Monkeyfister

I was (oviously) FURIOUS at the scuttling of the Closing on this place as a result of the new appraisal. It seemed that the Seller was ready to throw in the towel.

I asked for a MASSIVE favor from one of my dearest friends at the Bartcop Forum, who has decades of experience in Real Estate. She, bless her heart, agreed to get involved, and took hold of the wheel for me, as I was simply too exhausted to drive this beast anymore.

The Lender and I fed her all of the information, she took it in, and devised a plan, to which the Lender and I were amenable. She called the Seller, explained the situation-- Housing Market tanking, property values dropping, I'm willing to pay, no other buyer in line... etc.

Sidebar: Amongst the odd things with this house, is that it is scaled for a shorter person-- I'm 5'7" tall, and the lights of the ceiling fans are less than an inch above my head. ANYONE of the average 6' 0" stature, would risk getting their foreheads WHACKED by the fan blades...

After nearly two days, the Seller has written, and is amenable to the new deal, with some minor tweaks.

I sent those tweaks to Obi Loan Kenobi and my friend--- ummmmm: Real Estate Yoda(?) for review.

We're not out of the woods, but, the train is back on the track, and not headed for the ravine, just yet.

UPDATE: (hopefully not premature) Real Estate Yoda says, "You are soon to be a HAPPY home owner." Waiting on Obi Loan Kenobi...

Note To Skippy: I sent you an email with a certain woman's Contact Information... THAT is real estate Yoda... She is INCREDIBLE, and will do WONDERS for you... Follow her lead, and you will not go wrong.

UPDATE II: So the Seller has sent back that he wants me to pay ALL of the Closing Costs-- Not quite Legal, AND he wants to strip the house of "furniture" (undefined what furniture actually means-- I envision Cousin Darryl sittin' down on the wood stove, and declaring, "Well, lookey here-- this here stove is a CHAIR!!!!,") so, I countered that neither of those options are in the realm of reality.

Today, I opened up lines to other Real Estate agents, to find a new property, and talked to my Property Manager into burying my 30-Day Notice.

Just waiting right now.. Mister Seller, who DEMANDED an immediate Closing is the one dragging his feet... Note to Seller--- STOP LISTENING TO COUSIN DARRYL... I'll GIVE you most of that ugly furniture... Just move to Close, already.


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Labels: American Dreamblogging, Homeownership

Worth a look...

(PDF) via ABC News International

[a] young captain serving in Iraq's violent Al Anbar Province has offered a simple explanation of what the problem was in Iraq and how to solve it. Among his observations is the importance of having a moustache in Iraq.

In a military known for its sleep-inducing, graphically dizzying PowerPoint presentations, the young captain's presentation, which has been unofficially circulating through the ranks, stands out. Using stick figures and simple language, it articulates the same goal as the president's in Iraq.

The creator of this PowerPoint presentation, "How to Win in Al Anbar," was Capt. Travis Patriquin.

But Patriquin will not see victory in Iraq. He was killed by the same improvised explosive device that killed Maj. Megan McClung of the Marine Corps last Wednesday.

Here's The Whole Article


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LINK

Labels: Iraq

Bravo Zulu, my Brothers and Sister!

via Appeal For Redress

Many active duty, reserve, and guard service members are concerned about the war in Iraq and support the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to their Congressional Representative and US Senators to urge an end to the U.S. military occupation. The Appeal messages will be delivered to members of Congress at the time of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January 2007.

The wording of the Appeal for Redress is short and simple. It is patriotic and respectful in tone.

As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq . Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.

This is salutable. Go get 'em!


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Labels: Active Duty, George W Bush, Iraq War

From a friend of mine in Michigan...

A very eventful day around here... A once in many lifetimes experience!

Mark saw this lil' feller run out in front of a car, thought it was a
lost baby goat. Stopped to get it, and WOW. A real Albino Whitetail Deer.
Just hours old, but doing fine. No Mama deer around. Another car nearly
hit it in front of Mark... Well, he is THE neatest thing any of us ever
saw. And such a 'freak of nature', that only 1 in more than a million is
even born He took his bottle of food, followed us around the house, doing
great. So, we called the Zoo & Fossil Rim, who were both interested, but
going to send him to a Rehab farm, at a vet that we have never gotten along
with... So, one of Dad's best friends is our Game Warden. Kinda
reluctantly, but, I called him and told him the deal. He came right over,
of course... and assured me that he wouldn't take it to that vet, that he
was going to 'go to higher levels' than that with him.. So, he is gone
now. We got a lot of pix, and something we will never see again probably,
so it was very cool. Maybe he will make it in captivity somewhere and be
appreciated. So rare... Sure wanted to keep him tho, but, not the thing to
do. And not LEGAL either; But, here are a couple of pix to show you. He
was snow white, pink eyes, ears, nose and hooves. Kids called him POWDER.
He was SO small. That is my shoe lying beside him... WOW..how cool is
that??

