In my opinion Freedom is one of the most basic and beautiful experiences on the planet.

It is also my opinion that our prison and sentencing system in America is very broken and in dire need of attention.

I've been trying to stay up to date on some of the basic facts, and one good source for information on this topic is PrisonReformMovement.com.

PrisonReformMovement.com is an excellent blog that draws upon multiple sources for some of the issues mainstream media won't touch.

Check out Suzanne Toro's recent interview with Cliff High for some thought provoking speculations on sacred plants and crop circles.

Image credit goes to crop circle connector.com via the Half Past Human website.

Once upon a time I found an old home movie canister labeled "JFK assasination/funeral" at a flea market and thought for a brief time that I may have unearthed a new and relevant artifact concerning this critical time in American history. I'm still not sure because I'm not an expert on the subject.

In an effort to get the footage out to the world I've finally figured out how to provide it as a download so anybody who is interested can view just over 12 minutes of the original film.

Right click on the image above and save link target to wherever you like.

It's presented in a Creative Commons fashion and all I ask is that you credit Cosmic Cookout as the original source for this video.

Although it's a bit off topic, I hope you'll forgive me plugging my wife's newest ebook.  The May edition of Weekend Homesteader is now available for 99 cents in Amazon's Kindle store!  The series presents a simple and cheap project for every weekend of the year to provide stepping stones on your path to true self-sufficiency.  As the introduction says:

I've made multiple posts here about how much I like Mel Fabregas and his Veritas podcast of which I'm still a subscriber, but I felt the need to express my opinion on a point where I disagree with him because of a health saftey issue.

In August of 2010 Mr Fabregas interviewed Jim Humble, former aerospace engineer and inventor of MMS, which stands for Miracle Mineral Solution. Mr Humble came up with his invention while prospecting for gold in the jungles of Venezuela. He somehow used stabilized oxygen to relieve the pain of his colleagues who were suffering from malaria. Being a curious guy he did a bit of research and came up with a new form of oxygen therapy he calls chlorine dioxide or Miracle Mineral Solution. The active ingredient is not a mineral, but oxygenated chlorine, which you get by combining sodium chlorite and vinegar or citric acid.

I'm all for having an open mind about these subjects while still remaining skeptical, and I think it's great how the Veritas show is fearless when it comes to entertaining concepts that a lot of the media wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole, one of the big reason I like him so much. The problem for me happened when Mel shared some anectdotal information where he had a lingering health issue, decided to try MMS, experienced positive results, and then started to advertise the product on his website and show. Don't get me wrong here. I'm very glad he's feeling better, but to say MMS is what cured him is in my opinion a sticky issue. I call it sticky because of all the recent evidence coming to the surface at how effective placebos are and how that power is actually increasing.

What type of person prospects for gold on such a hard core level in the jungles of Venezuela? I would say it's a fair guess that person would be looking to strike it rich. Am I saying Mr Humble is getting wealthy selling his potion? It doesn't seem to be the case from what he says in the interview, and I can believe that. It feels like Jim Humble is sincere and not the typical snake oil salesman, but one possible explanation is that he's just a bit misguided. Perhaps his version of striking it rich is the fame and celebrity that would come with such a true miracle cure and the legacy one would be leaving behind? That's just my opinion after doing a small amount of research.

I won't cover the technical details of why MMS can be dangerous because so many other reputable sources have already done that, nor will I speculate as to why Jim Humble has chosen to be ordained as a Bishop in a dubious church organization. I was very moved by Mr Fabregas's experiment with MMS and took a mental note to maybe try it myself if I ever got really sick, at which point if it worked I might have even recommended my aging grandmother to try some in the hopes it might give her some relief.

The truth is MMS will kill pathogens, but it can also cause damage. Mr Humble is quoted as saying if it doesn't work in the first week or so then it might not be for you. I'm glad there are so many people out there getting postive results, I'm just saying that maybe those results are the power of mind over matter in the form of a placebo. In my opinion our American culture likes to go for the easy fix when it can, take a pill or some solution and get back to work. How about looking at what caused the problem in the first place?  How many of the people in question tried improving their diet or taking steps to decrease daily stress instead of such radical therapies like MMS?

I've driven past this sign for years on the way to my mom's house and finally decided to stop and snap a few pictures of this road side work of art.

You can find it on State Route 23 in southern Ohio somewhere south of Chillicothe.

The title "Heaven is Space" feels somewhat cryptic to me. Is there a hidden invitation to join a secret UFO cult somewhere within this advertisement for Jeff Willes's 3 volume UFOs Over Phoenix DVD set and Mike Brumfield's new book?

I wanted to make a post pointing a finger at the dangers of Aspartame and the questionable data out of the FDA concerning food safety in general.

No need to do that thanks to natalina from Extrodinary Intelligence.com. She did a much better job than I would have done because she adds her personal struggle with this addictive sugar substitute.

