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From SurvivalBlog.com

Mr. Rawles:
A few years ago, my wife and I left our Texas ranch for a three month long hunting safari that took us from Africa to Scotland. We traveled with three rifles, a double in a large African caliber, a .458 Lott bolt, and .300 Winchester Magnum bolt light rifle. As we would transit Schiphol in the Netherlands both ways, I had to apply for two transit permits for the firearms and ammunition as well as for firearm permits in both Tanzania (a former British colony) and in Scotland. Even though I was a setting judge at the time, I had to obtain obligatory character references from the ‘high sheriff’ of the county where I resided. Of these, the transit permit was probably the most difficult as it was literally ‘Dutch’ and for some arcane bureaucratic reason, the office in Holland only turned on the facsimile machine during their operating hours. Stories are legend about expensive firearms being confiscated during transit of Holland and safaris ruined, so given the time delay between application and license, several communications were needed to ensure receipt of the application.

Upon arrival in Houston, we learned the outbound flight to Holland was delayed by one day.  With three month’s baggage and three rifles, we were stranded in Houston Hobby Airport.  Tiredly, we loaded everything on the tram and set off for the airport hotel. At the hotel, the manager advised we wouldn’t be allowed to keep the rifles…

From SurvivalBlog.com

G.G. flagged this "must read" piece: Taxes Prompt More Americans to Renounce Citizenship

Also from G.G.:Gold bars now Italy’s fastest growing export: Italy’s exports rose last month, but only after they were boosted by a rush of gold ingots being shifted to Switzerland.

Jim Willie: Golden Eye of Hurricane

Tim Geithner Spills The Beans, U.S. Debt Crisis Looms
 
Globalization, Inflation & Taxes: 3 Key Factors That Will Destroy The Middle Class

Items from The Economatrix:

Zero Hedge reports: Central Banks Favour Gold as IMF Warns of "Collapse of Euro" and "Full Blown Panic in Financial Markets"

Insiders Tell Jim Sinclair $ 17 Trillion in Quantitative Easing Coming

Europe Will Collapse in May-June

US Roads and Bridges Being Built by Chinese Companies as American Economy Teeters on Collapse

G.G. suggested a piece by Simon Black wherein he discusses Senate Bill 1813–legislation creating passport controls and mandatory black boxes for new cars: Something is Wrong with This Picture.

From SURVIVING IN ARGENTINA

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From ModernSurvivalOnline.com

So you have been watching television, catching the newest trend of prepping, and the more you watch the more you start to realize that it is not the exception to prep but becoming the norm in our world.  As you sit and watch, thinking a few thoughts, such as how will I ever get that much stuff put up in a short time, and how will I ever pay for this with the cost of everything else climbing.  Stop, please take a deep breath, and relax.  Prepping is neither a race nor a competition, and it is never too late to start.

First is your immediate location, pick up a notebook and take stock of what you have on hand, please remember to check your expiration dates.  With this information, plan out meals with on hand items.  Remember that electric might not be available so when planning that has to be take that into account if you cook with electric.  Plan on what you and your family would need to survive for one week at your current location.  These are the items that you first need to pick up.  Cooking alternatives at your home location, you could use a wood stove, or grill, but both require fuel, another consideration.  Keep extra wood, charcoal, and or propane tank on hand, enough to get you thru one month.  Water: a necessary item for drinking, washing and cooking, you must plan this item into all prepping.  A small kid’s…

I’m participating in the hour without power, not to save the polar bears but to increase my preparedness. I go on to discuss what kind of homestead I want and what I’m doing to get there.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

From The Economic Collapse

For those waiting for our economic problems to be solved, you can quit holding your breath.  There is simply not going to be a solution to our economic problems on the national level.  So why is that the case?  Well, it is because the economic policies of both major political parties are very, very similar when you take a close look at them.  Yes, that statement may sound downright bizarre to many Americans, but it is true.  Both major political parties supported the Wall Street bailouts, both of them fully support the job-killing “free trade” globalization agenda, both of them have dramatically increased the national debt when in power, both of them fully support the currency-killing policies of the Federal Reserve, and neither major political party would get rid of the income tax and the IRS.  And that is just for starters.  Yes, there are some minor differences when it comes to taxing and spending between the two parties, but the truth is that they are a lot more similar on economic issues than they are different.  What we desperately need on the national level is a fundamental change in direction when it comes to economic policy, but we simply are not going to get that from either the Democrats or the Republicans.  That means that there is no hope that the economic storm that is coming will be…

From Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

Every day I face the question: Do You Protect Your Job or Your Clients’ Money?

