|
8/9/2003
Smart Mail :.A presidential commission charged with studying ways to make the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) more efficient has recommended that the agency work with the Department of Homeland Security to develop sender identification technology for all U.S. mail.
In a final report released July 31, the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service said sender identification technologies such as "personalized stamps" that embed digital identification information would not only improve mail tracking and delivery operations but would also enhance the security of the entire mail system.
posted by Kevin at 1:21 AM
8/8/2003
RFID to Protect You from the Terrorists :.I hate to say I told you so, but I nailed this one exactly. (Alex Jones is going to pop a vein over this.) Just over a month ago, in my commentary on Walmart's decision to "drop" RFID, I wrote: Pay close attention because this is an excellent example of how public opinion is managed. The firestorm of pissed people stopped this from going into Wal-Mart... for the moment.
RFID is going to be everywhere. Do not doubt it for one second. But because so many people freaked out so fast over this, They realize that it's a no-go...for the moment. We will probably enter a "cooling off" period, as the people behind the RFID wait for angry consumers to forget about this. Then, guess what? After some period of time...
It's back.
When it comes back, it will be back with a vengeance, and it will probably be legislated into existence for some bogus reason or another. When corporations realize they have hit an obstacle with public opinion, they simply pay the whores on Capital Hill and the various federal agencies, and that's it. The next thing you know, it's, "RFID is for the children," or, "RFID protects you from the terrorists."Today's top story on wired.com is Claim: RFID Will Stop Terrorists. I knew it. It sucks when you're right about predicting The End. Oh well, someone has to do it, I guess: Facing increasing resistance and concerns about privacy, the United States' largest food companies and retailers will try to win consumer approval for radio identification devices by portraying the technology as an essential tool for keeping the nation's food supply safe from terrorists. ... To win the hearts and minds of consumers, retailers and food and drug companies may portray the technology as an antiterrorist tool. They say the technology can help them keep precise track of all goods and help in recall efforts should their products be contaminated or laced with poison during a terrorist attack.
posted by Kevin at 4:14 AM
Death Sentence for Dietary Supplements :.Each time I visit a health food store that has a large selection of quality supplements, I think to myself, "Take a good long look because this just won't be allowed to continue." Establishment medicine is about 90% overt fraud mixed with quackery. As information about ways to prevent and cure chronic disease with nutrition and supplementation becomes more widespread, the quacks will lobby for a crackdown on the stuff that actually works: The underlying purpose of S.722 is to move the burden of proof from the FDA (to show a supplement is not safe and must be removed from the marketplace) to the manufacturer (to show a supplement is safe and can continue to be available to consumers). However, its methodology hands the FDA a blank check for removing any supplement it chooses from the marketplace. Given the FDA's continuing hostile stance on supplements (as shown in its 400-page preface to newly proposed good-manufacturing-practice regulations), it is safe to predict that safety criteria would be set excessively high, and ephedra would be only the first of many supplements to be banned.
posted by Kevin at 2:59 AM
The Shocking Antics of Fannie Mae :.They say this thing is properly hedged. Yeah, right. Fannie Mae's business model is nothing more than institutionalized check kiting. Eventually the swindle breaks down. When this thing finally unwinds, it's going to make Enron look like a bumfight over cigarette butts: If the change in interest rates is gradual, then Fannie Mae will lose less money from the change than it makes on the rate spread between mortgages and the debt it has issued. But if rates change quickly, Fannie Mae can lose billions of dollars almost overnight.
