Fear in DC and loathing in the PRM

Fear is a visceral thing. Our ancestors cowered in caves with the fear of thunderstorms. We ran from wild beasts. this primordial emotion is used by politicians to evoke panic to press humanity into doing something, for lack of a better term, stupid.

I took some bashing in the comments section of an earlier post about how I don't particularly like the President of the United States to use fear to get what he wants. I'm not the only one to think this way.

In addressing this panic, the president of the United States must truly be the leader of the world — showing the way back to confidence.

Instead, Obama has been instrumental in purveying fear and spreading doubt. It is his pronouncements, reinforced by the developments they kindle and catalyze, that are destroying good businesses, bankrupting responsible people and wiping out even conservative financial institutions. Every time he speaks, he sends the markets down and stocks crashing. He doesn’t seem to realize that the rest of the world takes its cue from him. He forgets that he stands at the epicenter of power, not on the fringes campaigning for office. This ain’t Iowa.

Why does Obama preach gloom and doom? Because he is so anxious to cram through every last spending bill, tax increase on the so-called rich, new government regulation, and expansion of healthcare entitlement that he must preserve the atmosphere of crisis as a political necessity. Only by keeping us in a state of panic can he induce us to vote for trillion-dollar deficits and spending packages that send our national debt soaring.

This is the most media savvy President we have ever seen. Slick Willy has nothing on this cat. He has manipulated public opinion with a masters touch. His relentless campaign was nearly divine in how it whipped up the disenfranchised, the poor, and the rich liberals into a political firestorm to get him elected. Do don't think for one second that his is not fully cognizant of his emotional message. Obama and his staff know exactly what they are doing.

I wonder if he is vain enough to sow all this panic, all this doom and gloom just so if he pulls this off he looks like the greatest president since Lincoln? Then again, he wrote his memoirs before he took office.

If his plan is to sow chaos to make himself look better, then I fear he vastly underestimated how fragile the world markets are. Ireland, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc are all within a hairs breadth of going tits-up. Once these dominoes start to fall, I think it's not going to stop until it's gone around the world a few times.

So to sum up my feelings for the use of fear and chaos to motivate the people of these United States:

Fuck you, Mr. President.

Trouble

Well the AG of the US wants to re-enact the assault weapons ban. This is the same chucklehead who called me and you cowards for how we deal with race. Huh. I never met him how the fuck does he know how I deal with race.

Even though he's making noise, I doubt it's going to happen. He's just trying to draw attention from his earlier ignorant and dumbass remarks. Even Frau Pelosi dosen't want to tackle that issue anytime soon.

So I'm not worried about that just yet. I am worried about what's going on in Mexico. I'm more worried that North Korea or Iran will do something dumb. I'm even more worried about the economy completely collapsing. Plenty of trouble on the horizon.

So I keep prepping. Tomorrow I start my onions! My cabbage seedling is doing well, his brother didn't sprout, so I'll plant one head for spring. Two more weeks and I'll start the peppers. This weekend I got a lot of work to catch up on. Being on call really got in the way of prepping, but I did manage to go to BJ's and stock up. I'm starting to buy items I don't like to eat, but are a real good deal. Tuna is a prime example. I detest the stuff but my mother and brother love it. Vienna sausages were grabbed as well, as a trade item or to add to baked beans. I picked up two more cases of beans in fact along with an assortment of other supplies.

One thing I really need is pickling salt. Can't find it in bulk. I'm going to have to hit the earthy-crunchy stores for it I fear.

Well that's enough for tonight. If you don't have a "assault weapon" don't sweat it just yet. Get your food squared away with a decent shotgun and handgun. Once you got the food all set then worry about the assault rifles and such. Food first though!

Check this amimation out

Looks like I'm a Libertarian. I jive with all of it except the drug policy. Just for giggles I should run for State rep as a Libertarian, the last election the current one ran unopposed.

For the noobies.

This post is for those who haven't started prepping yet. With all the crazy stuff going on in Washington, the Middle east, North Korea, etc. doesn't it seem like a good idea to have a head start? Never mind natural disasters like ice storms, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.

Ok so you finally have an uneasy lump in your stomach. Your worried for your families safety and food. Excellent! Now we begin.

1) RELAX! sit down have a nice cold glass of water.
2) Make a list. Walk through the house and note roughly how much food you have in the house. Don't be too exact, your looking for a rough number. Also check how many days worth of prescription meds you have.
3) Now talk to your family. You'd be surprised how all this doom and gloom from the real world news manages to percolate through the nation's consciousness. Try to work out a plan together.
4) I personally feel it's too late to head off for the hills if you don't currently own a retreat property. So that means riding it out in your home or a relatives in the country. That's one of the harder decisions, but as a family work it out.
5) Now pick a date and a goal. Plan on having enough food and water for 2 weeks for the whole family. Set a date to accomplish this goal. Be sure you have enough prescription meds for this two week period as well.
6) Reduce your debt. Don't build your supplies up by going into more debt. This is a terrible mistake. Just ask all the nitwits that maxed their credit cards just before Y2K. Do your best to reduce debt by selling junk you don't use or need.
7) Now you met your primary goal. You can live for two weeks without support. Now go and add the items that make life bearable. Band-aids, Asprin, toilet paper. Baby wipes are unbelievably handy to have. You can give yourself a bath with them. Also don't forget garbage bags and stuff to cook your meals with. Eventually you will need to address security, but for now worry about food and water first.

Now you are well on your way to saving your family from a FEMA camp. Notice I don't suggest buying 3 guns for each family member. You don't need 20,000 rounds of ammunition, hospital beds or bomb shelters. If you want to go that far down the preparedness path, by all means, but don't put the cart before the horse. Work on shorter goals before running willy-nilly to the higher level goals. In other words work your way up the ladder, rather than trying to ride an elevator.

This summer is going to be pretty interesting. We may see wide scale riots. We may see a economic collapse. We may see nothing out of the ordinary. But now is the time to start. Starting a small garden isn't that much in the way of money, or even time, but you'll learn something. that's another step on that ladder.

If you tackle this in a systematic approach, like two weeks, then three months, then six, then nine then a full year.Then you can fill out your preps with the other necessities on the way without killing yourself. Slow and steady wins the race.

Irish Car Bomb

If imbibe, please join me for a drink! First you need some Guinness, a Cream Liquor, and some Jameson's.
Pour half a can of Guinness in a glass. Then pour 1/2 a shot of Jameson's. Now for the tricky part, gently pour a 1/2 shot of the Cream Liquor into the shot glass. If your good, then they won't mix.
Hold the Guinness about chin height, drop the shot glass in and suck it down. This ain't no sipping drink, you chug it down. Bonus points for dribbling some on your shirt. My GAWD does it taste good. I think it tastes like a mocha milkshake, others think it tastes like an Oreo shake.
Oh boy that was good. Time for another... BRB.

...

Yummy! Good thing I'm not driving anywhere, I'm half in the bag. I'm getting SHATTERED tonight. It is verboten to drink when on call, so I got to make up for it once I'm off duty, right?

