Edible Wild Plants A northwest field guide, by thomas s. elias and peter a. dykeman

Now I will be the first to admit I did not read this book cover to cover, and honestly I doubt that's the design of it anyway. I found the information in this book solid, educational, and yet it made me realize I need more than just this book. Of course the authors themselves would agree with me.

"Since it is impossible to distinguish among the 20,000 North American species in this or any other book, you may also want to refer to identification guides devoted to your own region or state."

After the above statment the authors list some good regional resources. So lets get down to what I liked and didn't like about this book.

Likes: Easy to follow, color photos, key makes it easy to identify uses for the plants. They even tell you how to best use the plant as well as how it can be used in survival in some cases. I also like that they seperated the plants by season. They also have an index where you can look the little guy up by name.

Dislikes (or they could have added this): They have a small picture of the region the plant grows on each photo. This is OK but I would also liked to have had a regional index. This way you could look up plants by their season in your region. Then all you have to do is turn directly to the specific page. This would have made more sense to me. I also have to agree with another reviewer that stated the pictures were TOO close up. This is nice but doesn't give you a clear visual how the plant will look in relation to the landscape. Sure, they give you a description of it's size in the text, but I would have like to have two smaller photos for each plant (they did this in some cases but not as frequently as I would have liked.

All in all I give this book a solid 4 stars. It's worth it's money and in my opinion is worth more than some three star reviewers are giving it credit for. However, I do believe (as do the authors) that you will probably need to supplement it with another text.

This is a good purchase.

DVD: Demographic Winter The premise of this documentary is that population in the civilized world is in decline. Population is expanding because were getting older (not dying) not because of births. This of course is going to bite us on our rear end. Why? Here are some points the documentary to illustrate this:


1. Japans economy fell as their population aged. The older people retired and didn't spend as much. Consumer spending drives an economy.

2. Europe is having serious population depletion right now. There are countries giving out subsidies to encourage people to breed. It's a huge problem.

3. Russia's population is declining by 700,000 a year and they too are encouraging people to breed.

4. The least populated areas of the world are the ones that are some of the least environmentally friendly.

5. The world economy will be drastically impacted by western population decline. Where China and other countries will be impacted at first they will have the population to recover. We won't.

6. The baby boomers are going to retire soon. Then you will have more people collecting benefits like social security and medicare then supporting it (a reverse pyramid). This will crush our economy... So you can look forward to: 1. Increase of age limits to retire, 2. increase taxes on those still working, 3. a decrease in benefits...

7. One of the biggest problems is the destruction of the family. Our children are being raised in broken homes. I can't begin to do this part of the movie justice. You really have to see it to appreciate it. In the end this is about the world we are leaving our children. Many movements (environmental, exc.) have stated increasing population as one of the evils of the world (and against their movement). This documentary (if looked at honestly) will challenge many of these assumptions and force them to come up with a more honest platform. It's not that some of these issues are not real; it's just that the resources are being misused to blame things that are in truth NOT THE PROBLEM... Without young people new technology won't be made, new ideas won't be as plentifull. These are serious issues one should take a look at. Please watch this documentary. You may not agree with them but it will challenge some of your beliefs.

Lastly, do watch all the way through the ending credits. There's a little something at the end.

Below is a e-mail my friend Eric Moore sent me.

"Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for income tax evasion and, as required by law, the Feds tried to run the brothel for eventual resale in order to compensate the taxpayers for the unpaid tax amounts. The Feds miserably failed and the Mustang Ranch was subsequently closed. So, we are now trusting the economy of our country to a pack of nit-wits who couldn't make money by running a whore house and selling booze? We're in deep trouble .."

How true is this??? Not only that but they had a monopoly on it in sin city and couldn't make money at it..... Ya, I'm a strong advocate of national healthcare :()

The Second Amendment, By David Barton

I read this excellent and very brief pamphlet about 4 months ago. Since that time I have debated just what style I should use for this review.

David Barton has given us a small course on the right to self protection. After all this is what were really talking about. I could go on at length with all the quotes from our founding fathers he uses to make his point, or laws that were on the books in at least one state that required it's citizens to own a gun. After reading this there should be no doubt in the readers mind that the right to self protection is an inalienable right, and that was the intention of our founders. Don't hesitate to purchase this fine fine little book. Seriously, don't walk, RUN to purchase it now....

I would also like to recommend Boston T. Party's Gun Bible. A truly profound look at guns and an amazing resource for experienced and novice gun owners alike. Plus any man who defines federal reserve notes (commonly called the U.S. dollar) as a zero with a slash through it can't be bad.

The election, socialists of Oregon

Well over a week past the election of Karl Marx (Barack Obama to most of you) and I figured I would share some thoughts.