The models provided by the former employee offer a glimpse of the risk that Fannie Mae takes and the leverage it uses to increase its profit at times when interest rates are relatively stable. Fannie Mae has more than $50 in debt for each $1 in equity capital, according to its most recent annual report.
posted by Kevin at 2:02 AM
George W. Bush - U.S. President and Naval Aviator - 12" Action Figure :.BBI proudly introduces the latest issue in its Elite Force series of authentic military 12- inch figures, President George W. Bush in naval aviator flight uniform. Exacting in detail and fully equipped with authentic gear, this limited-edition action figure is a meticulous 1:6 scale recreation of the Commander-in-Chief's appearance during his historic Aircraft Carrier landing. On May 1, 2003, President Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in the Pacific Ocean, and officially declared the end to major combat in Iraq. While at the controls of an S-3B Viking aircraft from the "Blue Sea Wolves" of Sea Control Squadron Three Five (VS-35), designated "Navy 1," he overflew the carrier before handing it over to the pilot for landing. Attired in full naval aviator flight equipment, the President then took the salute on the deck of the carrier.
posted by Kevin at 1:41 AM
Unipolar Moment? Not So Fast :.Some analysts are calling the New World Order dead. What will replace it? The Next World Order, of course. In the Next World Order, the international system that will be shaped and managed by U.S. global hegemony. And now for the reality check: After 9/11, I thought the U.S. would aspire to empire, but it simply won't happen. In short, the U.S. isn't going to be able to rule the world. (It can't even rule Iraq.) Consider these realities: * The U.S. military is stretched very thin already. * Most of the world hates the U.S. * The U.S. will suffer a Soviet style bankruptcy if it proceeds on its present course. * Domestic and international economic policies are weakening the U.S. with each passing day. * The manufacturing sector has been eviscerated. * With increasing numbers of people, including top salary earners, out of work, less coin is available to fund the requisite foreign adventures required for empire. In other words, I think it's safe to forget about Pax Americana for the moment. In my opinion, the key phrase to remember is, "ordo ab chao," Latin meaning, "order out of chaos." As the U.S. declines, and chaos ensues, watch for voices to come out of everywhere blaming the profligate, unilateral foreign policy of the U.S. during the Bush years. Watch for a renewed call for a strengthening of international institutions, the United Nations, a global income tax to fund peace making and peace keeping operations, multinational armies, etc. This is the point at which the RFIDs will be in all currency and national I.D. cards will be required for just about everything. Ordo ab chao, my friend, order out of chaos: The big question is, can the world be run from one city? Does the U.S. Congress have the wit and the wisdom -- let alone the resources -- to run the globe? I, for one, do not believe it does. For all of its glory, indeed its past magnanimity, any attempt by America to take on the mantle of empire is to deny the very precepts of its founding.
posted by Kevin at 12:31 AM
8/7/2003
Editorial Integrity NoticeI shorted the QQQ (Nasdaq 100) two days ago. I have the brokerage system set to cover the position at 33, in case I'm wrong.
posted by Kevin at 3:06 AM
German Unemployment 10.4% :.Germany's seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate rose to 10.4% in July, up from 10.2% in June, the country's Federal Labour Office said.
posted by Kevin at 3:04 AM
9/11 Credit Card Transactions :.German computer experts are working round the clock to unlock the truth behind an unexplained surge in financial transactions made just before two hijacked planes crashed into New York's World Trade Center on September 11.
Were criminals responsible for the sharp rise in credit card transactions that moved through some computer systems at the WTC shortly before the planes hit the twin towers?
Or was it coincidence that unusually large sums of money, perhaps more than $100 million, were rushed through the computers as the disaster unfolded?
A world leader in retrieving data, German-based firm Convar is trying to answer those questions and help credit card companies, telecommunications firms and accountants in New York recover their records from computer hard drives that have been partially damaged by fire, water or fine dust.
Using a pioneering laser scanning technology to find data on damaged computer hard drives and main frames found in the rubble of the World Trade Center and other nearby collapsed buildings, Convar has recovered information from 32 computers that support assumptions of dirty doomsday dealings.
posted by Kevin at 2:10 AM
DARPA: Brain Machine Interfaces :.Even by Washington scandal standards, the "terrorism futures" scandal was strange and dramatic.
