I found myself in many conversations over the past 7 years where I exposed strong opinions about everything from WMD's in Iraq to the manipulation of the American public through the corporately controlled mainstream media and religion. My brother in particular has asked me several times how I know certain things. It is my strong belief that if you rely on any mainstream media outlets, even the seemingly liberal NY Times or a foreign source such as the BBC, you will be fed what the powers that be wish you to hear. So how do I find truly contrarian information? There are many solid, well researched sources where you can access freely that the corporate-run press will not report. (If you are interested, ask me for specifics.) One of the best sources are books and memoirs. Because they are not controlled by the media, per se, the rules are different. The only thing that the publishers care about is, will it sell. Does it spin a good, readable story? And because there is much more room for detail and background in a book, you get a much clearer and nuanced account of whatever is being discussed.

When the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" came out in 2004 I read it in about 3 days sitting on the floor of a Manhattan Barnes and Noble store. This book was entertaining and very frightening, written as a first-hand account of how the US manipulates and essentially takes over weaker governments using tools such as the IMF and the World Bank. Sounds boring? It isn't, I promise you. It may be the most fascinating work of non-fiction I've read. If you want to know the forces that run the world and why wars are fought read this book, and others like it. The reason I am blogging about this 4 year old book is that the author, John Perkins wrote another title that recently appeared in my local B&N. It's called: The Secret History of the American Empire. If you know what John Perkins has been doing since the early 80's (read the first book), you will know that he is an insider that can do justice to such a grandiose title.

I guess my point is this: so many people have such strong opinions about our government and politics and policy, but rarely do people bother to really dig down to figure out what the story is beyond what is spoon-fed to them. There is great information out there; well researched, well articulated and readily available. Don't come at me with vitriol because you don't agree with me if you've never read! Because chances are that you are being manipulated and you don't even know it. READ!