The above link points to an 11 page PDF by Jeremy Grantham in his latest GMO quarterly newsletter. Here are a few excerpts.

Jeremy Grantham

The central truth of the investment business is that investment behavior is driven by career risk. In the professional investment business we are all agents, managing other peoples’ money.

Missing a big move, however unjustified it may be by fundamentals, is to take a very high risk of being fi red. Career risk and the resulting herding it creates are likely to always dominate investing. The short term will always be exaggerated, and the fact that a corporation’s future value stretches far into the future will be ignored. As GMO’s Ben Inker has written,2 two-thirds of all corporate value lies out beyond 20 years. Yet the market often trades as if all value lies within the next 5 years, and sometimes 5 months.

Ridiculous as our market volatility might seem to an intelligent Martian, it is our reality and everyone loves to trot out the “quote” attributed to Keynes (but never documented): “The market can stay irrational longer than the investor can stay solvent.” For us agents, he might better have said “The market can stay irrational longer than the client can stay patient.”

Over the years, our estimate of “standard client patience time,” to coin a phrase, has

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From SHTF blog

So I went to my daughter’s first grade parent-teacher conference the other day, sat down at a kid-sized desk with the teacher and she starts off by handing me THIS:

And says, almost apologetically, that “we’ve been asked to hand these to parents” as she shrugs. It’s a juicy sized 8.5×11 foldout informational piece on earthquakes in Maine. What, you didn’t know Maine is prone to earthquakes? Well, we ain’t no California, but check the historical Maine earthquake map action that manifests itself when you unfold this bad boy of a publication:

No, this post isn’t about earthquakes in Maine – it’s about … the children. Indoctrinating the children, making them SURVIVAL children, like in Lord of the Flies. Maybe not quite that far, but in raising two young children, any logical prepper must ask – how do I teach the children? And at what time?

Prepping, when viewed as a lifestyle, leaves little room such questioning. You tend the garden, you take the kids with you and they learn by default (as an example). Prepping, when viewed simply as getting some food/water/gear stored up, might be approached a little differently when speaking to kids. What do you say to the child that asks, “Dad, why do we have so many buckets of food in the basement? My friends’ parents don’t have this much?”

Do you say:

A)  You can’t handle the truth,
B)  Because you kids eat too much,
C)

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From ModernSurvivalOnline.com

by The Proud Father

I would not put myself in the class of a “Doomsday Prepper” in any way not that there is anything wrong with that, but I do prepare for unseen events that could happen.  I do lean more towards survival however, which does link with preparedness.  My family and I love the outdoors whether it be; fishing, hiking, camping, hunting, or any number of other outdoor activities.  I believe when you do these types of activities it is your responsibility to be able to survive in the event something tragic happens.  I also believe it is important to teach my wife and children these skills in the event I am not always with them or they need to help out and understand what and why we are doing things if we are together.  I have also found that this can be much more productive for learning and retaining that knowledge if it is fun.  This can especially be true if you have daughters like I do.

For example last year we took a camping trip to the great outdoors.  Being able to make a fire is a very important task that everyone should know if they are going to be doing any outdoor activity.  Its great to be able to start a fire with a lighter or matches and lighter fluid, but will you always have those items and/or will they always work when you need them most.  But…

From SHTF Plan – When It Hits The Fan, Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You

The middle class in America is being systematically wiped out, and most people don’t even realize what is happening.  Every single year, millions more Americans fall out of the middle class and become dependent on the government.  The United States once had the largest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the world, but now the middle class is rapidly shrinking and government dependence is at an all-time high.  So why is this happening?  Well, America is becoming a poorer nation at the same time that wealth is becoming extremely concentrated at the very top.  At this point, our economic system is designed to funnel as much money and power to the federal government and to the big corporations as possible.  Individuals and small businesses have a really hard time thriving in this environment.  To most big corporations these days, workers are viewed as financial liabilities.  Most corporations want to reduce their payrolls as much as possible.  You see, the truth is that most corporations want to be just like Apple.  If you can believe it, Apple makes $ 400,000 in profit per employee.  Big corporations don’t care that you need to pay the mortgage and provide for your family.  Their goal is to make as much money as possible.  And most of the control freaks that run our bloated federal government don’t care much about middle class families either. …