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3/30/2006

Asian Development Bank: Prepare for Dollar Collapse :.

Asian countries need to prepare for a possible sharp fall in the dollar and should allow their currencies to appreciate collectively if that happens, a senior Asian Development Bank official said Tuesday.

"Any shock hitting the U.S. economy or the global market may change investors' perceptions, given the existing global current account imbalance," Masahiro Kawai, the bank's head of regional economic integration, said at a news conference.

"Our suggestion to Asian countries is, don't take this continuous financing of the U.S. current account deficit as given. If something happens, then East Asian economies have to be prepared."



U.S. to Test 700-Tonne Explosive :.

HA. And how would the U.S. military deliver a weapon of that size to the target?

* You'll be scratching your chin for a long time trying to answer that question. *

.mil probably has a new .7 kiloton tactical nuclear weapon, and they want to see if the thing is suitable for whatever nonsense they're planning in Iran. But I suppose that lighting off nukes for testing purposes makes for bad PR. So, just light off 700 tons of TNT instead:

The US military plans to detonate a 700 tonne explosive charge in a test called "Divine Strake" that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said.

"I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons," said James Tegnelia, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Tegnelia said the test was part of a US effort to develop weapons capable of destroying deeply buried bunkers housing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

"We have several very large penetrators we're developing," he told defense reporters.

"We also have -- are you ready for this - a 700-tonne explosively formed charge that we're going to be putting in a tunnel in Nevada," he said.

"And that represents to us the largest single explosive that we could imagine doing conventionally to solve that problem," he said.


The aim is to measure the effect of the blast on hard granite structures, he said.



Gold Hits 25-Year High :.

My hat is off to those of you who were buying during the last draw down. Well done:

Records tumbled in precious metals markets on Thursday as gold raced to a new 25-year peak, platinum hit a record high and silver spiked to its highest in more than 22 years.


3/29/2006

Whores of War: U.S. Firm Offers 'Private Armies' :.

A leading U.S. security firm has offered to provide forces for any counter-insurgency mission around the world.

J. Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA told the Special Operations Forces Exhibition (Sofex-2006), that his company could supply private soldiers to any country. Black, a former U.S. State Department counter-terrorism coordinator, said Blackwater has been marketing the concept of private armies for low-intensity conflicts.



New Anti-Terror Training Manual: ''Property Rights Activists'' Are Terrorists :.

Terrorists also use SCUBA gear, maps, cameras, and... and...



NZ: Our Future Garden

This is from an email I sent to a friend back in the U.S. The picture pretty much sums it up:


I've included an action shot of me trying to clear about a half acre of thick, matted kikuyu. We're going to put down black poly tarps over this mess, once I get it knocked down. Then, one section at a time, we'll pull the tarp back and create chook runs. The goal is to make a massive compost heap out of it.


3/27/2006

Professor Charged with Swindling Students :.

Ahh, my alma mater. Nothing but the best at that place:

A business professor at the University of Southern California was arrested on Friday by the FBI on charges of swindling students and others in a real estate fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Barry Landreth, who had taught real estate finance and development at the university, stole at least $1.5 million in the first 10 months of 2005, telling students and other investors he would buy land in Chicago and Las Vegas and then sell it for large profits, an FBI affidavit said.

Instead, he transferred all the money into his personal account without buying the land, the FBI said.

Landreth was arrested at his home, where he kept a stable of show horses.

The university said in a statement Landreth had worked part-time at the school. Most recently, he taught a course in the Marshall School of Business and was currently on administrative leave.



Spring Break at Wal-Mart :.

Strangely interesting story:

Skyler Bartels kept looking over his shoulder. It's a habit he picked up living at the Windsor Heights Wal-Mart for three days.

Really living there. Eating, sleeping, checking out the DVDs, never leaving. The plan was to spend his entire spring break there. Under the radar.

Some kids go to Cancun. Skyler Bartels, a Drake University sophomore from Harvard, Neb., went to the garden and patio department.


3/26/2006

Stop Animal ID :.

Attention Organic And Local Food Consumers, Livestock And Horse Owners:

The USDA plans to make every owner of even one horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep, chicken, or pigeon register in a government database and subject their property and animals to constant federal and state government surveillance, and the animal owner will have to PAY for the privilege of owning animals!

To learn more about the ramifications of this Government decree and how it will affect everyone, not just farmers and animal owners, navigate our site and visit our forum.


Research Credit: TR


3/25/2006

Cyclone Wati Hitting Us in the Ten Ring :.

