A COMMENT ON SOCIAL SECURITY
I made the statement that we were in better shape with NOT having Social Security privatized than we were with it privatized. I was in no way saying the fedgov was any more secure but I was trying to make the point that the fedgov could not pull the "private sector" between the people and their pensions. If the Social Security system fails then the fedgov has no one to throw off on. They have to take the blame themselves. If the checks don't come I DO NOT want Dubya to be able to say that "Wall Street got drunk." and sweep the failure under the rug. There should be a screaming amount of money in the trust fund that pays our pensions. A huge amount of money. And when it fails the people will have all the right in the world to revolt and tear the fedgov down.
PRINCIPLES OF PREPPING
The main principle of prepping is love. If you are alone and not beholden to anyone you might prep because you have self love. And self love is not all that bad. Who else is gonna love you? Self esteem is important in this respect. The next step up the prepping ladder is prepping for yourself and your mate. If young children are involved then you go to a higher level yet. After that is friends and kinfolk. We used to have Big Love in this country and part of our National Security was to have a two or three year supply of grain to feed every man woman and child in this country in the event of a nuclear holocaust or some other tragic event. And we kept eggs and butter and cheese and powdered milk and some other goodies. We were cooking on the front burners back in those days. It was almost like we were a nation of preppers. But it all got thrown away, sold on the market for money. A great idea, a sad demise.
GOVERNMENT
As I was saying recently, the national income, our taxes, is almost 90% spent before congress gets a chance to do anything with it. The full faith and credit of the United States government is behind a lot of projects. Roads, crop insurance, national defense, Social Security, all the social give-away programs, etc. I am sure you can think of more. But the job description of congress seems to be that of spender of the public wealth. The elected officials get in there and spend like crazy. And when election time comes around they basically run for re-election on how they spent the money. They come before their constituents and brag about how much they brought back to the district. And that seems to be the deciding factor in most elections. Americans are so stupid. They fall for this shit every two years. And all the bragging is over about 10% of the national budget. For many decades the cry has been tax and spend! Now days it is borrow, tax, and spend!
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
LOOKING AT THINGS
STEALING THE RETIREMENT FUNDS
As fallout 11 so aptly pointed out in his comment: "Ah, now if only they had been successful in privatizing Social Security, then they could have stolen all that money, and all your future contributions as well. As was the plan all along." This little bit of words tells the whole story. A few members of congress, mostly Democrats, refused to go along with the privatization of Social Security. And that might help us get back some of our money, or at least keep the money rolling in a little while longer. I remember the talk back in the day. "We can let our young people invest their retirement money in the private sector and they will earn even more than Social Security pays out." Blah, blah, bullshit. Imagine the rotten, toxic mortgages we would be trying to bail out if the banks had gotten their hands on Social Security. The Fascists would be going out of their minds trying to save the assses of their friends the bankers. The Fascists were smarter than the rest of us. They looked at the picture a long time ago and decided the future belonged to the banks. And the two have gone forward hand in hand ever since. Sort of like a marriage made in Hell. It's heaven for a few and Hell for the rest of us. War will come to our shores in the near future because we are going to default on all this debt. The score is 13 trillion in off shore dollars right now and somewhere about 20 trillion we will throw up our hands and walk away from the table, our empty pockets pulled out and flapping in the breeze. But that cash represents nothing more than debt. And the bearers of that cash want to collect on that debt. There will be blood.
RAIN
We have been going pretty dry here in the valley. Yesterday the Handmaiden said we were going to have to start watering our garden. The plants needed a drink. Starting about midnight last night, the plants are getting their drink. I have a Cranberry Bean pod sitting here on my keyboard. It is cream and pink in color. There are five beans developing inside the pod and about 15 to 20 pods per plant. Could be a helluva increase in prep supplies. I gotta do some research on how to store shell-outs. Good preps!
CHICKENS AND DUCKS
My neighbor has some ducks in the little lake here at the lodge and also some Dominecker chickens. The dogs will chase the ducks. They have killed a few over the last few years. But the Domineckers are fearless and will hurt the dogs if they get close enough. Two birds. One kind nervous and flighty and fearful. Perfect victims for the dogs. The other kind of bird is fearless and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. This is a great picture for me to watch. Those chickens will last a long time while the ducks will vanish over the years. A guy may be little but if he has the spunk to fight then he must be reckoned with. I ain't got a jet plane that will drop a guided bomb from 30,000 feet with pinpoint accuracy, but I have a few weapons here that I will use to defend myself. I have no business attacking the Big Dog but if he comes after me he will have to suffer the consequences.
COMMENTS
I don't get a lot of comments on my posts. But what I do get is quality. If you read the comment section of any post you will find some startling intelligence on display at times. I have some fine readers. People lovers, not people haters.
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
As fallout 11 so aptly pointed out in his comment: "Ah, now if only they had been successful in privatizing Social Security, then they could have stolen all that money, and all your future contributions as well. As was the plan all along." This little bit of words tells the whole story. A few members of congress, mostly Democrats, refused to go along with the privatization of Social Security. And that might help us get back some of our money, or at least keep the money rolling in a little while longer. I remember the talk back in the day. "We can let our young people invest their retirement money in the private sector and they will earn even more than Social Security pays out." Blah, blah, bullshit. Imagine the rotten, toxic mortgages we would be trying to bail out if the banks had gotten their hands on Social Security. The Fascists would be going out of their minds trying to save the assses of their friends the bankers. The Fascists were smarter than the rest of us. They looked at the picture a long time ago and decided the future belonged to the banks. And the two have gone forward hand in hand ever since. Sort of like a marriage made in Hell. It's heaven for a few and Hell for the rest of us. War will come to our shores in the near future because we are going to default on all this debt. The score is 13 trillion in off shore dollars right now and somewhere about 20 trillion we will throw up our hands and walk away from the table, our empty pockets pulled out and flapping in the breeze. But that cash represents nothing more than debt. And the bearers of that cash want to collect on that debt. There will be blood.
RAIN
We have been going pretty dry here in the valley. Yesterday the Handmaiden said we were going to have to start watering our garden. The plants needed a drink. Starting about midnight last night, the plants are getting their drink. I have a Cranberry Bean pod sitting here on my keyboard. It is cream and pink in color. There are five beans developing inside the pod and about 15 to 20 pods per plant. Could be a helluva increase in prep supplies. I gotta do some research on how to store shell-outs. Good preps!
CHICKENS AND DUCKS
My neighbor has some ducks in the little lake here at the lodge and also some Dominecker chickens. The dogs will chase the ducks. They have killed a few over the last few years. But the Domineckers are fearless and will hurt the dogs if they get close enough. Two birds. One kind nervous and flighty and fearful. Perfect victims for the dogs. The other kind of bird is fearless and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. This is a great picture for me to watch. Those chickens will last a long time while the ducks will vanish over the years. A guy may be little but if he has the spunk to fight then he must be reckoned with. I ain't got a jet plane that will drop a guided bomb from 30,000 feet with pinpoint accuracy, but I have a few weapons here that I will use to defend myself. I have no business attacking the Big Dog but if he comes after me he will have to suffer the consequences.
COMMENTS
I don't get a lot of comments on my posts. But what I do get is quality. If you read the comment section of any post you will find some startling intelligence on display at times. I have some fine readers. People lovers, not people haters.
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
IS YOUR RETIREMENT BEING STOLEN?
Howl
By Nicholas von Hoffman
July 23, 2008
Our disfunctional financial system hit a new low last week when Citigroup, the hopeless wreck of Wall Street, announced it had lost $2.5 billion in the past three months--a cheer went up, and so did the Dow. Only $2.5 billion; people were afraid the losses would be much higher. Happy days are here again.
The Fed scrambles for solutions to the mortgage meltdown--but saving prudent homeowners also involves bailing out a huge number of wealthy speculators. What good is that? There are no happy days for the millions of Americans who have been trying to put away some money for their retirement in tax-sheltered entities like IRAs, Roth Accounts and 401(k)s. For them, the market's downward slope has been harrowing and frightening. When will the steady erosion of their savings end? And when it does, what will be left of their future financial security?
Many of the millions suffering through these worrisome months didn't buy a house they could not afford, didn't speculate on their homes, didn't let greedy impulses lead them to the edge of foreclosure or bankruptcy. Nevertheless, the excesses of their neighbors and the criminal folly of American finance is destroying their plans for retirement. It is dragging down much of the value of their homes, on which they have never missed a payment, homes on which they were counting on selling at retirement to help finance their last years in comfort.
For years, the privatization propagandists have been telling people that when the time comes, Social Security will not be there for them. Now many are learning that it's their private savings that may not be there. They are discovering they have been forced into a system in which other people have, in effect, been allowed to gamble with their retirement savings and have lost it.
The way the private, you're-on-your-own retirement system was supposed to work had individuals, during their younger, working years, investing in stock through tax-sheltered accounts. Almost nobody who is not breaking the law can choose among individual stocks and make money, so future retirees have been encouraged to buy mutual funds run by professional managers, who are supposed to be able to pick the winners.
Most of them aren't much better at doing that than are their customers, but in a rising market, a chicken pecking at stock tables can pick winners. In boom times, it doesn't matter that the future retiree must choose among thousands of mutual funds, many of which carry ruinously high fees. The damage to people's savings goes unnoticed until the market begins to go down.
Even as the market falls, future retirees are told not to panic, to keep their money where it is, because in the long run the value of their accounts will go up and they will have many a happy sunset year traveling the globe and showering their grandchildren with presents.
As the retirement date comes near, they are advised to begin selling stocks and buying fixed-income securities--as bonds are sometimes called--because these pay the interest they earn on a fixed schedule, providing a regular income.
For this to work, stock prices must be high when the holdings are sold and the bonds purchased must pay high rates of interest. But what happens when the stock market is in a nosedive and interest rates are half of the inflation rate, as is the case right now? Panic and worry, no golden years of travel, no presents for the grandchildren. The energy that was to be expended on leisure activities is spent instead trying to figure out how to make ends meet.
The bright spot is Social Security. That check does come with the regularity of the calendar, whether the market is up or down, whether interest rates be high or low and if, as is the case now, the Greenspan-Bush inflation is destroying family budgets. Social Security adjusts for the rising prices.
But Social Security is too narrow a ledge to stand on through the years between retirement and death. It was designed as the base on which other retirement savings were to be built.
Those savings--the house and the tax-sheltered retirement accounts--are shriveling up and blowing away. The persons for whom Americans' savings have been a reliable source of income are the brokers, the lawyers, the account administrators, the whole tribe of Wall Street fee farmers. They get other people's retirement money regardless of the direction the market may be moving in.
You can't call it a broken system because it was a bad one from the start. It is failing, just as its critics said it would. And what lies ahead for those whose retirement savings are gone may be a very unpleasant old age.
By Nicholas von Hoffman
July 23, 2008
Our disfunctional financial system hit a new low last week when Citigroup, the hopeless wreck of Wall Street, announced it had lost $2.5 billion in the past three months--a cheer went up, and so did the Dow. Only $2.5 billion; people were afraid the losses would be much higher. Happy days are here again.
The Fed scrambles for solutions to the mortgage meltdown--but saving prudent homeowners also involves bailing out a huge number of wealthy speculators. What good is that? There are no happy days for the millions of Americans who have been trying to put away some money for their retirement in tax-sheltered entities like IRAs, Roth Accounts and 401(k)s. For them, the market's downward slope has been harrowing and frightening. When will the steady erosion of their savings end? And when it does, what will be left of their future financial security?
Many of the millions suffering through these worrisome months didn't buy a house they could not afford, didn't speculate on their homes, didn't let greedy impulses lead them to the edge of foreclosure or bankruptcy. Nevertheless, the excesses of their neighbors and the criminal folly of American finance is destroying their plans for retirement. It is dragging down much of the value of their homes, on which they have never missed a payment, homes on which they were counting on selling at retirement to help finance their last years in comfort.
For years, the privatization propagandists have been telling people that when the time comes, Social Security will not be there for them. Now many are learning that it's their private savings that may not be there. They are discovering they have been forced into a system in which other people have, in effect, been allowed to gamble with their retirement savings and have lost it.
The way the private, you're-on-your-own retirement system was supposed to work had individuals, during their younger, working years, investing in stock through tax-sheltered accounts. Almost nobody who is not breaking the law can choose among individual stocks and make money, so future retirees have been encouraged to buy mutual funds run by professional managers, who are supposed to be able to pick the winners.
Most of them aren't much better at doing that than are their customers, but in a rising market, a chicken pecking at stock tables can pick winners. In boom times, it doesn't matter that the future retiree must choose among thousands of mutual funds, many of which carry ruinously high fees. The damage to people's savings goes unnoticed until the market begins to go down.
Even as the market falls, future retirees are told not to panic, to keep their money where it is, because in the long run the value of their accounts will go up and they will have many a happy sunset year traveling the globe and showering their grandchildren with presents.
As the retirement date comes near, they are advised to begin selling stocks and buying fixed-income securities--as bonds are sometimes called--because these pay the interest they earn on a fixed schedule, providing a regular income.
For this to work, stock prices must be high when the holdings are sold and the bonds purchased must pay high rates of interest. But what happens when the stock market is in a nosedive and interest rates are half of the inflation rate, as is the case right now? Panic and worry, no golden years of travel, no presents for the grandchildren. The energy that was to be expended on leisure activities is spent instead trying to figure out how to make ends meet.
The bright spot is Social Security. That check does come with the regularity of the calendar, whether the market is up or down, whether interest rates be high or low and if, as is the case now, the Greenspan-Bush inflation is destroying family budgets. Social Security adjusts for the rising prices.
But Social Security is too narrow a ledge to stand on through the years between retirement and death. It was designed as the base on which other retirement savings were to be built.
Those savings--the house and the tax-sheltered retirement accounts--are shriveling up and blowing away. The persons for whom Americans' savings have been a reliable source of income are the brokers, the lawyers, the account administrators, the whole tribe of Wall Street fee farmers. They get other people's retirement money regardless of the direction the market may be moving in.
You can't call it a broken system because it was a bad one from the start. It is failing, just as its critics said it would. And what lies ahead for those whose retirement savings are gone may be a very unpleasant old age.
Monday, July 28, 2008
THE SCOOP
I talked to my financial advisor today, The Hermit, down in Tennessee. He made several remarks, some of which are not too kosher in strict Christian company. Of course, he knew he could say them around me! After he got done referencing bankers, stock brokers, and politicians to certain sexual acts involving oral sodomy, he got down to business. He said, "Michael, we are witnessing the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in the history of mankind." And I had to Amen him quite strenuously. And that just about sums up the condition of the country. The Hermit also said that within the bail-out bill is, I think passed through both houses of Congress, a measure that will allow the fedgov to quit reporting foreign investment in this country. They are going to tell you that it is saving you money in that they won't have to investigate all these transactions anymore. But that is a bunch of bullshit. There are estimated to be 13 trillion dollars being held as foreign reserve currency by nations around the world. And it is going to come home. It is going to come home and BUY OUR HOME! It is estimated that the Arab Emirates sock away a billion dollars in cash EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK in American money. America has always patted itself on the back for being a melting pot. Well, when the foreign wealth funds come back to America and starts buying it up, the restrictions as to who can come into this country are going to get very loose. After all, those sovereign wealth funds must be allowed to do business! It don't matter if an international gun runner wants to move into the house next to you. His buddy the international drug dealer will move in right beside him. Oh well!
