Glenn Beck Plans to Build Libertarian Utopia

Glenn Beck announces plans for Independence, USA

The right-wing pundit envisions a model community that will produce its own food and media content.

January 15, 2013

The Lookout - Right-wing rabble-rouser Glenn Beck recently announced that he wanted to "go Galt" and create a self-sustaining community, inspired by the philosophy of Ayn Rand's character John Galt from "Atlas Shrugged."

The community will be known as Independence, USA. If and when it is completed, Independence will produce its own food and TV and film content. There will be homes, baseball fields and a theme park. Think: Small Town, USA, but with a Beckish vibe.

Beck announced his plans on "The Glenn Beck Program." The main entrance to the proposed community will be based on Ellis Island because, in Beck's words, that's how most Americans came to the country. There will also be a marketplace, but don't confuse it with your local mall.

"There's not going to be a Gap here. There's no Ann Taylor. You want an Ann Taylor, go someplace else," Beck said in a video announcement. The marketplace, Beck says, will be a place for people to create their own businesses and learn from others.

Other areas of Independence: The ranch (that's where residents will grow food and teach people how to grow crops), the media center (where Beck will film his show and where other entertainers will create movies, TV shows and documentaries), an Alamo-style mission for people to "gather and help others," a research and development laboratory and much more.

The main point, Beck says, is education. 

"Before you send your kids to college," Beck said in his pitch video, "you come to us. And you spend a week with us. We're gonna tell them exactly, we will show them the truth, we will tell them what they're going to try to do, and we will deprogram them every summer, if you care."

What's Beck's utopia gonna cost? Around $2 billion. Beck says he's willing to take steps to make his vision happen "one piece at a time." Just don't expect to find a Gap. You can watch Beck's pitch here.

We Will Have World Government, Whether By Conquest or Consent

The Love of Money Is the Root of All Evil and the Power It Provides to Survive Is the World Religion

Originally Published in July 2007

Kenneth Uptegrove, ArkHaven.org - Satan's ultimate goal is to disrupt and destroy Christendom and all social, political, and economic systems on Earth by putting into place dozens of competing systems. Out of the resulting chaos, fear, and mistrust, he plans to set in place a one-world social, economic, and political system that collectively will become his one-world system.

This antichrist system will be brilliant! It will work wonders! And a vast majority of the world’s people will welcome it — for a while.

It will not prevail!

What I am about to show you comes out of my 2.5 years of training in church history, and as a computer professional since 1965.

Though there may exist different streams within the Church, as long as each stream leads to the same River, we are joined in purpose. However, the antichrist system has also infiltrated some areas of Christian thought. (The word "Antichrist" means "in place of Christ" more so than "against Christ.") Even though I am a social and fiscal conservative and of the "religious right," I have observed that some "radical right" thought, especially amongst some "conspiracy theory" proponents, have crossed that line.

What Will the One-World Religion Be?

Now, let’s go another direction for a minute.

The Bible speaks of a one-world religion that will deceive people of every religion on earth in the latter part of the last days. But I think this religion has ALWAYS been the world religion. What can that religion be?

It is highly improbable, and seemingly inconceivable, that any existing religion (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Jewish or Christianity, etc.) could convert the whole world to its doctrine, but religions such as Islam would like to force all living humans into submission to their religion.

That will be the goal of this false religion, not to convert, but force us to need them in order to survive. How can that be done?

Most people's religion is a traditional heritage, a religious veneer that covers their underlying love of money and the power it brings (to dominate and survive): The love of money, and the power it brings (to dominate and survive). In a word: Self, the most primal of instincts.

Christians whose subliminal God is money show that they can be seduced and drawn from God. Since the love of money is the world religion, God will cast down this false God, this idol of worship. Therefore it should not surprise us that a worldwide depression is imminent.

I think that Bill Clinton (when running for president) was a prophet to the antichrist system/religion when he said, "It is the economy, stupid!" My study of world history shows me that the antichrist system is so subtle, so subversive, so wise, but so powerful — all at the same time — that very few are aware of its existence. This religion originated in the Garden of Eden when Satan originally sold this lie to Adam and Eve.

A religion is anything you love, admire, and devote most of your attention to. Self-preservation — the survival instinct — is so basic to human nature that we don't think about it, or write about it, or preach sermons on it.

That is why the one-world religion can be described as the perfect conspiracy, because it is a subliminal, subconscious religion. We treasure, and are driven, by the gratuitous instinct to survive; and that can be defined as a subliminal, invisible religion.

Way too many Christians vote their pocketbook and for the power to dominate. Look at what is generally called Bible believing Christians. They appear to be zealous in their faith, yet way too many vote in diametric contradiction to the Word of God when they vote their pocketbook and forget that they are also voting for abortion, the homosexual agenda, anti-Americanism, and socialism (i.e., the most antichrist and liberal of political candidates).

"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence." - Franklin Delanor Roosevelt

In other words, when we lose our economic security, we also lose our freedom, and are forced to survive any way we can.

I called Bill Clinton a prophet because his, "It’s the economy, stupid" prophecy was fulfilled. The nation believed him... and his subliminal, one-world religion message of self-preservation.

The Bible shows me a coming world leader who will exploit this self-preservation instinct and will bring this religion to its logical conclusion. And if possible, even some of the very elect will be deceived by this appeal to their pocketbook and personal security.

On the one hand this is a gloom and doom message, but on the other hand this is the age (the days just prior to the Second Coming) when the Church will come forth in her greatest power, glory, and victory.

The cruel, demented leadership of Adolph Hitler probably directly resulted in more death and destruction than any other single individual in history. The name Hitler will forever be one of the most ugly scars on human history. However, even Churchill acknowledged that if Hitler had died in 1938, he would have been considered one of the greatest leaders of all time.

The Adolph Hitler Model

When Hitler came to power, Germany was suffering under some of the worst economic and political conditions a nation has suffered during modern times. There was 50% to 75% unemployment. The government was bankrupt, and the German Mark actually became worthless. Mobs ruled the streets, perversion was rampant, and the whole nation tottered on the brink of becoming a Soviet state.

In just four years, Hitler not only balanced the budget, he paid off the national debt while building the most powerful economy in the world. His social engineering almost eliminated unemployment. He restored Germany’s national dignity, and built the most powerful army in the world. He also drove pornography from the land and greatly reduced the crime rate. There has never been such a transformation of a country in the history of the world.

Most of the Church in Germany was so fooled by Hitler that they helped establish his power base, with some church leaders actually calling him "a messiah."

Are we doomed to keep repeating history because we fail to learn from history? Will we prepare ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually?

Why the World Will Accept the Antichrist System

"They feared the Lord, but served their own gods." (2 Kings 17:33)

We have a nation where the overwhelming majority of the people declare the name of the Lord. Many even claim to be born again, and they actually may be, but the same ones give themselves to serving many other gods.

When it comes down to choosing between death and survival, the survival instinct in all of us will compel many to overrule our social, economic, political, and religious belief system. Most people will choose to survive at any cost. If possible, even professing believers may choose survival over death, perhaps for the sake of their children.

Look at the Joseph scenario. By the time the seven years of famine were over, ALL the people chose to sell themselves as slaves of Pharaoh for wheat to survive on. But fortunately, Joseph was benevolent.