It started when two senators discovered an obscure military program designed to gauge the chances of various geopolitical developments, including terrorist attacks, by asking people to bet money on them. Within 48 hours -- or, more precisely, two news cycles -- the program was canceled and the man behind it, John Poindexter of Iran-contra fame, had tendered his resignation.
What most people don't know is that the Department of Defense is already funding a research program with far creepier implications.
The $24 million enterprise called Brain Machine Interfaces is developing technology that promises to directly read thoughts from a living brain -- and even instill thoughts as well.
posted by Kevin at 12:46 AM
Schwarzenegger Announces Bid for California Governor :.I don't know what to make of this. Frankly, I don't even have the energy to look into it: After dropping hints about his political ambitions, movie action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday that he will run for California governor in October's recall election.More: Bohemian Grove Candidate :.From what we've hear, the Republican hierarchy -- especially those close to former Gov. Pete Wilson -- would favor Schwarzenegger. At least that's the word that came out of the Bohemian Grove this past weekend, where a number of state and national GOPers, including presidential adviser Karl Rove, happened to have gathered at a club getaway.
posted by Kevin at 12:28 AM
8/6/2003
Gaze Upon It
posted by Kevin at 4:16 AM
How Robots Will Steal Your Job :.No high paying jobs, no low paying jobs. This is fantastic! The finish line in the race to the bottom isn't in India, China or Russia, but in robotics. I, personally, doubt we will make it long enough to see the really incredible/frightening developments in AI and robotics. That's ok, there's always Primate Programming Inc. for your most pressing software development needs! (All that's left to do is laugh.): Listening to Marshall Brain explain the future as he sees it, it's relatively easy to suspend disbelief and agree how plausible it is that over the next 40 years most of our jobs will be displaced by robots.
After all, it only takes a typical round of errands to reveal how far we've come already. From automated gas pumps to bank ATMs to self-service checkout lanes at major retailers, service jobs already are being replaced by machines on a scale of obvious magnitude.
Fast-forward today's innovations another few decades, and it doesn't require a great leap of faith to envision how advances in image processing, microprocessor speed and human-motion simulation could lead to the automation of most current low-paying jobs.
posted by Kevin at 2:59 AM
Uncle Sam Shocks Some Veterans with Recall to Duty :.Read the fine print before you sign up for cannon fodder duty: Hinman is an Individual Ready Reservist, one of about 300,000 former service members available for active duty in a time of crisis, according to the Pentagon. Each year, as thousands of military personnel finish their terms of active duty, they are placed on IRR status for a period that varies according to agreements they signed when they joined the service.
In some cases, a person on IRR status can be called up as many as 10 years after departure from the armed forces, the Pentagon says.
posted by Kevin at 2:56 AM
SCO Wants to Collect Up To $1399 For Each Machine Running Linux :.My advice to the PHBs at Santa Cruz Operation: Lay off the crack pipe: Linux users face a serious question. Is $699 too much to pay for a good bath?
The $699 scrubbing fee is exactly how much SCO wants for one CPU's worth of a Linux license, and that's just for the time being. Come October 15, the single CPU fee jumps to a whopping $1,399.
posted by Kevin at 2:53 AM
8/5/2003
Job Cut Announcements Up 43% :.U.S. job-cut announcements jumped in July to their highest level in three months, an outplacement firm said Tuesday, another sign that the longest job-market slump since World War II continues.
U.S. employers announced 85,117 job cuts in July, a 43-percent jump from 59,715 in June, according to Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which publishes monthly tallies of job-cut announcements.
posted by Kevin at 7:28 AM
Market Storm May Threaten Stability :."Bad things tend to happen when interest rates rise as much as they have and as quickly as they have," said Wachovia chief economist John Silvia.