I looked at the Oregonian late last week and the senate race for Oregon went like this. Jeff Merkley (socialist running as a demoncrat) pulled away with over 300,000 votes. Gordon Smith (the fascist running as a repugnican) was just shy of Merkley. Then there was this guy Mr. Brownlow the Constitution Party Candidate. The media didn't want to talk about him, and NO ONE wanted to mention his name from the two major parties. He pulled in over 51,000 votes in the state of Oregon (over six percent). This perplexed me when I saw that Chuck Baldwin (constitution party candidate for President) only pulled in 4,000 votes or so. I mean :() !!!!! Did these people vote for McCain? If so Why????

My point here is a simple one. The State of Oregon has voted for Demacrat Govenors for OVER 30 years straight. Not even the current dead beat Kulungoski (the most worthless D of all of them) could be unseated. As a matter of fact even a local Demacrat supporting pundits talked about how weak of a candidate he was and how his campaign was basicly, "I'm a D vote for me." It has become quite obvious to this Washingtonian that Oregon has drifted from madness to self suicide. Nope it can't be called liberalism anymore, just suicide. Which gets me back to my original point, Brownlow 51,000 votes, balwin 4,000 votes.... Same party, same principles. My point is that some of the people who voted for Brownlow had to vote for McCain. If they believed in the constitutional values of the Constitution party how could you vote for McCain??? Plus Oregon has always gone "D" so McCain isn't going to get the state anyway.... Seriously, you have to go back to the Reagan vs. Mondale election to find the last time Oregon voted anything other than "D." Ya know the election where Mondale got his ass handed to him (even then Mondale almost took Oregon).... I think people were voting McCain as the lesser of two evils.

Let me talk to the people of Oregon for a minute here, "Idiot conservatives of Oregon, you might as well vote your heart because the psychopathic child molesters that run Portland will always vote "D." .......... Seriously, if Portland Oregon got any sicker or more demented we should rename it Sodom and Gomorrah (some of the people are that sick here, i'm not kidding). Yep, we have great stats for being the pervert/child molestation capital of the U.S.

McCain supporters are you that dumb???? I actually think those who voted Obama were more honest. At least they are blatantly voting for a socialist. They not pretending to be conservatives and constitutionalists. After all McCains support for the bail out is fascism, which of course IS SOCIALISM..... Just ask Moussolini.

If this was a state McCain had a chance in (which he didn't) I might cut you a little slack (Actually I wouldn't because Mccain is a socialist and no better or worse than Obama). But the point is that McCain had no chance in Oregon. So why follow the lesser of two evils approach? Why not vote your heart. I'm speaking to the over 40,000 of you who obviously voted for McCain and Brownlow. The two platforms don't match up. Your trying to eat a n apple and a pile of s**t at the same time, it's insane.....

As for my election results. One person voted Baldwin in my pole (that's me), one voted for Ron Paul (my guess Stephen). Therefore, I will act as the government and change the votes through electronic voting to reflect Karl Marx as the winner. Thanks for playing please head to the nearest DMV for your RFID chip.

Posted by: myspace. com/christians4freedom

Where do Barack Obama and John McCain look for guidance? Karl Marx of course. Listen to what economist Thomas DiLorenzo says... ”Americans will decide next week whether the next president will be a socialist or a national socialist. Lest you think I exaggerate, consider McCain’ campaign theme of “country first” before everything else – your private life, your job, your children, your education, your marriage, everything. Ask yourself how this differs from the philosophy of German fascism, which preached “the common good comes before the private good” (see Paul Lensch, Three Years of World Revolution). Or consider the fact that McCain supported the Wall Street Plutocrat Bailout Bill. A defining characteristic of fascism was that all profits were private, but losses were socialized. And oh yes, military imperialism (a.k.a., “national greatness conservatism”) and a dictatorial executive were also key features of European fascism. Recall that McCain promised that if elected (paraphrasing), “I will order the Secretary of the Treasury to buy up all of the foreclosed mortgages.” Is that really a part of the delegated powers in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S.Constitution?

