Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Collapse of America

I'm a bit of am amateur historian. I've particularly been fascinated with The Revolutionary War, WWII, Rome, and the fall of Rome and western civilization. I have always wondered how a enlightened republic like Rome was could fall apart into tyranny, narcissism, and decadence then collapse and suffer for centuries in the dark ages. I'm afraid some of this is applicable now.

"Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society" - Aristotle

This is the misquoted interpretation of Aristotle's writings. In this light it's the acceptance of other cultures and values that bring about the end of that civilization. In this view, the millions of illegal aliens are one of the direct causes of our impending collapse. Press one for English and all that.

The true translation of Aristotle is quite different:

"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle

Tolerance and apathy... Tolerance for what? Apathy towards what? How about tolerance for our government to lead us by the hand. Tolerance for the government to tell us what we can and cannot do. Tolerance of other cultures is acceptable - to a point. Desegregation, suffrage, etc are what makes this such a great country. We are a united, free and equal society. Well we were until the spin doctors had their way, creating "Latino America", "Black America", "Gay America", Christian America" so on and so forth. This divides the country into an us vs. them mentality. I may be white, but I'm not a "White American" I'm part Cherokee, but I'm not a "Native American American" I'm just an American.

Although I respect other's cultures there has to be NO TOLERANCE FOR LAZINESS. You come here you learn ENGLISH. My grand parents had to, my friends and their families had to. We need a common language so we can keep our unity. If you want to speak Swahili in the house, I'm all for it, but to expect others to learn Swahili just for your convenience? No. Fucking. Way.

As a whole America is completely apathetic about anything except who's dancing with what star and who is banging who in Hollywood. I mean in the grand scheme of the universe who gives a flying fuck in a rolling donut? Is that's what is important? It's how we live that matters, not living vicariously through the television! Reality TV is NOT reality.

So what are we tolerating? It isn't the millions of illegal aliens in the US that are the problem, it's the citizen's tolerance for them to stay. How about we close our damn borders? We tolerate Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court to violate the laws in our country.

We tolerate representatives that don't listen to what their constituents to say, and we are too apathetic to do anything about it.

That's how a society dies, because not enough people care enough to fight for it. They tolerate the degradation, they are apathetic towards tyranny. I am not.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Well the Jeep needs $1100 worth of work, 90% of which I cannot do. That doesn't include any tranny work, so that's $400-$500 even if it's just a seal or something. So the Jeep is dead.

So now I got to scramble to get a car. I'll dump the Jeep to a junkyard, should get $400 or so for it. that plus my emergency fund from my taxes gets me $2500 towards something else. I'll be heading out soon to hit a few car dealerships so see just how ready they are to cut a good deal.

Yesterday was a big day for preps. My local gun store had a 500 round case of Golden Bear .308 ammo for $250 so I grabbed that and 300 rounds of .22LR. I went grocery shopping and went all out. I spent $150 on food preps. It's a lot, but it's something that has to be done. I loaded up on some of the items I've been passing by. Baked beans were on sale so I grabbed another 20 cans. I grabbed peas, carrots, and sauerkraut. I got 20# of dried beans. I also grabbed 5 bottles of my favorite taco sauce! good stuff. If I get a chance I'll load up on some more bulk items at BJ's like ketchup and BBQ sauce. I grabbed some canned soups that were on sale too.

I'm at the point where I need to do an extensive inventory and see what I have and what else I need to get. I'm also close to being immobile with all this food. From now on I need to focus on the dried foods. Maybe #10 cans of dehydrated stuff. The canned goods are going to be real heavy to move if I need to bug out.

Which reminds me I need to pre-position some foods out with Mum. I'll grab the heavier stuff and stash it there in case we are separated for a long time or I have to bug out from here.

Off to deal with the one class of people worse than politicians. Used Car Salesmen!

Keep prepping everyone, keep communicating. I fear summertime will bring a lot of surprises, most will be ill news. We still have time, though.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Rage

Why am I so freaking pissed off lately? I should be happy. I got a job, got out of my truck payment.

I'm about to start regularly playing relaxing games with my friends on Friday nights. Tonight I'm playing Civilization 4 with a good friend. Next week we start a RPG game. Been a long time since we did that. Should be a blast.

I guess part of why I'm pissed off is because of the accident. Everything I need to do can only be done during business hours. So next week I got to burn a vacation day. Pisses me off.

Maybe it's some of the friends I play with. They are on social security due to disability. HALF of my goddamn salary goes to them, and others like them. They both can work. Although one would have to work from home. The other never had a job. 19 years old and didn't even TRY working before going on SS.

It gets my blood boiling. They cut long distance service to save a couple bucks a month, but the thought of getting a job is right out the window. It just doesn't make sense to me.

To me this is where the system fails. It's too easy to scam. It would be better for us to have no safety net than to have one so cancerous. Something given away for nothing holds no value to the recipient. Why get a job when they can eat and play video games all day for free? It's bullshit.

They like to talk religion with me. They are Jehovah's Witnesses. Now JW's have some pretty extreme beliefs if your a "main stream" Christian, but since I'm agnostic I really don't care. They frown on my belief that the bible is just a book, that the Word of God(s)(ess)(es) couldn't be written on paper or known in it entirety by a human mind. We can get the synopsis, just not the whole novel. Enough of that though, getting too close to religion talk on the Blog.

I try not to talk religion, as we have very different beliefs. They want me to convert because they honestly love me and want to see me in the afterlife. So I hold no ill will to them for that, but it gets tedious. And like all zelots, you cannot argue with them. All you can do is point out the flaws and try not to hit them with something blunt.

One tennent of the JW's faith is not to get involved with secular government. My new strategy when they discuss relgion with me will be to grill them on why they are socialists. Now, "officially" they are not. They hold no political party, and support no candidate. So they are politically agnostic. Let's see how they deal with me trying to get them to join the second American Revolution! Ha!

Well I hope everyone has a pleasant weekend. I'm going to try to. Tonight I got to replace the Lee Primer that snapped in my hand like nothing while trying to load primers into military brass. What a pain in the ass. I might have finally figured out what was causing reloaded rounds not to feed in my M1A, and the primer breaks. Just my luck.

Real Life Meet?

I put up a post on the Massachusetts Preppers site about a real life meeting. Somewhere public. Somewhere in the middle of the state.

I figure it would be a good use of a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. If you are interested, drop me a line or post a comment on the Mass Prepper's post.

The Americans With No Abilities Act

Washington , DC - (Dateline February 18, 2009)

President Barack Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress are
considering sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for
many Americans. The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA) is being
hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of
Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.

"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and
drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in
society," said California Senator Barbara Boxer - Democrat. "We can no
longer stand by and allow People of Inability (POI) to be ridiculed
and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be
able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply
because they have some idea of what they are doing."

In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Democrat -
pointed to the success of the U.S. Postal Service, which has a
long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to
performance. Approximately 74 percent of postal employees lack any job
skills, making this agency the single largest U.S. employer of Persons
of Inability.

Private-sector industries with good records of non-discrimination
against the Inept include retail sales (72%), the airline industry
(68%), and home improvement warehouse stores (65%). At the state
government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an
excellent record of hiring Persons of Inability (63%).

Under AWNAA, more than 25 million mid-level positions will be created,
with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus
providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given so
as to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable
employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to
corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability
into middle-management positions, and gives a tax credit to small and
medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for
every two talented hires.

Finally, the AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more
difficult to discriminate against the non-abled, banning, for example,
discriminatory interview questions such as, "Do you have any skills or
experience that relate to this job?"

"As a Non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who
have something going for them,"said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her
position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint , Michigan ,
due to her inability to remember rightey tightey, lefty loosey."This
new law should be real good for people like me," Gertz added. With the
passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens
will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Said Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat-IL), "As a Senator with no
abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy
ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our
duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen,
regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take
up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so."

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Reality meets my fiction?