Pretty cool, eh?


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Again... This time, it's an Olive Garden.

via Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 250 people have reported becoming sick after eating at an Olive Garden restaurant in Indianapolis, Indiana, a county health official said on Friday, a day after an outbreak of E.coli at Taco Bell restaurants was declared over.

The news makes Olive Garden at least the third U.S. restaurant chain this month to be linked to widespread customer illnesses.

I'm tellin' ya folks, America's Industrial Farming practices are sickening, and in a total state of dysfunction. Stop eating their crap, go organic and LOCAL, and start growing your own. Your body will thank you later.


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Labels: E.Coli, Industrial Agriculture

Go read:


via skippy the bush kangaroo


I'm still stewing, but, I called in some big guns to get this land deal done already.



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So, everything was ALL SET for a Closing tomorrow Afternoon, at 1pm. All we were waiting on was the Appriaisal to come in... It came in at 3:30pm, today...

Flashback to ten days ago:
I advised Obi Loan Kenobi to go with the Appraiser that did it four times already, who agreed with the sale price.

But, Obi Loan Kenobi insisted on an "Independent Appraiser." Oh, she was independent, alright-- so fucking independent that she appraised the property over $5,000 below the sale price... She TOTALLY FUCKED ME.

I want nothing but to kick her in the crotch right now... I FUCKING PAID her to FUCK ME?!?!?!?!?!

GAH!!!!


The whole goddamned deal is TOTALLY scuttled, now, and it's back to fucking one with NO fucking gaurantees. I need to re-negotiate a NEW fucking contract with the Seller, and tell him he has to lower the sale price to $133-$135,000, hope to ALMIGHTY GAWD that he agrees, and THEN I have to go back through the approval process.

I'm so fucking pissed right now that I could chew fucking 16-penny nails and spit carpet tacks.

The Seller took a day off of work, and is en route from fucking KNOXVILLE to here, that's a fucking nine-hour drive for the poor guy-- for fucking NOTHING, thinking he's going to close tomorrow... no way of reaching him. I took a shitload of leave time to be able to move, settle in, and get some shit DONE on the Rental house... By the time we actually DO Close-- I'll have NO TIME Leave Time left... FUCK.

And this bitch came along and FUCKED UP EVERYTHING! I fucking need to punch something right now... I've NEVER been so goddamned PISSED in all my life.

GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Fuck I hate people sometimes. FUCK!!!

And Language Concern Trolls--- Just Shut the FUCK UP. I'll ban you the fucking INSTANT you try and bitch about my fucking harsh language right now. OBVIOUSLY, you need BOLD font... You "Language Concern Trolls" can KISS MY COCK, you bunch of fucking IDIOTS.

No blogging tonight... I'm going to get fucking drunk and stew tonight. FUCK that BITCH! i PAID HER! All she had to do is understand that I paid her, and wanted this fucking land. All she had to do was say "OK." But, she FUCKED me instead. FUCKING CUNT.


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Labels: American Dream, American Nightmare

Ya know, George, those first couple months, we understood the idea of unbudgeted "Emergency" Funds. But, after nearly four years, it's time for you own-up, and accept the costs of your pet war.

via Raw Story

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Bush will soon seek about $100 billion in additional emergency funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a House report Wednesday.

Filed by Democratic staffers for two key panels in the House, the report's revelations mark a rapid escalation in the cost of the Iraq war at a time when public support is plummeting.

In a broad report criticizing Republicans' fiscal decisions, Democratic staffers on the House Appropriations Committee and House Budget Committee also noted that Congress has already appropriated about $379 billion for the war in Iraq.

"The administration is expected to submit an additional request early next year that will total roughly $100 billion. At least three-quarters of this request will support operations in Iraq," according to the report.

Nothing says, "National fiscal stability," like a couple off the books wars.


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Worth noting this morning...

via Havaria Information Service

A problem with the offsite power supply might be to blame for the automatic shutdown of Three Mile Island in Dauphin County this evening. Shortly after the Unit 1 reactor shutdown, the plant notified its U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector who was heading to TMI, said Diane Screnci, commission spokeswoman. “There is no emergency condition, and the plant is stable,” said Ralph DeSantis, a TMI spokesman. “There were no injuries.” The plant has staffed its command center, whose job it is to run a root-cause analysis to discover the source of the shutdown, DeSantis said. This evening's shutdown marks the second time TMI Unit 1's reactor powered down unexpectedly in less than two months. On Nov. 2, an equipment problem led to an automatic shutdown of the plant.

