Missouri Prepper Network

Enemy Congress

2010-03-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

Written by Becky Akers

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 11:30

As America travels the well-worn and brutal path earlier empires paved, it increasingly disdains the pretense of ruling “of, by and for the people.” And so the führer in the White House threatens to ram his impractical and deeply offensive plans for nationalizing medical insurance down our throats, regardless of how loudly we shriek “No!” Meanwhile, Congress prepares to imprison indefinitely any “enemy belligerents” who object to the government’s whims. You might suppose that dictators controlling almost 309,000,000 subjects would be too busy to fuss with legal niceties. But no. A preoccupation with legislative permission characterizes tyrannies, perhaps because it protects those responsible from prosecution should justice resurrect one day.

The Nazis are notorious for legalizing their plunder, kidnapping en masse, and murder. No wonder, then, that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and nine co-sponsors have introduced legislation they might have cribbed from the Third Reich. “S.3081: Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” supposedly “provide[s] for the interrogation and detention of enemy belligerents who commit hostile acts against the United States” — and, as the bill’s text repeatedly adds, its “coalition partners.” Note that a new and ungrammatical cluster of nouns, “enemy belligerents,” has not only replaced but enlarged the numbers of the old, equally ungrammatical “enemy combatants” — and yes, combining this with the Feds’ penchant for smearing even their mildest critics as terrorists means they have us firmly in their sights. Note further that the bill’s “persons” and “individuals” now specifically includes citizens of the US [Sec. 5], and that the US military, known to have tortured Iraqis, Afghanis, and others, may “detain” and “interrogate” these victims indefinitely.

Hard to say which is more monstrous: McCain’s stupidity or his evil. He’s so proud of this abomination that he’s posted his “Statement” introducing it to the Senate on his website: “This legislation seeks to ensure that the mistakes made during the apprehension of the Christmas Day bomber, such as reading him a Miranda warning, will never happen again and put Americans’ security at risk,” he says, apparently oblivious to the irony that empowering governments to destroy God-given, inalienable rights is precisely what puts Americans’ security at greatest risk.

No doubt unwittingly, McCain reveals the specious logic with which his legislation overturns the Constitution: “This bill would require unprivileged enemy belligerents suspected of engaging in hostilities against the U.S. to be held in military custody and interrogated for their intelligence value by a ‘high value detainee’ interagency team established by the President.” With a succinct 38 words, in which no less than 5 nouns are once again contorted into adjectives, McCain eviscerates the ancient right of habeas corpus, the presumption of innocence, and the right to an open trial. In place of the last, he substitutes judgment at the hands of appointed and very biased bureaucrats. If “experts” determine that you are “an unprivileged enemy belligerent” and if “the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General after consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency” agree, well, you are clearly and indeed a very bad guy. Of course, no one has ever accused bureaucrats of devotion to either the truth or accuracy. Nor are they known for thinking outside the box and challenging their fellows, especially when everyone else’s head is already nodding.

The mere notion of “unprivileged suspects” stinks as much as the Bushy cesspool from which it originated. This claptrap, which has “been frequently used at least since the beginning of the last century in legal literature, military manuals and case law,” creates pariahs who allegedly lie outside the Constitution’s protection. But that document’s whole purpose was to bind down rulers from mischief, as Jefferson put it. Ergo, its strictures hamstring them without reference to their victims; the identity, nationality, or standing of those people on whom the government preys is irrelevant. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” regardless of location: it may establish no religion either here or in Timbuktu. Nor may it abridge the freedom of the press, any press, whether America’s, Malaysia’s, or Zimbabwe’s. There are no “unprivileged” folks anywhere because the Federal government may not, period. It may not act except in a few instances and as the Constitution allows it, regardless of the recipients of those actions. The neoconservative nonsense that the Constitution in general and the Bill of Rights in particular apply only to U.S. citizens is as silly as it is pernicious.

McCain’s brainchild may be heinous, but it isn’t surprising. Anyone who reads history and understands government could have predicted it as the next step in our rulers’ war on the Constitution, a.k.a., the War on Terror. As usual, said Warriors began by demonizing their victims, in this case “terrorists”; once Americans feared and hated the demons, the Warriors chipped away at the “terrorists’” Constitutional rights. Serfs cheered and thanked Leviathan for saving them. Like children distracted by the lollypop the doctor offers, they never expected the needle aimed at terrorists to stab them.

But governments seldom care about tyrannizing the few foreigners who fall into their hands; rather, it’s their own citizens they lust to command. The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” furthers that plot, stripping rights from Americans whom bureaucrats accuse of terrorism. When fools cheer this as well, when they docilely watch as the FBI indefinitely detains their neighbors for the CIA to torture, rulers will smile and nod. Their next bill won’t bother mentioning “terrorists,” even as a pretext. Citizens, especially but not only those who dissent, will be its sole target. And there will be far more things from which to dissent — forced relocation and labor, perhaps even medical experimentation to rival Dr. Mengele’s, if Obamacare passes.

“I will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to improve this process to obtain better, more uniform results,” McCain threatens. “…[M]y efforts will not stop until we have addressed all the detainee issues in a comprehensive fashion.”For once, I believe him.

This article was originally published at The New American.

Becky Akers, an expert on the American Revolution, writes frequently about issues related to security and privacy. Her articles and columns have been published by Lewrockwell.com, The Freeman, Military History Magazine, American History Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Post, and other publications.

Source:http://jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/6111-enemy-congress

Gee, how do you like the rape job that the banks just served up on you?

2010-03-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

Posted by Karl Denninger

Read that white part carefully, and then make sure you read the inverted part.

If you:

- Exceed your credit line.

- Do not pay on time (even once)

- The bank believes you will be either unwilling or unable to pay because of "information they receive" (like, for instance, because your credit report discloses you didn't pay someone else?)

The bank can immediately close your account without notice AND DEMAND YOU PAY THE ENTIRE BALANCE ON THE ACCOUNT IMMEDIATELY.

Oh, and when you can't (because you thought you had time to pay) you are then in default again for not paying "on time" and they can sue and add attorneys fees and costs.
I thought this crap was going away?

This, by the way, is from Chase, I have the entire section of the statement (all pages), and is claimed to be effective on 22 February.

So much for the CARD act banning practices like this, eh?

This is effectively a "CALL" option on your credit card. This "feature" is why when I ran MCSNet I refused to ever accept a bank credit line for any purpose whatsoever for the company - they all had this sort of tricky crap in them somewhere. Every one. In each and every case such a clause gives the bank the right to force you into bankruptcy if you ever actually use the credit for anything other than as a cash-management tool (that is, as a means to pay for something over time), as they can declare the line in default any time they'd like and accelerate repayment, demanding the full balance. You either have it (in which case you didn't really need the credit, right?) or you're bankrupt - at their sole discretion.

TELL THE BANKSTERS TO SHOVE THIS CRAP UP THEIR BUTTS - WITHDRAW YOUR MONEY AND REMOVE YOUR BUSINESS FROM ANY LENDER WHO HAS SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN THEIR AGREEMENTS - ALL OF IT.

I warned people a year ago to get out of debt, especially revolving debt or any other sort of credit where the terms could be changed on you, in my "Ten Things" Ticker of June 8th of 2009.

This sort of trick is why.

Source:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

The Looming Dollar Disaster

2010-02-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

The Fed faces a choice: suffocate the economy or destroy the dollar. Foreign lenders head for the door.

Robert Morley. Columnist

Most Americans have no idea what is happening to the economy. Many people think America is emerging from a vicious little recession, and will soon be back on the road to prosperity. America always has, so it always will, is the common reasoning.

Yet this time, things may turn out very different.

On January 8, cnbc reported that the U.S. Federal Reserve purchased an unprecedented 80 percent of all U.S. treasury securities issued in 2009.

This is earth-shaking, game-changing news with possibly lethal repercussions. Here is why.

During 2009, the federal government ran a $1.4 trillion deficit—the largest deficit in the history of both America and the world. It was over three times the size of the previous year’s record-breaking deficit. And if the government has its way, 2010’s deficit may be even greater.

Since Americans save so little money, foreigners have come to provide almost all of the federal government’s borrowing needs in recent years. They accomplish this by purchasing U.S. treasury bonds. This was something foreign nations were happy to do since they earned interest on their money. Plus, big-spending Americans tended to spend the borrowed money purchasing foreign-made goods, so a good proportion of the money cycled right back to them.

Not wanting to give up their standard of living, Americans too willingly went further into debt, even as American industry and other wealth-producing sectors of the economy were being shut down and shipped overseas.

For example: From 2006 through November 2009, Beijing lent $527 billion to America through treasury purchases alone. Hong Kong lent an additional $100 billion. Other countries like Japan lent hundreds of billions more. Then there was the hundreds of billions of dollars they lent to government-sponsored entities like mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

During this time, American industry was being hammered. Jobs were being outsourced and offshored by the millions to places like China and India. In 2004, the Boston-based consultancy Forrester estimated that a relentless 15,000 jobs per month were moving out of America. Forrester predicts that America will see another 3.3 million jobs offshored over the coming 15 years.

But now it is as if the foreign nations see the writing on the wall. They are beginning to realize that America is addicted to debt and that their loans might never get repaid.

Now, all of a sudden America’s most important source of lending is drying up.

For five months in a row, not only has China stopped lending money to the federal government, it has actually sold some of its treasuries. Is China trying to quietly get out as much of its money as possible while it can? Even oil-exporting nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Venezuela have been net sellers of treasuries since March. Thus, two of America’s four most important foreign creditors are awol. And Japan, one of America’s other most important creditors, has massively curtailed its lending to America.

All things being equal, this exodus of foreign money would have caused massive credit contraction capable of smothering America—interest rates skyrocketing into the double digits, zombified Wall Street banks with broken business models, small businesses unable to roll over their debts, a housing market in a renewed free fall, soaring consumer bankruptcies, and unemployment far worse than the Great Depression.

But so far, this has not happened. Why? Faced with the above list of catastrophes, the Federal Reserve decided to risk the biggest catastrophe of them all in a forlorn attempt to avoid the inevitable financial reckoning.

