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1/10/2003



Taking the Message to the Streets Freeways :.

Honk if you have a clue.This is a great idea!

For the past two weekends peace activists have lined freeway overpasses in Washington State with an anti-war message. There have been people on at least 20 overpasses along a 95-mile stretch of interstate from Seattle to the Canadian border. Those involved think that this action is very effective and are suggesting we take it nation-wide over the next three Saturdays (Dec. 28, Jan. 4 and 11) from 11 AM to 1 PM. Activists in Oregon have already begun to plan their participation in the action.





Rise of the American Reich :.

Things are different after 9/11.If Attorney General John Ashcroft himself had sat down to write a legal opinion that supported President Bush's immense power to strip a U.S. citizen of his constitutional rights, he probably could not have penned one more powerful and sweeping than the 54-page ruling offered Wednesday by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

More: The Camps

The internment camps issue is being floated with increasing frequency. Take, for example, this passage from The American Empire (Get Used to It), New York Times Magazine, January 5, 2003:

Detaining two American citizens without charge or access to counsel in military brigs, maintaining illegal combatants on a foreign island in a legal limbo, keeping lawful aliens under permanent surveillance while deporting others after secret hearings: these are not the actions of a republic that lives by the rule of law but of an imperial power reluctant to trust its own liberties. Such actions may still be a long way short of Roosevelt's internment of the Japanese, but that may mean only that the worst -- following, say, another large attack on United States citizens that produces mass casualties -- is yet to come.

They are softening us up for the next hit, folks. They know it's going to happen because They are probably going to do it---just like They did 9/11. When the U.S./U.K. attack on Iraq radicalizes a billion Muslim people around the world, though, and paints a bull's eye on all of Western Civilization (including Japan), maybe the terrorism will be real at that point. Either way, we are about to move to the next phase of this show, and that will probably involve internment camps in the U.S.

Note this from the ABOUT section of this web site:

I think it would be wise to bear in mind that the events of 9/11 will probably pale in comparison to the diabolical plots that may be hatched in the near future. I say that because, even as bad as 9/11 was, it wasn't enough to polarize the world. Something else is going to happen that will require a bold move by the G8 states. I don't know what that event will be, but it will be transformational in nature, changing the way we think about freedom of speech and movement, money, surveillance, state sovereignty and many other factors.

MR sent in an excellent summary piece on the camps, Domestic Terrorism: General Ashcroft's "Enemy Citizens," Martial Law and Internment Camps:

Given General Ashcroft's zeal to create camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be "enemy combatants" (although FEMA's public claim is to handle millions of displaced persons in the event of a terrorist attack), it is not unreasonable to expect such camps will be employed to intern Americans. What would be Ashcroft's grounds for internment? Many people will go to the streets to challenge the brazen and continued aggrandizement of power in the hands of the Chief Executive and his officers if another alleged terrorist attack supplies them with more justification to identify and lock up enemy citizens.

In case you're not getting the point, here is some simple advice: If soldiers or cops tell you to get on trucks or trains, don't.





Sobering Documentary on American and British Warmongering :.

"Yes, I think we�ve gone off the rails. I think American policy has changed. Indeed it clearly has changed in this determination to achieve what they call regime change, and I think that the British government have effectively fallen into line and I think that�s a serious mistake."

Sir ANDREW GREEN
British Ambassador to Syria, 1991-94 and Saudi Arabia, 1996-2000

If you know anyone who actually supports the upcoming boondoggle/genocide in Iraq, have them watch this Panorama episode. The link to the Realvideo feed is here, for the moment.

Research Credit: DG


1/9/2003



Video: Smoak Family Terrorized by Police :.

This is follow-up coverage to the Smoak family nightmare. The Tennessee Highway Patrol terrorized this family and blew their dog away with a 12 gauge shotgun. Original Cryptogon coverage with commentary is here.