And the other...

One of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant’s two reactors was shut down at 1:40 p.m. today after an electrical fault in an ocean cooling water pump caused an explosion and a fire. The fire was extinguished by 2:30 p.m. No one was injured in the accident, and there was no radiological leak, said plant spokeswoman Sharon Gavin. The fire occurred in Unit 2 of the plant. It was the same unit that was shut down Sunday after a faulty sensor on a different type of water pump indicated the pump was not running properly. Ocean cooling water pumps circulate sea water through the plant to condense the steam that passed through the plant’s electrical generator. The other reactor at the plant is running at full power. Pacific Gas & Electric has declared an unusual event, which is the lowest level of emergency requiring notification of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

George says that we need more nucular... er, sorry... nuclear power plants. I beg to differ. We seem to be having a tough enough time handling the plants we've already got.

Interesting fact: The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant is built on the San Andreas Fault... Perrrrrfect.

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Labels: Diablo Canyon, Nuclear Power, Three Mile Island

via Global Public Media comes a wonderful 1/2-hour episode of Peak Moment TV called: Suburban Renewal - One Backyard at a Time. It's everything Permaculture that I discuss here, but, this one fellow is doing it in his 1/4 acre Suburban plot. Have a look.

One issue that I have with a lot of the Permaculture projects that I've seen, is that, indeed, though they are are amazingly effective and low-energy, and certainly productive, most of them are simply butt ugly. With every Permaculture project that I intend to undertake (yes, tractor-assisted at first-- but, soon enough, the tractor will be replaced by Guineas, Chickens and a couple of Pigs) I hope to be able to also apply my Designer Credentials too, in order to begin promoting Permaculture as not just a practical mode, but, also a visually appealing one, in order to better promote the ideas to more people in the snooty Suburbs. First I need to "uppen," loosen, compost, manure, mulch and enrich my land-- get the worms and animals back working the soil for me, so that ultimately, I won't NEED a Tractor to loosen it any more... It's been SO abused.

My Raised-Bed, Square-Foot Gardens, the Orchards, the Tree Stands-- heck, everything I do will involve Permaculture's guilds-- the old-school gardeners call it Companion Planting and Multi-Cropping. I intend on rain-catchment, and vertical vine-crop growing, but, there are other aspects that need tending to if one wants to appeal to the Suburbanites... Mainly, stuff like aesthetics. There are WAY too many Neighborhood Committee Nazis out there who, for example, if this guy (in the video) lived in their sub-division, would have fined him unmercifully, and had him run out of the Community long ago. These people are sadly the norm in most Sub-Divisions, and those people simply suck beyond all measure.

I just read an article at Energy Bulletin.net, called
The Right to Pursue Powerdown: Seeking alternative lifestyles post-peak, which discusses this very aspect... People get alarmed and angry when someone moves into their neighborhood of pristine chem-lawns, and converts his entire plot into an edible garden. They feel it is an affront to their Property value for some reason, and they will persecute that person to the end.

This needs to stop.

So... I'm going to try and work out ways to make Permaculture as beautiful, and "Front-Yard Presentable" as I can possibly make it; for as inexpensively as I can do it as well. I'll present the process pictures here, as I undertake each project, and follow-up yearly for progress checks.

When I was a kid, my parents farmed me out to my Grandparents, and my Great-Grandma every summer. That's where I learned all the fine old knowledge of organic gardening and poultry-raising, and some animal husbandry. Later on (and still) I glommed onto "Victory Garden," on PBS, and that lead me to Mel Bartholomew's Square-Foot Gardening method. So, I've given up Grandpa's row-method, and I have discovered that framed Raised-Beds are the way to go. Within those beds is where the Permaculture magic happens on a smaller, more controllable scale. Every aspect of Mel's way is 100% adaptable to the Permaculture methods, and there is a sense of neatness and order to go along with it. Mel shows that Permaculture doesn't need to be an ugly, unwieldly jungle in the yard.

As you can see from my "Plans" post, below, I'm going to turn 10 acres of rather abused commercial farmland into something that will ultimately be far more profitable in a matter of a few short years. Self-sustaining within ~12 years... and it will be a visual paradise in 10 years.

If I had a gazillion dollars, and didn't need to work for a living, this place would be redone, and beautiful to behold in a years' time, but profitable as a self-sustaining plot of land, using this same plan, in about 5-7 years. What I'm saying here, is that one can throw all the money one has at a situation... Trees and plants only grow so fast...

I'll explain more of this once I am settled into my place, have the areas staked-out, and can actually start enacting the plan.