And let's talk about your local economy. The Chinese or the oil rich Arabs come in and buy a couple hundred thousand acres of your local property. They will grow what they damn well please and to hell with your needs. And they will bring in people who wish to farm in America and who will grow food to sell locally. How will you make a living growing and selling food? They will come in with subsides from their home government and help from their home bank and they will cut prices like you have never seen before in your life! And all the American producers will be dead in the water. The local foreign owned Big Block store will sell so cheap as to be unimaginable. There will be no American competition to speak of. All of our patriotic friends will be buying the foreign food produced next door to you! HAH! And what business we had will collapse and suffering will be in the streets. And we can stand out on the curb with our tin cups in our hands and beg the foreigners for alms. And that will be just what the majority of Americans deserve. They have been told and told and told. And they have rejected the truth in favor of a lie. Let them believe a lie and be damned!
Naturally, me and The Hermit got to talking about bail-outs. I reckon we all know about the fedgov printing up all these huge batches of cash at their Treasury and their borrowing windows and what have you. Like the money they stuck in Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae. Now those companies are owned by stockholders who collect dividends in good times. That is what buying stock is all about. You buy stock and you are betting the company will pay you money for your wise decision. But these two companies have a shitload of toxic mortgages that are going belly up and those two companies are going to lose their ass! So good ol' Unca Sham bails them out! How wonderful! When they were making money hand over fist the stockholders kept it. But when they are losing, when money is running out of them like blood from a stuck hog, our government steps in with our tax money and makes everything all right for them again. Man! Is this a neat game or what? Profit is privatized and the losses are nationalized. I believe this is a classic definition of Fascism. So how are we to survive a collapsed currency and unfair competition? Well, boys and girls, you better save your pennies and dimes because Ol' Man Unfairness is about to tilt the playing field. And we ain't seen that here before. The fedgov, the state govs and the local govs will be after every drop of life left in the collective veins of this country. It will be merciless. We may have to open our valley borders to our fellow citizens just to save some. If we can afford it! I have heard of a fund, not substantiated, that is to pay our property taxes for five years is things go wrong. I hope it is real.
But this will force people to gather together in clans and tribes for the sake of staying alive. People will sell what they have and toss it into the common fund to buy some land and pay the taxes. If they want any kind of freedom at all. And you better choose wisely. Don't bother buying ground in a drought area. Buy ground where you get rain and some warm weather and you have some trees growing nearby to use for building shelters. Buy ground that will grow your food and worry about crops later. Get your ground and get your people and get your gardens in and a method to preserve your food. Choose a good, stable leader. Have some good rules established and then you are ready to go for it. Let's see here, a land, a people, a leader and a law. Sounds like a Kingdom to me! Keep the numbers small as to how many people you allow into your camp. Maybe by the time you are in your second generation you can have developed a leader who can attend to the wants and needs of a couple hundred people. I would almost say to get an old country preacher to start out as your leader. Them old boys have been through it and can handle a lot of pressure and human emotion. Forget these blood suckers that are so popular these days. They are only money oriented.
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
And let's talk about your local economy. The Chinese or the oil rich Arabs come in and buy a couple hundred thousand acres of your local property. They will grow what they damn well please and to hell with your needs. And they will bring in people who wish to farm in America and who will grow food to sell locally. How will you make a living growing and selling food? They will come in with subsides from their home government and help from their home bank and they will cut prices like you have never seen before in your life! And all the American producers will be dead in the water. The local foreign owned Big Block store will sell so cheap as to be unimaginable. There will be no American competition to speak of. All of our patriotic friends will be buying the foreign food produced next door to you! HAH! And what business we had will collapse and suffering will be in the streets. And we can stand out on the curb with our tin cups in our hands and beg the foreigners for alms. And that will be just what the majority of Americans deserve. They have been told and told and told. And they have rejected the truth in favor of a lie. Let them believe a lie and be damned!
Naturally, me and The Hermit got to talking about bail-outs. I reckon we all know about the fedgov printing up all these huge batches of cash at their Treasury and their borrowing windows and what have you. Like the money they stuck in Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae. Now those companies are owned by stockholders who collect dividends in good times. That is what buying stock is all about. You buy stock and you are betting the company will pay you money for your wise decision. But these two companies have a shitload of toxic mortgages that are going belly up and those two companies are going to lose their ass! So good ol' Unca Sham bails them out! How wonderful! When they were making money hand over fist the stockholders kept it. But when they are losing, when money is running out of them like blood from a stuck hog, our government steps in with our tax money and makes everything all right for them again. Man! Is this a neat game or what? Profit is privatized and the losses are nationalized. I believe this is a classic definition of Fascism. So how are we to survive a collapsed currency and unfair competition? Well, boys and girls, you better save your pennies and dimes because Ol' Man Unfairness is about to tilt the playing field. And we ain't seen that here before. The fedgov, the state govs and the local govs will be after every drop of life left in the collective veins of this country. It will be merciless. We may have to open our valley borders to our fellow citizens just to save some. If we can afford it! I have heard of a fund, not substantiated, that is to pay our property taxes for five years is things go wrong. I hope it is real.
But this will force people to gather together in clans and tribes for the sake of staying alive. People will sell what they have and toss it into the common fund to buy some land and pay the taxes. If they want any kind of freedom at all. And you better choose wisely. Don't bother buying ground in a drought area. Buy ground where you get rain and some warm weather and you have some trees growing nearby to use for building shelters. Buy ground that will grow your food and worry about crops later. Get your ground and get your people and get your gardens in and a method to preserve your food. Choose a good, stable leader. Have some good rules established and then you are ready to go for it. Let's see here, a land, a people, a leader and a law. Sounds like a Kingdom to me! Keep the numbers small as to how many people you allow into your camp. Maybe by the time you are in your second generation you can have developed a leader who can attend to the wants and needs of a couple hundred people. I would almost say to get an old country preacher to start out as your leader. Them old boys have been through it and can handle a lot of pressure and human emotion. Forget these blood suckers that are so popular these days. They are only money oriented.
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
BUSINESS, BAPTISM, AND BRAWLS
Things are scattered in my head today. I heard at meeting last night that the Mill may be starting back up. Never knew about that. But it will be a good thing if it does. My only thought is where is anyone going to get any help from the people here in the valley? People are all employed at this point. The technicians are gone to other work. They are making it just fine. Who will get them to quit good jobs to start up a shaky mill business? The Old Man could have done it. A lot of men would have attacked the gates of Hell if the Old Man had asked. You might say he was well thought of around here. But more news on that as I learn it.
We had a Baptism yesterday. Wonderful affair. The Spirit came in and we had a little visit from Deity. Astounding. The words he said were up lifting and encouraging. We did get the message that there were many more places that God has in mind to place his people. Places He will bless and grow. Places that will be protected. Just mind blowing.
We had a goodly amount of people come to be baptized. I didn't think that there were that many folks not washed and dedicated but apparently there were. Lots of young kids and younger 20's. I saw people who I have not seen for 15 or 20 years coming to attend.
You know, Baptism is a personal thing. It is an individual honoring God. All the honor is to God and the person being baptized is doing the honor. At the moment of submersion all other folks are merely witnesses. It is the person being dunked and God Almighty that count. But He told us that he was there because it was an event that was totally for His honor and He would bless it and any other event that was for His honor only.
I wasn't in the water this time. We had a meeting an hour before the Baptism and I taught up there and got the kids minds pretty straight on what they were doing. It all worked like a Swiss watch. Perfect.
I watched a lot of videos about the Argentine financial debacle. Funniest thing. It was caused by bankers working in cahoots with politicians. Who would ever believe such a thing? Surely not a people like us who know the tender mercies of American bankers and our highly principled political leaders. HAH! Same shit, different day. I hope Argentina can work their way out of the morass they were placed in and never go back. What I can't quite figure out is why the Argentines are getting all this exposure in the blogs but the men and women who have been warning us for decades are not mentioned. We have our own saints and martyrs to the cause of financial integrity. People who for a long time have tried to warn the U.S. public of the pitfalls of a Central Bank and a fiat currency. The ground work was laid when we were the world's leading exporter of oil. When we were the world's leading manufacturer. When we were rightfully the leader of the free world. And we were warned then. And the warnings were ignored because the money was flowing and that made the warning look ludicrous. I remember 20 years ago when the Old Man told us that the powers that be were intent on reducing us to the status of peons. Sorta prophetic, if you catch my drift.
In the last year we have really begun to see the results of our crooked bankers and stock brokers. They are bankrupting the nation. They are selling us out to foreigners. And it is what they do for a living, you understand. You read through all their bullshit propaganda and you will see a monster set to devour you. And they just don't give a shit how bad you hurt. They don't get a shit how much your family has to suffer. And the politicians always end up taking over the mess and nationalizing it and the poor peons end up having to pay for the clean-up. And while they are cleaning up, the ground is being laid to do the same thing all over again. Is it starting to sink in, folks? Anal sodomy is hated by God, but it is practiced on the American public every day by it's money people and it's politicians.
And our own "Watchers on the wall" right here in this country have been watching it and telling people about it for decades. So don't go to the Argentines for any inspiration. We have been given plenty of warning from our own folks but we ignored it.
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
We had a Baptism yesterday. Wonderful affair. The Spirit came in and we had a little visit from Deity. Astounding. The words he said were up lifting and encouraging. We did get the message that there were many more places that God has in mind to place his people. Places He will bless and grow. Places that will be protected. Just mind blowing.
We had a goodly amount of people come to be baptized. I didn't think that there were that many folks not washed and dedicated but apparently there were. Lots of young kids and younger 20's. I saw people who I have not seen for 15 or 20 years coming to attend.
You know, Baptism is a personal thing. It is an individual honoring God. All the honor is to God and the person being baptized is doing the honor. At the moment of submersion all other folks are merely witnesses. It is the person being dunked and God Almighty that count. But He told us that he was there because it was an event that was totally for His honor and He would bless it and any other event that was for His honor only.
I wasn't in the water this time. We had a meeting an hour before the Baptism and I taught up there and got the kids minds pretty straight on what they were doing. It all worked like a Swiss watch. Perfect.
I watched a lot of videos about the Argentine financial debacle. Funniest thing. It was caused by bankers working in cahoots with politicians. Who would ever believe such a thing? Surely not a people like us who know the tender mercies of American bankers and our highly principled political leaders. HAH! Same shit, different day. I hope Argentina can work their way out of the morass they were placed in and never go back. What I can't quite figure out is why the Argentines are getting all this exposure in the blogs but the men and women who have been warning us for decades are not mentioned. We have our own saints and martyrs to the cause of financial integrity. People who for a long time have tried to warn the U.S. public of the pitfalls of a Central Bank and a fiat currency. The ground work was laid when we were the world's leading exporter of oil. When we were the world's leading manufacturer. When we were rightfully the leader of the free world. And we were warned then. And the warnings were ignored because the money was flowing and that made the warning look ludicrous. I remember 20 years ago when the Old Man told us that the powers that be were intent on reducing us to the status of peons. Sorta prophetic, if you catch my drift.
In the last year we have really begun to see the results of our crooked bankers and stock brokers. They are bankrupting the nation. They are selling us out to foreigners. And it is what they do for a living, you understand. You read through all their bullshit propaganda and you will see a monster set to devour you. And they just don't give a shit how bad you hurt. They don't get a shit how much your family has to suffer. And the politicians always end up taking over the mess and nationalizing it and the poor peons end up having to pay for the clean-up. And while they are cleaning up, the ground is being laid to do the same thing all over again. Is it starting to sink in, folks? Anal sodomy is hated by God, but it is practiced on the American public every day by it's money people and it's politicians.
And our own "Watchers on the wall" right here in this country have been watching it and telling people about it for decades. So don't go to the Argentines for any inspiration. We have been given plenty of warning from our own folks but we ignored it.
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Saturday, July 26, 2008
THE WORD FROM WND
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70281 Are feds stockpiling survival food?'These circumstances certainly raise red flags
'Posted: July 24, 200812:00 am Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily
A Wall Street Journal columnist has advised people to "start stockpiling food" and an ABC News Report says "there are worrying signs appearing in the United States where some ? locals are beginning to hoard supplies."
Now there's concern that the U.S. government may be competing with consumers for stocks of storable food.
"We're told that the feds bought the entire container of canned butter when it hit the California docks. (Something's up!)," said officials at Best Prices Storable Foods in an advisory to customers.
Spokesman Bruce Hopkins told WND he also has had trouble obtaining No. 10 cans of various products from one of the world's larger suppliers of food stores, Oregon Freeze Dry.
He said a company official told him on the telephone when he discussed the status of his order that it was because the government had purchased massive quantities of products, leaving none for other customers.
That, however, was denied by Oregon Freeze Dry. In a website statement, the company confirmed it cannot assure supplying some items to customers.
"We regret to inform you Oregon Freeze Dry cannot satisfy all Mountain House #10 can orders and we have removed #10 cans from our website temporarily," the company tells frustrated customers. "The reason for this is sales of #10 cans have continued to increase. OFD is allocating as much production capacity as possible to this market segment, but we must maintain capacity for our other market segments as well.
"The company statement continues, "We want to clarify inaccurate information we’ve seen on the Internet. This situation is not due to sales to the government domestically or in Iraq. We do sell products to this market, but we also sell other market segments ? The reason for this decision is solely due to an unprecedented sales spike in #10 cans sales.
"We expect this situation to be necessary for several months although this isn’t a guarantee. We will update this information as soon as we know more. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience. We sincerely hope you will continue to be Mountain House customers in the future," the company statement said.
But Hopkins wasn't backing away from his concerns."The government just came in and said they're buying it. They did pay for it," he told WND about the summertime shipment of long-term storage butter. "They took it and no one else could have it.
"We don't know why. The feds then went to freeze dried companies, and bought most of their canned stock," he said.
A spokeswoman for Oregon Freeze Dry, sales manager Melanie Cornutt, told WND that the increasing demand for food that can be stored has been on the rise since Hurricane Katrina devastated large sections of the Gulf Coast, cutting off ordinary supply routes.
"We are currently out of stock on our cans. We are not selling any of our cans," she confirmed.
She then raised the issue of government purchases herself.
"We do sell to the government [but] it is not the reason [for company sales limits]," she said.
Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency told WND whatever government agency is buying in a surge it isn't them. They reported a stockpile of about six million meals which has not changed significantly in an extended period.
But Hopkins said it was his opinion the government is purchasing huge quantities of food for stockpiles, and Americans will have to surmise why.
"We don't have shelters that [are being] stocked with food. We're not doing this for the public. My only conclusion is that they're stocking up for themselves," he said of government officials.
Blogger Holly Deyo issued an alert this week announcing, "Unprecedented demand cleans out major storable food supplier through 2009."
"It came to our attention today, that the world's largest producer of storable foods, Mountain House, is currently out of stock of ALL #10 cans of freeze dried foods, not just the Turkey Tetrazzini. They will NOT have product now through 2009," she said.
"This information was learned by a Mountain House dealer who shared it with me this morning. In personally talking with the company immediately after, Mountain House verified the information is true. Customer service stated, 'I'm surprised they don't have this posted on the website yet.' She said they have such a backlog of orders, Mountain House will not be taking any #10 can food requests through the remainder of this year and all of the next.
"Mountain House claims this situation is due to a backlog of orders, which may very well be true, but who is purchasing all of their food? This is a massive global corporation.
"One idea: the military. Tensions are ramping up with Iran and news segments debate whether or not we will implement a preemptive strike in conjunction with Israel," she wrote.
