are you ready part 4

so previously we talked about food, water, shelter and heat. the ready.gov site talks about special items, like medicine and legal documents, but totally omits something to help you keep all your shit all yours......a gun.

there was a story out of japan and the recent catastrophe there, of a guy who walked into a store and was going to buy the last 10 bottles of water on the shelf. realizing if he did that there would be no more for anyone else, he put 8 back. that shit would not happen in LA, NYC, DETROIT or a whole lot of other places here. look at NEW ORLEANS and katrina and the looting associated with that.



that is a lot of heineken or becks, we even have one in the back pocket. should have stolen some chest waders to keep the feet dry while out liberating the high end brews, or at least some foot powder to keep the dogs from chaffing.




looks like these guys went to the car dealer first, beer store second. got a new lincoln, but had to settle for the miller lite as the first guy got all the heinies.



can't blame them here. the power is out so it's hard to wash clothes. we'll just steal clean stuff.


right idea, wrong execution. if i put up any sign it would read something like NOTHING HERE IS WORTH YOUR LIFE. that way if order is restored, and someone dies of lead poisoning while trying to relocate my shit, the prosecutor will have a harder time saying what i did was premeditated.

of course i could have it all wrong about our big cities. looks like water and food will be safe, beer and threads are up for grabs.

i still think you will need a means of holding onto your shit, which means a threat of force, and the WILLINGNESS TO CARRY IT OUT. ball bats and golf clubs are contact weapons, and decisively lose to guns on a regular basis.

what kind of gun should i get? if i had a dollar for every time someone asked me that i could retire. the answer is what do you want to do with it, and how much experience do you have with firearms? just home protection, probably a shotgun. personal protection, probably a handgun. i think for our little scenario here a revolver in .357 as well as a lever action carbine in the same caliber would be ideal. that's if you have no guns currently. a .22 semi auto rifle and a 9mm will serve you fine if that is what you presently have.

some will say why a revolver and lever action carbine? because they are simple to use and maintain and use the same ammunition. additionally, you can use .38 special ammo in both. the carbine will take down deer at less than 100 yards, which means fresh meat in a true survival situation.

assuming you have to take to the hills, you will need a good pack, good boots, a knife or 2 (they don't have to be huge), some canteens, tent or other shelter items, blankets or poncho liners, light and batts, food and ammo, a way to make fire, plus a compass and map, and a hatchet and camp saw. a length of good rope (not clothes line) will come in handy, also.

sounds like a lot, but you can carry it all given the right pack and motivation. get a holster for the handgun and sling for the carbine. use wool socks and blankets as they continue to insulate even when wet. look for items that can perform more than 1 function like a hatchet (split-cut wood/drive nails). a leatherman tool is a great bit of kit and can go in a pocket or on the belt.

there are lots of great sights to browse for gear ideas and reviews, and you can always go camping to try out your new acquisitions. sound paranoid? well consider this. the mormon church is again gearing up their disaster preparedness plans. if you could ask the folks in japan if they wished they had put away some stuff to get them through, i bet all would say yes.

have you made plans yourself? feel free to share your ideas here.

afghanis idea of a fireside chat

i watched with some amusement this week as these practitioners of the religion of pieces held fireside chats to discuss their feelings over a quran burning in florida this past march 20th.




that is supposed to be the vacationer in chief they are burning in effigy. looks more like papa smurf to me, but what the fuck, i wasn't that great at art either.

yeah, terry jones went ahead and burned a quran. if you remember back in september, he was going to do the same thing and got talked out of it by the prez, the countess of cankles-hillary, some religious leaders, and sec def bobby gates. seems at that time the gainesville city attorney was soooo upset that he started implementation of a process which would have made it illegal to burn the quran outside. so jones burned it indoors on the 20th, and sent the very reasonable and intellectual denizens of jalalabad, kandahar and mazar-i-sharif into a frenzy of peace and love, resulting in the death of 2 afghan cops and 7 U.N. workers.

