Prepare for Change

http://www.lisamcpherson.org/torture.htm Can't be much simpler.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/us-soldier-killed-herself_b_190517.html Allysa Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Ariz., native, served with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne. Peterson was an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at our air base in troubled Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq. According to official records, she died on Sept. 15, 2003, from a "non-hostile weapons discharge." She committed suicide, it turns out, because she refused to torture. This is quite a change from when I was a kid. In movies, news, and TV shows I knew we were the good guys because we didn't torture people, even bad people. I'm not gullible. I know we actually did torture. My step father talked about interrogation methods in Vietnam that Green Berets used. But the cultural norm was that good countries don't torture. Bad countries do torture. We are a good country. But what are we now?

http://www.codylundin.com/ I know little about this guy, but it looks interesting. Learn how to survive in hard times. I heard a story here (Phoenix) of Native Americans wondering about the white man when he first started showing up in these parts. Sometimes the locals would find a dead white person out in the desert and wonder why they died when there was food and water right nearby. Of course, it was because the white guys didn't know what was edible and what wasn't in that environment, and they didn't know the signs of where to find water. All it takes sometimes is a little education.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2009-04-14-survivalistsinside14_N.htm •Gardening. Sales of vegetable seeds and transplants are up 30% from 2008 at W. Atlee Burpee, the USA's largest seed company. The National Gardening Association says 7 million more households will grow food this year than in 2008 — a 19% rise. A book on building root cellars is the top seller at Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine, supervisor Joann Matuzas says. •Canning. Jarden Corp. says sales of its Ball and Kerr canning and preserving products are up more than 30% from 2008. Sonya Staffan, owner of The Jam and Jelly Lady commercial cannery in Lebanon, Ohio, is offering twice as many classes this year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/14/yale-economists-discuss-t_n_186986.html Job programs, not temporary tax cuts, for one. This is a thought-provoking article. Robert Shiller pointed out that economists failed to predict the problem by not considering the psychology behind the housing bubble and Wall Street excess. "We've gotten very speculative in our thinking. There was a psychology that developed... You still have these economists that say it can be explained by building costs, population and interest rates but we say it's more about the culture."

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-depression10-2008dec10,0,1456860.story?page=1 Advice from some who went through the 1930's Depression. Some useful information here. I think we should all start gardening. Our cabin property in South Dakota doesn't get much sunlight because we're in a valley, but I plan to grow a vegetable garden as an experiment anyway. Another problem there is deer eating the plants. Chicken wire will fix that, hopefully.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/houston-gets-greener-with-itsy-bitsy-energy-efficient-homes.php While a not-so-whopping 881-square-feet might sound too tiny to some, we at Naturally Savvy think it's the perfect sized home for singles, a young couple or a small family. The two-bedroom homes from U.S. national developer KB Home feature an open-concept kitchen/living/dining room on the main floor, with the bedrooms, a laundry room and a full bath on the upper level. There's also a two-bay tandem garage to park your hybrid or electric car . A small home automatically requires less heating and cooling, so you're already saving energy and the environment by opting for a smaller space. Other eco-friendly features that makes these homes Energy Star qualified include: -Low-e windows (the "e" stands for emittance or emissivity) feature a metallic oxide coating that doesn't let heat or UV-rays pass through, which will keep warm air in during the winter and pre...