CHURCH OF ENGLAND BACKS GORE

Church of England puts its faith in Al Gore's investment arm Tuesday,
30th December 2008. 9:00am
By: George Conger.

The Church of England’s Church Commissioners have gone green, investing £150 million with former US Vice-President Al Gore’s environmentally minded investment firm, Generation Investment Management.

On Nov 18 the First Church Estates Commissioner, Andreas Whittam Smith reported that in late September the Commissioners had placed the funds with Gore’s boutique management firm which follows an “environmentally sustainable global equities mandate.” Funding for the investment came from “cash and Treasury bills”, he said, and not from the sale of UK equities as initially planned.

In Oct 2007 Mr Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in raising awareness of the potential threats from climate change. Generation Investment Management was founded in 2004 by Mr Gore and David Blood, former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and had almost £5 billion under management before the market collapse.

The firm invests in companies that follow “socially responsible” business model such as insulin manufacturer Novo Nordisk, Swiss food conglomerate Nestlé, and San Francisco’s New Resource Bank --- a “green” lender in the US.

Speaking at a press conference last March in Geneva, Mr Gore said private industry should take the lead in creating environmentally friendly market capitalism noting that “more money is allocated by markets around the world in one hour than by all the governments on the planet in a full year.”

“The principles and ways and values that have an impact on the way markets allocate resources can have an enormous effect" in tackling climate change, he said.

Institutional investors in his fund are “more attracted to the strategy we follow are managing long-term assets toward long-term goals.”"Those looking for a quick hit in the market place, to skim the cream and go somewhere else, those are not the investors attracted to this strategy,” Mr Gore said, according to wire service reports.

CUT OFF THE SUPPLY?

I got an up-date from emjoe up in Boise, Idaho. It seems they have the highways cleared and trucks are moving into the area and supplies are being delivered. The potential disaster has been cleared up, at least for the time being.

But it behooves us to remember a few facts about America. We got sold a bill of goods back in the early 90's, I believe, called Just-In-Time delivery. You go snooping around on the roof tops of most of America's major selling companies and you will find little small antennas. They will most likely be microwave transmitters. You go to McDonalds and order a meal and the cash register is going to transmit a copy of your meal to a warehouse and maybe to an accountant, when you pay. The data does not say the Paul Prepper bought anything, the data merely transmits the number of buns, patties, condiments, wrappers, soda straws, slices of cheese, napkins, and carrying bags you bought. The warehouse on the other end of the radio link is tabulating all of this and putting it on the account of the particular restaurant you are using. At a certain time on the day the accounting is turned into an order at the warehouse and everything that was purchased since the last order will be replaced in the next shipment. This goes on all over the country every day of the week.

And it works, as long as nothing goes wrong. But you let a blizzard come into the area and shut down the roads and you will find out soon enough that things go wrong. Those restaurants and big box stores don't have much storage space anymore. Back in the day, big stores had big storage. But this is a different day. And you and I can't do much about this. But we can prepare for it's failure. Because it WILL fail. You know that water runs downhill but in the early 1800's it ran uphill in the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers, due to an earthquake at New Madrid. We have a huge government agency called FEMA, with lots of money and big offices and plenty of people, but you saw how they blew it during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The certainty and security that government promises us is a joke. The certainty of having food after a blizzard is a joke. The only measure of security is what you can provide for yourself. Your neighbor is more prone to help you than anyone working for a government.

Do not be fooled. Security is a flimsy thing at best. Leaving it up to technology and government is completely out of the question. Ever heard of an electro-magnetic pulse? It will shut down most of America. Anything electronic will be stopped. Your electric can opener will probably not work. Your fancy radios and TVs will not work. Your electric range will probably not work. And McDonalds will be out of business. Got preps?

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

FOUND THE MISSING BLOG POST

I have a visitor today. My son is here from the East Coast. He brought his Pit Bull with him. Her name is Mia and she is a proper lady for all intents and purposes. She is very peaceful outside but it might go bad for an indoor intruder. My kind of dog. My son is out walking around saying hello to some people and the wife is grinding Cayenne for the table. We use a lot of Cayenne. She is saving the seeds from the peppers for this Spring's garden. You can't grow enough peppers. Everybody likes the damn things.

I had my son evaluate my medical preps and he thought they were all right. He did mention that band-aids and tape have a life span and you had to keep an eye on them because they stop working after a while and you have to replace them. The sticky stuff runs out of adhesion properties.

Just watching the markets a little bit to see how things are going. Things seem to be moving sideways for right now. Not much up and down. But my financial sites are saying that there will be a lot of bankruptcies in a few weeks ahead. Apparently the retail industry lost it's ass this last month and some of the boys are going to have to take their stuff and go home for good. I wonder how Michael Jordan is making out with his money these days? He had a ton of it but it's not permanent, you know.

I will be on Big John Lipscomb's radio show this coming Thursday. That is January 1, 2009. I will be on both shows so you can catch it sometime, if you like. Radio is kind of frustrating to me. Just about the time I am ready to really sound off on a topic we have to take a break for commercials. Blogging is so much more free than radio. You can go while the inspiration is upon you, with no commercial breaks.

Right now I am sitting around with "Calamity Fever". I feel it coming and I read the news and I wish it would just come on and get it on. I am becoming impatient. I must stop that. I am not running the planetary show and I don't have a schedule for what is coming on so I better get used to being a bit in the dark. I suspect a lot of you folks are in the same boat. Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

WAITING AND WONDERING

I don't have a post this morning. I had one started but my word processor dumped the damn thing. Word processors do bad things once in a while. But I didn't really have much so you ain't missing much.

Just watching the news and waiting for the collapse. Bush is about to be history and I am glad of that. Obama is about to be the main thing and I can't say anything about him as yet.

So we wait and wonder.

I hope you are not as challenged as I am these days. Just remember to prep like crazy. I think it could be bad this year. Very bad.

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

IT'S A MOVEMENT

I have been reading articles on http://www.survivalistbooks.com/survivalistgroups.htm and they are really interesting. There are a ton of people into getting ready for the coming hard times. I felt good things form a lot of them. Not much deadness at all. Maybe one or two. If I had a million dollars I would go about 10 miles South of here and buy a bunch of land and invite a couple hundred of them to move in. There are some real people out there. And you know, we bloggers get a little bit ethnocentric now and then but we can never lose track of the other people who want to go with us. So many good people. And a lot of them are just trapped in the situations of life that we have all been in one time or another. The scripture says to never let mercy be exhausted in your heart and while I am no Christian I can relate to them and speak their language. I would take them in by the hundreds and we would get something going that would be a benefit to humanity. I would hold meetings and tell them the truth. I would let them raise their children to be clean and acceptable before God. I would have them raise their food and build their homes, with no charge. We would get an economic base invented and pay our expenses with the profits. We would have a big dining hall that cranks out three meals a day, seven days a week. Everybody eats their fill. And no Big Me and Little You allowed. If we have Potato Soup for supper then we all eat Potato Soup. I remember back in the early 70's when the economy and the markets turned to shit and the fedgov instituted wage and price controls. We couldn't sell a damn thing and make a dime. All we had were some canned green beans and a huge stash of potatoes so that is what we ate for two weeks. It got a little old after a while but it made you kind of proud also, so I guess there was a trade-off. But that was how the Old Man was. He had lived through the Depression and he knew how to make it on nothing. I remember another time when the electric company shut our power off do to lack of payment and they didn't shut the Old Man's electric off. He called them up and raised holy hell until they agreed to come shut his power off. If one guys power was shut off then we all did without power until the problem got solved. One for all and all for one was the Old Man's motto.

I read the postings on the site mentioned above and I sorta chuckle at the attitude of some of the people. Everyone is trying to make the other guy fit into their scheme of life. And if there is no fit then everyone takes their marbles and goes home. This is an attitude that is the product of too much time and too much wealth. People still have some money and fuel is cheap right now and everyone is looking for the best deal they can find. This, of course, is not entirely out of the question. But a lot of times I detect a bit of selfishness where there should be compassion and understanding. The more militant groups are really into controlling their environment. They don't bother me too much but they will limit themselves also. You won't make it too long practicing squad tactics. You must build a nest to raise your kids and provide a home for your women and grow your food and all the myriad tings that go toward a life of some normalcy. There has to be some militancy for protection and that is a fact. We have no idea what we will face. But after the crisis has been faced and we have made it through, then we have to establish a home for people. Either you come up with the goods for a wholesome life or you become a freebooter, the very element you profess to hate. It takes people to make a city of the future. It needn't be big but it needs lots of diverse talent. Some of it has to come in with you and some of it you can grow. But it has to get done. The thing I find most impressive about the people looking for a place to join up or retreat to is their understanding that they will have to bring some talent with them. Some spoke of their youth and their activity. That is always needed. Some have skills and trades that will make life bearable for everyone. Others have resources of food and gear they will bring in. But it is just like it always has been in this country, there is no place to go. There is no SURVIVALISM CENTER, no HEADQUARTERS, no focal point where people can get started. And by the looks of the list of people wanting to participate, as soon as you did get a focal point you had better get another one because the people are out there wanting to fill up the villages. This thing is big. This is the move of the century. Those people on the list mentioned above are serious people and this is a serious movement.

