Almost 60% of New Zealanders Are Maintaining Vegetable Gardens
January 5th, 2011I was at Pak n Sav (Godzilla scale supermarket chain in New Zealand operated by public menace FoodStuffs) today and I just laughed at the prices for the whole range of vegetables. Although, I bought a kilo of those South Island cherries that were on special.
The Farmlet website is woefully neglected these days, but, really fast: The integrated chicken rotation system we implemented is working out great. We have the best looking garden yet. Everything is growing bigger and there’s just more than in previous years. Tomato plants look absolutely perfect (so far).
We’ve let other sections of the garden go fallow and there are insane lettuce jungles with bolted seed tendrils extending everywhere. It can all go to the chickens. They love it.
So, get chickens! Let the chickens eat and scratch out weeds. Turn over the dirt. Add mulch or compost for structure. Plant seedlings. Watch in amazement at what happens. This isn’t complicated. Let Pak n Sav chew on that garlic for NZ$20 per kilo and the NZ$3 silverbeat.
We had a pig done in and the whole thing turned into sausages with the butcher using Becky’s home made fills (no MSG or any other nonsense). Bush beans and garlic from the garden. Good/cheap wine from Black Market. Tui frolicking in the Chinese lantern bush outside the window…
The handful of other Americans here are going to start emailing me and telling me to shut up.
Via: New Zealand Herald:
Almost 60 per cent of New Zealanders say they have taken up vegetable gardening in the past 12 months.
A Herald-DigiPoll survey of 750 people found benefits in growing your own food during a tough economic year.
As the price of fruit and vegetables rose 12 per cent in the year to November in Statistics New Zealand figures, 57.6 per cent of people said they had started vegetable gardening.
Women were more likely to have taken it up, at 62.1 per cent, but the majority of men also answered that they had.
In Tauranga, a community garden with 57 plots was formally opened in November and the spaces were taken up within a month.
John Goldstone had no experience growing vegetables, but now tends his plot every day, usually after his work in engineering.
He has corn, lettuce, capsicum, spinach, onions, broccoli, silverbeet, strawberries, tomatoes, basil, rhubarb, radishes, jalapeno peppers and potatoes sprouting.
The garden charges $5 a week for enough space to feed a family of four all year round.
“I take a lot of pride in my garden,” Mr Goldstone said. “It’s great. It’s stress-free. It’s a really peaceful time.”
A $2 punnet of capsicum seedlings yielded 100 vegetables – at the supermarket it would have cost at least $200, he said.
There were solo mums at the gardens who had children with allergies. By growing their own vegetables, they knew exactly what had gone into them and could be assured they were safe.
The garden had three experienced gardeners who helped the rest with their plots, Mr Goldstone said.
It had been fresh fruit and vegetable prices that had pushed him to start gardening, but since he started, the joy of it had taken over, he said.
“I’m absolutely consumed by it,” Mr Goldstone said.
“The word’s out there. Everyone now knows. It’s amazing how many people are talking about growing your own vegetables.”
Warren Knight, one of the experienced gardeners, said growing vegetables had been saving many families $50 a week.
Extra produce was donated to food banks, and the community garden had also taken up a 16-year-old for community service who had become a great asset, Mr Knight said.
Elderly residents living nearby who had not grown vegetables for years had picked it up again.
“I’m amazed at the number of people who haven’t done any gardening before trying it out,” Mr Knight said.”But they’re lovingit.
“They’ll feed themselves over summer, and then feed themselves all year round.”
Related: Country Calendar: Growing Strong — Whangarei Growers Market
George Soros Openly Discusses the New World Order
January 5th, 2011Via: Financial Times / YouTube / InfowarsCanada:
Why Bank of America Must Be Thrilled to Pay a $3 Billion Penalty
January 5th, 2011Via: The Atlantic:
Some people who aren’t familiar with the mortgage market might have gasped as they read the news that Bank of America would pay $3 billion to government-sponsored mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After all, $3 billion sounds like a lot of money. “Maybe BOA is finally getting what it deserves,” some naive bank-haters might have exclaimed. In fact, paying this sum is an incredible win for the bank. The penalty is so small that it’s effectively insignificant.
A Drop in the Bucket
For starters, it’s important to remember that Bank of America also means Countrywide. After purchasing the ailing mortgage company in 2008, Countrywide’s problems became BoA’s problems. And according to the press release, this $3 billion loss provision the bank is taking should cover all Countrywide/BoA mortgages sold or guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie during the housing bubble.