The Irish Car Bomb is an exquisite drink, but they will fuck you up. Seriously. The alcohol slams into your brain like a crack addict with ADD on meth. If your about 200lbs then 1 of these every 15 minutes and your wrecked.

Most bars won't sell you them, matter of fact I was escorted out of Fiddler's Green in Providence for ordering one. I had to run from the cops after pissing all over the bar's front window. Funny as hell. So lock up the guns, give the wife/GF/BF etc the keys and have a few at home. Next time I'll do JagerBombs... those are yummy too. Or Dark and Stormys, my brothers favorite.

Oh yeah Jagerbombs are a shot of Jagermiester dropped into Red Bull. And Dark and stormy's are a shot of dark rum mixed in a Ginger Beer. The D&S are a sippin' drink. Very nice. Jagerbombs are to keep going for a longer night of drinkin'.

I think I better cook dinner now, or I'll be too shitfaced to eat tonight.

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K

Well gold is going through the roof, I am surprised it hasn't poked it's head through$1000 and oz. The DJIA is looking like it's going to fall below 7k. But the dollar index is over 87, which makes no sense.

I'm going Code:Green when the DJIA drops below 7000. Every 1k mark is a mental trigger for traders. I have a gut feeling that if we go below 7k for any length of time, then the sell orders will kick in and the market will drop like a rock. I wouldn't be surprised if trading has to have a 1hour "time out" to halt trading.

I've been real busy IRL with my on-call rotation for work, so I haven't had time or mental energy for posting good stuff this week. I'll kick it up into high gear this week, I promise. I did get to work on the next chapter of fiction, but I need to polish it up some more.

I'll post again tonight, got a good idea for a post.

HCR6

I've been treated to good news. HCR6, the bill in NH to re-instate Jeffersonian rights, has been resurrected and is due for a vote on March 4th.

Score one for the good guys!

The Third War

We have been at war for so long that we pretty much forget about it. Since 1971 the US has been at war with itself and most of South America. That's right it was Nixon, not Reagan that started the war on drugs.

Now this has been a drain on resources and the economy for decades. But with the implementation of mandatory minimums the nations youth has been drained as well. Drug dealers didn't want to face a 10 year sentence for selling pot, crack, etc., so they enlisted the youth to sell for them. That way if they got caught they would be out by age 18.

Now what has America gained from the trillions and trillions of dollars spent on this war? I am not sure. I know that it's broken, that is easily discerned by the sheer volume of drugs available to anyone in an urban environment. Hell, I could buy anything I could think of within 20 minutes.

I'm not smart enough to figure out what we need to do. I do know that some drugs should never be allowed to be used "recreationally" those being Heroin, Meth, Cocaine, PCP, and some designer drugs I'm not too knowledgeable about. These drugs have a high first-use addiction, and conversely these drugs are also the leading factors to higher crime.

So what is the best solution? I think some people should be allowed to decide for themselves. Pot LSD, Peyote, Shrooms, etc are no worse than alcohol if used responsibly. Does that mean they should automatically become legal? I don't think so. But it is a discussion we should be having at higher levels of government.

The states should be deciding some of these matters, but that's a sticky situation, because Big Pharma can bully states easier than the Feds, so a drug not ready could be pushed through for human trials when it shouldn't be because the states don't have the resources to keep Big Pharma in check. But I also feel that since medicine wasn't spelled out as a federal responsibility then it has to be the states responsibility. Perhaps medical use could be given up to the feds with an amendment tot he constitution, and recreational use still governed by each state.

The problem is that we are too soft on the people bringing it into the country. There is so much money to be made doing it that anyone will take the chance to make big cash. This is where it gets sticky. Do we execute drug smugglers? It's the only way we can guarantee they won't smuggle drugs in. Do we use black ops to geek foreign nationals organizing smuggling operations?

There is no easy solution, but anything is going to be better than what we have now. Maybe our borders wouldn't be wide open if we didn't blow vast sums of money to corrupt South American governments to keep the pressure on the drug Czars.

Mexico is about to tear itself to shreds. the Federales and the Cartels are going to throw one down pretty soon. How much of that will spill over into the US?

I do know the Fed wastes a lot of time and money on this war. A lot of OUR money. With the economy in the shitter, I think it's time we sat down and talked about it, and did something about it.

Letting My Redneck Out

Well I've been letting my redneck out to play lately. I'm now a big fan of bluegrass music. I was first introduced to it from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou, and I've been enjoying it off and on for a while now. Then I found Fade to Bluegrass, a tribute to Metallica by Iron Horse, a Bluegrass band for Alabama.


I've been driving everyone at work crazy with it :)

If I am so SMAHT...

I was having a conversation with a fellow awakened individual at work today about the economy and such when a woman jumped in and said "If you're so SMAHT how would you fix it!"

Needless to say this Obammy lovin' tree huggin' fruitloop mindless chucklehead got an earful.

I wish I recorded it, but then I wouldn't have a post. I'm going to have to paraphrase a bit, but you'll get the gist of it.

"First off we need to refund all taxes paid for the last six months of 2008. "

"You neo-cons are all alike only want to help the rich! "(Note: anyone who doesn't worship Obammy is a neo-conservative in this person's opinion.)

"Well the rich buy stuff like TV's and cars, that fuels the economy. Giving tax beaks to the poor is as smart as paying money to the rich bankers, which Obammy just did."

"He did no such thing!"

"Bullshit, did you even look at the stimulus bill?"

"Well no, but..."

"But nothing! If your ignorant butt is going to call me a neo-con you better bring more to the table than an empty head and a Obammy bumper sticker."

"I'm not ignorant!"

"Sure you are, don't you know the difference between a Libertarian and a Republican?"

"What's a Libertarian?"

While I was blowing a gasket, my buddy jumped in.

"Well Mrs. X, do you like personal freedom?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to reduce taxes?"

"For who?"

"Everyone."

"Yeah, sure."

"Do you feel everyone should have the same opportunities in America?"

"Definitely."

"Do you hate to see government waste?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Well when you wake up you will be a Libertarian."

"Really? What's the bad things about Libertarians?"

"No handouts."

"What's that mean?"

"No social security, no medicare or medicaid. But your taxes would be about 1/3 what they are now. But you have to be personally responsible for your own fate."

"Well I should get Social Security!"

"Doesn't matter if you want it or not, by 2015 the US is bankrupt. No matter what."

"What happens then?"

"Discretionary spending takes 100% of the budget, so no military, road repair, etc. and the US of A collapses."

"WHAT!?!?"

"Oh yeah, and Libertarians don't like big government, so no $10 million studies of some wacko bird in Alaska on the government dime."

"Oh."

So Mrs. X wandered off looking like she swallowed that wacko bird from Alaska. Me and my buddy had to step in the stairwell to howl with laughter. We were laughing how we didn't even get to Jeffersonian rights or gun control. I know we don't have 100% of the Libertarian party line right, but hey... no one is perfect.

