. Allawi should have won.

Right?

We must assume the election outcome was managed, but if that's the case, how does a Sistani victory play into overall U.S. geostrategy in the region? I'm drawing a blank here, people.

I like Mike's commentary on this:
This is interesting. The United States overthrew the only secular government in the Middle East, imposed elections, whereupon it looks like the Iraqi people will vote in the very sort of theocracy the US has denounced in other Arab nations. And, it gets even better. If Sistani wins (and survives the event), his first official act will be to tell the US to get the heck out of Iraq.

Something "dramatic" will have to happen if Bush plans to use Iraq for the invasion of Iran and Syria.
From the Independent UK:

The coalition of Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi interim Prime Minister appointed by the Americans, is heading for election defeat at the hands of a list backed by the country's senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, partial results released yesterday indicate.

The results from Baghdad - where Mr Allawi was expected to do well - show the one-time CIA protégé with only 140,364 votes compared to 350,069 for the alliance, which is headed by a Shia cleric who lived in Iran for many years.

Among the mostly five Shia provinces tallied so far, the alliance's lead is even wider. It has 1.1 million of the 1.6 million votes counted at 10 per cent of polling centres in the capital and the Shia south. Mr Allawi's list was second with 360,500.

"Large numbers of Shia voted along sectarian lines," said Sharif Ali bin Hussein, head of the Constitutional Monarchy Party. "Americans are in for a shock. A lot of people in the country are going to wake up in shock."



Principal Bans 'Anti-Military,' 'Anti-American' Materials :.

A Cookeville (Tenn.) High School administrator said Veterans for Peace and a Quaker group can't come back into his school with materials considered "anti-American" and "anti-military."

The groups plan to go before the Putnam County school board tomorrow with claims that they're being denied privileges afforded to other organizations, including military recruiters.

The war veterans, some who also belong to the Quaker group, were allowed into the school during a September fair for organizations. They set up a table with books about U.S. wars and offered photocopied fliers and pamphlets from both organizations about the war in Iraq and military careers and alternatives.



Government Won't Withhold Payments to Halliburton :.

Imagine my shock!

The Pentagon has deviated from its normal procedures by deciding not to withhold payments to Houston's Halliburton Co. for failing to complete the paperwork to justify the billings.

Last summer, Pentagon auditors urged the Army Field Support Command to withhold 15 percent, or about $60 million a month, from Halliburton's reimbursements to prod the company to clear its books.

Halliburton officials had argued federal contracting rules for withholding payments did not apply to their contract to serve meals, wash clothes and provide other support.

The Pentagon's decision follows a year of wrangling between military auditors and the company over billing practices.

Defense Department officials have concluded that rules that would allow for reimbursing only 85 percent do apply. But, they said Thursday, they've decided to make an exception.

The Pentagon has given the go-ahead to the Army Field Support Command to pay KBR's bills in full until at least June 30.

Under the current plan, the Field Support Command's contracting director will evaluate each of the 36 task orders with missing paperwork and decide whether to withhold any payments.

"This just gives the contracting people some breathing space," an Army spokeswoman said.



Government Keeping More Secrets in Name of National Security :.

Federal agencies are using secrecy rules developed after the 9/11 attacks to hide embarrassing or controversial reports and data that the federal government once routinely made public.

Environmental groups, scientific organizations and animal-rights advocates are complaining about increasing difficulties in obtaining information on what government inspectors are finding about worker safety at nuclear power plants, toxic releases at chemical plants, or tests on live animals in scientific laboratories.



Baby Boomers and Peak Oil :.

The bottom line is that the Baby Boomers growing old will take this thing down. Click through to check out the handy chart on PIMCO's site. As someone (I can't mention names because it's not allowed) on the Energy Round Table indicated, this really starts to impact as, guess what: Peak Oil starts to impact!