How much is that? According to a Washington Post article on the story, it covers a BoA-Countrywide portfolio of about $530 billion held by Fannie and Freddie. That puts the loss rate on these loans that BoA will be responsible for at less than 1%. You don’t need to be a mortgage analyst to know that a 1% loss doesn’t begin to characterize housing’s deterioration.
Hundreds of Dead Snapper Washed Up on New Zealand Beach
January 5th, 2011There are several animal die off stories circulating in the media right now. I’m posting this one just to let you know that you don’t need to submit them to me directly. I’m already aware of it. Thank you.
Feel free to use the subreddit, if you like.
Via: Sydney Morning Herald:
Hundreds of dead snapper have washed up on Coromandel beaches on the North Island of New Zealand, leaving holidaymakers perplexed.
The mysterious incident came as the southern United States was hit with a second unexplained mass bird death within a week.
People at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay, on the north-east of the peninsula, were stunned when children came out of the sea with armfuls of the fish and within minutes the shore was littered with them.
Charlotte Pearsall, whose family have lived at Little Bay for the last 30 years, said she had never seen anything like it.
“It was so surreal,” she said. “It’s such an incredible waste – it could’ve fed the whole northern tip of the Coromandel.”
People with binoculars said the snapper stretched as far as they could see and boaties reported “a carpet of floating fish further out to sea all along the coast”.
“We initially thought ‘woohoo a free feed’ but they had really cloudy eyes and you could see the birds had been at them. Some of them had no eyes,” Pearsall said.
Her parents called the Department of Conservation and were told it was most likely the fish had starved due to weather conditions, but Pearsall did not think that was the case as many of the fish looked big and healthy.
Related: Thousands of Blackbirds Fell from the Sky Over Arkansas on New Year’s Eve
Molycorp to Become the First U.S. Source of Rare Earth Elements in Over a Decade
January 4th, 2011Via: MIT Technology Review:
Molycorp has secured the permits and funding needed to restart production at a mine in Mountain Pass, California, that would become the first U.S. source of rare earth elements in more than a decade. The mine is one of the world’s richest deposits of these elements, which are critical for making components found in a wide range of technologies. On Tuesday, the company announced that it will partner with Hitachi Metals of Japan to turn materials from the mine into high-strength magnets, which are vital in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and many other products.
China currently has a lock on the market for rare earth materials: in 2009 it provided 95 percent of the world’s supply, or 120,000 tons. This concentration of supply has become a major issue in recent months, particularly after China temporarily blocked exports of these materials to Japan in September. A Critical Materials Strategy document issued by the U.S. Department of Energy last week points to the “risk of supply disruption” in the short term. Worldwide demand for rare earth elements was 125,000 tons in 2010 and is expected to rise to 225,000 tons by 2015.
The mine is a 50-acre open pit about 50 miles outside Las Vegas, surrounded by a stark landscape of red-brown mountains, Joshua trees, and the occasional cactus. Molycorp has begun draining groundwater that seeps into the bottom of the pit and removing areas of rock called “overburden” to expose a layer of bastnäsite, a mineral rich in rare earth elements. Expansion of operations will push the mine from a depth of 500 feet to 1,000 feet in the coming years.
Lockheed Martin’s ‘Got Their Fingers Everywhere’; Firm Costs Each U.S. Taxpaying Household $260 Per Year
January 4th, 2011Fingers… or tentacles?
Via: Yahoo / Tech Ticker:
That’s been the key question asked of Wall Street’s biggest banks since the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, which sent shock waves through the global financial system and led to the worst recession this country has seen since the Great Depression.
But, there is another firm far from the circles of Wall Street for which that same question should be asked, says William Hartung, author of the new book Prophets of War. The subtitle of his book says it all: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.
With $40 billion in annual revenue, Lockheed Martin is the single largest recipient of U.S. tax dollars. The company receives about $36 billion in government contracts per year. In 2008, $29 billion of that was for U.S. military contracts – a dollar figure 25% higher than its competitors Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman.
What does that mean for you, the U.S. taxpayer? According to Hartung, each taxpaying household contributes $260 to Lockheed’s coffers each year!