To save the economy, the Federal Reserve would risk sacrificing the dollar.

The Federal Reserve began doing the one practice anathema to all fiat-currency-based economic systems: It began creating money by divine right. With foreigners unwilling or unable to provide the money the U.S. government needed to pay the bills, the Federal Reserve simply created more dollars from nothing by adding additional bookkeeping entries to its logs.

Remember that $1.4 trillion deficit that America ran this last year? Eighty percent of that—$1.12 trillion worth—was funny money. The U.S. government needed money, so the Fed simply turned on its digital printing presses and electronically sent over some 1s and 0s.

But the Fed didn’t just print up money to give to the government to spend. It also created close to $1 trillion to prop up asset prices in America. It printed up money to give to the big banks and to purchase toxic mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was theft and highway robbery on the grandest of scales because the Fed did nothing to earn this money—it simply said they had the money, and it was so. Consequently, all other money in circulation became worth less. The Fed now has over $2 trillion worth of assets on its balance sheet. This is mostly money that the Fed willed into existence over the past year.

No wonder foreigners are beginning to flee the dollar. The Fed is doing what every failed fiat currency system in the history of paper money has done. When push comes to shove, the temptations of the printing press are too great. Governments always take the seemingly easy way out—simply printing up whatever money is needed, and with disastrous results that always end the same way.

Once you start down the money-printing road, it is almost impossible to turn back. The history of money printing says the dollar is doomed. It is a lesson of history that the Fed has failed to learn.

Maybe that is why the Chinese have dumped their Fannie and Freddie investments. During 2009, they took the Fed’s newly created money and ran, while the dollars still had some value remaining.

America’s foreign financial partners are beginning to abandon it. And for good reason. The dollar has lost almost a third of its value over the past decade.

But did you know that this exact scenario in which America finds itself was prophesied thousands of years ago?

Speaking of the modern nations descended from ancient Israel, of which America is currently the most geopolitically prominent, the Prophet Jeremiah warned that a time would come when America’s trade partners would abandon it despite America’s best attempts to pretty itself up and make itself look good. “And when you are plundered, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain you will make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life” (Jeremiah 4:30; New King James Version).

America has two choices. Raise interest rates to try and attract its economic lovers back to lend more money (which means that America’s debt payments would mushroom, potentially derailing the economy), or continue to destroy the dollar to pay off the bills. Neither option is a good one. Expect America’s foreign lovers to continue voting with their feet—as they head out the door.

Source:
http://www.thetrumpet.com/print.php?q=6933.5451.0.0

How to invest for a global-debt-bomb explosion

2010-02-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

Prepare for an apocalyptic anarchy ending Wall Street's toxic capitalism

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Wake up investors. Are you prepared for the economic anarchy coming after a global-debt time bomb explodes? Are you thinking outside the box? Investing differently? Act now -- tomorrow will be too late.

Start by looking past the endless cable skirmishes between Rush, Glenn, Bill and Shawn versus Harry, Nancy, Ben and Barack. Look way past the insurgency bonding Sarah and her diehard Tea Party revolutionaries with Ron Paul's Neo-Reaganite ideologues, Fat-Cat Bankers and the Party of No, all planning a massive frontal assault on the 2010 elections, hell-bent on destroying the presidency. All that's the sideshow.

The Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 subprime credit meltdown combined. A huge market blowout. And as Bloomberg-BusinessWeek predicts: "The results won't be pretty for investors or elected officials."

After the global-debt bomb explodes don't expect a typical bear correction followed by a new bull. Wall Street's toxic pseudo-capitalism is imploding. Be prepared for a massive meltdown. Yes, already the third major bubble-bust of the 21st century, triggered once again by Wall Street's out-of-control Fat Cat Bankers. And it's dead ahead.

Can your family survive in the anarchy after the debt bomb explodes?

America's already descending into economic anarchy. We're all trapped in a historic economic supercycle, a turning point that must bleed through a no-man's land of lawless self-destructive anarchy before a neo-capitalistic world can re-emerge. Investors tell me they "feel" it at a deep level, "know" it's happening. They keep asking: "What's the best investment strategy to prepare now?"

This is no joke, folks. Are you prepared? Or preparing? Will your family survive in a post-apocalyptic world, when anarchy is rampant in America? Look at Washington, Wall Street and Corporate America today. You know it's already begun.

You are witnessing a fundamental breakdown of the American dream, a systemic breakdown of our democracy and our capitalism, a breakdown driven by the blind insatiable greed of Wall Street: Dysfunctional government, insane markets, economy on the brink. Multiply that many times over and see a world in total disarray. Ignore it now, tomorrow will be too late.
Not a war about ideology, but an economic game-changer.

This is a war to control 299 million American taxpayers. A war waged by the "Happy Conspiracy" Jack Bogle profiled in his 2004 "Battle for the Soul of Capitalism," a war machine of Fat Cat Bankers, CEOs, 42,000 mercenary lobbyists and a Congress held hostage to unlimited campaign donations. Their conspiracy has been waging this war against Americans for decades, long before the Supreme Court exposed their dirty secret.

Yes, your enemy is that "Happy Conspiracy:" It has degraded into a pseudo-capitalism with no conscience, no sense of the public good, hell-bent on controlling America's mind, your money and the global markets for its own selfish ends. And eventually it will trigger the game-changing global-debt bomb, the third global meltdown of the century that finally ignites the Great Depression II, plunging us into an era of anarchy.

Investors keep asking: "If it is coming, how do I invest? Buy gold? Commodities? Hedge? Short trading? TIPS? Hoard cash? Buy and hold? Lazy Portfolios?" What if the Dow sinks below 5,000? Maybe the worst-case scenario recently predicted by Bob Prechter: A deeper plunge to the 1,000 range? Imagine a global depression, a bear market dragging on for decades: "How do I protect my family? Can I ever retire? What do I invest in? How can anyone prepare?"
How America's two classes are preparing for a descent into anarchy
As America descends into anarchy your family's survival and your ability to retire will depend on which of America's two economic classes you belong to out of our total of roughly 300 million citizens:

"Average Joe & Jane" Americans: You're one of 299 million Main Street Americans. Average income is $50,000, only 10% of the average bonuses paid to Wall Street's Fat-Cat Bankers. Or you're already one of America's 20% underemployed ... maybe on food stamps ... maybe among the 47 million with no medical insurance ... your retirement assets are about $50,000, a year's survival. And you are "mad-as-hell" you're not working "inside" the "Happy Conspiracy."

"Happy Conspiracy" Insiders: You're one of the lucky million or so elite Insiders in the "Happy Conspiracy." You may work for a Fat-Cat Bank that American taxpayers bailed out last year so you pocketed a 2009 bonus gift of somewhere between $600,000 and $10 million. Maybe you're a Corporate American CEO. Maybe you're on the Forbes 400 list. Or you're a U.S. Senator.

Here's how these savvy Insiders are preparing: In his 2008 best-seller, "Wealth, War and Wisdom," hedge fund manager Barton Biggs, a highly respected Insider in the "Happy Conspiracy," advised rich insiders to expect the "possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure."

His advice: Make tons of money. Buy an isolated farm in the mountains. Protect family against the barbarians: "Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food ... It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson."

How Wall Street insiders will treat Main Street in 'The Anarchy'

And when the barbarians do come, firing "a few rounds over the approaching brigands' heads would probably be a compelling persuader that there are easier farms to pillage." Imagine a scene like Port-au-Prince after the quake. Biggs is no radical anarchist, he's an establishment Insider, a great guy. We both arrived at Morgan Stanley about the same time. Biggs remained 30 years, was Morgan's chief global strategist. Ten times Institutional Investor magazine put him on Wall Street's "All-America Research Team."

True, he did hedge his prediction of the coming anarchy. His odds: 1 in 10. But in an early 2009 Newsweek article, "A Generation of Destruction: Throwing money at the problem and propping up greedy banks is like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it," Biggs teased us with a bleak scenario: "Great cycles of wealth creation have usually lasted about two generations, or 60 years. Inevitably, unequal riches corrupt and create envy, and they are always followed by a generation of enormous wealth destruction."

Warning: By vastly understating the risks while his Insiders prepare for the coming anarchy, Biggs is quietly misleading and disarming the rest of America.

The truth is Insiders in the "Happy Conspiracy" elite will follow Biggs' ultra-simple investment strategy: Make massive amounts of money fast using short-term strategies, spout lip service about the "public good." But always act in your own self-interests first, preparing for when anarchy spreads worldwide in an economic pandemic.

How can America's 299 million 'second-class citizens' invest for anarchy?

So what can the average Joe and Jane, the other 299 million Americans do? Warning: In anarchy, nobody knows. Period. The only possible strategy: "Think Swiss Family Robinson." Stockpile like a "Happy Conspiracy Insider."

Many still challenge us about proven strategies like buy and hold, Modern Portfolio Theory, Lazy Portfolios. Unfortunately, they all need a real democracy driven by honest, transparent capitalism to function effectively. They can't function in anarchy.
And Wall Street's already lapsed into a toxic pseudo-capitalism, using it to manipulate Main Street America. Eventually that mindset will force Main Street Americans to misuse the same dark "Swiss Family Robinson" tactics as the Insiders in order to survive the coming anarchy.
What's our alternative? A new American Revolution

But wait, wait, I hear you asking loudly: There must be an alternative to this dark descent into anarchy, to the loss of everything that made America the greatest nation in history?
Yes there is an alternative. Out of the ashes of anarchy must come a Second American Revolution. But unfortunately nothing will happen until a great crisis awakens America ... shocks the conscience of the masses ... we are "asleep" ... only a seismic, systemic shock will trigger the necessary revolution.