I am not posting this video to shock or sicken the readers of this site. I want you to send this video to everyone you know who thinks the warnings about fascism and the emerging police state are simply paranoid ramblings. They will get more of a lesson in politics than any amount of words could ever provide. Moving pictures are different than words. When you read, you have to consciously process the information and think about meanings and concepts. When you watch video or film, you just "get it" without having to think about it. As you watch this, your hair may stand on end, your pulse may quicken and you may feel a knot in your stomach. Those are normal reactions to terrorism.

WARNING: Video contains graphic and potentially disturbing images. Viewer discretion is advised.

Video provided by Tennessean.com.





Donations to Cryptogon and Boobs :.

To date, Cryptogon has received $70 in direct donations, plus several pints of beer purchased by reader DG at two different bars. Trying to wake people up by running a site like Cryptogon definitely doesn't motivate too many people to kick in a few bucks to the effort; even supposedly active and informed readers such as yourselves. Just remember, nothing is free, not even boobs:

Those readers who still have a bit of Xmas charity in their wallets might like to consider the heartbreaking appeal of college girl Michel, a lady very much in need of a new-year boost.

Michel, 24, has launched a website asking for contributions to transform her "itty-bitty boobies" from a modest 34A to a mouth-watering pair of "big tatas (o)(o) !!!"


Do you think this material is inappropriate for posting on this site? I don't. Not at all. Take a good long look. Apparently, this is where peoples' priorities are. This is where people put their money. Afterall, she has collected $470 as of 1/8/03, and she has only been at it since the end of November. I get between 80 and 180 hits per day. She's getting 1000 hits per hour. Fantastic.

Related: This person blew $20,000 on crap:

Maybe it was too many morning lattes that pushed me over the edge, maybe it was the Prada pumps that I bought on eBay.

Then she started a site and people contributed enough money to pay off her credit cards!!! So, just to make sure we're all on the same page:

- An imbecile fulfils her vapid whims and runs up a $20,000 tab (the one above is asking for fake boobs, I thought I'd ask, too).

- Random people on the Internet pay for her irresponsibility and childish behavior.

- Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm sitting here, cooking my retinas in front of this CRT, focusing on all this depressing nonsense. The page is read by all of .mil and most of .gov. Someone at Lucasfilm hits this thing regularly. Bank of America. Forbes. Boeing. Microsoft. TRW. Etc, etc. The result: two guys contributed a total of $70, another guy, a friend of mine, donated beer and my FBI file is probably three inches thick. I'd be crying if I wasn't laughing my ass off!

I keep telling myself it's worth it to keep doing this, but when I'm reminded about how handsomely stupidity is rewarded in this society, it makes a guy wonder if he's going about things the right way... I mean, should I start selling pornography on this site? Does anyone think that will help?

Let me put it this way: What would get you to donate? What would get you to give, say, one dollar per month? A buck a month!? I mean, it sounds ridiculous to be asking this from people who use something everyday, like, say, THIS WEBSITE! You should just do it because it's the right thing to do. Just like I should be maintaining this site because it's the right thing to do. The bad karma is on you lurkers, you quiet, frightened, dead weight, free-loading bastards! I'm trying to fire it up and most of you aren't contributing shit to the effort! To you guys who link to Cryptogon, mention it on newsgroups and message lists etc., thank you! To the rest of you who take continuously and give nothing back, get your ass down to WalMart and stick another American flag on your car. In other words: DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! You're not wanted here.





Cops Bust People for Public Drunkenness---Inside Bars :.

Fairfax County, Virginia: People who failed sobriety tests INSIDE BARS were arrested! No, I'm not kidding:

During the holiday period, undercover agents went to 20 bars in Reston and Herndon looking for examples of bartenders "overserving" customers. Police ultimately raided three bars and arrested nine patrons who failed sobriety tests. They were charged with public drunkenness and spent the night in jail.





For the Children: School to Use Eye Scanner for Lunch Fees :.

These kids will grow into adults who have been conditioned to their biometric shackles:

A new high school said Wednesday its students will be charged for their lunches with a retina scanning device to prevent poor children who eat for free from being ridiculed in the cafeteria.