Hopkins raised some of the same concerns, suggesting a military conflict could cause oil supplies to plummet, triggering a huge increase in the cost of food ? when it would be available ? because of the transportortation issues.
The ABC report from just a few weeks ago quoted Jim Rawles, a former U.S. intelligence officer who runs a survival blog, saying food shortages soon could become a matter of survival in the U.S.
"I think that families should be prepared for times of crisis, whether it's a man-made disaster or a natural disaster, and I think it's wise and prudent to stock up on food," he told ABC.
"If you get into a situation where fuel supplies are disrupted or even if the power grid were to go down for short periods of time, people can work around that," he said.
"But you can't work around a lack of food ? people starve, people panic and you end up with chaos in the streets."
At his California ranch, the location of which is kept secret, he said, "We have more than a three-year supply of food here.
"In the Wall Street Journal, columnist Brett Arends warned, "Maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.
"No, this is not a drill," he wrote.His concern was about various food shortages around the globe, and the fact that in a global market, prices in the U.S. reflect difficulties in other parts of the world quickly.
Professor Lawrence F. Roberge, a biologist who has worked with a number of universities and has taught online courses, told WND he's been following the growing concern over food supplies.
He also confirmed to WND reports of the government purchasing vast quantities of long-term storable foods.
He said that naturally would be kept secret to avoid panicking the public, such as when word leaks out to customers that a bank may be insolvent, and depositors frantically try to retrieve their cash.
"[These] circumstances certainly raise red flags," he said.
Michael sez: So there you have the story as told by World Net Daily. The government is doing this but is not owning up to it. Beware. Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
'Posted: July 24, 200812:00 am Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily
A Wall Street Journal columnist has advised people to "start stockpiling food" and an ABC News Report says "there are worrying signs appearing in the United States where some ? locals are beginning to hoard supplies."
Now there's concern that the U.S. government may be competing with consumers for stocks of storable food.
"We're told that the feds bought the entire container of canned butter when it hit the California docks. (Something's up!)," said officials at Best Prices Storable Foods in an advisory to customers.
Spokesman Bruce Hopkins told WND he also has had trouble obtaining No. 10 cans of various products from one of the world's larger suppliers of food stores, Oregon Freeze Dry.
He said a company official told him on the telephone when he discussed the status of his order that it was because the government had purchased massive quantities of products, leaving none for other customers.
That, however, was denied by Oregon Freeze Dry. In a website statement, the company confirmed it cannot assure supplying some items to customers.
"We regret to inform you Oregon Freeze Dry cannot satisfy all Mountain House #10 can orders and we have removed #10 cans from our website temporarily," the company tells frustrated customers. "The reason for this is sales of #10 cans have continued to increase. OFD is allocating as much production capacity as possible to this market segment, but we must maintain capacity for our other market segments as well.
"The company statement continues, "We want to clarify inaccurate information we’ve seen on the Internet. This situation is not due to sales to the government domestically or in Iraq. We do sell products to this market, but we also sell other market segments ? The reason for this decision is solely due to an unprecedented sales spike in #10 cans sales.
"We expect this situation to be necessary for several months although this isn’t a guarantee. We will update this information as soon as we know more. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience. We sincerely hope you will continue to be Mountain House customers in the future," the company statement said.
But Hopkins wasn't backing away from his concerns."The government just came in and said they're buying it. They did pay for it," he told WND about the summertime shipment of long-term storage butter. "They took it and no one else could have it.
"We don't know why. The feds then went to freeze dried companies, and bought most of their canned stock," he said.
A spokeswoman for Oregon Freeze Dry, sales manager Melanie Cornutt, told WND that the increasing demand for food that can be stored has been on the rise since Hurricane Katrina devastated large sections of the Gulf Coast, cutting off ordinary supply routes.
"We are currently out of stock on our cans. We are not selling any of our cans," she confirmed.
She then raised the issue of government purchases herself.
"We do sell to the government [but] it is not the reason [for company sales limits]," she said.
Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency told WND whatever government agency is buying in a surge it isn't them. They reported a stockpile of about six million meals which has not changed significantly in an extended period.
But Hopkins said it was his opinion the government is purchasing huge quantities of food for stockpiles, and Americans will have to surmise why.
"We don't have shelters that [are being] stocked with food. We're not doing this for the public. My only conclusion is that they're stocking up for themselves," he said of government officials.
Blogger Holly Deyo issued an alert this week announcing, "Unprecedented demand cleans out major storable food supplier through 2009."
"It came to our attention today, that the world's largest producer of storable foods, Mountain House, is currently out of stock of ALL #10 cans of freeze dried foods, not just the Turkey Tetrazzini. They will NOT have product now through 2009," she said.
"This information was learned by a Mountain House dealer who shared it with me this morning. In personally talking with the company immediately after, Mountain House verified the information is true. Customer service stated, 'I'm surprised they don't have this posted on the website yet.' She said they have such a backlog of orders, Mountain House will not be taking any #10 can food requests through the remainder of this year and all of the next.
"Mountain House claims this situation is due to a backlog of orders, which may very well be true, but who is purchasing all of their food? This is a massive global corporation.
"One idea: the military. Tensions are ramping up with Iran and news segments debate whether or not we will implement a preemptive strike in conjunction with Israel," she wrote.
Hopkins raised some of the same concerns, suggesting a military conflict could cause oil supplies to plummet, triggering a huge increase in the cost of food ? when it would be available ? because of the transportortation issues.
The ABC report from just a few weeks ago quoted Jim Rawles, a former U.S. intelligence officer who runs a survival blog, saying food shortages soon could become a matter of survival in the U.S.
"I think that families should be prepared for times of crisis, whether it's a man-made disaster or a natural disaster, and I think it's wise and prudent to stock up on food," he told ABC.
"If you get into a situation where fuel supplies are disrupted or even if the power grid were to go down for short periods of time, people can work around that," he said.
"But you can't work around a lack of food ? people starve, people panic and you end up with chaos in the streets."
At his California ranch, the location of which is kept secret, he said, "We have more than a three-year supply of food here.
"In the Wall Street Journal, columnist Brett Arends warned, "Maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.
"No, this is not a drill," he wrote.His concern was about various food shortages around the globe, and the fact that in a global market, prices in the U.S. reflect difficulties in other parts of the world quickly.
Professor Lawrence F. Roberge, a biologist who has worked with a number of universities and has taught online courses, told WND he's been following the growing concern over food supplies.
He also confirmed to WND reports of the government purchasing vast quantities of long-term storable foods.
He said that naturally would be kept secret to avoid panicking the public, such as when word leaks out to customers that a bank may be insolvent, and depositors frantically try to retrieve their cash.
"[These] circumstances certainly raise red flags," he said.
Michael sez: So there you have the story as told by World Net Daily. The government is doing this but is not owning up to it. Beware. Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
A GENERAL COMMENT ON SOCIAL SECURITY AND OTHER THINGS
I paid into Social Security all my working years. And that was when I worked for General Motors and the money was backed by Gold. The Social Security system was set up to be a payroll deduction scheme. You paid into it when ever you got a check. And there were not too many ways out of it. I remember pictures of the Amish getting their horses confiscated right from the field where they were being worked. This was in the 50's. Our wonderful G-men were right out there in the fields of Pennsylvania taking horses from the Amish, who would never take a check from the fedgov anyhow. That payment was DEMANDED by the fedgov come hell or high water. And it was all supposed to go into the fund supposedly set aside to pay us our pension.
Bill Clinton took Social Security from the "fund" and put it in the general fund of all government income. This is how he could balance the budget and leave a surplus. He was using mine and your future income to fund the fucking fedgov. Dirty treacherous sonovabitch. He stole what was rightfully ours and gave himself a big gold star for his balanced budgets. AND WE THE SHEEPLE ATE IT! We let him get away with it!
But "monkey see, monkey do" happened with the scumbags at the bank. They did it and they used pension funds to back themselves, with the collusion of the stock brokers. And now the pension funds across the land are cutting back on their payouts. And it was your rough and tough capitalists who paid their way and didn't accept "government handouts." Of course they accepted the differed tax payment while their 401k was building! But they don't accept government handouts. Kiss my ass!
And all of this just serves to divide us. All pension people will be biting the other pension people on the ass and blaming them for all kinds of weird shit. And from whence does the source of the trouble spring? Why, from your friendly fedgov! They can not let anything alone. They have to meddle with all they see. Wars on drugs. Wars on poverty. Wars on terror. And while they are waging these wars they further shackle us poor peons. How quaint. But it looks like EVERYBODY is losing their pension sooner or later. And mostly sooner rather than later.
I have taken a blog off my list of morning reading because of this shit. If they don't have anymore brains that then fuck 'em. I have also taken them off my blog as a place to go to read and learn. I will not give credit to mindless republicans who act as survivalists. It just ain't gonna happen. I think I hate republicans as much as I hate the democrats. This election cycle they are giving us the man who talks a lot and says very little and the Alzheimer Special. A pox on both their houses.
Stay alive! And invest in Tangibles. Best pension fund going!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Bill Clinton took Social Security from the "fund" and put it in the general fund of all government income. This is how he could balance the budget and leave a surplus. He was using mine and your future income to fund the fucking fedgov. Dirty treacherous sonovabitch. He stole what was rightfully ours and gave himself a big gold star for his balanced budgets. AND WE THE SHEEPLE ATE IT! We let him get away with it!
But "monkey see, monkey do" happened with the scumbags at the bank. They did it and they used pension funds to back themselves, with the collusion of the stock brokers. And now the pension funds across the land are cutting back on their payouts. And it was your rough and tough capitalists who paid their way and didn't accept "government handouts." Of course they accepted the differed tax payment while their 401k was building! But they don't accept government handouts. Kiss my ass!
And all of this just serves to divide us. All pension people will be biting the other pension people on the ass and blaming them for all kinds of weird shit. And from whence does the source of the trouble spring? Why, from your friendly fedgov! They can not let anything alone. They have to meddle with all they see. Wars on drugs. Wars on poverty. Wars on terror. And while they are waging these wars they further shackle us poor peons. How quaint. But it looks like EVERYBODY is losing their pension sooner or later. And mostly sooner rather than later.
I have taken a blog off my list of morning reading because of this shit. If they don't have anymore brains that then fuck 'em. I have also taken them off my blog as a place to go to read and learn. I will not give credit to mindless republicans who act as survivalists. It just ain't gonna happen. I think I hate republicans as much as I hate the democrats. This election cycle they are giving us the man who talks a lot and says very little and the Alzheimer Special. A pox on both their houses.
Stay alive! And invest in Tangibles. Best pension fund going!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
SATURDAY MORNING EXPLANATIONS
I've been jawing with Maybery this morning. He is trying to sell a project boat for $300, with a trrailer, and the calls he is getting are crazy. People want the boat to be finished. And it is clearly listed as a project boat. He said it was people wanting something for nothing and that sounded like a reasonable explanation to me. But, it is a buyers market right now. Mayberry loves the cheap price of small travel trailers. He has plans to bug out in one of them should conditions warrant such a thing. But he doesn't like the cheap bastards who want a really good bargain on his boat and trailer. Like I said, its a buyers market. I've been through that in the hardwood lumber business and it will score your mind if you dwell on it. Either sell at the cheap price or close the doors. Hard medicine to swallow. Especially when the market has fallen on it's ass and you have been trying for days to sell some lumber and while you are trying to sell, the Mill has cut another quarter of a million feet! Ouch! Suddenly you have another 30 semi-loads to move.
I finally got around to commenting on Dragon's post about sunspots and cold weather. I have neglected it for other things. It is sure to affect few people. And for the life of me I cannot explain why. Who in their right mind would believe Al Gore? He is a nut case, or should I say a man who is trying to turn the public into a bunch of nut cases. His reasoning and his facts are seriously flawed. Dragon has pretty straight scientific proof, which I happen to subscribe to myself. I say don't be fooled by these New Age Morons who claim to be knowledgible about our weather patterns. They will take you down to a crash and burn situation and they won't be held responsible for their actions. Anybody can say anything, even a blogger. But watch especially for the people who will be making money on this. Al Gore has enough money. Give it a rest. Al.
The Handmaiden is spending her time with the Amish this morning as is her custom. She has been learning German and I am sure whe will show her recent linguistic acquisitions to her Amish friends. Can't hurt a damn thing. Maybe one day they will move in among us and we can fellowship. It sure would help their gene pool. I can go along with a lot of their practices but I cannot go along with their religion.
I am getting stirred to do something about my supply of files. Files are a tool that has a lot of usefullness to the human family. The different things that need to be sharp is practically endless. There is a way to make a file but no one has ever explained it to me. Back in ancient Egypt the makers of files had their own guild and were not messed with because they kept the secret from the masses. Back in the 60's we called that an information lock. We young folks back then learned to hate people who had knowledge and would not share it. We needed to know things and a lot of people who had the know-how kept it from us. They wanted money and we didn't have it. I don't know how to take money from people who need to know what I know. It seems so cruel to do such a thing. Some people give donations to writers and that is okay as long as they don't try to influence what he writes. But you try to buy his pen and you have destroyed his ability to transmit his knowledge. Don't do it. You could be cursing your own children.
If you have been reading this blog you know about the two banks who went under yesterday. From what I read there are a lot more to follow. Keep your money out of the banks. You don't know who is going to go broke next. There has been a great corruption in our money system these last few years and it reaches into our little towns and counties and puts our local bankers in jeopardy. So don't trust the bastards. Keep your money in cash. Better yet, keep your money in TANGIBLES. But food and land and tools and good seed and clothing and footwear and guns and ammo. Buy all kinds of medical supplies while the morons will still take FRN's in payment. You must be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. The main thing to notice in the market place is that things that are necessary are going up in price and the things we can do without are lowering. Chinese whiz-bangs are still cheap but rice has gone to 72 cents a pound in bulk. Someone on the other end has a handle on this and it making a fortune off of it. The bastards must be reading survival blogs! Hah!
I have been thinking about the fact that Mexico has a lot of people in this country illegaly. And I have coupled this thinking with the fact that Mexico is a source of crude oil for this country. Now I realize why so many illegals have been tolerated by our government. Just call it a price premium for Mexican crude. China has huge trade with this country and they cause a huge trade imbalance because of it. But they loan us billions of dollars all the time, buying our worthless government bonds, and we have to kiss their ass for the loans. Use your head and figure out how many more countries are ripping us off for things we need. Saudi Arabia has huge investments in this country and is one of our biggest war material customers. We keep them happy and they invest here and buy here. How quaint.
I have been sprouting kidney beans bought from a grocery store. The initial sprouting caused a third if them to sprout. We put the rest of the beans back in the jar and some more are sprouting. Beans are a $1 a ound and seed is $3 a pound. We still need to test for production. If they won't produce bearibng plants then they are useless except for eating. Not that I don't admire kidney beans. But seed is the big mover in the survival business. You gotta be able to grow more!
Stay alive and learn all you can. Make your own survival Bible like Mayberry is doing. It's pretty cheap and you have a hard coppy of all the info you want.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
I finally got around to commenting on Dragon's post about sunspots and cold weather. I have neglected it for other things. It is sure to affect few people. And for the life of me I cannot explain why. Who in their right mind would believe Al Gore? He is a nut case, or should I say a man who is trying to turn the public into a bunch of nut cases. His reasoning and his facts are seriously flawed. Dragon has pretty straight scientific proof, which I happen to subscribe to myself. I say don't be fooled by these New Age Morons who claim to be knowledgible about our weather patterns. They will take you down to a crash and burn situation and they won't be held responsible for their actions. Anybody can say anything, even a blogger. But watch especially for the people who will be making money on this. Al Gore has enough money. Give it a rest. Al.