....it matters little whether the system is pre-refunded with Treasury bonds or privately held stocks. The fact is that both of these financial assets represent a call on future production. If that production could possibly be saved, like squirrels ferreting away nuts for a long winter, then Treasury IOUs or corporate stocks might make some sense. But they can’t. Future healthcare for boomer seniors can only be provided by today’s teenagers, twenty-somethings, and even the yet to be born. We cannot store their energy today for some future rainy day. Nor can we save food, transportation, or entertainment for anything more than a few years forward. Each must be provided by the existing generation of workers for those who have retired and are presumably incapable of working. And, as Chart I points out, the ratio of retirees to workers - the dependency ratio - soars from 0.2 retirees for every worker to 0.35 over the next 20 years or so. There’s your problem, and neither privatization nor any goodly number of government bonds deposited in the Social Security trust fund can solve it.



Abu Ghraib Torture Architect Is Now the U.S. Attorney General :.

The Senate confirmed Alberto Gonzales as the nation's first Latino attorney general Thursday, but Democrats registered a significant protest vote over his role as White House counsel in developing a widely condemned administration policy on the use of torture.



Where's Drupal?

I've been promising a shift of Cryptogon to a new content management system for a while now. So, what's the story?

The Drupal team has frozen the code for version 4.6 and they are now working on stability and testing. I don't want to make the change so close to a major release.



Bush to Seek $419.3 Billion for Defense, Doesn't Include Iraq and Afghanistan Costs :.

President Bush will ask Congress for $419.3 billion for the Pentagon for next year, 4.8 percent more than this year's spending as the administration seeks to beef up and reshape the Army and Marine Corps for fighting terrorism.

The request will not include money for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress already has appropriated $25 billion for those this year, and the White House is planning to request another $80 billion soon.

The president plans to roll out his military spending proposal Monday as part of a roughly $2.5 trillion overall federal budget. But documents obtained by The Associated Press show that he will request $19.2 billion more for the Department of Defense than its $400.1 billion budget this year.


2/3/2005

Cryptogon Readers Contribute $25, $15 and $50

TB $25, CL $15 and FIP $50. Thank you, gentlemen!



Bill Gates: "I'm Short the Dollar. The ol' Dollar, It's Gonna Go Down."

The following information is not a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security or financial instrument. Financial markets are a scam, and I recommend staying away from them entirely. But.... if you can't help yourself, read on:

This story might be true, but be careful. When news like this hits the mainstream media, it's usually meant to drive the dumb money to slaugher for tactical purposes. In other words, go the other way, at least in the short term... or better yet, just wait. If I was trading this, which I'm not, rather than trying to play an upside move, I'd wait for the suckers to get shaken loose during a strong short squeeze. As they're desperately trying to cover---because the dollar appears to be headed up up up up!---look to short that pig. The thing is going down, but getting the timing right, actually pulling the trigger on something like this, is much harder.

Decisions by the world's two wealthiest men to bet on a further weakening of the U.S. dollar, coupled with China's lack of confidence in American currency should grab the attention of every working person, says Craig Smith, CEO of Swiss America Trading.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is following the example of Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett, who made a pretax gain of $412 million in the fourth quarter of 2004 by buying foreign currencies.

Citing widening U.S. trade and budget deficits and a federal debt of $7.62 trillion, Gates said in a TV interview at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last weekend he expects the dollar to extend its three-year decline.

"I'm short the dollar," Gates said, according to Bloomberg News. "The ol' dollar, it's gonna go down."


Update: U.S. Dollar Gains on Euro :.

See what I mean!? HAHA:

The U.S. dollar gained on the euro Friday following the release of labor market data in Washington and a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.



Premium Content: Strange .Mil Domain and the Search Originating from It

I will be sending recent contributors to Cryptogon details about a very weird hit from a .mil domain. Attempts to determine information about this organization in google and metasearch engines like dogpile resulted in nothing. No hits. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Cryptogon contributors will find out the name of the .mil agency (it's a good one, I promise) and exactly what this curious .mil agency was searching for.

They use ECHELON on us. I use Cryptogon on Them!