Maybe Mrs. X will wake up. I hope so. All it takes is logic, and a passion for what's best for everyone. These days anyone who's telling me I can't do something that's not breaking the law of common sense can take a dump while doing a handstand.

Trouble in Russia

Check this out. Russia's two markets halted trading for an hour each yesterday. I just caught wind of it this morning. Word is the markets opened today with a 5% slide, I wonder if trading will halt again today.

This is bad. If Russia tanks then China and the remnants of the Warsaw Pact could be affected. Most of Austria, Czechoslovakia, whatever Yugoslavia is called these days, etc. are all in a death spiral right now, and might take the EU with them.

So it's not just us. Or is it?

Massachusetts is filled with Mill Towns. These cities were industrial complexes unto themselves producing textiles and shoes for the whole world in the late 19th century. We were then what China is today. Lots of resources and cheap labor to fuel Europe. But something happened, other places were more economical to produce products, so the mills closed. ALL of them. What crippled these towns is that the entire town was specialized in the production of one commodity.

When that commodity no longer was profitable, then business closed up shop and went somewhere else. Because the entire city's livelihood depended on this series of factories, unemployment skyrocketed along with crime, urban sprawl, and all the other bad things that come with cities in decline. Some cities have yet to recover. Lowell and New Bedford are prime examples along with Pawtucket, RI and Flint, MI.

So what does all this have to do with the price of child labor in Malaya? Well, everything. America sells debt. I mean when you boil it down that's what we sell. yeah we make planes and we sell ideas and services, but our #1 export or the last 20 years has been debt. Now 90%+ of economy is based on debt. So what happens when we cannot sell our debt? Just like a mill town our unemployment skyrockets, and we are a nation in decline.

But the whole world bought into this as well. Unlike a shoe, oil, or wheat, debt has no intrinsic value. So other countries cannot sell their product at a loss to recoup some of the lost money. They are stuck to us like Br'er Rabbit to the Tar Baby. So down the drain we all go.

What can we learn from this? Small business is better business. Communities need to diversify. America needs agricultural, manufacturing, and service-orientated sectors of the economy in a roughly balanced arrangement. For those that are in survival communities already, don't bet the farm on one item being of value post-crash. Grow extra food, and provide timber, and provide services to prosper. Don't put your eggs all in one basket.

Woo! Socialism!

Ok so I pay my mortgage by eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for two months, and those nitwits who are living on credit cards in houses they cannot afford get a handout. This disgusts me.

Earlier plans had the Fed working with banks to lower payments by adjusting interest rates or lengthening the term of the loan. That I can agree with. So Joe Sixpack who bought a McMansion has a 50 year loan on it now. The banks get their money (eventually) and no taxpayer money is spent.

But now the Socialism kicks in. Joe Sixpack gets a big fat handout instead of an adjustment. And where is the money coming from? It's a inflationary tax. They tax us by making our money worth less because they are just making more of it. A $50 billion dollar handout.

Once again stupidity is rewarded. The banks that make billion dollar mistakes get money from the Fed for nothing. Those banks that were financially responsible got nothing. Now homeowners that didn't think if they could afford the house are being rewarded. People like me who kill themselves to make payments get nothing.

To me socialism rewards the stupid. Have too many kids, enjoy welfare! Can't hold down a job or better yourself to keep the job you have, then you get unemployment insurance extension after extension.

Someone needs to fill in these bleeding heart liberal nitwits that life is not fair. You get hooked on drugs then you die. Have too many kids you go hungry. Too dumb to have health insurance then you stay sick. Stop making me pay for your programs. I got enough to worry about without paying so illegal immigrants can get licenses to drive and free health care. Fuck 'em I say.

I can't be bothered to reward stupidity. Praise your puppy every time he shits or pisses in the house and see what that gets you. Same thing here.

Shooting

I got to shoot today. It strange how punching 30 caliber holes in paper can be so relaxing.

I loaded 5 rounds of .308 in the military surplus cases and ran a pressure test. I capped off 5 rounds with no slam-fires or anything else out of the ordinary. I've upped the powder a full grain, and will test another 5 hopefully tomorrow.

I also picked up 180 grain HPBT bullets so I can check them out. I fully intend on trying to do an egg shoot soon. The 180 grain bullets resist wind a little bit better, so I'm evaluating them against the 168 grain bullets I've been using. It's not a real test, as I'm still only shooting 100 yards, but if all goes well I'll be joining a club with a 300 or 500 range rifle course soon.

I was impressed with the rounds that came out of the M1A. They weren't dinged to all hell, and they didn't need much in the way of resizing. If I'm lucky that means I can use them over and over. I need to check the item # on my dies, I suspect I have the small base sizing die already.

I've recently watched Todd Bender's video on skeet shooting. Today was a chance to apply some of the things he talks about in the videos. I didn't do any better overall, but I am much more confident on stations 1, 2, 6, & 7. If you have never shot skeet, give it a try. With the right group of people it's a LOT of fun.

Now I'm going to ramble on a little bit about synergy. I feel very strongly that shooting shotgun makes me a better rifle and pistol shooter. Likewise shooting rifle makes me a better pistol and shotgun shooter. It may seem a bit counter-intuitive. After all, what does shooting a scattergun have to do with shooting a rifle? Well in Skeet you need to lead your target, have a solid shooting platform and good follow-through. Now If I need to shoot a mutant ninja zombie in the a car as he is driving by, then those skills learned in skeet shooting will be quite applicable. Likewise from rifle and pistol you need to learn about bullet drop, and the effects of the wind on your shot. In skeet, you have the wind affecting your target, but the wind can also blow around your shot stream a little too. Although the pellets have a small surface area they are extremely light.

My friend recently came over and saw some targets from 50 and 100 yards I shot with my M1A. He was blown away with how tight my groups were. When I showed him my practice targets from the .22's he was leveled. He thinks I'm a better shot than he is with a rifle. And he's been in the reserves for 14 years and an active LEO. It was a great boost of confidence to me, as I think I suck.

The reason I think I suck is at these egg shoots they are shooting eggs at 200 and 300 yards. Eggs! what are they 2" x 1 1/4"? these guys are shooting 15 shots for 15 eggs. There is a lot that can go wrong with the bullet as it's zipping downrange for 300 yards. Most guys use 6mmBR's or .308's or even .338Magnums. I doubt I'll win, but it's the experience I am after. I am bound to pick up a few tips and tidbits while there that will make me a better shooter.

I am looking forward to the military and other shoots that will be held this summer. I got a gen 3 scope mount for the M1A on the way already, I need to sit down and figure out what to buy for a scope. I don't want to drop a lot of cake, but I want something that can take the beating of a semi-auto rifle. Matter of fact I think I'll do that now.

I've been letting the news about the recent stimulus bill wash over me the last few days. I'm trying desperately to remain optimistic about the whole thing, but the crushing reality of just how bad a blanket party the politicians threw us. Make no bones about it, the stimulus package is about as economically stimulating as a fart in hurricane. There's so little in there to actually do anything that it's absurd to call it a stimulus package. It's a fucking spending package.