The Handmaiden is spending her time with the Amish this morning as is her custom. She has been learning German and I am sure whe will show her recent linguistic acquisitions to her Amish friends. Can't hurt a damn thing. Maybe one day they will move in among us and we can fellowship. It sure would help their gene pool. I can go along with a lot of their practices but I cannot go along with their religion.
I am getting stirred to do something about my supply of files. Files are a tool that has a lot of usefullness to the human family. The different things that need to be sharp is practically endless. There is a way to make a file but no one has ever explained it to me. Back in ancient Egypt the makers of files had their own guild and were not messed with because they kept the secret from the masses. Back in the 60's we called that an information lock. We young folks back then learned to hate people who had knowledge and would not share it. We needed to know things and a lot of people who had the know-how kept it from us. They wanted money and we didn't have it. I don't know how to take money from people who need to know what I know. It seems so cruel to do such a thing. Some people give donations to writers and that is okay as long as they don't try to influence what he writes. But you try to buy his pen and you have destroyed his ability to transmit his knowledge. Don't do it. You could be cursing your own children.
If you have been reading this blog you know about the two banks who went under yesterday. From what I read there are a lot more to follow. Keep your money out of the banks. You don't know who is going to go broke next. There has been a great corruption in our money system these last few years and it reaches into our little towns and counties and puts our local bankers in jeopardy. So don't trust the bastards. Keep your money in cash. Better yet, keep your money in TANGIBLES. But food and land and tools and good seed and clothing and footwear and guns and ammo. Buy all kinds of medical supplies while the morons will still take FRN's in payment. You must be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. The main thing to notice in the market place is that things that are necessary are going up in price and the things we can do without are lowering. Chinese whiz-bangs are still cheap but rice has gone to 72 cents a pound in bulk. Someone on the other end has a handle on this and it making a fortune off of it. The bastards must be reading survival blogs! Hah!
I have been thinking about the fact that Mexico has a lot of people in this country illegaly. And I have coupled this thinking with the fact that Mexico is a source of crude oil for this country. Now I realize why so many illegals have been tolerated by our government. Just call it a price premium for Mexican crude. China has huge trade with this country and they cause a huge trade imbalance because of it. But they loan us billions of dollars all the time, buying our worthless government bonds, and we have to kiss their ass for the loans. Use your head and figure out how many more countries are ripping us off for things we need. Saudi Arabia has huge investments in this country and is one of our biggest war material customers. We keep them happy and they invest here and buy here. How quaint.
I have been sprouting kidney beans bought from a grocery store. The initial sprouting caused a third if them to sprout. We put the rest of the beans back in the jar and some more are sprouting. Beans are a $1 a ound and seed is $3 a pound. We still need to test for production. If they won't produce bearibng plants then they are useless except for eating. Not that I don't admire kidney beans. But seed is the big mover in the survival business. You gotta be able to grow more!
Stay alive and learn all you can. Make your own survival Bible like Mayberry is doing. It's pretty cheap and you have a hard coppy of all the info you want.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
MORE BANKS FAIL
AP, CARSON CITY, Nev. - The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.
The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
The FDIC said the takeover of the failed banks was the least costly resolution and all depositors — including those with funds in excess of FDIC insurance limits — will switch to Mutual of Omaha with “the full amount of their deposits.”
The FDIC also said accountholders can access their funds during the weekend by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.
As of June 30, the closed banks had total assets of $3.6 billion. That’s down from $4.1 billion six months earlier. Most of the assets are in 1st National while First Heritage accounts for $254 million.
Calls to 1st National were referred by a receptionist to Joe Martony, an executive vice president in Scottsdale, Ariz. Martony didn’t return repeated calls to his office.
About 350 employeesIn Nevada, 1st National has 10 branches and employs about 350 people. Five of its branches are in Las Vegas, three are in the Reno-Sparks area, one is in Carson City and one is in Laughlin. Notices of the closure were being posted late Friday.
Fifteen 1st National branches are in Arizona, while Newport Beach-based First Heritage has three branches in Southern California.
Bill Uffelman of the Nevada Bankers Association said Friday the FDIC action “is a reflection of the times for the banks. It’s a poor economy.”
Uffelman cautioned against the sort of consumer concern that prompted many customers of IndyMac Bank branches to wait for hours in line to withdraw funds across Southern California last week after that bank was seized by federal regulators. All FDIC-insured bank deposits are guaranteed by the FDIC up to $100,000, he noted.
Gov. Jim Gibbons said the bank takeover will be closely monitored in Nevada “to ensure there’s minimal disruption to business and that employees’ jobs are protected as much as possible.”
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano spokeswoman Shilo Mitchell said in a statement that the FDIC’s takeover of 1st National is not indicative of the overall banking climate in Arizona.
“It’s very important that Arizonans know that their deposits are secure,” said Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. “They are well-managed and the 1st National Bank of Arizona issues should not cause any panic in Arizona."
The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
The FDIC said the takeover of the failed banks was the least costly resolution and all depositors — including those with funds in excess of FDIC insurance limits — will switch to Mutual of Omaha with “the full amount of their deposits.”
The FDIC also said accountholders can access their funds during the weekend by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.
As of June 30, the closed banks had total assets of $3.6 billion. That’s down from $4.1 billion six months earlier. Most of the assets are in 1st National while First Heritage accounts for $254 million.
Calls to 1st National were referred by a receptionist to Joe Martony, an executive vice president in Scottsdale, Ariz. Martony didn’t return repeated calls to his office.
About 350 employeesIn Nevada, 1st National has 10 branches and employs about 350 people. Five of its branches are in Las Vegas, three are in the Reno-Sparks area, one is in Carson City and one is in Laughlin. Notices of the closure were being posted late Friday.
Fifteen 1st National branches are in Arizona, while Newport Beach-based First Heritage has three branches in Southern California.
Bill Uffelman of the Nevada Bankers Association said Friday the FDIC action “is a reflection of the times for the banks. It’s a poor economy.”
Uffelman cautioned against the sort of consumer concern that prompted many customers of IndyMac Bank branches to wait for hours in line to withdraw funds across Southern California last week after that bank was seized by federal regulators. All FDIC-insured bank deposits are guaranteed by the FDIC up to $100,000, he noted.
Gov. Jim Gibbons said the bank takeover will be closely monitored in Nevada “to ensure there’s minimal disruption to business and that employees’ jobs are protected as much as possible.”
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano spokeswoman Shilo Mitchell said in a statement that the FDIC’s takeover of 1st National is not indicative of the overall banking climate in Arizona.
“It’s very important that Arizonans know that their deposits are secure,” said Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. “They are well-managed and the 1st National Bank of Arizona issues should not cause any panic in Arizona."
Friday, July 25, 2008
COLD SUMMER IN ALASKA
Gloomy summer headed toward infamy CHILLY: Anchorage could hit 65 degrees for fewest days on record.
By GEORGE BRYSONgbryson@adn.com
Published: July 24th, 2008 12:10 AM Last Modified: July 24th, 2008 04:56 PM
The coldest summer ever? You might be looking at it, weather folks say. Right now the so-called summer of '08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees. That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.This year, however -- with the summer more than half over -- there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. And that's with just a month of potential "balmy" days remaining and the forecast looking gloomy.
National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Albanese, a storm warning coordinator for Alaska, says the outlook is for Anchorage to remain cool and cloudy through the rest of July."There's no real warm feature moving in," Albanese said. "And that's just been the pattern we've been stuck in for a couple weeks now.
"In the Matanuska Valley on Wednesday snow dusted the Chugach. On the Kenai Peninsula, rain was raising Six-Mile River to flood levels and rafting trips had to be canceled.So if the cold and drizzle are going to continue anyway, why not shoot for a record?
The mark is well within reach, Albanese said: "It's probably going to go down as the summer with the least number of 65-degree days.
"MEASURING THE MISERY In terms of "coldest summer ever," however, a better measure might be the number of days Anchorage fails to even reach 60.There too, 2008 is a contender, having so far notched only 35 such days -- far below the summer-long average of 88.Unless we get 10 more days of 60-degree or warmer temperatures, we're going to break the dismal 1971 record of only 46 such days, a possibility too awful to contemplate.
Still, according to a series of charts cobbled together Tuesday evening by a night-shift meteorologist in the weather service's Anchorage office, the current summer clearly has broken company with the record-setting warmth of recent years. Consider:� 70-degree days. So far this summer there have been two. Usually there are 15. Last year there were 21. In 2004 there were 49.� 75-degree days. So far this summer there's been zero. Usually there are four. It may be hard to remember, but last year there were 21. In 2004 there were 23.So are all bets off on global warming? Hardly, scientists say. Climate change is a function of long-term trends, not single summers or individual hurricanes.
Last year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that it's "unequivocal" the world is warming, considering how 11 of the warmest years on record have occurred in the past 13 years.
So what's going on in Alaska, which also posted a fairly frigid winter?LA NINA Federal meteorologists trace a lot of the cool weather to ocean temperatures in the South Pacific. When the seas off the coast of Peru are 2 to 4 degrees cooler than normal, a La Nina weather pattern develops, which brings cooler-than- normal weather to Alaska. For most of the past year, La Nina (the opposite of El Nino, in which warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures occur off Peru) has prevailed. But that's now beginning to change.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Web site, water temperatures in the eastern South Pacific began to warm this summer -- and the weather should eventually follow.The current three-month outlook posted by the national Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md., calls for below-normal temperatures for the south coast of Alaska from August through October -- turning to above-normal temperatures from October through December.
By GEORGE BRYSONgbryson@adn.com
Published: July 24th, 2008 12:10 AM Last Modified: July 24th, 2008 04:56 PM
The coldest summer ever? You might be looking at it, weather folks say. Right now the so-called summer of '08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees. That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.This year, however -- with the summer more than half over -- there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. And that's with just a month of potential "balmy" days remaining and the forecast looking gloomy.
National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Albanese, a storm warning coordinator for Alaska, says the outlook is for Anchorage to remain cool and cloudy through the rest of July."There's no real warm feature moving in," Albanese said. "And that's just been the pattern we've been stuck in for a couple weeks now.
"In the Matanuska Valley on Wednesday snow dusted the Chugach. On the Kenai Peninsula, rain was raising Six-Mile River to flood levels and rafting trips had to be canceled.So if the cold and drizzle are going to continue anyway, why not shoot for a record?
The mark is well within reach, Albanese said: "It's probably going to go down as the summer with the least number of 65-degree days.
"MEASURING THE MISERY In terms of "coldest summer ever," however, a better measure might be the number of days Anchorage fails to even reach 60.There too, 2008 is a contender, having so far notched only 35 such days -- far below the summer-long average of 88.Unless we get 10 more days of 60-degree or warmer temperatures, we're going to break the dismal 1971 record of only 46 such days, a possibility too awful to contemplate.
Still, according to a series of charts cobbled together Tuesday evening by a night-shift meteorologist in the weather service's Anchorage office, the current summer clearly has broken company with the record-setting warmth of recent years. Consider:� 70-degree days. So far this summer there have been two. Usually there are 15. Last year there were 21. In 2004 there were 49.� 75-degree days. So far this summer there's been zero. Usually there are four. It may be hard to remember, but last year there were 21. In 2004 there were 23.So are all bets off on global warming? Hardly, scientists say. Climate change is a function of long-term trends, not single summers or individual hurricanes.
Last year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that it's "unequivocal" the world is warming, considering how 11 of the warmest years on record have occurred in the past 13 years.
So what's going on in Alaska, which also posted a fairly frigid winter?LA NINA Federal meteorologists trace a lot of the cool weather to ocean temperatures in the South Pacific. When the seas off the coast of Peru are 2 to 4 degrees cooler than normal, a La Nina weather pattern develops, which brings cooler-than- normal weather to Alaska. For most of the past year, La Nina (the opposite of El Nino, in which warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures occur off Peru) has prevailed. But that's now beginning to change.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Web site, water temperatures in the eastern South Pacific began to warm this summer -- and the weather should eventually follow.The current three-month outlook posted by the national Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md., calls for below-normal temperatures for the south coast of Alaska from August through October -- turning to above-normal temperatures from October through December.
SOME OPINION AND SO FORTH
I've enjoyed a lot of reading today. I read UP OUT OF THE ASHES by William M. Johnstone. A real thriller in the survival genre. It's not a really bang up job of publishing but the story is pretty coherent. This guy has a lot of books written and I think I may go on a Johnstone run. He has over 130 books out there.
Mayberry was his usual Dragon Breath Scorcher today. He blew fire on the welfare establishment and left a lot of bodies strewn in his path. Some of these second and third generation welfare recipients are getting on his nerves. He has to buy his groceries and the do-nothings get theirs for free. One day. One sweet day. Things will be fair again in our land. The economy has just about stripped Mayberry of any disposable income. He can crack his nut, just barely, and that is all. This is what is wrong with America. The good guys, the ones who work, their wife works, they pay their taxes and make the house payment and all that good shit are the ones who the fedgov finally squeeze out to nothing. Drain 'em dry. But the welfare recipients go right on, sucking on the governments tit and bleeding the citizenry. And one of of my best friends in the whole world is on the government dole. Crippled and halt. Incurable diabetic. Leg messed up from birth buy an incompetent doctor. But he got an education and he worked like a champ and he supported his family well and then he eventually became unhirable because of his physical shortcomings. Don't matter that his work record is in the area of superlative and his skill level is second to none. Doesn't matter that he is a NUCLEAR START-UP ENGINEER. Betcha never heard of those fellas. They are the guys who go onto a nuclear power plant and bring it up to steam, generating electricity. A touchy fucking job. And on the day he does this bit of magic he walks into the plant and he is THE MAN. Nothing goes on in the plant that he does not know about or allows. On that day it don't matter what your pay grade is, if you are in that plant you are under his control. This is not a position to be taken lightly and the powers that be don't hand the assignment out easily. But things changed in the nuke business and they don't build them any more. And he can't get a job anywhere else. So he is a medical basket case and gets a pension from the government and a food stamp card. And that is his living. He used to make over $100,000 a year and earned very penny of it, but not any more. He has paid taxes out the ass, but not any more. He is working a garden, trying to see to it that he has enough food to make it if there are hard times come on us. He is a proud man and will work, but it is denied him. His ex-wife cleaned his plow in a divorce and his brother cleaned him out of inherited tangibles while he was battling to save his leg in a Tennessee hospital. He is one person I feel no remorse about getting food stamps. I would not care if they gave him double. But he is an exception and not the rule. He went out and broke ground for his garden early in the year with a fucking shovel! He drags one leg around! It don't take orders from his brain! He finally got up enough money to buy a tiller and saved his ass that way. Ain't nothing fair about the government. Nothin'.
