This group is for people who prefer to think for themselves, and who want the best news and background information available. The group's archives are public, so anyone can check out past postings and see whether the subject matter is of interest to them.

This group is for folks who do not wish to be lumped into categories such as left and right -- who take the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights to mean what they say -- and who do not believe that it is possible to get accurate news from the controlled mass media of the U.S.A. at this time in history.

We will focus on news ignored by the American mass media -- foreign news, information about the international power elites, and the areas in which scientific matters interface with power politics and economics, such as nutrition, medicine, energy, ecology, and climatology. Most articles on economics will reflect the Austrian view.

Postings will mostly be very short, consisting of headlines and links to news sources and other web sites. The default method of delivery will be the Daily Digest, a single e-mail in which a number of short messages are strung together.

This group is not intended as a place for lengthy original contributions, though links to original articles posted elsewhere on the Web will be welcome.

The moderator considers himself a middle-of-the-road extremist, influenced by anarchism of both the left and the right, libertarianism, and Austrian economics. His other interests include:
Astrology -- http://www.jshawvan.homestead.com
Buddhism -- http://www.jshawvan.homestead.com/chenrezig.html
"Coast to Coast AM", North America's leading nighttime radio talk show, with topics ranging from physics to psychology to UFO's
-- http://www.coasttocoastam.com