Well we got a bit more info in this informative article about coronal ejections from our sun.
Help is not coming any time soon, either. If it is dark from the eastern seaboard to Chicago, some affected areas are hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away from anyone who might help. And those willing to help are likely to be ill-equipped to deal with the sheer scale of the disaster. "If a Carrington event happened now, it would be like a hurricane Katrina, but 10 times worse," says Paul Kintner, a plasma physicist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
To be honest this is exactly what I was thinking of when I started writing the story. The scale of this event can be imagined, but there is a loss in detail in the scale. Without power, the modern society would go tits-up, then rise again as a horde of Zombies.

I know I'm late on the next section, but I've been having a lot of trouble trying to truthfully go through what I would do in that situation. I'm working on it though, when I get time. Works busy as hell so no slacktime there, and when I'm home I got a lot of prepping to do.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Armed citizen shoots robber

Here is the story

I have to ask myself why there was an argument? Unless it was the Citizen yelling for the robber to drop the weapon?

There isn't much info in the article, so I will not speculate on what happened. I bet the video will be on youtube or the news soon enough. I'm glad the Citizen wasn't killed, so if you pray, send a kind word for him to your diety(s) for a speedy recovery. The crook got what he deserved.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Last week I was in an accident. Everyone is ok, thankfully, but they totaled my Jeep. This is a good thing, because I don't have to pay $400/month. But then again I'm out reliable transportation.

I own an older Jeep That I hadn't figured out what to do with, so I need to get it back on the road. I finally got myself a battery charger and I've been trickle charging it during the colder days to keep the battery happy. I currently got a rejection sticker on it from the fall, so I can't drive it around. It got rejected because the battery was dead as Ceasar for a long time. The computer needs to get data so it can tell the inspecting computer everything is happy.

I'm not worried about the emissions, I just got to get it to the garage to get another rejection sticker. Or hey, I might pass because I've been running the motor while working on the garden to get time for the computer to be happy.

I do have a lot of work that needs to be done. The drivers seat is trashed, and needs to be replaced. I've been calling junkyards without any luck. The interior is beat to hell after 100k+ miles, but that's no biggie. The back wiper is toast, freaking thing never worked right anyways. I need to upgrade the headlights' bulbs, and get the plastic cleaned up. It's dark grey from all the years of salt and crap.

Then there is the tranny. A garage I used to do business with decided it would be good to pull off one of the re-breather hoses for the transmission during an inspection. I lost a lot of fluid on a long trip I took, and ran it almost dry before I figured out what the fuckers did. Since then it hasn't been reliable for me. It works, but I just don't trust it. I'll take ot to a local tranny shop I've done business with before and see what they think.

So I have some options. Option one would be to fix up my '96 Grand Cherokee Laredo. It's got 140k of hard miles. It has the straight-6 engine so parts are plentiful and easily aquired.

Another option would be to buy a Wrangler, International Scout, etc that's in rough shape and do it up.

And finally with the economy in the tank, I might be able to get a new pickup cheap. Ny buddy bought a lincoln luxury SUV that lists for $48k for $26k...

I guess I need to decide what I need in a vehicle. I need it to be a daily driver that is good in the snow, can get to my fishing holes, can tow a small boat, and can act as a BOV. Well it all starts with getting the tranny looked at.

Now I got plenty to do with that $400 a month, believe me! Prep, Prep, PREP!!!!

Anyone who knows what to buy or stay away from, let me know!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

We ain't out of the woods yet.

I've been doing a fair amount of reading, and I'm still trying to put all this information together to see just what the hell is going on.

The dollar is being propped up because int he current global credit crisis there just isn't anywhere else to stash your cash. These investors are switching to the short term bonds, because they are drinking the "everything will be all fixed soon" kool-aid. This has caused a bubble in the bonds market. No one in their right ind is going to invest in a 30 year T-bill when the interest rate is only 3.65%! That is equal to the official interest rate, which means a net loss of ~3% for the real interest rate!

When the bonds bubble pops, and it is giving every indication it will as China is bailing out of long-term American debt, then investors foreign and domestic will have nowhere left to put their money except physical resources. Gold, silver, oil, etc. That's what China is doing with some secret reserve fund. They are keeping two sets of books. One for the world, and the real books for themselves.

But Wait! You say, "Wouldn't every alarm bell go off if China dumped their dollar based assets?" And you would be right if they just opened the floodgates. The Chinese government is dumping their assets by purchasing resources with the dollar assets from the secret fund, so the world is none the wiser.

China needs oil bad, so you can expect them to buy a lot, driving the price up. I read somewhere else OPEC cut production some, and the world let their oil reserves dwindle when it was at $150/barrel. Now these stocks are low so you can expect record gas prices as China loads up on oil and other governments buy more to fill up their reserves. In other words buy your gas preps NOW. I'll be adding another 10-25 gallons, myself.

I'm not smart enough to figure out exactly what will happen when the bonds market collapses. It makes sense to me that when the bonds bubble pops every investor will be scrambling to dump their bonds, along with every country that owns US debt. The results of this scenario is the collapse of the US economy.

The blogs have been very, very quiet of late. I envision Mayberry, Michael, etc. frantically getting the last of their preps done before the balloon goes up. Not time for blogging, got to load magazines! Even my posts have dropped in frequency. It's getting tough to write posts because between the economy and politics we have a target-rich environment! It's just too damn easy to bitch and moan about all the stuff going on.

Now is the time for action. I got my tomato plants spouted, I am pleased as punch about that. The peppers haven't spouted yet, but that's no biggie. The onions will be in the ground soon, along with the cabbage plant which looks to make a full recovery. I loaded 50 LRN .45 ACP rounds the other day, I need to load up another 150. I also need to load up a box of JHP I bought.

I need to get cracking on the story, been way, way to busy at work. At home my time has been buried with preps and cleaning up the house. Time is so fleeting when you spend 3 hours a day in a car going back and forth to work. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Keep prepping!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Beer + sheep + x-mas lights...

This is freaking AWESOME.

Way, way too much time on their hands!

Cool Video

I've been watching TED talks from ted.com during lunch in my cube, and found this one.

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it's OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). Clever studies help make his point that we're predictably irrational -- and can be influenced in ways we can't grasp.
Very well done, and speaks volumes about human behavior. He even infers this irrational behavior is the source of the issues on Wall Street. I maintain these theories are applicable to political behavior and their lack morality as well.

It sickens me how our society is so morally bankrupt. Hell, I'm a terrorist fer crying out loud. Such is the time when the good guys like me, a patriot, is labeled the most feared enemy, the terrorist.

But then again, to the powers that be, I am a cause for concern, for fear, and yes, outright terror. I am a thinking man, who sees through the web of lies and distractions to the heart of the matter.

Look at the A.I.G. $165M bonus media frenzy. Funny thing is about $100B was given to foreign banks by A.I.G. But they are focusing the sheep's attention on the bonuses to the executives. Excellent job. A truly masterful stroke to distract 300 million Americans from something they SHOULD be mad about to some inconsequential, trivial amount of money. Well $165 is a lot of cash to me, and to you, but to the government it's nothing when they just printed off another $1T to buy more toxic assets.

The more I think about it the more I realize just how little freedom I have. Strangely, I've been pulled over a number of times recently, pretty much for bullshit reasons. I also had a cop do a slow roll by my house the other day when I was scraping my windshield in the morning. I waved and he sped off.

I wonder if the authorities have put together who I am and are monitoring me? Nah. I'm small potatoes. Although it pisses me off the cop wouldn't even wave back or say "Hi." It's not like I've been doing anything wrong. I was robbed a long time ago and I never met my investigating officer, so I pretty much look upon my local law enforcement as complete losers. Tried like hell and he never cared. If a thief isn't caught then he will steal again. It's just so stupid.

So this "terrorist" is going to keep exercising my first right, the right to think as much as I can. There will be a time to act, and act I will. I am a 3%'er. I'll whip up a little logo and add it up top when I get a chance. Make no bones about it it is time for Americans to rise up, for the wheat to be separated from the chaff. For the producers to be separated from the consumers. The leeches from their host.