Increasingly, when I uncover choice tidbts of information like this, it's going to go out only to those who have helped keep me alive with much needing funding. When (and if) news of the agency, and its efforts, ever comes to light, you'll be able to make a devious smirk and then yawn knowing that you already got a private Cryptogon intelligence tip-off on this thing. Thanks to all contributors for supporting my efforts!

This data was free for everyone:

Related: THE SALVADOR OPTION IDENTIFIED BY CRYPTOGON



Guns Don't Kill People, Doctors Do :.

Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.



General Electric Halts New Business Orders in Iran :.

Cocked and locked:

General Electric Co., which has been accused of collecting "blood money" by doing business in Iran, will stop accepting any new orders for business in the country, company officials said Wednesday.

The move by the world's largest company by market value comes just days after another conglomerate, Halliburton Co., announced the company will wind down its operations in Iran.

"We're seeing a turnaround by a number of U.S. companies operating in Iran," said Dan Katz, chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

Katz said the moves may signal an imminent change in U.S. policy that has allowed foreign subsidiaries of American companies to do business in Iran.

Last year, Lautenberg accused GE and other American companies of collecting "blood money" by doing business with countries the United States says sponsors terrorism and said he would push for legislation to stop it. New York City comptroller William Thompson, as manager of employee pension funds, has also pressured GE and other companies.



New Republic Calls for Death and Torture of Arundhati Roy and Stan Goff :.

The words "libelous" and 'the New Republic" have a proud history of walking arm-in-arm. Now, in the esteemed tradition of [former TNR writer who peddled fiction as fact] Stephen Glass, The New Republic has stooped to a new low, publishing a piece that calls for violence, torture, and even death for leading leftists who dare oppose Bush's war on terror and the slaughter in Iraq.

Author Tom Frank -- clearly from the Glass School of Journalism the New Republic has made famous -- described sitting in on an anti-war panel sponsored by the International Socialist Organization, the Washington Peace Center, the DC Anti-War Network and other groups.

After having heard the 100 plus attendees cheer sentiments like "Money for Jobs and Education Not For War and Occupation," Frank became so riled up, he unloaded a deranged harangue about the suffering he would like to rain upon people daring to organize against this war. After Stan Goff, a former Delta Forces soldier and current organizer for Military Families Speak Out, expressed sentiments like "We ain't never resolved nothing through an election," Frank's jag began. Clearly too doughy to do it himself, Frank started to fantasize about a Teutonic strongman who could shut Goff up.

Frank writes, "What I needed was a Republican like Arnold [Schwarzenegger] who would walk up to [Goff] and punch him in the face."



U.S. Marine General: It's Fun to Shoot People :.

At a panel discussion in San Diego Tuesday, a top Marine general tells an audience that, among other things, it is "fun to shoot some people."

The comment, made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, came in reference to fighting insurgents in Iraq. He went on to say, "Actually, its a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. I like brawling."

"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for 5 years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis continued. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."


2/2/2005

Marines Miss January Goal for Recruits :.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Marine Corps in January missed its monthly recruiting goal, in what military officials said was the latest troubling indicator of the Iraq war's impact on the armed services.

The struggles of the Army, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard to recruit and retain soldiers have received national attention in recent months. But the recent failure of the Marines, who historically have had the luxury of turning away willing recruits, is a potential problem for the service.



The Biodiesel Red Herring :.

I hate to break it to ya: Mainstream biodiesel is a scam, a red herring. I think it's great that people can independently make their own fuel for small scale agriculture purposes and light transportation, but there is simply no way that biodiesel can take over as a mainstream fuel. Biodiesel might prevent the oil crash from impacting for a few more months or years (at best), but it's not even close to a viable solution for the problems we face.

Biodiesel advocates like to ignore these questions:

Question: Where does the fertilizer come from to grow the soybeans?

Answer: Natural gas, supplies of which are dwindling.

Question: Assuming there was fertilizer to grow the soybeans, how much land would be required for a largescale shift to biodiesel?

