Special Guest on NewAmericaNow Radio Show Sunday

The NewAmericaNow Show airs weekly on

Saturday and Sunday at 4-6 pm eastern and 1-3 pm pacific on

http://www.thewatchmen.fm/Live.html

This Sunday our special guest will be

Pastor Charles Dowell of StraightWay Truth Assembly and his youtube page -PastorDowell.



Pastor Dowell is a charismatic powerful and sometimes controversial church leader that speaks his mind with conviction. He has become a strong voice on youtube to warn others to prepare mentally, physically and spiritually for the coming challenges that face the world we find ourselves in.

Join us this Sunday with our Special Guest Pastor Charles Dowell.

"We Are Free" Social Network Spreading Rapidly

As Social media has played a pivotal role in the Revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, we now seeing a new movement starting in the United States. This movement may spread to other lands like China and India who are also demanding their freedom. Free people everywhere are joining the "We Are Free" communities on Meetup.com. The Community is a collection of people determined to say "We Are Free". This free to join community is symbol of defiance and the first step in uniting those on the community level to communicate through this unique social media. The wave of freedom continues. Stay Tuned.

http://www.meetup.com/wearefree

Where in the World is Obama?

By NewAmericaNow

As the world ignites in chaos from Algeria to Zimbabwe, as people demand freedom from oppression in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and beyond. A voice of leadership for true Justice and Freedom in the world is noticably absent.

People in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan and all across America are finding out that todays American government does not want to provide you with Justice or Freedom. The United States Government does not want to make your lives better because it has been hijacked by ominous external forces that thrive on control and power.

Where is the voice that represents the Free people of the United States?

It should be quite apparant in his silence that the current President of the United States, or many of his recent and not so recent predecessors, does not work or represent the free people of the United States but are merely the puppets of the International Bankers and Multinational Corporations, that profit most from outsourcing America jobs and devaluing your currency, are in the business of oppression and deceit and have hijacked our nation from a complacent people who have forgotten the meaning of true Freedom and independence.

Just look at who surrounds the President of the United States and advises him on a daily bases keeping him isolated so he may be disconnected from influence by others and enjoy the flaws of his human ego and the fantasy of his place in history. President Obama does not speak of the global situation or the people in the middle east wanting freedom because it is antithetical to the agenda of the Central banks and Multinational Corporations.

The reasons the people in the mideast have been oppressed is because they have resources that the American Government controllers want and needs to maintain power. Our government is not interested in Freedom or Justice but power and control. They speak of spreading freedom but what they spread is death and fear to all whose lives they intimidate and touch.

There are many that do not agree with the laws, acts and executive orders that are passed but try protesting by withdrawing your financial support of the government and you will have violence brought upon you. Try and board an aircraft and claim to have your fourth amendment rights to be free of unreasonable search and seizure. You will quickly find that documents do not protect your freedoms but the only thing that protects those freedoms is your resolve to protect them. We do not even have the right to privacy because it is unjust but legal for your government to quitely look at your search history and emails in your everyday life like sneaking into your very room to read the inermost thoughts of your personal diary. When Laws are unjust we do not have Law we have tyranny.



Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at the sea-washed shores of the United States at it sunset gates, stands A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the lightning of Freedom, and her name is Liberty. From her beacon-hand Glows a world-wide light of welcome; her mild eyes command the famed new city of the world.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe Free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" You have now entered the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

This tyrranical paranoid power hungry government, in our midst, will end like many empires before it, in death. The end quickly approaches as we see the final death throws of tyrrants around the globe. A new era is upon us. It will be difficult at first because all change requires adaptation and sadly some may not adjust. However, make no mistake that that light of freedom that makes the ideals of America great live on in the hearts of Americans and all people around the world that believe in Freedom and Justice for all. America as it was intended shall be like a great phoenix rising from the ashes from the great inferno and will stand for Freedom and Liberty throughout the world once more.

In the days and months that approach keep in mind preparation is not just about you, it is about all the people you save by not becoming part of the problem. The more Americans prepare, the less Americans starve in the midst of calamity. Fewer empty stomachs means less fearful minds and less panic when the other shoe drops. In this sense, survival preparation is not a hobby, or a mode of self interest, it is a duty to humanity. Frankly, if we care at all about the continuity of our ideals, our belief in freedom and independence, then we should also feel obligated to become more self-sufficient. As the economy slips into oblivion tomorrow, will you be a pillar of strength, or just another frantic helpless man-child waiting desperately for a handout from the nearest criminal bureaucracy? Would you be a strong-point in the protection of liberty, or a weak link holding the rest of us back?


The strength of one can have reverberations in the lives of thousands. Preparation makes us strong. Adaptability and knowledge makes us unafraid. Training and experience makes us successful. These are the principles upon which America was founded, and these are the principles which will allow America to live on.

SURVIVE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE - Surviving Anything Chapter 2

By Giordano Bruno

Food production is one of the most essential concerns of any society. Without direct availability and ease of consumption, without the consistent flow of agricultural goods, every nation existing today (except the most primitive) would immediately find its infrastructure crumbling and its people in a furious panic. It’s strange to me, then, that long term independent food planning is the one concern that many Americans seem to take most for granted. Firearms and ammo, camping gear and bug-out-bags, MRE’s, beans, and rice; these are the easiest part of your survival foundation. The hard part is not storage of goods, but devising a solid and practical plan for sustainability in the long term. This starts with the capacity to support your own agriculture regardless of how long the grid is down, even if it is down indefinitely.

Understandably, there will be some people who do not have enough land to implement many of these strategies. They should still know the fundamentals and be ready to apply them at a retreat location or within a community should the opportunity arise.

In the first chapter of our ‘Survive Anything’ series, we covered all the consequences of a nuclear attack on American soil, and how to not only make it out alive, but even thrive after such an event:

http://newamerica-now.blogspot.com/2010/12/survive-anything-chapter-1-nuclear.html

The reason Neithercorp covered survival tactics for a nuclear strike first was simple; we wanted to make it clear that the title of this series is not an exaggeration. Truly, ANYTHING is survivable with the right knowledge and preparation. Those who promote a ‘doomer’ view of economic collapse or global war are on average people who have simply given up before the struggle has even started. Therefore, their opinions on survival are empty, and barely worth the effort to ignore. Life goes on after collapse, as it always has since the beginning of organized civilization. It is YOU who decides whether or not you will be a part of that life. It is you who decides your chances of success.

With that success in mind, let’s dive into the most important aspects of food survival in a country where infrastructure has ceased to function…

Emaciated Grocery Chains

Last winter, I witnessed perhaps the most incredible snow storm I have ever seen in my life. A low pressure system punished the Northeast with downpour after downpour, stopping most road travel and cutting power to millions for at least a week. Being that the average family has only a week’s worth of food or less in their pantry, you can imagine the chaos that unfolded. Those grocery stores with backup power were flooded with customers buying armloads of batteries, water, ice chests, and, of course, foods that don’t require refrigeration. Now, what I want you to imagine, is what would have happened if no grocery stores had been open that week. What would have happened if they had never reopened? How many people would have been in the very real position of starving to death? From what I observed that winter…far too many…

The problem of storage and backstock is widespread in the U.S. and the culprit is actually one which we have been trained to admire; efficiency. It is because of the over-application of efficiency in grocery models and in the freight sector that most outlets carry little to no backstock in goods. Instead, they order goods as quickly as they sell out, refilling shelves on a product by product basis. This means that in most grocers, what you see on the shelf, is all that they have. The speed of trucking deliveries makes this business model possible, but its operation suffers from a seriously fatal flaw…

Grocery stores may seem like a bounty of goods at first glance, but if freight shipments shut down, or even slowed, those aisles would empty within the span of a few days. Many households in America operate on the same faulty “efficiency”. They rely on the weekly trip to the grocer to maintain the pantry while also attempting to save money by reducing backstock. It’s a frayed rope holding up too much weight, a completely inflexible system that cannot withstand any deviation from the set routine. One unexpected disaster could render the entire food and agriculture distribution network immobile.

Many grocery chains also function on a line of credit from banks while operating at a loss. Profits are poured directly into the liabilities the companies incur from loans and then more money is borrowed to continue ordering goods. Some stores in the chain (flagship stores) usually bring in enough money to cover the red ink of the other branches, however, what if banks were to cut off credit completely to a grocery chain? Or maybe ALL grocery chains? The cycle of debt, to sales, to profit, to debt, becomes disrupted. Any stores that rely solely on credit to stay open for business would immediately lose the ability to bring in new stock. Again, we are faced with empty shelves in less than a week.

This scenario is entirely possible in the U.S. today, especially in the event that big banks institute capital retention in order to protect themselves from a further collapse of investment markets. Banks have already restricted loans to consumers down to the bare minimum. A restriction of loans to the business sector in the near future is not that far fetched.

Food In A World Without Walmart

The above section illustrates just a few of the weaknesses in U.S. food distribution. I haven’t included the catastrophe inherent in a hyperinflationary situation because I think the consequences of that are self evident. The point is, if you are not standing on solid ground in terms of not just food storage, but a plan for sustainability, then you and your family are in serious danger. This is not a game, and it is not to be taken lightly. It is not something to be shrugged off and postponed for some undefined “later date”. If you have not already started the process of prepping for economic downturn or collapse, then you need to start today.

