Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

Between food storage, water, kit, arms and their ancillary equipment as well as all the other stuff you need for survivalism there is a lot of stuff. Managing that stuff is essential to your mission if just because said mission can’t be completed if your wife snaps and shoots you because of all the junk everywhere.

Containers and shelving help a lot. In particular I find the rubbermade type containers that you can stack onto each other if they are empty to be good. Action packer type heavy containers are great also. Shelves are a must for stuff you want to access regularly. Beware of weight when purchasing shelves. Ammo gets heavy fast and water is incredibly heavy. Shelves that would work to store camping gear and kit would not be heavy duty enough for 50 cases of ammo.

Also organization helps. Simply managing your stuff and keeping it organized instead of just letting it go all over the place is a great start. Keep your stuff organized so you know what you’ve got, where it is and have peace with the Mrs.

Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

Manly Chili Mac

Cook a box of macaroni and cheese
Add 1 slice American cheese
Drain and then add a can of rotel tomatoes
Add a can of chili.

Cook a can of veggies to go along with it.

Serve with beer.

Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

This is part two of the Oregon Trail series. Awhile back I talked about dysentery. While dysentery comes from a lack of proper hygiene; cholera comes from unclean water used for drinking or cooking. There are bacteria and or viruses with long names with long Latin names involved but for laymen like me they don’t matter.  Cholera is the other half of what could be called the “shit yourself to death” illnesses. Almost unheard of in modern nations but very common in developing countries.

Prevention is fairly easy. Start with a plan to provide your family with clean potable drinking water. Our friends Directive 21 and Our Happy Homestead sell Berkley filters as well as smaller more portable options. I am preferential to them because they keep the blog going. However you can find quality water filters all over the place. Big name brands like Berkley and Katadyn as well as a couple others are the way to go.

Be especially careful when  dealing with or treating people who have cholera. Their butt pee is highly contagious. Wash clothes, bedding and anything that gets messy separately and clean the washer or whatever afterwords. It is prudent to segregate the sick to avoid spreading the problem. If possible only have those treating them interact with the sick. Bleach water and rubber gloves are your friend.

Treatment is largely the same as dysentery with re hydration being the main push. Oral re hydration is followed by IV re hydration in extreme situations if they can’t keep fluids down. Antibiotics can shorten the course of the virus.

Have a plan to be able to reliably provide clean water for drinking and cooking so you don’t die of cholera.

Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

I think it is amazing how the MSM just keeps trying to talk about how we are in a recovery. Yeah we are in a jobless recovery where the stock market is pretty flat, and housing is still in the dumpster. That would be sorta like saying you were sober last night even though the facts are that you drank a case of beer, got kicked out of the club, vomited on the side of the road on the way home and passed out. It doesn’t matter what you call it, it matters what the actual facts are.

I don’t know where things are going. I suspect that significant joblessness will be an issue for some time. With so many people unemployed it is easy to replace workers so security will be lacking for many people. I don’t know where the bottom of the housing market is but until the foreclosure mess is over and banks get all the foreclosed houses off their books things won’t be in an honest place. Banks will try to hold onto these homes until prices come back but there are just too many of them for that to work.

From roughly 2008 at least partly into 2009 was really circle the wagons time. Things are better now but not necessarily good. Even if almost 1 in 10 is out of work most of us are still employed and a lot of the uncertainly has gone away. You can probably let up a little bit but I wouldn’t go crazy. If you can afford it then by all means go out for a nice dinner or take a weekend vacation to the beach. However I would still hold off on getting your dream boat or touring Europe for a year. For the purposes of short and mid term planning right now I would sacrifice some return in order to have liquidity. A CD that earns an extra tenth of a percentage point but locks your money in for two years is not something I would go for right now.

It might be a great opportunity to get some great deals on stocks. If you have the appetite for risk and are looking at the long term. Personally I meet those characteristics and am buying. Wheat and tube socks do not benefit from compound inflation while investments do.

My point is that the news isn’t everything. Especially the propaganda headlines. Look for stories with facts from places you trust. Look at what is going on in your community and with people you know.

Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

My principle observation about zoning is that everyone wants to be able to do whatever they want and have their neighbors follow the rules. People want to buy into an area with restrictive rules and then do what we feel like. HOA’s vary from benign ones saying you can’t have cars on blocks in the yard or paint your house bright pink to outright Nazi like rules and regulations. However the theme continues.

The hypocrisy of some of these individual positions baffles me. Usually somebody says “I should be able to build/ sell stuff/ whatever small business out of MY home”. Fine and dandy that position makes some sense. However when I take it a step further and ask if they would mind the neighbor opening junk yard on the front lawn or their other neighbor opening a disco in their back yard that closes at 2AM they all of a sudden have a real problem. It is THEIR neighborhood and they want it to be nice and quiet. Some folks will then say that neighborhoods should have the right to agree on what they want to be there. Oh wait a second they ALREADY DID and they said you can’t run that used junk shop in your living room.What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

The biggest thing I see about zoning and HOA’s is to be fully informed. Take some time and dig into the books to see what is and isn’t allowed in a certain place. A home is a huge purchase and it is well worth a boring afternoon of reading to make sure you are comfortable with them. Learn what the rules are and then figure if they will work for you. Error strongly on the side of caution. If you might want to some day have goats and it says no farm animals then best move on. Sorry but it is unlikely that you will find a place where you can grow and sell eggs and milk in the back yard in a decent sized city. In a lot of ways it is convenient to live in a city but they have rules.