the taliban has issued a statement saying, "that the U.S. and other Western countries had wrongly excused the burning of the Quran as freedom of speech and that Afghans cannot accept this un-Islamic act." now who fucking knew the taliban had a PR department?

if you ever wondered why folks act like they are tiptoeing around a mine field when dealing with these highly religious and totally peaceful clowns, it's due to shit like this. here in the states, you can; A) burn the flag, B) spit on veterans, C) call them baby killers (think murtha, kerry kennedy), D) get money from the national endowment for the arts to paint pictures of jesus in shit or throw a crucifix in piss, E) make movies about killing presidents you disagree with, and that's all okay.

so terry jones' probably well intentioned but poorly executed message is getting vilified in the lame stream media. how come no one ever criticizes the actions of the islamic faithful? why do we in the west excuse the "honor killings" that happen when a muslims sister or wife gets raped? why do we ignore the sexual mutilation of muslim girls? turn a blind eye to be-headings of westerners captured by al qaeda and their associates?

because they, the media, are pussies. and by extension so are we, because we allow them to form our opinions for us. it's time to stop and think for ourselves and stop letting our leaders, and their paid mouth pieces, cater to bullies. face it, jones is right. islam, as practiced by these assholes, is evil.

shine a light

this evening thru tomorrow are national autism awareness day. they say 1 in every 110 kids has some form of autism. is it the environment or the preservatives in all the inoculations the kids have to take that is causing this? who knows. whatever the cause know that those afflicted can and do function in society. my buddy's daughter is pretty severe, and my own daughter has a form, but thankfully is doing just fine, in large parts due to the excellent work of the professionals at our local school.

with numbers this high, it benefits us all to donate to help find the cause and treatment, and hopefully a cure for this malady.

are you ready part 3

in part 2 i talked about the food and water you would need to survive 3 days after a disaster occurs. now it is time to discuss shelter and heat.

imagination is a helpful ally in this endeavor. if you are staying home, and the home is not damaged, you are in good shape. but what if you are on the road or forced to take to the hills when calamity strikes? do you have ponchos or 2 shelter halves to make a tent with? do you have a bivvy sack, sleeping mats and bags? do you have a hatchet to help you build a lean to or debris shelter? remember, if things really go to shit, others will have taken to the hills also, and will be looking for obvious shelter too, such as YOUR home. how will you defend it and your food and water stores?

do you own a firearm? now, do you actually know how to use it? how much ammunition do you have? there is no such thing as too much ammo, you can always use it in trade for something you need, like eggs or vegetables. more on the proper selection, care and feeding of your firearms later.

what sort of furnace do you have? natural gas, electric, propane or home heating oil? most have electric ignition, so what to do when the power goes out? some folks have natural gas powered generators. these are attached directly to your home natural gas line, and kick in when the power goes out automatically i understand. perhaps you own a gas powered generator. do you know how many gallons it burns over a 24 hour period? are you smart enough to keep it outside your home while it runs? how often do you have to change the oil? how much gas do you have on hand? do you have a back up plan such as a catalytic heater for heat and maybe a coleman stove for food preparation?

if you must go live of the land, can you make fire? don't laugh, when the zippo shits the bed, a flint and steel will work, but do YOU have one? how many of you could make fire given a 9 volt battery and steel wool? how many of you know you can do that? do you have a single burner propane stove and propane to go with it? they are very handy but bulky, 3 bottles would take up a significant amount of space in your pack. i just found a wood-gas camp stove that costs less than a hundred bucks (tax not included). they use sticks, leaves and pine needles, which unless i'm atop everest or in the gobi are not in short supply. next we need something to heat our water or cook our vittles in, as plastic and fire don't mix. go light, buy a g.i. canteen with it's aluminum cup and holder. better yet buy 3, as the canteens only hold a quart of water each, which is less than the gallon of water you need a day.

i'll get around to guns and other gear in part 4.