Hey everyone if we buy up all the bridges around the world, then we will get as much affect on our economy as this "stimulus" package. Berneke is intent on inflating us out of a depression, tilting at windmills, er, spending billion upon billions of $ on pork is just the ticket to do it. I fail to see why a market correction needs to be avoided at all costs? It's a natural process in a healthy, mature, free market.

But our betters insist we can't let the boogymen of depression take hold. Let me be the the voice of reason here.

Hey Chuckleheads! We are in a depression already!

Now that our betters have been properly informed of our current economic situation, you can be sure they are on the ball. Yeah, right! I could go down to D.C. and tattoo it on their foreheads backwards and they still won't get it.
I think Amy Winehouse should be the mascot for the American economy. It's a train wreck you just can't take your eyes off of. Like Amy, our economy had so much potential, and just pissed it all away. If you have never heard her sing, your missing something. I'm not a big fan of her style, but the quality of her voice cannot be disputed. Granted, now she sounds like shit after smoking a couple a packs a day for the last few years.

So what's next for the Amy Winehouse economy? My bet is they sell themselves out to someone for a rock of crack, take half a dozen reds with a bottle of wine in a "cry for help", shit themselves in public, and puke on the paramedics that come to help her, I mean us. Wonder what Vegas will give me for odds?

Preps Preps Preps!

Got to keep prepping. It's a mantra when I finally get home and get some dinner in my belly. Every day, and I mean EVERY DAY, I do at least 2-3 tasks for prepping.Last night I cleaned the house, but I also organized all my batteries. I had more than I thought, but down the road I'll buy another pack of AA's and AAA's and some more D's. I also went and cleaned ~400 .45ACP brass, and prepared the .308 brass I shot on Sunday.

So military brass has a problem that needs to be addressed before you can reload it. First off, it needs to be boxer primed. Then you shouldn't use your standard deprimer to deprime the brass. I have heard you can, but the deprimer is a few bucks and that's cheaper than the pin in your sizer! The reason is the primer pocket has a crimp. Once you get it deprimed you need to remove this crimp with a tool. I got one for $3 that will chamfer the inside and outside of the case mouth and remove this crimp from the primer pocket. I wouldn't want to do it to more than 50 cases though. Tough on the hands.

I need to get me some finer media for my case tumbler. It gets stuck in the primer hole, and I need to use a bent paper clip to poke it out. Very time consuming!

I also educate myself as best I can when home as well. I hit all the web sites that are banned from work, and try to read something when it's time for bed. Soon it's garden time. I'm going to try to get the cabbage seed planted tonight.

I'm supposed to go out drinking Friday night, so not much prepping going on tomorrow night. So I need to get 75 or so skeet loads done tonight. I already have 25 LRN rounds for the .45, I'd like to test my new grips. I also want to shoot the M1A, I need to start working up a load for the 500+ 168grain bullets I ordered the other day. Working up a load is a time consuming process, as the hottest load is not the necessarily the best. I want the smallest group with the most energy.

The M1A is not a sniper rifle. I wonder if it's a 2 or a 3 MOA rifle, and I'll figure this out along the way as I work up the load. Un comparison my bolt action is a 1/2 MOA rifle. MOA is short for Minute of Angle, or 1/60th of 1 degree. 1MOA is about 1 inch at 100 yards. 2 inches at 200 yards, and so on.

I learned of a primer that might cut my bolt action to a 1/4 MOA rifle. CCI makes a primer specifically for bench shooting. These primers are NOT for a semi-auto rifle because of slam-fire. But in my bolt action they should be amazing. The problem is they are $50 for 1000, about twice as expensive as regular large rifle primers. Actually that's not bad as I thought. I'm buying a brick just to see.

I should do a quick rundown on how I load a rifle and pistol round for the blog. Expect to see this soon.

Well that's enough rambling for now. I wish I had a keen insight into the political or economic situation this country is in, but I've come up empty today. I should check to see how much $ we are still sending overseas in aid. Don't you think this money would be helpful to our economy? then again it depends if we are sending cash or goods. sending goods is good, writing a check is bad.

Keep prepping everyone, warm weather and higher crime rates are coming.

Zombies and Sheep

Prepper and survivalist blogs and websites are full of euphemisms for the non-prepper majority. The average American male is referred to as "Joe Six-Pack", and we are not referring to his abdominal muscles. Jim Rawles prefers sheep, sheepdogs and wolves. Big John Lipscom uses the term Clones. If you have read this blog or any other prepper blog you had to have seen the term sheeple. I've used the term "Sleeper" here on this blog.

So what's it all mean? Is there a mental trap in thinking of people as sheep or zombies, ninjas or anything else? Humans think in terms of stereotypes. It is how our brains are wired, a evolutionary remnant of our tribal beginnings. Deal with it.

To some extent all stereotypes are a mental trap. I've met many Black men that were harder workers than the rest of the crew combined. I've met Jewish people that were not miserly, cheap, or frugal. I've met Irish that didn't drink and French people that didn't stink. I met an Italian engineer that was a mechanical genius. I've eaten at a restaurant with a British chef that was a culinary delight.

So our brain has a tendency to clump people into groups. As higher-evolved lifeforms, as all preppers are by definition, we are aware that there are exceptions to these stereotypes. Our brain might divvy up the world into "Us" and "Them" but remember "Them" could be "Us" one day. Labels are applied to these groups, these stereotypes, to provide a way of communication and community in our group.

So how does this apply to prepping? We preppers divide the world into neat categories like anyone else. If you are unprepared your a mindless Sheep, aka a Sheeple. If your a criminal then you're a Wolf. If your a prepper or survivalist you are a Sheepdog.

I don't like this because the last thing I see myself as is a Sheepdog. Sheep are a poor term for the mass of humanity because the public will turn on each other once the thin veil of civility is removed. Look at the post-Katrina reports as proof of this behavior.

The term Wolf is used as a bad thing. Wolves are loyal to the pack. They breed for life. They work as a unified team in times of crisis and food-gathering - all inter-pack rivalries are set aside for the good of the pack. I like wolves, and I think survival communities should emulate them. Not to say they should prey upon others, but the structure and how they put aside all problems when in a crisis.

I fully plan on leaving as much of the world to it's own devices as possible. I currently don't have enough to supply my immediate family, never mind a horde of hungry refugees. So the closest thing in the animal world to me is a Bear. Don't poke a Bear, you'll be lucky if he is nice enough to let you keep a stump of an arm left. Bears have this whole don't fuck with me and I won't kill you thing going on. When bears run out of food they will turn on each other, and everything else around them, so it's not the best illustration of my beliefs, but it gets the point across.