Buying food with a long term storage capacity is half the battle, and I recommend purchasing at minimum a year’s supply of these goods totaling at least 2000-2500 calories a day per person. Do not forget to include salts, sugars, and ample fats, without which, your body cannot function. Being that we have covered food storage in great detail in previous articles, let’s examine some practical methods for food production after your stores run out.

Squarefoot Gardening: One of the most productive styles of gardening I have ever seen is devised by Mel Bartholomew, a civil engineer who was frustrated with the immense waste involved in single row gardening. The process involves building easy to make above ground 4 foot by 4 foot soil boxes and then dividing those boxes into grids. These grids retain water and nutrients to a much greater capacity than traditional yard gardens, resulting in up to 80% less space required, 90% less water use, and 95% less seed to grow the same amount of vegetables. Fertilizer is not necessary and existing soil can be easily used. I would not set up a survival garden any other way.

There is one downside to squarefoot gardening, however, and it is one of visibility. If you are in a situation which calls for discreet growing of crops, then the highly visible soil boxes and neat rows will stand out like a sore thumb and alert others to your presence. If you feel secure in the defense of your homestead or retreat, though, then garden visibility is irrelevant and Bartholomew’s strategy is the best by far. Read his book, or check out his website here:

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Non-Hybrid Seeds: Non-hybrid heirloom seeds are basically the seeds nature intended to be planted. These are the only seeds you should ever consider using for your survival garden for numerous reasons. Genetically modified seeds are unreliable, give you a low production count of vegetables, and very few quality seeds can be taken from the plants for the next season. Not to mention, there is no telling what has been infused into the DNA of GMO’s. A company in California called Ventria Bioscience has created a form of rice which contains HUMAN DNA, and this rice has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture! The reason? Ventria claims it can be used to treat diarrhea in children, of all things…

I don’t know what the direct health effects are of people consuming food made out of people, and I would rather not find out. I never thought I would see the day when the movie ‘Soylent Green’ was treated less like fiction and more like a documentary…

Natural Pest Control: I hate to say it, but in the event of a total collapse, it may be best to keep pesticides in stock. The first few years of a grid down scenario will likely be brutal, and if you are extremely dependent on your garden crops to keep your family fed, then you don’t want to take any chances on vermin decimating your plants. That said, there will probably come a point when your pesticides will run out, and natural methods will be necessary.

Some proven tactics of organic pest control include…

Lady Bugs (ladybugs eat pest insects and are incredibly beneficial to any garden)

Organic Pesticide (often contains garlic, chilli pepper or powder, vegetable oil, and water)

Repellent Plants (some plants naturally repel pests, like garlic, tobacco, or rhubarb. Some hot peppers are so acidic that they act as an anti-bug defense. Any peppers that contain large amounts of Capsaicin should be included in your garden plan)

Vinegar (can be used as an effective weed killer)

Cornmeal (can be applied to garden soil or turned into a juice and sprayed on crops. Cornmeal attracts fungi from the Trichoderma family, a good fungus which kills pest funguses)

Plant Daisies Around Fruit Trees (daisies attract a certain kind of wasp which is the natural predator of the bagworm, a worm that is notorious for killing crop trees. This wasp also kills locusts, an added bonus)

Herbs (strong smelling herbs repel many animals, including deer, that would attempt to feed on your veggies. Of course, you might like the idea of attracting deer to your property too…)

Grow For Your Region: The region in which you live will greatly affect the types of crops that grow well. Listed below are the various regions of the U.S. along with the vegetables that thrive best in them…

Northeast – Tomatoes, sweet peppers, snap beans, garlic, potato, bulb onion, cabbage, broccoli, mustard, spinach, eggplant, sweet corn, cucumber, radish, snow pea, asparagus

Southeast – Sweet pepper, garlic, hot pepper, broccoli, summer squash, collards, watermelon, cantaloupe, okra, scallion, lima bean, pole bean, sweet potato, potato, radish

Midwest – Corn, onion, lettuce, tomato, garlic, squash, pumpkin, turnips, beets, broccoli, cucumber, hot pepper, carrot

Central Rockies – Carrot, spinach, tomato, bush snap peas, potato, radish, fava beans, beets, shallots, leek, scallion

Northwest – Snow pea, pole bean, potato, garlic, pumpkin, squash, hot pepper, scallion, lettuce, onion, carrot

Southwest – Tomato, carrot, summer squash, bulb onion, snow pea, sweet pepper, eggplant, hot pepper, beet radish, sweet potato, southern pea, scallion

Keep in mind that these are not the only crops you can grow in your region, just some of the top producers. Many vegetables will grow almost anywhere in the U.S.

Most Nutritious Plants: The plants and vegetables with the highest nutritional content of vitamins and minerals are: Sunflower seeds, soybeans, almonds, leaf amaranth, broccoli, navy beans, collards, potatoes, dandelions (yes, the weed), lima beans, northern beans, kidney beans, okra, spinach, kale, butternut squash, sweet potato, peanuts, avocados, and watermelon (believe it or not).

Focus On Grains: Grasses that produce grains are hearty and grow almost everywhere in the U.S. Grains are the mainstay of our diets because they are so abundant and because they can be stored for years, even decades if needed. Families and communities hoping to restore food production after a breakdown in infrastructure will need personal gardens, but also reasonably sized tracks of land set aside for wheat, rice, barley, oats, etc.

Wheat is one of the few plants that can grow during the winter, but only if nitrogen content in the soil is adequate. Growing legumes in a garden patch can add large amounts of nitrogen, after which, wheat plants can be rotated in. Wheat also needs loose soil to grow well, and compacted soil can ruin a crop. The squarefoot method can be used just as easily for wheat as with regular garden vegetables and could help avoid the soil compaction problem, along with certain space issues.

‘Hard Wheat’ is the best type to plant if you live in a dry temperate climate with cold winters. ‘Soft Wheat’ is better for climates with more moisture and mild winters. After harvest, your wheat kernels should be stored in a cool dry place (40-60 F is optimal) and sealed in containers that prevent oxygen exposure.

Grains are the single most important food item for the survivalist because of their longevity. Civilizations are built and rebuilt on grains and grain storage. The average adult requires around 275 pounds of wheat a year, and the average child requires around 175 pounds a year. A well maintained acre of plants will produce around 40 bushels or more of wheat. A bushel contains around 60 pounds of wheat, meaning a standard acre could yield around 2400 pounds of grain; more than enough for two families every year. If the squarfoot method is applied, the yield could be significantly higher and the space could be reduced tenfold. Extra grain can be easily packed away, saving you in the event of a bad crop or other unforeseen problems. Grains combined with beans also make a complete protein in the event that your diet is low on meat. The advantages of grain production for survival are endless.

Indoor Growing And Hydroponics: I realize the word “hydroponics” is synonymous with wacky weed, Maui Wowie, and that shy neighbor in the aviator shades that lives on the corner lot of your block. Of course, its none of my business what that guy is growing in his basement, nor is it the government’s, but before you go out to order a subscription of ‘High Times’, let me assure you that my primary reason for bringing up hydroponics is one of survival, and not “mind expansion”.

Hydroponics is simply a method for growing plants using electric lights that simulate the rays of the sun, and this includes vegetables. There are many benefits to growing your food indoors.

If you are in a survival situation which offers minimal protection and greater danger from looters or others, you may want to consider the hydroponic option. This method would be a considerable edge for those who have chosen to stay within a city or suburban landscape with less open land and more people in tighter quarters. A hydroponic garden in your home or apartment might show up on infrared surveillance, but otherwise, no one would be the wiser to your food supply.

Hydroponic plants grow 30% to 50% faster than outdoor plants and their vegetable yields are often much higher. Some hydroponic systems don’t even require soil for growing! ‘Active Systems’ use a pump to supply nutrients to your plants while ‘Passive Systems’ use a wick to absorb nutrient solutions and pass them on to the roots of your crop. You can build your own hydroponic system using guides available on the web, or you can purchase pre-made systems. Pre-made systems with special lights are likely to run you around $1000, though deal hunters may be able to put something together much cheaper.

The downside to hydroponic growing is that you are paying for the light that you would normally get for free from the sun. Not to mention, in a grid down scenario, you lose your light source completely (we will cover strategies for survival electricity in the next installment of this series). But, if you have the ability to produce your own electricity, then indoor growing may be a godsend. Keep in mind that with hydroponics, food growing can be done year around, even in winter. Pests are much easier to control. And, your crops are also much safer from a threat I see rising to the forefront in the near future; GMO pollen. GMO pollen has the ability to “infect” healthy non-hybrid plants and mutate their seedlings. What would happen if your acre of veggies was suddenly hit with a blast of GMO pollens from breeds that use engineered terminator seeds? Say goodbye to next year’s crop, unless you have indoor gardens and extra seeds to back you up…

Sprouting: One easy way to get nutritious greens any time of year without special growing lights or fancy equipment is to sprout beans. All you need is a wide container with small holes in the bottom, and any number of sprouting beans or seeds. These include; lentils, garbanzo, mung, adzuki, pea, peanut, alfalfa, barley, pinto, and others.