Appeals Court Affirms U.S. Treatment of "Enemy Combatants" :.

The government has broad authority to hold U.S. citizens as enemy combatants without the constitutional protections found in civilian courts, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a federal judge's order that Yaser Esam Hamdi, 22, be allowed to see a lawyer and that the Defense Department be required to produce more information to justify his detention.

The ruling stopped short of approving the same powers over Americans arrested on U.S. soil, which legal experts said left a major question for courts to settle.





70% Efficient Solar Cells? :.

From Slashdot:

"Back in 1984 a patent was granted for silicon chip micro rectennas, which would convert visible photons into electricity in the same way that ordinary rectennas convert microwaves into electricity, at perhaps 70% or greater efficiency. Nobody could make such solar cells back in 1984, but we certainly can today, with sizes of antennas that would capture everything from infrared to the edges of UV -- and the patent has expired. So, where are they?" Currently the most popular type of solar technology is photovoltaics, however PV technology only has an efficiency of about 7-17%. With the potential gains claimed by the technology in the cited patent, has anyone even tried to build one of these units to see if it can live up to the given promise, or at least prove to be a technology than we should be exploring?


1/7/2003



CDC Researcher: "I Guess You Could Say We're Fat and Drunk" :.

Victory Gin* for everyone! Supersize it!

More than one in five American adults could be classified as obese in 2001, up almost 6 percent from the year before. And more than one in four Americans engage in bouts of binge drinking -- defined as five or more drinks at one sitting with the goal of getting drunk -- up 35 percent from 1995.

"I guess you could say we're fat and drunk," said Timothy Naimi, a researcher at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) in Atlanta, summarizing a pair of studies based on a huge telephone survey of more than 200,000 adults.

"We're a society that is somewhat taken with excesses," Naimi said.


Naaaaahhhhh. Taken with excesses? Personally, I think the 1,000 horsepower engine in the new Cadillac is barely sufficient. We're just lucky Dubya is going to commit genocide in Iraq so the whims maniacs can be fulfilled without question. United We Stand! Oh ya, don't forget the 500 horsepower motorcycle that costs $250,000. Taken with excesses? Hey, buddy, love it or leave it!

The growing fad of "supersizing" bar drinks has become as common as fast-food franchises' expanded portions of fatty French fries.

Fantastic!

* Drink of choice in Orwell's 1984.





Woman Considered an "Economic Threat" to Government Forced to Wear GPS Tracking Device :.

Calling her an "economic threat" to the government, prosecutors persuaded U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick J. Walsh last spring to issue an order requiring Meredith to shut her Web site and stop selling books on the tax code. The judge also barred her from associating with We the People employees and ordered that her movements be tracked by satellite.

I, personally, wouldn't attempt to fight the government on this level. The courts are utterly corrupt. The government will lie, cheat and steal to do this woman in. The judge hearing the case will prevent her and/or her counsel from speaking about certain matters in court. The judge will simply hold them in contempt if they persist.

Whether she realized it or not, Lynne Meredith started a blood feud with an enemy that CAN'T afford to lose the battle. The income tax revenue is the lifeblood of The Matrix. When she stopped allowing them to steal from her, she mortally wounded them. When she started getting others to do the same thing... Well, guys with guns and sledgehammers showed up.

Now, there are several ways of going about the task of disempowering the beast. (None of them is particularly easy, but nobody said any of this was going to be easy.)

As this case shows, Meredith chose a direct confrontation by trying to make legal arguments against taxes, and getting others to follow suit.

Her strategy was flawed from the beginning.

Ask yourself this: Since when did crime syndicates ever concern themselves with the law? The purpose of the law is to maintain the appearances of legitimacy. But as soon as exigencies require that the law be flung out the window...Watch out. The law is a velvet glove on an iron fist. When that thing hits you in the teeth, it's not going to matter whether you're right or wrong. THE SYSTEM WILL DO YOU IN WHEN YOU BECOME A BIG ENOUGH THREAT TO THE SYSTEM. Do you get it, people? The U.S. government is using your labor as a mechanism to funnel wealth away from you into the hands of a small group of individuals and corporations THAT RUN THE MATRIX. This isn't a conspiracy. THIS IS THE SYSTEM. Meredith can't win. They can't and won't allow her to win. It doesn't matter what she says or does, the quality of her argument, or prowess of her legal team.