Dragon has a page up about a mini ice age coming to your local area. I happen to subscribe to this thinking myself and the latest news is not too good for all you mild Winter lovers. The picture he has up is of the Sun and not sunspots are showing. This means bad shit is on the way as far as cold weather is concerned. If you ain't got any money for high heating bills you might get in touch with your local welfare people and get your act together with them while they still have enough money to help. A lot of programs are running out of money these days. The county where I live has run out of money for fuel to run the county highway trucks and machinery. Some school systems are thinking of going to a 4 day week to save heating fuel costs. I don't care what the media says, this country has it's tit in the wringer and it ain't gonna be pleasant. Do what you can. It ain't our fault and we have paid plenty into the system to justify our using it at this point. I guess I am saying don't bitch about multi-generational welfare queens, GET IN THERE AND GET WHAT YOU CAN. I read some idiots rant this morning about people getting Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and I about puked. I wrote him a nasty letter. Like I told the local Birchers, I have paid into this fucking system for decades and I don't feel a damn bit hesitant in getting any money back. All bets are off in the course of human thinking about taking money from strangers. We were not born this way but we were shown this way by our environment. If they want us to be gentlemen then they had better treat us as such. Otherwise, we insert the old needle and suck as much blood as we possibly can. Stay alive, any way you can.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Mayberry was his usual Dragon Breath Scorcher today. He blew fire on the welfare establishment and left a lot of bodies strewn in his path. Some of these second and third generation welfare recipients are getting on his nerves. He has to buy his groceries and the do-nothings get theirs for free. One day. One sweet day. Things will be fair again in our land. The economy has just about stripped Mayberry of any disposable income. He can crack his nut, just barely, and that is all. This is what is wrong with America. The good guys, the ones who work, their wife works, they pay their taxes and make the house payment and all that good shit are the ones who the fedgov finally squeeze out to nothing. Drain 'em dry. But the welfare recipients go right on, sucking on the governments tit and bleeding the citizenry. And one of of my best friends in the whole world is on the government dole. Crippled and halt. Incurable diabetic. Leg messed up from birth buy an incompetent doctor. But he got an education and he worked like a champ and he supported his family well and then he eventually became unhirable because of his physical shortcomings. Don't matter that his work record is in the area of superlative and his skill level is second to none. Doesn't matter that he is a NUCLEAR START-UP ENGINEER. Betcha never heard of those fellas. They are the guys who go onto a nuclear power plant and bring it up to steam, generating electricity. A touchy fucking job. And on the day he does this bit of magic he walks into the plant and he is THE MAN. Nothing goes on in the plant that he does not know about or allows. On that day it don't matter what your pay grade is, if you are in that plant you are under his control. This is not a position to be taken lightly and the powers that be don't hand the assignment out easily. But things changed in the nuke business and they don't build them any more. And he can't get a job anywhere else. So he is a medical basket case and gets a pension from the government and a food stamp card. And that is his living. He used to make over $100,000 a year and earned very penny of it, but not any more. He has paid taxes out the ass, but not any more. He is working a garden, trying to see to it that he has enough food to make it if there are hard times come on us. He is a proud man and will work, but it is denied him. His ex-wife cleaned his plow in a divorce and his brother cleaned him out of inherited tangibles while he was battling to save his leg in a Tennessee hospital. He is one person I feel no remorse about getting food stamps. I would not care if they gave him double. But he is an exception and not the rule. He went out and broke ground for his garden early in the year with a fucking shovel! He drags one leg around! It don't take orders from his brain! He finally got up enough money to buy a tiller and saved his ass that way. Ain't nothing fair about the government. Nothin'.
Dragon has a page up about a mini ice age coming to your local area. I happen to subscribe to this thinking myself and the latest news is not too good for all you mild Winter lovers. The picture he has up is of the Sun and not sunspots are showing. This means bad shit is on the way as far as cold weather is concerned. If you ain't got any money for high heating bills you might get in touch with your local welfare people and get your act together with them while they still have enough money to help. A lot of programs are running out of money these days. The county where I live has run out of money for fuel to run the county highway trucks and machinery. Some school systems are thinking of going to a 4 day week to save heating fuel costs. I don't care what the media says, this country has it's tit in the wringer and it ain't gonna be pleasant. Do what you can. It ain't our fault and we have paid plenty into the system to justify our using it at this point. I guess I am saying don't bitch about multi-generational welfare queens, GET IN THERE AND GET WHAT YOU CAN. I read some idiots rant this morning about people getting Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and I about puked. I wrote him a nasty letter. Like I told the local Birchers, I have paid into this fucking system for decades and I don't feel a damn bit hesitant in getting any money back. All bets are off in the course of human thinking about taking money from strangers. We were not born this way but we were shown this way by our environment. If they want us to be gentlemen then they had better treat us as such. Otherwise, we insert the old needle and suck as much blood as we possibly can. Stay alive, any way you can.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Thursday, July 24, 2008
TRIPLE KILLING, MARA SALVATRUCHA, SANCTUARY CITY
Killings turn focus on San Francisco sanctuary law
Jul 24, 7:42 AM (ET)By PAUL ELIAS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The scene repeats itself daily on city streets: a driver gets stuck bumper to bumper, blocking an intersection and preventing another car from turning left.
But authorities say that was enough to cause Edwin Ramos to unload an AK-47 assault weapon on a man and his two sons, killing them.
The deaths immediately drew public outrage, which intensified when authorities revealed that Ramos, 21, is an illegal immigrant who managed to avoid deportation despite previous brushes with the law.
The case has put San Francisco's liberal politics to the test, setting off a debate over its sanctuary law that shields undocumented immigrants from deportation.
On Wednesday, Ramos pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder in the deaths of Anthony Bologna, 49, and his sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. Bologna and his older son died in the intersection on June 22. His younger son succumbed to his injuries days later.
Shortly after that, police arrested Ramos, a native of El Salvador and reputed member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, known as MS-13. Investigators believe he was the gunman, though two other men were seen in the car with him.
The heinousness of the deaths has put pressure on San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris to seek the death penalty against Ramos. Harris, who campaigned on an anti-death penalty platform and has never pursued capital punishment during her more than four years in office, has declined to say exactly how she intends to proceed.
"This case has been charged as a special circumstance case," making it eligible for the death penalty, spokeswoman Erica Derryck said. "No additional announcement has been made about this aspect of the charging."
Ramos' attorney, Robert Amparan, said his client was not the shooter. "They have the wrong person," he said.
Amparan declined to discuss details of the case, but he denied his client was involved in gang activity and said Ramos entered the country legally. Federal authorities contend Ramos is undocumented.
The victims' family learned that Ramos had been arrested at least three times before the shooting and evaded deportation, largely because of San Francisco's sanctuary status.
The policy, adopted in 1989 by the city's elected Board of Supervisors, bars local officials from cooperating with federal authorities in their efforts to deport illegal immigrants.
Officials in the juvenile offenders agency interpreted the law to also shield underage felons from deportation by refusing to report undocumented ones. Mayor Gavin Newsom said he rescinded the policy regarding juvenile offenders after learning about it in May.
The Bolognas' relatives say Ramos apparently benefited from the policy when he reportedly was convicted twice of felonies in 2003 and 2004 but never was turned over for deportation.
"All San Francisco's sanctuary ordinance has done is bring violence and death to this once-great city," said Frank Kennedy, who is married to Anthony Bologna's sister.
Kennedy called for an investigation of the sanctuary policy and demanded "prosecutions for violating the law."
Meanwhile, local and federal authorities are pointing fingers at each other over Ramos' most recent arrest before the shooting.
Ramos was arrested in late March with another man after police discovered a gun used in a double homicide in the car Ramos was driving.
The district attorney's office decided not to file charges against Ramos, and he was released April 2 even though he was in the process of being deported after his application for legal residence was denied, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
San Francisco Sheriff's Department spokesman Eileen Hirst said jail officials faxed ICE on March 30 asking if Ramos should remain jailed. Ramos was freed after Hirst said immigration officials didn't respond.
ICE spokesman Timothy Counts said his agency did not receive word of Ramos' arrest in March. He said the only communication received about Ramos was an "electronic message" from the sheriff's department three hours after his release.
The case has garnered national attention, leading U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and an anti-immigration group called Californians for Population Stabilization to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to take over, alleging San Francisco authorities have mishandled it.
"Because San Francisco's political leaders have already demonstrated their willingness to act in flagrant violation of federal law, I do not believe that local judicial institutions can be trusted to fairly try the case or mete out an appropriate punishment," Tancredo said in a letter sent Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said he was unaware of the case and the congressman's request. Miller said the attorney general routinely responds privately to such requests.
Diana Hull, president of Californians for Population Stabilization, called on about a dozen cities nationwide with similar sanctuary policies to end those programs.
"We need to remember always that a death-dealing policy like 'sanctuary' hides behind the false mantle of compassion," Hull said.
Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for San Francisco's mayor, said city officials were wrong to shield undocumented, juvenile felons from federal immigration authorities.
"The sanctuary program was never intended to shield felons," Ballard said. "The policy was inappropriate."
However, Newsom "still supports the worthwhile aims of denying the federal government" assistance in deporting otherwise law-abiding undocumented residents, he said.
Michael sez: Get out of the cities and try to stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Jul 24, 7:42 AM (ET)By PAUL ELIAS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The scene repeats itself daily on city streets: a driver gets stuck bumper to bumper, blocking an intersection and preventing another car from turning left.
But authorities say that was enough to cause Edwin Ramos to unload an AK-47 assault weapon on a man and his two sons, killing them.
The deaths immediately drew public outrage, which intensified when authorities revealed that Ramos, 21, is an illegal immigrant who managed to avoid deportation despite previous brushes with the law.
The case has put San Francisco's liberal politics to the test, setting off a debate over its sanctuary law that shields undocumented immigrants from deportation.
On Wednesday, Ramos pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder in the deaths of Anthony Bologna, 49, and his sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. Bologna and his older son died in the intersection on June 22. His younger son succumbed to his injuries days later.
Shortly after that, police arrested Ramos, a native of El Salvador and reputed member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, known as MS-13. Investigators believe he was the gunman, though two other men were seen in the car with him.
The heinousness of the deaths has put pressure on San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris to seek the death penalty against Ramos. Harris, who campaigned on an anti-death penalty platform and has never pursued capital punishment during her more than four years in office, has declined to say exactly how she intends to proceed.
"This case has been charged as a special circumstance case," making it eligible for the death penalty, spokeswoman Erica Derryck said. "No additional announcement has been made about this aspect of the charging."
Ramos' attorney, Robert Amparan, said his client was not the shooter. "They have the wrong person," he said.
Amparan declined to discuss details of the case, but he denied his client was involved in gang activity and said Ramos entered the country legally. Federal authorities contend Ramos is undocumented.
The victims' family learned that Ramos had been arrested at least three times before the shooting and evaded deportation, largely because of San Francisco's sanctuary status.
The policy, adopted in 1989 by the city's elected Board of Supervisors, bars local officials from cooperating with federal authorities in their efforts to deport illegal immigrants.
Officials in the juvenile offenders agency interpreted the law to also shield underage felons from deportation by refusing to report undocumented ones. Mayor Gavin Newsom said he rescinded the policy regarding juvenile offenders after learning about it in May.
The Bolognas' relatives say Ramos apparently benefited from the policy when he reportedly was convicted twice of felonies in 2003 and 2004 but never was turned over for deportation.
"All San Francisco's sanctuary ordinance has done is bring violence and death to this once-great city," said Frank Kennedy, who is married to Anthony Bologna's sister.
Kennedy called for an investigation of the sanctuary policy and demanded "prosecutions for violating the law."
Meanwhile, local and federal authorities are pointing fingers at each other over Ramos' most recent arrest before the shooting.
Ramos was arrested in late March with another man after police discovered a gun used in a double homicide in the car Ramos was driving.
The district attorney's office decided not to file charges against Ramos, and he was released April 2 even though he was in the process of being deported after his application for legal residence was denied, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
San Francisco Sheriff's Department spokesman Eileen Hirst said jail officials faxed ICE on March 30 asking if Ramos should remain jailed. Ramos was freed after Hirst said immigration officials didn't respond.
ICE spokesman Timothy Counts said his agency did not receive word of Ramos' arrest in March. He said the only communication received about Ramos was an "electronic message" from the sheriff's department three hours after his release.
The case has garnered national attention, leading U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and an anti-immigration group called Californians for Population Stabilization to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to take over, alleging San Francisco authorities have mishandled it.
"Because San Francisco's political leaders have already demonstrated their willingness to act in flagrant violation of federal law, I do not believe that local judicial institutions can be trusted to fairly try the case or mete out an appropriate punishment," Tancredo said in a letter sent Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said he was unaware of the case and the congressman's request. Miller said the attorney general routinely responds privately to such requests.
Diana Hull, president of Californians for Population Stabilization, called on about a dozen cities nationwide with similar sanctuary policies to end those programs.
"We need to remember always that a death-dealing policy like 'sanctuary' hides behind the false mantle of compassion," Hull said.
Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for San Francisco's mayor, said city officials were wrong to shield undocumented, juvenile felons from federal immigration authorities.
"The sanctuary program was never intended to shield felons," Ballard said. "The policy was inappropriate."
However, Newsom "still supports the worthwhile aims of denying the federal government" assistance in deporting otherwise law-abiding undocumented residents, he said.
Michael sez: Get out of the cities and try to stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
NEWS AND VIEWS AND FACES
Hey, we had Dolly Day and made it just fine. In fact we never got a bit of hurricane damage or flooding here in Indiana. I feel for those people down in Texas who had to bear the brunt of the storm. But sometimes things hinge on the luck of the draw. If and when we have a tornado go through this area and tear things up I am sure folks elsewhere will breathe a sigh of relief. You just face whatever comes your way and deal with it. We had a tornado go through here 3 or 4 years ago and it skipped over all the buildings. I was about a half a mile away from the path of the beast and never knew about it until the next day. But the guys who watched it go overhead said it sounded like they were standing next to a freight train. The roar was terrible. But we made it.
I know a ridge line about 3/4 of a mile back into our land that has a place where there is a big overhang of solid rock that you could shelter under quite easily. The Indians used it. There is a little seep spring there and it runs across a rock that some one back in antiquity carved a trough into. Perfect for watering a horse. And it fills up with sediment and you can't see the trough. You have to know it's there. But if you clean it out, the water will clarify in about 15 minutes and you can have a drink of clean water. You can make your camp under the overhang and sleep high and dry during a rough storm. You could even have a fire or make one of those fire pits that you cover with dirt and sleep on to keep warm in bitter weather. That would be the safest place in nature to hide out from tornado in this area. Some man made places are equally good and much easier to access, but this one will work if necessary and it is free. There is game in the area, water and shelter at the site, and an abundance of wood for heating and cooking. Pack your sleeping bag up there and you could live quite comfortably until the danger passed. Then you pack your stuff and walk down from the ridge and rejoin humanity.
There are some interesting stories floating around the blogs these days. One of them is at http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16289.html and deals with the cover up of John McCain's incredible faux pau when being questioned by Katie Couric. He totally blew it on the subject of the "surge" in Iraq. He had his time frame all screwed up. And Couric's network covered it all up and changed the film to make McCain look okay. Quite a look into the ugliness of our national media. They are a bunch of whores.
Michael Rivero has an absolutely great rant on bloggers and their success located at http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/blogger.html . He says the war between the mainstream media and the bloggers is over and the bloggers have won! You will love this article.
A new member of the blogger scene in Grumpyunk. He is from Indiana so naturally he has quite a bit of intelligence and is pro-survivalism. His day job is as an Emergency Room Nurse and the guy knows how to take care of business. http://crazyuncle.blogspot.com/ will take you to his blog and let you see the inner workings of an ER. Really neat stuff. Give him a look.
We have a new gun store in the area and I know the guy who is running the operation right now. It's Sam's Guns and Ammo in Bedford, Indiana. I can buy 00 Buck in 2&3/4" size 12 gauge for $35 for 50 rounds. It's 812-276-6200. Ask for Rusty. He will treat you right.