To be sure, many of my Southern, Commercial Farming neighbors will be saying, "WTF???" when they see my place developing, but, ultimately, they'll be happy when I am responsible for boosting their Land Values when they decide to sell. My area is unincorporated, taxes are $370 per year...

I hope that many of them get curious enough to drop in in the first two years, so that I can show them the way to freedom from ADM and Monsanto... and offer them an organic home-brewed beer or bottle of wine.

OK... I've got laundry to fold and pack... "There's plenty of work to be done in the dark before dawn"... Shine On, Kids!



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Labels: Homesteading, Land Use, Peak Moment TV, Permaculture, Raised Bed Gardening, Rural Living, Square Foot Gardening, Suburban Aesthetics, Suburban Permaculture, Sustainable Agriculture

Whilst I'm packing, enjoy this incredible concert featuring Santana, The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane (runtime= 1hr)



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Labels: Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana

This is just my initial, basic idea on working with my land. I hope that Friends, Commenters, and others will be able to shove this better into reality in time.


Time, money, and reality will alter this plan quite a bit. The thought is to plant good nut and hardwoods for firewood, and to to sell later (I'll burl a few of the trees to get a higher price for the burl wood), a little at a time as needs require... Replanting as I go. The nuts will be a regular minor income. I can sell the surplus nuts at the Rural Exchange up the road, for whatever price. Eventually, their shade and root chemicals will keep mowable lawn to a minimum...

My friend's Dad is gifting me 6 Guineas, 6 laying Hens, and a Rooster, a couple of goats, and a tractor with a box mower... When I'm ready to have them... a few months down the road.

I'll fence off the garden beds area, and let the Guineas run in there, and build them their own Tractor/House. They tend to not eat garden food stuff when they have feed and grit, and will forage for bugs rather gently (in regard to the foliage, and the bugs living thereon)... If they start beating up the garden beds, I can always move them back to the Big Coop, or keep them in their tractor and move it around, or let them out to roam the land.

I'll need to build another tractor for the hens, until I get the Orchard fences up... Then I'll let them loose with their tractor, there, and move a few of the Guineas in with them as guards/shepherds. Eventually, once the pigs come, I'll need to figure out a best practice for rotating them also into the Orchard and the the grain fields as I harvest the various plots, in the pigs' own tractor, and work out better security for the chook tractor, that far back on the land... Racoons, Weasels, Foxes....

I'll fence in the orchard, once it gets established, and then I'll buy a pig or two, and accept those couple of goats, and let them mow and manure for brief spells in there as a treat. The orchard area is way bigger than I think I will need... just making colorful boxes for planning right now... At any rate, whatever excess fruit I can't eat or sell will go to the pigs and goats as a treat. I'll tractor them a few days on the root beds (potato, beets, Jerusalem Artichokes, peanuts, etc) post harvest for plowing and manuring.... More treats.

I'll leave wide passageways for wildlife and the BIG Tractor to pass through, while protecting my stock.

The pond surround will be in clover to attract deer and wild turkey, with the Loblolly Pines and the fence line grasses hopefully providing roosting areas for the turkey, grouse and dove... and those Guineas that fly off.

The grain acre will be a mixed bag, based on need. As I'll be making framed raised garden beds, and exercising rotation, some of those beds, when fully established, will be in rest/cover crop, the grain acre will help make up the difference in what I need... Hay for the pigs and goats, mainly, when it's time to bring them in. At first, it will probably be barley and wheat for beer and a bit of flour to start. Once the beds are all in place, and the Orchard is set, I'll establish Garden beds for Partial Shade crops like lettuces and the like, and I'll have more main beds to plant in a little corn and other feed crops as well in rotation... I'm single, so, a couple of pigs at any time will be PLENTY, and the goats will be for cheeses, and occasional mutton for the freezer, so, I'm not expecting to have giant herds of anything.

All of this is LONG TERM Plan... I'm a GS Employee, and I make $60K per year between my salary and my VA Pension, so thinking in 5-Year planning frames is about right for me right now. In five years, the STULOANS will be paid off, and I can start investing in the Solar Array. I planned that in, so I don't forget about it and plant something there by mistake.

Because I work 8-9 hours every day, I NEED to think LONG TERM.

I should have the Rental ready by May, and Rented by June.... That will cut my my Note in half... These first couple of years will be lean years as I must needs spend money to buy Tools, Materials, Seed, Feed...FOOD... I'll have to pay and/or feed the labor/volunteers to finish the Rental... frakin' everything... Little project by little project.