The coming world dictator will seem to be a benevolent messiah, but will ultimately show himself to be a malevolent dictator. The book of Revelation describes him as a credible and charismatic leader when he first comes on the world scene. He will most likely be the head of a major religion and/or nation that has a long history of violence and intrigue…an almost forgotten history.

How might Satan accomplish this seemingly impossible goal of world domination?

A Massive World-Wide Depression Is Coming (i.e., The Mother of All Depressions)

If you had asked an Amish man during the last depression how he and the Amish community was fairing, he would have asked, “What depression?”

Many people lost everything during the last depression and some committed suicide, but others made a fortune. There is a way to not only survive and live well, but in past depressions you could actually make a fortune if you planned ahead properly.

During the last depression a lot of people who lived off the land (farmers), and had no debt, came through with very little loss. But the federal government and some banks were able to file foreclosure on millions of houses and acres of land. After the depression was over they were then able to rent, lease, or sell all these holdings and made a vast fortune off of them.

In recent years David Wilkerson has been warning us about this coming depression, and wrote two excellent books on the subject. They are titled:

• America's Last Call — On the Brink of a Financial Holocaust


• God’s Plan To Protect His People In The Coming Depression

Long before Wilkerson wrote those books I was teaching that a massive worldwide depression is coming. It could be so severe that there will be no paycheck for anyone, not even the military, police, or government officials.

In my lifetime, America has gone through a depression and several wars. Three of those wars were on this continent. And even as you read this message, millions of Christians in China and other nations are under terrible tribulation, persecution, and martyrdom this very day. In my lifetime around one million Christians have been martyred. To say another war or depression can't happen in America is not being realistic. But to say we should prepare for such an eventuality ... as best we can ... is realistic.

Consider this scenario. Let’s say that the foolishness of the world system causes a major depression that the Antichrist can take advantage of. But let’s say God complicates Satan’s plans and makes the depression much worse by bringing on several “natural disasters.” Look at the damage Katrina and Mt. St. Helen did to our economy.

Deadly flu epidemics, hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, droughts, floods, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, and wars can cause an economic disaster. National debt and unemployment due to manufacturing going to other countries, or a combination of all the above, could cause an economic collapse. Put the domino effect into play with enough dominos falling — tink-tink-tink — and we have the potential to bring down the world economy…the worst depression in history.

Under such conditions there would be little to no money for food or gas. Total anarchy can potentially reign in many areas for a few months until local (National Guard, Para-military groups?) leaders can bring order to their areas, and then begin to rebuild the nation. Millions could possibly die pitiful deaths in the USA and the world because they were not ready for such a disaster, and felt like they had no warning whatsoever. The warning signs were ignored.

How could a worldwide economic depression further Satan’s plans for planet Earth? Consider these possibilities:

• Foreclosure on property loans to gain ownership to millions of homes and millions of acres of land.


• Police state, bringing in martial law, (i.e., outlawing and imprisoning the religious right?)


• Ecology purge...closing factories, stopping cars and trucks, and decreasing the population. Some environmental groups have been working hard towards such goals.


• Bring in the One World Anti-Christ system.

If God complicates their plans (Psalms 33:10-20) and makes the depression much worse by bringing on several “natural disasters,” that could thwart the Antichrist's ability to:

• Initiate martial law and a police state. After the initial supply of gas and food that is in stock is used up there would be no way to replenish the supply for a long time.


• Postpone the ability of lending institutions to foreclose on loans.


• The anarchy that could rain in such conditions would be terrible for awhile, but not as terrible as the planned police state would have been.


• This would force the conspirators to come up with "plan B," a new monetary system. Just a thought.

This is all speculation, and a lot of writers will disagree with me. The point I hope to make is, we need to know how to pray, how to vote, and how to prepare physically, mentally, and spiritually for the age we are coming into.

In short, Americans needs to turn to God.

A New Monetary System

I believe this is the time a false savior will come on the scene to restore the economy with a new monetary system. I predict that this monetary system will be digital money in individual bank accounts that can be accessed on the world-wide-web. Since this digital money is not backed up with anything but faith in the system (much like our paper money today), a huge amount of credits in these personal accounts can be provided to every household on earth. For a while we can all buy, sell, and trade using this miraculous monetary system…until the world economy is stable again. As with any Internet provider, a contract and password will be needed. And after the economy is restored, the password can evolve into "the mark of the beast" (spoken of in the book of Revelation). So, what can we do to prepare ourselves (physically, mentally, and spiritually) for such a time?

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7.4 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Guatemala; Small Quake Rattles N.J. Towns in Wake of Hurricane Sandy

Guatemalans Huddle in Streets after Deadly 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake

November 8, 2012

AP - Guatemalans fearing aftershocks huddled in the dark and frigid streets of this mountain town wrapped in blankets early Thursday, while others crowded inside its hospital, the only building left with electricity after a powerful earthquake killed at least 48 people and left dozens more missing.

Crews worked through the night in San Marcos, searching rubble for survivors and more dead following the magnitude 7.4 quake that struck Wednesday near Guatemala's border with Mexico.

Rescuers began employing heavy machinery early Thursday to search for more survivors.

"We started rescue work very early," said Julio Cesar Fuentes of the municipal fire department. "The objective is our hope to find people who were buried."

Residents venturing outside into the morning cold found the city paralyzed and businesses closed.

In the town of San Cristobal Cochu, firefighters picked at a collapsed house trying to dig out 10 members of one family, including a 4-year-old child, who were buried, fire department spokesman Ovidio Perez told the radio station Emisoras Unidas.

Eblin Cifuentes, a 26-year-old law student, and a group of his classmates already were collecting medical supplies as part of a school drive to provide aid for the only hospital in San Marcos, a poor, mainly indigenous mountain area of subsistence farms. When the quake hit, the group decided to bring everything they had collected.

"Thank God nothing happened to us and that's why we have to help out," Cifuentes said.

The quake caused terror over an unusually wide area, with damage reported in all but one of Guatemala's 22 states and shaking felt as far away as Mexico City, 600 miles (965 kilometers) to the northwest.

It hit hardest in San Marcos, where more than 30 homes collapsed and many of the colorful adobe buildings in its center were either cracked or reduced to rubble, including the police station and the courthouse. The temblor tore a large gash in one of the streets. Hundreds of frightened townspeople stayed in the open, refusing to go back inside after more than five strong aftershocks shook the area.

President Otto Perez Molina said that 40 people died in the state of San Marcos and eight more were killed in the neighboring state of Quetzaltenango.

Hundreds of people crammed into the hallways of San Marcos' small hospital after the quake seeking help for injured family members. Some complained they were not getting care quickly enough.

Ingrid Lopez, who bought in a 72-year-old aunt whose legs were crushed by a falling wall, said she had waited hours for an X-ray.

"We ask the president to improve conditions at the hospital," she said. "There isn't enough staff."

More than 300 firefighters, policemen and civilians dug desperately at a half-ton mound of sand at a quarry trying to rescue seven people believed buried alive. Among those under the sand was a 6-year-old boy who had accompanied his grandfather to work.

"I want to see Giovanni! I want to see Giovanni!" the boy's mother, 42-year-old Francisca Ramirez, frantically cried. "He's not dead. Get him out."