Then there is Comrade Obama, who has announced that he wants to “change the world” by “spreading the wealth.” Didn’t Marx and Engels say the same thing in 1848? As is well known, Obama has long had a close association with ACORN, the far-left political organization that employed him as its legal counsel in Chicago. It is ACORN-style “community organizing” that Obama claims is his political forte and qualification for running for president. He boasts of having worked with ACORN to register tens of thousands of new voters and has defended the organization against all critics. It is safe to assume that there must be a congruence of interests between Obama and ACORN.”Phil Hensley Jr. sums it up best here...“Every four years we hear the same crap from the two major party candidates. But the reality is if McCain wins, government is going to get bigger and more powerful. If Obama wins, government is going to get bigger and more powerful. “Conservative” radio hosts are going crazy over Obama’s “redistribution of wealth” comments, and showing concern for Obama’s supposed disrespect for the Constitution. So what if Obama wants to redistribute wealth. Republicans have been doing it for decades, just to different groups. Republicans aren’t really opposed to redistribution of wealth, they just want it redistributed to people that vote for Republicans. Look at all the wealth that has been redistributed to senior citizens, car manufacturers, and wall street banks over the past eight years, six of which happened under a Republican President that had a Republican-controlled Congress.Where were all the defenders of the Constitution hiding then?”Americans are up in arms fighting amongst themselves. Democrats vs.Republicans - did it ever occur to anyone that Democrats and Republicans are on the same team?

Source: http://www. chuckypita. com/barack-obamas-redistribution-of-wealth-how-is-john-mccain-any-different-socialist-or-national-socialist/Stop supporting evil, unjust war, and socialism!CHUCK BALDWIN FOR PRESIDENT!!!WWW. BALDWIN08. COM

Bail Out letter and response from Senator Murray of Washington.

Senator Murray, I appreciate your response, and while I disagree with you, you are the only politician who bothered to respond to my concerns. I will post responses to your letter below.

Thank you for contacting me about H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. I appreciate hearing from you about this important issue. The U.S. Senate voted to pass this bill by a margin of 74-25 on Wednesday, October 1, 2008. H.R. 1424 is now being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Thank You for responding to my concerns. Even though we disagree it is nice to know my representative at least listened to my concerns.

People want to know if this crisis is real. I have asked the same question of Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke. I have spoken with economic experts and Washington state business leaders. Companies like Weyerhaeuser and Microsoft have made it clear that something must be done. Power utilities such as Avista and the farm groups such as the Farm Bureau have told me that the government's proposal to stabilize our financial markets is critically needed. Throughout various sectors of our economy, there is deep and genuine concern about market collapse and the potential impact on jobs, credit and pensions.

Given that that the Private bank supported by government known as the federal reserve is the one that encouraged this mess I feel you have listening to the wrong "experts." Since the Federal Reserve was unconstitutionally created in 1913 it has destroyed the purchasing power of our dollar by over 94%. Not only this, but because it is backed by the government it actually encourages banks to make silly loans because the "Government" is always there to bail it out. Businesses are given a blank check, banks make silly loans, and the American people are never told the real reason why this is happening. Instead of letting the free market decide where investments are made the Fed creates false demands, "Booms" and their subsequent "Busts" as the money supply is retracted. This has been going on for over a century and has VOLUMES of historical evidence. The great depression was even caused and then subsequently prolonged by the fed. I would recommend reading "The Creature From Jekyll Island," By G. Edward Griffin. A brief history on the Fed shows it to be the main culprit. Further government regulation (on top of the regulation we already have) is also one of the main problems. We have a banking system backed by the government which allows them to make high risk loans because the U.S. government is ALWAYS there to bail them out. This current bailout will only prolong the inevitable. Eventually, we will have to pay the piper. Huge debts to China for one. We run a system of debt. Money is not created unless a loan is generated, and even then we don't create enough money for the interest. Plus M3 (how much money the fed is creating) isn't even reported anymore. What's going to happen when foreign countries flood our market with trillions in debt that they are currently holding? The game will come to an evil end Senator. The question is only how painful will we allow it to get.

We have already experienced a slowdown in home sales and construction. Our home state bank, Washington Mutual, was unable to withstand the crisis and was acquired by another institution. Millions of Americans have tried to obtain a loan or refinance their mortgage, but have found it increasingly difficult to find a willing line of credit and in many cases have been unable to do so at all. If this crisis worsens, credit could freeze completely for consumers and companies who use credit to pay their employees or run their business operations. The bottom line is that without a steady stream of credit, American businesses will not be able to pay their workers and Americans will lose their jobs. Because of the impact the financial crisis could have on all Americans, from layoffs to access to credit, I supported the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

The act you voted for only prolonges the inevitable. The mortgage crisis is because banks handed out loans to individuals they should never have given them to. The government created and backed companies Freddie and Fannie perpetuated this. So government intervention got into this by created and demanding false demands. More government regulation is (to make a summary of Ron Paul) like a drug addict dealing with withdrawl by looking for his next fix. More government is not the answer.