After paying my Taxes and a year's worth of Mortgage, I'll get a pretty decent Tax Return-- next year's Return will be OK, but, the 2007 Return will be fairly substantial, I'll make an extra House Payment (or or two if I'm lucky), depending on the Return, and re-invest the money into fences, and other infrastructure and necessities... Perhaps pay a little extra on the STULOANS, and put back what little might be left, in a special PROPERTY MAINTENANCE Account, which won't get touched except for its purpose.

I figure $100-150 extra bucks profit monthly from the Rental (I am hoping to get $550 rent for the place-- I need $400 per month to lower my NOTE to $400, as the plan is really based on that), plus whatever is left from my Tax Returns, and whatever else that I can slide into there from Farm Product sales will eventually add up in that Account... Hopes...

Within two years, I'll have at least a little excess eggs herbs, greens and produce to sell to the community, and co-workers, and a real, growing Mini Farm will begin to be born. In five years, the expenditures will be down, the place should be established and growing, and Farm Produce sales should be providing real income, while lowering my grocery bill.

Lots of work ahead... and money outlay... and community-building for the help, sale and barter that I'll need. I figure that the gun range will be a help with the community part of it in this part of the country... We addjust to our surrounds. There is no rifle range for target practice around here, and a demand, so I've already talked to the necessary TN Divisions and Departments to get the requirements for my property... Once the Lolly Piles get going...

Lots of work ahead! BLISS!

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Labels: American Dreamblogging

Big, busy time here, cleaning and packing, and getting everything ready for an easy move next week... I'll to post some stuff tonight. There are plenty of videos and stuff to see in the archives. The Top of September has some great documentaries worth watching.


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Last week, I learned that the property I just bought has a large root cellar under the greenhouse-- WOOT WOO!!!!

My curiosity got the best of me, and I went there over the weekend-- the place is pretty big, 12' x 15', nice and dry, with wall-to-wall shelves loaded with Mason jars and cans of food. I'm pretty sure they are cans of botulism by now, as the place has been vacant for two years, but, I'll have time to scope the dates soon enough. At best, I'll have a starter surplus for another year, and at worst, I'll have a good start on the compost heap innards, and a great store of Mason jars! I didn't take too much time in the dark to go through the boxes or move stuff, as it was dark in there, and I didn't bring a flashlight. But, it was nice and cool down there, and I'll be able to keep potato harvests, onions, cabbages, apples, and homebrew for a good chunk of time.

There are batteries, a cot, folding chairs, a radio, sealed Mason jars of what is probably water, one of those little camper toilets-- everything all set for an emergency. I don't think the ol' fella's family even knew it was there, as I suppose that they would have gone through it and taken out all the neat stuff-- not to mention all the food stuffs, and paper products.

This property gets better and better every time I think about it! It's certainly the best investment I've ever made!

All I really need right now is a generator.

I'll post more on this, and post up some pics next week, when I've got more time to properly explore.


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Labels: American Dreamblogging, Root Cellar

Tim Russert-- stupid fuck then, stupid fuck now. The bastard had the audacity to totally dismiss the Doctor wholesale. Hunter was TOTALLY clear and cohesive in this interview, but, Russert was picking the cocktail wienie casings from his teeth from the night before, and more interested in talking down to his Senior Intellect. Watch this:

via Suburban Guerrilla:



Yes, it is clear that Hunter was in rediculous pain, and it obvious that he did too much cocaine in his day.. But, this one day, when it was well known that he suffered from severe stage fright, he was TOTALLY in control of himself... Clear, cool and calm, and ready to discuss the issues... Russert tried to set him up repeatedly. He failed in his every chance. One month before hostilities began in Iraq-- The Doctor was 100% absolutely correct on every single point, in hindsight.


We miss the hell out of you, Doc, and there ain't none of us or ANY of us who can properly fill the breach you left open, brother.


Thank you, Susie, for all of your hard work... Your opportunity will come, Sister-- You more than deserve it!



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Labels: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Iraq, Suburban Guerrilla, Susie Madrak, Tim Russert

They Law NEVER gets in the way of these assholes...

via Corrente Wire-- Dig this:

A top Air Force lawyer who served at the White House and in a senior position in Iraq turns out to have been practicing law for 23 years without a license.

[Col. Michael D. Murphy was] the general counsel for the White House Military Office from December 2001 to January 2003, and from August 2003 to January 2005. In between those tours, he was the legal adviser to the reconstruction effort in Iraq, an Air Force spokesman said.

No shit... GO. NOW... see for yourself. Unfuckingbelievable, but there it is...

Bless you, oh Mighty Corrente Building... From your mighty spires pours forth knowledge!