The future of our economy and indeed our nation demands another political revolution. We must take back our democracy and capitalism from a government run by Wall Street and its "Happy Conspiracy" ... their toxic self-serving power hold must be broken and, if not, a rising new conspiracy of China, India, oil-sovereignties and asset-rich nations will replace our homegrown "Happy Conspiracy" as it eventually goes down in the flames of anarchy.
Sadly, that's the future many of us realists see ahead for America

Source:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-invest-for-the-debt-bomb-explosion-2010-02-09?pagenumber=2

PREDICTING DATE OF ECONOMIC COLLAPSE

2010-02-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

The event that many would like advance warning on is economic collapse. It is an event that most informed economists say is inevitable due to U.S. deficits that are too large to be paid back. Yet, those of us that must work and pay our bills cannot stop what we are doing and dig a hole to hide in every time a new event happens that appears to be the beginning of the Economic Collapse.

We must first make assumptions on what Economic Collapse is. History tells us. All paper money falls into one of two catagories, those that have failed and those that are going to fail. They failed in the past (including United States currency) in a spiral of constantly losing value. The federal government continually increases the obligations that it must pay for. Buyers of federal debt slowly back away from buying long term debt and later will not purchase even short term debt. The government begins buying its own debt by issuing new paper money. As more paper money is issued it loses more and more of its value. When the public becomes aware that the issuance of paper money is out of control, and that holding it weeks or days will result in a loss of value, they attempt to convert the paper money that they have into assets that retains some value. To do this, they have to remove any cash they have from banks and other institutions and convert it to something else. What ensues is a run on the banks.

When will this happen? We have some clues because of the process that will take place prior to the event. To understand this process, we must look at a recent event that changed the politics of the United States. Scott Brown, a Republican was elected to the Massachusetts senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. Just thirty days prior to this, he was thirty points behind in the polls. The mainstream media (MSM) have more influence on the general public than any other source. Generally the MSM support the liberal and socialistic candidates and ideas. So why was Senator Brown elected thirty days after he was 30 points behind?

The last thirty days created a change in the MSM reporting. Brown ran against Obama's unpopular policies. MSM broadcast and print articles began appearing that supported Brown. Incidents showing his opponent (Coakley) in an unfavorable light began appearing. The MSM and the liberal majority changed their minds in the last few weeks and Brown was elected. Loss of confidence in the paper dollar will occur in a similar fashion. However; it can occur at a much faster pace such as days and weeks instead of months.

The MSM generally is in favor of big government spending and supports the socialistic policies of the Obama administration. The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money (Margaret Thatcher). At the point that MSM begins to see the hazards of the uncontrolled printing of money, the beginning of the end is near. Then the MSM will begin to report the REAL MONEY CRISIS. For those that ask, "When will the SHTF?" That is when.

The events that follow this are events that you will not want to be a part of. Long lines will appear at banks for those trying to get their money out while it still has some value. Paper money will be issued in greater and greater denominations. Food and other necessities of life will skyrocket in price. Soon a bank holiday will be declared while the government attempts to control the panic. Rules will be enforced that restrict how much money may be withdrawn at a time. Attempts will be made to "freeze" food prices. Payment for all good and services will be turned upside down. Everything will rapidly increase in price. Soon, the paper money you have will not buy the things that you need. At some point, $1,000 will not buy a pair of shoes.

The events that follow this are also predictable because they have happened before. Gold and silver become extremely valuable. Pre 1965 silver coins (they still have some silver in them) will become a known standard of value that is accepted by those that still have something to sell. The barter system for goods and services will return. People that want to eat will grow gardens. Most people who have had life savings in 401Ks will be poor again. The winners are the ones that have planned in advance and the ones that still have outstanding loans or mortgages. The mortgages will no longer have any value. Homeowners will be able to send a million dollar note to a mortgage holder and tell them to keep the change. The change will not buy a loaf of bread. Large cities will become dangerous places to be.

Those that plan ahead can avoid the most severe aspects of this scenario. It is up to each individual to plan ahead early enough to survive. A following article will outline some suggested courses of actions that any individual can implement.

February 2, 2010

by Ray Elliott

Source:
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/elliott020210.html

2010-02-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

U.S. agrees to timetable for UN Gun Ban

Clinton-United Nations “Small Arms Treaty” Update
National Gun Rights BlogPosted February 2, 2010
READ ALSO: Sec. Hillary Clinton — U.S. Support for the Arms Trade Treaty (Oct. 09)

The United Nations and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are moving forward with their plan to confiscate your guns.

The United States joined 152 other countries in support of the Arms Trade Treaty Resolution, which establishes the dates for the 2012 UN conference intended to attack American sovereignty by stripping Americans of the right to keep and bear arms.

Working groups of anti-gun countries will begin scripting language for the conference this year, creating a blueprint for other countries when they meet at the full conference.

The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Former United Nation’s ambassador John Bolton has cautioned gun owners about the Arms Trade Treaty and says the UN “is trying to act as though this is really just a treaty about international arms trade between nation states, but there’s no doubt that the real agenda here is domestic firearms control.

”Establishing the dates for the Arms Trade Treaty Conference is just the first step toward their plans for total gun confiscation.

The worldwide gun control mob will ensure the passage of an egregious, anti-gun treaty…. . .and that’s where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton steps in.

Once the UN Gun Ban is passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations it must be ratified by each nation, including the United States. As an arch enemy of gun owners, Clinton has pledged to push the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty. She will push for passage of this outrageous treaty designed to register, ban and CONFISCATE firearms owned by private citizens like YOU.

That’s why it’s vital you sign the special petition I’ve made up for your signature that DEMANDS your U.S. Senators vote AGAINST ratification of the UN’s “Small Arms Treaty.

”So far, the gun-grabbers have successfully kept the exact wording of their new scheme under wraps.But looking at previous versions of the UN “Small Arms Treaty,” you and I can get a good idea of what’s likely in the works.

Don’t let any of the “experts” lull you to sleep by saying “Oh, we have it handled” or “Until you know exactly what’s in the treaty you can’t fight against it.”Judging by Ambassador Bolton’s comments — who certainly knows what to expect from the American-freedom-hating international crowd that infests the U.N. — we are certain the treaty’s going to address the private ownership of firearms.

If passed by the UN and ratified by the U.S. Senate (which is where we must ultimately make our stand), the UN “Small Arms Treaty” would almost certainly FORCE national governments to:*** Enact tougher licensing requirements, making law-abiding citizens cut through even more bureaucratic red tape just to own a firearm legally;

*** CONFISCATE and DESTROY ALL “unauthorized” civilian firearms (all firearms owned by the government are excluded, of course);

*** BAN the trade, sale and private ownership of ALL semi-automatic weapons;

*** Create an INTERNATIONAL gun registry, setting the stage for full-scale gun CONFISCATION.

So please click here to sign the petition to your U.S. Senators before it’s too late!

You see, this is NOT a fight we can afford to lose.

Source:
http://nationalgunrights.org/blog/?p=359#more-359

Identifying Sure Signs Of The Final Economic Plunge

2010-01-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

Giordano Bruno
Neithercorp Press - 01/12/10

http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=223

Many researchers, including those here at Neithercorp, have projected that the third and final stage of the economic collapse will begin sometime in 2010. Barring some kind of financial miracle, or the complete dissolution of the Federal Reserve, a snowballing implosion should become visible by the end of this year. Data indicates that the dollar and the Dow are running on nothing but false promises and fiat bailouts, and that this game is slowly winding down. The Fed cannot sustain its current rate of liquidity injections without raising the ire of foreign nations heavily invested in U.S. debt, especially when banks have refused to loosen their lending practices as promised, thereby hoarding all bailout funds made available to them and stifling any chance of a credit market recovery.

Understandably, an important question has arisen among those people who are trying to prepare for the event;

When EXACTLY will the collapse occur?

Of course, we aren’t psychic, and narrowing down the final trigger to the exact day, or even the exact month, would be extremely difficult. However, what we can do is explain what signs to look for, how to look for them, and what dangers they foretell. Economics gives the appearance of a complex and confusing science, but most economic indicators taught in business schools are really hollow background noise, designed to do nothing more than make television investment analysts seem more intelligent than they really are. All we need to know are the fundamentals, the unchangeable concrete factors that all economies operate on, and how to tell when they are beginning to falter. The following list is composed of signs anyone with a little work and a little vigilance can keep track of, giving them an even greater edge in knowing when the house of cards is really about to topple…

Gold And Dollar Decoupling

Although U.S. Treasury markets and the dollar are currently being manipulated by the Federal Reserve’s fiat purchasing of T-bonds, watching the Dollar index in comparison with gold can give a good indication of when the final drop will occur. Over the past decade, the dollar has lost around 40% of its value, while gold has increased 400% in value. Gold’s increase is due in very large part to the devaluation of the Greenback, but it also indicates a surging international interest in precious metals, especially in Asia. Traditionally, when the dollar decreases in value, gold moves up, and when the dollar increases in value, gold falls. However, over the past four months, there have been sporadic incidences in which gold’s price has increased even though the dollar gained in value. These incidences have lasted only a day or two at a time, but they show that gold is starting to move on its own accord, slowly decoupling from the dollar and even being used as a competing form of currency in some places.

The Vietnamese Government, for instance, recently threatened to shut down all gold bullion trade in the country by the end of March, because Vietnamese merchants and consumers are abandoning their own inflated currency and using gold instead. The Vietnamese have also stopped using American dollars, once considered a safe store of value:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i2CFXWwN6o8w7nn9GqYjOZ2dHNwA

Banking elites in Western nations have been short selling gold for decades in order to keep the price down, and obstruct gold from becoming a competing alternative to the Dollar. Now, we are beginning to see gold move despite banker manipulation. Just before the onset of a dollar implosion, one should watch for gold to begin jumping steeply higher regardless of the behavior of currency markets. Any reports that blocs of foreign nations are increasing the exchange of U.S. Treasuries (beyond what they have done already) and buying large stores of gold would also signal a dollar collapse. In the event that average Americans begin considering the use of gold and silver in place of the dollar, as in Vietnam, you know the final downturn has begun.
Price Inflation Of Oil

For a long time, oil has been traded on the world markets exclusively in U.S. Dollars. Oil and the dollar are therefore intimately connected. Oil will be the first commodity to reveal any inflation (or hyperinflation) in the dollar during a breakdown. Currently, oil is steadily gaining, now hovering around $80 a barrel, or nearly $3 a gallon. Some in the MSM claim this is due to harsh winter conditions around the world, while others say it is due to the weakness and distrust in the Greenback. Not too long ago, oil prices were manipulated upwards by speculators to the tune of $150 a barrel:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/24/markets/cftc/index.htm

I suspect that this manipulation was not just an act of greed, but part of a larger strategy by the financial elite to acclimate Americans to the idea of gas price inflation, so that when it occurs again Americans will not be as quick to react, once again blaming speculators, instead of the real cause; a dollar implosion.

