Prepare for Change

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1934170062/boingboing Anybody wanna review one of these? Fortunately, it looks like there are several good books available.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/04/0082451 I hate these places. They suck the life out of the poor. Then they claim they're "helping."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/11/glass-steagall-act-the-se_n_201557.html "I want to sound a warning call today about this legislation," he declared, swaying ever so slightly right, then left, occasionally punching the air in front of him with a slightly closed fist. "I think this legislation is just fundamentally terrible." The legislation was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act (alternatively known as Gramm Leach Bliley), which allowed banks to merge with insurance companies and investment houses. And Dorgan was, at the time, on a proverbial island with his concerns. Only eight senators would vote against the measure -- lionized by its proponents, including senior staff in the Clinton administration and many now staffing President Obama, as the most important breakthrough in the worlds of finance and politics in decades. * * * * Deregulation of our economic system is a green light for greed to run amok. Now we are paying for that. Kudos to those...

http://earthfirst.com/book-review-%E2%80%93-the-urban-homestead-your-guide-to-self-sufficient-living-in-the-heart-of-the-city/ "Ever since I happened upon the Path to Freedom website a few years ago, I’ve been very interested in urban homesteading. I’m eager to drink in as much information as possible for use now, as a renter, and in the future, once I own my own home. So, I was excited to read The Urban Homestead: Your guide to self-sufficient living in the heart of the city , by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen of the ‘ Homegrown Evolution ’ blog." looks like a useful book.

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.