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Labels: Bush Scandal, Corrente Wire, Disbarred Lawyers advising the White House, DoD Scandal, Washington Post

The most amazingly wide-ranging, and complete archive of free articles about Sustainable Living, Homesteading, altFuels, altEnergy, Organic Gardening, Livestock Raising... Oh my gawd... You name it... it's in there, and you can just go and read... Nearly 37 years of articles lovingly scanned and (they are in the process of cleaning them) posted for free to the intertubes. As soon as I close on my place on Friday, I am going to subscribe to Mother Earth News-- Just in THANKS for the other 37 years of research. Heck-- I'm 38... For me, this is a lifetime of knowledge in one place.

via Mother Earth News

All the way back to Issue #1 in 1970... My gawd what a collection of wisdom... Don't be stoopid... Bookmark this link, and USE IT. Our good Rainbow Friends are being way too nice, but I understand: They WANT YOU TO KNOW HOW TO DO STUFF.

So DO IT... Please. There is something there for even the little City Dweller with a postage stamp lawn. Heck... I've proven that a person can live at least MORE SUSTAINABLY by growing a container garden on just a 5 x 14 foot balcony... I'm STILL eating Swiss Chard salads, and using the herbs... I've umbrella'd them with recycled visqueen, but, everything is growing fine.... soon they will all move to the greenhouse, but nothing has died.

YOU can and SHOULD be doing it too!

I'm going to KEEP trying to make it easy for you... it IS easy... It just takes a START!

You DON"T NEED ten acres... You need a half-Acre... I lived "more sustainably" by growing a container garden on my balcony and in my windows... Every little counts, and your health with improve every bit of the way. Convert your lawn or balcony into an edible landscape... It's EASY, and fun.


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Labels: Gardening, Mother Earth News, Urban Farmer, Urban Gardening, Urban Permaculture

Oh... This is big, and long a heavy, but, it worth printing out, and reading over a long period... Very worth the read... This is a speech given by Dmitry Orlov. He lived through the collapse of the Soviet Union, watched what happened, emigrated to America, and is here to testify about the differences and similarities between us and them at the top of the 21st Century... Twenty years later.. We've accomplised the same end as the Soviet Union did 20 some-odd years ago... We've just got a few more things going for us, as America, to keep us bouyed up a bit longer... But, it's coming.

In his words, I'll try to be sparing in my excerpts, Dmitry...

via Energy Bulletin

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am not an expert or a scholar or an activist. I am more of an eye-witness. I watched the Soviet Union collapse, and I have tried to put my observations into a concise message. I will leave it up to you to decide just how urgent a message it is.

My talk tonight is about the lack of collapse-preparedness here in the United States. I will compare it with the situation in the Soviet Union, prior to its collapse. The rhetorical device I am going to use is the "Collapse Gap" – to go along with the Nuclear Gap, and the Space Gap, and various other superpower gaps that were fashionable during the Cold War.

---

The subject of economic collapse is generally a sad one. But I am an optimistic, cheerful sort of person, and I believe that, with a bit of preparation, such events can be taken in stride. As you can probably surmise, I am actually rather keen on observing economic collapses. Perhaps when I am really old, all collapses will start looking the same to me, but I am not at that point yet.

And this next one certainly has me intrigued. From what I've seen and read, it seems that there is a fair chance that the U.S. economy will collapse sometime within the foreseeable future. It also would seem that we won't be particularly well-prepared for it. As things stand, the U.S. economy is poised to perform something like a disappearing act. And so I am eager to put my observations of the Soviet collapse to good use.

---

Feelings aside, here are two 20th century superpowers, who wanted more or less the same things – things like technological progress, economic growth, full employment, and world domination – but they disagreed about the methods. And they obtained similar results – each had a good run, intimidated the whole planet, and kept the other scared. Each eventually went bankrupt.

---

An economic collapse is amazing to observe, and very interesting if described accurately and in detail. A general description tends to fall short of the mark, but let me try. An economic arrangement can continue for quite some time after it becomes untenable, through sheer inertia. But at some point a tide of broken promises and invalidated assumptions sweeps it all out to sea. One such untenable arrangement rests on the notion that it is possible to perpetually borrow more and more money from abroad, to pay for more and more energy imports, while the price of these imports continues to double every few years. Free money with which to buy energy equals free energy, and free energy does not occur in nature. This must therefore be a transient condition. When the flow of energy snaps back toward equilibrium, much of the US economy will be forced to shut down.

Any more, and I will defy Dmitry's copyrights.

There is your introduction to Dmitry Orlov, and the gist of where he is going. The brave and wise person will print and read this presentation, and think long and hard about it, and make plans accordingly. Folks like me are trying to show you the way to Freedom.

Be Prepared, folks. Ugliness comes soon.


