No Nanny State - Molon Labe!

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
--James Madison

[Insert tongue in cheek] Ya know what? If you pay attention, the average American could pretty easily become jaded with their government. Really. [remove tongue from cheek]

One of my brothers and I were having a discussion about bailouts and greed and all the bullshit that goes with it. It is abundantly clear that our various levels of government simply do not represent the individual people. They represent themselves and special interests.

Pick a topic or subject, and there is corruption involved - at least when Nanny gets her mitts on it.

But what do we do about it? I was reading a story in the Sacramento Bee this morning about millions and millions of dollars that were spent by the state government on cars and trucks that are just sitting there. No one needs them, no one uses them, but some bureaucrat knows that if you don't spend your entire annual budget, you get less money the following year.

One department still has pickup and larger trucks parked in its yard that it bought during 2006, 2007 and 2008, a Bee investigation found. The vehicles are awaiting final assembly and are undeployed.

No one will be called on the carpet for this. It will be swept under the rug with promises of tougher reforms. Then it will happen again, and again.

I read that 60 Minutes (I won't watch shit on CBS) did a story last night actually ripping government management in health care. There is a 12%-20% fraud rate - but that's only the fraud they KNOW about.

We now want to increase the size of government in health care by at least 50%. The word, "insane" does not adequately describe that consideration. In private business, it would be like putting an incompetent manager in charge of a bigger department simply because he promises to do a better job going forward.

It would never happen because you'd lose your ass, financially. Nanny doesn't have that same concern. They have no capital invested in the enterprise.

It's gonna happen, and there's not a damned thing we can do about it. Cap-and-Trade will soon follow. More bailouts, more favors, more expansion of government. Logic and responsible government have, "left the building". Regardless of how poorly it's run or how corrupt it becomes, no one will ever be held accountable.

Look what Barry is doing with his various Czars. They're all "presidential advisers" - not vetted by Congress or anyone other than Barry himself. As such, they can't be compelled to testify before Congress. These people are running the country, but we have no right to question what they're doing.

With the single exception of National Security advisers, anyone who whispers into the president's ear needs to do so publicly. Of course, everything then becomes a national security issue. I screamed long and loud when the oil companies were giving back rubs and prostrate gland massages to the Bush administration. We couldn't even get those bastards names, much less what was discussed at the meetings. "National security, you know!"

Regardless of who occupies the Oval Office, the same shit happens. Too many secrets and not enough accountability.
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I guess we can just keep trying to plug along and absorb the blows. Don't prosper, just get-along.

If you go off into your own little self-sufficient property, your county will increasingly tax your ass to pay for their largess. You will need to at least occasionally buy stuff from "the world" and they'll hammer you with sales or VAT taxes. If you don't show enough income to pay for the goods you have, they'll come after you for tax evasion.

Perhaps the only hope is that the big, fat bloated government won't notice your tiny existence and will leave you alone. What a horrible way to live. Cowering so the bully doesn't kick your ass. Don't strive for excellence, settle for mediocrity.

I'm just not built that way.
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I said a while back that I wanted this blog to evolve into a "things you can do" blog, and not a bitch-and-moan fest.

I try and do that with some of the prepper articles, some financial education and some political insight. But it's not enough.

The problem is, talking about the things that need to really happen tends to draw the attention of the people in power, regardless of the legality of what you're suggesting. Some guy screaming at the top of his lungs on his blog is not going to change one single thing, other than his freedom and maybe his pulse rate.

I seem to keep coming back to the Secret Freedom Fighter paper. It was published back in 1986 by Paladin Press, and is now available online. In broad terms, its philosophy is to fight-the-fight as an individual.

There's a lot I agree with and a lot I disagree with in the book. But I think the philosophy is sound - do your own shit for the sake of doing what you feel is right, not for the spot light. And keep your mouth shut about what you're doing.

When I started this blog 5 and a half years ago, I hoped to bring the rot of big government to people's attention. Things have only worsened in that period of time.

It is unrealistic to think this or any blog will "rally the troops". People will either see what's going on around them, or they won't. I cannot affect enough people to make a real difference, and my time can be better spend focusing on things that will.

So, I'm packing up my soapbox. I don't know if I'll convert it to a prepper's storage bin, or an ammo box. Probably both.

My prepper posts will continue elsewhere on my business' website. In fact, I'll probably poach most of my prepper posts from this site to the new one to help build some content quickly. I won't be publishing that URL here in an attempt to keep my business "persona" separate from my political beliefs.

I'll still drop by my favorite sites to rant and rave. My cranky ass will still be around, just not quite so visibly!

Many thanks to the couple of hundred people that stopped by here each day. Really - I cannot express my thanks enough.

Continue to stay educated on the issues, and do what it takes to get things turned around. Fight the good fight.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
--Thomas Jefferson

Labels: American Spirit, Constitution, Life and Times, Self-Reliance

The whole (global warming) thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability.
--Jerry Falwell

We all know we're going to see a lot more crap like this -

On October 31, 2009, the once largest aluminum plant in the world will shut down. With it goes another American industry and more American jobs. The Columbia Falls Aluminum Company in Montana will shut down its aluminum production because it cannot purchase the necessary electrical power to continue its operations.

Hmm. I wonder what's the reason for not being able to get electrical power. Surely, a place this big has made arrangements to take care of things like this.

Columbia Falls Aluminum negotiated a contract with Bonneville Power Administration in 2006 for Bonneville to supply electrical power until September 30, 2011.

See? American industry taking care of business. What could have possibly happened?

But, responding to lawsuits, the 9th US Circuit Court ruled the contract was invalid because it was incompatible with the Northwest Power Act. Therefore, the combination of the Northwest Power Act and a US Circuit Court were the final villains that caused the shutdown of Columbia Falls Aluminum.

Oh. What kind of anti-business, anti-American asshole would bring such a suit?

We need to look no further than the many environmental groups like the Sierra Club and to America's elected officials who turned their backs on American citizens and in essence themselves, for they too are citizens of this country. These officials bought into the green agenda promoted by the heavily funded environmental groups. Caving to pressure, they passed laws and the environmental groups filed lawsuits that began turning off the lights in America. The dominos stated to fall.

Read the rest of the article. You'll see how as early as 1988, the EPA was laying the groundwork for the CO2 horseshit.

I was the first to raise my hand to ask a question, "How can you defend your global warming hypothesis when you have omitted the effects of clouds which affect heat balance far more than carbon dioxide, and when your hypothesis contradicts the paper by Lee in the Journal of Applied Meteorology in 1972 that shows the atmosphere does not behave like a greenhouse?"

He answered me by saying, "You do not know what you are talking about. I know more about how the atmosphere works than you do."

Not being one to drop out of a fight, I responded, "I know many of the atmospheric scientists in this room, and many others who are not present but I do not know you. What is your background and what makes you know so much more than me?"

He answered, "I know more than you because I am a lawyer and I work for the EPA."

I hope you all have a way of providing for your own power, heat, and probably food. In the very near future, getting any of them commercially is going to be increasingly difficult and costly.

But it's for your own good, you silly, stupid citizen. Be thankful for the people we have showing us The Way.

I'm sure the 200 workers at the Columbia Falls plan are very thankful, indeed.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Corruption, Eco-fraud, Ethics, Fascism, Global Warming, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, welfare state

I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.
--Unknown

When searching for dehydrated or freeze-dried foods for our preps, I kept running into Textured Vegetable Protein, or TVP. It is a dried soy product designed to act as a vegetarian meat substitute. Most of us have eaten TVP and not realized it. Many "bacon bits" are actually flavored TVP.

