Can Government Spying Lead to Peace?

Duncan Trussell asks for examples of the state spying on it's own taxpayers.....and everything turning up peachy.

*From the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast

*Hear more from Duncan here.

A "60 Million Channel TV", Predicted in 1996

Many people independent of the "mass media" are often way ahead of their time.  In the year 2000 we heard warnings from Harry Browne about potential terrorist attacks in the U.S. and the government reading our emails.

On the communications front, nearly two decades ago Terence McKenna was already thinking of the internet as a "60 million channel TV":

*3 minute clip

Broad-casting vs. Narrow-casting

For the last half-dozen years podcast's have filled consumer needs across the spectrum.  Whether you are in the business community, news media, professional entertainment or just looking to reach people in your local community this new medium could be for you.

Dan Carlin explains how content producers are benefiting from this new form of "narrow-casting"...

*clip from Smart People Podcast

A Peaceful Solution for the People of Ferguson

Ithaca Hours: Local Currency 

A major issue ignored during the coverage of chaos and violence in Ferguson, Missouri is that of the local power structure.  Cities and counties become power centers because they claim a monopoly on “protection services” in a given geographic region.  It’s fair to be outraged at violent actions of individual people and the groups that sanction them but the root cause lies in the power structure. 

Police chiefs, mayors and city council people are only power centers if the community provides them with material means of support.  The primary means is, of course, money. 

     

Fortunately individual people can be power centers as well.  A substantial method of supporting yourself is to issue your own money.  Decentralized money puts the power in the hands of the people of Ferguson as opposed to politicians and government employees.

This is not a new concept.  Community currencies have provided solutions to social and economic challenges in cities around the globe including San Francisco, Ithaca, New York and western Massachusetts.  

As community currency becomes the dominate medium of exchange it's value to the region exceeds that of the "U.S. Dollar".  Anyone offering "protection" (i.e. police) to the people of Ferguson will compete to provide the safest and most cost-effective services in exchange for community currency (i.e. "Ferguson Hours").  

Each household, street or neighborhood will decide for themselves which agency they would like to support.  Of course families have the option of providing for their own self-defense if they choose.    

Democracy means people can easily withdraw consent  

If you no longer desire the defense services from your agency you can simply stop doing business with them.  This option brings the competitive environment that already exists between McDonalds and Burger King or between Wal-Mart and Target to the businesses in the defense industry.  A non-monopolized market for defense services will make for much safer streets of Ferguson. 

To begin exploring decentralized money listen to this two minute clip where Thomas Greco explains the basics.  His writings on community currency are a great source of inspiration for societal change.  

People can peacefully outgrow the centrally controlled dollar.  One available path is an increased reliance on localized money & credit.         

*Great detail about the recent events in Ferguson can be found at Vox.

How Did Those Crazy '60's Bands Get Recorded?

Musician Frank Zappa had a lot to say about pop culture, censorship, taxes and the government.  In this piece he discusses the changes that took place in the music industry during the 1970's and 80's.

It turns out those old, stodgy record label executives were pretty good for the consumer of music....

 

Interesting music acts of the 60's were everywhere.  Some of my favorite are The Fugs, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Grateful Dead, Nina Simone, John Handy, Alice Cooper Band, MC5, The Yardbirds, The Impressions, Gil Evans and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

Unfortunately you will rarely or never hear these bands on the radio today.

But thanks to improvements in technology new acts are recording music for the lowest cost in history.  These minimal start-up investments enable bands to deliver their product cheaply and quickly via the internet directly to the consumers.  This decentralized market is offering music fans far more options than we ever had before.

File Under: Preparedness

Thanks to toxins coming from Lake Erie 400,000 people in Toledo, Ohio are told to stay away from the tap water.  Fortunately in this time of need there are some people who came prepared.

Local farmer John Myers spent the weekend in a school parking lot giving away 450 gallons of well water for free.

Toledo residents who have a one week supply of drinking water saved are sleeping a lot more soundly than those who are relying entirely on the central water supply system.

What Is the Internet?

Gautham Nagesh of the Wall Street Journal explains what the internet is (hint: private property).

The video clip is 3 minutes:

From C-SPAN's Washington Journal

The Underground Commons

Community Garden in Detroit
(Photo: David Guralnick, The Detroit News)

David Bollier has written a piece for the Huffington Post titled "The Commons as a Rising Alternative to State and Market".  Bollier highlights new alternative commons like:

• open-access science journals, Directory of Open Access Journals
• community gardens
• digital hackerspaces
• alternative payment systems, like community currencies or Bitcoin
• seed-sharing collectives, Seed Savers Exchange
• crowdfunding, i.e. Kickstarter & Indiegogo

Since many of these examples of wealth are decentralized it's not likely you will hear about them on the centrally controlled outcast media.  But understand that for those in need of resources there are many options available.  It just takes a little sifting and digging to connect with people in the new underground commons.  

A Revolution in Education

Teachers Pay Teachers is an online marketplace for educators to share their materials.  Over 2.6 million people have registered with TpT to buy and sell resources.

It seems, finally, that teachers can be rewarded for their skills and efforts by serving a market need for high quality educational materials.  

ReasonTV highlighted success stories of this peer-to-peer economy in a recent episode....