Even if someone comes up with a compelling argument, the IRS can retroactively change the law! (Betcha didn't know that one.) That's the problem with The Matrix when you get too close to the core. The thing is so robust and advanced that it will change and morph to protect itself from your attack.

What's the smart thing to do in the movie version of The Matrix when you come face to face with an Agent? (I can see all of your lips speaking the words.) Unless you're Neo, unless you're the One, you better run your ass off. If you don't, you're going to lose a fight with an Agent. Just like Meredith is going to lose her fight with the IRS.

My strategy, and the strategy of many others, is based on a passage from Sun Tzu's The Art of War:

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

Get into a situation where you can live well on MUCH less. Make less, pay little or no tax. Get your life back. We have the tools to bring The Matrix down without having to attack it directly. And one of the added benefits of going about the transformation in this way is that the tax man can't bust you because you haven't done anything wrong. As the tax revenue dries up, The Matrix will crumble and the curtain will come down on this horror show. (We must have local systems and economies in place, but that's another essay.) Now, as the Them get more desperate, They will make EVERYTHING illegal. Rejoice, because at that point, even the average person on the street will realize that They have lost control and a new beginning is close at hand.

Note: The U.S. Treasury (treas.gov) has been viewing my site recently. I have no idea why, but if I disappear without warning, well... I'm just glad I've paid all my taxes and even used professional tax preparation services to make sure it was done right. Dissident Rule Number 1: Don't give Them an easy way to shut you down.


1/6/2003



Massachusetts Grand Jury Subpoenas Cryptome's Logs :.

They asked John to keep the subpoena secret because it was part of a criminal investigation. He immediately posted the entire thing on his site. Asking John Young to keep something like that secret would be like asking the Sun not to rise in the morning, or the wind not to blow through the trees. John responded to the State of Massachusetts via PGP signed message on his website.





The Real U.S. Economic Stimulus Package, Nazis and the Plan to Rape Iraq :. and Iraq: Linchpin of a New Oil Order :.

The New York Times is floating details of the U.S. imperial plan for Iraq. Michael Renner, of Worldwatch Institute, recently wrote analysis that, with the appearance of this New York Times piece, appears to be right on target. His analysis fills in the blanks that the Times omits (criminally, in my opinion). I will draw on Renner's piece as I touch on two stunning points from the lengthy New York Times article.

First point: Forget all the nonsense about easing the tax burden of rich people. That's just the opener. The real economic stimulus package is much more diabolical. Individuals in the Bush regime have direct links to the corporations that will benefit the most from the U.S. imperial occupation of Iraq. Look at what Renner had to say about the Bush regime's connections to oil:

The Bush administration�s ties to the oil and gas industry are beyond extensive; they are pervasive. They flow, so to speak, from the top, with a chief executive who grew up steeped in the culture of Texas oil exploration and tried his hand at it himself; and a second-in-command who came to office with a multi-million dollar retirement package in hand from his post of CEO of Halliburton Oil. Once in office, the vice president developed an energy policy under the primary guidance of a cast of oil company executives whose identities he has gone to great lengths to withhold from public view. Since taking office, the president and vice president have assembled a government peopled heavily with representatives from the oil culture from which they came. These include Secretary of the Army Thomas White, a former vice president of Enron, and Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, former president of the oil exploration company Tom Brown Inc, whose major stake in the company was worth US$13 million by the time he took office.