The stuff I saw was either beef or chicken flavored, or plain. I noticed that my grocery store was selling the plain stuff in the bulk section, so I picked up a couple of pounds to test out.

TVP is very healthy food. If I'm doing my math right, it has about half the protein as an equal portion (by weight after re-hydration) but twice the value, as chicken breast.

[Snap to! Pay attention here!]

1 1/4 cups of dried TVP combined with 1 1/4 cups of boiling water will roughly give you a pound of TVP "meat".

The TVP costs approximately $2.50 a pound, dry. The 1 1/4 cups of dry TVP weighs approximately 4 ounces (or a quarter pound). To get a pound of TVP "meat" costs $0.63 ($2.50/4). You get 60 grams of protein in that pound (12 grams per quarter cup dry, times 5, one-quarter cup portions), at a cost of about a penny per gram.

Raw, boneless chicken breast costs approximately $2 per pound. You get 108 grams of protein in that pound (27 grams per quarter pound portion), at about two pennies per gram.

Soooooo, TVP is about twice as protein-rich on a penny-for-penny basis when compared to chicken breast.

[OK, you can nod off again...]
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So, it appears to be a good value, but if it tastes like crap, who cares? It has to be something you'll eat and use to actually have value.

Here's what the stuff looks like before being re-hydrated -


It's kind of a dry, crunchy breakfast cereal texture. You add equal volumes of boiling water, cover it and let it sit for 10 minutes before using. It puffs up in volume by about 75%. A cup and a quarter of the stuff puffed up to about 2 and a quarter cups of "meat".

The smell and taste of the re-hydrated stuff was OK. I can't tell you what it was like, but it wasn't unpleasant. Perhaps along the lines of cooked, unflavored chicken breast - pretty non-descript.

I took the re-hydrated TVP, added one egg, a tablespoon of flour and a teaspoon of beef bullion and made up a "burger" patty. I wanted to see what the stuff tasted like with just a bit of seasoning.

It browned up pretty well, though it was a little "crumbly" in texture -


Not bad in taste, but nothing to write home about.

Most of the 100% vegetarian recipes I had viewed were heavy on the spices and herbs. I took the remaining "meat" and added a bunch of Mexican-food spices - cumin, red pepper flakes, a bit of chile powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

I decided to pan fry it to resemble diced meat for tacos or burritos -


It was much tastier than the patty, although the texture would not fool anyone into thinking it was ground beef or chicken. It looked, smelled and tasted very good.
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The vast majority of recipes I found for TVP used them as a meat extender. The recipes called for anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 addition of TVP. I decided to make up some Italian sausage using 2 pounds of pork and 1 pound (re-hydrated weight) of TVP.


I added approximately a tablespoon each of fennel seed, dehydrated diced garlic, dehydrated diced onion, and dehydrated parsley, two teaspoons of salt, plus a teaspoon each of red pepper flakes, black pepper and onion powder.

I made up a patty to check for flavor -


It was moist, tender and friggin' delicious! The only "give-away" was that the crust was a bit more crunchy than a normal sausage patty.

Emboldened by my success, I made up a couple dozen meatballs for dinner -


They were absolutely indistinguishable from "regular" meatballs.

Since I added the TVP, I didn't add any bread crumbs to the normal recipe. They were incredibly moist and flavorful.

Most importantly, they got Two-Thumbs-Up from my family.
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TVP will absolutely, positively be added to our preps. It's a great high protein, low weight, low cost addition.

I also definitely see it being added to our regular food menus in things like sausage or anything that needs ground meat such as tacos, meat sauces, lasagna and the like. It will simply be used as an extender of real meat, but probably not be used by itself.

TVP - It's not just for bacon bits anymore!

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, Self-Reliance

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
--James Madison

I live in a Northern Californian county called Contra Costa. We are the third largest county in the SF Bay Area. With nearly 1 million residents (of the 6.7 million in the Bay Area) we're one of the Big Dogs on the block.

Our current Sheriff is retiring. This guy is a piece of work - at least regarding 2A rights. Basically, the only way you can get a Concealed Carry Permit is to be a part of the Sheriff's Posse. Even then, it's not guaranteed, even if you meet all of the other state standards.

There is at least one person who has officially thrown his hat into the ring for the job. David Livingston is the current Chief of Police of our county's largest city. There looks like there will be at least one other candidate - a current Lieutenant of the Sheriff's department.

I just sent Livingston this letter seeking his views on basic 2A rights:

Mr. Livingston,

I am a long-time resident of Contra Costa County, having lived here for 35 years, including the past 21 in Eastern Contra Costa. I am an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, and Second Amendment rights are very important to me.

I would appreciate a response to the following questions:

1. Concealed Carry Permits allow law-abiding citizens to legally carry a handgun to defend themselves, their family and others in the community in the event a criminal chooses to harm or kill others. As you are no doubt aware, the state of California gives the Sheriff the ability to grant these Permits. Many counties in the state are considered, "Shall Issue" counties - as long as the applicant meets the requirements (demonstrate firearms proficiency, not a felon, etc.), they are granted a Permit.

Three parts: (A) If you are elected Sheriff, under what conditions will you issue Concealed Carry Permits? (B) Assuming an applicant meets all other applicable standards, will you consider, "Self Defense" as "Good cause" for granting a Permit? (C) Do you support laws similar to the AB 357 which would have made California a "Shall Issue" state?

2. The California Legislature recently passed AB 962 which will require, among other things, that law abiding citizens submit to registration and finger printing whenever they wish to purchase ammunition in this state. As with any law, the criminals affected by it will disregard it. They're criminals. California already has myriad laws addressing penalties for criminals buying or possessing ammunition. AB 962 will ONLY be followed by law abiding citizens. Since they are allowed to purchase and possess ammunition, it is a pointless intrusion into our lives and an invasion of our privacy.

Two parts: (A) What are your views on AB 962? (B) Will you support the NRA's and other Second Amendment Rights organizations in working to overturn this law before it goes into effect?

The same questions will be posed to anyone else that decides to run for the position of Sheriff. I will share your responses with my 1,400 fellow members of the Diablo Rod and Gun Club.

Thank you for your time.

The Other Mike S.

I'll pass along any responses. I'm not hopeful. His current city is as liberal as they come in Contra Costa.

Plus, I probably just put myself on an Enemies List. Oh well, now is not the time to go quietly into the night...

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.
--Confucius

Before I get started, a bit of a heads up: I'm on a bunch of prepper mailing lists. There is a guy out there that sells seeds for survival (hint, hint). I bought some of his seeds and was/am very happy with the purchase.

I'm on one of his mailing lists. He recently sent out an email touting a new gig he has - dehydrated foods. He has a special offer of a year's worth of food -for two people - for $595 plus $50 shipping.

Sounded great. Almost too great.

I did some math based upon the nutritional information on his site for the foods you get. I sent him this email message -

How can you say this is enough food for two people for one year? Based upon the published numbers on your site, the total calories provided by your package is 224,215. For two people, that would be 307 calories per day per person. No one can survive on that. This isn't enough food for one person for a year, let alone two.

I am still waiting for a reply explaining a mistake in the numbers or in the claims, but none has yet been received, so I wanted to give you all the information in case you got the same email pitch.

Caveat emptor.
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Alright, on to the star of the show - Cold Packed Meat.

A while ago, Hermit did a post on how he did a test by living on his prep foods for something like 4 months straight. He had a lot of great information about how it worked out.

One of the things he noted was how he went through his canned meat faster than he had expected. This struck a cord with me. I've got meat in my preps, but my instincts tell me I don't have enough in terms of volume and variety.