I feel a great burden to help those who are looking for a place to go, a place of safety in a world that is collapsing. I read a post from a woman in OKC who just wanted to talk to other preppers, someone she could relate to. She is living where she knows of no other survivalists and she is lonely and wants to talk. Can I blame her? We who blog are very fortunate to have other bloggers to relate to and discuss with. And I have my wife and a few people I can call on the phone. Damn the system that prevents people from getting together. Damn the system that segregates us into little pill boxes, they call them houses and apartments. I will be looking to alleviate this mess. Wish me luck. And stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

FOOD SHORTAGE IN BOISE

To add to the "TOLD YOU" column. Sign on the door of a fast food joint in Boise, Idaho.

Due to severe weather delivery trucks from Portland have been delayed, so we may not have some items.

Translation: The 3 Day Food Supply is about to run out!

Spud Joe with Reserve Stock in Boise!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

WHAT FUTURE?

What will the people of the world be doing in the late 2050's? I use that date because that is when the population of the earth that we have now is supposed to double. That means we will have roughly 12 billion bipeds walking around looking for a Big Mac and Fries, super-sized if you please. I cannot even fathom having that many people on the globe. It is just staggering in it's volume. All those people looking for a drink of water and some food. My God! How can we possibly cope with such a calamity? I look at what we might have to do to accommodate people moving into the valley and while we can take some more, no problem, what are we going to do when Nu Yawk Sity and Chicago and L.A. and Houston start disgorging all their people because they can't provide for them. You talk about hordes of Zombies at loose upon the land!


We ain't gonna get anymore animals fed than we have right now. The Oceans are getting fished out pretty rapidly. Crop land is actually diminishing. What we grow right now has to be watered by deep wells and pumped-dry rivers. A lot of our wells are pumping salt anymore. In case you don't know it, salt is a poison to a plant we can eat. I can wrap my brain around what to do right now, the way things are. But doubling the population is more than I can figure out.


As it stands right now, it would seem to me that we will have a couple of nuclear holocausts looming in our future. Billions will die. And I ain't so sure I will see these little bangs go off. I might have some genetic material running around but I can't say anymore than that. So what do we do?


Well, we have gotten out of the cities and out on the land. We can have farms and timberlands for building and food. If we are fortunate we can have flowing springs to give us water. We have need to go to areas that are not prone to flooding or drought. Drought makes for a very bad crop. And we must be prepared to defend this land. We cannot allow anyone to take our livelihood away from us. And these things will be a matter of life and death. Humanity will develop as a hoard of Locusts covering the earth and eating everything in sight. And this is being looked at from the position of a person who will probably not even be here to experience the ordeal. But my kids and grandkids may very well be in the thick of it. And so will yours.


We made up our minds to be survivors and it looks like we have the mind to do it. We have learned our Beans, Bullets, and Band-aids pretty well and most of us are getting right along with our stores. We have made this concerted effort to go ahead and live and stake out a claim on the future. But do we have any idea of what we are getting involved in? I am really convinced that the coming years are in no way, shape, fashion, or form, going to be easy. I think we are looking at a really tough life for the next 50 years. We held our hand up when the question was asked about our feeling toward staying alive through the collapse of the world economy and who wanted to make it. I wonder what we got ourselves into and how our kids will come out of it. But what the hell will the ones who didn't go along with survivalism have to face? Chains?


Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

REPUTATIONS

It's a fine blustery morning here in southern Indiana. Supposed to get up to damn near 70 degrees today. So we get two days of global warming before going back into the deep freeze again. I'll take it and be glad of it. The standard American holidays are just about over and I thank God for that. I am so sick of the news of the Xmas shopping volume. I haven't celebrated the Xmas in damn near 40 years and it has long ceased to have an effect on me. In fact, it has become boring as hell to me. To think that supposedly rational people go berserk spending money on credit for all this waste is a thing that escapes reason and logic. It is a national disease and we need treatment. And what else but sickness would you call a condition where your spending of money became the sign you loved someone. How pathetic.



I read a short post this morning about some indigenous people in Central America who were slaughtered by Special Forces troops in their villages. The post was put up with the premise of running away being the best way to deal with things of this nature. Not so. The best way to deal with an occupying force is to hunt them down and kill them. Ambush. Snipe. Booby trap. All those good things you can do to invaders. And for God's sake, don't let them come into your house to search for weapons. Having trusted friends who will help you is among the greatest assets you can have. Just don't let them have a moments peace. Make the pressure relentless and all consuming. And always leave some of them dead at the site of any engagement. And burn anything you can that belongs to them. Food, medicine, and ammo are particularly wonderful things to burn. Every chance you get. Unless you can steal it and take it back for your own use.



At the end of this month I will have 38 years invested in this valley. And it is different every day. Nothing stays as it is. You meet new people. You watch the events of the world unfold right before your very eyes. Good things come your way and some bad ones introduce themselves just to test your awareness. But after 38 years you learn to wait and not jump at the first startling noise. Life just teaches you these things. The older you are the less easy to rattle you are, if you have watched and learned along the way. The opportunity to be a benefit to mankind is manifesting itself in these days. There are people to talk to and write to. There is work to be done getting people ready to survive.

And there are others out there trying to help people. A lot of them are bloggers like myself. There are radio people like Big John Lipscomb, who gets out as much seed for gardens as he possibly can. Then there are the specific preppers who don't blog and don't go on the radio. These people will surprise you when the time comes.

I have been challenged to start getting people organized. What is there to organize? Gathering preps is a cut and dried routine. You get your Beans, Bullets, and Band-aids and you stack 'em steep and deep. As to the size of your group, well, what ever the Lord gives you is what you have. I am not interested in organizing survivalists. It seems like a waste of time to me. And there is another matter that people seem to miss. If you become "organized" then whatever anyone in the organization does, you did it also. Thus I say make League with no one. You can trade with people and you can fellowship some of them at conventions and such, but don't make League with them. People are strange, as the Doors once sang. You will never know what goes on in another camp unless you move there. But if there be any evil in another group and you make League with them then the world will consider you guilty as well. And that is just the way things are. It is called guilt by association and it is a powerful force in the land.

We had dead beats come among us in years gone by and we had to tell them to hit the road. Thieves, dead beats, druggies, sexual perverts, etc. can come among you and worm their way in for a while. And it gets hard to turn down another pair of hands in the economic venture. But the bad apples have to go. They will destroy your reputation among the locals if they stick around, not counting what they could do that would harm your group from within. And maybe another group that wants to make League with you does not have the same high standards and allows certain things to go on that you would not. But if you make League with them then in the eyes of the world you are guilty of their sins. Just thought I would point that out to those of you who may be considering joining forces with another group.

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

POLITICS AND COLLAPSE

I am challenged to think of what to do in the future politically. Should we have a coup and take over one of the political parties and try to make it in the image of Survivalism? Should
we just let the system collapse and start anew?

Let me first address the proposition of taking over a political party and making it in our image. My politics are pretty much being confined to loving my neighbor as my self. That is the way God said to handle it and that is what I will strive for. You treat me okay and I will do the same toward you. I just can't come up with a better idea. I will help you build your buildings and grow your food. You can pattern your school anyway you see fit. You can worship God as you see fit and give him any name you wish. But if you are hurting people and abusing children then I will give them a place of refuge to escape you. If you attack me then I will kill you. Sounds pretty fair to me and I am a bit of a cynic. We are here to live and learn and we will do it the best way we can, for life is a school. I just don't want a political party anymore. I am so tired of political slogans and promises and pie-in-the-sky thinking. I do yearn for the down to earth thinking of logic and reason. And you know what I am talking about. When someone says something that makes sense it resonates within you and you know you have heard something worthwhile. I haven't had that feeling from a politician in a long, long time. There is no love or truth in them.

So my thought of taking over a political party has come to mental naught. It just ain't worth it. All those hassles and political promises to hold the damn thing together just are not worth the time and energy. It would take up valuable time from those trying to build their own system and make it through the hard days ahead. No sense in hobbling a good horse while it's plowing the field. Globalism has failed and the reason for it's failure is it is too damn big. It's too complicated. It is crashing from it's own weight. The time is coming when this country itself will be too big to govern with any sort of realistic logic and sense. And when that time comes, because nature abhors a vacuum, we must be ready with our settlements stretching from coast to coast, or at least concentrated in a few states for mutual aid and protection. We have to be ready to step up to the plate and hit the ball. If we don't, another mass of losers will inherit our birthright again and I don't know if we can stand that. We have lived too long under duress as it is.