A Biblical style deluge has been pouring out of the sky for about the last 24 hours. The remnants of cyclone Wati are bearing down on us. The article mentions, "the eastern hills of Northland." Well, that's pretty much us.

The good news is that our property is a decent candidate for hydro power. Bex and I were just outside in our gumboots, checking out the realm. The stream on our property has a great flow. There are a couple of small waterfalls as well. It's amazing!

The bad news is that the power has been knocked out by the storm. My laptop is running on batteries. Obviously, the phone still works.

Now, if only I'd fired up that hydro generator...

Northland in for battering as Cyclone Wati approaches

26.03.06 9.00am

People living in Northland are being warned to batten down the hatches today.

Cyclone Wati is continuing to creep towards the top of the North Island.

Strong winds reaching gale force in exposed areas are forecast, along with heavy rain. Thunderstorms are expected north of Whangarei.

CNN forecaster Martin Jeanes says the centre of the storm is now over the Coral Sea.

MetService says Cyclone Wati is dragging down a lot of moist tropical air.

Up to 120mm of rain is expected in the eastern hills of Northland by midnight.

- NEWSTALK ZB


3/21/2006

Solar Pyramids Being Built in India :.

Coal. Natural gas. Nuclear fission.

How about: Heat rises?

Clean energy solutions are simple to the point of being unthinkable... And unstoppable once people wake up:

A Singapore-based company, MSC Power Corp, is building its first "solar pyramid" in India. The solar pyramid works by drawing in air, heating it with solar energy and moving it through turbines to generate electricity. The company aims to be listed this year on NASDAQ in an initial public offering that it says could be worth more than $5 billion.

The small scale of the power generation - up to 36 MW with the current design means it is more suitable for rural areas than for powering cities.

A 10 MW pyramid plant would be about 45 metres high and take up about 2,500 square metres of space, including an associated desalination plant.

The firm, MSC Power Corp, backed by private investors from the Middle East and Asia, will finish constructing a small $10 million five megawatt (MW) power station by June in Pune near Mumbai that will use solar energy to power wind turbines.



Peak Oil? How About Anything Into Oil? :.

Turkey guts, junked car parts, and even raw sewage go in one end of this plant, and black gold comes out the other end.

-Brad Lemley, DISCOVER, Vol. 27 No. 04, April 2006
The Peak Oil collapse crowd refuses to entertain the possibility that They have a trump card up their collective sleeve. This, of course, is the stuff of conspiracy theorists, etc.

The hardcore Peaknics will shoot down thermal depolymerization with the argument that there isn't enough energy to pull off the process on the scale required.

Fine and maybe so.

Now, did you ever hear the one about Boeing's Bird of Prey?

Gather 'round chillen. This is from, Top secret stealth jet revealed, 21 October 2002, NewScientist.com news service, David Windle:
A formerly top secret, bat-winged stealth jet has taken the aviation world by surprise, after a low key unveiling in St Louis, Missouri.

It may look like it flew straight off the screen of a sci-fi movie, but the Bird of Prey is no flight of fancy - it could translate into serious business for its makers, aerospace giant Boeing.

"Here we have an example of a classic 'black' programme: an aircraft which has been built and flight tested for a number of years - and no one outside the programme knew about it," says Nick Cook, aerospace consultant to Janes Defence Weekly. Other highly classified aircraft that have ultimately been revealed included the U-2 and Blackbird spy planes and the B-2 stealth bomber.

The Bird of Prey cost $67 million and is the product of Boeing's advanced research and development division, the Phantom Works. It first flew in 1996 and is said to have demonstrated a range of stealth and production technologies.
Look at that thing. Look at it! How many people had to be involved in the creation of something like that? It's got to be thousands, and most of the individual engineers probably had no idea what the final product actually was due to compartmentalization.

If the American Corporate State can design, build and ultimately fly a stealth aircraft in total secrecy, what else are They capable of doing in total secrecy? What other technologies have been sitting on shelves in various underground crypts for the last twenty or thirty years?

What's more important than energy?

Anyone who believes that the American Corporate State hasn't done exotic energy research in total secrecy is, in my opinion, nuts.

I'm not saying that a collapse due to energy isn't going to occur, all I'm saying is that if it does, it's by design. They probably found the answer---or, more likely, multiple answers---decades ago. But that's just a conspiracy theory.... Like the silly story of a stealth jet; funded, built and flown in total secrecy.

Related: Successful CFR replication by L. Kowalski, R. Slaughter and P. Clauzon

Research Credit: TR



General Motors in Crisis Talks to Cut 35,000 Jobs :.