are you ready part 2

so what are we preparing for? most likely some type of poor weather event. our friends in the northeast know all about that these last 2 winters. perhaps you live on the gulf or southeast coast, and hurricanes cause heartburn where you live. maybe you live in tornado alley, where whole towns can be removed from the map in minutes. so what would you need to survive, and the local state and federal governments couldn't or maybe wouldn't help you.

the experts debate what comes first, but the basics are shelter, water and food, then depending on the environment, heat. no matter what sooner or later you WILL need a fire. the ready. gov site i mentioned says, and i agree, every person in your care will need at least a gallon of clean water per day, more in hot and humid climates. so do you have a water purifier or do you know how and have the gear necessary to distill water? staying at home? distillation is the way to go, as the fire you will use to heat the water can dry wet clothing and warm you while you cook.

food-3 days of preserved food, per person, per day, minimum. for most of us that means canned goods, but how do you intend to open them with no electricity to run the can opener? do you have a hand crank can opener? ever heard of a p51 can opener? we used to wear them on our dog tags, even though we never had c ration cans. by the time i joined the army, we were eating MRE's , AKA, shit in a bag. the beef and pork patties really did look like turds.
if you are walking to salvation after civilization goes to shit, you will find it much easier to carry the new improved MRE's or the equivalent in the civilian sector of dehydrated/ freeze dried food offered by companies like MOUNTAIN HOUSE and BACKPACKER'S PANTRY. there's a reason the military went to MRE's and one of them was the weight of the food the troops had to carry. i suggest a mixture of both types of food in your kit, and something to heat it with.

think about your level of readiness and stay tuned for part 3.

are you ready?

i originally intended to post this in september, but life got in the way. with the natural disaster and nuclear catastrophe in japan, and tornado time upon us, seems like a good time, to put it out for general consumption.

show of hands, who knew september was NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH? i didn't until i heard a radio interview with some government wonk LIVE from our state fair. a bit of research turned up this site, ready.gov. more on that a bit later.

i'm not certain whether it is coincidence or planned that National Preparedness Month falls in september because of 9/11, but that, coupled with a statement made by my friend THE CAMBRIDGE LADY over at JUST WAFFLING, as well as a book and movie got me to thinking.
the book was recommended to me by best bud SKI over at GLOBAL DOMINATION. the book is THE LAST CENTURION, and is about an army officer who single handed fights his abandoned company back to the states from the middle east, after the world population is decimated by bird flu and another ice age. once home, our hero helps reorganize survivors, gets farms working again, and destroys some city/state caliphates. yeah, i know it's a reach to think 1 guy could do all of that, but the author mixes a couple of dooms day scenarios together pretty well in showing how our society could unravel, and what the government may do in extreme circumstances.

the movie, ( i read the book after watching, i was so intrigued) was THE ROAD. for those who have not watched or read it, it is about a father and son trying to survive after we apparently nuke ourselves into nuclear winter. the wife said it was depressing but i think that was due to dad constantly putting a gun to the kids head if danger approached to keep the child from being captured, raped, killed and eaten by the lawless cannibals roaming the desolate land. the mother, weak of spirit, had already abandoned them by committing suicide. the story is really about perseverance in the face of incredible adversity, hope and love. the man loves his son so much he shields him from the mothers desire to kill the boy and herself. so much that he will kill the boy rather than let the monsters that humans have become defile him. his hope is to find somewhere warm for them to live, so that the boy may survive, and the father ends up dying in the process.

i wasn't so caught up in the story line, good as it was, but found myself asking if the man was doing the right thing in the situations presented to him. how would i handle something similar? AM I READY?

check part 2 to see if you are.

more double talk from the vacationer in chief

"I don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified or their rights are infringed." barrack obama, on 2/28/11, in reference to the ongoing walk out by wisconson teachers.

"Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in his own home," reference skip gates arrest.

"What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact." barrack obama, 7/22/09.

where i come from, this is called talking out of both side of your ass. i guess that "public employees" does not include POLICE OFFICERS, and rights infringed does not include character assassination or stereo typing.