Another oil price increase anywhere near the $150 mark is an implicit warning that the economy is about to falter, especially if that increase continues on through summer months.

Dollar Loses World Reserve Currency Status

An announcement by any foreign nation, especially those that hold large stores of U.S. debt, that they will be dropping the dollar and trading in a different currency is a tremendous warning. The dollar is a very weak currency. It’s only saving grace, the thread it hangs by, is the fact that it still has world reserve status, meaning, it is a trade currency accepted by all nations. If BRIC nations, or OPEC oil producers, were to announce that they will no longer trade goods using dollars, expect an immediate tanking of our currency, along with treasury markets. Those that catch this news as it starts will probably have a month or maybe two to get all their preparations in order and distance themselves from any potential danger areas. Hyperinflation has the distinct ability to bring out the worst in a society. People can handle a Dow collapse, or even deflation, but when a currency is destroyed, all possible means of self support are lost unless one was prepared. Those who are not will lose the whole of their life savings in one fell swoop.

U.S. Treasury Dump

This is a little more difficult to track, simply because most foreign creditors do not want to announce openly that they are dumping their U.S. Treasuries. Such incidences can cause war, among other things. What can be tracked easily is the amount of treasuries being sold to other countries. Currently, other nations have nearly frozen their investment in our debt:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1730-TIC-Data-Confirms-Foreign-Appetite-Gone.html

The U.S. deficit for the fiscal year 2009 came in at a record $1.42 trillion, more than triple the record set in 2008. The total national debt (according to the government) is now at a whopping $12 trillion and climbing! This debt cannot be sustained without a constant flow of money from other countries. If these countries stop purchasing our debt, then our Treasury will become insolvent. The country will be bankrupt. The Federal Reserve is currently trying to stave off this event by purchasing U.S. debt; basically legalized currency manipulation, much like paying off one credit card bill with yet another credit card. According to reports, the Fed now accounts for 91% of all U.S. debt purchases. This is a very bad sign:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ultimate-shell-game-federal-reserve-funds-us-deficit

Eventually, we will hear reports that foreign holders of treasury debt have not only stopped buying new treasuries, but are also dumping the treasuries they already have because of the Fed’s extreme devaluation policies. If this happens on a large scale, a collapse is about to take place.

Simultaneous Dow / Dollar Drop

Normally, when the Dow loses value and investors pull their savings out of stocks, they tend to put those savings into dollar backed securities or treasuries as a “safe haven”. This causes the value of the dollar to increase whenever the Dow falls, but the balancing act is beginning to change. One clear indication of a collapse would be the simultaneous fall of the Dow and the Dollar over a moderate period. This would denote a loss of safe haven status in the dollar as well as uncertainty among investors in stocks. A double whammy like this could prove to be an alert of impending disintegration.

A good time to watch for this signal would be around June or July, when it is rumored the Fed will begin raising interest rates from near zero.

Jobs And Housing

As we predicted recently, job loss which was hidden by the Labor Department in November is now beginning to show in December. We expect that job loss numbers will begin to grow more aggressive from this point on, as companies that hired temporary workers for the Christmas season proceed with layoffs in February and March.

Real unemployment, counting the U-6 measurement, is around 20%. When this measurement reaches between 25% and 30% (Great Depression levels), the country may be on the edge of final collapse.

Also, watching the small and medium sized business sector will help in discovering when job markets will completely tank. Small and medium businesses support around two thirds of all U.S. jobs, but these companies are now in dire straights:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/34825943

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Job-openings-drop-as-hiring-apf-2800514981.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

Most of these firms say they will be cutting even more jobs in 2010, not hiring.
Another important factor is the housing market and what are called “Option ARM Mortgages.”

ARM mortgages are basically what created the housing bubble in the first place, by offering loans at artificially low interest rates which then increase after a set time period. Millions of people have home payments based on ARM mortgages, and many of these contracts are about to expire, meaning their payments will mushroom, and they will go bankrupt. California alone has hundreds of thousands of homes with ARM mortgages ready to expire in the next year:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/34729005

Watch closely for announcements of mass ARM mortgage resets, which could herald even greater losses in housing, as well as an increase in the homeless population.

Grocery Store Peculiarities

Wholesale prices of goods have recently been increasing far beyond what mainstream economists had predicted, hinting at the first steps towards inflation:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Spike-in-wholesale-inflation-apf-2682030532.html?x=0

Grocery store chains tend to “absorb” the extra cost of their stock in the hope that wholesale prices will soon drop again, and in order to keep from losing customers due to high prices, but this has the added effect of hiding true inflation from the public. Eventually, stores and manufacturers can no longer absorb the inflation, and either raise their prices, or diminish their volume. Keep careful note of your local grocery stores. Are items being “repackaged” by manufacturers to hold less for the same price? Is your $4, twenty ounce box of cereal now $4.50 and only fifteen ounces? Are items beginning to disappear entirely from the stores stock, especially foreign made goods? Are base goods such as rice or bread increasing in price weekly or bi-weekly? This may be due to an explosion in wholesale inflation, as well as financial weakness in the general economy.

Bank Holiday

A bank holiday is essentially the government closure of all banks and financial instruments dealing with banks for a set period of time. This means you will not be able to pull money from your account, you will not be able to make deposits, and you will not be able to use checks or debit cards, or even use an ATM. If you have no cash (or other valuables) on hand, you are in big trouble. A bank holiday is often announced in response to out of control bank closures, and is supposed to give banks time to shore up funds, as well as keep you from pulling all your money out at once. A bank holiday could also occur in the event that the FDIC is about to crumble, which is very likely. The FDIC is already broke, and is drawing on fiat currency from the Fed and the Treasury in order to continue covering the accounts of shut down banks. Over 140 banks closed last year. If this rate continues, or expands this year, then the FDIC will no longer be able to operate. If a bank holiday is announced, an announcement of Treasury insolvency is also likely.

Terror Attack / New War

The world is on the brink as it is. If a terrorist attack (false flag attack), or a new war arises, it is time to collect your gear, your family, your friends, and make for the hills (if that’s where you plan to go). Any new and extended threat of conflict in 2010 will be used as an excuse to institute martial law and subjugation of civil liberties, not to mention trigger a financial meltdown. Is the morning news reporting an attack on Iran, or the bombing of a New York subway? It’s time.

These events and triggers represent a “litmus test” for the economy that anyone can apply without spending every day in front of a computer screen tracking stock yields, hedge funds, or Federal Reserve press releases. Many people have already made extensive preparations, knowing that a breakdown is imminent, but with a little extra knowledge and effort, their edge on the collapse can be made ever sharper. No amount of preparation will stave off the psychological shock of sudden economic implosion if one does not keep alert to the prerequisite signs. Watching the simple indicators listed above can help in affording you every opportunity, giving you the ability to see the wreck before it even happens.

Democrats’ Voracious Search for New Tax Revenue

2010-01-19T06:10:00.000-08:00

Posted by David Boaz

Last year I tried to compile a list of all the taxes President Obama and his allies were maneuvering to impose. But each week brings new ideas. Just recently we’ve heard about a bank tax, applying the Medicare tax to capital gains and other “passive” or “unearned” income, raising the Medicare tax rate, raising or broadening the capital gains tax, an income tax “surtax,” a tax on tanning – and of course the tax on private health insurance to pay for the expansion of government insurance has moved to the top of the list. And all of these on top of these ideas proposed or publicly floated by President Obama and his aides and allies:

Raise the top income tax rates from their current 33 percent and 35 percent rates to 36 percent and 39.6 percent in 2011

Limit itemized deductions for people paying high rates

Increase capital gains and dividend taxes by 33 percent for people paying high income tax rates

Impose a value-added tax (VAT) on all goods and services

Raise the Social Security tax by lifting the cap

Raise a variety of business taxes by $353 billion over 10 years, including repeal of LIFO rules, restoring Superfund taxes, seven tax increases on energy companies, and more

Tax employer-provided health benefits

Implement a cap-and-trade system for emissions permits, the functional equivalent of a massive new tax

Tax drivers on their mileage

Change rules to raise gift taxes

Restore the estate tax at 45 percent

Raise cigarette tax by 62 cents a pack

Raise taxes on beer, wine, liquor, and soda

Eliminate health savings accounts and flexible savings accounts

Tax employer-provided cellphones

Tax AIG employee bonuses

Raise taxes on overseas corporate earnings

Back in July the Wall Street Journal reported:

President Barack Obama’s health-care plan is in jeopardy because of serious concerns that costs will spin out of control. As much as anyone, it’s White House budget director Peter Orszag’s job to save it…

After his TV appearances, he went straight to the Senate Finance Committee, where he spent three hours with committee aides brainstorming about how to pay for the trillion-dollar legislation. At one point, they flipped through the tax code, looking for ideas.

Flipping through the tax code, looking for ideas on how to relieve us of more of our money. That’s a great visual of Obama’s Washington. President Obama and his allies look at the vast abundance in America, and all they see is wealth that they don’t yet control. It annoys them. They could do so much good with that money. How dare bankers and businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs, widows and foundations hold tight to their wealth, when government has so many plans to fund? “Let’s go and get it from those who’ve got it,” they cry, in the immortal words of Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

But perhaps Thomas Jefferson’s words are even more immortal and equally applicable: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”

Swine flu “false pandemic” seems to be biggest pharma-fraud of century

2010-01-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

The Council of Europe will launch a probe into pharmaceutical companies after reports that vaccine manufacturers pressured the World Health Organization into declaring swine flu pandemic seeking increase in profits.

