Fall of the Republic

Fall of the Republic by Alex Jones, a documentary
I watched this movie expecting more of the same from Alex. In his last movie, The Obama Deception, I was pretty critical of the fact that that film was really just a rehash of his two older films with the name "Obama" thrown in to beef it up. Of course, that's an over-generalization, but it's how it was viewed by myself, who's seen all of Jones' films to-date.

This movie, which is a documentary of the pending takeover of the entire world's economic systems, is very different from Jones' earlier work. There are no angry crowds with Alex at their head screaming through a bullhorn. There's no confrontations with elected officials or other government types with a lot of questions and no answers.

Instead, this film is relatively sedate in its presentation. But it packs a huge punch.

I would say that this film is by far the best that Jones has done when it comes to pure documentary work. Most of the film is interviews with various experts, such as Gerald Celente, regarding how the financial oligarchs, the Banksters, and so forth have manipulated the system, created their own rules, and are busy ruining the world's economies so that they can replace them with one large, over-arching world banking system.

Obama is featured, but only as a puppet of the real controllers--which I think is more effective and gets the truth across much better. C-SPAN footage of Congress-critters lying, of Al Gore stating blatant untruths, of Obama saying one thing and signing another into law, of Bush, Cheney, the whole troop at Goldman Sachs, and on and on as they commit their acts of rape and pillage in broad daylight, right in front of us, while they use the Cult of Personality (currently Obama and Friends) to distract the public from their true machinations.

The film is definitely well-worth the watch, whether you're an Alex Jones fan or not. The evidence is all laid out, soberly, with no ranting, screaming, yelling, or any of Alex's other signatures.

In fact, that very soberness and the quiet way the information is given is probably the biggest wake up of the movie. The information is there, the news reports are shown, the video footage of the robber barons and their minions saying the words are presented, and the whole thing is laid out. Including a solution to save us all.

That presentation, the calm, quiet, clear-eyed way it's given, is very different from Jones' other films and is the very thing that makes this documentary so gripping.

Watch this movie. You can see it free on YouTube, free on PrisonPlanet.tv, you can download it, buy it, trade it, whatever. It's available all over the place. Get it while you still can. Soon enough, this will be illegal too.

Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God

Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God
Anyone who's read this blog for any amount of time has probably figured out that I have a real soft spot for Viking Metal. I love this stuff. Right up front, I'm going to tell you that this band is one of the most kick ass metal bands in this genre I've heard so far. I really like Heidevolk, but this band is better.

Amon Amarth is a Swedish band that started out as a basic death metal banned. Calling themselves Scum (not exactly original), they were basically a nobody band. They changed their name to Amon Amarth and began focusing on Norse mythology, which the lead singer Johan Hegg was extremely big on.

Him being such a giant, the other guys in the band probably had to follow along. The dude is HUGE.

Anyway, their music is guttural, strong, and filled with mythos. The lyrics are great stuff (mostly in English). This album caps off more than half a dozen so far under this band name and is probably one of the better ones, I think. Some of the early stuff was a little hokey and the band hadn't found their smooth collaboration yet, I think.

Once Sent From the Golden Hall and Sorry Throughout the Nine Worlds are a little disjointed compared to the latter three including this new one. They aren't crap, it's still great music, but you can really hear a difference in sound quality and group mesh between them.

This album grinds hard and has extremely impressive lyrics and I highly recommend it to any metal fan.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
I saw this book on the shelf at the used book store and was amazed I had never read it. I'd heard about it and even had friends tell me about it, but had never read it myself. Odd, since I am a big fan of Heinlein.

I read this book and found it fascinating and, of course, full of my favorite thing about Heinlein: libertarian thought. He's the Ayn Rand of the blue collar, sci-fi world. Especially with this book.

While this book is not the paradigm-changer that Stranger in a Strange Land was for me, it's definitely up there as one of the best books ever written. It won a lot of awards and many consider this to be Heinlein's opus. It was the fourth book of his to win a Hugo Award, which is a record that still stands (four Hugos for one author).

The story is about a colony on the moon that, tired of the oppression of the world government (basically the United Nations, but with a different name) and their own slavery, the colonists create a revolution.

The main character, Manny, is a blue collar shleb who has no interest in politics and even less interest in revolution. He's a computer repair man, which is a rarity on the moon since most have to be shipped in from Earth and can only stay for a short amount of time before losing their "earth legs" and begin physically unable to go back.

Manny discovers that the supercomputer that does most of the real work Lunar-side is alive. The Mycroft system (he calls him "Mike") has become self-aware. Manny is the only one that knows and the only one that Mike talks to. Until the revolution, that is.

The whole story is well-told and in the broken English of someone who hasn't learned to write except as a requirement for reports. It's an interesting kind of truncated almost pidgin-English and is written from Manny's point of view. Sort of a "Fox jumped over hen house" rathern than "The fox jumped over the hen house."

All in all, this is definitely a book that anyone who's interested in freedom, liberty, modern revolution, science fiction, or Heinlein should read. Very highly recommended. TANSTAAFL!

Zero Greenhouse Emissions - The Day the Lights Went Out

This review originally published here.

Back in early August, I was inducted into the Voices For Change Honor Roll at the Greenhouse Neutral Foundation. A few days later, I purchased the book Zero Greenhouse Emissions: The Day the Lights Went Out (Our Future World) by Robert Williamson.

