UPDATE: the house has passed the bailout bill!

I'm sure everyone reading this now has been following the Bailout Bill at least somewhat. Recap: The bill failed to pass in the house so far, many say due to the flood of phone calls and other forms of communication coming from the public saying that they don't want the bill to pass. In the Senate the bill passed. Not as many senators are up for election in the immediate future, so that may have something to do with the difference. The following are a few bits of information that my readers may or may not have heard.

Here is a video of Rep Brad Sherman on the floor, saying that some reps have been told that martial law will be the consequence if the bill does not pass. It's on Vlogging the Apocalypse, and for me it was a little slow to load, but that may have just been my computer. It's a short clip, and very worthwhile.

Lending credence to that claim, part of the army is being trained for "homeland scenarios" including training in traffic control, and non-lethal weapons for crowd control. The unit is being called Consequence Management Response Force.

All kinds of ridiculous have been added on to the bill, starting about page 261, feel free to see for yourself, "exemption from tax, certain wooden arrows designed for children," and "accelerated depreciation for business properties on Indian reservations." It may sound like a joke, but it's not.

In the meantime, several major cities throught the south are experiencing gas shortages. There has been some mainstream attention to the problem, but little. Witness report thirty-minute to an hour waits at gas stations, when a station can be found with gas. Mainstream sources quote politicians as claiming that shortages are caused by panic. Witness say there is some panic, but not enough to warrant the situation still continuing twenty days or more after the storms, originally said to be responsible, have passed. Speculations have ranged from those who say that the shortages may be caused by the credit crunch, while others have speculated more darkly that someone wants restrictions on travel in the area. Paranoia is easy to understand when one takes into account how hard hit businesses in the area, especially small businesses, have become by the shortage. (I have not quoted any sources on this because most of my information comes from people that I know and message boards that I frequent. Basic searches should access some articles.)

There are unsubstantiated rumors, perhaps started by a seller of gold, that banks may be getting ready for a one to two week bank holiday, during which credit cards, debit cards, atms, and all deposits would be unusable. Here's the source. As I have said, these rumors are unsubstantiated, and the author of the article may have some ulterior motives.

A quick word about the rumor that there may be some big bad unnamed thing happening on October 7th, 2008, from the Web Bots. Project Camelot recently interviewed Half Past Human's Clif High recently. I would encourage anyone who is taking this rumor seriously to read the whole transcript of the interview. In my opinion this web bot program sounds like a new kind of divination tool. The current predictions being made are extremely off-the-wall. Imagine for a moment that a tarot reader who is said to be very skilled, but has also been wrong before, were making similar predictions. That is essentially what is happening. I mean no disrespect to any practicioners of divination, but the idea that these web bots are in any way more reliable or scientific just because technology is involved is silly.

I can't convey how many people I have seen/heard/read freaking out over these predictions. First of all, in the interview High never says that the event he predicts will be as intense as 9/11, he merely says that the emotional outpouring will take place over a longer period of time. Then he goes on to talk about things like aliens fighting wars over human body parts. These predictions, while perhaps interesting on a philisophical level, are nothing to warrant the freak-outs I have witnessed.

The big news today for the U.S. is that the Supreme Court has restored the rule of law, at least on paper.

At its heart, the 70-page ruling says that the detainees have the same rights as anyone else in custody in the United States to contest their detention before a judge. Kennedy also said the system the administration has put in place to classify detainees as enemy combatants and review those decisions is not an adequate substitute for the right to go before a civilian judge.

Personally, I am deeply relieved. What is the proper way to celebrate such a day? I'll be pondering that.

Iowa is having some really bad weather. A woman I met on a message board has a livejournal documenting her experience. She will be updating until she loses power. She even made a short little video of the area right around her house. I don't want to use her words without her permission, so please visit her journal and read about it for yourself. Don't worry, her entries are to-the-point and accompanied by pictures.

That is all for today. In the upcoming week there will be a blog about Indian food, a blog about a strange "alternative personality" in the conspiracy world, and more added to my page on wild foods.