It was supposed to be a deadly pandemic, but is so far is nothing more than a serious cold.
And it has left a lasting headache as a debate rages over whether pharmaceutical companies deliberately misled governments about the seriousness of swine flu to make them stockpile vaccines.

The legal standards organization, the Council of Europe, will gather the arguments.

“Britain has spent a fortune on preparations,” says Paul Flynn, Vice Chairman at the Council of Europe Health Committee. “We have caused a great deal of stress to the population, people are very anxious about it, and we’ve distorted the priorities of our health service. I believe when we have a thorough investigation, and we look at this, we’ll discover that’s the story – the world has been subjected to a stunt for the own greedy interests of the pharmaceutical companies.”European countries bought billions of dollars worth of vaccine from pharmaceutical companies including Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Pasteur. Some of the contracts included a clause where governments could get out of buying the drugs if they were no longer needed. But some, notably ones with GlaxoSmithKline, did not.

“We continue to support governments in managing the H1N1 influenza pandemic. This includes ongoing discussions about existing orders for our pandemic vaccines,” reads the officials statement from the company.

Governments all over Europe are now saddled with billions of dollars worth of unnecessary swine flu vaccine. They are trying to sell it, but supply now far exceeds demand. So because governments wanted to be seen to be acting decisively, the European taxpayers have found themselves seriously out of pocket.

Health expert Gawain Towler says pharmas will be pharmas, and it’s governments who should have been less gullible.

“Pharmaceutical companies of course have a huge economic interest in encouraging concern over health,” Towler says. “I think you have to blame the governments for going along with it, for not having natural scepticism of the claims of someone who has a financial interest. The government itself wanted to be seen to be doing something. And in that way, they encouraged the fear that then forced them to act.”

At the height of the pandemic, it was predicted that around 65,000 people in Britain would die. So far, there have only been 360. Critics of the World Health Organisation, which dubbed swine flu a pandemic, say it was clear from early on that the illness wouldn’t be as serious as first thought.

Also, it was initially believed that two vaccinations would be needed to protect against the virus. Later, it was found that one was enough. Now European governments are coming under fire for wasting billions of dollars on vaccines that would never be used.

“This does seem to be a massive waste of money of course. It’s the responsibility of the government to look out for these kinds of crises as they’re approaching,” says Mark Wallage, campaign director at Taxpayers’ Alliance. “And of course, governments around the world were ordering vaccines and so on, but no one seems to have gone as over the top as much as Britain has. Yet again, Britain has led the world in wasting taxpayers’ money on a threat that either hasn’t materialized, or has turned out to be very different from the way it was anticipated.”Council of Europe Health Committee Chairman Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg also says the declaration of a swine flu pandemic was a false alarm.

“There are many signs that there is close cooperation between the WTO and pharmaceutical companies. We have to find out whether there was pressure or whether there was money given as an incentive to the WTO to have this pandemic declared,” Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg adds.

Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK say they want to sell off their stockpile of vaccines. While there are countries willing to buy, the passing of the global threat, and millions of doses flooding the market, means prices for the vaccine will plummet. And the epidemic’s initial misdiagnosis means it may be a very expensive mistake.

2010-01-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

Monsanto To Criminalize Organic Farming?

http://wideeyecinema.com/?p=1007

The bill HR 875 is monstrous on level after level – the ppower it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international â€œindustrialâ€ standards to independent farms –“ the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.

Criminalize Organic Farming?

EXCUSE ME?!

BILLS: HR 875 and S 425

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=epXNJNjYBvw

This is from last March.....however I did some poking around on HR 875 and found a couple of interesting items. This seems to have fallen through some cracks with all the other things going on...amazing how that happens.

See below...

http://www.govtrack .us/congress/ bill.xpd? bill=h111- 875
http://www.govtrack .us/congress/ bill.xpd? bill=h111- 875&tab=related

ER Legislation with the Same Title The list below shows legislation in this and previous sessions of Congress that had the same title as this bill. Often bills are incorporated into other omnibus bills, and you may be able to track the status of provisions of this bill by looking for an omnibus bill below.

Note that bills may have multiple titles.

Crowd-SourcingUsers tracking this bill are also tracking...

S. 425: Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act (138 users)
H.R. 814: TRACE Act of 2009 (44 users)
S. 429: Ending Agricultural Threats: Safeguarding America's Food for Everyone (EAT SAFE) Act of 2009 (15 users)
H.R. 841: Protect Consumers Act of 2009 (8 users)
H.R. 999: Keeping America's Food Safe Act of 2009 (21 users)
H.R. 1332: Safe FEAST Act of 2009 (31 users)
H.R. 815: Safe And Fair Enforcement and Recall for Meat, Poultry, and Food Act of 2009 (18 users)
H.R. 759: Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009 (85 users)
Community Questions & Answers on S. 425: Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act (5 users)
S. 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (58 users)S. 384: Global Food Security Act of 2009 (20 users)
Community Questions & Answers on H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (8 users)H.R. 778: To authorize the interstate traffic of unpasteurized milk and milk products that are... (9 users)
S. 1345: Prescribe A Book Act (1 users)
H.R. 2485 [110th]: Safety, Efficiency, and Accountability in Transportation Projects Through...

Welcome to Orwell’s World 2010

2009-12-31T20:41:00.000-08:00

John Pilger
JohnPilger.com
December 31, 2009

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell described a superstate called Oceania, whose language of war inverted lies that “passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past’, ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past’.”

Barack Obama is the leader of a contemporary Oceania. In two speeches at the close of the decade, the Nobel Peace Prize winner affirmed that peace was no longer peace, but rather a permanent war that “extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan” to “disorderly regions and diffuse enemies”. He called this “global security” and invited our gratitude. To the people of Afghanistan, which America has invaded and occupied, he said wittily: “We have no interest in occupying your country.”

In Oceania, truth and lies are indivisible. According to Obama, the American attack on Afghanistan in 2001 was authorised by the United Nations Security Council. There was no UN authority. He said the “the world” supported the invasion in the wake of 9/11 when, in truth, all but three of 37 countries surveyed by Gallup expressed overwhelming opposition. He said that America invaded Afghanistan “only after the Taliban refused to turn over [Osama] bin Laden”. In 2001, the Taliban tried three times to hand over bin Laden for trial, reported Pakistan’s military regime, and were ignored. Even Obama’s mystification of 9/11 as justification for his war is false. More than two months before the Twin Towers were attacked, the Pakistani foreign minister, Niaz Naik, was told by the Bush administration that an American military assault would take place by mid-October. The Taliban regime in Kabul, which the Clinton administration had secretly supported, was no longer regarded as “stable” enough to ensure America’s control over oil and gas pipelines to the Caspian Sea. It had to go.

Obama’s most audacious lie is that Afghanistan today is a “safe haven” for al-Qaeda’s attacks on the West. His own national security adviser, General James Jones, said in October that there were “fewer than 100″ al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. According to US intelligence, 90 per cent of the Taliban are hardly Taliban at all, but “a tribal localised insurgency [who] see themselves as opposing the US because it is an occupying power”. The war is a fraud. Only the terminally gormless remain true to the Obama brand of “world peace”.

Beneath the surface, however, there is serious purpose. Under the disturbing General Stanley McCrystal, who gained distinction for his assassination squads in Iraq, the occupation of one of the most impoverished countries is a model for those “disorderly regions” of the world still beyond Oceania’s reach. This is a known as COIN, or counter-insurgency network, which draws together the military, aid organisations, psychologists, anthropologists, the media and public relations hirelings. Covered in jargon about winning hearts and minds, its aim is to pit one ethnic group against another and incite civil war: Tajiks and Uzbecks against Pashtuns.

The Americans did this in Iraq and destroyed a multi-ethnic society. They bribed and built walls between communities who had once inter-married, ethnically cleansing the Sunni and driving millions out of the country. The embedded media reported this as “peace”, and American academics bought by Washington and “security experts” briefed by the Pentagon appeared on the BBC to spread the good news. As in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the opposite was true.

Something similar is planned for Afghanistan. People are to be forced into “target areas” controlled by warlords bankrolled by the Americans and the opium trade. That these warlords are infamous for their barbarism is irrelevant. “We can live with that,” a Clinton-era diplomat said of the persecution of women in a “stable” Taliban-run Afghanistan. Favoured western relief agencies, engineers and agricultural specialists will attend to the “humanitarian crisis” and so “secure” the subjugated tribal lands.

That is the theory. It worked after a fashion in Yugoslavia where the ethnic-sectarian partition wiped out a once peaceful society, but it failed in Vietnam where the CIA’s “strategic hamlet program” was designed to corral and divide the southern population and so defeat the Viet Cong — the Americans’ catch-all term for the resistance, similar to “Taliban”.

Behind much of this are the Israelis, who have long advised the Americans in both the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures. Ethnic-cleansing, wall-building, checkpoints, collective punishment and constant surveillance – these are claimed as Israeli innovations that have succeeded in stealing most of Palestine from its native people. And yet for all their suffering, the Palestinians have not been divided irrevocably and they endure as a nation against all odds.

The most telling forerunners of the Obama Plan, which the Nobel Peace Prize winner and his strange general and his PR men prefer we forget, are those that failed in Afghanistan itself. The British in the 19th century and the Soviets in the 20th century attempted to conquer that wild country by ethnic cleansing and were seen off, though after terrible bloodshed. Imperial cemeteries are their memorials. People power, sometimes baffling, often heroic, remains the seed beneath the snow, and invaders fear it.

“It was curious,” wrote Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four, “to think that the sky was the same for everybody, in Eurasia or Eastasia as well as here. And the people under the sky were also very much the same, everywhere, all over the world … people ignorant of one another’s existence, held apart by walls of hatred and lies, and yet almost exactly the same people who … were storing up in their hearts and bellies and muscles the power that would one day overturn the world.”

