The State of Dysfunction

Obama's fifth year in office. Never thought I'd see it, but here it is, and here it is going to remain until it becomes a sixth year of Obama in office. Like it or not, he's entrenched himself (and his Marxist politics) into the very fabric of America. It's not likely that many will have the guts to rise up and bite the hands that are feeding them. Record numbers of citizens and non-citizens are dependent upon the government for their daily sustenance, for their livelihood, and for their shelter. Human nature dictates that it is a rare occasion for a slave to rise against a master even when the yoke of slavery chafes and discomforts the wearer. Fact is, so many in America have been born into this form of slavery that they know of no other way of life.

A few years ago two college professors, Cloward & Piven, introduced the radical theory milking the American taxpayer to the point of near bankruptcy. It was the perfect symphony of need and greed, all designed to literally tax the system to death. Indeed, today we're seeing the payoff of this radical line of thinking in that our debt (at $16 trillion and climbing) will never, ever be paid off. Methuselah would be proud! He could live his life several times over and visualize this debt as it continues to rise. The interest alone costs more than the worth of the entire planet! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

In recent weeks I've heard the President and the puny-headed moronic numb-nutted sychophants in the media and government chatter and blather on and on about reducing gun violence. That's right! Pass more laws for the law-abiding citizens to follow and ignore the lawbreakers who have their sights set clearly upon defying any additional laws. Laws? Those are meant for the little people...this said in context with Leona Helmsley's audacious and highly inflammatory comment when asked about taxes. I'd like to see the President take a drive through Watts, Liberty City, or the Bronx without his motorcade of bulletproof vehicles and Secret Service attachment. I'll wager those leather seats will be slick with his sweat after just five minutes on those mean streets. The streets of my neighborhood are somewhat safer, I won't lie, but only marginally.

But I digress. George Washington said, "Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness." What does this mean? It pretty much means that if corruption is permitted to run amok a society cannot survive.

Our Founders knew instinctively that unrestrained power held in the hands of a few would lead to corruption, and to tyranny. Think about the order of our Amendments to the US Constitution. We all know the First Amendment - Freedom of Speech, of the Press. Yea. Stick with me here.

The Second Amendment, the right to bear arms in a method which was to be uninfringed, was meant as a support mechanicsm for the First Amendment - not the other way around.

How about the Third Amendment? "No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

Our Founders established a militia of the people, by the people, and for the people. They knew that if each individual citizen had a stake in the security and future of the nation that all of the people would prosper under the flag of unity and security. When each individual is responsible for the conduct of none other than himself and is held accountable for his or her behaviors, society has no alternative but to flourish and prosper. We didn't need a standing army to control our own citizens because we were self-reliant and self-governing. The Second Amendment protected us against the abuses of an overbearing, gluttonous government then, as it should now.

Now I come to the Fourth Amendment, arguably one of the Amendments most often cited in our Court system as a means to absolve most criminals of their crimes. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Again, without the support of the Second Amendment can this Amendment exist?

Today our society decries the use of waterboarding as an interrogation method against terrorists while closing our eyes to the weaponized, unmanned drone aircraft flying overhead. We are ordered to immunize our children by penalty of law, knowing that a zealous minimum-wage social worker can effectively remove our authority as parents with little more than a few keystrokes. We permit our government to regulate our food, our media, our press, our thoughts. We live in fear of Big Brother. As our neighbors lose their liberty so too, shall we.

It's very simple, really. We're all slaves. We just don't feel the sting of the whip like we used to. There is, of course, the frog in the boiling pot analogy which comes to mind, and I won't deny that I've become quite comfortable living in a hot tub with the other toads.

The Insanity of it All!