I guess what I am saying is to let the system collapse and be there to fill in the blanks when creation demands it. We are sitting here in this country with some of the most unique conditions ever imagined by any political and religious people in history. And as a group we have NO RELIGION and NO POLITICAL AFFILIATION. We just believe in doing things to survive and get along. Our connection is simple to the maximum degree. But it is worthy of expression and continuity. I am not telling you how to rule your life. You make up your own rules. Your continued existence will be the judge of the soundness of your personal doctrines. If called upon I will advise. I will even help if I can. And when I say "I" I mean my people, because I may not be alive for too many more years. But the day of anarchy and lack of order is not too far off and you must be ready to perform at your best level. Do not take the world situation lightly. It has been set up and manipulated by a power outside this earth. Cretins in positions of power think they have control but I say to you they have very loose hands on the reins. They are NOT running the show. And what I have told you in this paragraph should be enough to tip you off that another hand is steering the boat. There has never been another time when all these things have come about so strongly. There has never been a time of opportunity such as we have now. It is unheard of in history. Do not pass it up. Get ready. And stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

THURSDAY MUSINGS

It's cold out this morning. And I reckon it is the time of year for that. Now I am getting ready for 2009. It looks like it could be a real Heller. The riots and the burning will not come upon us for a while yet. Too damn cold for your average rioter to get out there and do his thing. If you ain't noticed, crime goes down in Chicago during the Winter. But it is also the time of planning the next garden. And here comes the Survival Clan to help with the growing of it. There is Bustedknuckles to drive the tractor and keep it running. And here is Pearls to talk to the media about what we are doing. And Shy and the Hermit are over setting up security. Kemp is checking out his tiller for the coming few months of labor. Mayberry is talking to everyone and helping with everything. Dragon has an eye on the weather and about 50 people are coming in to help weed the damn thing. Grumpunk is here to take care of any wounds that maybe suffered. Looks like we will have a bumper crop this season. It turns out the only thing we have to buy is about 5 gallons of fish emulsion. Put it down heavy over by the corn!

The only problem is it is not going to happen that way. We humans are not given to doing things the easy sensible way. When we have time and materials and the energy to accomplish most anything we are given to going our individualistic ways, content in knowing we know what is best. Ahh...the ways of mankind. So we wait until we are all reduced to our lowest standard of living and we go from there. And it will be the kids who suffer. They trust ol' mom and dad to provide and they will be sorta confused when mom and dad can't quite cut the mustard. And what are those soldiers doing blocking the Interstate while we try to get to The Valley?

And things will be bad when the SHTF. It will hit when the weather warms up. The fedgov bailouts will all have failed and the nation will be on its knees. The majority of folks are totally mindless and don't even know where their food comes from. It simply amazes me how much knowledge and experience has been lost in this country concerning food production. The dumbing down of the citizenry is astounding. Big corporations have taken away the very key to staying alive. Governments have take away the ability to own your own property. Regulatory bodies have increased the taxes you pay in order for them to exist. To Arms! To Arms! The fedgov is coming! But we still have a window of time to prepare and get ready. We still have time to dig in and get our supplies and plans made. And I know that I will have 50 to 75 emails tomorrow asking how to get to The Valley. Hah! Maybe, just maybe, I can arrange a little convention this year and y'all can come visit and check the place out.

But some things have to be done, some conclusions arrived at, and these things must start happening pretty quickly. After all, we must have SOMEPLACE to cling to our guns and our religious beliefs, no matter how scornful Obama speaks of such things. Obama is city boy. The city is where all the votes are. Hell, out here in the country there ain't any mass of voters worth mentioning. We sorta look after ourselves. But the city is where all the trouble will begin. The city is where all the people who don't know how to grow food hang out. The city is where the helpless congregate. And the city is where the die-off will begin. Cities exist at the mercy of big diesel trucks. Nu Yawk Sity has a 3 day supply of food. I have heard arguments that Atlanta has a three week supply. Same with Charlottte. God only knows how L.A. and Chicago will make it if the food runs out. But we know that L.A. be bankrupt in a few weeks. Rioting anyone? Even if you have preps and you live in those cities the word on the street is you don't want to look well fed or you will attract the wrong kind of attention. The kind of attention that will get you robbed and beaten and raped.

It should be obvious by now that the preponderance of our fellow citizens are not much more than animals. This is what the system produces. Just go drive through some of the big cities and see what they have to offer. Crime, drugs, etc. Filthy streets and filthier people. The air is thick with smog. The smells are not healthy. You read of the celebrities who go out at night and party, party, party. If you read on you will note that they travel with large gangs of protection to keep from getting the shit beaten out of them. In our Valley it is possible to go out at night and roam all over the place and not have any trouble. We don't have the animals the big cities have and we ain't gonna have them either. There is a certain pattern of behavior established here and if you break it you will probably get broken yourself. It does not abolish the human nature but it sure abolishes violence to your fellow man. You will get more than you give, believe it.

So, we end the day's writing with the usual admonition to get out of the cities and into the country. Get in a group and don't try the lone wolf approach to life. Create your own little town or settlement. Make friends and help each other. Grow your own food and don't rely on the system to feed you. Protect your little town and all your friends. Cling to your guns, as Obama would say. Screw Obama.

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

THE PSYCHIC AND THE PREPS

First thing, let me recommend going to read Treesong this morning Her site is HERE. It is an amazing post for anyone who is interested in the psychic world. It made a big impression on me.

The psychic world is not too popular with some folks because it is not duplicatable: i.e. you can't make it happen whenever you wish. You can't control it. Many things pertaining to the world of man are able to be duplicated. But the spirit is not that way. It comes and goes as it pleases, unless some aspect of it has been given to you as a gift. And if you have it as a gift it is yours and you are welcome to it. The scripture says the gifts of God are without repentance. God did not ask any one's permission to give you a gift. But it is always hard to find an audience willing to listen when you have an experience out of this world. More than likely you will meet a group of people who are more willing to prepare you for the Rubber Room than to give you a hearing. But screw them and the idiot horse they rode in on. I have a 12 gauge beside me that will keep these negative bastards away. I plead the Salem Witch Trials as my defense. I'll lay down Foxes Book of Martyrs as my second line of defense. I know how these people play the game and I will make my own rules, thank you.

We got some preps yesterday. I had the Handmaiden get a big supply of boot and shoe laces. I just got to thinking about running out of laces and it did not appeal to me. We also got a pretty good stash of baking supplies. Now if I can just get her to buy me a 50 pound bag of wheat so I can make our flour I will be happy. And I do not make her grind it, so there. We also got some real steel wool for making oxygen absorbers. I'll get on that project today. I am gonna use the recipe found at Stealth Survival. Looked good to me! But what will really be looking good will be my food stash. Who knows? We may get to the point where we can be fancy and buy things like canned mushrooms and other goodies. At this point the cans of vegetables and the big cans of rice and beans are the main focus of our attention. Then comes this Spring's garden and what we are able to lay up from that. With any look things could get downright bountiful around here. And bountiful is the way I want to see them. You get a report like Treesong gave about her vision and you will want plenty of food on hand, and plenty of bullets to drive off any thieves. It is a crime to give the children's food to thieves and outsiders, non believers. One of our most strongly held beliefs is "He that won't work, neither shall he eat." Our own kids are to be excused because they are the children of rebels anyhow, so they get some forgiveness and understanding.

I don't have much else to write this morning. The weather is dark and rainy. The field across the road is flooded and the lake below is up at least a foot. A good day to forget the problems of the world and just enjoy it. We will get back to working soon enough. So stay alive.

Michael

mbbone@rtccom.net

REFLECTIONS AND SEASONS

I spent the day in thought, yesterday. I was just backtracking my own conclusions and opinions. It helps to do that occasionally. I was looking for the hoax in our situation. I was looking for the rotten ass lie that we were believing. Where were we being lead astray? And if we are thus engaged, what profit is there for the ringleaders?

Well, there are some great bargains on the horizon for land and housing. If someone can wave a magic wand and eventually make this economic stomach ache go away, then some real money could be made.

The global market is in the tank and probably does not have a way out. Automotive manufacturing and sales are at record lows. Workers are being put on the streets and factories are being shut down. All the support industries to the automotive world are taking a big hit. All that Just-In-Time inventory control is useless. Take your time! No one wants the supplies anyhow!

So, without going too deeply into the economic quagmire in which we live, the process has run it's course and we little people are going to be left holding the bag. And we know what is in the bag, don't we?

The political people are saying we are headed for a huge increase in government control of our lives. We might look at that as a horrible turn of events, but most people would relish it. Our fellow citizens are the type who relish having the government be responsible for them. It seems they find that much more agreeable than having to take responsibility themselves. God bless their little weak minds. Their attitude is that of a complainer. If things are not going well then they can complain and get the government to change course to something that more suits them. They never realize that complaining can be made a crime and that they could do time in the slammer for it.