Zombies are a better word for the mass of humanity. If you have been lucky enough to play Left For Dead you will know the version of Zombies I'm talking about. In Left For Dead, zombies are the typical mindless horde of Romero's 1968 classic, Night of the Living Dead. Slow, clumsy, and mindless. But the difference with the zombies in Left for Dead is when a human is noticed, they are instantly fast as lighting and a tough as nails. These zombies are bad-ass killing machines. They also work as a team to get their hands on the living. They only way to defeat them in the game is to use teamwork and superior weapons.

This is the Zombie I speak of when I refer to humanity as a mass of zombies. Once the comfortable surroundings is stripped away, once the zombie's awareness is awakened, then the Zombie shows it's true nature as a killing machine bent on your destruction. Like a pack of locusts they will consume everything until they starve themselves out.

So what other ones are out there? How about a Cow. Comfortable in their retreat-pasture they contentedly munch away. Not a care in the world, or a desire to better it, either.

Then you have the monkeys who throw their shit at everyone else so we will pay attention to them. Another name for them are trolls.

The worst are Spiders. They lurk about, gathering information about their victims ahead of time, then when the poop his they fan they kill their prey and bring back the booty to their nest. These fuckers are the reason why you need such careful security.

Then you have your Ticks. Usually family or friends they take what they can while providing no benefit to anyone else. once your drained dry they'll bail on you to hitch a ride with another victim.

how about the Queen (or King)? Never wants to get their hands dirty they expect to be waited on hand and foot. They don't contribute anything to prepping, but expect to reap the rewards.

Goons are government law or military. Also known as JBT, or Jack-booted thugs. Not to be confused with the common Thug.

Thugs are organized criminal elements. Gang members to Mafia soldiers, they are the same.

This has been fun for me. If you come up with a few others post them in the comments.

$ Tax Money $

Busy weekend. Saturday, I went and picked up my M1A. Damn paperwork took 90 minutes to get done, even with the nifty fingerprint reader they have at the store. That's right, here in the PRM you are fingerprinted to buy a firearm. All the stuff everyone is in a ruckus about with the federal gun laws is nothing compared to what I got to deal with already.

I swung by BJ's and bought $80 worth of preps. Well, $75 worth as I bought a big jug of cleaner, but that's kind of a prep anyway. I bought some pancake mix (tip of the hat to Michael for the idea) with some maple syrup. It's only good for a year, but it was only $3 for a big jug, so that's ok I guess.

I also bought 10# of sugar. I don't eat the stuff but it is a staple. I got two big packages of dried yeast. And I loaded up on more spices. I got black pepper, chili powder, and taco seasoning. Next time I'll get some bay leaves, cinnamon, and a bulk pack of something else. I also got two quarts of Frank's Red hot sauce.

I was very disappointed they didn't have any plain salt. Iodized by the ton, but no plain salt for pickling. I might have to get that online. I was also disapointed they had no plain brown rice. they had enriched rice, but that stuff is worse for you than sugar. All carbs and no fiber, and it doesn't store as long (I think).

I also bought 3 1# canned hams for $7. They haven't had them for a long time, so it's good to see them again. I'll buy more next trip.

I think I have my generator picked out. I cannot find it online, at the Lowes website, but here it is on the troy-built site. I need to do some arithmetic and make sure 3250 watts is enough to run my stuff. I don't want to get a 5kwatt because it burns a lot more fuel than the 3250 watt one. This one is nice because it has a 220V plug so I can run my tablesaw if I need to. The lower fuel usage means I can do more with the fuel I have stored. Reminds me it's time to add another 5 or 10 gallons of fuel to my preps.

Sunday, I shot the M1A and my buddies Sako .22 rifle. Damn, I am rusty. Been entirely too damn busy and cold to shoot. Was good to get out though. The M1A fired very nicely with some surplus ball ammo I managed to score for $13/20. The brass is reloadable or I wouldn't have bothered.

While at the range, I bumped into a guy who is a heavy shooter. In talking with him he suggested I started reloading and offered to sell me some brass. I said SURE! I'll take 1000. Taken aback he said well I don't want to sell that much, so we agreed on 500. not sure what he wants to charge me, but I trust him that the brass will be fine. It's all lake city.

So I went into the most useless gardening shop on the face of the earth. I wanted to buy the supplies I need for my garden, and they had nothing. no peat moss, no vermiculite, no compost. they did have a lovely section with tons of indoor plants and lots of landscaping and lawn care products. They even had a coffee shop inside with a 50" plasma TV with a news channel on. The employee I asked about the stuff I needed was clueless, just directed me to potting soil. Needless to say, I took my business elsewhere.

Finally on Sunday night I swung by Lowes and bought some garden supplies. I got 50' of weed matting for under the SFG. I got a few little greenhouse thingys to start some seeds. I got some peat transplant pots for $2 for 12. I got a couple trowels too a plastic one for a buck and a cheap metal one for $3. I forgot to grab a pitchfork for turning the compost pile when I start one.

All in all a busy, but productive weekend. Keep prepping!

Fiction - Part II - The Escape

This is the second part of a fictional account of yours truly, trying to deal with a cataclysmic event. The first part can be found here. I am sorry it takes so long to write these posts, but I'm not the best writer in the world. It takes about 5 re-writes to get it to a level I'm comfortable releasing to the public. Enjoy!

The wind howled down Newbury Street, carrying freezing rain that quickly soaked the two men. Umbrellas were pointless as the wind carried rain swirled around, soaking any unprotected clothing.

Natog squinted through the wind, "Wow it's gotten worse. It's as cold as an ex wife's heart out here."

Al pushed Natog with one hand while trying to stay in Natog's slipstream, "I think my balls are frozen already! Keep moving!"

The two men fought their way across Newbury Street. Taking a right, they were pushed by the wind down the icy sidewalks for the block and a half. Turning onto Dartmouth, they huddled in the lee of the buildings, trying to catch their breath.

Looking across the pandemonium at the intersection, Natog nudged Al, "Take a look at that!"

Al turned and stood dumbfounded. Rising into the sky was a huge plume of smoke from farther down Dartmouth Street. A car had crashed into a storefront and burst into flames. Not a fire truck could be seen, and people were pouring out of the buildings, some without coats on.

Natog took off down Dartmouth Street, yelling "C'mon!" over the wind.

Natog and Al scampered past dead cars and fought through through the crowd watching the fire. Pushing people out of the way, Natog broke through the invisible barrier holding people back. Several people were staring slack-jawed into the blaze. The entire interior of the car was engulfed and the designer clothes were burning in the store.

Turning to the crowd Natog yelled at the top of his lungs "Did they make it out?"

A young black man wearing a valet uniform and leaning on a snow shovel replied, "Yeah man, dey shaken up. Day'z across da street. The phones do'n work so a couple of peeps run up to da firehouse ovah on Boylston."

Looking over, Natog replied "Thanks man, just didn't want anyone to die."

"Shou man, Dey ovah on the steps there."

Al pointed over a few store fronts down where another small crowd was gathered. A few slips and slides and Natog and Al made their way to the Car's occupants.