For quite some time we've been watching the reports: Bankruptcies, foreclosures, store closings, homes lost, jobs lost... entire lifestyles and cultures are being lost. All thanks to the Hope & Change elected in 2009 and his coronation in January 2010. I hasten back to a time when Bill Clinton was campaigning for the Presidency and Al Gore gave a stump speech...waving his arms ridiculously while he lamented the ups and downs of the nation. Unemployment was up, standards of living were down. Gas prices were up, jobs were down. You get the picture. Clinton strode into office with the promise of a brighter tomorrow. Of course, he DID claim to eradicate the nation's debt...with a little help from the perilously close to failing Social Security Trust Fund. Clinton won the day with 42% of the vote, and we stand ominously close to repeating this result. I digress... Today we truly are a nation on the brink. We teeter between freedom and tyranny. We must walk a razor's edge whenever we post a comment to Facebook for fear that our comment will be considered an act of terrorism by a watchdog government awash in unmitigated power and control. Our rights as individuals are under the greatest threat seen since the Revolutionary War, and our leaders remain hobbled as silent sentinels encased in stone. Without conscience, many of them have signed legislation to inhibit the exercise of constitutionally protected practices. Is our slide to tyranny nearly complete? Have we, the American people, become comfortable as the bearers of the yoke and lash of our Masters? I do not condone violence. Rather, I would like to promote THOUGHT and a return to men and women of good conscience actually doing something to make a difference. I beckon all good men and women to raise their voices, to call for Freedom, and to extend a hand to help your fellow citizens as they crawl through the darkness of Tyranny toward the light of Freedom.

Occupy, My Ass!

Like many of you, I've watched the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement for the last few weeks with outright disgust. Our president and several elected members of our government have "embraced" the movement, encouraged it, and bankrolled it. If these are not impeachable offenses, well...I don't know what is.

The Occupy movement has proven (in all-too-clear and glaringly obvious terms) that the ultimate goal of the enemies of America is to destroy our economy. Now that the occupiers have taken the dangerous step of preventing Americans from going to work, it's time to stop them. Folks, their actions are terrorism - plain and simple.

If these people were foreign nationals standing in our streets preventing the free enterprise system to work, we'd call them terrorists and the military would be brought into clear them. But the occupiers claim to be Americans, and here we are...trying to decide where the First Amendment ends and terrorism begins.

My challenge to the Occupy movement is straightforward: Take your fight and your message to the policymakers, not to the people who suffer at the hands of the policy.

LESSON 12: Faith

As a Christian I will rely upon my faith heavily. If you don't have faith in anything or anyone except yourself you're going to find yourself in a lot of trouble.

Whatever your faith, take some time and gather a few books or other materials that will help you regroup and revitalize. If it's all online, print them out now and put the materials into a binder.

Memorize what you can. Hopefully, they can't take our memories from us.

Know who your friends are. They may not share your faith, but if they're supportive of it, you're better off than without.

LESSON 10: Hygiene

Face it. When the SHTF we are all going to suffer from some sort of hygiene failure. We won't take as many baths, won't wash our clothes as often, etc. Some things, however, cannot be neglected or your health will suffer.

1. Teeth - Make sure you have plenty of extra toothbrushes, lots of dental floss, extra flouride toothpaste. Listerine is another great add as it can also be used as a skin antiseptic. If I had to pick one area of your body to NOT neglect, this would be it.

2. Handwashing - If water is scarce you'll need hand sanitizers. Grab a couple of the large shopping club pump bottles to use to refill smaller ones. Handi-wipes are a great thing to have.

3. Toilet - Here you have a few options. If you have a supply of uninterrrupted water, a septic system, and a way to flush, you're in luck. If not, I'd suggest kitty litter and plastic bags. I won't go into detail, but it involves a large bucket, a toilet seat, and the courage to face what you made and deal with it. Get a really LARGE supply of babywipes to keep for the job...and please...everyone should have their own container of wipes. One baby wipe can do the job of a hundred sheets of toilet paper.

While this is really, really disgusting, I am telling you this for your own good. Human shit burns almost as well as cow shit once dried. I wouldn't cook over it, but I'd have no problem boiling a wash pot over a pile of dung. Because of its biological nature, it's going to stink. Get the hell over it.

4. Clothing - If you have access to enough power and water, use your electric washing machine - sparingly. If not, consider a roman plunger (used for washing clothes) or a hand-crank washing machine (EmergencyEssentials.com). This beats the heck out of hand washing and wringing, especially in cold weather.

Here's my list of must-haves:

Liquid Bleach
Hand Sanitizer
Listerine
Lysol Liquid
Lyson spray
Kittie Litter
Baby Wipes
Sanitary Pads (all absorbancies)
Toilet Paper (lots and lots)
Paper Towel (if you don't use chemicals, dry them and use for starting a fire)
Facial Tissue
Old Newspapers (for wrapping garbage)
Grooming products (shampoo, razors, scissors)
Toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss
Nail clippers (bacteria gather under fingernails)
Deodorant
Bath soap
Laundry detergent
Clothes pins, clothes line, drying rack
Washpot
Large Stockpot (use for sanitizing dishes)

I would encourage you to find a way to gather and store rainwater. While I wouldn't drink anything that's been sitting on the ground without treatment, I would use rainwater for washing clothes and bathing.