I often hear “every place here has an HOA” and that may be true. However I would say after you research them all if you can’t find one you can comfortable live under there are two options; first you can decide to just deal and second you can decide to live elsewhere. Generally if you get out of town or the suburbs HOA’s go away.

 Lastly remember that either everyone is going to live by the rules they agreed to (at least implicitly when they bought there) or it is going to be a free for all. The neighbor might dislike your used junk store or micro farm just as much as you would dislike their junk yard or disco.

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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A modest NCO received the Army’s third-highest award for valor July 22 during the welcome-home ceremony for 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

Staff Sgt. Jarrett D. Brown of 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment ‘Buffaloes,’ received a Silver Star on Watkins Field at the beginning of a busy ceremony that included the brigade’s redesignation and change of command. The acting commanding general of I Corps, Maj. Gen. John D. Johnson paused the proceedings to pin the medal on Jarrett’s chest and congratulate him for his conspicuous bravery on Aug. 24, 2009.

On that day, Brown was serving as assistant M-240 machine gunner during a patrol in the Arghandab River Valley, a hotbed of Taliban resistance at that time. The patrol was ambushed and hit by a combination of fires from machine guns, small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

Brown exposed himself to enemy fire to direct his machine gunner to cover a fire team caught in the open, while also firing his rifle. He then directed suppressive fire on the enemy’s heaviest weapons.

As the platoon consolidated, Brown’s gunner collapsed in the 100-degree heat. He grabbed the machine gun and dragged the gunner to a concealed position, from which he delivered accurate support by fire.

When it became clear the platoon’s situation was untenable, the platoon sergeant ordered the squads to break contact. Brown alternately provided covering fire and moved, dragging his gunner with him. When he saw an enemy fire team creeping to within 30 meters of the platoon, he threw his gunner behind the last concealment available, abandoned his own cover and engaged them, killing one and wounding a second enemy fighter.

Brown set up the M-240 and provided suppressive fire as the rest of the platoon covered about 100 meters to better cover and began a faster, bounding egress. He followed them, still carrying his gunner. The platoon came under heavy fire once more before making it back to the Joint District Coordination Center. Brown returned fire and identified multiple targets for other platoon members. His response created space for close-coordination aircraft to be called in to neutralize the enemy and allow the platoon to finally return to safety.

Brown’s first action once the platoon was safe was to find medical assistance for his gunner.

Brigade Commander Col. Harry D. Tunnell IV attributed the success of the Destroyer Brigade during its deployment to the countless unselfish acts of individual Soldiers in dangerous situations — as Brown did.

“The success of the brigade has been due to the willingness of individual Soldiers to be so untiring as they got ready for war and so staunch in their desire to do their duty in harm’s way,” Tunnell said.

TOR here real quick. Anybody who has ever carried a machine gun or dragged a man wearing 50 pounds of kit knows how physically tasking it is. This hero did both of those things at once. Also the was this citation reads it is like one of those action movie scenes we think is so unrealistic, except this was real life.

Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/08/28/weekinreview/20100829nwr-grynbaum.html?hp

Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

I have had some success talking about money with family. I talk about money with family members who have had success and made choices that I desire to emulate. People who have paid off houses at accelerated rates or had success with real estate or been able to retire comfortably or whatever. Typically these folks are older though not always. Obviously they must be trusted or you wouldn’t get at all specific on things. Of course there are many family members with whom I would never talk money. Maybe it would lead to awkwardness or disagreement or envy or whatever. Just not something that I would do.

I had a great conversation with my Grandmother awhile back. It was just a rambling conversation that ended up on the topic of money stuff. We end up talking about this stuff because in addition to doing well money wise we are pretty like minded in conservative financial stuff. She had some real good advice and also validated a lot of what we are doing.

Getting advice and having discussions with people you trust who have done well is just good sense.

Go to the source: Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

I do not suggest you do anything illegal to prepare yourself for any sort of worst case scenario. That isn’t just a disclaimer; it is what I really think. The juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. Particularly in the area of firearms you just don’t need to break any laws. If the place you live in has really sucky gun laws then move.

I have heard of some folks who have a shotgun with a very short defensive barrel. That is fine and dandy unless some goblin breaks into their place and that shotgun gets used. The difference of a few inches of barrel would be the difference between spending a bit of time talking to the cops and eventually going home and a long time in jail.

If you really want to have some explosives around then find a legitimate reason to have them and jump through the hoops to get the right licenses.

It is tempting to think I’ll just get X and only take it out if the world ends. Life just doesn’t work that way and almost all realistic scenarios do not have all law enforcement vanishing.

At a minimum if you do make the decision to break the law don’t tell anybody and hide the stuff well. Really telling nobody is probably more important than hiding the stuff well. In some circles people becoming informants in order to get a pass on their own indiscretions is more common than anybody will admit. Also a person who hears you are looking for something might just come up with it and get the whole thing on tape to send you to the pen.

Lets say you live in California and own a Glock or some kind of a semi neutered semi automatic rifle. You might think that having a box of full capacity mags for both of these guns is prudent. Again I would suggest you either move or deal but at least pack the stuff securely and hide it deep. Somehow or another a person might end up in your attic and them mention the box of AK mags to someone else but a person digging 4 feet down in your garden 5 feet from the lower left side is unlikely. Should your spouse know about this? I say yes because you two need to be on the same page in major decisions. However there is no reason for anybody else to know.

Obey the law or at least keep your mouth shut.