The beans are spread in a thin layer across the bottom of the container and sprayed lightly with water daily. Some indirect sunlight is recommended. After around 3 to 5 days, they will begin to sprout, producing healthy greens even in the dead of winter.

The Omnivore’s Advantage

Vegetarianism seems like a spartan way of dieting, but really, vegetarians have a difficult if not impossible time when it comes to survival environments. Vegetarianism is a luxury, one that you cannot afford if you hope to get through a grid down event. The key to survival is flexibility and adaptability. Forgoing a meal of meat is not an option if you wish to avoid starving.

While killing and dismembering Bambi for your stew pot is not the most pleasant of exercises for many, its something all of us might have to get used to very soon. Traditional hunting, though, is not the most practical way of obtaining meat during a collapse, and counting on hunting alone could very well end in empty plates for you and your family on a regular basis. Here are some strategies for making sure that never happens…

Raising Chickens: Chickens are some of the easiest livestock to raise. They require little space. If allowed to roam the yard they practically feed themselves, they lay eggs which are a fantastic source of protein, and, when they stop laying, they can be eaten.

One problem to watch out for with chickens is ‘fowl cholera’. Symptoms include greenish yellow diarrhea, difficulty breathing, swollen joints, darkened wattles. Infected birds die quickly and there is no treatment. Destroy all infected birds, even those that survive (they become carriers and infect new birds immediately). Other diseases and sicknesses usually require some care and warm shelter, while the bird’s immune system takes care of the rest.

Raising Rabbits: Rabbits are another very easy to raise meat source, though they cannot be allowed to roam like chickens and dry warm cages are necessary. As we all know, rabbits breed like there’s no tomorrow, so you will have a never-ending supply of new stock. Rabbit food is relatively inexpensive to store, though veggies from your garden often work just as well. In fact, planting a couple quick producing crops just for your rabbits may be an effective feed source. Rabbits also need clean water regularly, because they dehydrate easily.

Bring The Game To You: Running around the forest with your scoped bolt action may not be the cleverest way to put meat on the table during a collapse, unless you have a lot of well armed buddies to keep watch over you while you lounge in your tree hide for half the day. There is too much wasted time and too many risks involved. During a societal breakdown, sometimes you have to work smarter, not harder.

Bringing the game to you is not so difficult as long as you know what they like. Leaving salt licks and corn on the perimeter of your land will bring deer, and in some places wild pig. Wild flower and clover patches attract rabbits which can then be snared. Wild turkeys like crabapples, beechnuts, and acorns during winter, and clover during spring.

Another more expensive option is to build a small artificial pond on your land. Animals for miles around will congregate there to drink, especially if there are no other streams or lakes nearby.

Don’t Be A Liability

Preparation is not just about you, it is about all the people you save by not becoming part of the problem. The more Americans prep, the less Americans starve in the midst of calamity. Fewer empty stomachs means less fearful minds and less panic when the other shoe drops. In this sense, survival preparation is not a hobby, or a mode of self interest, it is a duty. Frankly, if we care at all about the continuity of our ideals, our belief in freedom and independence, then we should also feel obligated to become more self-sufficient. If the economy were to slip into oblivion tomorrow, would you be a pillar of strength, or just another frantic helpless man-child waiting desperately for a handout from the nearest criminal bureaucracy? Would you be a strong-point in the protection of liberty, or a weak link holding the rest of us back?

The strength of one can have reverberations in the lives of thousands. Preparation makes us strong. Adaptability and knowledge makes us unafraid. Training and experience makes us successful. These are the principles upon which America was founded, and these are the principles which will allow America to live on.

Original Article

Our Captive Nations

We are living in an Orwell novel, so it is not expected that anyone would remember President Ronald Reagan’s war on Libya in 1986. Both Reagan and his vice president Bush were on television daily to decry Libya as a terror state ruled by a wicked dictator, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The US bombing campaign was supposedly in retaliation for the alleged Libyan involvement in an attack on a German disco the previous year.

Gaddafi was certainly the Hitler of the day. In the attack, Gaddafi’s 15-month-old adopted daughter, Hannah, was killed, and his two sons were wounded. Who cared? Hardly anyone because the demonization was intense and unrelenting. Tee shirts all over the country read: "F@#$ Gaddafi" and we heard all about his personal insanity and the wicked despotism he exercised over his own people.

Then, in time, and as always, the campaign died down, and eventually everyone forgot about the new Hitler and his country, just as Americans forget about any country with which they are not at war.


Decades went by. The next time we heard about Gaddafi was in 2003. President Bush joined Tony Blair to praise Libya for agreeing to dismantle a weapons program. It seemed that Gaddafi had moved from Hitler to being a gallant friend in the war on terror. And so it has remained. The Colonel was comfortably in charge and enjoyed a warm relationship with his new friends in Washington and London.

So it is something of a shock to discover that in fact Libya is ruled by a lifetime dictator who, like Mubarak and all his fellow US-backed dictators from North Africa to the Gulf states, is willing to kill and slaughter hundreds and thousands in order to maintain his rule.


The violence against anti-government protesters has been ghastly. The Libyan military has killed hundreds of people, firing not only on peaceful demonstrators but also on people who attend funeral processions in honor of the dead. As many as 800 are wounded and the blood is still flowing. The Colonel then brought out the big guns, tearing down the modern world by blocking the Internet and all communications in and out of the country, kill switch-style. Protesters claim that there is no going back, that this man who has ruled the country since 1969 must go. And surely he must and will.

If we look back at Reagan’s 1986, we can see that it set something of a precedent for the post-Cold War foreign policy of the United States. It was not a war as such. It was a bombing undertaken by the US president alone. It was using the military and international violence in service of a political priority as determined by the executive branch.

Nor was it necessarily ideological. It was conducted with the alleged intention to somehow enact justice against crimes committed and to prevent future crimes by the same state. It was the same notion used only a few years later against Iraq and that now formed the entire foreign-policy theory of the war on terror. Looking back, it now seems obvious that it didn’t work against Libya, for the monster who was in charge then is in charge now, using terror against his own people and in support of his own iron-fisted rule.


In fact, the result is often the opposite. A US bombing or other attack on a country can rally the people behind the leader, just as it has for decades in Cuba. The same happened in Iraq during the 1990s, as US-backed sanctions ended up emboldening government and unifying the country.

The protests sweeping the Arab world show another way. The citizens of these countries are taking their fate into their own hands, just as it should be, and not waiting for others to free them. It is very possible that Libyan citizens will end up unseating the dictator that Reagan did not unseat, and his successors ended up backing.


One of the great shocks that has greeted Americans this year has been to discover, perhaps for the first time, that the US has long been running its own bloc of satellite dictatorships in many parts of the world. Just as the Soviet Union had its "captive nations," so too the US has its own collection of valiant allies who are as wicked and oppressive toward their own peoples as the communist dictators of old.

Americans discovered this only recently due to the massive wave of protests all over the Arab world. Libya is one example. But there is also Egypt and Tunisia, plus Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, and Morocco, Djibouti, and other states, perhaps Saudi Arabia and the UAE too. In each case, a government in the pay and control of the US is facing a population sick of the human rights violations, the oppression, the economic backwardness, the injustice and the attacks on free speech and freedom of movement.

There is a tendency in the US to chalk the entire revolution up to a kind of anti-Americanism or to Muslim fundamentalism, though there is precious little evidence of that at all. If you listen to the speeches and hear the voices of the young, what you hear are the ideas of 1776. It is the language of universal human rights – the very American creed.

The bitter irony for most Americans is the very discovery that our own government has long presided over a collection of client states so cruel and closed that people have no choice but to pour out into the streets en masse, risking life and limb to get rid of pharaoh.

It is a fact: these people hate the tyrants. It is also a fact that these are "our" tyrants. The very existence exposes the gross hypocrisy of US foreign policy.

God bless these protesters. They are losing their chains. They are changing the Arab world – and the whole globe – by destabilizing and overthrowing the dictators. They are not only doing it without US help. They are doing it despite US support for the dictators they oppose. As such, these revolutions can mean more than the overthrow of despots; they can end in overthrowing the despotic policy and empire headquartered in Washington, DC. Want to join me in the streets?

Original Article

The New American Revolution - We Shall Have Our Freedom Today

By NewAmericaNow

You've seen it in Tunesia, you've seen it in Egypt. Welcome to the American version because it starts right here.

My fellow Free Americans, we continue to suffer at the hands of the government that we originally instituted to serve us and improve our lives in our society. Our Government is obviously no longer serving the interests of "We the People", but in fact, serve the interests of others.

Everyday we see how our dysfunctional Government continues it's assault, not only on the innocent of foreign lands with it's Military Industrial Complex but, on the American people themselves through Laws , Executive Orders and Acts that continue to limit freedom in this land.

Many have tried to write their Senators and Congressmen and women, but instead of recording the will of the people, they falsely praised those opposed for supporting something they do not or ignore the dissenting voices altogether as if they do not exist. They arrest peaceful protesters, muzzle journalists that wish to inform, and intimidate those that speak out against the tyranny of our Government.