The jump in interest rates is choking off the refinancing boom that has been one of the main supports of an anemic recovery.
posted by Kevin at 6:54 AM
Morgan Stanley: Warning Shot :.It�s a nightmare scenario, even for me. Sharply rising real long-term interest rates are the last thing an economy on the brink of deflation needs. Such an outcome would depress an already weakened state of aggregate demand, conjuring up notions of the dreaded deflationary spiral. The extraordinary correction in the bond market over the past seven weeks tells us not to dismiss such a possibility out of hand.
On the surface, it�s hard to conceive of a more bizarre outcome -- rising long-term interest rates in a deflation-prone economy. The experience of Japan suggests it can�t happen. After all, nominal yields on 10-year Japanese Government Bonds fell from 3.7% in early 1995 to a mere 0.4% in early June 2003. But there�s an enormous difference in the internal financing capacities of America and Japan. Awash in saving, Japan has long had the world�s largest current account surplus. As a result, it funds its economy largely on terms set by domestic investors. The United States, by contrast, is a saving-short economy running a chronic and ever-widening current account deficit. As such, it is dependent on the good graces of foreign investors to fund its economy -- on terms set largely in international capital markets. So far, those terms have been favorable. There�s no guarantee that will continue to be the case.
Therein lies the potential of rising long-term interest rates for an economy on the brink of deflation. There comes a point in every current account deterioration when enough is enough -- when foreign investors demand a premium to keep funding a saving-short economy.
posted by Kevin at 6:49 AM
Interest-Rate Moves Warn the Economy May Be Broken :.My hands are trembling a bit as I post this one. Just because it isn't a surprise doesn't mean it's any less frightening: THE U.S. economy may be broken.
That's different from saying that the economy is - or isn't - improving. It is like saying it can't improve. And the idea that the nation's business cycle is "broken" is a lot more troubling than what you are hearing economists and politicians arguing about these days.
First, let me say that I hope I'm wrong about this. But the way in which interest rates have behaved over the past month or so should be causing serious concern that the country has gotten itself into a fix that can't be remedied in any conventional way.
Since the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates in early June, the actual rates that people and businesses have to pay to borrow money have soared like a rocket. The interest rate on 30-year government bonds - which are no longer issued by Washington but still trade - has risen from around 4.20 percent to about 5.50 percent.
That has caused 30-year mortgages, for instance, to rise from an average in the very low 5 percent area to over 6 percent.
Why has this happened? That's a good question, and one for which nobody has an answer.
posted by Kevin at 6:42 AM
Reuters to Shift Core Unit to India :.News and financial information provider Reuters is planning to move much of the core of its operation to India in an attempt to save money.
The move, unveiled on 28 July in a simultaneous presentation to 1,100 staff worldwide will see new products being developed at either Hyderabad or Bangalore.
posted by Kevin at 6:32 AM
8/4/2003
Go Long the Bush Impeachment Futures :.After the DARPA cockup over the Terrorism Futures Market, some nerds are turning the tables on the imbeciles running the U.S. government: Though there was an outcry over the Pentagon's terrorism futures market, a similar online exchange is in the works to predict what the U.S. government is up to.
The American Action Market will offer various Washington "futures" that can be bet upon and traded. Examples include:
�Which country will the White House threaten next?
�Who will be the next foreign leader to move off the CIA payroll and onto the White House's "most wanted" list?
�Which corporation with close ties to the White House will be the next cloaked in scandal?
The AAM will begin registering traders in September and plans to open for business Oct. 1 -- the same launch date proposed for the Pentagon's terrorism market, until it was shelved.
posted by Kevin at 5:02 AM
The Road Not Taken: Thoughts While Passing the Point of No Return :.This is an excellent essay. I don't, however, share Kaminski's relative glee about the 60's and 70's. When JFK's head exploded in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, that was the last nail in the coffin of our republic. When Americans bought the official explanation of that event... well, that was the point of no return. From, The Road Not Taken: Thoughts While Passing the Point of No Return: America has been twisted from an example of hope for the world into an armed robber intent on fleecing everyone it meets. Just recently, America has changed the world from a place of hope to a place of fear.