The plan is for the U.S. to take control of Iraqi oil output in order to pay for reconstruction of the country! Are you clear on that!?!? The U.S. is going to bomb Iraq, already a 4th world country, literally into the stone age, steal its main natural resource and use the profits to further enrich the corporations with the closest ties to the Bush regime! Billions of dollars worth of rockets and bombs will be used to destroy Iraqi infrastructure and buildings that will cost billions of dollars to rebuild. It just so happens that U.S. companies build those rockets and bombs, and other U.S. companies are going to get the major infrastructure and construction contracts even before the dust settles. Again, look at Renner's comments:

The pariah state of Iraq, however, is a key prize, with abundant, high-quality oil that can be produced at very low cost (and thus at great profit). At 112 billion barrels, its proven reserves are currently second only to Saudi Arabia�s. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy estimates that additional "probable and possible" resources could amount to 220 billion barrels. And because political instability, war, and sanctions have prevented thorough exploration of substantial portions of Iraqi territory, there is a chance that another 100 billion barrels lie undiscovered in Iraq�s western desert. All in all, Iraq�s oil wealth may well rival that of Saudi Arabia.

At present, of course, this is mere potential - the Iraqi oil industry has seriously deteriorated as a result of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, the 1991 Gulf War and inadequate postwar investment and maintenance. Since 1990, the sanctions regime has effectively frozen plans for putting additional fields into production. It has also caused a severe shortage of oil field equipment and spare parts (under the sanctions regime, the US has prevented equipment imports worth some $4 billion). Meanwhile, questionable methods used to raise output from existing fields may have damaged some of the reservoirs and could actually trigger a decline in output in the short run.

But once the facilities are rehabilitated (a lucrative job for the oil service industry, including Cheney�s former employer, Halliburton) and new fields are brought into operation, the spigots could be opened wide. To pay for the massive task of rebuilding, a post-sanctions Iraq would naturally seek to maximize its oil production.


All of this is referred to as "democratizing" and "reconstructing" Iraq in the New York Times piece.

*Someone give me an American flag to wave. United we sta--- Pause while I vomit into the trash can.*

Not even I envisioned such a sinister plot. I have to wonder if U.S. foreign policy officials make and distribute snuff films in their spare time. That activity is the moral equivalent of what they have in mind for Iraq. It's not enough to destroy Iraq and steal the oil, killing God only knows how many innocent people. They also plan on funneling billions of dollars into the construction and infrastructure companies!? My head is spinning. Wow.

The second point I want to touch on is related to this passage from the Times article:

Officials, referring to the ruling Baath Party, say "de-Baathification" of the nation will be at least as complex as de-Nazification was in Germany.

If the U.S. is as successful at the "de-Baathification" of Iraq as it was with the de-Nazification of Germany, the CIA is about to have a massive influx of Arab speakers.

Take a walk down memory lane with me, won't you?

General Reinhard Gehlen was Adolf Hitler's Chief of Foreign Armies East (1942-45). There he is, on the left, reviewing troops. He ran spy networks for the Third Reich that were tasked with operations related to the USSR. Immediately after World War II, Gehlen and his top lieutenants went to work for U.S. intelligence. In 1956, control of the Gehlen organization shifted from the CIA to the BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst), West Germany's Intelligence Service. The photo on the right is also of Gehlen, except this time he's being roasted at Yale University for his service to the United States.

If you have any doubts about any of what I'm saying, just start reading.

So, if de-Nazification of Germany meant that the most valuable Nazis went into the highest ranks of the U.S. intelligence and military research agencies, what will the "de-Baathification" of Iraq entail? <--- Rhetorical question.

None of this matters because the entire system is doomed, but in case you feel like doing some how-we-got-here-from-there reading, here is some literature on the recruitment of Nazis into U.S. intelligence and military circles. The Secret War Against the Jews is the only one still in print:

Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis, and its Disastrous Effect on Our Domestic and Foreign Policy, by Christopher Simpson.

Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1990, by Linda Hunt

The Old Boys: The American Elite and the Origins of the CIA, by Burton Hersh.

The Secret War Against the Jews, by John Loftus and Mark Aarons.





Maniac Cops Terrorize Family for No Reason, Kill Dog :.