No matter who we seem to vote for, it is the people they continually act against. The people of this nation have been sold out to the highest bidders and we were not present for the bid. They use our tax dollars to buy cameras to watch and control our moves with our own money, yet in many places, if you video tape an officer of the law in public they will arrest you on wiretapping charges. They "legally", have shipped much of our manufacturing to countries with slave labor conditions only to improve corporate stock portfolio and profit. They have violated food, air, water and all environmental safety also for the sake of profit. They allow financial institutions to steal the assets of it's hard working people through debt created by allowing banks to charge incredibly high interest on money they lend that they do not even have in their possession.

They continue to make it harder for Americans to retire by changing the rules and increasing the taxes on money that was suppose to be yours and was already taxed when they got it in the first place. They tax the poor multiple times on the same money yet allow the very wealthy billionaires to escape paying any taxes at all by assuring us some will trickle down. The list of wrongs goes on and on.

We know, in our heart of hearts, that the US Government no longer works for the American people. The US Government, like many others in the world, now works for the International Banking Interests and Multinational Corporations that contribute to their campaigns and buy their reelection. When our President speaks of "making America more competitive with the world", he does not speak to the American People, he speaks to those elite few who have taken control of our country and assures them that the American people will be making less in the near future, so the profits of those who pull the strings will surely increase. If all else fails they will shift any Corporate loses onto the backs of the American people in the biggest case of theft in human history.

We the American people are also lied to on a daily bases by the Corporate controlled media. We are told inflation is good, unemployment is dropping, we are having a jobless recovery, that it is important to devalue our currency for financial stability, and that consumer confidence is rising in the face of financial ruin. Furthermore, our Government continues to deal with dictators and tyrants around the globe doing their bidding against the people of those lands and makes treaties and agreements with foreign entities in our name, against our very will and lead us closer to a their concept of a New World Order were they would be kings and we would all be their slaves.

The US Government as it is now, continues to violate the highest laws of our land. It violates the Constitution, by having others, like the Federal Reserve, control our money supply and, violate our Bill of Rights, by passing and continually extend legislation like the Patriot Act that allow the American people to be treated like criminals without guilt, probable cause, warrant or due process for what the government describes is for your own safety and good.

The US Federal Government means to license all human behavior and the choices of free men that god himself has given us as human beings including your choices of food and water and even who cuts your hair or bandages your wounds. According to US law, Hippocrates himself would not be allowed to practice medicine. However, we must remember, many terrible things were done in history that were legal.

In his "letter from a Birmingham jail" Martin Luther King jr. wrote about something he called "just" and ‘unjust’ laws. He made a clear distinction between both of them. In his words: "A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law."

We as good people should always fight every unjust law legally at first. That is, when a law is made that is unjust, thus unconstitutional, we should fight it, politically and legally. Once that does not succeed, and once every branch (Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches) acts in breach of the Constitution, thus unjust, thus unmoral, it can only mean the constitutional part of a ‘Constitutional Republic’ is under attack, or no longer exists, which we now know is indeed the case.

"We the People" will no longer acknowledge unjust laws. We will remain peaceful until such time that violent means are employed against us by such an unmoral Government. It is at that moment when we shall defend ourselves as free people with the moral authority given to us by our creator and so help you god we will defend ourselves.

The new Motto for the New American Revolution shall be,

"I am a peaceful soul, but try and take my Liberty and I shall give you Death".

At this moment in history, "We the People", have a responsibility to disobey these unjust and unmoral laws any way we can and stand our ground.

As is stated in our Declaration of Independence, "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness".

We are Peaceful, freedom loving people, some democrats, some republicans, some conservative, some liberals, some progressives and some libertarians, but all of us are 100% American. We are determined to disconnect ourselves from the current corrupt government system and create our own communities and business ventures on our local levels. We can no longer be associated with the crimes of our government today without disgrace.

Governments have always been instituted by people and should derive their just powers from the people, however, our Government has becomes destructive of these ends, and as such, it is our Right to divest ourselves from it and institute new Governments that will serve us best.

The New American Revolution will not be fought with a musket but with Laptops and human resolve.
Using the latest tools of social media, like meetup at http://www.meetup.com/wearefree and others, we will form a new alliance with our fellow Americans to honestly and freely conduct business without having to kiss the ring for approval and license, and slowly but surely divest ourselves of the current dysfunctional and failed government without violence. Come and join the New Revolution. Start a We are Free group in your community. Together, we will form our own business associations, our own legal system, our own defense forces, our own monetary system and we will find our freedom once more.

I ask all who read this to please, get involved and take an active role in your country and communities. Bring people together, get your friends involved, start the discussion with people in your communities. You will be pleasantly surprised by coming together with people who want to make things better. If not for yourselves, then do it for your children's future. Look them in the eye and reassure them that you will do this for them to make a better America and a better world for them and you. Be a part of the best American Movement that will be written about in history books years from now, but we must do this with your help. We must hang together or we shall surely hang separately. What are you waiting for get off the couch and make a difference for tomorrow. Bring things start with small steps. Take that first step now.

Power to the People!

As God is my witness, we shall prevail!

How To Fake An Economic Recovery

By Giordano Bruno

This may be a highly distasteful proposition, but just for a moment, I want you to sit back, and imagine that you are a member of the corporate banking elite. You are a walking talking disease ridden power mad pustule who naively believes himself intellectually superior to the vast majority of humanity and above the inherent laws of conscience, honor, and general good taste. You are a villain in the purest sense, in that you not only do great harm to the world, you actually SEEK to do great harm to the world, if only to benefit yourself and your exclusive circle of “friends”; a clan of degenerate blood thirsty sociopaths with delusions of omnipotence that stalk the night like Armani wearing Chupacabra exsanguinating the joy from poor unsuspecting cultures. You are capable of anything, and sadly, you take “pride” in this fact…

You aren’t “rich” in the traditional sense. You aren’t a “Bill Gates” or a “Donald Trump” (I’m beginning to wonder if Donald Trump is even solvent, or if his entire fortune is a special-effect courtesy of NBC). No, you don’t “make” money, you MAKE the money. You are a global financier. You are a central banker. You create the fiat that the rest of the country uses to sustain its fantasy economy. You dominate trade through monopoly and corporate fraud. You control the flow of currency through an economic system using fractional reserve banking, artificially pegged interest rates, and your ever trusty printing press. You put your substantial monetary clout behind BOTH major political parties, and groom presidential candidates to your globalist standards. Any politician who desires to climb the ladder of power turns to you for assistance, not the voting public. You have a tremendous financial stake in every corporate news provider in the country, if not own them outright. You invite their top reporters to posh banquets, give them unlimited access to prominent social figures and high rollers, and fly them to private alcohol addled orgies in the middle of the California Redwoods (I wish this was all made up). Forget responsible journalism, they love hanging out with you, and would probably write whatever you tell them to.

Now that you have placed yourself in the tight fitting shoes of the “enlightened few”, I want you to imagine that you have engineered an implosion in national credit sectors using ultra-low interest rates to fuel mortgage and derivatives bubbles that would contract at an unprecedented pace once it is revealed to the wider investment world that those equities which they prized only days before are now “toxic”, essentially worthless, due to mass debt defaults on loans which never should have been made in the first place. Yeah, you’re a real dirtbag.

Of course, you aren’t finished yet! Your ultimate goal is centralization, and the key to centralization is to remove all options available to the masses but one; the option which garners you the greatest amount of dominance. A global economic system based on a single world currency and a single unaccountable governing body would be ideal. What would you call this world currency? I don’t know, how about something innocuous sounding like….Special Drawing Rights (SDR’s), which you can then label as a mere “basket of currencies” when it is really a parasitic financial instrument meant to absorb currencies until it replaces them completely:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/markets/dollar/index.htm

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0214/g20-business.html

In order to begin instituting this world currency, you would first need to remove the standing world reserve currency from its exalted position, that currency being the U.S. dollar. This seems rather impossible to many mainstream analysts who cannot fathom the possibility of a breakdown in the mighty Greenback, but you have already set the stage. You have created a progressive debt singularity so immense that no amount of fiat, no amount of taxation, no amount of austerity could ever satiate its hunger. You now have the perfect excuse to print the dollar with wild abandon until its withered, corpsified remains are six feet underground, leaving the door wide open for the tap dancing fast-talking SDR to take its place.

The issue is, how do you convince the general public that all is well until you are ready to unleash hyperinflation and fiscal Armageddon? How do you make them believe with all their hearts that they are not in the midst of a debt meltdown and the end of their financial sovereignty, but basking in a full-on economic recovery?!

You can’t stop wealth destruction now that the avalanche has been set in motion. You can’t stop inflation and dollar devaluation (nor would you want to. Hey, you’re evil incarnate, remember?). The effects on mainstreet are beyond your ability to hide, but, what you CAN manipulate, are the statistics and indices that Americans rely on for psychological comfort. You give everyone a blindfold and a cigarette and you do what you do best; lie!

Here is a step by step guide to fabricating an economic recovery out of thin air….