The coming Great Inflation, real or imagined

2009-12-31T07:02:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A historic economic crisis has left Americans with plenty of things to worry about. But is inflation one of them? And is there a risk that fretting over higher prices may actually bring them about?

The answers to these questions will help define the timing of the Federal Reserve's pullback from an unprecedented level of monetary stimulus, deployed to combat the worst financial panic since the Great Depression.

In justifying its pledge to leave interest rates near zero for the foreseeable future, the Fed takes comfort in inflation expectations, which policymakers deem comfortably restrained.

On the surface, that appears true. The most recent Reuters/University of Michigan consumer survey showed a 0.2 percentage point decline in expected inflation one-year out, to 2.5 percent. Market-based barometers have fluttered higher, though not alarmingly so.

Yet beneath the weak economic backdrop keeping prices in check, economists and consumers are increasingly uneasy about the prospect of a continuous loss of purchasing power -- the very definition of inflation.

"We have the most potentially inflationary policy I have ever observed in a developed country," said Alan Meltzer, a Fed historian and professor of political economy at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh.

According to widely used economic models, the way consumers perceive the prospect of future inflation has clear implications for prices themselves. Once higher costs are taken for granted, they are more easily tolerated.

Several indicators are already hinting at that possibility.

The price of gold, often viewed as a hedge against inflation, has set record after record, peaking above $1,200 an ounce earlier this month before retreating to below $1,100. A recent JPMorgan survey of clients found that 61 percent expected U.S. inflation to be "above target" between 2011 and 2014.

Another consumer confidence survey, published by The Conference Board, showed Americans expect prices to climb a troubling 5.1 percent over the next 12 months.

And Google Trends, a websearch database, shows a sharp spike in the number of U.S. users looking up the word "hyperinflation" in late 2008 and early 2009.

"There is a real risk that inflation expectations will rise above a certain threshold that suggests a loss of credibility of the Fed," said Laurence Meyer, a former Fed governor now at Macroeconomic Advisers in Washington, DC.

MIND OVER MATTERS

That may seem surprising considering the world has faced a crippling financial crisis that many economists warned might lead to deflation. But it makes sense in the context of the extraordinary measures taken to halt the meltdown.

Experts who have studied bouts of inflation, most common in poor or developing countries, say the makings of an inflationary psychology are already in place in the United States. It begins, they say, when unfathomably large figures are bandied about as if they were mere change.

A cascading series of government bailouts certainly fits into that category. The Treasury spent nearly $800 billion on a stimulus package that has helped ease the pace of job losses but not yet begun to reverse them. The Fed committed to buy more than $1.7 trillion in Treasury and mortgage bonds and expanded credit in the banking system to over $2.2 trillion.

"There is an unprecedented amount of latent inflation represented by the $2 trillion monetary base," said Michael Pento, senior market strategist at Delta Global Advisors. "Unless the Fed can sell those holdings and raise interest rates in a timely manner, intractable inflation will be in our future."

ENTER THE SLACKERS

Another camp of economists say all the hand-wringing is overdone. They point to the labor market, in its worst shape since the 1980s, as a sure sign that the economy is sufficiently weak to keep price pressures at bay.

Japan provides the most obvious model for how such "slack" can affect prices. As bubbles popped in the housing and stock markets, the Japanese economy was stuck in a deflationary rut for the better part of two decades, despite heavy government spending.

During America's last run-in with inflation in the 1970s, wages were a key channel for price increases. Stronger unions meant workers could demand cost-of-living increases to keep up with the ever-rising consumer price index. With that dynamic largely absent today, say skeptics, inflation fears are misplaced.

So far, the hard figures corroborate their view. Consumer prices rose just 1.8 percent in the year through November, and were up 1.7 percent, excluding food and energy, well beneath the recent yearly average.

Such tame readings notwithstanding, anxiety about the longer-term outlook is rising and has been reinforced by the resilience of energy costs in the face of a global recession.

"We will emerge from the crisis with an excess money supply because, despite their independence, central bankers are still feeling the pressure from finance ministers to allow slightly higher inflation in order to be able to service large public debts more easily," said Jorg Kramer, chief economist at Commerzbank.

Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BT3RM20091230

A Suggested Survival List

2009-12-20T07:47:00.000-08:00

December 15, 2009
By Chuck Baldwin

One does not have to be a prophet to know that we are on the precipice of some potentially catastrophic--or at the very least, challenging--days. In fact, most of us are already in challenging days, and some are already enduring catastrophic events. That is, if one would call being out of work, losing one's home, facing life-threatening medical conditions without any prospect of medical insurance, several families being forced to live in one house due to homes being foreclosed, etc., catastrophic.

The potential for an escalation of cataclysmic events, however, is very real. Only a "blooming idiot" would call someone who attempts to prepare for "the day of adversity" a Chicken Little now. Anyone who does not see the storm clouds on the horizon isn't paying attention.

For example, can one imagine what would happen if terrorists nuked a major American city or cities? (Once again, I encourage readers to go get the videos of the CBS TV series "Jericho" to get an idea of how quickly life, and even civilization, could change.) Imagine if there was another 9/11-type event. What would happen if some form of Zimbabwe-style inflation hit the US? What would happen if anything disrupted the distribution of Welfare checks, or food to local grocers? Imagine a Hurricane Katrina-style natural disaster in your town. I think people everywhere are beginning to awaken to just how vulnerable we all really are.

As a result, people from virtually every walk of life have recently been asking my thoughts on how they should prepare. Therefore, I will attempt to share with my readers some of the counsel I have given these folks.

First, a disclaimer. I am not an economist; I am not a survival expert; I am not a firearms expert; I am not an attorney; I am not a physician. In fact, I am not an expert in anything! For several years, however, I have tried to learn from others. I am an avid reader. My work has allowed me to travel extensively. I have had the privilege of sitting at the feet of--and learning from--many of America's most learned, most trained, and most qualified "experts" in a variety of fields. What I write today, I have learned from others. I've formed my own opinions and priorities, of course, but everything I'm sharing has been said, or written about, before. But if I can share something in today's column that will help someone be better prepared for the days to come, then my goal will have been achieved.

Location:

First, analyze your living conditions. Where do you live? Do you live in an urban or rural environment? Is it a big city or small town? Do you live in an apartment or condominium? How close are your neighbors? Do you even know your neighbors? Would you trust them if the electricity was off and they were hungry? Could you grow your own food, if you had to? How easily could you secure your home? If you live in a cold weather environment, how long could you stay warm without electricity? These are the kinds of questions you need to ask yourself now.

Over the past several decades, masses of people have migrated into large metropolitan areas. More people live in urban areas than at any time in American history. While this may be well and good for times of prosperity, it is an absolute nightmare in any kind of disaster. Does anyone remember what New Orleans looked like after Hurricane Katrina came through? Can anyone recall what happened in downtown Los Angeles during the 1992 riots? Needless to say, any inner-city environment could become a powder keg almost instantaneously, given the right (or wrong) circumstances. And the bigger the city, the bigger the potential problems.

If you live in the inner city, I suggest you consider moving to a more rural location. Obviously, now is a very good time to buy property (especially rural property), but the downside is, selling property is not as favorable. If you can afford it, now is a great time to buy a "safe house" outside the city. If you are fortunate enough to have family or some true friends nearby, you might want to put your heads--and some resources--together in preparation for serious upheaval. Obviously, a team of prepared people is much better than being alone.

If you must stay in your urban location, have some commonsense plans in hand in the event of a major disaster. Get to know your neighbors: find out whom you can trust and whom you can't. Keep some extra gasoline on hand, in case you need to get in your car quickly and leave. Have several exit routes planned ahead of time, in case roads are blocked. Have a "bug-out" bag containing essential ingredients to live on for 3 or 4 days. If leaving is not an option, have a plan to secure your home as best you can. You'll need to think about things such as food, water, medicine, warmth, self-defense, etc. But at this point, to do nothing is absolute lunacy!

Provisions:

During a major disaster, food will quickly disappear. Living for over 3 decades on the Gulf Coast, I can tell you with absolute certainty that whenever disaster strikes (usually an approaching hurricane, for us), food and provisions at the store sell completely out in a matter of a few hours. People panic, and within hours, you cannot find food, bottled water, ice, generators, batteries, candles, etc. In a matter of hours, every gas station in the area will be completely out of gas. Not days. Hours!

Furthermore, almost all disasters include a complete loss of electricity. The water supply is compromised. Bottled water becomes more valuable than bank accounts. Dehydration becomes a very real and present danger. I remember witnessing a man offer an ice vendor $100 for an extra bag of ice during Hurricane Ivan. My wife and I went 2 weeks (14 days) without electricity in the aftermath of that hurricane. Believe me, I got a taste of just how precious bottled water, ice, batteries, generators, fuel, etc., can become.

I suggest you have a supply of food and water to last at least 2 weeks. A month would be even better. Personally, I can live a long time on tuna fish or peanut butter. You can purchase MREs from a variety of sources, as well as "camp-style" packaged food from stores such as Academy Sports & Outdoors. Of course, bottled water is available everywhere during normal times. Stock up! Plus, I suggest you have some water purification tablets or a Katadyn water filter on hand. And, if you are able, prepare to grow your own food. Canning food is another very helpful hedge against deprivation. If your parents were like mine, this was standard operating procedure.

Get a generator. Keep a supply of fuel on hand. Stay stocked up on batteries, candles, portable lights, first aid supplies, and personal hygiene items--especially toilet paper. Trust me, during times of intense and prolonged disaster, toilet paper could become more valuable than money. I also suggest you never run out of lighters or matches. You never know when you'll need to build a fire, and during a prolonged survival situation, fire could save your life. If you live in a cold weather climate, you probably already have some sort of wood stove or fireplace.

Obviously, you need to take stock of your clothing. Do you have clothes suitable for extended outdoor activity? What about boots? During a disaster, you would trade your best suit from Neiman Marcus for a good pair of boots. Do you have gloves? Insulated underwear? What about camouflage clothing? These could become essential outerwear in the right conditions. Plus, any "bug-out" bag will need to include spare clothing.