LESSON 11: Entertainment

If you've ever spent any time at all in a long term power outage you know how stir crazy you get. You can't turn on the TV, your computer isn't working.

Boredom can create stress, anger, and confusion. In my house, the TV and radio will be OFF. If you're lucky enough to be able to spare the power, a portable CD player will be nice to have, but I wouldn't want to waste the power.

If you know how to play a musical instrument that isn't too irritating to others you'll be a welcomed addition to any community campfire. If you can take requests you'll be a star.

I plan to keep a good variety of books on hand along with several type of hand crafts.

Playing cards, dice, marbles, board games of all kinds are great ways to pass the time at night or during bad weather. Checkers, chess, backgammon, are all easy games to play and the pieces are easy to improvise if lost. If you're a stickler for keeping education in fun, then get Boggle, Trivial Pursuit or any other number of educational games. Dominoes, Scrabble, Crosswords, Password are all good choices. Make sure that you either copy or print out several sets of game rules. This is crucial.

Knitting, crochet, sewing, etc., are all homecrafts that are not only useful, but are of barter value. The ability to sew by hand is a good skill, as are knitting, crochet, and quilting.

If you're lucky enough to save enough energy to play a movie on your TV or DVD player for two hours, why not invite a few neighbors to come watch with you? This will go a long way in building the bonds you need to take care of each other.

LESSON 9: Lighting

Your options are lighting are various, but I would caution you to use lighting options that are safe, inexpensive, and readily available.

I am very impressed with all of the dynamo (hand-crank) lights on the market today. There are hand-held flashlights and laterns available in the camping section that are inexpensive, durable, and plentiful. These are really ideal if you have young children who need the security of having their own light source. I keep one at the top and bottom of each set of stairs in my home, one in each car, two in my bugout bag, one in my purse, and one in each bathroom drawer. I bought both of my kids the lights that also work as cellphone chargers and radios last Christmas.

Solor lighting is also a great idea. You don't have to stake them outside to get the full effect, either. Set them in a sunny window all day and you'll have wonderful ambient lighting throughout the night. Though not bright, it's enough to keep you from walking into a completely dark room. Again, for little one's they make a wonderful nightlight.

I suggest that you have at least 3 battery recharging systems. I see the A size battery charging systems everywhere and recently have seen the C and D size recharging systems on the internet. Find a way to use your portable recharging systems to keep at least 4 batteries fully charged at all times.

CANDLES AND LANTERNS: I will assume that you all know about candle safety. That being said, I only use candles in wide, low glass jars. That's not to say that I don't have several dozen taper candles in the house. When they go on sale I buy a lot of them. Look for candles to go on sale after Christmas and buy lots of them. I bought two dozen red tapers knowing that I would never use them for fine dining, but they were 25 cents each, cheaper than buying the wax and wick anywhere else.

Head to your craft store and buy a spool or two of good candle wick. It's worth it to buy the best as they burn slow and steady. I also have a few packages of Gulf wax at home. I buy this around canning season because some folks still can using wax. Candlemaking is simple, inexpensive, and when done properly, very safe. Simply keep all of your wax drippings in a bag and melt them down for re-use. Don't buy any candles with the new dissolving wax...it just burns up, leaves soot on your ceilings, and you can't re-use any of the wax.

I have purchased a couple of oil lamps, extra wick, and several bottles of lamp oil. You can find good oil maps at Lehmans.com, but also look around for other supplies while you're there. Again, Christmastime is the best time to find these in plentiful quantities at low prices. One thing: Don't buy scented oils. Trust me on this.

Use one of the old-fashioned methods for maximizing your candle or lamp light and put a mirror or another highly reflective background behind it. Unless you have children, you really shouldn't bother with lighting rooms that are not in use.

Emergency Essentials sells a neat little jar lantern for about $4 each. They say they burn 100 hours, but it's closer to 80. It burns a tiny flame, just enough light to keep you from tripping, not enough for reading or handwork.

Your cell phone is another source of light. WTSHTF you won't be calling anyone with it, so you might as well keep it charged as an emergency low-intensity flashlight.