As they approached, Natog called out “Everyone OK?"

A young Hispanic woman was looking dazed with a nasty cut to her eyebrow. A young boy was looking around terrified, firmly clamped onto his mother's arm. Blood flowed freely from the cut, spilling down the arms folded in her lap. Meanwhile a Hispanic man was pacing around cursing, alternating yelling at the woman and the sky.


Natog grabbed Al with one arm and swung the messenger bag down in front of him with the other. "Open your coat."

Al looked over like Natog just stated he was the king of France."Are you kidding me?"

"Nope, got to get something but I don't want everything wet."

Pulling open his coat Al replied "Oh."

Natog opened the messenger bag with Al's body and coat providing protection. Digging in the bag he got open his mini-BOB fanny pack, and dug blindly for his quarry. Finally, his fingers closed on the gauze pad he was looking for. He then carefully Re-sealed the mini-BOB and messenger bag before turning towards the woman.

"Hey you ok?"

She looked rather non-responsive, and didn't even flinch when Natog opened the gauze pad and pressed it to her bleeding head. The boy was watching Natog intently.

"Hey there young man, that your dad?"

A shake of the head was the boy's only response.

"Well you want to help your mum?"

The boy gave a quick nod.

"Ok your mum is going to be ok, the cut isn't bad at all. Cuts to the face bleed a lot. You understand?"

Another quick nod.

"Ok, just press this gauze to her head with firm pressure and it should stop bleeding in a while. Now your mum is in shock, was she wearing her seat belt?"

Just a quick shake of the head.

"Ok when the firemen get here let them know as soon as you can. Can you do that for me?"

Another quick nod.

"Wha the FUCK chu dink you.."
A rough hand grabbed Natog by the right shoulder, without thinking he grabbed the hand with his left hand, slipped his right behind the attackers elbow. Stepping backwards while pushing forward with his right arm, Natog quickly put the assailant into a joint lock.

Al shook his head, "Jeeze, the guy was in an accident and now you’re beating him up."

Natog gave Al a nasty look, "Thanks for watching my back."

Al smiled, "I knew you had it all along"

During the quick banter the Hispanic man had insulted Natog, his mother, father, etc down the second cousin on his father's side.

Natog gave the guys are a little more of a twist, "Shut the FUCK up!" He paused until the man stopped yapping. "Ok I'm going to let you go, OK? Don't do anything stupid."

Releasing the man Natog stepped back, out of arm's reach. The man massaged his arm before turning to Natog, "I'm going to…"

Natog finished the sentence for him, "...give your coat to your girl there, she's in shock."

"I'm going to WHAT?"

"You heard me, she is in SHOCK, she needs to warm up or bad things will happen."

The crowd joined in alternating egging the man on, or calling him various names for not helping out his girl. The crowd managed to gain a consensus to help her out, so the man grudgingly pulled of his coat, and wrapped it around the woman and her son.

Natog took the opportunity to slip away and head down Dartmouth Street. He got half a block before he realized Al was still screwing around.

"AL! Let's get the lead out, eh?"

Abashed, Al scampered down the sidewalk, sliding every now and then from the ice and snow still littered about.

Muttering as he got up to where Natog was waiting "Slave driver."

"Pansy. C'mon let's do this."

The two men broke into the open in Copley Square, and were immediately assaulted once again by the wind. Fighting to stay on their feet, they crossed the square and crossed Huntington Ave. without incident. They paused to catch their breaths in the foyer of the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel before making their way across Stuart Street.

After fighting the wind for the last few blocks, Back Bay station was curiously quiet. All the track displays were blank, crude signs were taped above the stairs to the tracks with departure times and destinations.

Two Amtrak officials and a transportation cop manned a traffic barricade separating the main foyer from the commuter rail lines. Al and Natog jumped in line queued up in front of them.

Al looked around. “Whoa, I figured it would be busier.”

Natog was digging in his wallet. “They are probably all down on the platform already.” After a minute of digging he pulled out a small dingy piece of paper. “Here is your ticket, has one punch left on it.”

All took it as if it was diseased. “How long have you had this in there?”

“A few months I guess. I keep an extra one in case I forget to buy a ten ride pass, lot cheaper than buying a ticket on the train.”

As the line shuffled forward Natog kept aware of his surroundings as unobtrusively as he could. Al prattled on about the upcoming Red Sox season.

The line moved quickly. Al was halfway through his rant about missing the Teixeria trade when the transport cop rudely interrupted, “Tickets and destination?”

Natog nudged the Amtrak official with his elbow, “He a Yankee fan or something?”

The two Amtrak guys laughed heartily. “Yep. He’s all grumpy because they ain’t gawt no PITCHIN’”

The other Amtrak guy punched their tickets while piling on the transport cop. “Rivera-washed up, Mussina – gone! Pettitte – old! Ha!”

Al chimed in, “Matsui is hurt, Damon is old as dirt!”

Natog and Al crossed the room to the proper stairwell, leaving the three passionately arguing about America’s most beloved sport. Natog looked back, wondering if there was going to be baseball this year.

As they descended the non-functioning escalator they heard a raucous commotion from the platform. Hundreds of people were crammed onto the platform, waiting the train from South Station.

Natog and Al made their way down the platform, sometimes having to push people out of the way.

Al shouted over the din, “Is it always this bad?”

Glancing back, Natog replied, “Most of the time, but sometimes it's worse. They cut back on the number of cars on the trains to save money.”

He continued after walking along a bench to get past two bums fighting. “I haven't had a seat on the way home in two years.”
Al muttered, “And you wonder why I drive...”

The crowed thinned quickly, by the end of the platform there was only about 20 people standing around, clustered in little groups about 50 feet apart. Natog mingled with the group, returing a few hellos.

“Ok here we are. Hope the train isn't too late.”

A heavyset man replied “They running trains as soon as they can, I was talking to the Amtrak guy up top.”

Natog looked over with Al, “Really? That's good news.”

“Well the last train didn't stop, it was full of people from South Station. Even the vestibules between trains were full. You know how the conductors hate that.”

Natog gave Al a worried look, “That doesn't sound good.”

“Well what will we do if that one is full?”

Stomping his feet to keep the circulation going, “I'm not sure, the roads have to be completely clogged. The secondary roads through Dorchester suck on normal days... I dunno.”

Pausing a minute to look down the tracks, he tried to think through the best way to get home. Odds are Al's car was dead. So that leaves hoofing it or public transportation. Walking in this storm through Dorchester would be a bad idea. Odds are it wouldn't be lawlessness but Dorchester has always been a community waiting to tear itself apart.

It's 45 miles home, in this weather we would be lucky to do 10 a day. I'm not in the best of shape and Al's not equipped for this kind of weather. That reminds me.

“Al, how are your feet doing?”

“Not bad for blocks of ice.”

“Damnit, Al, You should tell me these things!”

“What? What you your going to do about it? Give me a foot massage?”

Digging to his bag, Natog replied “I'm the fucking Foot Master!” quoting Pulp Fiction, one of their favorite films.