That means I'll have to move at some point, I see no possibility of Massachusetts leading the revolution as it did in 1776. Too bad. Too bad because there is a lot of good here, but it's tainted by socialism and "entitlement".

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Antsy

Well I'm getting a whole lot of jitters lately. The crushing economic news is just too depressing to read anymore. Read it I must though, better to be informed than clueless.

This has certainly affected my mental outlook on a day to day basis. Compounding this is all the crap going on at work. I don't think I'm on the block for a pink slip, but there is this asshat who thinks he knows everything, but doesn't even know the basics of computers. I've been doing this a long time, and dealing with this chucklehead is taxing. I've heard a rumor he's going for the team lead position that's opening up soon. Just great. I won't last long with him in charge, I would be unable to do my job.

That's enough of that. I have to have a long, hard conversation with my good friend "Al." He's aware of the financial crisis, but I got to figure out how to bring him on board for prepping. He has nothing for gear, supplies, camping, etc. No food stores, no water. Nothing. I've tried to work up my nerve for a while, but I'm not sure how to bring him on board without him thinking I'm even more of a fruit-loop than he thinks I am already.

Just got off of the phone with another buddy, he's a LEO and fully expects the crime rate to skyrocket. He doesn't think we are looking at a total systemic collapse. He thought the unemployment rate was 8%, he was floored that it's twice that.

Becoming the point man for information dispersal is a freaking second job. Wish me luck!

Great video about the economy

This is a well put-together video explaining the whole financial mess in easy to understand terms. I strongly recommend you send this around to anyone and everyone so the masses can get educated on how greed is the root cause of the whole problem.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Garden time!

So the forces of Socialist Fascism took quite and ass-whuppin' today at Natog's Sekret Bunker. I finally got my garden in the ground! HA! Take that you narcissistic asshats!

For those of you new to the blog, I'm doing Square Foot Gardening. In the book Mel says it's super easy, no work, just need a trowel, a pencil, and a finger for your tools. I'm calling bullshit on all of that! At least he didn't say it was cheap, because it sure isn't that. It's $10 a cubic foot of vermiculite!

It was a lot of work. Not only finding all the ingredients, but mixing them and building the box and all that hooey. My back will be killing me tonight for sure. His idea that little old ladies can do it is horse shit. Nana was pretty spry when she was still with us, but there is no way she could sling around 40# bags of cow poop compost.

I have a 4' by 8' garden to start, which needs 16 cubic feet of Mel's Mix - That's the SFG secret garden soil. It's 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite, and 1/3 compost. The compost has to be from 5 different kinds. I think finding the Holy Grail would have been easier than the damn coarse vermiculite! I tried six shops and even the internet with no luck. Then I find it in a garden shop that has a cafe in it! Bleh.

Then there is the compost... I found two kinds. That's it. I was going to scream blue bloody murder until the garden guy pointed out that the garden soils they sell these days are 90+% compost. So I got cow poop compost and seaweed & shrimp compost to start. Then I found open bags of all kinds of garden soil and looked at the open bags to see what it looked like it was composted from. I got a leafy one and a grassy-poopy one. I grabbed a twiggy one and that was it. No one has chicken poop or worm casings, I mean isn't that stuff like garden gold?

So today I built the frame out of 2 by 6 lumber. A quick aside on that.

I'm an bad man. I stole. I returned a few lag bolts and stuff to Lowe's probably $3 worth of crap. They gave me an in-store credit for a LOT more than that. Like I'm up to $45 on the little gift card they give you so far. I'm afraid to look how much I got left, actually. Now if this was a person or a small business I would have pointed it out, but since it's a corporate mega giant, I will relish it as I wrap my dick in coarse sandpaper and fuck them over for every mom and pop hardware store they put out of business! Ha ha!

So cutting one 2'x6'x8' in half I nailed it all together and attached weed control cloth on the bottom. then I figured and measured and tried to read some tea leaves to see where to put the damn garden. After wasting all the time I just put it where I built it and was done with it.

So let me be blunt about the cow poop compost. It was the texture of cured cement. Took me over an hour to break up half a bag. Then I had to mix it with all the other ingredients and get it into the box. Slinging around 40# bags of stuff I managed to pull my back out of whack. Just what I need. So semi-crippled, I shoveled the mix into the box. I must have spilled a cubic foot of the stuff in the process. Ugh.

I had a couple of food grade buckets so I drilled some holes in the bottom and put in some bricks and scrap masonry, bricks and rocks so they had 8" of room left, then filled them the rest of the way with the mix. These are for the two tomato plants. I was going to get pretty planters but my neighbors hate me so they can look at ugly buckets all summer. Ha! Next time you'll wave back instead of just staring at me fucker!

After filling all that I had some left so I put it in a lawn bag for later. It's all dry so I'm not worried about it rotting. I have enough for a small herb garden out front so I'm going to do that.

Now I went in for a beverage and some Tylenol and tried to get the kink out by leaning backwards over a chair. After that I planted my garlic. I know I should have had it in the ground already, but I got it in November and I didn't have a garden then... oh well we shall see how it goes.

We now need to have a moment of silence, my two cabbage seedlings got knocked over and trampled by the dogs. One has passed, the other is in seedling intensive care. The onions had a high birth mortality, 7 out of 16 wouldn't germinate, so with some quick transplants I have 13 onion seedlings doing well.

I was a complete dumbass last week and forgot to plant my peppers, so they are a week late. Oh well. As Mum would say "Build a bridge." I want two peppers so I'll plant 3 seed starters with 3 seeds each. I want two tomato plants, so I'll plant 4 starters with 3 seeds each. I really, really want tomatoes so I'm taking no chances. I'm also starting two kinds of lettuce.

So when Mel from SFG says "it's not a lot of work." He is lying out his ass. I am beat. This is work, so it better be worth it!

Friday, March 13, 2009

On gear

Well I was bored out of my skull today at the job and stated making lists of stuff I think I'd need. I'm happy to report that the food situation is going very well. Every week I spend between $15 and $30 on food preps, and my supplies have grown enormously. I'm to the point that I think I need to stop buying pasta and spaghetti sauce. But the stuff is ALWAYS on sale cheap!!!!

Other than a preponderance of spaghetti sauce and pasta I have a wide range of foods in my pantry canned. Lately I've found chicken and smoked ham on sale, and loaded up on those items too. protein will be real nice to have when the poop hits the fan.

So now I'm turning to items that I might not need but are damn handy. For example, I've been looking at web gear. If I need to fight with my rifle I need a way to carry my ammo. When I played paintball, a good way of carrying ammunition was vital. This must be doubly the case in real combat.

I'm a bit lost in the ALICE vs. MOLLE department. Complicating matters is that I'm not a small man by any stretch of the imagination, and the whole "one size fits many" doesn't apply to a man with a 58" chest. I think I can wear a vest designed to go over a normal sized guy in body armor, without any body armor of my own.

M14 pouches are DAMN expensive too. I can find M4 pouches anywhere but the M14's got the short end of the stick. Although I just found these for $12 each.

What color though? That's a tough question in New England, as we have 4 seasons and a wide variety of foliage and terrain from the desert-like beach scrub to near rain forest-like lush old growth forest in the west of Mass. Then, I'm in an urban and suburban area. Bah! Olive Drab it is!

I think I found a cheap vest here, but no mention is made of size. I'm calling them now to see. The Leapers site itself is blocked from work, so no answers from there for now.

Looks like I got myself some web gear on the cheap, just need to call them to be sure. I think 8 mags is enough, for now. Maybe a pouch for a trauma kit too.

I'd really, really like body armor if real bad stuff goes down, but I just can't swing $1k for a good set. More on that another time.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Kosho Shorei Ryu Part 2 - videos

Part one is kind of boring and hard to follow. In part two he gives an excellent example of blocking technique about the 3:45 mark or so. In part three he give more demonstrations with some explanations. Very good stuff.

Throughout these videos watch him control the opponent's head - Control the head and the body follows. Most strikes are short and open handed, used to daze or stun the opponent. I know it's real hard to follow, so if he's in your area you have to see him in person.