As usually happens when I neglect to blog for a long time the news has piled up. With the food crisis hitting Europe hard, the speculations increase and mainstream media encourages what would previously be described as paranoid behavior. Many say that the crisis is artificial or scare-mongering, but prices continue to rise. Meanwhile artists in the U.S. prepare to protect their rights to their own artistic creations.

Truckers in London blocked off a highway on May 27th to protest fuel prices. In Spain, fishermen are also striking against fuel prices. Iceland's economy is suffering, and Austrailia's media warns that the cost of food could double within a few years due to the combination of the drought and fuel prices.

As bad as things are in Europe, the UK Telegraph claims that the dollar is not as strong as it seems and that China and certain Middle Eastern countries may be holding it afloat. Media sources say that more and more Americans are becoming a new kind of survivalist, moving to the country, starting farms, abandoning commercial and materialistic ideals for a more simple life. Economist Darryl Schoon says that things are getting worse and that all one needs to do is to study up on the history of the Soviet Union right before the hyperinflation hit. He's not the only one saying things like that. With this tone of advice coming from economists and popular authors like Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad) it's no wonder that Americans are starting to sock away foods and silver coins just in case.

Artists in the U.S. are in a panic over the new Orphaned Works Bill, Nikon explains why it could be very bad for photographers, although it would not be limited to photography or even visual media:

In essence the amendment as worded makes it okay to steal from a photographer if you don't know who they are or how to ask them for permission. And if you get caught the worst that can happen is that you have to pay what you would have anyway, or maybe not even that.

Although most sources are predicting that this year's Orphaned Works Bill has little chance of passing many artists are offended and view it as an attempt at corporate theft. Videos illustrating indignation at the concept can be found on Youtube and other video hosting sites.

If the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is put into practice, travellers to and from any signator country may face unprecedented scrutiny if traveling with a laptop, mp3-player, or any other digital storage device. Customs officials would "randomly" search the digital contents of any electronic device in an attempt to determine what materials are illegally copied, but presently there is no way to tell, for instance, which songs on an ipod came from a legally purchased cd, and which may have been illegally downloaded. Airlines passengers may be forced to choose between risking their beloved gadgets to the whims of a disgruntled customs official or sitting through a ten-hour flight without them. It has been suggested however, that this agreement has less to do with copyright protection than setting a legal precedent allowing authorities to snoop through digital materials.

A London man was threatened with arrest at Heathrow airport (in London) for wearing a Transformers t-shirt that depicts a robot with a gun for an arm. Luckily Brad Jayakody, an IT consultant who was on his way to Germany for a business trip, happened to have another shirt in his carry-on luggage and was able to change and continue on his way. The supervisor explained to him that the shirt was offensive because it had a picture of a gun. If readers are wondering where the line may be drawn, I have flown domestically wearing a t-shirt bearing a cat in a suit of armor holding a sword. However, it would be advisable to avoid any Spy Vs. Spy t-shirts if flying through London.

In case of a hurricane evacuation in Texas area, Customs and Border Protection agency says it will be checking for U.S. citizenship both on buses and by traffic checkpoint. Humanitarian groups are outraged fearing an even worse scenario than hurricane Katrina in which illegal immigrants and their relatives might choose to stay behind and die rather than risk deportation. It isn't clear how citizenship will be determined, leading one to wonder if truly everyone will be targeted or only those who appear poor and of color? In the case of an emergency evacuation I wonder how many people will happen to have their birth certificates or passports on hand? Will citizens without papers also be forced into detention centers?

Science and religion seem to be intertwined in recent news stories. Biologists have discovered that burning frankincense may act as an antidepressant. Mythologist William Henry believes that CERN's Large Hadron Collider, christened the Genesis Machine by Michio Kaku, may fulfill prophecy as physicists use it to search for the God particle.

Just a short blog today as to not fall behind on what's going on.