After another minute of digging, he pulled out a pair of heating pads. “Here. Go over to the bench and put these in between your dress socks and your gym socks. Also rub your feet to get your circulation going.”

The look on Al's face was priceless. “Why did you have a pair of these in your bag? What else you got in there?

“Um, just what I normally got on me. No go, before a train comes.”

Al dutifully went over to the bench, and began pulling off a shoe.

All was tying his second shoe when the tell-tale rumble could be heard. Two minutes later, a beautiful purple and grey train pulled into Back Bay.

The group of people all piled into the train, although only a few got seats, the conductor let people stand in the vestibule between trains for some extra room.

After the last people clawed and pushed their way onto the train at the front, the Conductor slid the door closed, and jogged down the train closing the other doors. A minute later, the train shuddered and began rolling down the tracks.

Enough!

Fuck you, Mr. President.

I am through with your use of fear as a means of political motivation. Bush used it to ram through the first bailout, TARP, and now you resort to the same base means of motivating the citizenry. So much for your lies of change. It's just more of the same.

Mr. President, you are a man of low character. You have lied and swindled your way to the top of the pig pile and now you resort to the use of base emotions. Like some misguided preacher who used the motivation of hell to scare his congregation instead of the glory of heaven.

This just in! Eastasia has bombed Airstrip 1 again! Millions of casualties reported. Arms manufacturing factories will remain open an additional 4 hours with no pay tonight to help support the war effort. For Oceania! For Victory!

Go ahead and focus on the negative. Use this pork bailout to further your party's political spending. When the economy collapses you can use the slightest hesitation from congress to say "See! You didn't pass it fast enough!" This will not save you in the end.

The Media makes a big deal out of a presidents first 100 days. I personally think it's a load of shit, but for the sake of argument, let's see what you have accomplished.

• Used fear as a political motivator
• Closed Guantanamo Bay
• Used inane and pointless gestures to show you are on top of things.
  

You have blown almost 20% of your precious 100 days and you haven't even filled your cabinet positions yet! A word of advice, next time try not to pick the obvious crooks. Bravo on "limiting executive salaries" Keeps the ignorant masses in check. Keeps them hopeful you're no different than any other politician. I know better. I see through you.

So have fun while it lasts, Mr. President. I will be watching and waiting for the opportunity to take my country back from the lawyers, the politician, the bankers, and the special interest groups. If I can do it peacefully, without bloodshed, I will. Don't take my hesitation to kill fellow Americans as weakness. If push comes to shove I will not stop. I will not rest. If I have to I will fight my way through brigades of troops to eliminate the political cancer in this country. I will restore the government of this great nation to what is outlined in the Constitution.

For the People, by the People.

What does it mean to be a Man?

Michael wrote this the other day and I've been mulling it over for the last day or so.

[Michael] wrote a paper over 25 years ago that stated quite clearly that sissy men were the problem in this world. Men who would not take their place of responsibility as head of the house. Men who would not demand better government from their leaders. And finally, the sissies BECAME the leaders. Now we ARE fucked.

I had to ask myself what does it take to be a man?

Does having a penis make me a man? Hmmmm. Without offending any trans gender readers I'd have to say yes. To be a man one must be a male, and therefore have a twig and berries.

That enough? I don't think so. Since we are on the subject of physical attributes, is strength a requirement? I can beat up Bob, so am I more of a man than Bob? No, because as I age eventually I'm not going to be able to beat anyone up. Just because I am old doesn't make me any less of a man. So we can scratch physical strength and toughness off the list. My grandfather was as tough as an anvil, and he couldn't walk up a flight of stairs.

How about looks? Is my buddy "Al" any less of a man because he's a metrosexual who uses hair gels, hand creams, and gets manicures once a year? Am I more of a man because I'm ugly as a catchers mit, and have more scars than skin? I don't think that applies either.

Now for a big one, sexuality. Is a friend of mine more or less of a man because he likes other men? He's as queer as a three dollar bill, but I got one thing to say about it, he's not a pussy about being gay. I respect him for that. That is the way he is and that is that. He doesn't diddle kids, and hates the fuckers who do it as much as anyone else. So looks like that one is going as well. I know some readers are not going to be happy about it. But there are many kinds of people both gay and straight. I have no idea if my buddy is a "pitcher" or a "catcher" - I just don't want to know. Just like I don't want to know if another buddies wife takes it in the butt or not. Hate to get graphic, but that's the truth. Whatever someone does in their home with another consenting adult is none of my business. Unless they are lesbians and they are both HAWT. Just kidding, just kidding!

How about race? Is a man white? Is he black, or Japanese, German, Aboriginal, Mexican, Incan, or Apache? A man is proud of his race, the HUMAN race.

So now what? They saying is a man is as good as his word. AH-HA! here is a clue. I agree with this. A man keeps his word. Note there are no exceptions, the sentence ends with no "ands", no "ifs", and no "buts". Regardless of his personal inconvenience or hardship, a man will keep his word.

Duty. A man does his duty to his God(s)(ess)(es), to his family, to his friends, and to his Country. A man doesn't shirk his duty. A man doesn't try to get out of it. He does it. If that means he stays at home and takes care of the kids because the wife is the breadwinner, then that's the way it is. It doesn't mean he "wears a skirt." It doesn't mean he's a sissy. He is doing what he needs to do to provide for his family. When tough times hit he is there to shoulder the load. He takes care of his children. A man has a duty to his children, it doesn't matter if the ex-wife is a raving bitch.

A man measures another man by which he measures himself.
He will not ask someone to do something he is not willing to do.
He doesn't purposely and willingly cause pain outside of war.
He doesn't belittle those around him.
He nether flaunts his success nor hides it.
A man can admit he was wrong.
A man learns from his mistakes.
He listens. Not just with his ears, but with his heart and an open mind.

Notice I purposely neglected to include things like fighting fair, or any other such silliness. What I consider fair is not what you or anyone else might. It's best to avoid physical confrontation altogether. I might be able to whup your ass, but what if I break my arm in the process and now I cannot perform my duty to provide for my family? A man thinks of these things.

How about religion? Is a man Catholic? Protestant? Scientologist? Harri Krishna? Atheist? Heathen? I don't think it matters. I do feel that a man should examine his faith, and not accept the guidance of some preacher or priest if it interferes with his Duty or his Word.

Sitting around here and writing this has helped me think about what it means to be a man. My father had few, if any, of these qualities. So it has taken me a long time to figure this stuff out for myself. I guess because my father was such a scumbag I am a better man for it. It would, however, been a lot easier if he was a man himself.

Law Enforcement Cutbacks

I was talking with a friend, and it seems due to the budget crunch, a lot of towns are reducing their police force, or removing it altogether. These towns are out in the boonies of Massachusetts, but other towns across the country are going through the same issues.