By Wednesday night, firefighters had dug out two bodies from the quarry, including Giovanni's.

Perez flew to San Marcos to view the damage in this lush mountainous region of 50,000 indigenous farmers and ranchers, many belonging to the Mam ethnic group.

"One thing is to hear about what happened and another thing entirely is to see it," the president told The Associated Press. "As a Guatemalan I feel sad ... to see mothers crying for their lost children."

Perez said the government would pay for the funerals of all victims in the impoverished region.

Efrain Ramos helped load a tiny casket carrying the body of his 6-year-old niece from San Marcos' morgue to a waiting pickup truck.

"The little girl died when a wall fell over her," a shocked Ramos told a reporter.

He said the girl was playing in her room when the quake hit. Sobbing uncontrollably, the girl's mother hugged the coffin wrapped with white lace and tulle. Ramos said the family would escort his niece Rosa's body back home for a viewing.

The quake, which was 20 miles deep, was centered 15 miles off the coastal town of Champerico and 100 miles southwest of Guatemala City. It was the strongest earthquake to hit Guatemala since a 1976 temblor that killed 23,000.

Officials said most of 100 missing were from San Marcos, where people farm corn and herd cattle, mostly for their own survival.

Hospital officials in San Marcos said they had received 150 injured.

Perez said more than 2,000 soldiers were deployed to help with the disaster. A plane had made at least two trips to carry relief teams to the area.

Small Quake Rattles N.J. Towns in Wake of Hurricane Sandy

November 8, 2012

AP - Some residents in northern New Jersey awoke to a small earthquake early Monday.
The temblor, with a magnitude of 2.0, struck at 1:19 a.m. and was centered in Ringwood, a community that's still dealing with downed trees and power outages from Sandy.

Geophysicist Jessica Turner at the National Earthquake Information Center says some people reported hearing a loud boom. Turner says those on upper floors of a home might have felt shaking or saw objects on walls vibrate.

The quake was 3 miles below ground and could also be felt in Mahwah, Wanaque, Oakland, Franklin Lakes, West Milford and Paterson.

Ringwood police say there are no reports of damage.

Turner says the last earthquake in New Jersey had a 2.2 magnitude and was recorded in February 2010.

Two Large Earthquakes Killed 300 People and Injured Thousands in Iran

Iran Government Criticized Over Earthquake Response

August 14, 2012

Reuters - Overcrowded hospitals in northwest Iran struggled to cope with thousands of earthquake victims on Sunday as rescuers raced to reach remote villages after two powerful quakes killed nearly 300 people.

Thousands huddled in makeshift camps or slept in the street after Saturday's quakes for fear of more aftershocks, 60 of which had already struck. A lack of tents and other supplies left them exposed to the night chill, one witness told Reuters.

"I saw some people whose entire home was destroyed, and all their livestock killed," Tahir Sadati, a local photographer, said by telephone. "People need help, they need warm clothes, more tents, blankets and bread."

The worst damage and most casualties appeared to have been in rural villages around the towns of Ahar, Varzaghan and Harees, near the major city of Tabriz, Iranian media reported.

Tabriz resident Ahmad, 41, told Reuters his cousin living in a village near Ahar was killed and his body found.

"Nobody knows what happened to his wife and two daughters," aged 4 and 7, Ahmad said. "We fear that if rescuers don't get to them soon, they will lose their lives too if they're still alive."

But Iranian officials said rescue operations had ended by Sunday afternoon and that all those trapped beneath the rubble had been freed, Iran's English-language Press TV reported.

Many villages are hard to reach by road, hindering rescue efforts. Hospitals in Tabriz, Ardabil and other cities nearby took in many of the injured, residents and Iranian media said, and there were long queues of survivors waiting to be treated.

"I wanted to go there last night to help but heard there was bad traffic and that it wasn't safe enough," Ahmad said. "People in those villages need help."

Abbas Falahi, member of parliament for Ahar and Harees, said people in some villages were still "in dire need of food and drinking water", the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

"Despite the promises of officials, little first aide has been distributed in the region and most people are left without tents. If the situation continues, the toll will rise," he said.

Aidin, a Tabriz resident, said he went to give blood at a local hospital on Saturday and saw staff struggling to cope with the influx of patients. Most patients had been taken there by their families, he said, indicating a shortage of ambulances.

Ahar's 120-bed hospital was full, said Arash, a college student in the town. There were traffic jams on the narrow road to Tabriz as victims tried to reach hospitals, he said by telephone.

VILLAGES DESTROYED

"People are scared and won't go back into their houses because they fear the buildings aren't safe."

The U.S. Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 60 km (37 miles) northeast of the city of Tabriz, a trading hub far from Iran's oil-producing areas and known nuclear facilities.

The second, measuring 6.3, struck 11 minutes later near Varzaghan, 49 km (30 miles) northeast of Tabriz.

More than 1,000 villages in the area were affected by the earthquakes, Ahmad Reza Shaji'i, a Red Crescent official, told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). Some 130 villages suffered more than 70 percent damage, and 20 villages were completely destroyed, he said.

"We saw some villages that were truly destroyed," said Sadati, the photographer who was documenting the quake aftermath. "One good thing was that the earthquake happened during the day, so many people were not in their homes. If it had happened at night the casualties would have been far worse."

Close to 300 people were believed to be dead, said Reza Sadighi, Ahar's local governor, Fars news agency said. National emergency head Gholam Reza Masoumi said 5,000 people are believed to be injured, according to ISNA.

Nearly 100 ambulances and 1,100 Red Crescent workers were deployed, Shaji'i said, along with 44,000 food packages and 5,600 tents for shelter. The relief agency had enough supplies and most residents in the area had access to clean water but Shaji'i asked residents to donate cash to the relief effort.

Tehran officials sent condolences to the victims and declared two days of mourning in the province, ISNA reported.

About 36,000 people in the quake-hit area have been given emergency shelter, Masoumi was quoted as saying by ISNA.

Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Hassan-Nejad warned that if relief efforts did not speed up, the death toll would swiftly rise.

"Relief groups have still not reached many villages, because in normal conditions some of these villages are several hours away," he told ISNA. "Currently the roads are closed and the only way to reach these villages is by air."

COLLAPSED BUILDINGS

Photographs posted on Iranian news websites showed numerous bodies, including children, lying on the floor of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar and medical staff treating the injured in the open air as dusk fell on Saturday. Other images showed rescue workers digging people out of rubble - some alive, many dead.

Twenty-eight year old Narges in Tehran said she saw dozens of people in a hospital waiting to donate blood for the victims.

Iran is crisscrossed by major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 that reduced the historic southeastern city of Bam to dust and killed about 31,000 people.

Saturday's quakes struck in East Azerbaijan province, a mountainous region that neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia to the north. Buildings in Tabriz, the provincial capital, are substantially built and ISNA reported nobody in the city had been killed or hurt.

Homes and business premises in Iranian villages, however, are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake.

Water, electricity, and phone lines in the area of Varzaghan are all down, further hindering rescue efforts, Iran's English-language Press TV reported.

Tabriz residents left their homes and crowded the streets following the two quakes, those in the city said.

"Everyone was scared last night," a resident said by telephone. "They set up tents and were sleeping in the streets and in parks."