The buzz words these days are 'green' and 'clean'. That is where the smart money is headed. No one thinks of the heavy cost of this type of program. But they will learn to think about it. The industry will try to get itself off the ground by getting contracts from the fedgov and the various states. But that ain't going to work because people will not like giving up essential services for pie-in-the-sky feel-good stuff. And I can tell you this...there is coming a pollution on this planet that is unheard of, unseen, not recorded in the history books. We have no basis in experience to relate to this problem. It will be the supreme act of fouling our own nest. And all these greenies and their kindred ilk will be swallowed whole in the death and degradation that man will visit upon himself. It's all spoken about in the Bible if you want to read it. Few, however, want to believe the prophets of God. But let God be true and every man a liar.

I have looked for a way out of this mess and I cannot find it. And pride be damned! If there is a way out I will accept it and live with it. The system does not have to collapse to protect MY ego.

So prep on, ladies and gentlemen. Get your supplies piled up steep and deep and get ready for the collapse. I can't tell you about when bombs going off but I can tell you I think the collapse is a short time away. But 2008 is almost over and every day is bringing us closer to the time of trouble. It ain't getting further away but rather it is getting closer! Help yourself and whoever will believe it is coming. Treesong is fussing with her kids right now because they think she has gone mental in doing her preps. All I can tell her is to have extra tools for working in the garden so that the young idiots can at least earn their food. That is more than their goddamn government would do for them!

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

THE GLUE STARTS TO DRY

Russia starts missile delivery to Iran: Iranian MP

ReutersSunday, December 21, 2008; 9:45 AM

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Russia has begun delivering S-300 air defense systems to Iran which could help repel any Israeli and U.S. air strikes on its nuclear sites, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.

"After few years of talks with Russia ... now the S-300 system is being delivered to Iran," IRNA quoted Email Kosari, deputy head of parliament's Foreign Affairs and National Security committee, as saying.

Kosari did not say when the deliveries began. Iran's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report. Russia's Foreign Ministry also declined comment, saying it may react on Monday.

The United States, its European allies and Israel say Iran is seeking to build nuclear arms under the cover of a civilian atomic energy program. Iran denies the charge.

Israel's insistence that Iran must not be allowed to develop an atomic bomb has fueled speculation that the Jewish state, widely assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, could mount its own pre-emptive strikes.

In October, Russia's Foreign Ministry denied media speculation that Moscow would sell the medium-range S-300 system, adding Moscow had no intention of selling weapons to "troubled regions."

But Russia's RIA news agency last week quoted "confidential sources" as saying that Russia was fulfilling a S-300 contract with Iran.

The most advanced version of the S-300 system can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away. It is known in the West as the SA-20.

Russian arms sales and nuclear cooperation with Iran have strained relations with Washington, which says Tehran could use them against their interests in the region and also against its neighbors.

Russia, building Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr, says Tehran does not have the capability to make nuclear weapons.

Kosari said the S-300 system would be used "to reinforce Iran's capability to defend its borders."

"The delivery of this system is a display of good relations between Iran and Russia, which cannot be harmed by Israel," IRNA quoted Kosari as saying.

NO GOING BACK

I have been thinking and reading today. I even got on a piece by Lee Iaccoca calling for someone to get this mess of America cleaned up and going again. I have to say that this mess is not going away. The system that created it has to go away.



The people of this country have been fed a bunch of crap and the guys who have fed it to us are wanting us to restore the crap to it's lofty position once again. Ain't gonna happen that way folks. This technological marvel we call a society requires a victim to exist. For all of our wonderful electronic advancements we are still in need of victims to rip off and make us profitable. And it has to stop. We are running out of easy victims. Pretty soon we will have to go up against some one who can fire nuclear warheads at us as well as we can fire at them. All the easy guys have been robbed and ruined.



You read about restoring the country. You read about gaining back our lost prestige. And it is not going to happen. The main thing this country has left is it's ability to make war. We can kill people with great skill and dexterity. And if you are the big killer then you are the big target. Simple as that.



I have tried to tell folks about the way out of this mess. It is a system of collective self-governed villages or settlements stretching coast to coast. Everyone will work together in their own settlement to make it work. All the attributes we wish to project we will build and create on our own. Whatever your economic base may be, you will build it. Your food production will be your own and you will accomplish it. Your medical system will be what you can do, not what you can sign up for on a Social Security form. Your school system will be as you wish it to be and as you will work to make it. All this will be done by people living and working together. It will not be done by the use of credit.



But it can be done and it will be done. My teacher wrote about it in a book titled: My Word Shall Guide Thee. Click on the title and it will take you to the page on Amazon where you can buy it. This book will give you the basic understanding of one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. Daniel Wright did a lot of the research for this book in the workings of his own village. If you want a sneak peek into the future, this book is the mechanism to take you there.



We have some high times ahead of us. Our creativity will only be limited by our dedication. We will have free rein as far as doing good things for our various peoples. Utopia will be within our grasp as we answer the call of the struggle to perpetuate ourselves upon the face of the earth.

So I cannot stand silent while other writers issue calls for the re-establishment of our failed visions of the past. Let the dead bury the dead. We have much to do to stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

KEMP ON DIABETES

Diabetes falls into two broad categories: type 1, and type 2.
They share a name because they share a symptom, and side effects. The
symptom is very high blood sugar if un- or improperly treated. The
side effects are the same, the result of the symptom.

Side effects are vision changes, and eventual retinopathy
(hemorrhaging on the retina), which leads to extremely reduced visual
acuity, or blindness; cardiac and circulatory problems; reduced kidney
function, leading to failure, necessitating kidney dialysis to sustain
life; severely reduced feeling in the extremeties, usually more
pronounced in the feet, with, strangely enough, often severe pain or
tenderness in the extremeties, even though superficial sensations are
reduced-- this is called neuropathy; and the previous is generally
caused by reduced circulation to the extremeties, which results in
extremely slow healing, or no healing at all, which allows secondary
infections to establish in the extremeties, and can and will lead to
gangrenous conditions, and eventual loss of the appendages and limbs.

As stated, the two large types of diabetes share a common symptom, but
the causes are worlds apart. Type 1 is the result of an autoimmune
attack on the Islets of Langerhans, also called beta cells, in the
pancreas. These are the entities responsible for manufacturing
insulin. The disease, or condition, if you prefer, is thought to
originate with the body's immune system being triggered for an as yet
unknown reason to attack the insulin circulating in the blood, and
then the immune system broadens its attack to include the
aforementioned Islets of Langerhans, eventually destroying or
'deactivating' them. Thus, the type 1 patient is left with no insulin,
which is the prime mechanism by which the body feeds glucose to the
cells, by means of 'transporting' glucose across cell boundaries.

There are many, many, many other duties which insulin performs, but
they are beyond the scope of this paper.

I will note, briefly, that a couple of insulin's 'secondary actions'
is to charge the liver with glycogen, which is the body's means of
storing glucose-- akin literally to the gas tank in a car, and the
production of fat from excess glucose.

Type 2 diabetes is almost a polar opposite of type 1, in that the body
is actually awash in insulin, but the cells of the body exhibit a
condition known as insulin resistance, which means that the body
resists the action of the insulin, in its attempt to transport glucose
into the cells. This results in elevated blood glucose levels. The
body's 'glucose thermostat' then continues to demand more and more
insulin in the attempt to control blood glucose levels. For
illustration, a nondiabetic or type 1 individual may require X amount
of insulin to control glucose when fed a given meal, while for the
type 2 individual, the insulin requirement may be 10, 20, or 50 times
as much insulin.

This gross amount of insulin in the body then reverts to its secondary
function of producing and storing fat, and it is quite common for type
2 individuals to be overweight, even morbidly overweight. It isn't
necessarily that 'being fat' causes type 2 diabetes, it is more that
being type 2 diabetic leads to 'being fat'. Of course, simple
overeating can and does lead to excess weight, and thus there can be a
combination of the two causes.

While the causes and original trigger of type 1 diabetes are at best
poorly understood, the treatment is generally well understood. Insulin
must be injected into the body to metabolize the food and feed the
cells. The intent is to provide a 'base load' amount of insulin, plus
additional insulin to metabolize the food intake which occurs
periodically through the day. Diets are modified so that the surges of
blood glucose are minimized, easing the considerable and dangerous
task of balancing food input with insulin injections. Blood sugar is
monitored and food and insulin inputs adjusted in the effort to
maintain as close as possible a 'normal' level of glucose in the
blood.

It has been observed that the condition known as hypoglycemia, a
condition of low or extremely low blood sugar is very, very commonly a
precursor to type 2 diabetes. So far, what I have presented is
'medical orthodoxy'. From here forward, I will begin in some of the
details to deviate from that orthodoxy.