Kosho Shorei Ryu


I've seen many, many debates about "which martial art is best." For me, there is no comparison to Kosho Shorei Ryu. The wikipedia article does little justice to the history of this magnificent art form. It also carefully skirts the truth of James Mitose, the man who left Japan for Hawaii, bringing Martial arts to the United states. More on all that some other time, lets get to the meat and potatoes. Note: Most of this is from personal experience, so in the west coast or another dojo things can be quite different.

What is it?
Kosho is a highly defensive martial art, with a solid foundation of philosophy, cultural, and healing arts. You cannot get a blackbelt without knowing a healing art and a cultural art. Healing arts include Reikki, acupuncture, shiatsu, and some let first responder training count. Cultural arts are any of the Japanese cultural arts like flower arraigning, or the most popular calligraphy.

What do I mean by defensive? Exactly that. Technically I cannot do squat to someone unless they are trying to attack me. Although punches and low kicks are taught with throws, grappling, etc., unless someone actually attacks me I have to revert to non-Kosho training to fight.

What do you learn?
The first thing you learn is awareness. This is half of the key to unlock all that Kosho has to offer. Kosho stresses peripheral vision. You unfocus your eyes, and use your peripheral vision for everything. Once you can do this, it's amazing how slow everyone else seems to move as you see the shift of a foot which telegraphs the opponent's punch. With all the adrenaline, it honestly seems like it takes 10 seconds for the guy to punch. It's actually frustrating, as you got to wait for him so you can then do whatever you want to to the guy.

The second thing you learn is movement. I still remember getting yelled at over this. "Move twice" Sensei would yell! If I didn't learn that, I think he would beat with a rubber hose until I did (kidding). Moving twice, and these are not large movements by any stretch of the imagination, locks the opponent into attacking where you will be, not where you are. Kosho breaks it into 8 directions of movement, and your second movement is directly opposite of your first movement. This is called the Octagon, and this is the family secret that was never taught to anyone in America before Bruce Juchnik. It's the second key of why the art is so effective.

Notice I haven't even gotten to the ass-kicking part yet? If your opponent cannot hit you, then he cannot hurt you.

There are three levels of response from Kosho-Shorei Ryu. the lowest is the destructive arts, symbolized by a clenched right fist covered with the left hand. The next level is the Controlling arts, symbolized by open hands with thumbs touching and fingers in front of each other held together. Finally, is the Escaping arts, which are symbolized by hands in prayer.

The destructive arts are the lowest form because anyone can hurt another person. For any Kosho practitioner this level is the last resort. Your personal safety is the whole reason for all this, so if a weapon comes out, a Kosho guy will start snapping bones faster than you can say "Karate Kid". All this is done for you to get to the highest level of escape. Parts of the Destructive arts are joint and bone breaking, weapon use (Japanese traditional, with knives and weapon disarmament), killing strikes, organ destruction, etc. A friend almost had a kidney removed because he ran into a kick while being an uke.

The controlling arts are just that, your actively controlling the opponent into doing what you want. Joint locks, checks, throws and my favorite the skeletal freeze, are used to get you to the highest level, escape. Unlike most martial arts, Kosho has learned that you can only keep a joint lock cranked down for a brief time before the opponent's endorphins kick in and he no longer feels pain. So we keep adjusting the pressure, preventing his body from getting used to the pain. Checks are small pushes or pulls to stop your attacker from doing what they want to. See below for what it's like in a RL engagement. Muscle strikes are very effective in limiting movement, allowing you to escape.

The highest form of Kosho Shorei Ryu, what very practitioner is striving for, is to not get into a fight at all. Even if someone takes a swing at you, you don't have to kick his ass. That's a novel concept for a lot of the hard line kempos. The best is by not getting into a conflict at all because you saw the trouble before you got near it. By talking to a guys buddy to get his drunk friend out of the bar before he starts something the bouncers will stomp on him for. Or leave the bar yourself.

In escaping arts you learn how to breakfall - on hardwood or concrete floors! Rolling, "walking tricks" (forgot japanese name), all sorts of blocks and movements to get away. How to escape jointlocks, how to choke someone out with two fingers, all kinds of neat stuff.

Why learn it?
I have a big chip on my shoulders when it comes to martial arts. As a youth, I got sick of kids taking the typical strip-mall karate/kempo/jujitsu/etc. and trying to kick my ass because they are so tough. Well not a one of them won a fight with me, although the jujitsu guy gave me a run for my money until I grabbed his balls while he was choking me out.

These strip-mall martial arts lack two things by and large. The lack a good philosophy, and therefore they lack self-discipline. Youth need discipline, or they will get into trouble. I've seen kids that take Karate become the bully's they were taking martial arts to stop.

There are NO forms in Kosho. There are no set patterns taught at all. We do have katas, but these are out of respect to other martial arts. I hate them and think they are stupid, but they are a valid teaching tool. Because there are no set actions every time an attack comes I have a selection of actions I can take depending on the situation. We are continually tested to come up with an Escaping, Controlling, and Destructive response for every attack. then we usually have to do it again. Sensei's are never happy are they?

Kosho has a solid foundation of philosophy. It also broadens your horizons by making you learn more than how to hurt people. Part of the Blackbelt test is to name every bone in the human body. We study how the human body moves, in order to become better at defending ourselves. Kosho teaches confidence, but not over-confidence.

I love Kosho Shorei Ryu, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. If you can ever see a demonstration with Bruce Juchnik, you got to do it! I've seen him toss a man to the ground while sitting on a chair, drinking a cup of coffee, and giving a lecture without a pause. Amazing. There is a YouTube video, but I haven't watched it because work has it blocked.

Disadvantages?
One of the issues I have with Kosho is what they are doing to try to grow the art. Any blackbelt with an established school can switch over to Kosho. The Teacher gets training, on converting over to the Kosho mindset and style, and passes this along to his students. I don't like it. I was a whitebelt, but I was going super-traditional (i.e. 3 belts - white, brown, black) and I met a blackbelt at a seminar and he knew nothing, I mean, nothing about anything we were doing. Now Kosho has a new representative who knows fuck-all about Kosho... great.

The other disadvantage is it's greatest strength. It's purely defensive. So If I need to initiate an attack I'm SOL.

I haven't taken any lessens for a long time because finding a teacher is a WICKED pain in the ass. I just found that Bruce has lessons online, so I might have to check that out.

I was out in the patio area behind the bar hanging out with my friends when a very intoxicated fellow bumped into me spilling his drink all over my leg. If I was paying attention, as I should have been, then it wouldn't have happened. He loudly accused me of spilling his drink. I slid around him towards an open area, in case I needed to do something drastic. I tried placating him with an appology, even though he ran into me and offered to buy him a drink. The drunk decided to have a go at me.

I had already assumed the Kosho fighting stance, which is like a bent old man. Shoulders slumped, hands somewhere in front of you, feet about shoulder-width apart and knees bent. Back is straight. I saw his front right foot slide forward and I knew it would be a punch. Impatiently I waited for him to wind up to to deliver the strike. I honestly felt I could read War and Peace while waiting. finally he committed. I leaned to my right rear, then shifted quickly left front and took a step as his punch went past me with a little help from a check, a push on his right arm as he attacked.

To the drunk I had disappeared. Vanished. As he spun from missing his target it put me squarely behind him. Loudly the drunk is screaming where did I disappear to while the crowd was laughing. Like a cartoon I just stayed behind him a few feet while he looked for me. He gave up and wandered back inside the bar where the bouncers beat the piss out of him and tossed him out.