I currently have Spam, corned beef, chicken, clams and sardines in my preps. They are all store-bought meats. In reality, I'm probably the only one that would willingly eat the Spam and sardines.

I've Hot Packed meat before. You brown the meat up, put it in hot jars, cover with a broth and pressure cook it. I liked the hamburger I did this way. Virtually no difference between regular and jarred meat once the jarred stuff is warmed up.

Where I was disappointed was when I Hot Packed chunks of meat. In my case, I did it to beef and pork. To my tastebuds, it was too dry and crumbly. My hope was to have the meat more resemble the texture of meat when you put it in a stew or similar dish - moist and juicy.

I had read about Cold Packed Meat. With this technique, you pack the raw meat into cold jars. The only thing you add is a bit of salt to the jar. After it cooks up, the meat is left in its own juices. My understanding was that it would be more tender, as it was only cooked ONCE - in the jar.

So, I cut up a bunch of beef, pork and chicken breast -


Each pint jar got nothing more than 1/4 teaspoon of salt. They were packed to within an inch of the rim. I put them in the pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes.

Here's a representative sample of each meat after cooking -


Left to right, that's pork, chicken and beef.

One of the things I got conflicting information on was how tightly to pack the jars with the meat chunks. Some said to pack them tightly, some said to pack them loosely. My gut said to do it loosely, as it would ensure that the meat near the center of the jars was fully cooked.

The pork and beef, being more "rigid" meats, packed loosely. The chicken breast naturally packed down more tightly.

As it turns out, tight packing is the way to go. When the meat cooks, it shrinks. Look at the pork and beef jars. The meat is sticking out above the juice line. It was VERY dry. Also, the beef and pork shrink up much more than the chicken.

In general, the texture of all of the meats was similar to commercially canned tuna. Very flaky.


From upper right, moving clockwise - Chicken, Beef, Pork. Of all the meats, the pork was the juiciest (the part that remained under the juice). Chicken was next, and the beef seemed to suck the moisture out of my mouth!

It looks like I'm not going to get my moist, juicy chunks-o-meat. The jarred meat will have to be used more as an accompaniment to a meal rather than being the main star. It (and the awesome juices) will be added to rice, barley and potato dishes, plus stews and soups.

I took some of the chicken and made chicken salad sandwiches. Mayo, relish, salt and pepper. Honestly, it was the best chicken salad I've ever had. Really great stuff.
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The Cold Pack method was much easier. You don't need to cook the meat first. Nor do you need to first make up a broth. Chop, stuff and cook. Easy peezy.

It takes a bit less than 1 pound of meat to fill a pint jar. Figure you'll need to buy a pound per jar, as you need to trim off as much fat from the meat as possible prior to cooking.

So, if you're going to do Cold Packed meat, be sure to tightly pack the meat, especially with beef and pork. Since the meat is going to breakdown anyway, cut it into smaller pieces to start with. This will aid in the tight packing, and ensure there is enough natural juice produced to keep all of the meat covered in the jar.



After the first experiment, I cooked up 4 more jars of chicken breast, and they turned out great. I'm heading to the store today and if there is pork or beef on sale, I'll buy up a bunch to put into the jars.

My next experiment will be with my homemade Italian sausage. I want to see how they will hold up in the jars. As I understand it, you need to brown and partially cook sausages before jarring.

I need to try jarring fish as well. They've been having sales on whole salmon, so maybe I'll give it a shot. I'll post the results whenever I get around to the tests.

Labels: American Spirit, Life and Times, Self-Reliance

Email, received today -

Dear Friend of Liberty,

For far too long, the Republican Party has been controlled by the “neoconservatives,” those who readily abandon the free market at the drop of a hat if it means expanding government power and who think the United States should be the policeman of the world. They want us to support those who throw substance and principle to the wind in favor of political expediency.

Last Monday night, Senator Lindsey Graham reiterated his disdain for Ron Paul and limited government conservatives at a town hall when he said that he was not going to allow the Republican Party to be “hijacked by Ron Paul.”

Instead, he thinks we should get behind those who he tells us “can win,” even if it means abandoning every belief we hold dear in the process.

In addition to his afternoon appearance on Judge Napolitano’s Freedom Watch, Congressman Paul will be responding to the neoconservatives on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer tonight at 6 pm eastern and also on MSNBC’s The Ed Show at 6:30 pm eastern.

CNN has shared with my staff that they want to hear from you on this issue. Contact The Situation Room and let them know you think neoconservatism has had its day and it is time for our elected officials to stick to the Constitution.

In our efforts over the past two years, we have made it clear we will no longer be silent while those who claim to believe in limited government and freedom behave exactly the opposite and help run our country into the ground.

The freedom movement is growing larger every day, and we will take our country back without abandoning our principles to do so.

In Liberty,

John Tate

President

Make your voices heard.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Ethics, Fascism, Media Bias, Propaganda, Self-Reliance

This lady rocks. She is a firearms instructor that specializes in teaching women how to shoot. She has found a market niche, and is filling it. Good on ya.

A couple of months back, I noticed a problem women students were having in the range - particularly indoor ranges. They were much more jumpy and jittery than the men. Much more. I did some internet searches and came across her site.

One of her articles was talking about this. She made the observation that gun shot reports are in the lower "pitch" range. Just like mens voices. She hypothesized that this was triggering some sort of primeval "danger" response in the women, which in turn manifest itself as excess jitteriness on the range.

I needed a way to acclimate the women to the sounds prior to entering the range.

To test this, I brought a digital recorder to the range with me, and recorded about 3 minutes of gun shots. With new, female students, while we are doing some of the hands-on drills BEFORE we enter the range, I have them wear headsets with the recorded gun shots being played.

So far, it seems to be working!

I don't know if it has anything to do with getting them used to the lower pitch, or if it is just giving them a taste of what's to come. I don't care! If students are less jittery while on the firing line, I'm less likely to have someone freak-out and cause a problem.
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She had an article that was her own version of The No Buy Zone. Her focus is on anti-Second Amendment companies.

She's singin' to the choir on that one! Give it a look-see. And boycott those businesses.
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Many people know that JP Morgan Chase bought WAMU. I am/was a WAMU customer.

They are in the midst of the conversion from WAMU to Chase. Having been in banking for a million years, I understand how conversions go. Stuff NEVER goes perfectly. Never.

How you handle those screw-up tells what kind of company you're dealing with.

I went to my branch on Friday to make a deposit. I always use the ATM machines. These had been swapped out months ago and converted to the Chase machines.

I put in my card, punched in my numbers and got to the main screen. There was no "deposit" option. I figured I had pushed some wrong button, so I re-did everything. Same result.

I got in line and when I got to the teller, I was terse, but polite. I let him know what had happened. His explanation turned me verbose and rude.

He said, "Oh yeah. We JUST found out about that 45 MINUTES ago."

I proceeded to tell him - and everyone else in line - that I had just pissed away 10 minutes on their machine (they're MUCH slower now). If it was not taking deposits, why didn't they put a sign on the machine stating this?

He said, "OK. Oh, the other machine works just fine."

Thankful that I was constrained by California law from carrying a weapon (jk), I said, even louder, "Do I look like the Amazing Kreskin? Am I supposed to get brain-waves from the ATM telling me which one accepts deposits?"

I got lots of chuckles from the people in line behind me. My work here was done.
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I stopped watching the Raider game mid-way through the second quarter. At this time, they are behind 28-0, and it's not even half time. A top-notch Youth Football team could kick their asses today.