Don’t Count The Unemployed, Discount Them: Jobless people are a real downer and a pesky nuisance because they represent living breathing proof that a recovery is not taking place. By most standards, a recovery in jobs markets can be claimed if meaningful evidence shows a return to unemployment standards (normal unemployment) set before the recession / depression was triggered. If you are a global banker today, however, this will not do. Instead, you simply change the definition of “normal unemployment”. Thus, the debilitating jobless rate which was originally thought of as “bad”, is now thought of as “natural”. You must then publish long-winded white papers using more subjective statistics devoid of common sense while feigning a logical pretense:

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2011/el2011-05.html

This only satisfies a small portion of the populace, though. Next, you must rig the manner in which unemployment is calculated to always overlook certain subsections of jobless. Never count those people who have been unemployed so long that they no longer receive benefits. Always count people who are underemployed as fully employed, even if they are only able to scrape together ten hours a week through part time McSlavery. After this, change the manner in which raw data on unemployment is actually collected.

First, the Labor Department derives most of its raw data on unemployment not through any traditional mathematical means, but through two separate surveys which are open to wide interpretation; an establishment survey, and a household survey. The establishment survey is what we hear about at the beginning of every month, while the household survey tends to float under the mainstream radar. In 2009 and 2010, the Labor Department deemed the household survey data (a phone driven survey of 60,000 households) “more reliable” for indicating job growth, because it was supposedly accurate in counting small business hiring and self-employment. So, you have two separate surveys (unscientific indicators of employment) combined together to produce a job growth rate number, and an unemployment percentage, both of which represent, at the most, a GUESS on the current state of jobs in this country.

While the establishment survey showed only 36,000 jobs created, the household survey somehow showed around 600,000 new jobs created!?:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

Basically, the BLS is asking you to believe that over 600,000 people either started their own businesses, or were hired by home based businesses in the month of January alone. I’m curious as to where all the capital inflows are coming from to launch such a revolution in home entrepreneurship in the middle of the greatest credit crisis in history. Oh well, if the Labor Department says it’s true, it must be…

The juxtaposition of odd data collection methods is the reason why the government was able to claim a drop from 9.4% to 9% in the jobless rate while announcing only 36,000 jobs created! The household survey has become an incredibly useful tool for generating arbitrary employment data which can be molded to say whatever government officials and central bankers want it to say. Anyone who controls the source data for a calculation controls the outcome of that calculation. It’s that simple.

What I wouldn’t want, if I was the Labor Department, is for some outside independent citizens group to monitor my survey methods while in progress. That would make life for a statistical huckster very difficult indeed.

As Long As Stocks Are Green, The World Is Golden: Near zero interest rates can be very useful if a central bank wishes to throw a tidal wave of fiat into a particular index in order to make it appear healthy. Certainly, the Fed has avoided admitting to any manipulation of the stock market. QE measures are all “above the board”, and all is well in Bernanke’s Mayberry. A question arises here though that desperately begs to be answered; if the stock market’s meteoric rise from near destruction to the 12,000 point mark is “real”, and completely in tune with a legitimate recovery, then why is the Fed still keeping interest rates at near zero after almost three years, and why are they continuing quantitative easing measures? Could it be that without constant liquidity injections from the Fed, the stock market would once again collapse like a wet paper sack? We know that in 2009, it was revealed that bailout funds which were supposed to go towards muting the effects of toxic bank assets were actually being pumped into the equities of healthy banks instead, meaning,the money has not been allocated to the areas promised:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1436061/more_shocking_news_on_2009_bailout.html

We also know that top hedge fund managers have openly stated that stocks will remain bullish because QE funds are propping up the market:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tepper-tells-cnbc-fed-will-prop-up-market-2010-09-24

And, frankly, if you are a global banking cartel intent on keeping the American people in the dark, it makes perfect sense to prop up stocks. A Dow in the green is like a mass dose of fiscal lithium; it calms investors into a stupor. Even people who are otherwise unconcerned about economics will keep track of the Dow as if it is a solid indicator of their personal financial safety. A great test would be to observe market reactions to a Federal Reserve interest rate hike and a freezing of QE in order to counter inflation. Will the Dow stand on its own two feet then? I seriously doubt it, but then again, I don’t know that the Fed will ever raise interest rates again…

Inflation? What Inflation?: Unmitigated inflation spells doom for any society. It’s like some monetary based animal instinct deep down in our collective unconscious. The moment we hear the word “inflation” or see prices rise dramatically, we revert to survival mode and begin honing our mammoth bone battle mallets. Governments and central banks throughout history have made it their top priority to hide the effects of inflation from the citizenry at all costs.

To mask inflation is nearly impossible, especially where commodities and base goods are concerned. That’s why our government and private central bank calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI) without counting food or energy. Most grains and crude oil have doubled in price over the past year alone, and this does not reflect well on the safety of the dollar, or the effectiveness of liquidity measures by the Fed. China, whose inflation is but a prequel to our own, is also distancing food and energy price surges from its CPI numbers, giving the false impression of leveling markets:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/china-lowers-weighting-surging-food-prices-cpi

Corporate retail chains have a tendency to absorb rising prices of base goods to avoid alienating their customer foundation, hoping that the increases are temporary. When retailers realize that prices are not going to drop back down, they eventually relent, and shelf costs skyrocket. The bottom line is clear; overall worldwide food averages were up over 28% in 2010:

http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/FoodPricesIndex/en/

Crude oil prices continue to hover near the $90 mark even though inventories are at a 20 year high:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gasoline-inventories-jump-20-year-high-gas-price-surges

The World Bank is now warning of possible disasters (which they helped create) in the wake of “dangerous price levels”:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/15/us-worldbank-food-idUSTRE71E5H720110215

Our government’s response? Complete denial that there is any significant threat of inflation. Denial that overprinting of the dollar and its subsequent devaluation has anything to do with rising prices. Scapegoating everything from weather, to speculators, to the fake “recovery” itself for price spikes. The longer they keep the terminology of inflation out of the mainstream, the less Americans are likely to prepare for an onslaught of the dollar.

Create Debt To Pay Off Debt: This is pretty self explanatory. If foreign investors want nothing to do with you, your explosive national debt, or your depreciating currency, where is your government going to get the money to continue spending like a drunken trophy wife at Macy’s? If you default, the jig is up, and no one will buy your recovery yarns. Instead, print even more fiat and use it to purchase your own Treasury bonds! This serves two purposes; first, it props up the federal bureaucracy which gives the impression of stability (at least for a time), and, it furthers your goal of squeezing the dollar like a grape.

Remove All Checks And Balances: If you plan on decimating an economy, you can’t very well have people pointing fingers at you while you do it. That would be inconvenient. It’s funny, but for years, ratings agencies like Moodys helped global banks facilitate the mortgage and derivatives crisis by categorizing worthless assets as AAA securities. Without them, no one would have invested in such garbage in the first place, and the banking fraud would have been immediately exposed. Now that ratings agencies are finally doing their job and downgrading the creditworthiness of banks and countries that possess extreme liabilities, the SEC is moving to marginalize them:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/09/us-financial-regulation-creditraters-idUSTRE7180OD20110209

Interesting that as the U.S. nears a possible credit downgrade, we suddenly no longer care what ratings agencies have to say.

The SEC in itself is one enormous joke, and in no way a practical overseer of banking activity. The organization has shown itself to be either fantastically incompetent, or deliberately indifferent to ongoing financial fraud. I never thought I would find myself agreeing with a cretin like Bernie Madoff, but according to the middle-weight Ponzi artist, global banks he dealt with, like JP Morgan and HSBC, had to be perfectly aware of the scam he was undertaking, otherwise, it could not have been possible:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/us-madoff-interview-idUSTRE71F0QD20110216

Likewise, the SEC’s complete lack of proper investigation into such activities turned Wall Street into a globalist playground where much bigger conmen than Madoff have nested and bred like fleas. It’s not that the system needs more regulation, or more legal wrangling; this would accomplish nothing, because the system is regulated by the criminals! Therefore, new laws can be enacted in concert, and the government can deem the system reformed and recovered, all while the underlying corruption remains untouched. If the poison that instigated the fall of the markets is not uprooted, treachery will continue to reign supreme, and healthy markets a childish illusion.

The Creeping Terror

Two years ago I was in my local Borders bookstore and noticed that they had downsized their stock selection by what looked to be nearly a third. I made a point to ask if this was a chain wide phenomenon. Most employees I talked with said yes. I then asked if they had begun cutting employee hours by significant margins and specifically laying off longtime workers that had built up substantial pay increases. Again, the consensus was yes. Finally, and most importantly, did Borders discuss these changes with their staff in a manner that was informative and open, or, was there a lot of confusion amongst employees as to what exactly was going on? The response was that they were overwhelmingly bewildered by Borders’ lack of clear communication as to the direction of the corporation.

My suggestion to them was to start looking for another job, because their company was about to declare bankruptcy. They, of course, denied this was remotely likely:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704329104576138353865644420.html

It may sound like a stretch, but the reason I bring up Borders’ impending chapter 11 is because, to me, it represents a microcosm of the creeping nature of economic collapse, especially when that collapse is being wielded and delegated.

