REALITIES AND OTHER THINGS

POLITICAL REALITIES

It is a fact of life that a president of this country pretty much has his hands tied as to what he will do. Washington D.C. is run by a vast and highly-evolved-in-continuity bureaucracy. There is very little money in a budget for a president to play around with. Most domestic programs are set in stone and are relatively unchangeable. The one area of endeavor that is still open to the president is foreign policy. He can go around tripping the light fantastic to what ever song he wishes to play for the rest of the world. It's his one area of "somewhat" freedom that he has to show his skills at leadership. You may translate this as optimum justification for war if you wish.

And what else would you expect from a limited human being? After congress okays his cabinet nominees there isn't whole helluva lot to do. Oh, he could go watch Social Security checks being printed and mailed out. He could inspect federal buildings to see that the janitors were doing their jobs. He could check on the Corp of Engineers to see that the waters were being captured and released properly. Or he could go to various schools and read to the students. Hummm...I think that has been done recently. But a man can only stand so much of this and he really wants to do something to make his mark, to enhance his legacy. So he dabbles in foreign policy.

War is foreign policy. The smart man will pick on countries that he knows we can whip. Small countries that are very susceptible to high altitude bombing. And it doesn't matter that these countries are no threat to the USA whatsoever. Just get in there and win one for the enhancement of the American National Ego. That way people can keep on saying USA Number One! This is the surest route to getting re-elected. Either win a small war or better yet be involved in a small war and the american public will march with you down through history. You will get a bigger presidentil library, too. Can't forget that!

But the truth of the matter is that endless war causes an endless financial burden. And that will mean that we have more national debt to pay off. And more national debt means more foreign creditors. And more creditors mean more people you have to suck up to. And you start running your money printing presses overtime to pay for things. And all of this extra money floating around is good until the day of reckoning comes along. And the day of reckoning is when your own system, your own banks, start to fail. When people start to lose their own homes. And except for farm crops you really didn't have much beyond your real estate. All your manufacturing was moved off shore.

So the big creditors start doing analysis of your currency and they find that you have a couple trillion extra dollars out there in circulation and you have nothing new to back them up. Oops. So they tell you that your dollar, which was once valued at 80-some cents is now worth in the low 70-some cents. And all those generous guys in the Mid-East who once loaned so willingly and so generously have jacked your oil price to $107 dollars a barrel because your credit ain't worth the paper it's written on. Things start to fall apart internally when this happens. All kinds of things go to hell. Most americans are feeling the pinch of this. The old scrotum is getting squeezed unmercifully. Hang in there! We can still suvive this mess.

SURVIVAL

The normal way to combat this self destructing governmental policy is to go against the current of the world. Don't be a consumer, be a hoarder. That is better said if you remark that investing in tangibles is the way to go. Tangibles are just something that you can feel with your hands. Like non-hybrid seed. Like guns and ammo. Like canning jars and lids. Like extra clothing for when there ain't any more clothing. Like a stash of medications that you know are necessary. Like little gizmos that make life a bit more tolerable like fire starters and waterproof matches. I need a grill for outdoor cooking right now and ain't got it and ain't done anything about it. Shame on me if the bad times come and I can't cook over a fire in some sort of reasonable manner. And I mean SHAME ON ME. I know this shit is important and I should be taking care of it and I will when the opportunity manifests itself. All it takes it a metal fabrication that keeps stuff from falling in the fire. You can jack it in the air a bit with rocks and such from around your fire. Makes life so much easier. And it is in no way ostentatious. Old refridgertor shelves will work for a while but they are woefully inadequate for long term use.

Where I live back in the hills and hollars there is plenty of wood. It should not be a problem finding fuel to cook with. Unlike a lot of areas, the hardwood forest is pretty immune to forest fires. I wouldn't give you 10 cents to live in a pine forest. Sometimes pine does not burn, it just explodes. You hear about the huge forest fires out West every year but you don't hear about the hardwood forest burning. Stay out of the pines! It can kill you!

FOOD

After air and water, we need food. I am looking forward to gardening this year with great anticipation and others are too. We have a ton of seed to plant. Like I said earlier, I am going for beans this year. Beans can keep you afloat for a long time. You can damn sure get tired of them but it beats not living. The Handmaiden is working on getting things to add to the beans to make them taste a little better and not be so boring. Beans and Corn will do you right if you have them. I have a comment guy named Vlad who has some tasty sounding recipes for old hard beans mixed with ground corn. Some stuff that will give you some real nourishment and keep you healthy. Vlad's real name is Vlad Strelok and he can be read at http://tinyurl.com/3c46pp. I like this guy and hope he contributes more of his basic survival knowledge to us. We can use all we can get. He is a 22 fan and knows a thing or three about how to use then for various operations. He led me up on some You Tube videos that show an amazing capacity for quietness. Half liter plastic pop bottles. Cheap and available. Check him out.

MEDICINE

We don't as yet have a good volume of herbal medicines for the things that ail us. We need remedies for high blood pressure. We need disinfectants. We will need antibiotics. We already have the recipe for natural Sambucol. It's just Tincture of Black Elderberries. We need a substitute for Epsom Salts. We need a lot of stuff we don't have right now. I remember when I stacked lumber at our old Mill here at home and sometimes I would get a cut on a finger. I would merely piss on the cut and it would be okay. No infection. So any of you that know something in this area please let me know and I will get it broadcasted to my readers. Or put it in a comment. That will work!

Just work at surviving what the idiots are throwing at us. All their stupid regulations and formalities and threats and so forth have got to be overcome. We still have the Internet and while we do let us use it for our collective good, for our preparations.

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net