We pass by these significant events as the newsreel of our memories unfolds before us. We show appropriate horror at the mangled bodies of people we never knew, then go on about our business " to the mall for those birthday presents meant for people we hardly know, to work on time to meet the daily shift quota, or to our homes to retreat from the daily assault of debilitating images that assail us by using whatever substance pleases us at the moment. So many events we try to pass by and forget. Some can't, but most do.
posted by Kevin at 2:46 AM
The Most Sweeping Gun Ban Ever Introduced in Congress :.H.R. 2038, introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), does not just "reenact" or "reauthorize" the 1994 Clinton ban, the so-called "assault weapon" law. It bans millions more guns. And it begins backdoor registration of guns. All told, it's a giant step closer to the goal stated by Clinton gun ban sponsor Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), on CBS 60 Minutes "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in, I would have done it." There is no 10-year sunset provision in the bill. H.R. 2038 permanently bans every gun that is currenoducbanned and, with numerous, overlapping provisions...
posted by Kevin at 2:35 AM
U.S. Homelessness and Poverty Rates Skyrocket :.The situation is devolving very fast: As I watch far away images of body bags being filled, I see much closer images of bodies. I went by a local park the other day and it looked like a concentration camp crossed with a mass murder scene.
There were people in rags and covered with filth lying scattered all over the place. At least twenty people were on crutches, had parts bandaged, or with open wounds not even covered. They were all hungry and a large majority were sick.
All around this city I live in, and nation-wide, the level of homelessness and poverty is growing alarmingly. From the last counts and estimates nation-wide, there has been at least a 35-45% increase in homelessness and poverty. The increases have come over the last two years with the biggest increases being in 2002 and especially in the first six months of 2003.
Add to that the barely subsisting or borderline homeless/poor, and we start to see a very alarming trend that shows no sign of going away. Over 30% of Americans are on the borderline of poverty. A lot just do not quite make the cut to receive food stamps or some kind of benefits and live on a razor edge of desperation and starvation.
posted by Kevin at 2:27 AM
Congressman Ron Paul Risking His Life: Introduces Honest Money Act :.Ron Paul is incredibly brave! If you live in his district (isn't this Alex Jones territory?) please write Congressman Paul and let him know that you appreciate his effort: Congressman Ron Paul, a leading advocate of sound money policies and an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve, recently introduced legislation to repeal legal tender laws. The Honest Money Act, HR 2779, would eliminate forced tender laws that compel Americans to accept fiat irredeemable paper-ticket or electronic money as their unit of account.
Absent government intervention through legal tender laws, individuals acting through the market decide what they will use as money. Historically, the free market has chosen some combination of gold and silver whenever they were available. As Dr. Edwin Vieira, the nation�s top expert on constitutional money, stated: �A free market functions most efficiently and most fairly when the market determines the quality and the quantity of money that�s being used.�
When government creates fiat money out of thin air, the purchasing power of existing dollars falls. Fiat money erodes the value of savings, and is especially harmful to those living on fixed incomes. Paul believes centralized planning in monetary affairs is as harmful as centralized planning in economic affairs.
�Fiat money is widely accepted only because of legal tender laws,� Paul stated. �Throughout the 20th century, the legal tender power enabled politicians to fool the American public into believing the dollar no longer meant a weight of gold or silver. Instead, the government told the people that the dollar now meant a piece of government-issued paper backed up by nothing except the promises of the government to maintain a stable value of currency. Of course, history shows that the word of the government (to protect the value of the dollar) is literally not worth the paper it is printed on.�
posted by Kevin at 2:19 AM
Major Media Memos on How to Bullshit the Public :.This might be one for the it-may-not-be-real-but-it's-exactly-how-things-are file. Of course, they may be real. It doesn't matter anymore, since nobody even cares: If they are authentic, these memos represent the most important revelation of government deception since the Pentagon Papers, and suggest the "news" is little more than mass psychological control. There are shocking references to cover-ups of government domestic terrorism, SARS, Mad Cow, and events in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Iran and much more.