Hypoglycemics suffer from a condition best described by analogy--
insulin, with its blood-sugar reducing properties I will describe as
an 'air conditioner'. When the 'termperature' (blood sugar level)
rises a few degrees above, let's say, 100, the 'thermostat' triggers
the 'air conditioner' to start and begin to reduce the 'temperature
level' (blood sugar). The air conditioner reduces the 'temperature',
but the 'thermostat' fails to turn off the 'air conditioner' when the
temperature is reduced back to 100. The 'air conditioner' (insulin
production) continues to run, and the temperature (blood sugar)
continues to fall.

If the 'temperature' (blood sugar) only drops a few degrees below 100,
it is a condition of 'no harm, no foul'. But in hypoglycemics, the
temperature (blood sugar) may fall to 80, 70, even 60 or below. This
is into the realm of hypoglycemia, characterized by many symptoms, not
always exactly the same in all patients. Some become mentally slow or
confused, some exhibit aberrant behavior, some become extremely
irritable, some become unable to move and function, some break out in
sweat, sometimes hyperactivity is exhibited, sometimes a trance-like
state results, shakiness, often there is extreme hunger, or,
conversely, nausea. These exhibited symptoms are not always the same,
and the same individual may exhibit different and different
combinations of symptoms.

The treatment is to eat, or, in the analogy, 'turn on the heat'. But
the individual must be most careful to not drive up the 'temperature'
(blood sugar) too far, or the body's 'thermostat' will again demand
more insulin, restarting the process, and the body will enter an
oscillation of blood sugar from low to high to low to high.

While very fast carbohydrates (raw sugar, fruit juice, soft drinks,
candy) work most rapidly to bring the blood glucose level up to proper
levels, they also have a great risk of elevating the sugar levels too
far. Again, the body can go into an oscillating low, high, low, high
condition of blood sugar.

The commonly accepted treatment for hypoglycemia is to reduce 'fast
carbohydrates' to essentially zero, and to eat a diet of regular
meals, spaced not too far apart, or with 'snacks' in between the
standard three meals to maintain blood sugar at near constant and
slowly changing levels. Meals should be heavily weighted towards
vegetables and protein, with only 'slow' carbohydrates such as beans.
Raw sugar and fast carbohydrates (potatoes, for instance) are to be
strictly avoided. Snacks, if necessary and employed, should contain
food relatively slow to enter the blood stream as glucose. Peanut
butter, nuts, sunflower seeds, and the like are common staples.
At this point, you may ask what does this have to do with the insulin
resistance of type 2 diabetes. That can be answered thusly-- the body
hates low blood sugar-- literally hates it. And, in the case of many
individuals, begins a process of building a 'protein sheath' around
the individual cells, to retard the insulin's ability to transport
glucose, and thus retard the insulin's ability to lower blood glucose
levels.

As this progresses, soon enough the body begins to exhibit the
symptoms and conditions of type 2 diabetes.... insulin resistance, the
necessity of the body to produce often HUGE amounts of insulin to
control the blood sugar levels. And, simultaneously, the body often,
usually begins to produce fat.... often large amounts of fat.

The body has thus alleviated the distress of low blood sugar-- at the
cost of very high blood sugar, and resulting damage to eyes, heart,
circulation, kidneys. In the effort to control this soaring and
uncontrolled blood sugar, standard medical practice is to give the
patient what amounts to pancreatic stimulant, so even more insulin is
produced. Eventually, the condition progresses until supplemental
injected insulin is required, until, often HUGE amounts of injected
insulin is required. Without drastic changes to the diet, the type 2
diabetes, and the treatment of it, are on a dead end street. Heart
disease, kidney failure, blindness, amputations, eventual literal
death.

A recent development in the treatment of type 2 diabetes is an
injected drug called Byetta. It is, literally, the active ingredient
in Gila Monster venom. It was noted that the Gila Monster ate very
infrequently, but when it did feed, it was usually a very large meal.
Researchers wondered how such a small animal with very limited insulin
production capacity could properly metabolize the large meals, and
discovered that the Gila Monster venom 'potentiates'-- multiplies the
effectiveness of-- the animal's insulin. And the drug Byetta was
developed.

The Atkins Diet is based on a removal of carbohydrate from the diet.
Its intent is to make the body 'reset' its metabolism. Atkins
specifies an almost total removal of carbohydrate from the diet for a
period of a few weeks, and encourages the individual to eat protein
and fats-- bacon, eggs, meat, butter, and the like, along with what
are called 'free vegetables' in the old-time diabetic lexicon. There
is no limit placed on how much of this protein/fat/free vegetable can
be eaten under the Atkins regimen. The 'free vegetables' are,
generally, greens-- lettuce and spinach and the like-- green beans. I
will leave it to the reader to visit Atkins-related web sites to find
specific menus, and specific vegetables which may be eaten, and which
are to be avoided.

Every gram of carbohydrate must be 'counted', and the daily intake
kept below stated levels.

Over the course of weeks, the body's metabolism resets, and the
oscillations of hypoglycemia, or the insulin resistance of type 2
diabetes recedes. Gradually over time, the 'allowed' level of
carbohydrate is increased, until the 'allowed' level approaches a
modest, limited, 'sane' level of carbohydrate input. The type 2
diabetic who is taking pancreatic stimulants (pills) or injected
insulin must CLOSELY monitor blood sugar levels during this process,
or hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, WILL result.

Over the period of a few months, the type 2 diabetic will find that,
commonly, much weight will be shed, the necessity of pancreatic
stimulant pills and injected insulin will cease. That is, they will
find themselves cured.

It has also been noted that the extract of gardenia flowers causes a
vast reduction in the necessity of pancreatic stimulants and insulin.
This was discovered a few years ago with strictly controlled,
clinical, scientific experiments and examination. It was trumpeted at
the time, then it dropped completely off the radar. This is because
those doing such clinical work are busily at work in developing a
standardized, 'patented medicine' using the active ingredients in the
gardenia. Big Pharma does not want and will not allow, within its
ability, patients to take control of their own situation.

This gardenia treatment is not a cure. The Atkins Diet is literally a
cure. With the gardenia extract, continuing treatment with the
extract is required to keep the necessity of pancreatic stimulant and
injected insulin at bay.

I strongly recommend that type 2 diabetics cure themselves with the
Atkins Diet, over the use of the gardenia extract. But there is a
caveat-- healthy kidneys in a normal individual process the heavily
protein-weighted diet just fine. But one of the first casualties in a
type 2 patient's body is the kidneys. They become weakened, even
debilitated. Therefore, the Atkins Diet is simply not possible for a
type 2 individual with compromised kidneys. Your physician can and
probably already has informed you of the kidney situation.

That leaves the gardenia extract with a strict reduction in
carbohydrate input as the only option for type 2 patients with
compromised kidneys. This gardenia extract was a staple in Chinese
herbal medicine for thousands of years, the efficacy is well known and
established. The gardenia extract can be found wherever herbs and
'health foods' are sold, as well as numerous places on the web.
I will close with a description of how a condition of type 2 diabetes
can develop. And individual rises, is usually pressed for time, and
eats a 'quick' breakfast-- coffee or tea, usually with sugar. Toast,
perhaps with jelly. BANG, the body is fueled, and the individual is
off to the daily grind. But, it gets to be 10, or 11 AM. Suddenly the
morning's fuel runs out. Extreme hunger, shakiness, etc ensue. So the
individual has sweetened coffee, or a soft drink, or something from
the candy machine. Here we go again, the body is fueled. But that
sugar will run out. Comes lunchtime, and lunch may well consist of a
heavy load of carbohydrates-- a burger and fries and a soft drink, or
a shake. Then it gets to be 3 or 4 in the afternoon. The gas tank is
empty. The body has burned or stored as fat the heavy-carb, light on
protein lunch. Time for the sweetened coffee or soft drink, perhaps
another visit to the candy machine.

Supper (dinner) may be the only meal during the day that could be
called 'appropriate', and even then it could be heavily weighted with
carbohydrates. Then midnight snack, probably more carbohydrate.

This brings me to the end of the treatise. Do please feel free, anyone
reading this, to post me at minutemn@gmail.com with questions,
requests for clarification or amplification, or any other concerns or
questions.
Be well, and stay alive.
Mike Kemp
minutemn@gmail.com

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

I can get all wound out on the news of the day or I can get into Mayberry and Big John Lipscomb on the radio last night. Mayberry and Big John are what interest me so let's go there.

It was a good show and both men were pretty smooth. Big John is a pro and Mayberry is clever. The only thing I could even complain about was Big John insisting on calling Mayberry an expert survivalist. If he had called Mayberry an expert Boat repairman I would have agreed wholeheartedly. But two or three times he handed him the football calling him an expert survivalist and I didn't think that was fair. And Mayberry was not trying to be an expert. He was just being what he is and that is a man who has seen the light and has figured it out that we had better do something to save our asses. And who can fault Mayberry for that? It sets him at about the top 1% of the nation, intelligence-wise, as it is.