JaMarcus Russell is still their quarterback because.....?

They must already be eying the 2010 draft choices...

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, Life and Times, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, welfare state

Paranoia will get you through times of no enemies better than enemies will get you through times of no paranoia.
-- Pete Granger

I had this big post planned to slam Barry and the Peace Prize. Comparing it to T-ball for little kids. You're getting recognized for not doing anything special. Just show up, and you're rewarded.

But what are you gonna do? These idiots can give a Peace Prize to Al Gore for bald-faced lies on Global Warming, and Barry for his "aspirations", if they want to. It's their "prize". It's just too bad that it gets so much press. With some of their latest choices, I'm guessing the "blush is off the rose" - hell, Barry just came out and said he wasn't worthy!

The word, "mockery" comes to mind...
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Is it because I'm jittery, or does it seem like there are A LOT more incidents of over-bearing government actions?

The crap I watched happening in Pittsburgh during the G20 crap was truly frightening. I'm not talking about the anarchists that were purposely flaunting certain laws and trashing shit. I'm talking about people getting snatched up off the street and being shoved into cars - without being arrested or given their rights. I'm talking about college students being trapped in stairwells and being gassed. I'm talking about people just standing on the street and cops on bicycles hosing them down with pepper spray.

WTF?

We all saw the videos of old ladies in New Orleans being roughed up and having her guns confiscated - all while the cops were "bugging out". Thousands of other guns were confiscated, and the government lied, denying that any of them existed.

Look at this shit - these people were a part of a food co-op and back in December of 2008 had all of their goods confiscated by Nanny by a SWAT team.




It sounds like the cops justified the confiscations on the grounds of some bullshit Health And Safety crap, plus they wanted them to get a retail food license. Yep, always gotta have the cut for Nanny, don't ya know...

Thompson explained the genesis of the raid was a series of visits to the family by an undercover agent for the state agriculture agency.

"He showed up (at the Stowers' residence) unannounced one day," Thompson explained, and "pretended" to be interested in purchasing food.

The family explained the co-op was private and they couldn't provide service to the stranger.

The agent then returned another day, stayed for two hours, and explained how he thought his sick mother would be helped by eggs from range-fed chickens to which the Stowers had access.

The family responded that they didn't sell food and couldn't help. When he refused to leave, the family gave him a dozen eggs to hasten his departure, Thompson explained.

Despite protests from the family, the agent left some money on a counter and departed.

On the basis of that transaction, the Stowers were accused of engaging in the retail sale of food, Thompson said.

Can you say, "entrapment"?

Why would you need a SWAT team to serve papers on a house that is a member of a food co-op? Was there EVER any indication there might be violence?

It seems like every small town in America now has a SWAT team. They get all suited up like Star Wars Storm Troopers and go kick some ass!

These people look like a couple of "old hippies" who just want to live a simple life. A group of like-minded people and farms got together to make their lives easier. That's a crime now?

They offended some bureaucrat and all hell broke loose.

These people were able to get legal representation and are suing the ass off the government, but at what cost? They had a year's worth of personal food stolen, plus the co-op has been in disarray in the interim. Nanny wins regardless of the outcome. Don't fuck with us.
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There are entire websites devoted to this topic, yet nothing seems to be changing. The MSM just rolls over and plays nice. Just off the top of my head, I can rattle off a bunch of Nanny-Run-Amuck crap -

Waco
Katrina
Ruby Ridge
The Mormon's in Texas
The BART cop shooting the kid in the back
Countless "No Knock" warrants gone bad
Asset Seizure Laws
The USA PATRIOT Act

Good Lord, what's going on here?
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Cache - food, guns, money, ammo, durable goods. Don't have "all your eggs in one basket". Stay off the ridge-line, but don't cower. Exercise your rights, but be prepared for "blow-back". They WILL hurt you if they desire, at least in the short-term. Have a plan. No, have multiple plans.

Document - your best chance for proving your innocence is by having proof of what is taking place. I was recently telling a friend about a "trick" we used in our bank branches.

We had big, obvious cameras in all of our lobbies so everyone knew we were filming everything that happened. In the back of the office was the recorder - right out in plain sight. It was recording everything that happened. What was not so obvious is that we also had a web feed to our central office.

If the office was robbed, we expected the crooks to take the tapes (or even the whole machine). It gave them a sense of assurance that they were going to get away with their crime, and it lowered the likelihood that one of our customers or employees would get hurt.

The fact that the entire incident was simultaneously recorded offsite never entered their heads...

Document what happens and make sure you have duplicates. Assume your primary source of evidence will be "lost". Paranoia isn't always a bad thing...
----------

[Rhetorical question...] In the past, how have the "repressive regimes" been dealt with?

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, Ethics, Fascism, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Thought Crimes, welfare state

Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.
--Martha Graham

The hectic pace continues, but I wanted to share some stuff.

I have a puzzle for the gunnies out there. I had an interesting training session this weekend, and want to see if anyone could determine the cause of this guy's problem. It is primarily a two-part problem. I nailed one part of the problem based upon our pre-lesson phone interview.

Based upon the information, plus one observation, I SHOULD have picked up the second issue more quickly (the second item took me a little over an hour to diagnose).

Interview information: He's been shooting this gun for a number of years - 5+. He is very confused and frustrated. The gun is a Beretta Elite II in 9mm.

He owns a number of rifles, and is able to shoot them all very accurately, but sucks with his handgun. He wants to have better accuracy, as he keeps the gun for self-defense in his home. The last time he shot the handgun was about 4 months ago. He buys his ammo in bulk, so training is only limited by motivation.

Observation: Relevant observations were that he tea-cups with his left hand (cups his left hand under the handle and right hand). His stance was a bit too closed and lock-kneed. Pistol presentation was a bit weak, with a lot of elbow bend in both arms. Lots of muzzle arc after presentation - he was having difficulty getting a sight picture (his Beretta had all-black sights). He had a nice, "soft" trigger pull - no slapping or jerking at all.

His shots were consistently 8-12 inches off bullseye at 7 yards. Most shots were in the lower left-hand quadrant - between 6 and 9 o'clock.

With that information, what do you think were his main problems (two of them)? He had a number of tweaks - each which improved performance, but two things produced MAJOR improvements.

Based upon this information, take your best guess as to what the major problems were. The one I figured out based upon our interview brought his shots consistently grouped just off of our 8" target (so, he had gone from 8-12 inches off center, to 4 inches off center). It took what seemed like forever to figure out the second part. In hindsight, it should have been the second or third thing I addressed - it seems so obvious now.

It was funny as hell, as soon as we got him consistently on target, I thought he was going to hug me right on the range! It was almost like he couldn't believe that is was HE that was shooting the gun. He had been shooting for years like this, and had just about given up. It was very satisfying to see.

Best part is, he signed up for two more hours...!

Post your guesses, and I'll reveal what the two major items were either in tomorrow's post or in the comments.

----------

I inadvertently got to build some skills this weekend.

We've been in our home since 2002. When we moved here, we bought a new lawnmower. For the past year or so, the engine has been having some problems, and I got a small leak in the gas tank. Then, two weekends ago, one of my son's called me out front to show me one of the rear wheels had snapped off. WTF?

They used a carriage bolt for the axle. The manufacturer had taken a 1/2 inch carriage bolt and then reduced the size of the threaded portion to 5/16", which screwed into the side of the lawnmower frame. The bolt snapped right where the threads met the smooth portion of the bold.

Well, you can't find bolt at Home Depot that are built that way. They're either 1/2' or 5/16" - not some Franken-bolt bastardization.