General Motors is trying to stave off the possibility of collapse by thrashing out a last-minute job reduction plan with its former subsidiary and now major parts supplier, Delphi, and the powerful United Auto Workers union.

The plan on the table is believed to involve offering up to 35,000 employees in both companies cash incentives of up to $35,000 (GBP20,000) to take early retirement.


Related: Future of the Union



U.S. War Spending to Rise 44% to $9.8 Billion Per Month :.

U.S. military spending in Iraq and Afghanistan will average 44 percent more in the current fiscal year than in fiscal 2005, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said.

Spending will rise to $9.8 billion a month from the $6.8 billion a month the Pentagon said it spent last year, the research service said.



Iraqi Police Claim U.S. Troops Executed Family :.

More progress in Iraq:

Iraqi police have accused American soldiers of executing 11 Iraqi civilians, including four children and a six-month-old baby, in a raid on Wednesday near the city of Balad, it was reported yesterday.

The allegations are contained in an Iraqi police report on the killings, obtained and published by the Knight Ridder news agency. The report emerged at a time when a US navy criminal investigation is under way into a previous incident, in November, in which marines are accused of killing 15 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in reprisal for a bomb attack on a US patrol.

Last week's incident in the village of Abu Sifa, near Balad, stand out because of the seriousness of the accusations and the fact that they appear on an official police report signed by Iraqi officers.

After listing other incidents in the area, the report for March 15 states: "American forces used helicopters to drop troops on the house of Faiz Harat Khalaf situated in the Abu Sifa village of the Ishaqi district. The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people, including five children, four women and two men, then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals." Among victims the report lists two five-year-old children, two three-year-olds and a six-month-old baby.


3/20/2006

Several Readers Sent Contributions

Since I moved to New Zealand, the quality and frequency of posts on Cryptogon has suffered. I apologize for that.

Becky and I got married, again! :) This time with about 65 of Becky's friends and family from all over New Zealand.

We've been going on hikes and adventures around the Far North, as well as trying to get things sorted out in our new house.

Becky planted a small garden in the "kitchen garden" space on the side of our house. That's the only arable soil we have at the moment.


I need to clear about half an acre of matted kikuyu grass that has fully taken over the area we need to transform into our real garden.

Bex and I hung out with our neighbors, Jackie and Baz today. (They're very cool people. And living off grid!) I happened to mention that we're shopping for a brushcutter (imagine a gas powered weed-whacker, except with a blade instead of a nylon string) to deal with the initial phase of the kikuyu situation.

We had been considering a Stihl, but people who know from experience suggested the Echo brand. Would you believe that Jackie owned an Echo brushcutter? She and Baz were kind enough to fire it up and let me go a few rounds with some of their kikuyu. That thing really did the trick!

So, all of these generous contributions are going to go straight into the purchase of a brushcutter. (The electric fence system for the livestock also needs to be repaired, but that's another story.)

Thank you all very much! Your U.S. dollars go a long way in New Zealand!

MW $20
MO $100 !!!
KH $30
MJ $20
JG $30
RB $20
SI $10

P.S. I have lots of interesting stories about New Zealand already---and pictures! You can't imagine a slower, more relaxed place than Northland NZ, but somehow, I'm running out of time to do the things I want to do with Cryptogon and the new farm website. As winter sets in here, I'll probably get more time in front of the computer. You know, like when the road washes away. HAHA!


3/16/2006

Hot Pepper Kills Prostate Cancer Cells in Study :.

Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, U.S. and Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.

Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.

Prostate cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice, they reported in the journal Cancer Research.

"Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture," said Dr. Soren Lehmann of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine.

"It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models."

While it is far easier to cure cancer in mice infected with human tumors than it is in human beings, the findings suggest a possible future treatment. They also may offer a good excuse for men who like spicy food to eat more of it.



Parexel Drug Trial Horror :.

Parexel should just get Donald Rumsfeld in on the act. He managed to get aspartame, a multipotential carcinogen, approved for use in everything from soup to nuts:

The Sun got hold of one of the more fortunate participants in the trial, who seems to have been given a placebo. Raste Khan said: "Some screamed out that their heads felt like they were going to explode."

Late this afternoon, authorities at Northwick Park Hospital in London said the condition of four of the men is showing signs of improvement. A statement said: "The other two men remain critical and it could be a while until they show significant change."

Student David O'Donnell, 19, was due to take part in the next stage of testing of the drug in April at a higher dose. A friend of his took part in the trial and is seriously ill. O'Donnel told the BBC: "I am very worried about him indeed, but I had a message from my friends to say they have managed to get in contact with him."