In mid-March TBR Webmaster Walter Storch received an email from a man who claimed to be a mid-level executive at a major U.S. TV network. He said he had "serious doubts" about the strict control of the media by the government.
He sent Storch a disc containing 1500 pages of memos dating back to 2001. All were on corporate stationery signed by the sender and recipients in the News Division.
posted by Kevin at 2:09 AM
Oblivion: Massachusetts School Superintendent Fails Must-Pass English Test :.This city's superintendent of schools, who recently put two dozen teachers on unpaid leave for failing a basic English proficiency test, has himself flunked a required literacy test three times.
Wilfredo T. Laboy called his failing scores "frustrating" and "emotional." He blamed his performance on a lack of preparation and concentration, as well as the fact that that Spanish is his first language.
"It bothers me because I'm trying to understand the congruence of what I do here every day and this stupid test," Laboy told The Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence in a story published Sunday.
"What brought me down was the rules of grammar and punctuation," Laboy said. "English being a second language for me, I didn't do well in writing. If you're not an English teacher, you don't look at the rules on a regular basis."
posted by Kevin at 12:29 AM
8/3/2003
U.S. Fascism Discussed in Mainstream Newspaper :.But then it was too late: THESE ARE troubling times for Americans who cherish their freedom.
A few days ago, a public official called me over to his car to discuss his displeasure with the war in Iraq and the way the Bush administration is handling the nation's economy. This well-respected man would talk only from his vehicle, saying he was fearful of criticizing the president or his policies in public.
Before our conversation ended, the man told me of other public officials who also are fearful of speaking out. "You have to be careful what you say in public these days," he added.
I instinctively looked around to see if anyone was hiding in the gathering twilight. For a moment, I felt like I was in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. Never did I think I would live to see the day when an honest man was afraid to speak his mind on political issues in America.
These days, it happens all the time. For the first time in my life, I see concerned Americans who are afraid to criticize Washington.
posted by Kevin at 5:42 PM
Afghanistan Opium Production Up 1400% :.The war to liberate the poppies! BRITAIN has abandoned plans to wipe out Afghanistan's poppy fields despite fears this year's opium harvest will be the biggest ever.
Customs and police are bracing themselves for the arrival in the next few months of a glut of cheap heroin from the war-ravaged country, source of 90 per cent of the Class A drug on our streets.
Two months after the September 11 atrocities which led to the attack on Afghanistan and the fall of its cruel Taliban regime, Tony Blair pledged Britain would take the lead role in wiping out the lethal Afghan opium trade. He said: "In helping with the reconstruction of Afghanistan we shall make clear we want it to develop farming of proper agricultural produce, not produce for the drugs trade.''
The reality is a scandal. While the US spends an estimated �600million a month on military operations in Afghanistan, Britain has pledged just �70million over three years to build up an anti-drugs force.
posted by Kevin at 4:23 AM
Earth Liberation Front Destroys Massive Apartment Development :.The ELF is a leaderless resistance movement. While individual cells may form, there is no organization. Because of this, ELF cannot be infiltrated and compromised by government operatives. Inter cell communication and coordination is discouraged. The leaderless resistance model is chosen by the most desperate insurgents who face opponents (state governments) with incalculably greater power, cohesion and resources: A suspicious fire that tore through a construction site early Friday, destroying the wood skeleton of a five-story apartment complex, may have been set by an underground group that claims to combat urban sprawl, authorities said.
San Diego officials called in the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to assist in the investigation after they discovered a banner nearby reading, "If you build it, we will burn it," with the initials "ELF."
The initials are presumed to stand for Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group that has taken responsibility for torching development projects, sport utility vehicles, ski lifts and genetic engineering labs across the nation.
posted by Kevin at 4:06 AM
|
:. 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.
|