Remember the UFO news in yesterday's blog? Cops in Baltimore had caught a mysterious phenomena on video and had not been able to explain it or pinpoint the source. Six months after the start of the investigation police have taken a man into custody for creating the disturbance. Reports say the man was disgruntled with his neighbors and as a way to get back to them set off pyrotechnics in his condo, on a regular basis for more than a year. Details are not forthcoming on what sort of pyrotechnic device could have created so loud a boom and radiated daylight over a whole neighborhood area from the inside of a condo, or how such a loud noise didn't make the source obvious to his immediate neighbors. The news website linked has video of neighbors reacting.

TheAmericanDriver.com is a website set up "by drivers, for drivers," a hub of information and activity. News stories nationwide are updated, the price of diesel is displayed, and there are chat rooms. The first link is the general hub of information, while the second link goes to information about the strike. "American Driver Truckers and Citizens United" calls for ordinary citizens to help support by joining fuel protests.

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog this diesel thing is no small matter. If the crisis continues to build without any organized action being taken by leadership in our country and local communities, we may see a time when interstate commerce halts. Currently truckers are paying for the rises in diesel out of pocket, but that's going change. Maybe prices of everything will go up, maybe we'll start using the railway system more, or we could try buying local goods whenever possible, but something will happen if this is ignored.

There have been a few hints floating around that democrats may have a different candidate than they expect for the coming presidential election. The first public figure that I heard bring it up was Tim Mahony, superdelegate and congressman.

If he does go, that will mean the Democrats still haven’t decided a nominee for the presidential election. And if neither Sen. Hillary Clinton nor Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the nomination by August, Mahoney says we may see a brokered convention, meaning the nominee could emerge from a negotiated settlement.
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“If it (the nomination process) goes into the convention, don’t be surprised if someone different is at the top of the ticket,” Mahoney said.
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A compromise candidate could be someone such as former vice president Al Gore, Mahoney said last week during a meeting with this news organization’s editorial board.

When I read that article for the first time I thought Mahony was wacko. I mean, the mainstream media is foaming at the mouth with coverage of the primary results and the manufactured feud between Obama and Clinton. Why would people be so invested in it, if the votes didn't really matter. The idea smacks of conspiracy theory. In fact, Daniel Estulin, author of True Story of the Bilderberg Group told an audience of standing-room-only Portlanders in March that he predicted neither Clinton nor Obama would get the nomination. Even though Clinton has attended Bilderberg meetings, and Obama is considering a member for his vice presidential candidate, Estulin told atendees that neither of them have the finacial sense to steer the US in the precise way the puppetmasters would want in the coming years, which is why he predicted a surprise candidate such as Bloomberg taking the nomination. That's even nuttier than a prediction of Al Gore. At least Al Gore has that shiny Nobel and a hit movie under his belt.

A while back Howard Dean (and I haven't been able to find the exact video yet, but I am still looking) indicated that in his opinion the party should respect the popular vote and that registered democrats would be very unhappy if their popular vote were overturned by the superdelegates, but then more recently he said something different.

The Democratic party’s “superdelegates” have every right to overturn the popular vote and choose the candidate they believe would be best equipped to defeat John McCain in a general election, according to Howard Dean, chairman of the US Democratic National Committee.
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“I think the race is going to come down to the perception in the last six or eight races of who the best opponent for McCain will be. I do not think in the long run it will come down to the popular vote or anything else.”
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Some commentators have speculated that if the race remains deadlocked after June 3 then a senior figure such as Al Gore, the former vice-president, or Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, could prevail on one of the candidates to withdraw - with most people focusing on Mrs Clinton.

Regardless of Dean's media image, I think he's a smart guy, so when I see him change his tune so quickly on such a hot button issue, I pay attention.

As national mainstream news begins to cover the food situation going on worldwide, Americans are becoming concerned about how they might be affected at a local level and what we can all do to help. What are the causes of food shortages? Will these problems self correct, or should we all be paying attention?

Here are some headlines:
Americans hoard food as industry seeks regs from the Washington Times
Bay Area Shoppers Asked to Limit Rice Purchases from NBC11 in California
Duck and Cover: It's the New Survivorism from the NY Times
Era of Cheap Food Ends as Prices Surge from the Times Online
Japan's Hunger Becomes A Dire Warning for Other Nations from The Age, Business News in Australia
Eat Locally, Survive Globally from The Star in Canada

In short, other first world nations are already feeling the pinch, but not suffering in the way that poorer nations are. It's unlikely that the US is actually having any real shortages yet, only Costco runs on staple items caused by worried Americans hearing news from overseas and reacting. It's unlikely that the US will ever suffer from a long-term food shortage absent some hugely catastrophic event like the super volcano scenario, but with the oil prices headed upward we will likely see food prices on the rise for at least the rest of the year.