Answer: An area roughly the size of 10 Iowas, just for biofuels. Growing food? Well, that's a different matter.

Question: Assuming enough biodiesel could be produced, what happens when your car needs new tires, hoses, and everything else made out of petroleum products?

Answer: Scratch head and then try to suck a little more oil out of the ground...

Never mind all of that. Enjoy your free-love, granola and biodiesel while you can:

Farmers in the heartland are trying to cash in on America's growing infatuation with biodiesel, the replacement for petroleum diesel that can be made from vegetable and animal oils and fats.

The farmers, soybean growers from Midwestern states, are enlisting the help of environmentalists and celebrities, to give them the hip, eco-friendly image they need to reach young adults and baby boomers.



Carlyle Group Seeking Hedge Against Dollar Collapse... in China? :.

Colby said the deals in the pipeline would include a US$400 million investment in an insurance company, which was billed as one of the largest private equity transactions in China. Although Colby didn't name the insurance firm, sources close to the deal said the company in question was China Pacific Life Insurance, the country’s third-biggest insurer.

"We are focused on financial services, and that's why (we're targeting) insurance, as it's a surrogate for tapping on savings," said Colby.


2/1/2005

SBC Will Eliminate 13,000 Jobs in AT&T Merger :.

SBC Communications Inc. (SBC) and AT&T Corp. (T) aim to eliminate about 13,000 jobs as part of their merger announced Monday.

SBC Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner gave that job cut estimate during a meeting with analysts in New York Tuesday.



Inauguration Pepper Spray Hose Down :.

Meanwhile, Joe and Jane Six Pack thank Jesus for the cops.



Insider Selling Madness :.

HAHA! Suckers going long here are going to be walking funny after this thing unwinds!



Kucinich Demands Broad Investigation Of Missing $9 Billion In Iraq :.

Tell Cheney to empty his pockets:

Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), the Ranking Member on the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, today demanded a broad investigation of the $9 billion in missing reconstruction funds in Iraq, including a criminal investigation and Congressional hearings.

Kucinich will send two letters today calling for a full investigation into the missing $9 billion in funds in Iraq. One letter will be sent to Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT), Chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, requesting an immediate Congressional hearing. The second letter will be sent to United States Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzales demanding a criminal investigation, including a grand jury, by the United States Department of Justice.

"In view of this Administration's tendency for covert or secret operations, there is no assurance that these funds were not misused for illegal or unauthorized activities," stated Kucinich. "The Administration, the Department of Defense, and Coalition Provisional Authority must be held directly responsible for this staggering lack of accountability of $9 billion. If ever there was a reason for a grand jury to start asking questions of high ranking federal government officials, this is it."



Guantanamo Tribunals 'Unconstitutional' :.

A US judge ruled today that the Guantanamo military tribunals for terrorism suspects are unconstitutional.

In a setback for the Bush administration, US District Judge Joyce Hens Green also ruled the prisoners at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have constitutional protections under the law.

"The court concludes that the petitioners have stated valid claims under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and that the procedures implemented by the government to confirm that the petitioners are 'enemy combatants' subject to indefinite detention violate the petitioners' rights to due process of law," Green wrote.



Germany Requires Woman to Work as a Prostitute to Receive Unemployment Benefits :.

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services" at a brothel in Berlin faces cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.

Prostitution was legalised in Germany two years ago and brothel owners - who must pay tax and employee health insurance - were granted access to official databases of job seekers.

The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe. She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile" and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did she realise she was calling a brothel.

Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month, to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest level since reunification in 1990.



DOJ Asks for Outrageous FOIA Fees :.

People For the American Way Foundation (PFAWF) President Ralph G. Neas said today that a Justice Department demand for nearly $400,000 in fees for a FOIA request regarding the decision to seal the records of immigrants detained in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks is outrageous, and another in a series of strategies to deny access to public information.