Looks like fire and Police are the first to get cut in these towns, they are planning on relying on the State Police to police these towns. But the State Police is consolidating several barracks to reduce their budget. No police are being laid off, thankfully, but they will be working from a barracks quite far from their patrol area. So every arrest, coffee run etc. takes a lot longer. Granted closing the barracks is cheaper, but your backup could be a 25 minute ride away! That's with lights and sirens too.

This is not good at all for those smaller communities out west. I hope the eastern communities have the common sense not to cut their police and fire personnel, but I wouldn't bet on it. I'll try to pull more detailed information and post it up on the Mass section of the Preppers network.

Outrage

I am a amateur historian of World War II. I am well read on how the Nazi's rose to power and the horrific acts they committed. I have read of the Eizengruppen and how they followed the three army groups across the Ukraine.

I also know millions and millions of Slavs and Chinese died to the Axis powers. Most people get hung up on the Jews, but It's figured that 17 million Slavic's died to the SS. No one can come up with the number of Chinese killed, but it's at least 20 million.

Now the Pope has ex-excommunicated a Bishop who says the gas chambers never happened. Are you kidding me? I have personally spoken to soldiers that were THERE. Why is this nut job being re-instated as a priest of God?

The Jews are understandably pissed off. I personally think they, as a race, have been milking it long enough. Should I be getting sympathy for my Celtic ancestors being put to the sword by St. Patrick? Or for my Native American ancestors being the target of systematic genocide, forced relocation, etc? I didn't think so.

So now people are calling for his resignation. Isn't the Pope supposed to be God's main man on earth and is infallible? Was Pius XII infallible when he knew Priests were helping the Nazi's catch Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, etc?

Well I guess he isn't infallible. No MAN is infallible. This is the kind of nonsense that happens when we trust men in positions of absolute power. No matter how good the intention, eventually the system collapses because what one persons definition of "good" doesn't jive with everyone else's. I personally hate the organization knows as the Catholic church. Not the practitioners themselves at all, or I would have used a capital C on church. The hierarchical structure has historically been the source for a lot of evil in this world. From St. Patrick razing village after village saying "Kill them all for God shall know his own." To the active participation of priests and bishops in the Night of the Long Knives. I don't feel the Papacy gives a rats ass about 90% of the world, they just continue to crave the power they had in the Dark Ages.

Now we have priests of all denominations taking money from FEMA to help smooth the transition to martial law. I feel the God(s)(ess)(es) would deal rather harshly with those who literally shepherd their flock in support of a totalitarian regime. I know I will here on Earth. Be careful of all your leaders, not just the secular ones. Just because they have a Bible, or the Koran in their hands don't make them any better than anyone else.

Well I have been entirely too busy. I've been getting my ass kicked at work, I'm just glad I'm in a (mostly) recession-proof job. Saturday, I had to help a friend move two rooms of furniture around so they can sell their house. Sunday I had to help my Mum and brother move furniture, and work on a clients computer. At least I got $40 I can put towards preps from working on that computer.

I have been slacking off a little last week on posts, and for that I apologize. Work has me going 90mph so last thing I want to do once I get done with working from home after dinner is to work on the computer, even for something as enjoyable as this blog.

Today's post is about the economy. BHO shoved that 800T bailout through congress with the help of Frau Pelosi. Many bloggers have gone over the pork in the bill, and I ranted and raved about it while swearing up a storm trying to move a 300# bureau around. I just don't have the energy right now to get good and pissed off again. I have been watching a number of interesting items, trying to get a picture of what I have for a time window to get prepared.

I did some reading at itulip.com and found this gem.
Some brilliant bean counter figured out that if you factor in inflation the DJIA only gains 1.64% per year. That's the red line in the graph above. The blue line is the inflation-adjusted numbers for the DOW. So hitting 11,000 in '94 is not the same as hitting 11,000 in '04. The article goes into good detail, and links the original source. So our current DOW of 7905 is really a lot worse than that.

The next thing I'd like to talk about is the BDI or Baltic Dry Index. This measures how much overseas freight is shipping.
The items measured are bulk items like coal, grains, crude oil, ore, building materials, etc. Notice all shipping has plummeted. Current BDI index is equal to what it was in '02, just before the housing boom exploded. This is alarming because if nothing is shipping, then nothing is being built. Construction companies and other goods manufactures depend on the goods represented by this index to build their product. With nothing to build, they close up shop, flooding the unemployment market.

This quote is from the Wikipedia article on the BDI.

On 20 May 2008 the index reached its record high level since its introduction in 1985, reaching 11,793 points. Half a year later, on 5 December 2008, the index had dropped by 94%, to 663 points, the lowest since 1986.These low rates move dangerously close to the combined operating costs of vessels, fuel, and crews.
By the end of 2008, shipping times had been already increased by reduced speeds to save fuel consumption, but lack of credit meant the reduction of letters of credit, historically required to load cargoes for departure at ports. Debt load of future ship construction was also a problem for shipping companies, with several major bankruptcies and implications for shipyards.This, combined with the collapsing price of raw commodities created a perfect storm for the world's marine commerce.

So things are looking up from a shipping perspective, but it is riding along a razors edge of profitability. If there is no profit to be had, then the world's shippers are not going to ship it from the goodness of their hearts.


One bit of good news is that inflation has dropped significantly. It is still 8% inflation according to the original way it was computed before Regan changed the rules. Then Clinton really changed things and now the official government statistic is as useful as poop in your breakfast cereal.


One item on this chart that is interesting to me is the plummet has brought the official inflation to zero. What happens once it goes negative? Will the official CPI dropping to negative numbers be the cause for panic, bringing about the deflation they fear that will happen. I love to see lies bite their speakers in the ass, so I figure it's just desserts if the CPI lies cause the economy to freak out.

Another key item is unemployment.



We are climbing to almost 20% unemployment. Whoa. One in five people are out of a job and looking for work, or more work. This scares the shit out of me. Once spring comes all these unemployed people will have the time on their hands and be pissed off enough to start breaking into homes for what they feel they are entitled too.

When a disenfranchised population base have nothing to do but get into trouble. In the 60's it was mostly harmless shenanigans, but these days urban youth are a lot more violent than the hippies. Even the 70's punkers kept most of the violence to the mosh pits. With urban hip-hop and rap artists idolizing violence and "thugism" how can the urban youth of any ethnicity do anything but cause massive problems this summer?

Idle hands are the devils workshop, and there will be a large number of youth that will be unable to find work, along with an older population base that will be out of work as well. Compounding this problem is the Baby-Boomers who are not retiring because their nest eggs have withered away. Without these higher-end positions opening up, then the middle-aged don't climb up the corporate ladder, opening entry-level positions for recent graduates.

I also expect racial tensions to rise as whites feel affirmative action keeps them from getting jobs, while well-educated whites are targeted by minorities because those minorities don't have a perceived or actual access to those better-paying jobs. Meanwhile anger and resentment against illegal aliens to rise as they are taking positions from Americans. This is going to be very interesting come summertime.

After all this I still don't have a clue on what will happen and when. But I will prep on anyway. So should you.