I liked how Mayberry handled himself in talking about the things we would need when the SHTF. He got pretty well spoken on having some friends around for help and having a garden and some animals for when the food stash runs out. Real good, down-to-earth, common sense that could appeal to anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size. When asked what single gun he would choose above all others if he could only have one due to financial restraints, Mayberry replied with "A shotgun." I was sitting here hollering "Go Mayberry!" at that remark. Damn straight.

John brought up a good story about his 21 year old daughter who went to a young couple's house to spend the night. She had no idea they were even cognizant of things getting bad but during the course of the evening they took her into their spare bedroom and to her astonishment it was stacked steep and deep with provisions of all sorts. Loaded with survival goods. And these people never said a word about it. They were 'silent' preppers. John really liked that story and so did I. It makes you wonder how many of them are out there. I know I get emails from some people I don't know and who don't make noise, but they sure are paying attention. I treat them with respect. You wonder how many of these kind of people are out there. They wouldn't say shit if they had a mouthful, but they are getting ready.

And getting ready is what Big John Lipscomb's show is all about. He has a good deal on non-hybrid seed and he is one of the few people on the planet who will sell it to you in some sort of bulk supply. I cannot thank him enough for his efforts in the area of food production. Mayberry rang that bell last night. Non-hybrid seed for growing the food you need when the system runs out. And it is not so much that the earth is going to run out of food, because it is going to produce for a long, long time. But the idea of global trade having control of our food supply is ignorant and dangerous. The idea of globalism is a rip-off from the word go. Things get too technical and the supply lines get to be too long and fuel gets too high for globalism to work in peace and harmony.

And it is in the interests of peace and harmony that I say that food production will need to be local in the years ahead. If you haven't paid any attention you can look around and you will find yourself in a very large country with not too great a population. Most of our people are settled along the coastlines. Prime targets for a missile swarm. But the interior of the country is not that populated. It is very big but is does not have a lot of people in it, compared to the coastal plains where find most of our people abiding. It is not totally problem free but it's close enough that most of us can make it if we try.

The missiles will swarm and the bombs will explode. There will be die-offs like never seen in the world of men. And I say let it come. Let the aware prosper and the sleepy face destruction. There is nothing wrong with that attitude. Both sides will have earned their reward and far be it from me to deprive a man of his just due. And this country will have garnered the wrath of men all around the globe. The Fortress of the High Ideals will be shown to be made of cheap cardboard and inhabited by scoundrels. But it won't always be that way. There are a lot of Mayberry's out there who want to live and be decent men and take care of their families. And I am with them, for that is what I want to do also.

I must close and get ready for a celebration this evening. We are having the Feast of the Brotherhood and it will be one hell of a feast and my big ass is gonna be there! We always have a week of festivities right around the Winter Solstice. It's good for the soul, especially the way this Winter has been behaving and it is not even Winter as yet.

Stay alive and may all your friends and family stay alive with you!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

PREPS AND MORE PREPS

I have had much ado about prepping this morning. I lost an argument with my kid and Mike Kemp about treating someone having a seizure. Apparently things have changed since I learned about this 50 years ago. Nowadays you let them go ahead and go through the seizure and just try and keep them from hitting their head on anything and hurting themselves. When the seizure is over you roll them on their side and make sure their tongue has not curled back into their throat and you get them to a hospital. The tongue curls back because the body has this tremendous relaxation of the muscles after the seizure. Turning them on their side helps protect them. You learn something every day I reckon.

In my illness mode that I am presently in I have diagnosed myself as having a Rhinovirus. It is the rood cause of most colds. I am taking Vitamin C and drinking plenty of fluids. As soon as the Handmaiden get home I will add Zinc and garlic to my treatment. I can find no one who wishes to quarrel with this particular treatment. Can't get a fight going with anyone. How boring. But I am wanting this cold to dry up and blow away and my treatment is the most suited to accomplishing this. And after 3 says of having my nose run like a hose I am ready to dispose of this damn malady. Runny nose, coughing bouts, and general sluggishness is an apt description of the effects of a Rhinovirus.

The Handmaiden is out doing her Saturday shopping today. She has too much to do tomorrow to affords the time for shopping. But she has got me 20 pounds of Old Fashioned steel cut oats for me to put up in my shiny new Chinamart plastic buckets. And the buckets are made in Ohio and I was pleased with that. Encore Plastic Inc. is the company who make the buckets. Riverwalker over at Stealth Survival has the recipe for homemade Oxygen Absorbers and I am going to use it. I can understand it and it damn sure ain't too complicated or too technical. Kemp gave me some good background on how to utilize the recipe and it's a snap. Get on Stealth Survival at http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/ and scroll down a bit and you will see the recipe for this very useful and handy item. Riverwalker has done a great job with things like this and deserves a bit of credit for his effort. I appreciate him very much.

The woman is also bringing home a couple more big jars of Honey from the Amish bulk store. That stuff is going to be a godsend for making certain foods more palatable and tasty. I like butter and salt on my oats in the morning but if there is no butter I can get by with a little bit of honey just fine. I would like to buy some canned butter but I can't afford it so I will make do with some Honey to break the monotony. Honey is also good for treating wounds. It acts as an antiseptic.

I talked to Grumpyunk this morning for a good bit of time. He is such a knowledgeable fella and he will help anybody but I am seriously wondering if anyone wants of learn what he has to offer them. I can listen and talk with him for hours and feel refreshed when we are finished but I doubt that most bipeds are that way. But talking to all the knowledge and experience stimulates me. I must be weird. Grumpyunk would come down to the valley and teach people some high class first aid if they were interested, but I don't think they are. They are more interested in the TV at night and making money during the day. I'm sure most Americans know the drill. It looks like he will do a class on basic first aid and maybe some low level CPR, cause he doesn't have the training dummies to really teach compression like it should be taught.

That about wraps it up for today. Don't get too mad at the system, just have yourself protected from the bastards and stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

OLIVER TWIST ATE OKAY

Michael sez: This ain't my idea of a fun diet but it could keep you alive. We don't ever want to look askance at the things that will keep us alive. I got this off of MSNBC.


LONDON - Oliver Twist wouldn't have needed any more gruel in real life, scientists said on Thursday.

The picture painted by Charles Dickens of starvation rations in an 1830s workhouse north of London is wide of mark, according to an analysis of menus and other historical evidence.
Dickens' eponymous hero famously asked for more of the "thin gruel" doled out three times daily in the grim institution for the poor where he grew up.


In fact, contemporary recipes suggest such workhouse gruel was substantial, with each pint containing 1.25 ounces of best oatmeal, and servings supplemented by wholesome coarse bread.
Historical data also shows large quantities of beef and mutton were delivered to workhouses, pediatric dietician Sue Thornton of Northampton General Hospital and colleagues wrote in the British Medical Journal.

Such a diet, comprising three pints of gruel a day, would sustain growth in a nine-year-old child like Oliver, unless he was exceptionally active.

"Given the limited number of food staples used, the workhouse diet was certainly dreary, but it was adequate," they concluded.

INDIGNATION

I have noticed quite a bit of rebellion on the blogs this morning. And I think of the statement that "rebellion against Her is obedience to Him." Me, I kinda go along with obeying Him.

The morons are out there yelling their insane words at a gullible public and getting away with it. The same old crap of global warming and high carbon dioxide at still being given the ink and the airwaves to further warp our fellow citizens minds. I ain't going for it and I ain't gonna do what they ask. Screw them and the horse they rode in on.

While Al Gore and his buddies are telling us that this very cold Winter is the result of global warming, the rest of us who must work for a living are finding forces of economics arrayed against us. Our friends the Arabs are cutting oil production so as to raise the price. Apparently the drop in consumption for their last insanity has not made a good enough impression and they are getting ready for a reminder. Let them cut production. I won't be buying anyhow.

I think the time is coming when we are going to be eating our preps instead of stashing them. That will tell us how we did, sho 'nuff. I want to get some plastic pails with lids this week to finish up on my perishable stash and then it's "kiss my ass" time for society. And there ain't much of this week left so morons had better do their damnedest while they can. I am tired of the lies and the theft and the threats. The idiot politicians in New York and California are getting ready to tax their people straight to hell. The states can't lower their budgets, they have to raise taxes. And while this moron governor in New York is stabbing his people with 80 new taxes he is then turning around and naming Caroline Kennedy to the US Senate. Life is wonderful, ain't it? Where did this dumb broad get the idea that she was fit to fulfill the duties of a US Senator? I for one, cannot tell you where she got the idea but she is gonna go in there and get that office.