The distressed girlfriend of one of the men said yesterday that he looked like "the Elephant Man".



Senate Votes to Raise Debt Limit to $9 Trillion :.

* yawn *

The Senate voted Thursday to allow the national debt to swell to nearly $9 trillion, preventing a first-ever default on U.S. Treasury notes.

The bill passed by a 52-48 vote. The increase to $9 trillion represents about $30,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States. The bill now goes to President Bush for his signature.



NYSE, SEC Fine Bear Stearns $250 Million :.

Bear Stearns Cos. has been fined $250 million by the New York Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraudulent market timing and late trading of mutual funds, regulators said Thursday.

The announcement, which finalizes an agreement reached in December, came just as Bear Stearns reported record first-quarter earnings, the third Wall Street brokerage to do so this week, as profits rose 36.6 percent on strong equity trading and a jump in investment banking fees.

According to NYSE Regulation, the exchange's regulatory arm, Bear Stearns engaged in a pattern of deceptive market timing and late trading of fund shares from 1999 through 2003. The trades were designed to take advantage of the time between the markets' closing and the new share values posted by mutual fund companies.


3/14/2006

UK GAS CRISIS: WHOLESALE PRICES RISE MORE THAN 4X :.

I have to apologize for the lack of posts and responses to emails. I haven't had much time to spend at the computer:

The price of gas hit 255p a therm in early trading yesterday - more than four times last Friday's level. The Grid issued an unprecedented warning on Monday that demand was outstripping supply.

Jeremy Nicholson, of the Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), which represents steel, glass and chemical manufacturers, said firms were having to cut production because of soaring costs. "This is as close as the UK has got to a national gas emergency, where supplies would effectively be rationed to industry to keep supplies maintained to households," he said.


More:

The National Grid, responsible for running Britain's gas and electricity pipes and wires, yesterday issued an unprecedented warning that the country was in danger of not having enough gas to meet demand.

It issued its first-ever "gas balancing alert" to the market, telling traders that gas demand might have to be reduced, initially for businesses. The move sent wholesale prices spiralling up fourfold.

The British gas supply market has been caught out by unexpectedly cold weather and a technical problem: the country's only significant gas storage facility on the Rough offshore field in the North Sea is out of action due to a fire. Centrica, which operates Rough and runs the British Gas residential supply firm, said it could not be sure when it would get the emergency supply facility back into action.


Research Credit: PW


3/12/2006

Fascism Fully Unfurled in the U.S. :.

Expose the crimes of the Bush regime, go to jail:

The draft would add to the criminal penalties for anyone who "intentionally discloses information identifying or describing" the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program or any other eavesdropping program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law.

Under the boosted penalties, those found guilty could face fines of up to $1 million, 15 years in jail or both.

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the measure is broader than any existing laws. She said, for example, the language does not specify that the information has to be harmful to national security or classified.

"The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact," said Martin, a civil liberties advocate.



Internet Blows CIA Cover :.

Of course, "the terrorists" don't know how to use the Internet. Right? I mean, if they did, they could easily target these assets for termination. Why haven't "the terrorists" done this? Hmm.

When the Tribune searched a commercial online data service, the result was a virtual directory of more than 2,600 CIA employees, 50 internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret CIA facilities around the United States.

Only recently has the CIA recognized that in the Internet age its traditional system of providing cover for clandestine employees working overseas is fraught with holes, a discovery that is said to have "horrified" CIA Director Porter Goss.

"Cover is a complex issue that is more complex in the Internet age," said the CIA's chief spokeswoman, Jennifer Dyck. "There are things that worked previously that no longer work. Director Goss is committed to modernizing the way the agency does cover in order to protect our officers who are doing dangerous work."

Dyck declined to detail the remedies "since we don't want the bad guys to know what we're fixing."

Several "front companies" set up to provide cover for CIA operatives and the agency's small fleet of aircraft recently began disappearing from the Internet, following the Tribune's disclosures that some of the planes were used to transport suspected terrorists to countries where they claimed to have been tortured.


3/8/2006

South Africa: Solar Research Eclipses Rest of the World :.

Mostly hype, but worth watching:

In a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun.

...

A team of scientists led by University of Johannesburg (formerly Rand Afrikaans University) scientist Professor Vivian Alberts achieved the breakthrough after 10 years of research. The South African technology has now been patented across the world.