Flashback: World Government (the 'Beast' That Was, and Is Not, and Yet Is) Predictions for 2012

Each and every day, people around the world are realizing that the one-world government is based upon a hybrid Socialism-Communism economics system — a system of corporate governance and ownership of natural resources, land, water, and complete control of human beings. It is a system based upon the marriage of corporations, science and politics. It is a system that is funded by us, the world’s people. But what do knowing people do? We can’t fight manufactured super viruses, HAARP and psychotronic weapons; and we certainly cannot fight global nuclear arsenals. But we can, however, refuse to think and participate in the global economics systems, which were set up to literally enslave humankind. - Nancy Levant, Get Off the Globalization Grid, Part 1, NewsWithViews.com, August 23, 2005

We have a world government, but it is mostly private, and the private institutions running the world government are not geared or focused on the common good. So what we have nowadays is private power. And private power is the power running the world government. They issue documents. They publish books. They have logos. They make reports. It’s all out there. All you need to do is, like a jigsaw puzzle, put the pieces together. - Adrian Salbuchi, Will It Be World Government?

'2012: What’s in Store...'

December 26, 2011

Adrian Salbuchi, RT.com - The Private Global Power Elite embedded in major governments is dead set on imposing World Government on us sooner rather than later. Let’s look at 12 mega-processes – veritable “Triggers” – that we infer they are using to achieve their goals.

­All roads lead to World Government. This should come as no surprise. London’s Financial Times openly articulated this view in an article by their chief foreign affairs commentator, Gideon Rachman, published on 8 December 2009, whose title said it all: “And Now for a World Government.” These goals are echoed by the Trilateral Commission, CFR and Bilderberg insiders – even by the Vatican.

Macro-managing planet Earth is no easy matter. It requires strategic and tactical planning by a vast think-tank network allied to major elite universities whereby armies of academics, operators, lobbyists, media players and government officers interface, all abundantly financed by the global corporate and banking superstructure.

They do this holistically, knowing that they operate on different stages moving at very different speeds:

• Financial Triggers move at lightning speed thanks to electronic information technology that can make or break markets, currencies and entire countries in just hours or days;
• Economic Triggers move slower: manufacturing cars, aircraft, food, clothes, building plants and houses takes months;
• Political Triggers tied to the “democratic system” put politicians in power for several years;
  
• Cultural Triggers require entire generations to implement; this is where PsyWar has reached unprecedented “heights”.

Risk-managing this whole process takes into account the many pitfalls and surprises in store. So each plan in every field counts, with “Plan B’s” – even Plans “C” and “D” – which can be implemented if needed.

­Twelve Triggers for World Government

Today, the Global Power Elite are wrapping up globalization and ushering in World Government. Paraphrasing the tightrope walker in German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” this implies “….a dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting…"

These 12 Triggers are interlinked and interlocked in a highly complex, holistic matrix, very flexible in its tactics but rigidly unbending in its strategic objectives. When read as a whole, the picture that unfolds shows that whole being far more than the sum of its parts.

1. Financial Meltdown. Since 2008, the Global Financial System continues on life-support. Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner and the US economic hit team – Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and Goldman Sachs, CitiGroup, JPMorganChase mega-bankers working with the Bank of England and the European Central Bank – have not and will not take any measures to help the populace and ailing economies. They just funnel trillions to the banking elite, imposing the media myth that certain banks are “too big to fail” (Orwellian Newspeak for “too damn powerful to fail”). Why? Because it’s not governments overseeing, supervising and controlling Goldman Sachs, CitiCorp, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, JPMorganChase, but exactly the other way around…
2. Economic Crises. Today, “Destructive Extreme Capitalism” is collapsing national and regional economies, reformatting them into international slave-labour Gulag-like entities that Joseph Stalin would envy. Our woes lie not with the world’s real economy (mostly intact), but with the fake world of finance, banks, and speculation;
3. Social Upheavals. Meltdowns in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Iceland and – soon to come – Italy, Spain and others, trigger violent social uprisings, even in the US and UK;
4. Pandemics. Get ready for more “flu surprises” leading to mandatory vaccinations: a discreet opportunity to slip RFID chips into our bodies and test “intelligent viruses” targeting specific DNA strains. Racially and ethnically selective viruses as part of mass depopulation campaigns?
5. Global Warming. As the global economy sinks into zero growth mode, economic drivers shift from growth expansion to consumption contraction. Will coming “carbon credits” open the path to full societal control?
6. Terrorist “False Flag” Mega-Attacks. The Elite have this wildcard up their sleeve to jump-start new “crises” as short-cuts towards world government. Will new “attacks” dwarfing 9/11 justify further global wars, invasions and genocide? A nuclear weapon over a major city to be blamed on the Elite’s “enemies”?
7. Generalized War in the Middle East. As we speak, naval forces, bombers, entire armies are poised to attack and invade Syria, Iran…
8. Ecological/Environmental “Accidents”. The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident sparked the beginning of the end of the former USSR by showing the world and the Soviets themselves that their State could no longer manage their own nuclear facilities. April 2010 saw the BP “Deepwater Horizon” oil rig eco-catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico; since March 2011, Japan and the world have been grappling with a much larger nuclear accident in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. Was foul play involved?
9. Assassination of a major political or religious figure to be blamed on an Elite enemy. Mossad, CIA, MI6 are really good at playing this type of dirty trick;
10. Attacks on “Rogue States” – Iraq, Libya… Who’s next? Iran? Syria? Venezuela? North Korea?
11. Staged “Religious” Event. The growing need of the masses for meaning in their lives makes them easy victims of a Hollywood-staged, 3D virtual reality hologram show, orchestrating a “second coming”. An electronically engineered “messianic figure” acting in sync with Elite global objectives? Who would dare go against God himself?
12. Staged “Alien Contact.” This too may be in the works. For decades, large sectors of world population have been programmed to believe in aliens. Here too, hologram technology could stage a “space vehicle landing” – on the White House lawn, of course – highlighting the “need” for Mankind to have “unified representation” in the face of extraterrestrials. Further justification for world government?

What do such interlocking “crises” have in common? Global warming, pandemics, “international terrorism”, financial collapse, economic depression, even alien contacts? They all serve to show that they cannot be addressed by any single nation state, thus “justifying” the need for World Government.

2012: We must stay especially alert, understanding things the way they really are and not the way the global TV Masters want us to believe they are.

Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina. www.asalbuchi.com.ar

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15-feet of Snow Traps Eastern Europeans; Food Flown into Stranded Towns

Emergency Food Flown into Stranded European Towns

February 13, 2012

AP - Military planes and police helicopters flew in tons of emergency food to snowbound villages and ships in the Balkans on Monday, after blizzards so fierce that some people had to cut tunnels through 15 feet (4 meters) of snow to get out of their homes.

Since the end of January, Eastern Europe has been pummeled by a record-breaking cold snap and the heaviest snowfall in recent memory. Hundreds of people, many of them homeless, have died in the bitter cold and tens of thousands have been trapped by blocked roads inside homes with little heat.

Authorities declared a state of emergency Monday in eastern Romania, where 6,000 people have been cut off for days. About a dozen major roads were closed, 300 trains canceled and more than 1,000 schools shut down.

In addition to the flights, the defense ministry also sent 8,000 soldiers out clearing roads across Romania and helping those trapped by the overwhelming snow.