I understand the frustration of people who want those on Wall Street to be held accountable for their actions and shoulder the consequences of their own misdeeds. Americans are being confronted with two undesirable options. Either do nothing and let the crisis worsen, or take action and use taxpayer dollars to solve a problem they did not create. Americans are rightfully angry. However, those who created the problem will not be those who are hurt most if the government does not act. My top priority is to do what is best for the people of Washington State and the nation, and that is why I believe government action is urgently needed in this situation.

But by passing this bill you are hurting the people of Washington State. We have to deal with the loss of our purchase power via the hidden tax called inflation. We have to deal with the loss of jobs from an unsound monetary system. We have to assume the risks of bad business decisions of wall street. The bailout allows and encourages them to keep making high risk decisions. A good example of this was the Oregon PERS system. The public employees of the early 2000s were guaranteed 8 percent profit on their retirement accounts per year, NO RISK... These accounts in turn lost huge amouts of money in the earlier part of this decade (due to high risk taking, why not they don't risk any losses). The tax payers of Oregon had to cover the losses and pay out an additional 8 percent. No risk means high risk taking by business. Again, the history of government bailouts supports me conclusions here.

The original plan presented to Congress by President Bush and Secretary Paulson was a non-starter. Congress rightly refused to give Secretary Paulson a blank check to spend hundreds of billions of dollars without oversight. Congress refused to allow executives of failing companies to walk away with millions of dollars in severance packages while taxpayers paid for their mistakes. This legislation is a more prudent agreement to anchor taxpayer dollars to strict Congressional oversight and scrutiny by independent economic experts. We added assistance for responsible borrowers hit by the foreclosure crisis and plans to recoup money from any institutions which use government money and then see a profit. In the future, it is possible that most, if not all, of the taxpayer money invested will be returned once this crisis comes to a close.

Problem is the new one is bad too. Again, Freddie and Fannie are government programs. Government oversight didn't work too well there. Congress has to be vigilant in our oversight of how this law is implemented. I fought to ensure that every transaction that takes place regarding this funding will be on the Internet for all Americans to see. In addition, I strongly support the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) and other state and federal agencies' investigation into the wrongdoing related to the current crisis on Wall Street. If fraud and criminal activity are uncovered, the individuals responsible must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

While their at it maybe you could ask them to audit the Fed and find out where the American People's gold is at. If you want to find out who's responsible I would take a closer look at some of your fellow politicians and the Federal Reserve. Lets investigate that as well.

It will take both investment and honesty to get our economy back on track. The next administration will inherit this economic crisis along with many other serious challenges. I hope our new President is honest with the American people about where we stand and what it will take to move America forward.

The honest thing to do is to abolish the unconstitutional private bank/cabal known as the Federal Reserve. Next, would be to get the government out of business. No bailouts.... Businesses would make it or fail based on their own sound or unsound business decisions. Bailouts encourage bad decisions. They made the profits of high risk, and they must suffer the consequences. If you take a look these businesses are being eaten up by other big businesses. So next time this happens (and there will be a next time) you have bigger companies failing and impacting the economy.

I believe that to move America forward, we need to invest in the infrastructure and education that create economic growth and jobs. We have to invest in our workforce and find a way to make health care affordable and accessible. We have to increase funding for research and development and reward innovation. We have to implement a smart, forward-looking energy policy that ends our addiction to foreign oil. It is time to put America's families first and restore their faith that government works for, not against them.

If you want to make healthcare affordable we might start with getting the government out of it. The amount of illegal immigrants using the ER while paying nothing, medicare and medicaid laws, not to mention that medicare and medicaid pay hospitals out a fraction of the cost. Holding companies that don't deliver paid services to it's members would be noble, but this is not the main issue with healthcare today. I would suggest reward innovation by decreasing taxes and freeing up money that individuals can individually invest into such ideas. A good energy plan would be to allow businesses to develop such technology while not get the backside taxed in the process. Unfortunately the bailout does work against American families.

I grew up with a country at my back - one that when my own father got sick and could no longer work was there with Pell Grants and student loans and even food stamps when my family needed them. I will always remember that. I supported this legislation because the American dream of owning a home or going to college is simply too important to take a back seat to politics or to be put at risk by the misdeeds of Wall Street. Yet this is exactly what our current economic policies will bring; more hungry families. As Congress continues to work to restore our economy, I will continue to stand up for our state and listen to your concerns. Thank you for contacting me, and please do not hesitate to contact me in the future. I hope all is well in Vancouver.

Vancouver is well thank you. Senator Murray I do want you to know that although I disagree with you I appreciate and fully respect your response. Many politicians (including my congressman) don't bother to respond to my concerns. I at least know that your intentions are to do the right thing. Unfortunately, I fear your position will hurt Americans down the road for years to come. Even so, I respect the fact that you take your position seriously and that took the time to respond to my concerns.

Sincerely yours,
Marc White