I bought the book* with the plan to read it right off and do this review as well as to learn some of the background on the Global Warming issue. The book itself is available as either a hard cover or an electronic book (I got the e-book) and is about 200 pages long. Proceeds from the book go towards the efforts of the Greenhouse Neutral Foundation and it's Chairman, the author Bob Williamson.

Obviously, I didn't read it right off as I was in the middle of a major research project at the time. I finished the book over this weekend and have been kind of mulling it over for a day or two while I worked on some political ghost writing that left the non-political parts of my brain free to ruminate on the climate. Which it did.

The book is sort of in two parts. Mostly, it's the story of an individual and his community when the CO2 problem finally shuts out the lights. This person (it's written in the first person) lives in Australia in an average-sized town near a larger city. The story begins with the shutting off of electricity and a basic inventory of items that are dependent on that and the resulting loss of access to petroleum and so forth.

This part is interesting because unless your odd (as I am and apparently Bob is), you have probably never gone through your house considering how much of the stuff you use and depend on requires either electricity or petroleum/carbon-based fuels.

I did this personally about three years ago when I began thinking about how much things cost in terms of dollars and cents. I'm self-employed, so every dollar I make requires my time and effort. I prefer to use my time and effort on things I enjoy doing (which generally don't make much money) rather than on things I have to do (which often are what make me more money).

To cut to the chase, when I first looked at how much of our lifestyle was dependent on energy (both electric and gas), I was amazed. I challenge you just to go into your kitchen and see how much you can do in there, right now, without using any petrol-based energy. It changes your perspective, whether you're a global warming believer or skeptic.

As the hero of the book continues, the perspective is on the first few days and then weeks of living without power. As the book progresses, the perspective gets wider and wider, taking in a more global (from a local point of view) scope. Some parts of the world are hit a little harder by the change than others.

Throughout this, the second portion of the book begins to emerge. This is the science and background information on the man-made global warming phenomenon. Being a skeptic, I had a rough time with some of this information, but the general gist was real enough for me that the individual details aren't worth fighting over here. No matter how much of a climate skeptic you are, you have to admit that resources are waning and are going to be gone.

Whether the trigger event is a greenhouse gas, the disappearance of industrialized phosphorous or nitrogen from agriculture, or the final outcome of running out of cheap petroleum resources, the result is basically the same. Our consumerism will have to stop and our huge energy dependence will have to end.

In Bob's scenario, it was easier and nicer than it appears it will be in reality, but his point wasn't social commentary, but on how people can cope with a lifestyle change. His underlying point is even more fundamentally important: it's possible to make these changes now, without waiting for the plug to be pulled. On this, he and I are in total agreement.

Overall, I would highly suggest this book to anyone who can read. Whether you're a greenhouse gas skeptic or not, you'll get something important out this book.

Fair warning, so you don't go in blind as I did, since Bob is Australian and the book is written in Queen's English. So some translation for us Americans is in order while reading. Although I don't think he used the word "crikey" and never once mentioned Foster's. So I'd question his authentics as an Australian.

Disclosure for our heroes at the FCC: I am not a member of nor an officer of the Greenhouse Neutral Foundation. I did not receive compensation or remuneration for the writing of this review nor will I receive other incentives for future sales of the book due to this article or the links herein. The book was purchased with my personal funds and was not a gift. Thank you, lawyers at the FCC, for making me make ridiculous statements like this in my reviews now. I love my government and the terro... umm... nice bureaucrats who make it run so well.

Retro Review: Unintended Consequences

Unintended Consequences by John Ross - This is by far the best book I've read...ever. I swear. This book not only outlines the plight of anyone who believes in their right to keep and bear arms (enumerated by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution), but shows how the BATF (aka "ATF", aka "Bureau of American Tyranny and Fascism") literally entraps people into breaking the law. This agency is NOT about "upholding the law," nor do they "investigate crimes." This agency is all about CREATING crimes and then enFORCEing them.

They don't show up to your house during the day with a warrant, knock on the door, and serve that warrant. Nor do they arrive at your home, shout that they have a warrant, and then barge in (e.g. DEA-style) from all sides. Nope. They wait until you're gone, then they storm your house (usually using local cops and FBI agents as their fodder) and take everything there. They then find you, wherever you may be, and arrest you in public where you have the least chance of fighting back. They aren't stupid. The BATF knows that their "enemies" are armed and dangerous. Nevermind it's our RIGHT to be armed and dangerous in order to FIGHT BACK against this kind of tyranny!

Anyway, this book centers around a man who grew up BEFORE significant gun law had been enacted. He became a part of the "gun culture." The book nicely outlines gun control laws, in a chronological manner, and how they affected those who were a part of the "gun culture." Eventually things come to a head after a great interlude by a rookie agent attempting to bait Henry (the main character) into an illegal proposition at a gun show.

The best thing about this book is that it MUST have the powers that be worried. After all, it outlines a clear and simple way for a relatively non-violent revolution to take place...

I highly suggest you read this book! I don't care who you are! If you're an agent of the government, you'd better read it as a matter of self-defense so you'll know what could be coming. If you're an average Joe on the street, read this book so that you know what CAN be done to make change really happen. GET THIS BOOK!

Conveniently, I've included a link to it at Amazon.com. I'd suggest going there NOW.

Remember: after the first one, the rest are free...