This is like the drawing of the line in the sand as far as I am concerned. These government pukes are telling us that they are going to have their way come hell or high water and we are to just suffer. See, they got the idea they could get away with this by watching Dubya get away with his Patriot Act and the other noxious pieces of legislation he sponsored. Well, I think the worm may have turned. And it ain't turned because it has gotten smarter or braver. It has turned because it is broke and cannot afford the foolishness anymore. I was reading some blogger this morning who was saying that the old ways of curing economic problems would not cure the one we are in. Some new ways of playing are being introduced in this game. Some new standards of failure are being set up for all to jump over. And most are not going to make the leap. Sorry about that. Got preps?

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

WE ARE SLAVES

Michael sez: I got this off of www.whatreallyhappened.com. It's 4 years old but it still has a message for us. Enjoy.


You are a slave.

I know that’s not what you want to hear as you hoist your New Year’s champagne, but it is the unpleasant truth that we all face going into 2004.

Movies and public school like to portray slaves as bound by chains and beaten with whips, creating a polarized image of slavery that can be pointed to with the comment, “You are not like that, therefore you are not a slave.” But history shows that slaves have been treated in all manner of ways, some more cruel than others, yet even with the most kind treatment, a slave remains a slave.

Setting aside the stereotyped image of a slave as a bleeding chain-bound wretch, slaves throughout history are often hard to recognize. In some cases, such as the Medieval Serfs, they were held slaves to the rulers by religious belief, and did not see themselves as slaves even though they were treated as such.The favored slaves of Asian potentates wore jewels to make a movie star gasp, yet were still slaves for all their finery and comfort.
So, what is a slave? How do we define a slave? What test do we use to tell if someone is a slave. What makes them different from free people?

Free people can say “no”. Free people can refuse demands for their money, time, and children. Slaves cannot. There is no freedom without the freedom to say “no”. If someone demands that you do something and you can say “no” and refuse to do it, then you are a free human being. If you can be forced to do something or surrender something that you do not wish to, then you are a slave. No other test need be applied.

When you are forced to surrender half your life’s work to the government in ever-increasing taxes, then you are a slave.Throughout history, slaves were expected to perform the work needed for their own upkeep, then perform additional work for the rulers. For Roman slaves, the ratio of work-for-self versus work-for-rulers was about 50-50. The same ratio applied to Medieval Serfs, and even to the slaves of the American south. And, when you add up all the overt taxes, covert fees, tariffs, excises, plus the increased price you pay for products to pay the taxes of the companies that make those products, you will find that Americans are at that same “half-for-self” versus “half-for-rulers” ratio! Can you say “no” to the confiscation of half of your life? Can you even get the masters to maybe reduce the burden by a significant amount? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

The masters have decided they want wars on anyone living over oil. The idea is that it is better for American corporations to steal the oil they need than to pay for it. Millions of Americans (and millions more around the globe) did not want the war, but the masters started them anyway, by lying to the people. Could you refuse the war? Can you refuse being lied to? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

The rulers want your children for their future wars. Legislation for a draft is already in Congress. Can you refuse the confiscation of your children? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
The government has been caught lying over and over again to the people, from who really did 9-11, to the legality of the tax system, to Cheney’s Energy Task Force papers, to Saddam’s WMDs. Americans are the most lied-to people on Earth. Can you refuse to be lied to? Can you punish the liars? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

Vote fraud is rampant in the nation, and the mandated imposition of audit-less electronic voting systems means that elections will be decided (as Stalin admitted) not by those who vote but by those who count the vote. Can you refuse a dishonest voting process? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

Just because you cannot see the slave-chains doesn’t mean they are not there. Chains made of steel are obvious, but chains made of beliefs are not always recognized for what they are. Hitler enslaved the German people to war with a belief that Poland was about to invade. LBJ enslaved the American people to war with the belief that Vietnam had attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. Poland wasn’t invading. There were no torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin, but the slaves, held by invisible chains of beliefs, went to war. Millions died.

In 2003, however, the chains started to become visible. The Constitutional right to freedom of expression was confined to “free-speech” zones. A slave may have an opinion, so long as it is not expressed where it might upset the other slaves. The Constitutional right to an armed populace, the means by which the men who set up a nation of free citizens hoped to keep them free, is under constant attack from those who fear a nation of free citizens, and who will not sleep soundly until we are a nation entirely of slaves. Armed citizens can, after all, say “no” and make it stick. That was why there was a Second Amendment, to allow the people to say “no” to those who would return them to the slavery they had so recently escaped from. Other Constitutional rights and protections have been set aside. The government can now search through your private records without cause and without warrant, even break into your home and not have to tell you. Simply by declaring a citizen an enemy combatant, the government can now lock up US citizens without a charge and without a lawyer. You can be prevented from traveling simply for having the wrong name. If you purchase too much gold or take home too much cash, or hoard food, the government will take notice. Having a Farmer's Almanac is grounds for suspicion. Talking about the Constitution is now deemed grounds to suspect a terrorist link. Torture is now espoused as “necessary” to “deal with the crisis”. Were you able to refuse those changes to the Constitution? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

The government (at all levels) has borrowed trillions of dollars and stuck your kids with the payments. Children not even born will be paying off the bills. To declare the lives of children not yet born, let alone old enough to vote, indentured to the state is slavery most obvious and odious. Can you refuse responsibility for payments on debts the government incurred without your permission? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

The government has borrowed so much money that it has long ago run out of gold to pledge as collateral on the debts. Starting in Nixon’s administration, natural resources were used as collateral for the mounting debts. Borrow more money, promise a chunk of public lands as collateral. These land pledges were concealed behind “Environmentalism” to disguise the real purpose. Numerous names such as “Wilderness Reserve”, “Wetland”, “Heritage River”, and so forth were used to conceal the true scale of the confiscations. But the end result was the same. Huge tracts of public land containing natural resources were walled away from the public that owned them, mortgaged to the holders of the US Government debt. We are well on our way from being citizens, to being mere tenants. Were you able to refuse having your public lands placed at risk by the US Government to cover loans you never authorized the government to make? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

Trust funds under government control are being looted, from the Social Security trust fund to Native American trust accounts to Federal Retirement Funds. Congress pays lip service to the looting of Social Security, but considers only more taxes to cover the looted shortfall. Meanwhile, court cases over other looted trust accounts drag on without resolution. Are you able to refuse corrupt and dishonest government? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

You are a slave because the ruling class can do what they want, take what they want, and you cannot refuse. You may have freedom to decide what TV channel to watch tonight, or just which style car you will drive to your work in, but little power over the rest of your life. Even that home you have worked to pay for over the last decade can be taken from you at a moment’s notice via “eminent domain”. Can you refuse? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.

In October 2001 I wrote that more damage would be done to our nation by those claiming to save us from the terrorists than by any actual terrorist act. Even as Bush claimed that the terrorists hated the US because of our freedoms, he took what few remaining freedoms we had away until we are more watched, more spied on, more limited, more silenced, more taxed, and more enslaved that at any other time in our nation’s history. Not only are we slaves, we are at last starting to see that we have been slaves all along. We did not have rights, because a right cannot be taken away. What we had were indulgences, granted by the masters to the slaves, to be removed when the masters grow fearful of the slaves’ resentment and anger.

I know this is a very depressing article to read on the New Year, but I have watched through 2003 as people I care about lost their homes and businesses, as the labors of a lifetime evaporated in stock market manipulations by corporate crooks.These Americans who had worked hard to achieve the American dream lost it all through no fault of their own. Our schools are broke, hospitals under-staffed, the roads and bridges and rails of the nation are crumbling while billions of dollars are given away to foreign nations, favored cronies, and the ravenous war machine. The priorities of the government that feeds on taxes seems focused everywhere but on those who pay those taxes. And we can’t seem to refuse that either.

I think the state of the nation can be summed up by a simple contrast. Tommy Chong is in jail for selling a pipe, while Ken Lay walks around a free man with the billions he stole from his employees and investors. Any way you slice it, that’s a pretty screwed up situation.
I promised a reader that I would make some predictions for 2004 in this article. I wish I hadn’t because I am hoping I am wrong on most of them.

1. There will be another fake terror attack. The Neocon war agenda cannot move forward without it. Those who hoped Iraq would be the end of the wars are in for a rude shock. The hawks want the entire planet, either directly ruled by the US, or ruled by obedient puppet regimes. Another “attack” is needed.


2. The US will eventually lose their war of conquest of the world. The US does not have enough troops to garrison the planet, and as Hitler learned much too late, merely having superior weapons isn’t going to win a war when you’ve pissed off absolutely everyone else in the world. On a more practical level, sooner or later the US will wind up at war with someone who really DOES have nuclear weapons of mass destruction. That this is the government plan is witnessed by the numerous underground facilities which have been built or upgraded in recent years. You paid for them, but you won’t be allowed in them. Such an attack on the US is small price to pay for those who promote these wars, not for America, but for another nation standing by while its victims are tricked into fighting each other.