I drank the rest of the night for free. Evidently the guy was a real prick.
I'm not in the military, I have no need of an offensive hand to hand style. Nor does anyone in the civilian sector, including cops or correctional officers. This is why for anyone outside a tournament ring or the armed forces, there is nothing better. From good philosophy comes self-discipline which will keep your butt out of a sling. Humility, honor, compassion, and justice are some of what I learned as a student. Damn, I wish there was a teacher near me.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Bank of Obama


Pretty funny, nifty way for the guy to make a buck or two. first one free, unlimited for $1.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Fiction - Part IV - Home

This is part 4 of a fictional account of Yours Truly in an catastrophic event where all power was taken out. Part one can be found here. Enjoy!
The two men set a quick pace despite their growing weariness, and quickly made their way out of the center of Bridgewater. In the distance they could see a crowd of people in the street, and clustered in a parking lot.

Strangely, it was a convenience store with its lights on. It was the first artificial light they had seen since leaving the train. Both quickened their pace and hurried to the oasis of light in an otherwise darkening evening.

There were about 25 people gathered outside, about a dozen of them were drinking hot coffee and eating candy bars and snacks, while the rest were in line in front of the doors. Al and Natog joined the line as a woman was let out of the store and a man was allowed to enter. A middle-eastern young man was in front of the door letting one person in at a time.

Al managed to make eye contact with a busty blonde in a down vest and furry boots “So, how’s the coffee?”

“Tastes like shit and cost me ten bucks, but it’s better than nothing.”

“They charged you ten dollars for a cup of coffee?”

“Yeah. Candy bars are $2.50 each.”

“What! They can’t do that! It’s illegal!”

Natog joined in, “Sure it is, they can charge whatever they want.”

“No they can’t it isn’t fair!”

“They can charge whatever they want, so long as people are willing to buy.”

“Well I’m not paying $10 for a cup of coffee. Let’s get out of here.”

“Sure you are.”

Turning from his irate friend, Natog asked the woman, “Excuse me, miss. Did they have any batteries or such?”

“Um I think they were out. They are charging more for sandwiches and water too. Oh, and they are only taking cash.”

“Thanks. Makes sense for them to do that.”

Al was still pissed off, “What.”

“For them to gouge us on the one thing everyone will want, food and a hot beverage. Give me some cash, I’ll go in the store.”

It took several minutes for the line to work its way down to Al and Natog. When a heavyset man left with a cup of coffee and a donut, the middle-eastern man said “One at a time, no funny business.”

Natog walked into the store, and the young man locked the door behind him. Immediately in front of him was a candy bar display rack empty of the popular kinds of candy. The more unpopular flavors still remained, evidently not worth $2.50 a piece. Behind the counter was a middle-aged middle-eastern man who was watching every move Natog made. Next to him was a large sign with the new prices scrawled in magic marker.

Natog went to the coffee machine and poured two cups of hot water. Walking along the aisles he noticed the small space for batteries was bare. In the coolers, the milk was all gone along with most of the sodas and energy drinks. A muffled engine could be heard coming from out back. Grabbing a small jar of peanut butter and a few granola bars, Natog went up to the counter.

$40 dollars later, Natog an Al were enjoying some hot chocolate from Natog's bag in a sheltered area with a few picnic tables. Smearing a granola bar with peanut butter. Natog handed it over to Al.

“I'm not eating that, it's has way too many calories from fat.”

“Well how many calories is your body burning to keep warm? Fats give the most calories for this kind of weather. Plus, we technically don't know when we are going to eat next.”

“OK, OK. I'll eat it.”

The next few minutes were spent hungrily wolfing down their improvised meal. Several minutes more were spent licking peanut butter off of the roofs of their mouths. Washing the last of his meal down with the now cooled off cocoa, Natog checked their progress on his map.

“Let’s get moving before we cool off too much, we have just over four miles left to go.”

Al gathered up his bag, and slung it over his shoulder, “I gotta piss.”

Natog pointed to a nearby bush, “There you go.”

“What! No way”

“You got to squat to piss or something? Just go behind the hedge over there and go.”

Al walked behind the hedge separating the picnic area from a commercial building. A sigh of pleasure accompanied the sound of a man urinating onto pavement. Al emerged a minute later with his gloves stuffed in a pocket. “Any chance I can use some water to wash up?”

“No way, you got stuff in your bag for that.”

“No I don’t, I just have some lotion.”

Natog spun his buddy around with Al squawking displeasure, unzipped his bag and pulled out the bottle of sanitizer originally from Al’s desk and handed it to him.

“Where the hell that come from?”

Natog replied with a big grin, “Your desk.”

Al finished rubbing the sanitizer in his hands, and pulled off his bag, and began to rummage through it. “Why did you put all this in here?”

“Because you’re going to need it. I know you don’t have much in the way of food in the house, this is going to be handy.”

“That’s why you looked guilty. Hey, what do I need network cables for?”

“Not sure yet, I tossed them in because you never know.”

Al put his bag back on, and pulled on his gloves. “Do you think we have to go to work tomorrow?”

Natog started down Route 28 again, with Al in tow. “Hope not, walking that far’s going to be a bitch! Nah, I’m not going in until I hear word that things are calm in the city, and we figure out how much of the US or the world is affected.”

“What do you mean? It has to just be Boston, right?”

“Why would you think that? If Charlie was right and it’s a sunspot, it could be the whole earth.”

“Shit.”

“Hope you like gardening!”

“Aw man.”

“Yeah I think physical labor will be the death of you. Well, at least the death of that manicure you’re sporting!”

Continuing south on Rt. 28, the two men made good time by setting a quick pace. They remained lost in their own thoughts, oblivious to the other isolated groups meandering their way south. Occasionally they passed an abandoned car or truck on the side of the road.

The sun plunged below the horizon, dropping twilight on the two men. As the darkness fell, the men's eyes adjusted to the gathering gloom, but eventually, they had trouble seeing. With a new moon and no heavy cloud cover, the darkness smothered them like a blanket.

“Hey, 'tog, bust out a flashlight man.”

“I rather not draw the attention to us.”

“Yeah and if we miss the turnoff, then we will keep walking until we hit New Bedford.”

“Ok, but it will fuck our nightvision up.”

Natog pulled the MiniMaglite off of his belt and handed it to Al. “I want that back.”

“Yeah yeah.”

“Seriously.”

Al fumbled with the flashlight for a second until he got it turned on. It wasn't a full 90 seconds before a woman's voice called out of the darkness, “Mind if we walk with you?”

Natog gave Al a “I told you so look”, and turned to the woman and her two companions, “Sure, the more the merrier.”

The group grew larger as they walked down the Rt. 28. They exchanged pleasantries and small talk as they walked as if their voices could hold back the night. Eventually the group grew to a small crowd. Natog halted everyone for small breaks, enough for the stragglers to catch up and catch their breath. They didn't dilly-dally for long, however, with the only source of warmth done for the day the night was bone chillingly cold. He tried to organize the group so those with the thinnest clothes were in the middle of the pack, but even then most were shaking with the cold.

With the larger group they were forced to slow their pace, so others could keep up with the larger group. As they walked, smaller groups would splinter off going down dark side streets. In the cold night air, they could see a flickering light in the distance. It wasn't moving, but it certainly was along Route 28. The light grew brighter and brighter as they walked, and eventually they discerned it was a fire. At the split with Old Center Street, the highway department had cut down all the overgrown brush in the fall, but never cleaned it up. This was the source of the fuel for the fire that warmed several dozen people. As the group sought the warmth of the fire, Natog took the flashlight back from Al, turned it off, and beckoned him to follow.

After a few hundred yards had passed, Natog handed the flashlight back to Al. “I wanted to ditch those people, you know a few were going to beg for a ride or a couch to crash on or something.”

“Wow, you have a low opinion of people, don't you.”

“Yep, they never fail to let me down, present company somewhat excluded.”

“Thanks, you asshole.”

“Anytime, Sheeple”

“What was that?”

Natog laughed, “Sheeple. As in sheep plus people”

“Well people do want to follow the herd”

“Just like lemmings off of the cliff.”

“That’s a myth, saw it on Mythbusters or something.”

“I know, but it’s a common enough saying.”

Natog pulled the bottle from under his coat and took a long draught. Passing it to Al he gratefully took a drink from it as well.

“Damn you’re handy to have around.”

“Yep. You don’t know the half of it.”