I figured I had two options: Bite the bullet and get a new lawnmower (a minimum of $200) or repair the wheel.

I chose the latter. I went out and bought a tap and die set. I drilled out the 5/16" hole, then used the tap to ream out and thread the hole at 1/2".

I'll be damned if it didn't work! The tap cut the threads like butter. I'm primarily a woodworking guy - I don't do a lot with metals. I thought it was going to be some complex, convoluted process. I watched a couple of Youtube video and was off to the races.

I bought an entire kit with multiple sized taps and dies for under $40, so this was a win-win for me. I got a new set of tools AND saved the money I would have to spend on a lawnmower.

I've got to find some steel rod and try making a bolt with the dies. I'm hooked!

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, Gun Grabbers, Life and Times, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

I love you like a fat kid loves cake.
--50 Cent

For some reason, I got a Jones for tamales - those magical wads of steamed meat and dough that are wrapped up in dried corn husks.

I've eaten a lot of tamales in my time. They're like a drug - I can't just take one hit. I consume them to excess. Hell, the primary reason I married my wife (of Mexican and Irish descent) was to have a regular supply of tamales and corn beef and cabbage (big, BIG joke there! Love ya, hon!).

Anyways, I had never made them before, and decided to take a swing at it. I bought the masa harina (the special corn flour needed for tamales) and the dried corn husks to wrap them up. I read the instructions on the bag of masa and saw that I also needed to pick up some lard. I was just going to use some Crisco, but my wife said that pure pork lard is the way to go.

The biggest issue with tamales is the perception that they take a long time. This CAN be true. This is all dependent on what you're going to be stuffing in the centers. If you go with a traditional shredded beef, pork or chicken tamale, from start to eating will be about 6 hours.

If you're going to stuff them with leftovers, cheese, mild chiles or go for sweet ones with raisins, they will take about 3 hours. That's about the same amount of time it takes to prepare and cook a "regular" meal of a beef roast or roasted chicken.

OK, OK, they take a bit longer than normal fare, but it's worth it, damn it! AND, the vast majority of the time you're not doing any work. They're steaming or meat is boiling. Multi-task here, people! They are great, "set it and forget it" meals.

I actually spread my cooking over two days. I took a pork roast and 4 boneless chicken breasts, put them in separate pots, covered them with water and into each pot I threw in about a quarter cup each of dehydrated garlic and dehydrated onions. I brought them to a boil, dropped the heat down to a simmer, covered the pots and cooked them for 3 hours.

The next day, first off, I put 3 bundles of dried corn husks into one of those casserole dishes - something like 9x11 inches. I filled it with warm water and put a plate on top of the husks to keep them submerged.

I then took the meat and hand-shredded it into a bowl. I strained a bit of the remaining liquid and poured it over each of the meats (still keeping them separate). Just for ease of storage, I then transferred the shredded meat and liquid into 1-gallon zip lock bags and put them in the fridge.

DO NOT THROW OUT THE REMAINING BOILING LIQUIDS! I strained them both into a large measuring cup and put that in the fridge as well.

Every recipe I read online said that you needed to "fluff" the lard. WTF? The bag of masa said the same thing. So, I took the room-temperature lard, put it in a bowl and just whipped it up with a whisk. It really did fluff up!

In a separate bowl, I put in 2 cups of the masa flour, baking powder and salt. I added 2 cups of the reserved boiling liquid and worked it into a very soft, moist dough. According to the bag, this amount of dough will turn out 20 tamales.

The instructions said you want to then mix the fluffy lard with the masa and make a spongy dough. My wife had told me that this is the most difficult part. She explained that this was why her grandmother was such a tough old broad!

I turned to technology. I whipped out my Kitchenaid mixer, and let it go to it. In a couple of minutes, I had this awesome, spongy dough!

All of the recipes I found online said that you take a corn husk, smear the wide half of the husk with dough and plop about a tablespoon of filling in the middle. None of them said how thick to make the dough. Hmmm.

I spread it about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick. I didn't know if this stuff would "proof" or contract. I was flying blind! Here's what mine looked like -


Yeah, I went over the tablespoon of filling. Sue me.

You fold one side to the center, then have the other side overlap the first. The masa acts as a glue to hold it closed. You then fold the un-doughed bottom up over the crease and fill up the steamer.


I found that each of the bundles of dried corn husks had 6 husks in it. I made a dozen tamales - half of them pork, half of them chicken. I used a pasta steamer that sits 2 inches above the bottom of the pot. Everything I read said to make sure you don't have the tamales sitting in water, or they won't cook up right.

They take about 2 1/2 hours to cook. I checked the water level every 30 minutes and added more as needed.
----------

While the tamales were steaming, I made up a Tomatillo/Green Chile salsa. The recipe was for a canned salsa recipe from New Mexico State University. It was a water bath recipe that took no time at all.

Tomatillo Green Salsa

Yield: 5 pints

5 cups chopped tomatillos
1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles
1/2 cup seeded finely chopped jalapeños
4 cups chopped onions
1 cup bottled lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp ground cumin*
3 Tbsp oregano leaves *
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet; 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.

You may use green tomatoes in this recipe instead of tomatillos.

If you're going to make this recipe, DO NOT substitute vinegar for the lemon juice. It will negatively affect the acidity of the recipe, maybe making you very sick.

Oh, and it only made 4 pints (plus a little bit more) instead of the 5 pints. It is friggin' awesome! Not too hot, but with enough punch to get ya there. This would be great chilled and eaten with tortilla chips.


The picture doesn't do it justice. It's a nice green color with fantastic flavor. It went wonderfully with the tamales -

----------

What I learned:

Use one of those silicon spreader things for spreading the masa on the corn husks. It goes much more quickly than when using the back of a spoon.

If you mess up and throw out the meat boiling liquid, use a bullion cube to make up some broth. You really want to have that extra flavor in the masa once it is cooked.

Pull the steamer cage out of the pot and let them cool for a half hour or so before eating them. Aside from being cool enough to stuff into your face, the masa firms up a bit, making them easier to peel from the husks.

I've got at least half of the meat left, so I'll be steaming up a batch of these bad boys for lunch or an afternoon snack. Happy as a pig in slop.....

Labels: American Spirit, Life and Times, Self-Reliance

A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.
--Ayn Rand

I've just been crazy-busy, and it will continue this week (muy importante meeting/presentation on Wednesday), so posts may be a bit light.

Here's a quickee, "You must be shittin' me" item.

So, Senator Baucus has put together his flavor for the Universal Health Care scam. Instead of providing the entire thing like the House did, he only provided a summary. Without the specifics, it's much more difficult to pick something apart. Smart guy.

Still, someone sent the senator a question about being thrown in prison because of his bill.

Under the health care bill being considered in the Senate Finance Committee, Americans who fail to pay a penalty for not buying insurance could be charged up to $25,000 by the Internal Revenue Service or face up to a year in jail, according to congressional analysts.

Let that sink in: If you don't get health care insurance, you will go to prison. You are being threatened at the point of a gun to participate in a socialist scam.

Unlike Social Security, which is stolen from you by your employer on behalf of Nanny, this requires your active participation. People will not take this, and will fight back. Violently.

I will actively cheer the people that shoot back.
----------

I don't know if any of you watched the Raiders/Broncos game. It is always a sell-out, and the most raucous game of the year. You can taste the hatred in the air.

It's awesome!

This year, it wasn't even sold out. I'm guessing 20% of the seats were unsold. By half-time, the stadium was half full.