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Labels: Collapse, Dmitry Orlov, DoD, Prison System, US Dollar, US Economy, US Recession, USSR, War On Drugs, War OnTerror

Russia and Iran, and even China have moved to their own Bourses, which sell Oil in non-US Dollar Currencies. We're just now starting to see and feel the effects of those shifts...

via Financial Times

Oil producing countries have reduced their exposure to the dollar to the lowest level in two years and shifted oil income into euros, yen and sterling, according to new data from the Bank for International Settlements.

The revelation in the latest BIS quarterly review, published on Monday, confirms market speculation about a move out of dollars and could put new pressure on the ailing US currency.

Market liquidity is traditionally low in December, and many traders have locked in profits, potentially reinforcing volatility.

Russia and the members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the oil cartel, cut their dollar holdings from 67 per cent in the first quarter to 65 per cent in the second.

Meanwhile, they increased their holdings of euros from 20 to 22 per cent, the BIS said. The speed of the shift may help to explain the weakness of the dollar, which recently fell to a 20-month low against the euro and a 14-year low against sterling.

Stand by, while these Bourses, and perhaps some new ones in the coming year, continue to dilute the dollar's value further... Americans are heading for some real trouble next year. I'm glad that the Wall Street 2%-ers did so well this year... They are going to need every dollar they get next year to avoid totally losing their shirts, and joining us lowly, unwashed masses.


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Labels: Oil Producers, US Dollar, US Economy, US Recession

via Dedalus at Blah3, we discover that Tom DeLay Has Started A Blog.

Go send Tom a Love Letter in his comments section, eh? Give a li'l sumpin' to get his hopes up before he goes to Prison, why doncha? It's the least you could do...

Welcome to TomDeLay.com!

* Signup for G.A.I.N.— Become an elite activist by applying to be apart of Tom DeLay's grassroots network.
* Book Tom for an Event — Want Tom to speak at an event? E-mail us today to check his availability.
* Become a Guest Blogger— Are you a blogger? Would you like to submit guest blogs for us to use at TomDeLay.com? E-mail us today about becoming a guest blogger.
* E-mail Tom a question— Do you have a question you want to ask Tom? E-mail your questions today and he will pick a few to answer on the blog each week!

You can't beat an invitation like that, kids... Go, and DO have some good, wholesome, Liberal FUN! It'll do your heart well, and keep ol' Tom's spirits high!


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Labels: Tom DeLay, Tom DeLay.Com

Damn, between James and Joe, I'm left speechless, tonight...

via Deer Hunting With Jesus

The booger stalking my ragged old mind these days puts both of those in the shade. And it runs like this:

Is the consumerist totalization of this country and the world really a conscious plot by a handful of powerful corporate and financial masters? If we answer "yes" we find ourselves trundled off toward the babbling ranks of the paranoid. Still though, it's easy enough to name those who would piss themselves with joy over the prospect of a One World corporate state, with billions of people begging to work for their 1,500 calories a day and an xBox chip in their necks. It's too bad our news media quit hunting with live ammo decades ago, leaving us with no one to track the activities and progress of what sure as hell seem to be global elites, judging from the financial spoor we find along every pathway of modern life.

In our saner moments we can also see that it does not take dark super-centralized plotting to pull off what appears to have been accomplished. Even without working in overt concert, a few thousands of dedicated individual corporate and financial interests can constitute a unified pathogenic whole, much the same as individual cells create a viable dominant colony of malignant organisms -- malignant simply by their anti-human, anti-societal nature. We don't see GM, Halliburton, Burger King and CitiBank lobbying the state for universal health or clean rivers, do we? But mention unions or living wages, and the financial colony within our national Petri dish shape shifts into a Gila monster and squirts venom on the idea and shits money all over Capitol Hill. I looked at all this as coincidence for years until the proposition finally strained credulity so much that I threw in the towel and said, "Fuck it. There is only so much coincidence to go around in this world."

Put another way, the global decision makers, international planners, financial institutions, political parties, media conglomerates, corporations, banks, a hegemonic, accumulative bloc working in concert to coordinate the extraction of wealth from first and third world alike. A series of privately held international institutions to which and from which money can be moved to leverage nations and populations according to their needs is probably gonna do just that because they can. National territory doesn't mean shit to such people, and those who govern said territory mean even less, except to the extent they can obstruct or incite resistance. People like Castro and Chavez. But even they are they are just the thorn in the lion's paw.

Consider this: The war in Iraq has been immensely profitable for the people who make weapons and for the contractors who supposedly rebuild what the weapons destroy. They profit in either case. And the longer war goes on the more they will make.

As ever... More at the link, above... MUCH, MUCH more.

Fuck... Joe just hammers it home in such easy to grab words... Do Check Out His Book. His readers' comments are ALWAYS damned worth the read as well... I don't remember who put me on to Joe Bageant, but, bless whoever you are.