Wife has gone to town and is picking me up a 6-pak of survival beer. God bless her. She's always looking out for my welfare and trying to keep me healthy.
Dragon has a new store on his page. http://circleoftheoroborous-dragon.blogspot.com/ is the place to go to see what the Elder Dragon has that he thinks is good preps. I've looked at it pretty close and there certainly is a lot for preppers. No crap allowed. All for survival.
I'll get back to you all later. Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
I know a ridge line about 3/4 of a mile back into our land that has a place where there is a big overhang of solid rock that you could shelter under quite easily. The Indians used it. There is a little seep spring there and it runs across a rock that some one back in antiquity carved a trough into. Perfect for watering a horse. And it fills up with sediment and you can't see the trough. You have to know it's there. But if you clean it out, the water will clarify in about 15 minutes and you can have a drink of clean water. You can make your camp under the overhang and sleep high and dry during a rough storm. You could even have a fire or make one of those fire pits that you cover with dirt and sleep on to keep warm in bitter weather. That would be the safest place in nature to hide out from tornado in this area. Some man made places are equally good and much easier to access, but this one will work if necessary and it is free. There is game in the area, water and shelter at the site, and an abundance of wood for heating and cooking. Pack your sleeping bag up there and you could live quite comfortably until the danger passed. Then you pack your stuff and walk down from the ridge and rejoin humanity.
There are some interesting stories floating around the blogs these days. One of them is at http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16289.html and deals with the cover up of John McCain's incredible faux pau when being questioned by Katie Couric. He totally blew it on the subject of the "surge" in Iraq. He had his time frame all screwed up. And Couric's network covered it all up and changed the film to make McCain look okay. Quite a look into the ugliness of our national media. They are a bunch of whores.
Michael Rivero has an absolutely great rant on bloggers and their success located at http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/blogger.html . He says the war between the mainstream media and the bloggers is over and the bloggers have won! You will love this article.
A new member of the blogger scene in Grumpyunk. He is from Indiana so naturally he has quite a bit of intelligence and is pro-survivalism. His day job is as an Emergency Room Nurse and the guy knows how to take care of business. http://crazyuncle.blogspot.com/ will take you to his blog and let you see the inner workings of an ER. Really neat stuff. Give him a look.
We have a new gun store in the area and I know the guy who is running the operation right now. It's Sam's Guns and Ammo in Bedford, Indiana. I can buy 00 Buck in 2&3/4" size 12 gauge for $35 for 50 rounds. It's 812-276-6200. Ask for Rusty. He will treat you right.
Wife has gone to town and is picking me up a 6-pak of survival beer. God bless her. She's always looking out for my welfare and trying to keep me healthy.
Dragon has a new store on his page. http://circleoftheoroborous-dragon.blogspot.com/ is the place to go to see what the Elder Dragon has that he thinks is good preps. I've looked at it pretty close and there certainly is a lot for preppers. No crap allowed. All for survival.
I'll get back to you all later. Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
THINKING ABOUT PREPS
There is a hurricane about to blow into Brownsville, Texas, sometime in the next few hours. It is supposed to hit right where the Rio Grande empties into the sea. Right on the border. It's been forty-some years since a hurricane hit at that spot. In modern parlance that means it is a 2% event. Roughly twice a century.
The Census Bureau estimates that 1,500,000 people will be affected. That is about a half a percent of the national population but I am sure those folks will not consider that when the SHTF this afternoon. They will sudddenly feel they are special and in need to help and divine intervention. Can't say as I blame them.
But a feast is being prepared also. All those things that will be washed out ot sea will find a waiting group of savengers ready to chow down. Nothing will be wasted. I don't know how it works in the ocean but here in the hills and hollers we have the Buzzard, the Crow, the Opossum, and the Raccoon for our little clean up detail. And them boys don't miss a thing. Believe it. I am sure the sea has it's comparable critters. Those guys farming on the flood plain will lose a lot of soil but that cannot be helped. Proper farming methods would build it back up within a fairly short time but those methods are practiced by only a few. Mainly those "loser" Amish that guy was writing about a few days ago. Amish, by the way, are as successful at farming as they are because for hundreds of year they were denied the right to own highly fertile soil, especially in Europe. If they wanted to move into an area they were only allowed to farm the "junk" land. They got pretty crafty in the ways of farming as a result of that. They can plow a knoll in a field out of existance. They can fertilize with no commercial products. They invented the silo and it's amazing capacity to store nutritious foods. They help each other with no thought of reward but to succeed. They are survivors. And they work like wildmen. If a problem comes along they get right to the task of solving it. I don't think much of their religion but I do admire their resourcefulness. You take what you need and you leave the rest.
I bought 50 rounds of 00 Buck for my shot gun stash yesterday. A hair less than $35 for the bunch of it. Not bad for '08 prices. And that stuff is simply amazing. Makes problems go away in a flash. Knocks bigger animals on their ass quickly! It will do the same for bipeds also. If I were a survivor of Dolly down in that river valley and looters came in I can tell you right now how I would handle them. Clack, Click, BOOM! Looters start going away. They get further downrange quickly. Peace and security settle into the area in a hurry. No one in their right mind wants to mess with the big 00. Those little babies will let you win! At least if you are on the safe end of the shot gun. It's not too easy to get medical insurance if you are on the nasty end of the weapon. Practically impossible, as a matter of fact. Letting off a whole tube of 00 in suppressing fire mode will just about scare the ass completely off of an opponent. Just get an idea of the way they are advancing and let it rip! It will look like you stumbled across a mess of tunnel diggers! Awesome.
I am having trouble finding out the effects of Lobelia on heart fibrillation. Will it stop it? Would it be a good prep to keep around for such a use? I found an herb doctor and emailed him but his email came back as undeliverable. So much for him! But that Lobelia thing is very interesting. It can be of great help to asthmatics. It is loaded with alkoloids, which are some of the fastest and most powerful chemicals in the herbalist's tool box. But I don't know if it will stop heart fibrillation. If anyone knows, give me a shout!
I just checkd on Dolly and she has reached a Force Two level. Power lines are starting to snap and folks are running out of electricity. About 7,000 are out right now but I would day that will be nothing compared to the final total of folks without juice. Last month it was the flooding in Iowa tne down river from there. This month it is the Rio Grande Valley. Man! We must really be living right!
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
The Census Bureau estimates that 1,500,000 people will be affected. That is about a half a percent of the national population but I am sure those folks will not consider that when the SHTF this afternoon. They will sudddenly feel they are special and in need to help and divine intervention. Can't say as I blame them.
But a feast is being prepared also. All those things that will be washed out ot sea will find a waiting group of savengers ready to chow down. Nothing will be wasted. I don't know how it works in the ocean but here in the hills and hollers we have the Buzzard, the Crow, the Opossum, and the Raccoon for our little clean up detail. And them boys don't miss a thing. Believe it. I am sure the sea has it's comparable critters. Those guys farming on the flood plain will lose a lot of soil but that cannot be helped. Proper farming methods would build it back up within a fairly short time but those methods are practiced by only a few. Mainly those "loser" Amish that guy was writing about a few days ago. Amish, by the way, are as successful at farming as they are because for hundreds of year they were denied the right to own highly fertile soil, especially in Europe. If they wanted to move into an area they were only allowed to farm the "junk" land. They got pretty crafty in the ways of farming as a result of that. They can plow a knoll in a field out of existance. They can fertilize with no commercial products. They invented the silo and it's amazing capacity to store nutritious foods. They help each other with no thought of reward but to succeed. They are survivors. And they work like wildmen. If a problem comes along they get right to the task of solving it. I don't think much of their religion but I do admire their resourcefulness. You take what you need and you leave the rest.
I bought 50 rounds of 00 Buck for my shot gun stash yesterday. A hair less than $35 for the bunch of it. Not bad for '08 prices. And that stuff is simply amazing. Makes problems go away in a flash. Knocks bigger animals on their ass quickly! It will do the same for bipeds also. If I were a survivor of Dolly down in that river valley and looters came in I can tell you right now how I would handle them. Clack, Click, BOOM! Looters start going away. They get further downrange quickly. Peace and security settle into the area in a hurry. No one in their right mind wants to mess with the big 00. Those little babies will let you win! At least if you are on the safe end of the shot gun. It's not too easy to get medical insurance if you are on the nasty end of the weapon. Practically impossible, as a matter of fact. Letting off a whole tube of 00 in suppressing fire mode will just about scare the ass completely off of an opponent. Just get an idea of the way they are advancing and let it rip! It will look like you stumbled across a mess of tunnel diggers! Awesome.
I am having trouble finding out the effects of Lobelia on heart fibrillation. Will it stop it? Would it be a good prep to keep around for such a use? I found an herb doctor and emailed him but his email came back as undeliverable. So much for him! But that Lobelia thing is very interesting. It can be of great help to asthmatics. It is loaded with alkoloids, which are some of the fastest and most powerful chemicals in the herbalist's tool box. But I don't know if it will stop heart fibrillation. If anyone knows, give me a shout!
I just checkd on Dolly and she has reached a Force Two level. Power lines are starting to snap and folks are running out of electricity. About 7,000 are out right now but I would day that will be nothing compared to the final total of folks without juice. Last month it was the flooding in Iowa tne down river from there. This month it is the Rio Grande Valley. Man! We must really be living right!
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
THE MORNING DOOM AND GLOOM
Things are not looking so good on the economic front these days. I listened to Lew Rockwell's podcast of a big time money expert this morning and he essentially said that the banks are broke. I fall on the floor and I laughing. The expert said that there is lucky to be 10% of any banks deposits on hand in cash. The rest is in play as loans of some sort. That means that if you have $1000 in your bank, they have $100 to cover your withdrawal. That is big of them!
Banking is fast becoming the home of the major scammers of this country. Those boys are playing fast and loose with the money and depending on the federal reserve and the fedgov to back them up or bail them out. And the FDIC is fast losing their stash of bailout money. That is sorta like you having a wreck and when you make a claim on your insurance you are informed that the insurance company is all out of money and "have a nice day." What a bunch of pimps! If you or I invest in anything and it goes broke then we stand to lose our investment. But not a bank. They have the fed reserve and the fedgov to back their plays. Our money has to insure that the banks are solvent and that we can get out money out when we want it. I think that is called self insurance.
You might get 3% return on your savings if you are lucky. The bank can loan out your savings at the rate of $9 for every dollar you have on deposit. That is what they mean by fractional banking. But I am getting into Mayberry's video of last week and you will be better off watching it rather than listening to me. Watch that video and you will know one of the reasons I am a survivalist. These guys out here are crooks! And the fedgov backs them! Talk abot a lose-lose situation.
The big news, other than the economic whiz on Lew Rockwell saying the banks are broke, was the page that said we have taken a 10% cut in pay so far this year. If you don't think all this money mumbo-jumbo has any bearing on you then maybe you had better think again. With prices going off the chart, taxes going up, inflation headed for the moon and a few other little goodies, you have had a 10% cut in pay these first six months of 2008. Your pay wasn't actually cut, but what you can buy with it is 10% of what it used to be just last year. And the federal reserve is going to have to inflate it's way out of the bank morass. That could be a few extra trillion dollars floating around with nothing but the full faith and credit of the United States government to back it up.
The stock market is showing signs of life. I cannot think of why it would be. I wouldn't buy stocks in this market for any reason. The price of oil is going down. Why not? It was manipulated by the powers that be to begin with. The Arabs kept saying that there was no oil shortage, everyone was getting their order filled. But the dollar has not fallen to 50 cents and that surprises me. It is worthless as tits on a boar. Too much of it being printed. Don't forget that about 90% of the national budget is already spoken for come budget time. There really isn't much wiggle room for the money the fedgov takes in annually. Most of it is already spoken for. So where is all this bail-out money going to come from ? From off the printing presses, that's where. The fedgov will have to inflate it's way out of this trouble. And our prices keep going up and so will our taxes.
All I can say is keep on prepping and get ready for the crash. You gotta stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Banking is fast becoming the home of the major scammers of this country. Those boys are playing fast and loose with the money and depending on the federal reserve and the fedgov to back them up or bail them out. And the FDIC is fast losing their stash of bailout money. That is sorta like you having a wreck and when you make a claim on your insurance you are informed that the insurance company is all out of money and "have a nice day." What a bunch of pimps! If you or I invest in anything and it goes broke then we stand to lose our investment. But not a bank. They have the fed reserve and the fedgov to back their plays. Our money has to insure that the banks are solvent and that we can get out money out when we want it. I think that is called self insurance.
You might get 3% return on your savings if you are lucky. The bank can loan out your savings at the rate of $9 for every dollar you have on deposit. That is what they mean by fractional banking. But I am getting into Mayberry's video of last week and you will be better off watching it rather than listening to me. Watch that video and you will know one of the reasons I am a survivalist. These guys out here are crooks! And the fedgov backs them! Talk abot a lose-lose situation.
The big news, other than the economic whiz on Lew Rockwell saying the banks are broke, was the page that said we have taken a 10% cut in pay so far this year. If you don't think all this money mumbo-jumbo has any bearing on you then maybe you had better think again. With prices going off the chart, taxes going up, inflation headed for the moon and a few other little goodies, you have had a 10% cut in pay these first six months of 2008. Your pay wasn't actually cut, but what you can buy with it is 10% of what it used to be just last year. And the federal reserve is going to have to inflate it's way out of the bank morass. That could be a few extra trillion dollars floating around with nothing but the full faith and credit of the United States government to back it up.
The stock market is showing signs of life. I cannot think of why it would be. I wouldn't buy stocks in this market for any reason. The price of oil is going down. Why not? It was manipulated by the powers that be to begin with. The Arabs kept saying that there was no oil shortage, everyone was getting their order filled. But the dollar has not fallen to 50 cents and that surprises me. It is worthless as tits on a boar. Too much of it being printed. Don't forget that about 90% of the national budget is already spoken for come budget time. There really isn't much wiggle room for the money the fedgov takes in annually. Most of it is already spoken for. So where is all this bail-out money going to come from ? From off the printing presses, that's where. The fedgov will have to inflate it's way out of this trouble. And our prices keep going up and so will our taxes.
All I can say is keep on prepping and get ready for the crash. You gotta stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
DOLLY, AGAIN
Against all advice, I have decided that Dolly is going ashore at Brownstown. Just looks that way to me. Mayberry says that a high pressure area in Lousyiana is holding Dolly on it's present course. I believe that and I think it will hold. Maybe not. But it looks to me like Corpus Christi is gonna get it's feet wet but not get blown to pieces. Good news for the refineries, at least if what I am predicting comes true. But I would not want to be in Brownstown this week. Looks like a real bummer.
If it veers and goes into Corpus, then so be it. It can't be helped. But best of luck down on the Texas Gulf Coast. Find out Wednesday morning what the plan is and best feet if you need to. Mostly, stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
If it veers and goes into Corpus, then so be it. It can't be helped. But best of luck down on the Texas Gulf Coast. Find out Wednesday morning what the plan is and best feet if you need to. Mostly, stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Monday, July 21, 2008
SURE IS A MESS
The global economy is at the point of maximum dangerBy Ambrose Evans- Pritchard
Last Updated: 6:53am BST 21/07/2008
It feels like the summer of 1931. The world's two biggest financial institutions have had a heart attack. The global currency system is breaking down. The policy doctrines that got us into this mess are bankrupt. No world leader seems able to discern the problem, let alone forge a solution.