Emergency officials in Serbia used helicopters to deliver food and evacuate sailors stuck on icebound boats on the Danube river near the town of Smederevo. They also resupplied a Danube island near Pancevo, north of the capital of Belgrade.

Scores of flights across the region were canceled. The airport in the southern Romanian city of Craiova was closed after a plane carrying 48 people skidded during takeoff Monday and landed in a pile of snow, breaking its propellers. A female passenger broke her leg after she jumped from the plane.

President Traian Basescu tried to assure Romanians the country has enough energy supplies to prevent shortages but said the government was deciding whether to stop exporting energy, which national energy company Transelectrica wants to do.

A tugboat on the Danube river, one of Europe's key waterways, was breaking up ice between the ports of Sulina and Tulcea in eastern Romania. The boat was also bringing in food to remote villages in the Danube Delta, where supplies have been affected after 700 kilometers (440 miles) of the river froze over last week. The Danube winds 1,785 miles (2,872 kilometers) through nine European countries to the Black Sea.

In Serbia, tens of thousands are still stranded by the snow, while schools and most businesses stayed closed for a second week due to emergency measures to save energy.

An avalanche hit western Serbia late Sunday near the artificial lake of Perucac, sweeping away a man as his wife and child waited in the car nearby. Rescuers say divers would look for the man in the lake.

In Montenegro, rescuers started evacuating some 50 passengers who have been stranded for three days on a train that was blocked inside a tunnel by an avalanche. So far, a little girl and two elderly people have been pulled out and evacuated by helicopter.

Rescuers in southern Kosovo over the weekend pulled a 5-year-old girl alive from the rubble of a house flattened by a massive avalanche that killed both her parents and at least seven relatives. Her home in the remote mountain village of Restelica was buried under 33 feet (10 meters) of snow.

In the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, the roof of the Grbavica stadium partially collapsed Monday under the weight of heavy snow but no one was injured. It was the second stadium roof collapse in Sarajevo in as many days.

Bosnia has been paralyzed with record snowfall for over a week. Temperatures as low as minus 22 Celsius (minus 8 Fahrenheit) have made it difficult to clear the snow.

Even regions far from the Balkans have been affected by the deep freeze. North of Paris, icebreakers made their way Monday through the frozen Canal St. Denis.

Third World War, Mass Inflation, Currency Collapses, and Long-term Power Grid Failures

Subculture of Americans Prepares for Civilization's Collapse

January 21, 2012

Reuters - When Patty Tegeler looks out the window of her home overlooking the Appalachian Mountains in southwestern Virginia, she sees trouble on the horizon.

"In an instant, anything can happen," she told Reuters. "And I firmly believe that you have to be prepared."

Tegeler is among a growing subculture of Americans who refer to themselves informally as "preppers." Some are driven by a fear of imminent societal collapse, others are worried about terrorism, and many have a vague concern that an escalating series of natural disasters is leading to some type of environmental cataclysm.

They are following in the footsteps of hippies in the 1960s who set up communes to separate themselves from what they saw as a materialistic society, and the survivalists in the 1990s who were hoping to escape the dictates of what they perceived as an increasingly secular and oppressive government.

Preppers, though, are worried about no government.

Tegeler, 57, has turned her home in rural Virginia into a "survival center," complete with a large generator, portable heaters, water tanks, and a two-year supply of freeze-dried food that her sister recently gave her as a birthday present. She says that in case of emergency, she could survive indefinitely in her home. And she thinks that emergency could come soon.

"I think this economy is about to fall apart," she said.

A wide range of vendors market products to preppers, mainly online. They sell everything from water tanks to guns to survival skills.

Conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck seems to preach preppers' message when he tells listeners:

"It's never too late to prepare for the end of the world as we know it."

"Unfortunately, given the increasing complexity and fragility of our modern technological society, the chances of a societal collapse are increasing year after year," said author James Wesley Rawles, whose Survival Blog is considered the guiding light of the prepper movement.

A former Army intelligence officer, Rawles has written fiction and non-fiction books on end-of-civilization topics, including "How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It," which is also known as the preppers' Bible.

"We could see a cascade of higher interest rates, margin calls, stock market collapses, bank runs, currency revaluations, mass street protests, and riots," he told Reuters. "The worst-case end result would be a Third World War, mass inflation, currency collapses, and long term power grid failures."

A sense of "suffering and being afraid" is usually at the root of this kind of thinking, according to Cathy Gutierrez, an expert on end-times beliefs at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Such feelings are not unnatural in a time of economic recession and concerns about a growing national debt, she said.

"With our current dependence on things from the electric grid to the Internet, things that people have absolutely no control over, there is a feeling that a collapse scenario can easily emerge, with a belief that the end is coming, and it is all out of the individual's control," she told Reuters.

She compared the major technological developments of the past decade to the Industrial Revolution of the 1830s and 1840s, which led to the growth of the Millerites, the 19th-Century equivalent of the preppers. Followers of charismatic preacher Joseph Miller, many sold everything and gathered in 1844 for what they believed would be the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Many of today's preppers receive inspiration from the Internet, devouring information posted on websites like that run by attorney Michael T. Snider, who writes The Economic Collapse blog out of his home in northern Idaho.

"Modern preppers are much different from the survivalists of the old days," he said. "You could be living next door to a prepper and never even know it. Many suburbanites are turning spare rooms into food pantries and are going for survival training on the weekends."

Like other preppers, Snider is worried about the end of a functioning U.S. economy. He points out that tens of millions of Americans are on food stamps and that many U.S. children are living in poverty.

"Most people have a gut feeling that something has gone terribly wrong, but that doesn't mean that they understand what is happening," he said. "A lot of Americans sense that a massive economic storm is coming and they want to be prepared for it."

So, assuming there is no collapse of society -- which the preppers call "uncivilization" -- what is the future of the preppers?

Gutierrez said that unlike the Millerites -- or followers of radio preacher Harold Camping, who predicted the world would end last year -- preppers are not setting a date for the coming destruction. The Mayan Calendar predicts doom this December.

"The minute you set a date, you are courting disconfirmation," she said.

Tegeler, who recalls being hit by tornadoes and floods in her southwestern Virginia home, said that none of her "survival center" products will go to waste.

"I think it's silly not to be prepared," she said. "After all, anything can happen."

Read More...

10 Survival Tools That Should Be In Your Survival Pack

SHTF Survival: 10 Survival Tools That Should Be In Your Survival Pack

October 2011

Ready Nutrition - Let’s be honest, survival is not something you want to gamble your life on. Meeting your basic needs during a disaster is key to survival, and having the right set of tools to fall back on is paramount in your preparedness endeavors.

The ten tools listed below are some of the most important survival tools that should be in your 72-hour bags or survival bags. Of course, other items can be included, but these essentials are a must-have for every survival pack. Practice using these tools regularly so that you know their capability and their strength.