And one more suggestion, while we're on this subject: the best resources in the world are of little use if one is physically incapable of making good use of them. In other words, GET IN SHAPE. During any kind of emergency situation, physical exertion and stamina become immensely important.

Commodities:

I suggest you have at least some cash on hand. Just about any and all disasters will result in banks being closed for extended periods of time. That also means credit card purchases being suspended. You need to have enough cash to be able to purchase essential goods (if they are even available) for an undetermined amount of time.

Of course, some survival gurus insist that during any cataclysmic climate, precious metals will become the only reliable currency. But when most of us are trying to feed our families and pay our bills, it is difficult to get excited about buying gold and silver. Obviously, I would never recommend that anyone jeopardize the present on the altar of the future. My parents made it through the Great Depression with canned goods and garden vegetables; gold and silver were certainly not a priority with them. And maybe it should not be with you, either?

In fact, in a disaster, what is considered a valuable commodity can change rather quickly, as the barter system takes a life of its own. What is valuable is determined by what you need and how badly you need it. In a prolonged disaster, simple things such as toilet paper, canned goods, ammunition, and clothing could become extremely valuable; while cars, video games, televisions, etc., could be reduced to junk status. In antiquity, wars were fought over things such as salt.

Speaking of cars, remember that during a prolonged "national emergency" that might involve some sort of nuclear attack or widespread civil unrest, an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) might be employed; in which case, most every late model vehicle would be completely inoperable. Accordingly, if one can keep an older, pre-computer-age vehicle in good working order, he or she might be driving the only non-government vehicle capable of going anywhere.

Self-Defense:

Needless to say, during any kind of disaster, your safety and protection will be completely up to you. If you really think that the police are going to be able to protect you during an upheaval, you are living in a dreamworld.

In both the New Orleans and Los Angeles disasters, police protection was non-existent. Lawless gangs quickly took control of the streets, and people were left to either defend themselves or swiftly become the helpless prey of violent marauders. In fact, in New Orleans, some of the policemen actually abandoned their oaths to uphold the law and joined with the criminals, turning their weapons upon the public.

Face it, folks: in any kind of disaster, you must be able to defend yourself, or you and your family will be meat for these animals of society that will quickly descend without mercy upon the unprepared, unsuspecting souls around them. This requires that you be armed! It also requires that you be skilled enough to be able to efficiently use your arms.

Therefore, I strongly suggest that you purchase firearms sufficient to keep you and your family safe, and also that you practice sufficiently to know how to proficiently use them.

Now, when it comes to a discussion of which firearms are preferable for self-defense, the suggestions are as varied as the people who proffer them. These are my suggestions:

I believe every man (along with his wife and children of adequate age) should be proficient with the following weapons: a handgun in .38 caliber or above, a .22 rifle, a center-fire hunting rifle, a semi-automatic battle rifle, and a shotgun.

My personal preference for a self-defense handgun is either a .45 ACP 1911 (either Colt or Kimber) or a .40 S&W. In the .40 caliber, my favorite is a Glock 23. In the 1911, I like the Commander size configuration. I also like the Glock 30 and 36 in .45 caliber. My wife prefers to carry a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver in the snub-nose, J-frame configuration. But this is primarily due to the reduced weight of these weapons for carry purposes. If needed, she could make a good accounting of herself with a Glock 19 in 9mm. If you are someone who has never owned and seldom fired a handgun, I recommend you buy a Glock. They are as simple as revolvers to operate, reliable, and almost indestructible. Plus, they provide increased magazine capacity, and are safe. They are also very easy to disassemble and clean.

For a .22 rifle, I really like the Ruger 10/22. For a hunting rifle, my suggestion is either a .270 or .30-06 caliber bolt-action rifle. (If I had to pick one, I'd pick the .30-06.) I prefer the Remington Model 700 BDL, but there are several fine weapons in this configuration and caliber by numerous manufacturers. For a battle rifle, I suggest an AR-15-style weapon in .223 caliber. Here I prefer a Bushmaster. (Please, I don't need to hear from all you .308 lovers out there. I love the Springfield M1A, too.) For a shotgun, I suggest a 12-gauge pump. Here I prefer a Winchester Model 1300, which is not made anymore. So, you'll probably have to choose between Mossberg and Remington.

Whatever you choose, practice with it to the point that you are able to use it proficiently. And be sure you stock up on ammunition. A gun without ammo is reduced to being either an expensive club or a cumbersome paperweight.

Spiritual Power:

I firmly believe that man is created to have fellowship with his Creator-God. I really don't know how people can face the uncertain future that we currently face without the spiritual knowledge, wisdom, comfort, and power that is made available through Jesus Christ. I believe the maxim is true: "Wise men still seek Him." I strongly suggest that you seek to possess a personal relationship with God's only begotten Son.That we are facing challenging days is a certainty. Exactly what that means is yet to be determined. I trust that some of my suggestions will help you be better prepared for what lies before.

us.http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/chuckwagon.php

2009-12-17T06:23:00.000-08:00

30 day survival List

Food/menu Suggested Items

Suggested Menus for Three Days

Day 1:Breakfast: Cold cereal, milk, juice, coffee or teaLunch: Peanut butter, bread, applesauce, cocoaDinner: Canned chili, crackers, corn, milk

Day 2: Breakfast: Toast, peanut butter, juice, coffee or teaLunch: Tuna, bread, peaches, cocoa or juiceDinner: Canned beef stew, crackers, pudding, milk

Day 3: Breakfast: Cold cereal, milk, juice, coffee or teaLunch: Cheese, crackers, pork and beans, fruit cocktail, cocoaDinner: Tomato or other soup, peanut butter, bread, applesauce, milk
Snacks: Pudding, dried fruits, small packages of peanuts or other nuts, cocoa, individual cans of juice, coffee or tea.

Suggested Grocery List(for 1 person, increase as needed for household)

Dry cereal - 1 (7-ounce) box
Crackers - 1 box (8-ounces or larger)
Peanut butter - 1 (12-ounce) jar
Canned juice - 1 6-pack of 6-ounce containers
Applesauce - 1 4-pack of 6-ounce containers
Peaches - 1 (8-ounce) can
Fruit cocktail - 1 (8-ounce) can
Pork and beans - 1 (8-ounce) can
Corn - 1 (8-ounce) can
Tuna - 1 (3 1/4-ounce) can
Processed cheese spread - 1 (8-ounce) box or 4 1/4-ounce jar
Beef stew - 1 small can or container
Chili - 1 small can or container
Tomato or other soup - 1 can
Cocoa - 1 box of individual packets
Pudding - 1 4-pack of 4 1/4-ounce containers
Raisins or dried prunes - 1 12-ounce package
Peanuts or other nuts - 1 package or jar
Tea - 1 box with 16 bags or 1 (2-ounce) jar instant coffee
Nonfat dried milk - 1 box
Bottled water - 1 gallon
If you have pets, remember to plan ahead for their needs also.
Staples
Food Storage Handling Hints
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Baking powder 18 months or Keep dry and covered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Baking soda 2 years Keep dry and covered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bouillon cubes 1 year Keep dry and covered.
or granules
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bread crumbs (dried) 6 months Keep dry and covered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bread, rolls 3 days
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bulgur 6-12 months
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cereals
- ready-to-eat, unopened 6-12 months Check date on package. Refold
- ready-to-eat, opened 2-3 months package liner tightly
after opening.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hot cereal (dry) 6 months
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chocolate
- premelted 12 months Keep cool.
- semi-sweet 18 months Keep cool.
- unsweetened 18 months Keep cool.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cocoa Indefinitely
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chocolate syrup
- unopened 2 years
- opened 6 months Cover tightly. Refrigerate
after opening.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cocoa mixes 8 months Cover tightly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coffee
- cans, unopened 2 years Refrigerate after opening;
- cans, opened 2 weeks keep tightly closed. Use dry
- instant, unopened 1 to 2 years measuring spoon. Can be
- instant, opened 2 months frozen to extend shelf life.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coffee lighteners
- unopened, dry 9 months Keep tightly covered.
- opened, dry 6 months Keep tightly covered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cornmeal 12 months Keep tightly covered. Can be
frozen for indefinite storage.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cornstarch 18 months Keep tightly covered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Flour - Can be frozen for indefinite storage.
- white 6-8 months Keep in airtight container.
Keep refrigerated.
- whole wheat 6-8 months Store in airtight container.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gelatin (all types) 18 months Keep in original container.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Honey 12 months Cover tightly.
If crystallizes, warm opened
jar in pan of hot water.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jellies, jams 12 months Cover tightly.
Refrigerate after opening.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Molasses
- unopened 2 years
- opened 6 months Keep tightly covered.
Refrigerate to extend
storage life.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Marshmallow cream
- unopened 3-4 months Cover tightly. Refrigerate
after opening to extend
storage life. Serve at room
temperature.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Marshmallows 2-3 months Keep in airtight container.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayonnaise - unopened 2-3 months Check package date.
Refrigerate after opening.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Milk
- condensed or 12 months Refrigerate after opening.
evaporated, unopened
- nonfat dry
. unopened 6 months
. opened 3 months Store in airtight container.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pasta
- spaghetti,macaroni,etc. 2 years Once opened, store in
- egg noodles 6 months airtight container.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pectin
- liquid or dry 1 year or expiration date
. unopened
- liquid - opened 1 month Recap and refrigerate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rice
- white 2 years Keep tightly covered.
- brown, wild 6-12 months
- flavored or herb 6 months
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Salad dressings
- bottled, unopened 10-12 months
- bottled, opened 3 months Refrigerate after opening.
- made from mix 2 weeks Refrigerate prepared dressing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vegetable oils
- unopened 6 months
- opened 1-3 months Refrigeration not needed.
Store in a cool, dark place
in tightly closed container.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shortenings (solid) 8 months Refrigeration not needed.
Store in a cool, dark place
in tightly closed container.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sugar
- brown 4 months Put in airtight container.
- confectioners' 18 months Put in airtight container.
- granulated 2 years Cover tightly.
- artificial sweeteners 2 years Cover tightly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Corn syrup Up to 3 years Keep tightly covered.
Refrigerate to extend storage
life. Remove any light
surface mold and heat to
180 �F before use.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pancake syrup 3-4 months Refrigerate after opening.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tea
- bags 18 months Put in airtight container.
- instant 3 years Cover tightly.
- loose 2 years Put in airtight container.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vinegar
- unopened 2 years
- opened 12 months Keep tightly covered.
Slightly cloudy appearance
doesn't affect quality.
Distilled vinegar keeps
longer than cider vinegar.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.foodlifeboat.com.au/
In Table 1 we provide an example of a food list providing 9 MJ per day for 10 weeks for one person that covers all known nutrient needs. This example was generated using the nutrient analysis software Foodworks® (5), which is based on the composition of Australian foods and commonly used by Australian dietitians. The recommended daily intake of specific macronutrients and micronutrients for adults and children is published by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Together, these two sources make it possible to compose diets with the appropriate quantity of nutrients. As the majority of the population has no access to detailed nutrient data, we have developed these examples to demonstrate what is needed and typical of what might be acceptable. We acknowledge that such food lists are culturally and ethnic-specific and that other food combinations are possible.