Borders has been on the verge of default for quite a while. Did they refuse to relay this information openly to their employees because they selfishly wanted to maintain profit margins just a little longer until they were ready to pull the plug? Of course! Do global bankers with aspirations of a centralized currency keep the true destabilization of the market spectrum and the coming international dollar dump to themselves because in the end they will benefit from our shock and awe? Of course!

Whether a person loses everything all at once, or a piece at a time, the end result is the same, however, there is something especially cruel in the idea of fiscal theater; the act of inspiring false hope that a financial environment is sound when it has, in truth, already suffocated. Why would our modern day robber barons put so much energy into constructing a fake recovery? There are many reasons, but first and foremost, to create apathy. To lure us towards inaction. To swindle us into assuming the storm will blow over, and all will return as it was. Unfortunately, recovery without intense restructuring of our economic system is impossible. The fundamentals do not support the suggestion in the slightest. The question is, who will be at the helm when the dust settles and this restructuring does eventually occur? Will the American people take the lead, as they should, and commit to a concrete free market rejuvenation of our financial environment? Or, will we sit back yet again, and let the banksters set us up for the next grand disaster?

Original Article

The Coming Economic Revolution in the United States

By Gordon Anderson

While we watch revolutions for political democracy in Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, we are distracted from thinking about the revolution aimed at economic democracy growing in the United States. This revolution, symbolized by the Tea Party, is leading a growing demand for restructuring the taxation and spending habits of the United States and the individual states within it. This movement is pushing for reform in the United States, but it is more likely to be an economic revolution than a political one.

The Collapse in Russia in 1991

Having visited Russia over a dozen times before, during, and after the changes for 1989-1992, I witnessed the growing unrest in young people who graduated from college and could not get work. When the Russian revolution came, it was a political revolution aimed at ending the state control of the economy by an elite ruling class known as the nomenklatura that was disenfranchising youth as those with positions selfishly hung onto them with tenacity. The elite had special shops, fashion shows, and hotels while state-run stores that served the common citizen had empty shelves and long lines. It was a society with a visibly growing double standard in which the elite were self-absorbed and inattentive to the needs of their children’s generation.

No new jobs were being created within the official economy and those who could not find work within the system created an alternative economy, a black market. In the outlying areas, I saw people living on farms with pigs, chickens, and outhouses in their back yards, living a nineteenth-century subsistence lifestyle almost as if communism had never happened. The 1991 economic collapse finally came when social security payments, military payments, and other entitlements led to bankruptcy. In less than a year the Ruble went from being worth over $4.00 to less than a quarter of a cent.

After the collapse, the black market essentially became a legal market. Pensioners were suddenly bankrupt as the rubles under their mattresses were essentially useless. I saw 80 year old retirees out on the streets selling their furniture, their war medals, and anything of value they had accumulated over their life. Military men, not receiving paychecks for months or years, sat across from the parliament in silent protest.

This was a new Russia and youth were in control. But it was also a time of anarchy. I had advocated converting the soldiers to policing the economy to avoid the rise of gangs and the mafia that predictably arose in conditions of lawlessness. The son of one of my professor-friends became a protection-racket enforcer in the absence of genuine police. Much like Italy after World War II, if Russians did not pay a protection fee, their cows were shot or their businesses looted or burned to the ground. Many of the nomenklatura managed to deed state industries and resources over to themselves.

The study of history and the knowledge of human motivation and incentive could both predict and prevent this outcome. However, Americans threw their hands in the air, rejoicing, saying “freedom and capitalism won.” We failed to help the Russians, because for the most part, Americans did not understand how many of the very same forces were at work at home.

This Situation in the United States

If you study the conditions in the United States today, you will find many of the same problems related to our out-of-control budget existed in Russia as they faced their crisis prior to the 1991 collapse. We have a different kind of elite ruling class, not a nomenklatura that developed from among Stalin’s trusted men and their descendants, but an elite that has achieved position and wealth through consolidation of political and economic power in other ways

Our grandparents and great-grandparents managed a complete end run around the Constitution by the following:

1. enabling combined legislation in both houses, eliminating the checks and balances established against special interest legislation.



2. usurpation of federal power over the states through the Civil War, the civil war amendments, and the prevention of Texas’ secession in 1865.



3. The creation of corporatocracy through late nineteenth-century Supreme Court rulings.



4. Gaining federal control over individuals through income taxes and the 16^th Amendment ,



5. The elimination of State representation in Washington with the 17^th amendment, bringing to a final end “a union of states.”



6. The creation of state dependency on the federal government through aid beginning in the 1920s.



7. The creation of individual dependency on the federal government though aid beginning with the New Deal.

Today the United States is a modern bureaucratic state that in many ways suffers from the same bloated government as Russia, we have created what Max Weber called the “iron cage of bureaucracy,” trapped in bureaucratic agencies of our own making. Our bureaucracies grew from different ideological starting points, but ended up with people with the same human nature ogling them for job security at the expense of productive taxpayers. They sit aloof from the electoral process, largely isolated from citizen control, often with independent businesses or dedicated taxes to fund them. Who regulates these regulators? Mainly the people they are supposed to regulate.

Today we have an elite class, an American nomenklatura, in which the largest corporations, financial institutions, and government have become inextricably intertwined. Taxes breaks are provided for mergers and acquisitions that kill small companies and competition, and regulations are enacted that prevent competitive start-up industries from having a chance. Taxpayers bailout failed financial institutions and car manufacturers.

The Federal Budget just proposed by President Obama contains a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit. This deficit, which shows complete lack of self-control by the federal government, contains a gap of $12,000 for each taxpayer in America. In addition, in my state of Minnesota, Governor Mark Dayton’s budget contains as $1,500 deficit for each Minnesotan. Such budget proposals are irresponsible and unconscionable, causing citizens to become overwhelmingly oppressed by their own government. I certainly feel trapped in an iron cage of bureaucracy.

The Rise of the Tea Party

As in Egypt, Russia, and elsewhere those Americans that have little opportunity, or those oppressed from taxes and moving from middle-classes to lower-classes, those losing jobs and or houses, are saying they have had enough. The real estate bubble that was clearly a result of bad government collusion with bad bank lending practices spawned the rise of the Tea Party from among Americans previous not interested in politics, but now interested because their future clearly depends on change, and not the type of change the elites of either political party have been promoting.

Are today’s opportunities for American college graduates really that much different from a Russian college in 1985? Listen to what Walter Hudson, a security guard in is 30s and chair of the Tea Party Patriots in Minnesota has to say:

This is the plight of my generation, the new thirty-something, today’s young parent. Among my circle of friends, there isn’t a single person who could come here before you and express something resembling peace of mind. None of us expect the pay-as-you-go entitlements of today to be there for us tomorrow. Slowly but surely, we’ve begun to wake to the ponzi scheme that we’re on the bottom of. We work, not for ourselves, not for our children, but to pay off the debts of our elders. We do so wondering how it is that any parent could look into the eyes of their child and see a piggy bank. What kind of person would take from their own children?–Walter Hudson

Walter went on to outline the goals of his Tea Party chapter:

• Judicial Reform



• Voter ID



• Reduce Government



• Educational Reform



• Right to Work



• Teaching the Constitution

Having four children of my own, two of whom are in college and two that graduated (one is living back at home), I am quite aware that like for Walter Hudson, their opportunities are less than for my generation. They live in a more crowded and more indebted society with higher unemployment rates and fewer high-paying jobs for college graduates. These conditions have been created by increasingly irresponsible use of power and money.

These conditions escalated under the Bush administration and have accelerated even faster under the Obama administration. Under Bush, 4 private-sector workers had to pay for one public sector worker. Under Obama that number is approaching 3 private sector workers to support one public sector worker. Using the flawed philosophy that creating government jobs can help the overall economy, and that we need to protect our national interests with a huge military empire, the current government policies are creating conditions very similar to those that brought down the Soviet Union.

Tea Party Patriot sign

I remember having lunch in Moscow in 1989 with the general who was in charge of Russia’s occupation of Afghanistan, and listening to professors at the University of Kalinin (now Tver) complaining about why they had to support unthankful Muslim states in the southern portion of the Soviet Union. These discussion are not unlike those you hear from Ron Paul or Jason Lewis in the United States today, and a large segment of the Tea Party is in agreement.

The Tea Party is not a cohesive political party, and Tea Party Partriots are not the only group that claim the Tea Party name. You have political isolationists, political adventurists, crackpots fixated on various minutiae, and people from all different religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds. You have neo-cons and big oil pushing Sarah Palin to take it over. Ron Paul would like to take it over and reestablish a gold monetary standard. Michelle Bachman would like to take it over so that her lobbyists could influence its direction. All these leaders and groups recognize one thing–the middle class has been hurt and pushed around by either big government, big business, or both. Thus, the Tea Party is a messenger, it is a bearer of the message of the need of economic and political reform, and lots of established people living off the corrupted system want to “kill the messenger.” It is the same reason some people want to kill Wikileaks or the internet.

Will the U.S. Revolution be Political or Economic?

The revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt or the former Soviet Union, or even Iran were fueled by popular movements for more freedom and for less oppression by elites or neo-colonial masters that were ripping off large amounts of wealth. These reforms were largely to throw out leaders with dictatorial powers and establish democratic reforms, often inspired by the original Constitution of the United States.