1. Water Treatment: We simply cannot live without water. The more energy you consume, the more water your body will need. Having a means to purify water in a survival situation will help keep you hydrated, your brain functioning properly and your focus on survival. In addition, if you sustain an injury, water can be poured over the wound for cleaning.
2. Compass and Map: Knowing which direction you are headed and where you need to be are essential. Keep maps of your surrounding area at home (in case you have to evacuate by foot), in your car and in your survival bags.
3. Fire Starter, flint bars, matches or lighter: Having a way to produce fire can help you cook food and keep warm and prevent hypothermia.
4. First Aid Kit: You do not want to be caught in a survival situation without a first aid kit. This kit assists in injury treatment and helps prevent infections from perpetuating.
5. Mirror: Used for signaling, checking face for wounds, looking at your back for wounds/ticks, and can be used to start fire.
6. Rope or Paracord: This can be used for making snares or assisting in making other traps lashing branches together to build a shelter, assisting in first aid (splints, tourniquets, slings), or to make survival tools such as spears.
7. Survival Blanket or Bivvy: A bivvy or survival blanket can be used as an emergency shelter, sleeping bag or can be an extra layer added to your existing sleeping bag if you are expecting a cold night.
8. Multi-tool: Used for notching or more complex wood working skills, opening cans, altering equipment, medical uses, if snare wire is around wire cutters can cut it.
9. Lighting: Lanterns, light sticks, flashlights, and head lamps can help you find your way if in the dark. LEDs, solar and hand crank will get you the most for your money.
10. Survival Knife: Survival knives should be made of good quality steel. Invest in one you can rely on. Make sure it is well made, is strong enough for rough field use, and is the best you can afford.

Bottom line is your preparedness tools are your life line and without them, you could be ill-equipped in a survival situation.

10 Lessons from People Who Lived Through the Depression

10 Lessons from People Who Lived Through the Depression

August 29, 2011

Business Insider - It isn't difficult to see shades of the Great Depression in the Great Recession, and in today's volatile economy. High unemployment, staggering debt, and stocks that, well, see the August 10th cover of The New York Post, who put it best.

Still, the hardship of the late 1920s and the 1930s has yet to be replicated on such a grand scale. The 25% unemployment rate was a reality back then. But corners were cut, ends were met, and the generation that lived through it still stands as a testament to getting past tough times.

Some of the men and women of the Great Depression are still around today, and perhaps it's time to turn to them for inspiration.

Here's a list of 10 ideas that were formed during that era that may help us recover, as well as remind us that, hey, it could be worse.

If you've got it, use it

Wanda Bridgeforth was hit hardest on the home front as a child, when her parents couldn't afford to keep her with them. At one point she lived with 19 people—in a six room house. It was in these situations that she learned to conserve what she had, and reuse what she found.

"And they say, 'Well, what are you going to use this for?' and I say, 'I don't know, but I'm going to use it,'" Bridgeforth told NPR.

Today, individuals and companies would be wise to heed this advice. We can find resources in unlikely places, whether in the the scrap heap or the ideas of the unpaid college intern.

Review the facts

While some figures put the number of people unemployed as even higher than the numbers during the Great Depression, the widespread feeling of despair—not to mention the sheer numbers of actual starvation, poverty, and unemployment—was much higher during the 1920s and 30s than during the aughts.

1929 to 1932 saw a 50 percent drop in national income, and in 1933, almost 25 percent of the work force was unemployed. There were food shortages to go along with thousands of people filing for bankruptcy. Today's numbers, frankly, speak more to recession than depression.

Grow your own

While small farmers suffered greatly during the Great Depression, those who could generate their own food in small gardens were able to supplement their diet with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Urban subsistence gardens—on rooftops, in vacant lots, or backyards—became particularly useful during this era. There were over 20,000 of these gardens in Gary, Indiana alone. Self-reliance, especially when it comes to feeding yourself, is an invaluable tool, recession or not.

Cash, not credit

Debt is a bit of a dirty word for people during the Depression. It's an idea that carries over into today.

"Save and share," Rubilee Craig, 5 years old in 1932, advised. Not a big fan of credit cards, she also said that ""Gold and silver gives you a reserve, and sometime maybe the paper money won't be good."

While we don't suggest throwing away your paper money, taking on more debt in times like these might be digging yourself deeper than you can pull yourself out.

If you have to, move on

Some cities and states have higher unemployment rates than others; same goes for certain businesses. The Great Depression was a time for striking out a new path if the old one turned up short.

While some stories are less successful than others, such as Paul Satko's journey up to Alaska in a wooden ark, the lesson remains: don't be afraid to go where the opportunity is, rather than waiting for it to come to you.

Keep morale high

Surviving alone is no way to live. People during the Great Depression, despite little-to-no spending money and virtually no money for entertainment, found cheap ways to find distraction and diversion.

There were radio programs, such as President Roosevelt's fireside chats, and live concerts put on by people who had plenty of free time on their hands. Marie Tubbs remembered fondly the concerts put on by her father, a violinist in Michigan.

"How clearly I remember, out of the depths of dark feelings springing from closed banks and no work, the wonderful sensation that comes from something more than 'bread alone.'"

Keeping morale high—with music, for example—is an integral part of living during trying economic times.

Know a deal when you see it

Whether it was making your own clothes, growing your own food, or repairing your own commodities, people found ways to cut down on spending. Gladys Cole talked about buying fabric from the 5-and-10-cent store, in order to sew her own clothes.

"They recycled everything, I tell you, everything," she said.

Deals are everywhere: from buying in bulk to websites like Groupon that offer daily deals. Be sure to scope out the deals that you can take advantage of—and do all you can to take advantage of them.

Diversify and build

Businesses that worked well before the Depression—for example, A.E. Schmidt's billiard table manufacturing—suffered once disposable income took a hit. To compensate, the Schmidt family turned to making toilet seats, and looked to increase billiard business by contacting a new client: The U.S. Commerce Department, to which they sold billiard tables for works camps.

When old revenue streams dry up, don't despair. Attempts can be made to diversify your business—by finding new clients, new products, or a new business altogether, while staying within your means.

Stick together

Despite stories of petty larceny and selfishness amongst neighbors, there are countless tales of communities banding together during tough times. Robert Hoffman remembered the kindness of the neighborhood grocer, extending credit when a paycheck hadn't gone through.

"Everybody was in the spirit of helping out. That's the only thing that saved us."

Alone, we may feel more resilient and independent. But there is strength in numbers, and sticking together—whether with family, friends, or neighbors—can help us get through the tough times, both financially and emotionally.

"Tomorrow I could lose everything, but somehow I'm not afraid. I really am not."

Dusko Condic grew up as one of eight children on the south side of Chicago during the Depression, reports NPR. At one point, his widowed mother couldn't afford to keep their house and all nine family members were put out on the street. It was only the help of neighbors and friends that kept them alive.

The swagger and grit that grew out of those memories helps keep Dusko confident in the future.

"Tomorrow I could lose everything, but somehow I'm not afraid. I really am not," he told NPR.

This is perhaps the most important lesson of all. If possible: try not to worry. Things have been worse. And they will get better.

You Do Not Want to Be In or Near a Big City When Chaos Breaks Out

The History Channel's After Armageddon

NASA Disaster Preparedness Video: NASA Initiative Calls for Its Personnel and Their Families to be Prepared for 'Emergency Situations'

NASA Disaster Preparedness VIDEO

June 11, 2011

NASA Headquarters Emergency Operations - A major initiative has been placed on Family/Personal Preparedness for all NASA personnel. The NASA Family/Personal Preparedness Program is designed to provide awareness, resources, and tools to the NASA Family (civil servants and contractors) to prepare for an emergency situation.