Our "quarterback" (in quotes on purpose) - JaMarcus Russell is a total loss. He was booed after each of his series in the first half. In the second half, he was booed as he came on to the field. Then the chants of, "Russell Sucks!" took over.

They did nothing to fix the situation. Russell was playing horribly - again - and it was clear that the Vote Of Non-Confidence from the crowd made matters even worse. This guy is Jello, not an NFL quarterback.

Put him in a pretty pink skirt, sit his ass on the bench, and go win some football games.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Corruption, democrats, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

There is a serious tendency toward capitalism among the well-to-do peasants.
--Mao Tse-Tung

I've been in a bit of a funk lately with so much of what's going on in the news. The video of the kids singing the praises of Barry. The video being shown to kids all around the nation on the evils of capitalism. Barry being lovingly embraced by all of the world's socialist rulers. It was a bit much.

What disturbed me the most was a side-show to the G20 conference. It turns out, this ended up being the center-stage for the little get-together -

Struggling with a contentious issue, world leaders have reached basic agreement on limiting the bonuses of bankers whose risky behavior contributed to the global financial meltdown, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday at a summit of the world's largest economies.

I read that line in utter disbelief. Can we really be joining forces with other countries in the world to regulate the income of a group of people? Can this really be happening?

Apparently so -

The treasury secretary said the G-20 countries had reached a consensus on the "basic outline" of a proposal to limit bankers' compensation by the end of this year. He said it would involve setting separate standards in each of the countries and would be overseen [by] the Financial Stability Board, an international group of central bankers and regulators.

Hmmm. The Financial Stability Board. That sounds like one of the many global organizations that were established in the (supposedly) fictional Atlas Shrugged.

Are they really going to let some entity other than a bank's Board of Directors set the pay of their employees? It is horrific enough to think of our own government doing this, but being dictated to by some quasi-New World Order organization is too much to comprehend.
----------

I needed some "hopeful" reading material.

Barry keeps popping off that he is a big capitalist - he just loves that shit. But everything he does is the exact opposite. He doesn't encourage individualism and entrepreneurship, he rewards the collective.

If he wants to get all "worldly" on us, maybe he should meet this international group of folks.

They are 10 entrepreneurs that turned hard work into billions. Daddy didn't give them a big pile of money. These folks earned every damned dime they have.

In fact, of the Forbes list of the 900+ billionaires in the world, two-thirds of them made their riches on their own. No silver spoon involved.

Here's another list (albeit with some repeats from the other list).

Black or white or Asian or Hispanic. Men or women. College educated or drop-outs.

If you allow and encourage people to take advantage of the gifts they were born with, the cream will rise to the top. This "coddle the down-trodden" bullshit IS KILLING US!
----------

Remember: That list was for billionaires. Our country has millions of millionaires.

I was watching the new Jay Leno show last night, and Rush was on it. I was surprised, but he and Jay got into it pretty heavily. Jay was basically asking, "How much is enough?" with regards to salaries (I'm guessing he would change his tune if Barry suddenly targeted the entertainment industry).

Rush made the precisely correct statement - It's not a zero-sum game. Just because someone is making tons of money doesn't mean it's coming out of the pocket of someone else. In fact, just the opposite is true.

If I buy something for $X, add value and sell it for $X + $10, my supplier and I BOTH make money - neither at the detriment of anyone else. This false thesis that people get rich off of the backs of others is bullshit.

Yes, there are unscrupulous people. In business, in religion, in academia and in politics. Especially in politics. But you don't shut down an entire economic structure because of a few bad apples. You destroy the rotted fruit.

That is a roll of government, although the market usually does a better job of it all by itself.
----------

So, what is your gift? What skill do you possess that you can leverage to make you buckets-o-money? The people on the Forbes list provided a product or service that lots of people wanted. They packaged it in such a way that they beat their competition - very few of them actually created something new. They produced a better product or service than what was being offered by the competition, and were rewarded for their efforts.

I've always preached that making lots of money is not an ends by itself. It simply gives you the freedom to do what you want. The more money you have, the more choices you have.

You had better get moving, though, on your earth-shattering idea. Barry and Timmy may be targeting your market niche next.
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An Atlas Shrugged Moment of Zen -

“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia, “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?”

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

There is more similarity in the marketing challenge of selling a precious painting by Degas and a frosted mug of root beer than you ever thought possible.
-- A. Alfred Taubman

Check this out: I do a weekly newsletter for my biz. It gives tips and insights into personal protection. I touch on awareness, self-defense tools (from pepper spray to handguns) and home defense strategies. It is pretty well received.

I'm putting an issue together on selecting the right self-defense tool based upon your personal lifestyle. Are you young and agile, or older and less mobile? Do you have a lot of kids in and out of your home? What kinds of situations do you often find yourself in that MAY require you to defend yourself (like walking your dog in the park)? Stuff like that.

I was looking through the Internet to gather some crime statistics (fear sells!). I found this on the FBI website -


Astounding. What amazed me is that all of these numbers have improved (gone down) over the stats from 2007!

----------

I need some help. MOSTLY from folks that do not have much (or any) firearms training experience, although input/votes from anyone is appreciated.

I've been offering a couple of classes for firearms, and the response has been "tepid" to say the least. Everything has been through referrals.

The main class is one that is targeted (pun intended) at prospective gun buyers who don't know if they want/need a semi-auto or a revolver. The class is based upon the NRA First Steps class - I just expand it to include both types of firearms.

They get all of the classroom safety and technical training, then go to the range to shoot a number of semi's and revolvers.

The class includes 50 rounds of ammo (25 for each type of gun), eye and ear protection, plus all of the NRA handbooks/brochures/certificates. They pay for the range time and targets.

How much would you pay for this class? This assumes that you have picked me from Internet searches or newspaper ads - NOT from a personal referral. You're a "cold" lead.

We all have a perception of value in our heads. If a price exceeds that, we will often times automatically "shut down" and move on. Where is your, "no friggin' way" line?



----------

Next week, I am meeting with the owner of a new indoor range to try and work out an arrangement for me to do the training at their range. They will sell guns, ammo and other equipment - as well as offer training. So far, these guys are falling all over themselves to hear what I have to offer. We'll see if we can make this work.

Pricing for this will be interesting. I would categorize these leads as "warm" leads. They've taken the time to get off their butts and actually walk into the shop looking for a gun. They've crossed the, "guns scare me" barrier, and moved into the, "crime scares me more" space.

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, Life and Times, Self-Reliance

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.
--Oscar Wilde

A buddy and I were talking yesterday about what's going on in the economy. We were talking about some different strategies for buffering ourselves for what's coming down the line. The difficulty is in knowing exactly what's coming - and when.

We discussed everything from the purchase of real property to going big into precious metals. The idea being putting our money in places where we would have something tangible to hold on to if/when we get a financial SHTF, but not being totally screwed if by some miracle, the economy makes a real, significant rebound.

From where I sit, I simply cannot see a way around the US being battered mercilessly by both inflation and taxation.

From AIER - The American Institute For Economic Research

Over the next 10 years, federal spending is projected to remain at historically high levels, revenues are projected to rise from their current post-World War II lows to near postwar highs, and ongoing federal deficits are projected to add $10 trillion to the federal debt. This according to the latest analysis from White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

The AIER analysis is based upon projections by the White House, so I personally consider this to be a Best Case Scenario. In delving into the White House numbers, I see that they've only budgeted a bit over $600 billion (over 10 years) for Universal Health Care. Of course it will be considerably more than that. The recent "affordable" Senate version had a price tag of "less than $900 billion" according to Senator Baucus.

Reality will probably be triple that number. At least. And we're going to have to pay for it somehow.