3. Minus a war, the US Government will eventually collapse as did the Soviet Union, dragged down by debt and corruption. As the final collapse looms closer, look for the looting of the nation to become even bolder than it is now. The last official act of any government is to loot the nation.
4. I am opposed to violence. I wish it could be avoided but I do believe that this nation is headed towards a collision between the rulers and the ruled. The government fears this as well or we wouldn’t see so much bullet-proof Lexan between us and our “public servants”. I think that the reason we have not seen it yet is that Americans have been conditioned to expect a hero or savior to come and make things right. We know things have gone wrong, but we are waiting for someone else to fix it, Superman, the cavalry riding to the rescue, Spartacus, the Messiah, Batman, What Really Happened, etc. This belief that one should wait quietly for a hero is part of the slavery mechanism, to keep you in your place, rendering unto Caesar, breeding more slaves, waiting for salvation that never comes. However, as history has shown, even the patience of an entire people can run out, and I predict that when the final upheaval comes, it will arrive as suddenly as that which occurred in Romania. In November 1989, Romania seemed stable under the rule of Nicholai Ceausescu. One month later, a sporting event erupted into a spontaneous political protest and on December 25th, Nicholai Ceausescu was tried and sentenced to death. Ceausescu proved that tyrants should not confuse silence with consent. The Romanian people finally realized that nobody was coming to save them, and they had the courage to save themselves. The collapse of the USSR was equally rapid and almost as unexpected. So shall it be in the US.

Like I said above, I hope I am wrong in my forecasts. However it is clear that the US Government is under the control of individuals intent on personal enrichment, or loyalty to a foreign nation above our own, and seeing no reason at all not to continue on their present course. Confrontation seems inevitable.

The founding fathers set up a nation in which government was by the consent of the people. We The People agreed to certain obligations, and the government we allowed to care for our national sovereignty agreed to abide by certain limits set forth in the Constitution. The present government has broken the agreement, discarding the Constitutional limits on their power and authority while at the same time piling more and more obligations onto the people. Were you able to refuse them? No? This more than any of the other reasons is why you have ceased to be a free human being, and are now a slave.

You are a slave. When you live under a government that takes your wealth and your children and lies to you to keep you docile and scares you to keep you obedient, how can it be otherwise?
You are a slave. You can stay that way, or not. It’s that simple. Nobody is coming to save you. There are no heroes, no cavalry riding to the rescue. Whether you and your children will live as slaves or as free human beings is entirely up to you.

HEALTH AND PREPS

Hey! I was just reading Lew Rockwell's Bill Sardi column and they have found a cure for cancer. It is an extract of rice bran. I think they call it IP6. You can read Sardi's column at http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi39.html and get all the details. Quite an amazing piece of work. I don't always go for what Sardi has to say politically but I do pay attention to his health writings.

And in regards to the words of others, they are fine and dandy. God didn't make me the authority on survivalism for this day and age. But I wish you to keep the basics in mind. Too often we can get led down a path of verbosity that leads us to no good preparation. It does us no good. It's like the blame game we all go through. If the woods around you is on fire the thing to do is get the hell out. You can worry about who started it later. Survive in the imperative and take your revenge in leisure. Things will all even out in the end, for those who are around at the end.

Get your preps and your skills in order. Learn how to grow food. On growing food I would like to restate that a good gardener makes good dirt and seed makes the plants. Get your dirt in shape and you can grow a lot of food. Your prep food may not last you as long as you wish. In the event of a collapse you will need to produce more food and that on a regular basis. Get a wood stove as best you can. Heat is a wonderful thing in the Wintertime. Some method of cooking outside in the warm weather is nice also. Trying to sleep in a 90 degree room is quite difficult for most people unless they have been raised in it.

Do not worry about global warming. The guy from NASA who makes the news about the trillion tons of ice that has melted works for Al Gore. The UN climate guys are having a meeting in eastern Europe right now and the anti-global warming guys are kicking the global warming guys' butts. So be it. We could have 2 or 3 times the amount of Carbon in the air as we now have and it would not bother us. These guys are just looking for a new way to tax us. Screw them.

The Time Monks have not got it right on the earthquakes. For the sake of innocent people I am happy. For the sake of the system I am a bit sad. Regardless of what has transpired and will transpire, I am prepping as per usual. I will prep right up to the collapse.

I had a horrible thought this morning. What is the God of Heaven allows the USA to come out of this tailspin and retain the number one position on the planet? When it goes into irredeemable collapse then NO ONE will believe it is coming and millions will die. Oh well. We just do what we can do. I prep on.

I am tired and I think I will lie down and rest. Still not feeling up to snuff. Stay prepping and stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

CONSUMERISM AS A DISEASE

A paralegal, recently laid off, wanted to get back at the "establishment" that he felt was to blame for his lost job. So when he craved an expensive new tie, he went out and stole one.

The story, relayed by psychiatrist Timothy Fong at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, is an example of the rash behaviors exhibited by more Americans as a recession undermines a lifestyle built on spending.

In the coming months, mental health experts expect a rise in theft, depression, drug use, anxiety and even violence as consumers confront a harsh new reality and must live within diminished means.

"People start seeing their economic situation change, and it stimulates a sort of survival panic," said Gaetano Vaccaro, deputy clinical director of Moonview Sanctuary, which treats patients for emotional and behavioral disorders. "When we are in a survival panic, we are prone to really extreme behaviors."

The U.S. recession that took hold in December last year has threatened personal finances in many ways as home prices fall, investments sour, retirement funds shrink, access to credit diminishes and jobs evaporate.

It is also a rude awakening for a generation of shoppers who grew up on easy access to credit and have never had to limit purchases to simply what they needed or could afford.

Instead, buying and consuming have become part of the national culture, with many people using what is in their shopping bags to express their own identity, from the latest gadgets to designer handbags.

For those who need to abruptly curtail spending, that leaves a major void, said James Gottfurcht, clinical psychologist and president of "Psychology of Money Consultants," which coaches clients on money issues.

"People that have been ... identifying with and defining themselves by their material objects and expenditures are losing a definite piece of their identity and themselves," he said. "They have to learn how to replace that."

Depression Trigger

Beth Rosenberg, a New York freelance educator and self-professed bargain hunter, said she stopped shopping for herself after her husband lost his publishing job in June.

She is now buying her son toys from the popular movie Madagascar for $2 at McDonald's, and is wearing clothes that have hung untouched in her closet for years.

She said it has been stressful to stick to an austere budget after she used to easily splurge on $100 boots. "I miss it," she said of shopping.

Resisting temptation now could be even more difficult, as struggling retailers roll out massive discounts to lure shoppers during the holiday season.

Fueled by easy access to credit, a housing market boom and rising investments, U.S. household spending accelerated in much of the past decade while the savings rate declined.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 killed thousands and shuttered U.S. financial markets, consumers were encouraged by politicians and business leaders to spend as a way of saving the economy and proving capitalism could not be crushed.

"We're getting these messages that it is, in effect, patriotic to spend money," said Stuart Vyse, a psychology professor and author of "Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold On To Their Money." The United States is deeply dependent on such spending, with consumption generating two-thirds of economic activity.

But problems arise when consumers become dependent on buying goods and services to cope with their emotions, Vaccaro said.

"We have difficulty handling our internal emotional state in other ways when we can't do that," he said, prompting some to seek out immediate gratification through drugs or alcohol.
Violent Behavior

Besides an increase in shoplifting, psychologists said retailers need to be prepared for more instances of violent behavior like that seen at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island, New York the day after Thanksgiving.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we see an uptick in crime, related to stealing," said UCLA's Fong. "I wouldn't be surprised if we see more workplace violence and more violence at the malls."

A throng of shoppers seeking rock bottom prices on flat-screen TVs and computers surged into the Wal-Mart store in predawn hours, trampling and killing a worker in the process. Fong said many shoppers have never stopped to think about why they were buying items, and it was easy to ignore looking deeper during a boom that support such spending.

But now, patients that can no longer shop to relieve stress have become anxious or depressed, he said. Others fume: "'I used to be able to afford that, I should be able to afford that now, I deserve that stuff,"' he said.

But Vaccaro said the downturn could be a time for shoppers to pause and study what they are attempting to achieve or what void they are attempting to fill by spending.

"We don't buy products, we buy feelings," Vaccaro said. "We're buying the anticipation of the feeling that we think that product or service is going to give us."

Gottfurcht said he encourages clients to take a walk or do some deep breathing before making a purchase to avoid an impulsive buy. He also recommended that clients keep a journal, noting how they felt when bought an item.

He said clients should then check the list a week later to see if the "glow" of that purchase has worn off, and it only satisfied an immediate want, not a true need.

The greater opportunity of the downturn, Vaccaro said, is that it represents a chance to move away from "irrational" and "careless" consumerism toward "a more discerning consumer."
Copyright 2008 Reuters.