The most important assets in the successful completion of NASA’s mission are our employees’ and their families. We are taking the steps to prepare our workforce, but it is your personal obligation to prepare yourself and your families for emergencies.

Listen to Administrator Bolden’s thoughts on why it’s important that we “know our stuff” and “be prepared.”

Administrator, Charles F. Bolden, Jr. Video:

A short video on preparing a family safety plan for local and national emergencies:

You Don't Want to Be Living in an Urban Area When Chaos Ensues

Congressman Warns: “Those Who Can, Should Move Their Families Out Of the City”

May 27, 2011

SHTFPlan.com - There are a whole host of events that can bring the world as we know it today to its knees. From a hyperinflationary economic collapse to an electro magnetic pulse originating from the sun or a nuclear weapon , there exists a real and present danger that our system may, in the near future, experience unrecoverable shocks to the power grid and clean water infrastructure, a halt to just-in-time agricultural transportation systems and a collapse of the currency exchange mechanisms that make the economy function.

US Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), lived through the great depression, so he’s seen how bad things can get. In a new documentary, Mr. Bartlett and others discuss the dangers posed to those living in cities and ways that your family can survive if the worst were to ever happen.

Roscoe Bartlett:

We could have events in the future where the power grid will go down and it’s not, in any reasonable time, coming back up. For instance, if when the power grid went down some of our large transformers were destroyed, damaged beyond use, we don’t make any of those in this country. They’re made overseas and you order one and 18 months to two years later they will deliver it. Our power grid is very vulnerable. It’s very much on edge. Our military knows that.

…

There are a number of events that could create a situation in the cities where civil unrest would be a very high probability. And, I think that those who can, and those who understand, need to take advantage of the opportunity when these winds of strife are not blowing to move their families out of the city.

Source: Urban Danger Movie

We realize that for most people this may be decried as fear-mongering and crazy survival talk. We can’t help but point out, however, that it’s not just Representative Roscoe Bartlett, economist Marc Faber, and trend forecaster Gerald Celente that are recommending you prepare and head for rural areas. The US Pentagon and Military are very much aware of these possibilities and they’re preparing for exactly the scenarios described in this documentary.

The threat is out there, and just because it hasn’t happened in our modern-day society up until now doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future. In fact, it has happened through history — strife, poverty, depression, economic collapse, war. You name it and somebody in history has lived it. The government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on emergency preparedness, disaster planning, continuity of government and war gaming these scenarios. There’s a reason for that. We recommend our readers take a queue from them and others who are warning of these outlier possibilities.

For a taste of what’s in the movie you can view the first 20 minutes of Urban Danger below:

View the entire documentary (for FREE) at the Urban Danger web site.
(Also available on DVD)

Read More...

How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It

Garden As If Your Life Depended On It, Because It Does

There are at least five reasons why more of us should take up the spade, make some compost, and start gardening with a vengeance.

Ellen LaConte, Alternet.org - Spring has sprung -- at least south of the northern tier of states where snow still has a ban on it -- and the grass has 'riz. And so has the price of most foods, which is particularly devastating just now when so many Americans are unemployed, underemployed, retired or retiring, on declining or fixed incomes and are having to choose between paying their mortgages, credit card bills, car payments, and medical and utility bills and eating enough and healthily. Many are eating more fast food, prepared foods, junk food -- all of which are also becoming more expensive -- or less food.

In some American towns, and not just impoverished backwaters, as many as 30 percent of residents can't afford to feed themselves and their families sufficiently, let alone nutritiously. Here in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina where I live it's 25 percent. Across the country one out of six of the elderly suffers from malnutrition and hunger. And the number of children served one or two of their heartiest, healthiest meals by their schools grows annually as the number of them living at poverty levels tops 20 percent. Thirty-seven million Americans rely on food banks that now routinely sport half-empty shelves and report near-empty bank accounts. And this is a prosperous nation!

In some cases this round of price hikes on everything from cereal and steak to fresh veggies and bread -- and even the flour that can usually be bought cheaply to make it -- will be temporary. But over the long term the systems that have provided most Americans with a diversity, quantity and quality of foods envied by the rest of the world are not going to be as reliable as they were.

What's for Supper Down the Road?

As they move through the next few decades Americans can expect:

• The price of conventionally produced food to rise and not come down again;
• Prices to rollercoaster so that budgeting is unpredictable;
• Some foods to become very expensive compared to what we're used to;
• And other foods, beginning with some of the multiple versions of the same thing made by the same company to garner a bigger market share and more shelf space, to gradually become unavailable.

Tremors in food supply chains and pricing will make gardening look like a lot more than a hobby, a seasonal workout, a practical way to fill your pantry with your summer favorites, or a physically, spiritually and mentally healing activity, or all four. Gardening and small-scale and collective farming, especially of staple crops and the ones that could stave off malnutrition, could become as important as bringing home the bacon, both the piggy and the dollar kind. Why?

Why Is Gardening So Important Now?

There are at least five reasons why more of us should take up spade, rake and hoe, make compost and raise good soil and garden beds with a vengeance, starting this spring and with an eye toward forever.

1) Peak oil

Most petroleum experts agree that we shot past peak oil in the U.S. around 1971. Lest you've missed the raging, that's the point at which more than half the readily, affordably retrievable oil in reserves has been used up, what remains is more expensive to retrieve, and the dregs are irretrievable. We've shot or are about to shoot past peak worldwide, estimates of when ranging from 2007 to 2013, with many oil company execs agreeing to at least the latter. There are no new cheap-easy oil fields coming on line. Any new fields you hear about or new methods, like tar sands drilling are expensive, water guzzling, dangerous, environmentally disastrous and unlikely to produce more than a few years worth of oil, and that a decade or more down the line. That means abundant, cheap oil is about to be history. What difference does that make?

For one thing, there is no replacement for oil that can do all that oil has done as cheaply and universally as oil has done it. I offer an exercise in Life Rules, "The ABC's of Peak Oil" which helps readers imaginatively subtract from their lives everything that depends in one way or another on cheap easy oil. It doesn't leave much. (See Beth Terry's Web site, for example, for what subtracting plastics may entail.)

The global economy that presently supplies us with our food, runs on cheap oil and lots of it. It runs slower and less predictably on expensive oil that's hard to get because it's located in hard-to-reach or high-risk conflict-ridden zones. Cheap, abundant food on the shelves of grocery and big box stores and food banks, on our tables and in our bellies depends on cheap abundant oil for fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, and to power farm machinery and transport food from fields to processors and packagers and then to purveyors and consumers, around the world. Past peak, that system's going to have the half-life of the strontium 90 that's escaping the Fukushimi Dai-ichi reactor: 29 years, or thereabouts. One good global crisis, and not that long.

2) Peak soil & space

A couple of links between peak oil and peak soil: First, it matters that one of the proposed alternatives to oil is biofuels. Acreage around the world is being converted from production of corn, wheat and soy for human and animal consumption -- i.e. food -- to production of ethanol and biofuels to put in trucks and cars and ... which makes remaining corn, et al., more expensive. Some energy economy geniuses are proposing that Afghans, for example, convert the fields of opium poppies that are their primary agricultural export, not to growing grains or legumes or other staple foods, but to biofuel, which would, not coincidentally, make the gasoline that goes in American military equipment much cheaper and provide Afghans with a profitable market item rather than food.