“Ok so what other skills do you know?”

“Well I can tie a cherry stem into a knot in my mouth with my tongue.”

“That must impress all the ladies.”

“Your mom most of all!”

“Fuck you!”

“No I’m straight.”

The darkness was suffocating. Heavy cloud cover stopped the stars from lighting their way, but here and there lights could be seen in the distance. The mag light did little other than illuminate a dozen yards in front of them.

“Wow, people have lights on! Look over that way.”

“Yeah, I can hear the genny.”

Homes here and there had light filtering through the sheer curtains from candles and camping lanterns. As the men walked, they smelled cooking meat which made their stomachs rumble with hunger. As they walked past one home, a man in a parka with an apron over it waved as they walked past.

All rubbed his gloved hands together, “God DAMN that smells good.”

“Fuck yeah. The only think keeping me going is the steak I have marinating in the fridge.”

“Won’t it be bad?”

Natog laughed. “How do you think people ate before the invention of refrigeration in the 30’s?”

“Er. I dunno.”

“In this weather it will take a while to go bad.” Just put it outside and it will freeze. Just don’t let it freeze and thaw during the day.”

“Where you learn all this stuff?”

“Reading, common sense, Boy Scouts, the Internet.”

“Well, can I borrow a book or something? I’m not sure what to do.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, and I think I’ll swing by your apartment on the way home.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you’re going to need a crash course.”

“Thanks man.”

Cold and tired, Natog kept trudging along in the freezing cold. They turned left on Rt. 44 and kept to the side of the road. Occasionally a car would zip by. Natog and Al kept quiet as they used the last of their energy to make it to Al’s house.

Turning onto Everett St. Al looked down the row of homes, most of which had dim lights in one or two windows. “Almost there.”

“Dude, I’m pretty well frozen.”

“Yeah, me too.”

A quarter of a mile later, Natog and Al were trudging up the stairs to Al’s apartment.

Al fumbled with the keys with stiff fingers for a minute when the door suddenly opened, spilling orange light into the hallway. Mary, Al’s longtime on-again off-again girlfriend stood in the doorway with what looked like three sweaters on.

“Oh my GOD, I was so worried!” Mary threw a bear hug around Al, and dragged him into the apartment.

Natog stepped in and closed and locked the door behind him. Dropping his bag next to the door, he began pulling off the outer layers of clothes. Several candles were scattered on the island separating the small kitchen from the living room.

Mary and Al were still liplocked when Natog politely cleared his throat. “You have plenty of time for that later, I got to head home.”

Mary sheepishly looked at Natog “Oh High ‘tog!”

“Hi Mary. Ok you two, let’s see what we are dealing with here.”

Mary was a beautiful woman. half Portuguese and French-Canadian, she had a dark, sultry complexion. She also was a gymoholic, and ate the same protein shakes, supplements and assorted other weird shit Al was always eating. She was also batshit crazy, as most women Al dated were, and very, very high maintenance. Al had this “thing” for crazy women Natog could never understand. Evidently the crazier they were the more Al was attracted to them.

Natog took a look around the apartment. While poking around, Mary turned to Al, “What’s he doing?”

“Fuck if I know,” replied Al, “but he got me out of Boston and home in one piece.”

Mary snuggled back into her blankets on the couch, “I’m surprised he’s not out hunting a moose for dinner or something.”

Natog came back into the room, “Nah, that’s tomorrow! Ok kids, here’s the deal. One of you go through and collect all your non-refrigerated food and water and put it on the island. The other is to rummage and find all your batteries, flashlights and candles. Oh yeah and all the first aid supplies you have.”

Al stood poleaxed for a minute, then began rummaging around closets and cabinets. Natog gave Mary the evil eye until she sighed and got up and began pulling stuff from cabinets.

Natog took the opportunity to rest on the couch. Pulling off his boots one at a time he rubbed his aching feet for a couple minutes. Figuring his feet would swell up, he then pulled his boots back on.

Retying his shoelaces Natog looked over their progress. “Ok, let’s see what we got here. Half a box of band-aids, some petrified Neosporin, and Tylenol. That’s fucking horrible. Ok a pile of scented candles, and a few assorted batteries. A pile of non-fat healthfood, some olive oil, and assorted energy bars. Wow, it’s worse than I thought. What do you guys do, eat out every night?”

“Pretty much.”

“One of you see if you have any hot water left, if you do fill the tub, then you both take your last bath for a while.

Mary blushed, “I used the last of the hot water after the power went out.”

Al playfully threw a bag of dehydrated seaweed at Mary, “You bitch!”

“I just got back from the gym! Want me to stink?”

Natog interrupted the two, “Don’t have a domestic right now, I still got a long way to go tonight. Go through this mess and see how many meals you guys have here. I’ll check the propane situation. Mary, How much gas do you have in your car?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Ok I’ll check that too. You did drive home right, so it works?

“Yeah I drove home after the power went out.” Mary replied.
“Cool. And fill your tub with water.”

“Not to question why, oh survival guru, but what for?”

“So you can flush your toilet.”

“Oh, right.”

Natog went out on the porch and lifted the propane tank from Al’s stainless steel grill. Giving it a few shakes, he figured it was half full. Cutting back through the apartment, he grabbed Mary’s keys and went downstairs. When checked, the tank was just over a quarter full. Locking the car up, he went back in.

“Ok kids whatcha got?”

Al looked up from a piece of paper, “About 37, if you include what we brought back from Boston. We also got a bunch of whet protein, but you can’t live on just that.”

“Not bad. How much do you have in the freezer and fridge – without looking?”

“I’m not 100% sure, but at least a week’s worth.”

“That’s a lot better than I thought, actually. So use the tub’s water to flush the toilet, but you should save that for number 2. Al can pee outside, Mary can too.”

“What!?!? I’m not pissing in the cold outside!”

“Ok you can go inside, but try not to flush too often. Who knows when we will get power back. That reminds me, fill every pot and big bowl with water. Cover them with plastic wrap to keep dust out. Keep them out of sunlight, so no bugs grow in them.”

“Guys things are going to be real hard, so think before you do something stupid. It’s going to get real cold in here, so don’t bring in your grill to try to heat up the apartment. Or burn 10 candles at once. Carbon Monoxide will kill you. I’d use blankets to section off a smaller part of the apartment, and stay in there. Your body heat will warm it up a little. Wear lots of clothes and move around if you get cold. You can hang blankets in front of the windows, that will help make it warmer too.”

“You guys take care of yourselves. You should be fine for a few days.”

Mary grabbed her keys, “I’ll give you a lift.”

“No, save your gas. Don’t use the car except for an emergency.”

Mary gave Natog a hug, and Al a handshake. “Thanks a lot man.”

Natog returned the firm handshake, “No problem.” Digging in his bag, he gave Al the last of the peanut butter. “Here take this, you guys will need the fats.”

“Seriously, man. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Natog wearily put his sweatshirt back on, and pulled his messenger bag over his head. “Ok guys I’ll be around the house. If you come by, don’t do something silly and come waltzing in. And if you go somewhere let me know.”
Al pulled the door open for Natog, “Ok man. When will I see you again?”

Natog stepped out in the hall, “I’ll come by in a couple days. Take care of yourselves.”

Pulling out his flashlight, he made his way down the stairs and out into the night. Turning off his flashlight he tried letting his eyes adjust to the dark, but with no luck. Regretfully he turned his flashlight back on and made his way south down the road.

Middleboro was dark, but here and there lights could be seen from homes as Natog worked his way down the streets. In his 25 minute journey he saw only two cars, one of which was a cop.

Sticking to the side roads and shadows he set a fast pace. It was well past dinnertime, and Natog’s stomach was rumbling. Occasionally he saw other people walking around the town, but he didn’t make eye contact, and they were happy to let him pass without engaging in conversation.