The United States already threw off its English masters in the Revolutionary War, and its problems have been largely caused by gradually moving away from founding principles and failing to properly regulate financial institutions and the government relationship to money. In this sense U.S. reforms will need to largely be a restoration of the democratic principles and checks and balances that have been lost or fallen in disarray, combined with economic and political reforms that end corporate/government relationships much the way church and state have been seperated.

These reforms will primarily call into question the 16th and 17th amendments, the prohibition on the right of states to secede, the secrecy of the Federal Reserve system, the concept of government borrowing, the concept of federal government sponsored education or research, the need for the CIA and many other agencies that seem to spend a lot of money in order to only have negative results, the idea of taxing labor rather than consumption that send jobs overseas and subsidizes foreign-made goods, and the list goes on.

In the meantime, we ought to be thinking about a peaceful revolution in the U.S. that is less dramatic than foreign campaigns for democracy and enacted through legislation in Washington.

The American revolution will largely be related to economic policy. Two of the key reforms would be making combined legislation illegal, and creating an amendment as follows: “Congress shall make no laws regarding the establishment of business, nor prevent the free exercise thereof.” A third area will be moving beyond both classical and Keynesian economic theories to add viable theories of land, labor, and money to the principle of supply and demand.

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10 Tips to Simplify or Survive During Hard Times

Many of us are caught in the precarious position of being intellectually aware that we are heading into a worsening economy with signs of a looming global food crisis, and feel as though we must simplify or streamline our lifestyle to prepare for possible disruptions in our standard of living. In a world where consumption has become a sport, you may actually find it more satisfying to shed some material weight. Even if your financial situation is not too dire, it is still a sensible idea to keep preparedness in mind.

An increasing segment of the population is already feeling the pinch from losing a job, while the cost of living continues to increase. This group has no choice but to get creative in the way they manage their limited resources for optimal survival. The key to becoming a content minimalist/survivalist is to develop the most efficient ways to provide for basic necessities. The goal is simple: reduce your daily, weekly, and monthly expenses without giving up items that keep you sane.

We can look at the extreme examples like The Moneyless Man, Mark Boyle, for inspiration. His book is an essential guide into the techniques, as well as the lifestyle that has enabled him to live completely and happily off the grid, without money, for more than 2 years. His radical path is not one that many people would choose, however he proves that you can survive with very little money if that is your goal.

Outlined below are some relatively painless and often rewarding tips to survive hard times on a shoestring, or to free up additional funds for discretionary spending.

Turn Off the TV: Why does anyone with an Internet connection still pay for TV service? You can get your news and sports fix, and find all of your favorite movies and shows online. The rest is just expensive noise. Join the growing trend and cut out your paid TV service. You’ll find the financial savings is just a minor part of the benefits to unplugging. If you absolutely need to watch your favorite team’s important games, you may have to get to know your neighbors or socialize at a friend’s house.

Make Your Own: With the TV now turned off, we’ll have plenty of time to produce things we would normally purchase. Our modern world of conveniences has stripped much of our knowledge of how to support ourselves. One of the costliest and least healthy areas of our daily lives are cleaning and personal care products. Using very basic ingredients you can minimize most toxic chemicals in your household, as well as save money for items that help optimize your simplicity. Personal care products such as soap, shampoo, and deodorant are simple and cheap to make at home. Three ingredients to keep on hand; baking soda, distilled vinegar, and Dr. Bronners.

Minimize Transportation: Cars are one the most expensive items we think we need to be functional or happy. They’ve also become one of those staple luxury items that shows your status in society. Let this illusion go; it’s far more important to have your simplicity and the extra savings. Understandably, personal vehicles are necessary in many areas that have inadequate or no public transportation, and cars also represent a tool of trade, as well as personal freedom. But if your family has multiple cars, consider if it is feasible to eliminate one of them. If not, budget and plan wisely for limiting all costs related to the car; fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc.

Reduce Household Energy Use: Conserving energy is one of the most obvious ways to reduce monthly bills. The topic has been written about and promoted for years. You already know the easy stuff like turning off lights, turning the hot-water heater down or off when not in use. But now it’s finally time to get conscious of your precise energy use and begin to turn the meter back using all tactics. Look into supplementing with solar power or other alternative sources to become as self-sufficient as possible.

Produce Your Own Food: The most important step that anyone can take, immediately, is to design a simple garden. With 15% to 20% of the average household budget spent on food, and prices skyrocketing everyday, discovering ways to prepare for food inflation is vital to survival. A low-cost way of producing food off-the-grid is always a great investment no matter the economic conditions. Nearly everyone can engage in some level of food production to save money and increase independence.

Boycott Big Box Stores: There’s a belief that big box stores like Wal-Mart provide the only option available to those on a tight budget who need to get cheap items. Although Wal-Mart does indeed sell many items at low prices, a recent study shows that Wal-Mart stores have repeatedly destabilized the economy of local communities where they are located. Therefore, we should consider the larger picture and support small, local businesses in our quest for simplicity. We also should do our best to avoid frivolous boredom shopping altogether, which big box stores encourage, and resist our culture’s tendency to to make unnecessary impulse purchases based solely on an item’s “special” price.

Buy Local: If we hope to restore prosperity to our communities, and ourselves, we can start by supporting truly local producers instead of mega-corporations. In many cases you’ll find that essential items like food, used tools, and other items can be found far cheaper than at big box stores — if not free. You can begin giving true support to your local community, while obtaining healthier food, by searching for farmers markets and family farms close to where you live. Local Harvest has a database that can be searched by zip code. By connecting with a local farmer, you can obtain healthier produce, often at a much lower cost, while strengthening your local economy.

Foraging: We should re-learn the ability to forage. There is no shame in foraging and many items can be found in our throw-away culture. Even if you can afford to buy something new, discovering a vintage used item for less, or perhaps free, is something to be extremely proud of. This isn’t middle school anymore where you must have shiny new brand name items to be accepted. Your current friends won’t disown you for being more frugal. In fact, when they see your pride of accomplishment on an amazing deal or find, they will likely be envious. As they say, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Happy hunting!

Freecycle Bartering: Beyond the “green” trappings of the Freecycle Movement lies the heart of the best survival technique of all: cooperation. According to Recycling Group Finder, there are nearly 5,000 groups with over 8 million members in 85 countries looking to trade or give away items that are otherwise may be destined for the landfill. On Mark Boyle’s website, Just For The Love of It, he has a wealth of resources to live within what he has termed the Freeconomy. Here you can meet people, learn skills, trade tools and survival items, and even write about your own experiences to help educate others.

Do it Yourself: If you absolutely must have your nails manicured or get frequent haircuts, why not do them yourself? Is it that important to have a “professionally” groomed hairdo? Determine what services that you pay for that can be done yourself. Mow your own lawn, wash your own car and change your own oil; hand wash your dishes instead of piling them into the dishwasher; and learn other new skills for increased self-sufficiency.

Original Article

The Alternative Market Project: A Sneak Preview

By Brandon Smith (aka Giordano Bruno)

If you want something done right, you might well have to do it yourself. We’ve heard the old adage before, but rarely do we ever seem to apply it to our economic environment. Instead, we have seen fit to allow “smarter” men to take the reigns, and take control, of our financial well being, all on misplaced faith in the supposed good intentions of government and corporate bodies. This cultural attitude of non-involvement in the economic decision making process has cost millions of Americans their jobs and now threatens the stability of our currency, our nation, not to mention our very future. Many of us have become entirely dependent on only a handful of men for our own livelihoods. It is time to take greater stock in ourselves, our ingenuity, and our ability to create and adapt. It is time to take responsibility for our own commerce, and breathe life back into local communities once again. It is time for an alternative…

The greatest threat to the U.S. economy today is forced globalization and the fiat central banking system. Many organizations are working to expose, audit, and even shut down the private Federal Reserve, which is responsible in large part for facilitating the mortgage and derivatives crisis as well as the continued devaluation of our dollar. This is a vital effort that requires the utmost support from all facets of the Liberty Movement. However, there is another matter that needs to be addressed in tandem with any endeavor to remove our destructive central banking system…

Much of the damage that can be inflicted on our economy has already been dealt. As neithercorp and many other websites devoted to honest financial analysis have shown time and again, our fiscal structure is teetering on the brink of oblivion, our so called “recovery” is a façade fed by skewed statistics and rivers of fiat money dumped into banks and stocks, and our purchasing power is being crushed by a deliberate campaign to slow-kill the greenback. Only now are greater signs of this disaster being revealed to the masses as real unemployment remains essentially static and prices of base goods skyrocket. Even with a successful initiative launched against the Federal Reserve, we would still be left with a faulty, crumbling, debt based architecture. We can pull the iceberg from our shattered ship, but the ship is still going to sink.

The key to our survival is not only to go after the culprits who have carpet bombed us, but to also build a better system to shield us from any financial shrapnel that might be hurled our way.

Ironically, the solution to this seemingly complex series of economic dominoes is one which we were supposed to be following from the very beginning. The alternative we seek against extreme centralization of markets is to develop truly free markets! That is to say, if we wish to fight back against the globalist feudalism thrust upon us, we must decentralize markets and rebuild local commerce and trade.