In Britain, for instance, food has already risen about 33% and the US could see food prices following that outline. That's why the Wall Street Journal recently advised readers to stock up on food

Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax.

The WSJ article does a great job of spelling out the reasons why food prices are rising and what to expect, so make sure and read it in full (it's short.) Today I saw another news story on striking truck drivers which revealed that drivers are currently absorbing the rising cost of disel. Which means that at some point the trucking industry is going to shut down, or we, the consumers, are going to start to be the ones to absorb the cost.

Often I see people online giving some general bit of advice like, "become more self sufficient" or "pay attention to what's going on." But that kind of advice is rarely helpful, because the people who need that advice are the kind of people who need a little bit of hand-holding to take the advice. I once worked for a really great company where I had an amazing boss and a support system that actually worked. At that job I learned that asking the right question is more important than getting an answer. In honor of that I want to spend some time expanding on what we can do about this food situation as individuals.

Stocking up: One piece of advice I hear more often is for individuals to start stock piles of food. This is a tricky option, because most people don't really know much about shelf-life or food storage. Most canned goods will only last about a year, which leaves dry ingredients like beans which also go bad eventually. The only way to make long-term food storage work without waste is to cycle it, by integrating the pantry and only storing foods that one eats. Simply Living has some videos that walk through the process of setting up such a system. You may have to register, but it's free and they don't spam.

Growing your own: In my opinion the best option is to be less dependent on other food sources by growing it at home. Even apartment dwellers who have so much as a porch, a balcony, or a windowsill can take part in vegetable gardening. And anyone at all can grow sprouts. Heirloom seeds are best for growing vegetables and herbs, because gardeners can let some of each species go to seed each year and have an unending supply. Most plants sold in gardening sections of supermarkets and the like are hybrid and are limited at reproducing. Companies that create new species of plants try to make sure that plants can't propogate in order to keep gardeners dependent. I'll be adding a new section to the links page soon on gardening resources including heirloom seed companies, and I am documenting my wheatgrass experiment with pictures which I will be sharing soon. My sprouting guide will be free and very detailed with step-by-step instructions.

My long-promised Wild Food Diary is available to enjoy. It is very graphic intensive and kind of a mess at the moment. Please excuse the roughness of the code until my webmaster has a chance to help me clean it up.

As my readers may have heard, there are a lot of out-of-the-ordinary earthquakes going on lately. There have been earthquakes off the coast of Oregon, in the midwest, and in Nevada. Some scientists are saying that ancient fault lines may have reactivated.

Scientists say that the Oregon quakes look like what happens before a volcano erupts, but there are not volcanos in the immediate area of the offshore quakes. I found this nifty map updated regularly to show the magnitude of earthquakes and when they occurred.

Get your passports ready, Army Vice Chief of Staff General Richard Cody hinted that the US may have to reinstitute the "D" word, in testimony in front of the Senate Armed Services Commitee.

Republican Senator Karen Johnson of Arizona has come under media fire recently for questioning the official version of events on September 11th, 2001. Senator Johnson is in good company, as mentioned in one of my recent blogs Jesse Ventura and a U.N. official have also made their doubts concerning 9/11 public.

In UFO news, something weird is going on in Baltimore.

"It wasn't until we caught it on tape that we realized the magnitude of what they were actually talking about," said Sgt. Warehime. "The sound is almost deafening. You can't describe it. Seeing it on tape without hearing the sound doesn't do it justice."

Videotape taken at 3:34 a.m. on April 23 does show a flash of light that lasts a fraction of a second and lights up an area the size of a football field in the middle of the night.

The flash on the tape is accompanied by loud boom that sounds like a crack of electricity or lightning.