Finally he neared his home. Cutting across the back neighbor’s yard, he hopped his back fence, and walked up to the back door. Inside, his dogs were going bonkers with happiness. Opening his door, the alarm went off. Letting the dogs out into the back yard, he punched his code into the panel. Taking that as a good sign, he dropped his bag and collapsed on the couch.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Freedom

A few nights ago, as I was trying to fall asleep an idea struck me like a thunderbolt. Of course I should have wrote it down, because it was a damn good insight. But of course I was exhausted and too lazy to get my ass up and write it down. I then couldn't remember it for the life of me. Figures.

But alas! This morning as my alarm went off and I fumbled to toss it across the room. I remembered! Ha. My mind is still like a trap. A sewer trap, but hey! I remembered.

So what hit me like a thunderbolt was the idea that:
To be free you must accept responsibility.

At first it sounded like a load of hooey, but my subconscious won't let me drop it until the rest of my mind has gone over it. After thinking and pondering while on hold for several hours with Dell and VMware support, I think I have the beginnings of what this means.

We preppers are doing it already. We want to be free from a FEMA camp. We want to be free from dependence on government institutions. So we stock up on food and water so we don't have to rely on Uncle Sugar. We stock up on medical supplies and the skills to use them so we don't have to run to the hospital for every little boo-boo.

I want to be politically free, to do so I must take responsibility for my own governance. Since I am responsible for the mess we are in, I need to take ownership of it and do my best to fix it. therein lies the road to true freedom. And if the system is held together by the will of idiots, then I am responsible for making the choice of living with it or voting with my feet.

Let's look at the flip side. If I'm dependant on welfare to feed my kids then I'm shackled to the system. These days that's like being a rat on the Titanic.

I need to think aboutt his some more.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

American ADD

By and large we Americans are suffering from ADD. Attention Deficit Disorder. The Democrats are trying to draw our attention away from the economy to worry about Rush Limbaugh. Here is a news flash for the Democrats, over to Cindy, our political corespondent in Natog's Sekret Bunker:
"Hi everyone this is Cindy! Tee-Hee! Here in Natog's Sekret Bunker the air is tense with anticipation with the latest attempt to distract the prepper community. The democrats are using a row with Rudh Limbaugh to draw attention away from the ongoing use of the economy to socialize the United States. Natog is reading the web now, let's check in!"

"It looks like bad news, Natog didn't even open the article."

"Natog, a moment of your time, sir!"

Grunt.

"Ah, Yes, I want to get your reaction on the Obama vs. Rush debate, if I may?"

"Hmmm Let me see Cindy. I don't give a FUCK."

"Um, ok. I hope they caught that back in the van, back to you in the studio. This is Cindy reporting live from Natog's Sekret Bunker."
Let's see what's more important? 600,000 more jobs gone, or a pile of nitwits trying to fuck each other? That's right another 600k jobs gone! Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick! Rush could be caught in Provincetown with a dick in the mouth and a hamster up his ass and I couldn't give a shit after eating a box of bran muffins.

Citigroup's shares drop below a $1 a share. They should be delisted from the NYSE, but they changed the rules a while ago so they can stay on there. Like we expect banker to follow the rules. They can't. Not even their own rules.

No wonder the market's down 250ish points. Cracks me up. I wonder how many zombies are waking up? I mean they can't keep everyone distracted with pigs, dumbasses and ugly pussy, can they?

Back to my point. Americans have the attention span of a cat with a laser pointer in the room. Americans have no sense of time. Everything is in the now. Our craptastic school systems ensure our children have little to no sense of history. Without this sense of history, the past is just the ether of past fads and B rated stars of movies. Paris Hilton has ceased to exist. That pedophile piece of shit, Michael Jackson, is the future. Sad isn't it?

If I met Rush I'd tie him up and shit on his chest like Buddy Cianci did to the guy screwing his wife. I'm not mad enough to torture him for three days first, but nothing shows your displeasure like a Cleveland Steamer. Good thing I don't live in New York because I would have dropped my laundry and shit on wall street a long, long time ago.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Fiction - Part III - Hoofin' it.

This is part 3 of a fictional account of Yours Truly in an catastrophic event where all power was taken out. Part one can be found here, and part two can be found here. I hope your enjoying these, as they do take a lot of effort to write. The primary goal of these is to entertain, but I'm using these as a mental exercise on what I've got right, and what needs improvement. I actually have most of the next post written, this section was son long I figured I ought to break it into smaller chunks for easier digestion. Enjoy!
The commuter rail meandered its way through the suburbs of Boston, occasionally stopping so the conductors could manually switch the tracks. Progress was slow, and in several locations abandoned cars could be seen that were pushed out of the way because they were blocking the tracks.

Al and Natog rode in silence inside the last vestibule of the train. The normal hum of conversation on the trains was hushed, as the weary riders stood mutely waiting to go to their dark homes. With the winter storm of freezing rain and snow, visibility was limited into the communities the train rolled through. Dorchester, Milton, Canton were all dark. Traffic lights were out wherever they were close enough to the tracks to see.

The train slowed to a snail’s pace several times when crossing roads, as the crossing light system was inoperative. There weren't many cars running at all, but those that were seemed hell-bent on getting to wherever they wanted too, blowing through traffic signals at full speed.

The train made it’s normal stop at Brockton. The city is yet another Massachusetts mill town that never recovered from the loss of that industry. Higher crime rates, lower average income and lower education. Such is the legacy of betting all your money on the textile and shoe making mills. Brockton, like everywhere else was dark. The train continued on after disgorging its load of passengers.

A few minutes after leaving the Brockton station, the conductor stuck his head in the vestibule “The next stop is the last folks, the tracks are blocked farther down.”

Al snapped back into focus from looking out the windows, “Whaddayamean last stop?”

The conductor sighed. “Look pal, the last train derailed when the automatic switch fried when the power went out. Thank Christ it had just left the station and wasn’t going fast. It was going fast enough that the cars that jumped had enough speed to wreck the other set of tracks. So last stop, see if you can get a taxi or something.”

“What if we can’t?”

Natog grabbed his friend by the shoulder to get his attention, “Then we walk.”

Natog turned to the conductor, “What time is it? I used to use my cellphone.”

The conductor looked at his wristwatch, “Three-thirty. Never did like digital watches myself.”

Natog turned to Al, “Shit. That took us three hours? Felt like ten.”

Al looked out the window, “At least the storm blew itself out. It’s not raining anymore.”

“Well that’s the way to stay optimistic. Let’s see how long a walk we have.”

Natog rummaged in his messenger bag to open his mini-BOB. Pulling out a map of eastern Massachusetts he started figuring out how far they were from Middleboro.

While Natog was checking the map, he glanced down at Al’s feet. “How are your feet doing?”

“Pretty toasty, why?”

“Well we got about an 11 mile walk ahead of us.”

Al lost it. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Nope. Five miles to Bridgewater, and then about six more to Middleboro. At least you live on the north side of town. I got about a mile walk longer than you do.”

Natog folded up the map and put it away as the train pulled into the station. As they filed out of the train, they were struck by the sheer volume of people on the train platforms. Most were aimlessly milling about, trying to get dead cellphones to work, or occasionally trying the lone payphone at the end of the platform. Most were dressed like officeworkers, but a few tradesmen were mixed in as well.

Al leaned in to whisper to Natog “What the fuck they waiting for?”

“Someone to come and help them.”

Natog grabbed Alby the sleeve and they jostled and pushed their way through the crowd, out of the station. There a lone Brockton Crown Vic was there with it lights on. A crowd had gathered around the car and the two police officers were trying to placate the crowd.

Some were shouting, some were begging and pleading to get a ride home. The officers were shouting over the crowd that they were here to keep order and not run a taxi service.

Natog pulled Al through the crowd while Al was gawking at the cops.

Al turned and caught up as they broke through the edge of the crowd. Referring to his map, Natog headed off across Plain Street and down Meadowbrook Road. The wind had died down considerably, but the temperature had dropped a lot as well. Both men had their hats pulled low, and their breath swirled in the air.

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t just go down 28, it might even be plowed.”

“You’re the boss, I’d be still in Boston without you.”