According to a 2009 National Geographic staff report,

"The corn used to make a 25-gallon tank of ethanol would feed one person for a year."

Tell that to Archer-Daniels-Midland, Al Gore's deep-pockets friend and mega-ethanol and corn products producer.

Second, the huge oil-gluttonous machinery that has made factory farming possible has compacted soils, literally crushing the life out of them. Arable land in the developing or so-called Third World has been at a premium since time immemorial, thanks to geographic location and/or persistent plundering by empires old and new. Revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East are occurring not just to obtain more democratic governments but also to obtain more food and more affordable food. Revolutionaries are barking up a tree that's seen better days.

In the United States and elsewhere in the developed, read "First" world, arable land has reached peak production. All those petroleum-based products that fueled the Green Revolution of the last century, also produce so many crops, constantly, with support from toxic chemicals and without concern for the microbes that make soil a live, self-regenerating system, that most American farmland -- if its farmers didn't go organic a while back -- is comprised of dead soils. Peak oil makes a repeat of the petroleum-driven 20th century Green Revolution impossible, which is good for soil and other living things, not so much for food prices and supplies.

After peak, in soil like in oil, comes descent. Adding insult to injury, every year farmers lose thousands of acres of arable land to urban and suburban sprawl and more tons of topsoil than they produce of grain and other field crops to attrition. Half the Earth's original trove of topsoil, like that which once permitted the American Midwest to feed the world, has been lost to wind and erosion. Millions of years in the making, it has been depleted and degraded by industrialized agriculture in only a couple of centuries. China's soils ride easterly winds across the Pacific to settle out on cars and rooftops in California while the American Bread Basket's soils are building deltas and dead zones at the mouth of the Mississippi. Like oil, that soil isn't coming back. We can only build it, help it to build itself and wait.

3) Monoculture

We can cut to the chase on this one. The food we eat is produced on industrial-strength, fossil-fuel-driven super farms. Those farms practice monoculture: the planting one crop, often of one genetic strain of that crop, at a time and sometimes year after year over vast landscapes of plowed field. When thousands of acres of farmland are sown with the same genetic strain of grain, uncongenial bout of weather, disease or pest to which that strain is susceptible can wipe out the whole crop.

At present the Ug99 fungus, called stem rust, which emerged a decade ago in Africa, could wipe out more than 80 percent of the world's wheat crops as it spreads, according to a 2009 article in the L. A. Times. Recent studies follow its appearance in other countries downwind of eastern Africa where it originated, including Yemen and Iran (where revolutionaries are already protesting rising prices and shortages), which opens the possibility of its emergence further downwind in Central and Eastern Asia. The race is on to breed resistant plants before it reaches Canada or the U.S. But it can take a decade or more to create a universally adaptable new genetic line that is resistant to a new disease like stem rust that can travel much faster than that. The current spike in the price of wheat is due in part to Ug99 which might properly be renamed "Ugh."

4) Climate instability

Bad -- uncongenial -- weather has lately devastated crops in the upper Midwest, Florida, Mexico, Russia, China, Australia, parts of Africa and elsewhere. Many climate scientists believe we've passed the equivalent of peak friendly and familiar weather, too. And while increasing heat will bedevil harvests, intense cold, downpours and flooding, drought and destructive storm systems will make farming an increasingly hellish occupation if profit is what's being farmed for.

The transitional climate will be unpredictable from season to season and will produce more extremes of weather and weather-related disasters, which means farmers will not be able to assume much about growing seasons, rainfall patterns and getting crops through to harvest. If the past is precedent, the transition from the climate we've been used to for 10,000 years to whatever stable climate emerges out of climate chaos next, could take decades, centuries or even millennia. Especially if we keep messing with it.

When a whole nation's or region's staple crops, especially grains, are lost or on-again-off-again, everything down the line from the crops themselves become more expensive, from meat, poultry and dairy to every kind of processed food. I.e., the food we shop for as if supermarkets were actually where food comes from.

5) The roller-coaster economy

This isn't the place for me to offer my explanation for the probability of global economic collapse. (More on that here.) No pundits, talking-heads or economic analysts (well, very few) deny there are rough economic times ahead. Even many of the cautious among them acknowledge that we may be looking at five or six years of high unemployment and many of the lost jobs won't be coming back. The less cautious, like me, predict the collapse of the whole fossil-fueled, funny-money, inequitable, overly complicated global economic system in the lifetimes of anyone under 50. Well, at the rate we're going in all the wrong directions politically and economically, I hazard the guess, anyone under 80.

Clearly, depending on the present system to provide us with most or all of our food reliably or long-term, is unwise in the extreme. Which is how we get back to why we need to garden as if our lives depended on it. Bringing food production processes and systems closer to home is going to prove vital to our survival. We need to take producing our own and each other's food as seriously as we've taken producing a money income because growing numbers of us won't have enough money to buy food in the conventional ways and there will be less of it to buy. So what's our recourse?

Gardening Like Everybody's Business

Under the influence and auspices of the prevailing economy, most Americans have forgotten how to provide for themselves. We've become accustomed to earning money with which we buy provisions. That process is about to have the legs kicked out from under it. Instead of earning money (or its funny-money kin like credit cards) to buy the things we need, we'll need to start providing more of those things for ourselves and each other locally and (bio)regionally.

Gardening -- and small-scale farming -- while they will need to be undertaken in a businesslike fashion will be less about doing business than about everyone's having something to eat and more people being busy providing it. And while not everyone will be able to garden or farm, we are all able to get up close and personal with those who do.

Where's the Best Location in America to Homestead?

October 2009

SurvivalTopics.com - According to James Wesley, Rawles the answer is Idaho County, Idaho. For him the following is synonymous with a homestead seeing as he encourages everyone to live at their "survival retreat" full-time, if possible.

In his chapter titled "The Survival Retreat," he says that the ideal location is in a region with most or all of the following characteristics:

• A long growing season
• Geographic isolation from major population centers
• Sufficient year-round precipitation and surface water
• Rich topsoil
• A diverse economy and agriculture
• Away from interstate freeways and other channelized areas
• Low taxes
• Nonintrusive scale of government
• Favorable zoning and inexpensive building permits
• Minimal gun laws
• No major earthquake, hurricane or tornado risks
• No flooding risk
• No tidal-wave risk (at least two hundred feet above sea level)
• Minimal forest-fire risk
• A lifestyle geared toward self-sufficiency
• Plentiful local sources of wood or coal
• No restrictions on keeping livestock
• Defendable terrain
• Not near a prison or large mental institution
• Inexpensive insurance rates (home, auto, health)
• Upwind from major nuclear-weapons targets

As an example of the low population density in the West, I often like to cite Idaho County, Idaho: This one county measures 8,485 square miles--bigger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. But it has a population of just 15,400. And of those residents, roughly 3,300 people live in Grangeville, the county seat. Who lives in the rest of the county? Nary a soul. There are far more deer and elk than there are people. The population density of the county is 1.8 people per square mile. The county has more than 3 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land, BLM land, and designated federal wilderness areas. Now that is elbow room!

-- excerpted from How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies For Uncertain Times, pgs. 39-41.

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