The International Monetary Fund has abdicated into schizophrenia. It has upgraded its 2008 world forecast from 3.7pc to 4.1pc growth, whilst warning of a "chance of a global recession". Plainly, the IMF cannot or will not offer any useful insights.
Its "mean-reversion" model misses the entire point of this crisis, which is that central banks have pushed debt to fatal levels by holding interest too low for a generation, and now the chickens have come home to roost. True "mean-reversion" would imply debt deflation on such a scale that would, if abrupt, threaten democracy.
The risk is that these same central banks will commit a fresh error, this time overreacting to the oil spike. The European Central Bank has raised rates, warning of a 1970s wage-price spiral. Fixated on the rear-view mirror, it is not looking through the windscreen.
The eurozone is falling into recession before the US itself. Its level of credit stress is worse, if measured by Euribor or the iTraxx bond indexes. Core inflation has fallen over the last year from 1.9pc to 1.8pc.
The US may soon tip into a second leg of this crisis as the fiscal package runs out and Americans lose jobs in earnest. US bank credit has contracted for three months. Real US wages fell at almost 10pc (annualised) over May and June. This is a ferocious squeeze for an economy already in the grip of the property and debt crunch.
No doubt the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - $5.3 trillion pillars of America's mortgage market - stinks of moral hazard. The Treasury is to buy shares: the Fed has opened its window yet wider. Risks have been socialised. Any rewards will go to capitalists.
Alas, no Scandinavian discipline for Wall Street. When Norway's banks fell below critical capital levels in the early 1990s, the Storting authorised seizure. Shareholders were stiffed.
But Nordic purism in the vast universe of US credit would court fate. The Californian lender IndyMac was indeed seized after depositors panicked on the streets of Encino. The police had to restore order. This was America's Northern Rock moment.
IndyMac will deplete a tenth of the $53bn reserve of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC has some 90 "troubled" lenders on watch. IndyMac was not one of them.
The awful reality is that Washington has its back to the wall. Fed chief Ben Bernanke thought the US could always get out of trouble by monetary stimulus "à l'outrance", and letting the dollar slide. He has learned that the world is a more complicated place.
Oil has queered the pitch. So has America's fatal reliance on foreign debt. The Fannie/Freddie rescue, incidentally, has just lifted the US national debt from German 'AAA' levels to Italian 'AA-' levels.
China, Russia, petro-powers and other foreign states own $985bn of US agency debt, besides holdings of US Treasuries. Purchases of Fannie/Freddie debt covered a third of the US current account deficit of $700bn over the last year. Alex Patelis from Merrill Lynch says America faces the risk of a "financing crisis" within months. Foreigners have a veto over US policy.
Japan did not have this problem during its Lost Decade. As the world's supplier of credit, it could let the yen slide. It also had a savings rate of 15pc. Albert Edwards from Société Générale says this has fallen to 3pc today. It has cushioned the slump. Americans are under water before they start.
My view is that a dollar crash will be averted as it becomes clearer that contagion has spread worldwide. But we are now at the point of maximum danger. Britain, Japan, and the Antipodes are stalling. Denmark is in recession. Germany contracted in the second quarter. May industrial output fell 6pc in Holland and 5.5pc in Sweden.
The coalitions in Belgium and Austria have just collapsed. Germany's left-right team is fraying. One German banker told me that the doctrines of "left Nazism" (Otto Strasser's group, purged by Hitler) had captured the rising Die Linke party. The Social Democrats are picking up its themes to protect their flank.
This is the healthy part of Europe. Further south, we are not far away from civic protest. BNP Paribas has just issued a hurricane alert for Spain.
Finance minister Pedro Solbes said Spain is facing the "most complex" economic crisis in its history. Actually, it is very simple. The country was lulled into a trap by giveaway interest rates of 2pc under EMU, leading to a current account deficit of 10pc of GDP.
A manic property bubble was funded by foreigners buying covered bonds and securities. This market has dried up. Monetary policy is now being tightened into the crunch by the ECB, hence the bankruptcy last week of Martinsa-Fadesa (€5.1bn). With Franco-era labour markets (70pc of wages are inflation-linked), the adjustment will occur through closure of the job marts.
China, India, East Europe and emerging Asia have all stolen growth from the future by condoning credit excess. To varying degrees, they are now being forced to pay back their own "inter-temporal overdrafts".
If we are lucky, America will start to stabilise before Asia goes down. Should our leaders mismanage affairs, almost every part of the global system will go down together. Then we are in trouble.
[I got this off of the Telegraph from London. I hope you noticed the 10% wage loss!]
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Last Updated: 6:53am BST 21/07/2008
It feels like the summer of 1931. The world's two biggest financial institutions have had a heart attack. The global currency system is breaking down. The policy doctrines that got us into this mess are bankrupt. No world leader seems able to discern the problem, let alone forge a solution.
The International Monetary Fund has abdicated into schizophrenia. It has upgraded its 2008 world forecast from 3.7pc to 4.1pc growth, whilst warning of a "chance of a global recession". Plainly, the IMF cannot or will not offer any useful insights.
Its "mean-reversion" model misses the entire point of this crisis, which is that central banks have pushed debt to fatal levels by holding interest too low for a generation, and now the chickens have come home to roost. True "mean-reversion" would imply debt deflation on such a scale that would, if abrupt, threaten democracy.
The risk is that these same central banks will commit a fresh error, this time overreacting to the oil spike. The European Central Bank has raised rates, warning of a 1970s wage-price spiral. Fixated on the rear-view mirror, it is not looking through the windscreen.
The eurozone is falling into recession before the US itself. Its level of credit stress is worse, if measured by Euribor or the iTraxx bond indexes. Core inflation has fallen over the last year from 1.9pc to 1.8pc.
The US may soon tip into a second leg of this crisis as the fiscal package runs out and Americans lose jobs in earnest. US bank credit has contracted for three months. Real US wages fell at almost 10pc (annualised) over May and June. This is a ferocious squeeze for an economy already in the grip of the property and debt crunch.
No doubt the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - $5.3 trillion pillars of America's mortgage market - stinks of moral hazard. The Treasury is to buy shares: the Fed has opened its window yet wider. Risks have been socialised. Any rewards will go to capitalists.
Alas, no Scandinavian discipline for Wall Street. When Norway's banks fell below critical capital levels in the early 1990s, the Storting authorised seizure. Shareholders were stiffed.
But Nordic purism in the vast universe of US credit would court fate. The Californian lender IndyMac was indeed seized after depositors panicked on the streets of Encino. The police had to restore order. This was America's Northern Rock moment.
IndyMac will deplete a tenth of the $53bn reserve of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC has some 90 "troubled" lenders on watch. IndyMac was not one of them.
The awful reality is that Washington has its back to the wall. Fed chief Ben Bernanke thought the US could always get out of trouble by monetary stimulus "à l'outrance", and letting the dollar slide. He has learned that the world is a more complicated place.
Oil has queered the pitch. So has America's fatal reliance on foreign debt. The Fannie/Freddie rescue, incidentally, has just lifted the US national debt from German 'AAA' levels to Italian 'AA-' levels.
China, Russia, petro-powers and other foreign states own $985bn of US agency debt, besides holdings of US Treasuries. Purchases of Fannie/Freddie debt covered a third of the US current account deficit of $700bn over the last year. Alex Patelis from Merrill Lynch says America faces the risk of a "financing crisis" within months. Foreigners have a veto over US policy.
Japan did not have this problem during its Lost Decade. As the world's supplier of credit, it could let the yen slide. It also had a savings rate of 15pc. Albert Edwards from Société Générale says this has fallen to 3pc today. It has cushioned the slump. Americans are under water before they start.
My view is that a dollar crash will be averted as it becomes clearer that contagion has spread worldwide. But we are now at the point of maximum danger. Britain, Japan, and the Antipodes are stalling. Denmark is in recession. Germany contracted in the second quarter. May industrial output fell 6pc in Holland and 5.5pc in Sweden.
The coalitions in Belgium and Austria have just collapsed. Germany's left-right team is fraying. One German banker told me that the doctrines of "left Nazism" (Otto Strasser's group, purged by Hitler) had captured the rising Die Linke party. The Social Democrats are picking up its themes to protect their flank.
This is the healthy part of Europe. Further south, we are not far away from civic protest. BNP Paribas has just issued a hurricane alert for Spain.
Finance minister Pedro Solbes said Spain is facing the "most complex" economic crisis in its history. Actually, it is very simple. The country was lulled into a trap by giveaway interest rates of 2pc under EMU, leading to a current account deficit of 10pc of GDP.
A manic property bubble was funded by foreigners buying covered bonds and securities. This market has dried up. Monetary policy is now being tightened into the crunch by the ECB, hence the bankruptcy last week of Martinsa-Fadesa (€5.1bn). With Franco-era labour markets (70pc of wages are inflation-linked), the adjustment will occur through closure of the job marts.
China, India, East Europe and emerging Asia have all stolen growth from the future by condoning credit excess. To varying degrees, they are now being forced to pay back their own "inter-temporal overdrafts".
If we are lucky, America will start to stabilise before Asia goes down. Should our leaders mismanage affairs, almost every part of the global system will go down together. Then we are in trouble.
[I got this off of the Telegraph from London. I hope you noticed the 10% wage loss!]
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
DOLLY
The lastest on Tropical Storm Dally is that it is supposed to reach hurricane status tomorrow. Take a good look at any tracking map and then go locate Corpus Christi. There are THREE refineries on Corpus Christi. Holy Shit, Batman!
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
BLACKWATER
Blackwater plans shift from security business.
Executives say scrutiny following fall shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead made cost of doing business too high.
Contractor Blackwater Worldwide plans a move away from the private security business that brought it unwelcome attention following a deadly shooting in Baghdad last year.
Executives told The Associated Press Monday that the negative media coverage and intense government scrutiny has made the cost of doing business too high. They claim the company has unfairly come to symbolize all Iraq contractors and thus is a flash point for those opposed to the war.
Blackwater contractors are under investigation for their involvement in a shooting in Baghdad in September that left 17 Iraqis dead.
Regardless of the outcome of that case, Blackwater executives say the company will survive with a focus on international training, aviation and construction.
++++++++
Michael sez: I don't give damn if they resort to making gumballs for kids. I just don't want them to be hauling folks off to the Gulag!
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Executives say scrutiny following fall shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead made cost of doing business too high.
Contractor Blackwater Worldwide plans a move away from the private security business that brought it unwelcome attention following a deadly shooting in Baghdad last year.
Executives told The Associated Press Monday that the negative media coverage and intense government scrutiny has made the cost of doing business too high. They claim the company has unfairly come to symbolize all Iraq contractors and thus is a flash point for those opposed to the war.
Blackwater contractors are under investigation for their involvement in a shooting in Baghdad in September that left 17 Iraqis dead.
Regardless of the outcome of that case, Blackwater executives say the company will survive with a focus on international training, aviation and construction.
++++++++
Michael sez: I don't give damn if they resort to making gumballs for kids. I just don't want them to be hauling folks off to the Gulag!
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
BLOWIN' UP A GOOD ONE
Just got the word about Tropical Storm Dolly. It's coming off the Yucatan and heading for the junction of Mexico and Texas right at the Gulf. It is only a Tropical Storm now but but it will be going over some very hot water real quick and that is when things can get exciting. I have some friends down in that region and I wish them to get the hell out of the way of that mutha. Could be nothing and could be a catastrophe. I have watched Gulf storms for years from the security of my computer here in Indiana and once they get over hot water and into the Gulf the S can really HTF. If they are in the Gulf it is sorta like just figuring out where it is going to hit cause the effects will be horrendous. Mayberry and Riverwalker and others had better keep a good heads up down there. And I know they know their area but I also know that those storms can kick your ass between the goals posts any time they take a notion.
After warning my friends, I would then concentrate on locating oil refineries. You let a major oil refinery get whacked and we are in real trouble all over the place, not just down in Texas. Gas will go up a dollar or two a gallon real quick, like instantaneously. Our environmental friends have blocked construction of any new refineries for a long time. We run on just about what it takes to supply us. Any damage to our system and the global warming guys will be jumping for joy as the rest of us sit at home and wonder just what the hell we are going to do. Got horses? Got wagons? Got hay and grain? Mercy! Hello Dolly. "I feel the room swayin'..."
Gonna grind some corn today if God allows. I be out of corn meal and there is no excuse for that. I am sitting beside 49 pounds of corn and there is a grinder about 8' away. Gotta get with the program. Besides, I like the mush and so does the wife. Corn bread is okay but it ain't got what mush has. Mush is a gut packer, a filler-up kind of food. And it goes well with my eggs in the morning, though we had it with our beans last night for supper. The Handmaiden made a mixture of Great Northern and Pinto beans in the crock pot yesterday and it was great. She posted the recipe last week for cooking your beans.
I read a long treatise on guns this morning on a survival blog. Same old shit. WWII surplus rifle versus a modern semi-automatic battle rifle. The costs involved. The amount of ammo used. And all the regular stuff you have read a bazillion times. Just get a gun you can hit with when you shoot it. The more accurate you are the more the enemy loses. And you will be wanting the enemy to lose. The more hits he takes the less YOU will take. Your objective is to take NO HITS and inflict many hits on your enemy. Your brain is your best weapon and if it tells you that things are going to go really wrong, get the hell out of there. And get out any way you can! He that is smart and gets away lives to fight another day! Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
After warning my friends, I would then concentrate on locating oil refineries. You let a major oil refinery get whacked and we are in real trouble all over the place, not just down in Texas. Gas will go up a dollar or two a gallon real quick, like instantaneously. Our environmental friends have blocked construction of any new refineries for a long time. We run on just about what it takes to supply us. Any damage to our system and the global warming guys will be jumping for joy as the rest of us sit at home and wonder just what the hell we are going to do. Got horses? Got wagons? Got hay and grain? Mercy! Hello Dolly. "I feel the room swayin'..."
Gonna grind some corn today if God allows. I be out of corn meal and there is no excuse for that. I am sitting beside 49 pounds of corn and there is a grinder about 8' away. Gotta get with the program. Besides, I like the mush and so does the wife. Corn bread is okay but it ain't got what mush has. Mush is a gut packer, a filler-up kind of food. And it goes well with my eggs in the morning, though we had it with our beans last night for supper. The Handmaiden made a mixture of Great Northern and Pinto beans in the crock pot yesterday and it was great. She posted the recipe last week for cooking your beans.
I read a long treatise on guns this morning on a survival blog. Same old shit. WWII surplus rifle versus a modern semi-automatic battle rifle. The costs involved. The amount of ammo used. And all the regular stuff you have read a bazillion times. Just get a gun you can hit with when you shoot it. The more accurate you are the more the enemy loses. And you will be wanting the enemy to lose. The more hits he takes the less YOU will take. Your objective is to take NO HITS and inflict many hits on your enemy. Your brain is your best weapon and if it tells you that things are going to go really wrong, get the hell out of there. And get out any way you can! He that is smart and gets away lives to fight another day! Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Sunday, July 20, 2008
THE DAYS PREPS
It will be a few weeks before I can do anything like this again but I sure as hell did it today. I went and bought FOOD for our prep supply. I bought a pack of factory rolled cigarettes too, just for extravagance. Not a bad deal, if you just buy one pack.
I bought another 20 pound bag of rice for $14.38. Way too high but what else can you buy for cheap? I also got another huge can of Hormel Chili to add to the supply. Got it for $7.62. Funniest damn thing but Chinamart was out of Cayenne Pepper. Minor piss off, but certainly worth noting. Do we have a Cayenne shortage in this country? We will get it from the Amish. They grow it and grind it.