Natog laughed, “Nah I bet you’d be in Dorchester wondering if you’re the only white guy in the whole city right about now.”

“I hate to say it but your right. I’ve been thinking…”

“Don’t, it will give you a brain cramp.”

“No, I was thinking when you said this country was on the road to ruin, about the federal reserve and such and I made fun of you.”

“Yeah, I remember”

“That bag you keep pulling stuff out of is part of what you were trying to tell me, isn’t it.”

“Well yeah, but there’s more to it than that.”

“You’ve bought a shitload of guns, and you haven’t had much money for going out. You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you.”

“Well not exactly.”

“Bullshit. How did you know to bring your bag of goodies in?”

They two of them had already made the turn onto Sergents Way, and now turned south on Rt. 28. The two friends set a brisk pace down the street. The road was clear, and had been salted at least a few times before the power went out. There was no traffic at all, save but a few clumps of people walking south down the empty road.

“I bring it with me every day.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you never know when the power might go out and keep us stranded in Boston. Although I wish work would let us carry, I’d feel a lot better if I was armed right now.”

“So you have that with you all the time?”

“It’s with me or in the Jeep. I like to be prepared.”

“Huh. Like always having a condom on you.”

“Er, yeah like that you lech.”

“Man it’s fucking cold out here.”

“Just keep your feet dry. I don’t have any more feet warmers.”

“Well what else do you have in there?”

“Um, stuff.”

“Well there isn’t a lot going on, and I rather have something to talk about to keep my mind off of how fucking cold it is.”

“Ok, ok. I got a pocketknife, some flashlights, a few first aid supplies, two…”

“First aid supplies? You kidding?”

“No, it’s handy to have if you dice your finger racking a server or something. It’s not like work keeps band-aids for us.”

“Oh, Right. Well go on.”

“Where was I? Oh yeah, two days of food and water purification tablets.”

“Why would you need to purify water?”

“Well to drink it, dumbass”

Al gave Natog a dirty look, “No I meant why would we need to purify it?”

“Well how do you think the water you drink gets purified in the first place?”

“Well the town does it. I dunno.”

“Yeah well the town has no electricity, so it cannot make clean water, or pump it to us now can it?”

“Aw fuck, how are we going to get drinking water?”

“You’re going to have to boil it before you drink it.”

“But we have an electric stove!”

“And now you see why I have matches. Your beast of a grill has a burner on it, right?”

“Yeah it does!”

“Well there you go.”

“I don’t know how much propane I have left from the summer, though.”

“Dammit I told you to fill it in case a hurricane comes”

“Well I didn’t listen to you.”

“That reminds me.” Natog dug in his pack and pulled out the water bottle. It was ice cold. Grimacing against the cold, Natog stuck the bottle inside his sweatshirt and pinned it against his side with his arm. “Damn that’s cold.”
“What the fuck you doing?”

“Keeping the water from freezing.”

They walked on. Occasionally they passed other groups with the fast pace the two men were walking. Both were lost in their own thoughts as they made their way out of town. Gradually the water warmed up.

The miles slowly rolled past. After a couple hours of walking, they crossed the center of Bridgewater, a sleepy Boston bedroom community. All the stores were dark, and here and there people were walking around town.

Al and Natog took a break in the little park in the center of town. A rotary ran around the park, and it was surrounded by small shops.

Al looked over, “Shit man I’m freaking tired NOW, and we only half way there.”

“Yeah, my feet are killing me. Not used to walking this much.”

“Never mind how much they have to carry.”

“Pfft, this is all stored energy.”

“Stored beer more like it!”

“Damn Skippy!”

Natog pulled out the bottle from under his sweatshirt and took a few swigs, then passed it to Al. Gratefully, Al took a drink from the bottle.

“I got to give you credit,” as Al handed back the bottle, “You got this shit wired tight.”

“I hope your right. Let’s get a move on before we cool off too much.”

With that, the two friends pulled themselves onto their feet, and started walking down route 28 once again.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

A response to Jeff.

Jeff left a comment on an earlier post defending my position that the president should fuck off. Here is his comment.
Seems like you've been listening to Rush way too much. Good luck with that. The likes of Rush and Dick Morris will stir up your hate for the benefit of themselves and their cronies, not for the common good. Why does Obama preach doom and gloom? I know you know it, but things aren't too peachy in this republic of ours. Things were going down fast before he took office. Don't hate the messenger. And for god sake's stop listening to that pill popping wind bag.

By the way I still think it is far too harsh.
I don't listen to any talk radio except sports, and the occasional John Lipscomb show. I personally think Rush is a complete tool, along with Coulter, Morris, etc. I agree that most talk radio is mindless in it's abject hate for the other side. It's a reflex reaction. If a liberal says the sky is blue then three conservative talk show hosts will immediately jump all over it saying that it's wrong. So we pretty much agree on your first point.

Now for the next point. I know why Obama preaches doom and gloom, I outlined it quite clearly in my first post: personal gain. Now the messenger has two ways of telling the message, a nice way and a menacing way. Obammy chose the latter. Therefore he can fuck off IMNSHO.

Actually this mess started with Greenspan getting the job in 1987. It continued though both democrat and republican presidents until now. So both parties are to blame. A valid argument could be made that this all started with the creation of the Fed in 1913, and the dollar's removal from the gold standard by Nixon in 1971. The most recent Bush is far from blameless but he's not the only one to blame for this mess.

Who is to blame? I am. You are. Everyone who has let the wool be pulled over our eyes. All those years of blissful ignorance and flase prosperity have to be paid for. Now the bill is due and we are all going to have to pay up. We let our Federal government walk all over us and bloat itself into the inefficient monstrosity it is today. Obammy promised change, well he will get it one way or another. His current path is going to screw things up a lot worse than they are now. What's going to happen in the inner cities with 20% unemployment? Nothing good, I can assure you of that.

When the system collapses, then Obammy will get his change. Don't get me wrong, McCain is no better. He's just as much a tool of the system as all the other nitwits in our federal government.

We have had tea parties already. These (mostly) symbolic acts will rise in both fequency and support. Hey, if we are lucky we will see a revolution. Hopefully a peaceful one where 35 states tell the Fedz to shove it up thier ass.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Slide!

It's one of my favorite scenes in Fight Club. The Narrator is going through guided meditation in his "power cave" and Marla Singer turns to him and says, "Slide."

Fight club is an awesome movie. There is a lot in there for the mentality of a prepper, after all Tyler Durden wants us to revert back to an 1800's lifestyle... sorta.
Only after disaster can we be resurrected. - Tyler Durden
Anyways, the DJIA is below 6800. I knew this was going to happen, so that's why I've been at green to the right there for a little while. Mondays tend to be days where the market rallies. I wonder if that Tea Party rant from the CNBC guy has sunk in. The ship's sinking, and only the smart ones have lifeboats. My lifeboat comes equipped with food, a generator, and it's well armed. :)

I picked up my generator last weekend. I also bought another $100 worth of food. Found canned ham on sale, so I went a bit overboard because it's dated for 9/2012. I also bought more of the usual supplies. I need to grab a parts kit for my generator, can't forget to have some extra oil and spark plugs and such. Two is one and one is none and all that.

Next on the shopping list is coarse vermiculite. I can't find it in bulk anywhere. It's starting to piss me off. No garden center has it. None of the big box stores has it either. I found some, but they want $15 for a cubic foot. I need 16 cubic feet!!!! I already got the peat moss, compost will be in the big box stores in a couple weeks so I'm all set there. Just the damned vermiculite. Grrrrr.

Likewise I'm waiting on a trim die for .308 to come in. They are all out of stock in any company I've found online. Just got to be patient I guess. I've got time until it escalates. I'd like to grab another 500 rounds of wolf .308 before the summer, but we shall see.

I guess that's enough for now. Keep your eyes on the market. If trading halts for a "time out" it's one of the warning signs to bug out. Along with a few others. I got it posted here somewhere, and It's up on Rawles site too. For now, I'll leave you with my favorite quote from Fight Club.
You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. - Tyler Durden