On the spending side, outlays are now at 25 percent of GDP, the highest since World War II. This percentage is projected to fall as the economy rebounds and the financial crisis passes, leveling off at 23 percent of GDP, which again would be unusually high in historical terms.

One source of higher outlays will be rising interest payments on the ballooning federal debt. By 2019, the government is projected to spend more on interest payments than on national defense.

Where will THAT money come from? Does anyone who has lived in America for longer than 60 seconds believe that one, single Federal program will be cut to pay for the increased debt payments? Really?!

And then there are us Boomers -

Moreover, these projections stop in 2019, before the full wave of baby-boom retirements hits Social Security and Medicare. So the longer-term budget outlook is actually even worse. Barring some unexpected improvement or a stretch of exceptionally rapid economic growth, it would appear that some combination of higher taxes, reduced spending, or increased inflating (printing more money) is inevitable.

I guess some, "stretch of exceptionally rapid economic growth" could hit, but I'm not betting on it.

In the 1980's and 1990's there was a "buzz" with computers and the Internet. We could see progress. Chips kept getting smaller, faster and cheaper. Memory got bigger and cheaper. We went from 1200 baud to T-1 speeds seemingly overnight. There was reason for optimism because all of the changes were truly innovative. It wasn't a re-branding of old ideas.

What do we have before us now? Giving more free shit away to more people. Jobs will be all "green" - even though everywhere it's been force-fed in the past, it's failed. We have the government attempting to control the economy, instead of letting the capitalists do their thing.

Why innovate when the fruits of your labors will be taken from you?
----------

Fed Head Bernanke is now laying the groundwork for the excuses. The excuses for why the economy just won't respond to his ministrations -

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to stoke a U.S. economic recovery may be undermined by the central bank’s other goal of restoring the banking system to health.

The Federal Open Market Committee, at the conclusion tomorrow of a two-day meeting, will probably maintain its assessment that “tight” bank credit is impeding growth, said economists including former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley. Lending contracted for five straight weeks through Sept. 9, a drop that in part reflects Fed orders to banks to raise more capital and toughen lending standards, analysts say.

If you dig deeper into the article, the real reason for the tightened lending standards is uncovered - the soon-to-go-tits-up commercial real estate market.

Falling values of commercial real estate are also a problem for banks, with an “uncertain degree of losses” to come, said Ryding, a former Fed researcher. Loans made for commercial property will probably sour and lenders will need to raise more capital to cover credit losses, Mike Mayo, a banking analyst at CLSA Ltd., said today at a conference in Hong Kong.

Banks are preparing for the massive hit that's coming. To put it into perspective, the FDIC has $10 billion or so in cash. Some are predicting it will cost them in the range of $400-$500 billion (to a worst-case estimate of $800 billion) before this financial system hemorrhaging is complete.

How do we NOT raise taxes or feed inflation by printing more money?
----------

As I've written before, I hope TS doesn't HTF before late October/early November. If things can hold together until then, my family should be in a good position to plop ourselves down on a semi-rural piece of property with very little debt.

It will allow us to significantly reduce our monthly outlays. That, in turn, reduces the amount of reportable income that is necessary to justify our lifestyle to Nanny (should they come snooping around).

One of the reasons we're taking this path is that we can't see a down-side to it. If the economy is somehow able to rebound, we're sitting even prettier. If it tanks as I believe, we could slide under most of Barry's (and his successors) tax tiers to help us to NOT fund this bastardization of America.

As God is my witness, I hope Barry, Ben and Tim's plan works. But, I don't see a snowball's chance in hell of it happening, and I'm not willing to bet my family's future on "hope".

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

I'm only grouchy and moody on days that end with Y.
--Unknown

I just had a "lively" exchange on the role of government over at Pearl's place. The broad topic was about when private industry and government are in the same "business," private industry ALWAYS does a better job.

Hell yeah!

Still, I took issue with one paragraph she posted -

Here is where I am. Everyone wants people to get the medical treatment they need - EVERYONE. You have to be a rotten SOB to deny medical care - seriously. Thats why in this country you can walk into any hospital and get treatment. Yeah, we roll like that here in the USA.

My issue was that I don't believe health care is a right.

Health care, like any other service, requires the skills of another person and the assets of another organization. You don't have a right to require that they divest themselves of their skills and assets.

Meadowlark (of whom I'm a big fan!) took issue with me taking issue (click Pearl's link above to see the exchange)!

In my eyes, it all boils down to morality. I don't want the federal government imposing its definition of morality on my pocketbook.

As an example, in my discussion with Meadowlark, I noted that in the eyes of the federal government, a poor child needing health care is exactly equal to a heroin addict that has chosen to pump himself full of drugs. Both of them get exactly the same level of care, because Nanny says so.

I think that is immoral.

In yesterday's post, I grumbled about being pissed off because Nanny is giving away 10% of our national supply of Swine Flu production.

Why are they even involved in this in the first place? Shouldn't this be handled at the local hospital, or perhaps at the state level? The Feds have no Constitutional right to be doing this (only the brute force power), but in one fell swoop, they not only do so, then some bureaucrat in DC decides it's the "moral thing" to give a huge chunk of it away.

WTF?

Where's it going to go? Who's going to get it? Who decides who gets it? How much is this going to cost us for the vaccine AND its administration? If one single American dies because he or she could not get a dose, who will be held responsible?

If we want to encourage compassion, maybe Barry could squeeze in a public service announcement between his ObamaCare speeches, and ask American's to give to their favorite charity to send some vaccine abroad.

Ahhh, but then he loses the power and prestige of spending YOUR money for you. His compassion is coming out of your hide.
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Perhaps I AM a mean, grumpy SOB. I don't care. I've been a silent partner to this disgusting abuse of federal power for much too long. No more.

I know we're too far gone to get this to change - at least in my lifetime - but that doesn't mean I have to quietly go along for the ride. Maybe my kid's kids can reminisce about, "that old grumpy SOB, Grandpa Other Mike", and have things different for their lives.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

You lie!
-- SC Representative Joe Wilson to Barack Obama

Barry did his health care speech last night. I could not listen to it live. I had the same problem when Dubya would talk. I knew that if his lips were moving, he was lying to me, one way or the other. I knew that it would cost me either money or freedom, or both.

It's the same with Barry.

The TV and radio were both playing clips of the speech, and I had it in my head to discuss his comment that marginalized Americans who are exercising their right to petition the government for a redress of grievances as "bickering".

I spent a part of this morning reading the transcripts of the health care speech. I wanted to see what he said, not be influenced by how he said it.

The transcripts took me down another path.
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What is a 'right'? I found a definition that most matches with my beliefs on FreeRepublic.com -

A right is the sovereignty to act without the permission of others. The concept of a right carries with it an implicit, unstated footnote: you may exercise your rights as long as you do not violate the same rights of another—within this context, rights are an absolute.

I like that. You can do as you wish as long as it doesn't stop another person from exercising the same right. For example, I don't get to exercise my right to keep and bear arms, then use my guns to stop someone else from doing the same.

This concept of exercising rights while not infringing on the rights of another goes deeper, though. Your ability to exercise your rights cannot place a burden on another individual.

Simply because you want to exercise your first amendment right to free speech, does not give you the right to require a newspaper to spend their money on paper, ink, presses and manpower to print your words.

If you want your words in print, you must bear the burden of getting them printed.