Italian Banks Upset with Level of Cash Use; Underground Economy 22% of GDP
January 4th, 2011Via: Reuters:
The Italian Banking Association has declared “war on cash” in a country where credit-card usage is less than half the European Union average, according to the Bank of Italy. The association, known by its Italian acronym ABI, says it costs banks and companies as much as 10 billion euros ($13.3 billion) a year to process cash payments, mainly in increased security and labor. Rome-based ABI aims to cut those expenses by promoting electronic payments with credit and debit cards and wire transfers in both the public and private sectors.
“Italy urgently needs these changes to catch up with other countries like France, which has allowed non-cash payments for public services for more than two decades,” said Rita Camporeale, head of payment systems and services at ABI.
Italy’s culture of cash is deeply rooted. Italians are the euro region’s least-indebted consumers and among its biggest savers, according to 2009 Eurostat data. Companies often pay salaries in banknotes to evade taxes, particularly in the country’s southern region, where organized crime is prevalent.
Italy loses about 100 billion euros of revenue a year from untaxed transactions in the so-called underground economy, which amounts to about 22 percent of gross domestic product, according to government statistics. The Finance Ministry agrees with ABI proposals to make public offices accept electronic payments and install point-of-sale terminals, Camporeale said in a Dec. 21 interview. Banks also want a ban on cash salaries, she said.
Recovery: Consumer Bankruptcies Highest in Five Years
January 4th, 2011Via: Reuters:
The number of U.S. consumers who filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010 was the highest in five years, and the figure could rise as Americans struggle with excess debt in an uncertain economy, a report issued Monday said.
Roughly 1.53 million consumer bankruptcy petitions were filed in 2010, up 9 percent from 1.41 million in 2009, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, citing data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.
…
The full-year total is the highest since the 2.04 million recorded in 2005, when there was a rush to seek bankruptcy protection ahead of a stricter federal law taking effect in October of that year.
The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure: One of the Most Evil Books in Print
January 4th, 2011See: Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent by Harvey A. Silverglate:
The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.
Via: Lew Rockwell:
I recently obtained the latest edition of West’s Criminal Code and Rules, the book containing the rules you need to know if you are ever accused of a federal criminal offense. The book is updated every year, and each new edition supersedes the prior edition. It gets worse every year.
The West’s edition now runs to more than 1600 pages, with abridgments and supplements. In addition to the Rules of Criminal Procedure, the book contains selected federal criminal statutes, the Federal Rules of Evidence, the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, and the Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States. On virtually every page are mechanisms to hurt, humiliate, control and enslave people to the government’s will – all presented within a framework of procedural rules.
In theory, these rules provide an accused with avenues to defend himself. But one can judge a scheme of procedural rules by its fruits, and the codification, growth and expansion of the Federal Rules of Procedure (of which most state procedural codes are virtual copies), have produced the world’s highest incarceration rate – and probably the highest incarceration rate ever registered in any society in human history. Even more significantly, the Federal Criminal Code and its procedural rules and guidelines have almost eliminated criminal trials in many jurisdictions, because most defendants are unable to defend themselves effectively under the rules and simply plead guilty. Such is the lopsided nature of the Federal Rules that they produce untold mountains of printed accusations and claims against individual Americans, while facilitating no more than a few sentences (generally at sentencing hearings) in rebuttal in most cases.
Footnotes are found on virtually every page of the Federal Rules, tracing dates of amendments and the steady progression of punishments over time. In general, Congress has ratcheted up sentences, expanded the limitation periods in statutes of limitations, expanded rewards for those who cooperate with the government, and limited or eliminated avenues for people to challenge government accusations and court judgments. One is hard pressed to find crimes described in the book as misdemeanors, even if they were misdemeanors long ago. Today, most federal crimes are felonies, and conviction brings more or less automatic prison time.
Research Credit: ltcolonelnemo
Sweetos: Neotame Artificial Sweetener in Feed Approved for Organic Livestock; No Labeling Disclosure Required
January 4th, 2011Via: Farm Wars:
Just when we thought that buying “Organic” was safe, we run headlong into the deliberate poisoning of our organic food supply by the FDA in collusion with none other than the folks who brought us Aspartame. NutraSweet, a former Monsanto asset, has developed a new and improved version of this neurotoxin called Neotame.
…
The food labeling requirements required for aspartame have now been dropped for Neotame, and no one is clear why this was allowed to happen. Neotame has been ruled acceptable, and without being included on the list of ingredients, for:
* USDA Certified Organic food items.
* Certified Kosher products with the official letter k inside the circle on labels.
Related: Time Magazine: “What if the millions of so-called dropouts are onto something?”