We should expect this type of incident to become increasingly common as the Ministry of Love takes shape in the U.S. Children that experience trauma like this, at the hands of the state, often make it their mission in life to destroy the state when they grow older. This undeniable fact can be verified by examining any society in which the level of socio-political cohesion drops to a point at which the state begins to treat the population at large as an enemy. (See Buzan's, People, States, and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era.) When cops and soldiers terrorize people, especially children, they create terrorists, or freedom fighters, depending on your perspective. If you want to see where this type of behavior leads, you don't have to look any further than a just posted story from the Guardian about the Palestinian situation.

Allowing this type of behavior to stand in the U.S. today will almost definitely lead to an armed rebellion in the future. Cops and soldiers, remember, just following orders leads to tyranny:

It was the most traumatic experience the Smoak family of North Carolina has ever had, and it happened yesterday afternoon as they traveled through Cookeville on their way home from a vacation in Nashville.

Before their ordeal was over, three members of the family had been yanked out of their car and handcuffed on the side of Interstate 40 in downtown Cookeville, and their beloved dog, Patton, had been shot to death by a police officer as they watched.

What was their crime?

There was no crime.


Related: Video of the incident.

WARNING: Video contains graphic and potentially disturbing images. Viewer discretion is advised.





Mother Earth News :.

As many of you know, my long term goal is to start a new life somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, living totally off-grid in a yurt, geodome, earthship, staw bale house, Hobbit hut or other alternative dwelling. TR, a regular Cryptogon contributor and personal associate, has similar plans. He recently introduced me to an absolutely incredible magazine called Mother Earth News. If you are also considering "a new start" focused on self reliance and conscious living, you will definitely enjoy this magazine:

In every issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS you'll find inspiring and practical information about:

Building better homes - Growing your own food - Using sustainable energy - Raising livestock - Being healthy naturally - Choosing green products - Doing more with less - Creating great communities - Living wisely


1/5/2003



INS: Americans Must Submit Detailed Personal Information for International Travel :.

The U.S. is borrowing more and more pages from the Soviet and Nazi playbooks, and at an accelerating rate. Remember creeping fascism, you know, how our system was before 9/11? Well, fascism isn't creeping anymore. It's large, in charge and running wild:

Millions of travelers arriving and departing the United States will have to submit detailed personal information this year under rules proposed by the federal government Friday as part of the war on terrorism.

The rules proposed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, once they are finalized, seek more information from travelers than under current law and for the first time extend the requirements to U.S. citizens and others previously exempted.

All airlines, cargo flights, cruise ships and other vessels carrying crew or passengers will be affected, with the exception of ferryboats. The information will be sent electronically to the government before a traveler arrives in the United States or departs from it, giving officials a complete manifest of exactly who is on board.





Desperate Attempt to Free the Xbox :.

Brute forcing a 2048 bit private key isn't going to be easy. But, think of it this way: There is no way to win the Lotto if you don't buy a ticket. And maybe there isn't actually 2048 bits of entropy in this key. Considering how flawed Microsoft's implementations of security related mechanisms have been in the past, a brute force attack may be possible on this thing. I ran the SETI client for years on various machines. So did millions of other people. Talk about a shot in the dark! At least, with this task, we know there is a solution, and we might get lucky. So, download the Neo client and let it rip! Use Team ID: cryptogon. HeHe.

Oh, and if you have to ask, "Why bother with this?" try to remember back to when you were a kid and you didn't ask such questions; you just did stuff because it was there to do, and that was reason enough.





Sydney Airport to Scan Faces of All Travelers :.

Authorities are trialling concealed high-tech, computer-linked video cameras that can film the face of every passenger arriving in Australia at Sydney Airport to help identify terrorists and other undesirable travellers.

Customs is also testing a world-first computerised face-recognition system that scans the faces of all passengers as they present their passports.

As part of the security trial, cameras have been set up in the arrivals hall to scan for terrorists or criminals.

The cameras, which have wide-angle lenses, sweep across the faces of all arriving passengers and send the images to a computer which matches the faces with pictures of wanted people stored in its memory.


Research Credit: AM




Google


cryptogon.com
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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.