One of the world leaders in solar energy, German company IFE Solar Systems, has invested more than R500-million in the South African invention and is set to manufacture 500 000 of the panels before the end of the year at a new plant in Germany.

Production will start next month and the factory will run 24 hours a day, producing more than 1 000 panels a day to meet expected demand.

Another large German solar company is negotiating with the South African inventors for rights to the technology, while a South African consortium of businesses are keen to build local factories.

The new, highly efficient and cheap alloy solar panel is much more efficient than the costly old silicone solar panels.

International experts have admitted that nothing else comes close to the effectiveness of the South African invention.

The South African solar panels consist of a thin layer of a unique metal alloy that converts light into energy. The photo-responsive alloy can operate on virtually all flexible surfaces, which means it could in future find a host of other applications.

Alberts said the new panels are approximately five microns thick (a human hair is 20 microns thick) while the older silicon panels are 350 microns thick. the cost of the South African technology is a fraction of the less effective silicone solar panels.



Diet Change: Improved Behavior, Healthier, More Focused Students :.

No kidding:

Before the Appleton Wisconsin high school replaced their cafeteria's processed foods with wholesome, nutritious food, the school was described as out-of-control. There were weapons violations, student disruptions, and a cop on duty full-time. After the change in school meals, the students were calm, focused, and orderly. There were no more weapons violations, and no suicides, expulsions, dropouts, or drug violations. The new diet and improved behavior has lasted for seven years, and now other schools are changing their meal programs with similar results.


3/7/2006

U.S. Treasury Department Moves to Avoid Debt Limit :.

This type of rhetoric happens every time the U.S. approaches the legal limits of its borrowing capacity. Then, with little fanfare, and at the last minute, * poof * the U.S. can borrow itself further into oblivion.

Hmm. Interesting date, March 20... Hmm:

Treasury Secretary John Snow notified Congress on Monday that the administration has now taken "all prudent and legal actions," including tapping certain government retirement funds, to keep from hitting the $8.2 trillion national debt limit.

In a letter to Congress, Snow urged lawmakers to pass a new debt ceiling immediately to avoid the nation's first-ever default on its obligations.

"I know that you share the president's and my commitment to maintaining the full faith and credit of the U.S. government," Snow said in his letter to leaders in the House and Senate.

Treasury officials, briefing congressional aides last week, said that the government will run out of maneuvering room to keep from exceeding the current limit sometime during the week of March 20.

Snow in his letter notified lawmakers that Treasury would begin tapping the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, which Treasury officials said would provide a "few billion" dollars in extra borrowing ability.

Treasury officials also announced that on Friday they had used the $15 billion in the Exchange Stabilization Fund, a reserve that the Treasury secretary has that is normally used to smooth out volatile movements in the value of the dollar in currency markets.



NZ: Morning Light Outside Our Window

I'm going to fire up a different site for our farm-related stuff, but I couldn't resist sharing this image:


3/6/2006

NJ Bill Would Prohibit Anonymous Posts on Forums :.

The New Jersey legislature is considering a bill that would require operators of public forums to collect users' legal names and addresses, and effectively disallow anonymous speech on online forums.



Financial Responsibility Can Lead to Terrorism :.

Paying off a credit card bill becomes a matter for the Department of Homeland Security:

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.


3/3/2006

NZ: Sorting Out Some Basics

Just a couple of words to let you guys know that I'm doing fine...

Becky and I have been busy with getting some essentials together. We don't have a refrigerator yet, so we're keeping perishables in an ice chest. HA

Driving on the left side of the road is pretty easy for me. What's not easy is keeping my eyes on the road. The natural beauty of this area is beyond description. (There's going to be a website dedicated to our farmlet operations. Lots of pictures, I promise.)

Bex took me to the Bush Fairy Dairy yesterday. We bought lots of organic dry goods; millet, lentils, flour, etc. We also visited the Kaitaia farmers market. We bumped into two of our new neighbors, Terry and his wife, Kristen, who happened to be selling some of their excess vegetables. We bought a bag of garlic from them. Terry and Kristen are the local organic farming experts. Nice neighbors to have, I'd say!

Becky's Mom (Mummy) and Dad have been very kind to me, and have welcomed me into the family. They have been very supportive.

I hope to get dialup access activated soon so I'll be able to do regular updates again.

Thanks to all of you who have sent emails and contributions over the last couple of days. I'm looking forward to being able to write back to all of you.


3/1/2006

I'm In New Zealand

I made it here fine. I've been out to our property with my wife and my mother and father in law.

This area is far more impressive than even I thought it would be. I'll update when I can.




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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.