“Apparently, they’ve taken the ‘free’ out of ‘Freedom of Information.’ If you want to learn about secret trials carried out by your government with your money, you’re going to need deep pockets,” said Neas.



Weird New York Subway Fire :.

If a bum can do this, why haven't the "real" terrorists taken this thing completely down?

A subway line serving tens of thousands of New Yorkers a day was knocked out of service and another severely limited, possibly for years, because of a fire that authorities said may have been set by a homeless person trying to stay warm.

It will take "several millions of dollars and several years" to rebuild hundreds of relays, switches and circuits that track train signals and locations, NYC Transit President Lawrence Reuter said.

It was the most serious damage to the subway's infrastructure since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which destroyed tracks and stations underneath the World Trade Center, Reuter said.

The fire was set Sunday in a shopping cart in or near the Chambers Street station in lower Manhattan, fire officials said. It ignited cables above the platform and spread to a room full of switching and signal equipment, said NYC Transit's parent agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.


Update: Woops, Forget the Bum Theory, Case Closed :.

Less than two weeks after a relayroom fire in a subway station at Chambers Street disrupted service for more than a half-million subway riders, the New York Fire Department terminated its investigation into the blaze yesterday, without ascertaining its cause.

Initially, the Fire Department classified the blaze as "incendiary," or resulting from a fire that was set, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority assigned blame for the fire to an unidentified homeless person, citing reports of debris burning in a shopping cart and testimony by witnesses about a mysterious vagrant with a Mexican style poncho lurking around the subway station near the time of the fire.

Police eventually located the poncho-wearer but did not take him into custody, and the homeless-igniter theory was downplayed as an "assumption" by the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly. Yesterday, the fire's official status was changed from "incendiary" to "not ascertained," meaning the cause could not be determined.

"This case is basically closed," a Fire Department official said.


1/31/2005

Halliburton to Pull Out of Iran :.

My guess is that this has more to do with the fact that the U.S. military is already conducting operations inside Iran, rather than a "poor business environment":

US energy services company Halliburton is to end its operations in Iran after existing contracts come to an end.

Several American firms have been able to legally work in the country in the face of a US trade embargo, through foreign subsidiaries.

Halliburton, once run by US vice president Dick Cheney, said its Cayman Island unit secured revenues of $30m-$40m (£16-£21m) from Iran in 2003.

It said it was winding down its work due to a poor business environment.


Research Credit: JJ



U.S. Students Say Press Freedoms Go Too Far :.

Welcome to oblivion, it's lovely this time of year:

One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much," and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.



Monsanto to Buy Seed Company for $1 Billion :.

Agriculture products company Monsanto Co. on Monday said it will buy Seminis Inc., the world's largest commercial fruit and vegetable seed company, for at least $1 billion from a private equity firm to capitalize on the trend toward healthier eating.

Monsanto, a leading developer of genetic modifications for crops like soybeans and corn, said biotechnology modifications to Seminis' fruit and vegetable lines were an option, but the initial focus would be on leveraging Seminis' conventional breeding programs with Monsanto's advanced research and development to develop improved product options.

"In the near- to mid-term this is going to be about breeding," Monsanto Chairman Hugh Grant told analysts and reporters on a conference call. "In the long term, there may be an opportunity in biotechnology."

Seminis has only one biotech seed on the market now, a virus-resistant squash introduced four years ago.

Grant said the vegetable seed market is enjoying solid growth, thanks in part to healthier eating habits, and that Monsanto wants to capitalize on that.


Research Credit: JH




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:. Reading

Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell Readers will come to see that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest" - fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate farms.

Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross This is a relatively short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward; the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.

The Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing
Helen and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating, timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.

Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd In Silent Theft, David Bollier argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs, software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often, however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps give away our assets. Amazingly, the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed because we have lost our ability to see the commons.

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics Guide by John Seymour The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.

When Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten When Corporations Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It documents the devastating human and environmental consequences of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their own narrow ends.

The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener This expansion of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables, with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock, the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other topics.