It's tough to admit the FDA dropped the ball here because then you have to ask yourself what else have they been incompetent about? I've never liked Aspartame, but I got a taste for the story behind the story once I started hearing how Donald Rumsfield pulled in political favors to get it pushed through the FDA.

In 1987 the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the food additive approval process had been followed within the law, but several people still report being "cured" when they cut it out of their diet. In my opinion the controversy is complicated by the fact that most people can handle the product in normal amounts.

Cori Brackett and J.T. Waldron made an informative documentary on the subject titled "Sweet Misery" which can be seen on Google video and Youtube or you can buy a copy at Amazon. I was impressed with the interviews with scientists and doctors and rational people who have suffered for years because they thought Aspartame was a safe product.

If you use Aspartame ask yourself "Do I feel 100 percent healthy and vital?" If the answer is anything less than 100 percent I recommend an experiment in the form of going without said product for 10 days. If you feel better after the experiment then replace that diet drink with some good old fashioned lemonaid or water.

I've been a subscriber to Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country for a couple of weeks now and have been very much enjoying his huge archive of excellent interviews.

The monthly fee is half of what most places are charging and you get what in my opinion is over twice the dedication and attention to detail. Mr Stieber not only reads the books of the people he interviews but he really seems to comprehend the big picture in a way that draws on decades of experience in uncovering the layers of deception that guard some of the more esoteric truths that his DreamLand show explores.

He also has a talent for having experts interviewing experts. The show with Peter Levenda interviewing Joseph P Farrell about Nazi time travel technology was worth the subscription price alone.

I had a strange reaction to Whitley Strieber's "true" account of his encounters with some sort of alien entity in his book "Communion" back in the late 1980's. Normally I would have been intrigued about any tale with such an unknown factor, but something about his story struck me as a bit too convenient and lucrative to get past my young and immature P.T. Barnum filter.

Fast forward over 20 years and Mr Strieber is still exploring the unkown with his excellent podcast called Dream Land.

I'm still new to the Dream Land podcast, but I'm already impressed with his interview style that goes way beyond what other similar shows produce. I'm ready to admit I was wrong about him back in 1988 when I was a 19 year old sailor without enough data to give his information a fair shake.

Add to that a weekly 30 minute show by William Henry and you've got something worth checking out in my opinion.

What would have happened if Nikola Tesla and Wilhelm Reich got drunk one evening and decided to invent a new type of motor that would condense what they call Meta-energy from natural singularities into a single timed pulse of amplified psychokinesis?

Something fantastic with a capital F. The amazing painter, philosopher, and trained architect Paul Laffoley gives one a unique glimpse into what that world of occult technology might have looked like with his incredible masterpiece titled "The Orgone Motor".

To learn more about Mr Laffoley check out this excellent interview with Mike Hagen where they talk about his role in the World Trade Center design, his views on making a time machine and many other interesting topics.

What do you get when you put the Prince of Slack, Dr Carolyn Dean, and a group consciousness from the Guf on James Martinez's radio show?

I'm not sure what to make of this weekly 3 hour long show, but it's made me laugh more than once and has a mood and frequency that is unlike anything else I've come across.

I've been enjoying my paid subscription to Mel Fabregas's Veritas show so much that I switched over to the recuring payment method to make sure I don't miss anything.


I'm really impressed with the direction he's taking the show and look forward to future interviews with researcher and author Graham Hancock and also Norman Bergrun, the guy behind the intriguing "Ring Makers of Saturn" book.


If that wasn't enough now there's a Veritas TV feature with over 30 exclusive videos he's made while attending various events in this field.



One of the videos is a full lecture by Dr. Claude Swanson on some fascinating science that has been done lately concerning the paranormal. I was especially excited to hear his take on a 10 year study done by the German government to determine if dowsing could be a viable way of finding water in Africa.

The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts has an outstanding collection of 10 minute talks that are merged with very clever animations to express some delicious information.

Dan Pink illustrates what he calls "The surprising truth about what motivates us" in a way that really helped me to more fully understand this vital concept.

One of the conclusions that surprised most scientists was that a higher cash reward did not equal higher performance, but had the opposite effect when it comes to complex jobs that require creative thinking and problem solving.


Dan Pink's argument in my opinion scientifically proves the exponentially higher value of being independent as opposed to working for someone else.

Freeman is one of the most fascinating characters I've had the pleasure of listening to lately in this far out field of so called alternative research.

He actually predicted something fishy was going to happen concerning the government on September 11th 2001 by extrapolating all his previous findings along with a refined sense of instinct.

Check out his new show on American Freedom Radio for in depth interviews that in my opinion take these subjects to some new heights with his impressive attention to detail. I especially liked his talk with Kerry Cassidy from Project Camelot where they talked about her recent trip to see the great pyramid and why Egyptian guards will not let you meditate at any of the sacred sites in that region.