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Labels: International Economy, Joe Bageant, The One-Percenters Wealthy Elite, US Economy

Hey, kids... What is YOUR Christmas Bonus looking like this year? Get a load of this shit...

via James Kunstler's 'Clusterfuck Nation'

Since the financial "industry" decoupled from the US economy sometime in the past decade, it has been hard to tell, from a chicken-and-egg point-of-view what comes first -- obscenely huge year-end bonuses for Wall Street playas, or jacked up market indices. I mean, do these paper-shufflers get paid extra millions because the Dow goes over 12,000, or do they game the Dow over 12,000 to justify the extra millions? (Or game other sub-systems such as the commodities markets, the derivatives sector, the mortgage rackets, mergers-and-acquisitions, et cetera.) Echo answers. . . .

CNBC reports that fifty executives at Goldman Sachs will each receive bonuses of $25 million or more. Yes, you read correctly. $25 million each. And the reason, according to CNBC is that these sharpies would otherwise jump ship for hedge fund nirvana if not lavishly tipped. Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch also will each smack twelve employees over the head with golden stockings full of $25 million. Note, Goldman Sachs was rumored to have driven the price of oil down for the election season by applying huge sums of money to twiddle the futures market, and note, too, that the Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, was CEO of Goldman Sachs until the middle of last summer. But, of course, I am fond of saying that I am allergic to conspiracy theories.

More at the link...

The US Economy is strong, and getting stronger... For the 2%-ers.

More via NPR's Marketplace (transcript and audio link).

These are some really filthy bastards that we are talking about here. Millions are starving here in America alone, and these fuckers are getting MILLIONS of dollars in bonuses for.... WHAT????!!! Helping themselves?!?!?!

There ain't enough bullets.



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Labels: Christmas Bonus, Filthy Rich, Total Bastards, US Economy, Wall Street Scam, Working Poor

It's as good as it gets...

via Jesus' General

Those Bush kids are working SO hard to defend America from terrorists... I feel like such a Disabled Navy Slacker in light of their keen efforts... A salute to the General for putting my Patriotism in a new light.



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Labels: Bush Children, Bush Family Values, Christian Values, Jesus' General, Operation Yellow Elephant

There is NO making this up... Newsweek reports, via Corrente Wire, that George's show of "concern" over the Iraq Study Group is all just a filthy, fucking cynical act... I know that WE saw through it straight away, but, DAMN, I hope the rest of America is hipped up to this crap by now...

via Corrente Wire

To prepare Bush for an insurgence of reality, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten had him practice by “listening” to an assemblage of Iraq war critics.

Go click through Corrente Wire, and try to hold back the tears... really. There is no stopping the folly and stupidity of the Bush Monster. We.Are.TOTALLY.FUCT.



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Labels: Faking it, George W Bush, Iraq Study Group, Lying Fascist Bastard

You'll find it under the Bartcop Family Treehouse" section. It is the brand new product of my good friend from the Bartcop Forum, Skip. I invited him to blog here, so as to introduce you to his new site, Thinkplan. He'll be posting previews of his posts here, and linking to there... Soon, his place will be fully populated wall to wall with really good stuff. Unlike my cheating self, he's building his place from the ground up... and good things take time to finish.

It's got serious "new site smell," as yet, so, letting him blog here, I hope, will give him some visibility. Give him a warm welcome when he posts, as he always comes loaded with good stuff to tell you. Thinkplan is shy on content, right now, but that is soon to change... He's building a fine link page, that will be a powerhouse of resources for you good readers who, like me, are seeking to get out of the Suburban rat race, and into a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle.

I already consider Thinkplan the Brother Site to this humble blog. I hope that you will as well!



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Labels: Thinkplan

What a scumbag he was... Right up there with Kissinger. The air is just a little-bit sweeter, today.

via Reuters

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973-1990 and spent his old age fighting human rights, fraud and corruption charges, died on Sunday. He was 91.

Pinochet, who was diabetic and had been in frail health for years, suffered a heart attack last week and underwent an angioplasty. His son then said the surgery had brought him back from the brink of death.

"He died surrounded by his family," Juan Ignacio Vergara, a military doctor, told reporters outside the hospital. Vergara said Pinochet's health had suddenly deteriorated on Sunday.

Pinochet grabbed power in a 1973 coup and went on to become the best known of South American dictators from the 1970s and 1980s. More than 3,000 people died in political violence under his rule, many at the hands of repressive secret police.

He was a nasty, filthy, Fascist thug. I hope that the Chileans find a way to seize back all the loot he stole from them over his reign of terror.


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Labels: Pinochet