Centralization works by removing all options but those the establishment deems acceptable. To counter centralization, we must offer Americans a new option that supplies those necessities which the corrupt system denies them; including meaningful community, sound money, honest trade, independence, and privacy. With this philosophy in mind, neithercorp will be working with Oath Keepers, as well as other interested groups, to focus our energies on building new and flexible free markets from the ground up.

Here are the steps we will take to make this happen…

Launch A Dedicated Website: This step is already nearly finished and the launch will be announced shortly. The new website will be focused completely on promoting self generating barter and trade systems across the country. Our goal is not to control or to dictate to alternative markets. In fact, our goal is to make certain that no one organization or entity EVER centralizes these community based networks. Our single purpose is to help as best we can each community to grow to its full potential. Website functions will include…

- A social networking option (like Facebook, but useful). Barter networks will be able to set up local and state chapters, meet like minded people in order to expand, and advertise their own trading events. Small business owners can set up profiles, gain free advertising, and increase their customer base while providing liberty minded consumers with a place besides Wal-Mart to shop. (Note: by setting up a profile on the alternative market website, small business owners would be inferring that they are likely to accept gold, silver, or barter as payment).

- Informative articles and videos by experts in their field. We will seek out the best teachers in the movement to contribute articles and essays meant to show you how you can set up and maintain a successful trade network. At launching, we will have articles by Stewart Rhodes, Cassandra Anderson, myself, and a new interview with G. Edward Griffin. We will also be putting out the call to anyone who feels they have exceptional knowledge in a particular skill or trade to contribute their own instructional articles or videos on the subject. The most concise submissions will be published on the website and the experts may be invited to participate in alternative market workshops and conventions, to share their knowledge in a hands-on environment.

- News collation. We will dig out those mainstream news items that fly under the radar (or are deliberately buried), so that you stay up to date on all the economic developments that the MSM tries so desperately to hide.

Promote The American Skill Set: Our next step will be to greatly strengthen the skill sets of the average American. This means teachers from every state and city will be needed to share their knowledge or “free market trade” with others, giving each person at least one or two skills useful in a barter economy or a poor economic environment. Candle making, textiles, alternative energy, efficient gardening, gun repair, electronics repair, home security, and numerous other trades should be taught and cross-taught.

Strengthen Farmers Co-ops: Food production is vital, especially in an inflationary environment. Farms that seek independence away from the Monsanto dominated GMO model must be supported and protected. We will work with interested farmers groups who are willing to participate in a gold, silver, and barter based system. They provide free market participants with healthy fresh foods, and we provide them with an extensive new customer base. If methods are applied properly, everyone wins.

Nurture Integrity In Trade: The current standard of sales and trade in America is to “scam” others out of money. To “hustle” ones way to wealth. If one cannot produce a quality product, then one must lie about its quality in order to sell it. We hope to reverse this trend and promote a philosophy of quality, which in the long run will nurture legitimate trust and support a much healthier and more vibrant economy. The most successful barter groups will be those that have established trust in one another. Pre-existing organizations like church groups, farmer’s market groups, etc, will start out strong in the initial stages of their new barter economy, because they already know each other well.

Bring Back Gold And Silver As Currency: This has already begun in some areas. Gold and silver represent the only viable currency alternative to fiat paper. While they should not be the only option available (fiat will probably have to be included as a trading option until the dollar fully disintegrates), they should be brought back to prominence in the face of the declining dollar and inflation. This begins by encouraging small business and independent traders to use gold and silver as a standard preferable to dollars. Alternative market businesses could offer discounts on goods to those who wish to pay in gold and silver, or, even give their employees the option of being compensated in gold and silver. As barter markets grow, many businesses will likely adopt precious metals trade, whether they are aware of the alternative market movement or not, in order to remain competitive.

Support State Sovereignty And 10th Amendment Issues: The Alternative Market Project will wholeheartedly support any legislators who show an aptitude for free market ideas and who are aware of the dangers of globalism. This includes mobilizing trade networks to vote for strong anti-Federal Reserve, pro-States Rights candidates. We will strengthen public support for any state legislation that works towards sound money and freer citizens. We will also encourage participants to run for office themselves. As Alternative Market groups progress, our voting potential could be quite formidable at the local level, which is where all changes to government really begin.

Workshops And Conventions: As more revenues are accrued through donations, dynamic workshops will be held in every state. The goal here is to give barter network participants hands on experience in various skill sets as well as new ideas to further trade proficiency. But also, most importantly, to get people away from their computers, out of their homes, and interacting with each other in a constructive way. The internet is a fantastic communications tool, but not a very effective community building tool. Eventually, we must step outside in the sunlight, and start talking to one another face-to-face.



Obstacles Down The Road

There will be, of course, many obstacles to consider if the Alternative Market Project sees success, especially in the “mainstream”.

Globalist legislation will be enacted. Already, attacks have been made on private trade, including the recent food safety bill which could be interpreted by officials as a restriction on personal garden and small farm commerce, attacks on garage sales, attacks on gold and silver coining, and even attacks on the Amish! There will come a point when we will have to ask ourselves whether certain laws are ‘just’. Whether they are helpful, or harmful, to Americans. If they are not just, and not helpful, then they should be ignored. It’s as simple as that.

Co-option is another threat. With the proliferation of any grassroots movement, establishment proponents will seek to beat back the tide. When this fails, they will seek to take it over. The easiest way to discern if a movement is being co-opted is to examine where the control is being delegated. If decision making is left in the hands of individuals, and the leadership seeks to teach, not dominate, then the movement is probably sound. If decision making is being centralized into the hands of a few “members” of the movement, if their voice drowns out all others, and the leadership seeks the power to dictate and micro-manage the movement, then this is a sure sign of co-option. Funding from globalist sources like corporations or particular foundations is another warning signal.

How could this possibly happen in a barter economy? I have already seen organizations sprouting up in Europe, some funded by foundations like the World Wildlife Fund (globalist funded), which seek to enact barter economies based on “digital credits”. This is a perfect example of a centralization campaign, because it desires to force all trade through a middle-man who commands the flow of wealth (in this case, digital fiat). The middle-man is entirely unnecessary in any barter transaction, his only purpose is to monitor and control the rate and types of transactions taking place. I guarantee, globalist run barter networks similar to the European model I described will be railroaded into the mainstream in response to alternative market initiatives. The drive will be to use their vast resources and media clout to give the illusion of “respectability”, and to seduce Americans into yet another centralized system.

Another threat is that of pigeonholing. By labeling Alternative Market participants as “extremists”, “homegrown terrorists”, “kooks”, and any other multitude of false associations, the establishment will strive to discredit barter networks, silence their dissent, and dissuade new people from joining the movement. Examples might even be made. Arrests of regular people merely for private trade may occur in order to chill participation. These measures should be expected and treated in the way they should be treated; as distractions.

The consequences of NOT pursuing solid, decentralized trade are far more terrifying than anything our disingenuous bureaucracy can dish out. Not having a replacement system ready in the wake of a severe collapse would create mass panic. When people have nowhere to turn for safety, they allow fear to take over. When men are afraid, they WILL accept all kinds of atrocities, and they WILL hand over their freedoms to anyone who promises them relief.

To those who subscribe to the “virtue of selfishness” ideal, and believe that they only need take care of themselves while the rest of the world burns, all I can say is good luck. Without honorable systems in place to counter globalization, I’m not really sure what these people plan to live for. Weathering the storm only to be subject to the whims of tyrants afterwards is not true survival.

In Summary…

What has been presented here is not a new methodology. Independent trade networks have been used as a form of revolution and to offset the implosions of faulty financial systems for centuries. This means that they are tried and true. During the Great Depression, over 200 complex barter networks with 300,000 members were instituted in the state of California alone. In times of distress, people inevitably turn back to barter. The problem is that most often these networks are established after the fact, instead of before a calamity takes place. We seek to remedy this error. By constructing alternative markets before an event, we preempt the terror it creates, and make government interventions like Martial Law completely inapplicable. Without a frightened public, DHS does not have a reasonable excuse to activate Northcom (they may well do so anyway, but in that situation, their true intentions would be fully exposed, especially to military men and women who would only follow such orders if they thought the American people were in actual danger).

Preemption in barter markets also allows Americans to make a choice. By offering a better choice, we take participation away from the central banking system, and thus, we take away their power to influence our lives. Only good can come from cultivating independent commerce.

This has been a sneak peek into a project we have been developing for many months; one which we feel could be of great assistance to the Liberty Movement as a whole. Further details will be made available in the next two weeks including the official launch of the project website. I would like to thank Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers for persuading me to undertake this venture myself. I had always planned for more prominent figures in the movement to grab the idea and run with it, but this, in a sense, would be deferring certain responsibilities, which would make me a bit of a hypocrite. I can say that though I am not the most recognizable name or face in the movement, I am relentlessly and viciously stubborn, and absolutely nothing will deter me from making this project a reality. I would also like to thank the Liberty Movement itself, for changing my life and so many other lives for the better. I hope I can one day repay the favor…

Slick image and AMM Seal designed by Josh Ogden.

You can contact Giordano Bruno at: giordano@neithercorp.us

Original Article