Again, FreeRepublic said it very well -

A right must be exercised through your own initiative and action. It is not a claim on others. A right is not actualized and implemented by the actions of others. This means you do not have the right to the time in another person’s life. You do not have a right to other people’s money. You do not have the right to another person’s property. If you wish to acquire some money from another person, you must earn it—then you have a right to it. If you wish to gain some benefit from the time of another person’s life, you must gain it through the voluntary cooperation of that individual—not through coercion. If you wish to possess some item of property of another individual, you must buy it on terms acceptable to the owner—not gain it through theft.

The only legitimate claim or burden placed upon another is through taxes paid to the government to enforce your rights. Using the example from above, the government is not in place to provide you with printing presses. They are there to ensure you can operate your presses.
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fascism - a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

So, I read through Barry's speech, and I was horrified. Plain as day - with no qualification or excuse - he is conferring a right to a select few individuals, and requiring that I pay for it.

Now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those -- especially the young and the healthy -- who still want to take the risk and go without coverage. There may still be companies that refuse to do right by their workers by giving them coverage. The problem is, such irresponsible behavior costs all the rest of us money. If there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits. If some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors. And unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek -- especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions -- just can't be achieved.

In one fell swoop, he is granting a right to health care. It's actually more than that - he's requiring you have health care insurance if you live in the United States. Most importantly, it will be a crime if you don't have health care insurance.

In the good old days, before a new right could be granted, the congress and the states had to agree to it. It used to be called the 'amendment process' as detailed in Article 5 of the Constitution.

Now, we just pass a law, and it's called, 'progress'.

Suppressing dissent. Regimenting industry and commerce. Aggressive nationalization.

Sounds like fascism to me. What else could it be called?
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Look at what he's saying, and the implications -

If there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits.

He's using a federal law that prohibits a hospital from refusing treatment to anyone that shows up on their doorstep, as rationale for requiring we all continue to pay for this treatment, but in a different way, and somehow it will be less expensive.

How about you allow private hospitals to turn people away, or to at least transfer them to the county hospitals that were established for the indigent?

But far and away, this was the single most frightening aspect of his 'vision' -

If some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors.

I thought he was all about 'competition'. Why not just be right out front and say you are nationalizing all business in America?

There are a million things that go into a company business plan. Price, product, quality, location. A huge component is employees.

A business makes a decision on how to least expensively produce its product or service. It may decide that it doesn't give a damn who fills the jobs it has. Quality and customer service are irrelevant - it just wants to produce the most products for the lowest cost and charge the highest prices it can get. The market will decide if their business plan is correct - they'll either buy the product or not.

Another business may wish to pay a salary of 150% of the market, offer flexible scheduling, a great 401k plan, but no other fringe benefits. They may believe they can retain the best employees for their particular business with that model. Their employees can decide to spend the higher wages on health care insurance or on crack cocaine. Or leave and take a job with a company that DOES offer benefits. It's their choice. Again, the market will decide if their business plan is correct.

Barry's plan takes those options away. If a business is mandated to offer benefits, IT is now placed at a competitive disadvantage. It will either have to cut salaries, cut employees, cut retirement benefits or cut quality to stay competitive. Or go out of business.

Is Barry going to tell them what to cut as well - or allow them to make any cuts at all?
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I'm telling you, if this passes, there will be one way, and one way only to survive: Get out of the tax paying business.

The 'public option' will destroy the private insurers. Despite Barry's assurances that not a single tax dollar will be spent on the plan, do even the most parched Koolaid drinkers believe that?

Pretty soon, Nanny HealthCo will be the only game in town, and your tax dollars will be paying for it.

The end result will be crappy, rationed health care for all. If you're going to get the same care whether you pay for it or not, why pay?
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An Atlas Shrugged Moment of Zen -

"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it...

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.

Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, debate, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all—except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.
--John Fitzgerald Kennedy

I need some input and some ideas.

I'm working on a project that includes information on emergency communications. I've got the basics covered on how a family can communicate by having a pre-selected location to leave messages during a disaster.

You can generally use a cell phone to call outside of a disaster area - the circuits are jammed coming in, but going out of the area, they are generally available. You select a family member that is sufficiently geographically removed, and they act as a clearing house of sorts to pass along messages.

You can get a ham radio license. You can have CB radios. Standard land-line phones (NOT wireless models) will typically work even when there is a power outage.

For one-way communications, you can have battery-, solar- or dynamo-powered radios so you know what's going on in the outside world.

I've got this covered. But what do you do when communications are purposely disabled?
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I was watching the traveling chef, Anthony Bourdain, on the Travel Channel last night. He was in Thailand when a state of emergency was put into effect. It got me thinking about how you would communicate with others if the government effectively shut down all communications.

Let's say that Barry or one of his successors decides that we're under some sort of dangerous situation, and enacted any of the martial law-like powers they've granted themselves, and they restrict communication only to government entities.

They shut down cell towers, land lines and the Internet. They jam all CB and ham radio frequencies. No phone calls, emails, blog postings, Tweets or MySpace posts unless they go through government censors first.

Waddaya do?

What if the restrictions are only focused on you? What if you're a Randy Weaver or Branch Dividian? A situation where the "free media" - newspapers, TV, Internet - is still intact, but you are shut down?

How do you make sure people know what's going on with your situation?
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For the first instance - total shut-down of all communications - I guess it would be through word-of-mouth, and some sort of underground newspaper would emerge. Communications would be made via more "primitive" means - analogue versus digital. Fliers, rogue newspapers, graffiti, etc.

I'm at a loss for the second situation - where you or your group are the target. Do you set up some sort of message that is published in the event that X, Y or Z happens? A YouTube video journal or post-dated blog entry?

I'd love to hear some ideas for either of these situations. OK, I'm begging for some ideas!
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You know about steganography, right? It's the practice of using one digital object to hide another object inside the first.

A few years ago, I did a demonstration of steganography for our board of directors. I showed them a picture of our bank's logo - a JPG image.

I told them that I could hide any information about the bank that I wished right under their noses. They laughed, literally out loud.

I told them that I could hide our business plans, individual compensation information, confidential federal regulator reports or anything else I wished, and no one would be the wiser.

I ran the image through a program, and magically, out popped a Word document. The document said -

Mike just saved your asses. Give him a raise.

That got a nice chuckle from the board, but showed them how vulnerable we were to information leaks. Leaks that would be virtually impossible to protect against (at least at the time).

Steganography works by using the un-used "space" inside of every type of file. It fills that space with whatever data you wish without affecting the quality of the original file (usually an image file). The only way you can tell the file has been altered is if you know the exact size (in bytes) of the original file, and compare that with the new file.

You, too, can use steganography to hide information that you might want to pass along to someone else, but don't want an electronic trail that leads back to you.

There are a number of free programs out there (i.e. Invisible Secrets) free for the taking. You just take your image and whatever information you want and mash them together, and post the image somewhere on the Internet.

Let's say you have a bunch of photos of your latest outing to the beach that you upload to Picasa or one of the other free photo sites. You add the information to one of the images that is uploaded. The person that needs the information downloads that image to their computer, runs it through the program, and bang-zoom! there is the information.
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Wanna pretend you're a spy?

This image file has a super-secret, rarely used document hidden inside of it. Click it to enlarge, then save it to your desktop. I used Invisible Secrets (free) to hide the message. The password to gain access to the secret document is 'nanny' (all lower case - without the apostrophes). The encryption algorithm used was Blowfish (if it's not the default, just select it from the drop-down menu). Select the destination of the super-secret document (like your Desktop) and read away.


FYI - it's a simple TXT document that contains no other junk.
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Hey, spymaster! Don't forget to leave some comments on communications during tough times...

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, Constitution, Fascism, Propaganda, Thought Crimes