I also tried a huge can of condensed Cheddar Cheese for $7.76. We will know when we open it if it's any good. But it is a huge amount of cheese. The chili and the cheese seemed to be in gallon cans.
Then we decided to buy canned fruit. We found canned pear slices in a smallish can for 92 cents apiece. I bought a flat of 12. We found canned peaches for 92 cents apiece and bought a flat of 12. Then my eye caught the Blueberries! Holy mackerel, Andy, I had to get Blueberries. Flats of those were only 8 cans but they were $2.62 per can. Ouch! I got the flat and went on my way. I had the money and Blueberries are good and good for you.
I found some canned Hams of one pound size for $2.78 each. I bought 3 of them. They could sure flavor a multi-gallon pot of beans and that will be the saving of some folks who can't stand beans too well. They were canned here in the USA and inspected by our fair government inspectors. That is important if you believe what the government says. But I believe OUR ass holes before I would believe some southeast Asian ass holes. I guess it don't really matter. I still must have some prejudice in me. One government is as big a liar as another, so why worry?
I bought six packages of Jello Instant pudding and forgot to buy powdered milk. Six kinds of dumbass, here. Powdered milk is good and good for you. The Handmaiden had me get a pretty good sized jar of chicken bullion. Good stuff. I also bought six more boxes of iodized salt for storage. And I topped it all off with two big plastic cans of Folgers, with plastic lids, but sealed on the inside. The whole thing came to $117.34. I regret I was remiss and didn't buy powdered milk. But other than that I am quite pleased with our purchases. They will last a long time and that is what this game is about.
We just carried all those canned goods and other things up to our stash and our SECOND 35 gallon can is a third full. We be preppin'! And the canned goods don't go into the big can. Just bagged stuff goes in there. I am happy to see our little supply of good food grow and multiply. The main portion of the storage food is for other folks who do not believe in what the Handmaiden and I are doing. God will provide for them. And He will! He has put the Handmaiden and I on this little mission and we enjoy doing it. I am tired of getting strange looks from people who will not walk across the fucking street for preps. Remember all those folks who would not get with Noah? I hope they were all long distance swimmers. Otherwise they became fish food. I will be offering a little better deal than becoming fish food. For sure!
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
I bought another 20 pound bag of rice for $14.38. Way too high but what else can you buy for cheap? I also got another huge can of Hormel Chili to add to the supply. Got it for $7.62. Funniest damn thing but Chinamart was out of Cayenne Pepper. Minor piss off, but certainly worth noting. Do we have a Cayenne shortage in this country? We will get it from the Amish. They grow it and grind it.
I also tried a huge can of condensed Cheddar Cheese for $7.76. We will know when we open it if it's any good. But it is a huge amount of cheese. The chili and the cheese seemed to be in gallon cans.
Then we decided to buy canned fruit. We found canned pear slices in a smallish can for 92 cents apiece. I bought a flat of 12. We found canned peaches for 92 cents apiece and bought a flat of 12. Then my eye caught the Blueberries! Holy mackerel, Andy, I had to get Blueberries. Flats of those were only 8 cans but they were $2.62 per can. Ouch! I got the flat and went on my way. I had the money and Blueberries are good and good for you.
I found some canned Hams of one pound size for $2.78 each. I bought 3 of them. They could sure flavor a multi-gallon pot of beans and that will be the saving of some folks who can't stand beans too well. They were canned here in the USA and inspected by our fair government inspectors. That is important if you believe what the government says. But I believe OUR ass holes before I would believe some southeast Asian ass holes. I guess it don't really matter. I still must have some prejudice in me. One government is as big a liar as another, so why worry?
I bought six packages of Jello Instant pudding and forgot to buy powdered milk. Six kinds of dumbass, here. Powdered milk is good and good for you. The Handmaiden had me get a pretty good sized jar of chicken bullion. Good stuff. I also bought six more boxes of iodized salt for storage. And I topped it all off with two big plastic cans of Folgers, with plastic lids, but sealed on the inside. The whole thing came to $117.34. I regret I was remiss and didn't buy powdered milk. But other than that I am quite pleased with our purchases. They will last a long time and that is what this game is about.
We just carried all those canned goods and other things up to our stash and our SECOND 35 gallon can is a third full. We be preppin'! And the canned goods don't go into the big can. Just bagged stuff goes in there. I am happy to see our little supply of good food grow and multiply. The main portion of the storage food is for other folks who do not believe in what the Handmaiden and I are doing. God will provide for them. And He will! He has put the Handmaiden and I on this little mission and we enjoy doing it. I am tired of getting strange looks from people who will not walk across the fucking street for preps. Remember all those folks who would not get with Noah? I hope they were all long distance swimmers. Otherwise they became fish food. I will be offering a little better deal than becoming fish food. For sure!
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
LOVELY MORNING
It's a beautiful sunny morning here in the valley and I am thinking of a trip to town and doing some prepping. The handmaiden slept in this morning so she is in a decent mood and will probably go with me. She just said she wants to do the dishes first and then she will go. She is crazy about keeping her dishes caught up. And her kitchen floor swept. It's just the way she is.
I have contemplated the inner city gangs this morning, both in my musings out on the porch and on line. I am still of the opinion that they present a grave danger to anyone who gets in their way. They don't like us normal citizens. They like their own kind. And I can understand that and sympathize with them but I cannot go along with their plans to enslave or murder me. Their best shot with me is to leave me alone. Don't mess with me or my cohorts. Period.
I am still thinking about what to buy for my preps. I think about more food. Those great big cans of Hormel Chili sure do stimulate my hunger. It isn't as good as the Handmaidens chili but it is damn good. I think about buying cans of pudding and keeping them around for a while. They would be nice to have in the event of an emergency. After an afternoon of fighting Freebooters it sure would be nice to come home to some goodies to go along with your rice and beans. And for the zillionth time, don't forget that the first three days of an emergency are the most troubling and the most taxing on your system and you really need to eat well on those days. So have some goodies you can use to stoke up! Canned fruit comes to mind as a good dessert-treat thing to have around. There might be some real nourishment in them.
The Handmaiden still has our bean seeds in the sprouting process and they have not yet sprouted. I be watching those little devils for signs of life. If they sprout then I have a chance of saving a ton of money on bean seed. Getting a lot for very little appeals to me. But i have to be sure they will work. Hope they do.
I have meditated on garden growing this morning. I am thinking that gardens are degenerate. They have to be watered, fertilized, weeded, sprayed for bugs and finally harvested for eating. What a crock of shit. All around me are millions of plants I can eat and live on. And we persist on growing gardens. My main flaw in my thinking is Winter food. and Spring food. And Summer food. The Fall we have covered by the garden and we can store a lot of it if we plant crops that store well. But that seems like a lot of work for not so much food. You basically get one quarter of a year to grow the whole years supply of food. And that is sorta like the cup being half full or half empty. You gotta work like hell for one fourth of the year but then you can relax for three quarters of the year. But there is all this food growing out here for nothing! And the bugs don't eat it and the weeds don't starve them out and they make it on the available water and you just essentially have to pick the stuff and eat it. Something is missing in my equation.
Mayberry got on a talk he had with his neighbors. Very interesting. I enjoy it when folks who never get heard from get a chance to voice their opinions. Maybe they aren't too smart but they can report what is going on. And once in a while you meet a smart one. You just never can tell.
Gotta get up and go to town. Preps, you know. I'll keep you informed! Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
I have contemplated the inner city gangs this morning, both in my musings out on the porch and on line. I am still of the opinion that they present a grave danger to anyone who gets in their way. They don't like us normal citizens. They like their own kind. And I can understand that and sympathize with them but I cannot go along with their plans to enslave or murder me. Their best shot with me is to leave me alone. Don't mess with me or my cohorts. Period.
I am still thinking about what to buy for my preps. I think about more food. Those great big cans of Hormel Chili sure do stimulate my hunger. It isn't as good as the Handmaidens chili but it is damn good. I think about buying cans of pudding and keeping them around for a while. They would be nice to have in the event of an emergency. After an afternoon of fighting Freebooters it sure would be nice to come home to some goodies to go along with your rice and beans. And for the zillionth time, don't forget that the first three days of an emergency are the most troubling and the most taxing on your system and you really need to eat well on those days. So have some goodies you can use to stoke up! Canned fruit comes to mind as a good dessert-treat thing to have around. There might be some real nourishment in them.
The Handmaiden still has our bean seeds in the sprouting process and they have not yet sprouted. I be watching those little devils for signs of life. If they sprout then I have a chance of saving a ton of money on bean seed. Getting a lot for very little appeals to me. But i have to be sure they will work. Hope they do.
I have meditated on garden growing this morning. I am thinking that gardens are degenerate. They have to be watered, fertilized, weeded, sprayed for bugs and finally harvested for eating. What a crock of shit. All around me are millions of plants I can eat and live on. And we persist on growing gardens. My main flaw in my thinking is Winter food. and Spring food. And Summer food. The Fall we have covered by the garden and we can store a lot of it if we plant crops that store well. But that seems like a lot of work for not so much food. You basically get one quarter of a year to grow the whole years supply of food. And that is sorta like the cup being half full or half empty. You gotta work like hell for one fourth of the year but then you can relax for three quarters of the year. But there is all this food growing out here for nothing! And the bugs don't eat it and the weeds don't starve them out and they make it on the available water and you just essentially have to pick the stuff and eat it. Something is missing in my equation.
Mayberry got on a talk he had with his neighbors. Very interesting. I enjoy it when folks who never get heard from get a chance to voice their opinions. Maybe they aren't too smart but they can report what is going on. And once in a while you meet a smart one. You just never can tell.
Gotta get up and go to town. Preps, you know. I'll keep you informed! Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Saturday, July 19, 2008
LATE IN THE NIGHT
It's about ten o'clock at night and getting near my bed time. I don't stay up too late. I like top get up early and read the survival blogs first thing. It's a good way to start the day.
I might go prepping tomorrow, if I can get the Handmaiden to go with me. She is a good help on buying trips. Her knowledge of prices is pretty current to the market. I am thinking of getting medical and then again I am thinking of getting more food. We shall see. The gas prices may be going down if this oil price keeps falling, in which case the fedgov will express a triumph and declare the crisis over. In order to celebrate they are going to raise the federal gas tax 10 cents on the gallon. Since people are not driving as much as normal, there is less money coming into the fedgov's coffers and they have to make it up. Too many people work for the various highway departments to let the money fall below the break even point. Got to keep those government workers employed. After all, the fedgov is the largest employer in the USA and the states just build on that. Sounds like the next excuse to raise taxes. I know that 45 years ago it was not thought of as a decent job to work for the government. You were just not quite acceptable if you worked for the state on any level.
I have been noticing the gangs around the country. Big city gangs are sending guys into the armed forces to go to Iraq and learn urban warfare. Now why would an inner city gang be interested in learning urban warfare? Could it be that they smell something coming and want to be prepared? Could it be that they have something in mind to do whether the system goes down or not? Could it be that Whitey has a dismal future in the city? I laugh when I hear people deny that gangs have a command and control system. They are some of the most rigidly controlled groups in the country. You don't disobey. You don't fuck up. You never let the gang down. The gang is a machine that functions as a machine. Try not to get in the way of these bastards. They will kill you and take all you have.
I have told you the price of 20 pounds of rice at Chinamart. 72 cents a pound. The fedgov is gonna raise the fuel tax another 10 cents a gallon to make up for a shortfall caused by people not being able to afford gas to drive around as they once did. Does it appear that the big boys are going to bleed us out as best they can before the starve us? Sure does look like it to me! I have another 50 rounds of 00 Buck coming in and all I am waiting for is the truck to get here. I have the money in my hot little hand waiting to pay.
Some folks got all bothered about reading the FEMA directives and so forth. So much hot wind. Like I told them, you saw FEMA's ability when Katrina hit. Just a bunch of stumble bums. They fucked that operation up from beginning to end. I ain't scared of FEMA. I'll let someone else handle that. I have too much work to do. Either New Hampshire or Vermont has decided to take Cesar Chevez up on his offer of free heating oil for the poor. They turned him down last year but this year they have decided that oil is oil and Chavez's oil is okay to them. Big hearted guys, ya know.
Bush is actually negotiating with Iran at a big meeting in Europe. He ain't getting any where but at least the dumbass is trying to behave himself. I personally don't give a fuck about Iran. All they want to do is bomb the hell out of Israel and who could oppose that? Israel is killing Arabs as hard and fast as they can go so what is it to me if the Arabs fight back? Remember, George Washington was considered a terrorist by the British during the war for Independence. We are a nation started by terrorists. Hah! Sure does make a difference as to who writes the story don't it?
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
I might go prepping tomorrow, if I can get the Handmaiden to go with me. She is a good help on buying trips. Her knowledge of prices is pretty current to the market. I am thinking of getting medical and then again I am thinking of getting more food. We shall see. The gas prices may be going down if this oil price keeps falling, in which case the fedgov will express a triumph and declare the crisis over. In order to celebrate they are going to raise the federal gas tax 10 cents on the gallon. Since people are not driving as much as normal, there is less money coming into the fedgov's coffers and they have to make it up. Too many people work for the various highway departments to let the money fall below the break even point. Got to keep those government workers employed. After all, the fedgov is the largest employer in the USA and the states just build on that. Sounds like the next excuse to raise taxes. I know that 45 years ago it was not thought of as a decent job to work for the government. You were just not quite acceptable if you worked for the state on any level.
I have been noticing the gangs around the country. Big city gangs are sending guys into the armed forces to go to Iraq and learn urban warfare. Now why would an inner city gang be interested in learning urban warfare? Could it be that they smell something coming and want to be prepared? Could it be that they have something in mind to do whether the system goes down or not? Could it be that Whitey has a dismal future in the city? I laugh when I hear people deny that gangs have a command and control system. They are some of the most rigidly controlled groups in the country. You don't disobey. You don't fuck up. You never let the gang down. The gang is a machine that functions as a machine. Try not to get in the way of these bastards. They will kill you and take all you have.
I have told you the price of 20 pounds of rice at Chinamart. 72 cents a pound. The fedgov is gonna raise the fuel tax another 10 cents a gallon to make up for a shortfall caused by people not being able to afford gas to drive around as they once did. Does it appear that the big boys are going to bleed us out as best they can before the starve us? Sure does look like it to me! I have another 50 rounds of 00 Buck coming in and all I am waiting for is the truck to get here. I have the money in my hot little hand waiting to pay.
Some folks got all bothered about reading the FEMA directives and so forth. So much hot wind. Like I told them, you saw FEMA's ability when Katrina hit. Just a bunch of stumble bums. They fucked that operation up from beginning to end. I ain't scared of FEMA. I'll let someone else handle that. I have too much work to do. Either New Hampshire or Vermont has decided to take Cesar Chevez up on his offer of free heating oil for the poor. They turned him down last year but this year they have decided that oil is oil and Chavez's oil is okay to them. Big hearted guys, ya know.
Bush is actually negotiating with Iran at a big meeting in Europe. He ain't getting any where but at least the dumbass is trying to behave himself. I personally don't give a fuck about Iran. All they want to do is bomb the hell out of Israel and who could oppose that? Israel is killing Arabs as hard and fast as they can go so what is it to me if the Arabs fight back? Remember, George Washington was considered a terrorist by the British during the war for Independence. We are a nation started by terrorists. Hah! Sure does make a difference as to who writes the story don't it?
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
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