Table 1

An example of a food list providing 9 MJ per day. Daily food ration and purchase list for 10 weeks for one person is shown. The food covers all nutrient needs.

Food
g/day
kg/person/10 weeks
Milk powder, NS fat, dry*
65
4.6
Weet-Bix (regular) (Breakfast cereal)
30
2.1
Pasta, regular, dry
20
1.4
Instant noodles
20
1.4
Rice
25
1.8
Dehydrated potato flakes
15
1.1
Tortilla
10
0.7
Biscuit, savoury
15
1.1
Biscuit, wholemeal
20
1.4
Oil, canola
20
1.4
Powdered soup
20
1.4
Sweet chilli sauce
10
0.7
Tomato concentrate
10
0.7
Tuna, canned
60
4.2
Spam, regular
40
2.8
Lentils, dry
20
1.4
Peas, green canned
20
1.4
Three beans mix
50
3.5
Baked beans, canned in tomato sauce
20
1.4
Corn, canned
50
3.5
Sun-dried tomatoes
20
1.4
Milo (Beverage base)
10
0.7
Seaweed, dried
10
0.7
Raisins
30
2.1
Honey
10
0.7
Almonds
20
1.4
Apricots, dried, raw
20
1.4
Juice, carrot
50
3.5
Juice, orange
50
3.5
Vegemite (Yeast extract)
2
0.1
Chocolate
30
2.1

Total daily ration gives 9.0 MJ, providing 80 g protein, 80 g fat, thereof 23 g saturated fat (10 % of total energy intake is coming from saturated fat, and 31% of the fat intake is saturated fat), 18 g polyunsaturated fat (22% of the fat intake), 35 g monounsaturated fat (47% of the fat intake). The cholesterol intake is 101 mg per day. Percent of energy from protein, fat and carbohydrate: 16 E% protein, 34 E% fat, 50 E% carbohydrates. Recommended intake of all nutrients is covered for women and men, except for folate intake which is not covered for women of childbearing age, therefore they may consider a folate supplement. *In case of lactose intolerance, the intake of dry milk powder may be reduced and replaced by soy protein powder. Alternatively, the milk may be fermented and used in form of sour milk.

The cost of this diet for 10 weeks for one person is about $500. The most expensive items are: Milk powder, Weet-Bix, spam, chocolate.

Table 2

Example of a list of simple dry foods that will cover basic energy needs (9 MJ per day), and most nutrients except vitamin C and vitamin A. Daily food ration and purchase list for 10 weeks for one person is shown. The food items could be packed in airtight packages filled with inert gas of a few kilos per package, and stored in food stores throughout the country. In addition multivitamin tablets have to be provided.

Food
g/day
kg/person/10weeks
Wheat flour, wholemeal plain
150
10.5
Oats, raw
100
7.0
Oil, Canola
25
1.8
Milk powder, dry*
65
4.6
Lentils, dry
30
2.1
Peas, split, green/yellow, dry
40
2.8
Noodles, dry
50
3.5
Vegemite (yeast extract)
2
0.1
Fruit, mixed, dried
35
2.5
Almonds, raw
40
2.8
Multivitamin/mineral supplement
One tablet
One box

This example gives 9 MJ per day, with 80 g protein and 76 g fat, thereof 14 g saturated fat (6 % of the energy intake comes from saturated fat and 20% of the fat intake is saturated fat), 18 g polyunsaturated fat (26% of the fat is polyunsaturated fat) and 39 g monounsaturated fat (54% of the fat is monounsaturated fat). The daily cholesterol intake is 43 mg. Percent of energy from protein, fat and carbohydrate: 16 E% protein, 32 E% fat, 52 E% carbohydrates. Recommended intake of nutrients is covered for women and men, except for vitamin C and vitamin A, and these would have to be given as supplements and for women at childbearing age the intake of folate and iron is lower than recommended.

*In case of lactose intolerance, the intake of dry milk powder may be reduced and replaced by soy protein powder. Alternatively, the milk may be fermented and used in fermented, sour form.
In addition, about 2 litres of water per day per person would be required.

This diet costs about 250 $ for one person for 10 weeks. The most expensive items are: dry milk powder and noodles.

Additional items

Charcoal
Solor cooker
solar lights
batteries - all types
extra blankets
candies – chocolate
other items
Solar-powered Flashlight and Flashlight with extra batteries for each member of your family
Battery operated lanterns with extra batteries
Propane gas portable camping stove or grill (outside use only)
Waterproof Matches and lighter
Fire Extinguisher
Battery operated radio and/or Battery operated Television with extra batteries
Cellular telephone with solar re-charger
Gas operated portable electric generator (outside use only)
Properly “gauged” extension cord for use with your portable electric generator
Fuel for car, portable generator, or chain saw
5 gallon gas cans (at least 2)
Funnel for gas can
Battery operated fan
Hand operated can opener
30 day supply of prescription medications
Battery operated or wind-up Clock
First aid kit
Any special health care items for infants, elderly, or disabled family members
Cash
Plastic garbage bags with ties
Tools – nails, hammer, screw drivers, axe, crow bar, box cutter
Clean containers for storing drinking water (fill clean bathtubs with water for miscellaneous use; swimming pool water can be used for flushing toilets if there is no water pressure)
Bleach for sanitizing water
Water purifier
Paper plates, napkins or paper towels, plastic cups and utensils
12 volt refrigerator and ice chest
12 volt power converter
Food for pets
Rope or heavy cord
Work Gloves
Weather protection TARP covers
Duct tape
Protective shoes and clothing
Waterproof container for important documents
Homeowner’s insurance company contact information and other important documents
Camera

2009-12-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

Posted with permission from a very wise friend of mine, Doc Fung

THE SOUL SURVIVOR A PREPPER’S HOME COMPANION

bydocfung

the-soul-survivor-a-prepper-s-home-companion-t2536.html

FORWARD with words from Old Archer

I fear that with what is coming, the confluence of tyranny, economic chaos, and probable pandemics, the vast majority of people will not be able to adequately prepare to survive... THAT is the result of the tyranny that besets us, and it is not relegated solely to the works of the last four presidents... We've allowed our greed, our sloth, without attention to our responsibilities, to dictate our futures... We either hold those in our trust to be worthy, as in elected officials, or we suffer the consequences... It will be our GRANDCHILDREN, AND THEIRS, who may still be under the thrall of slavery, if there is not a redress of grievances, and soon... Freedoms and liberties won with the precious currency of life and blood, once lost, are exceedingly difficult, and more expensive, to regain...old archer…..

Societal Collapse

First off, we all should be aware that…if society collapses, and a support network of one kind or another, isn’t in place, the chances are you won’t survive. I’m not talking about internet friends here, I’m talking about meat world friends. Like minded friends and neighbors are probably one of the most important aspects of prepping. What then is a soul survivor?All preppers must remember this axiom….if your spiritual preps are not in order, then your survival will be an oxymoron. A strong mind, and a strong faith, are the lynch pins for a really prepared prepper. Remember, also, Old Archer’s admonition concerning the loss of freedoms and the wasting of the currency of life. Do not take his warnings lightly. Taking away our physical and spiritual means of survival will serious erode the fortress that is our prep mindset.Once gone, assets will be hard to regain. The purpose of this essay is not necessarily for survival retreat hints and tips…….the purpose of this essay is basically a challenge to the prepper as to where they are in a spiritually, mentally, and physically continuum…, if, god forbid, the ultimate challenge of a societal meltdown happens.

In SHTF scenarios, you must ask yourself if you will be able to stand the stress of everyday living. Will you have the spiritual wherewithal to stand the stresses of everyday living. Furthermore, if you do end up alone, will you be able to fend off the loneliness within the chaotic environment that many see if society melts down.

Going Gray and mentally.

Most likely the first layer of any perimeter defense during a societal breakdown would be becoming invisible. Even if your retreat is totally secluded, competent personal will be able to find you by your tracks, or other signs that signify that a person is living nearby. Therefore, walk softly, and by all means don’t leave tracks. Being invisible is not simple…it takes lots of thought. Anything that would indicate that civilization is near should be removed….Situational awareness is always a constant problem…..Keeping a low profile of course is essential. The mental aspects of going gray are a bit more complicated, for here, the gray prepper must learn to keep a low profile, most likely get off the net, and know who his/her real friends are at any given moment in time.

The Scenario the Nitty Gritty

First, rather than be the defender of the retreat, put your self in the shoes of a person who has survived…most likely in a city…and yet has no supplies. What will their mindset be? There’s nothing left within the boundaries of the cities, and the only folks with supplies live in rural areas….what to do?

Your defense, should be, designed in such a way that it is invisible to the prying eyes of possible intruders. Now here are some basic facts that need to be discussed. First off, those that haven’t prepped, but who have survived the first round of the collapse most likely won’t be stupid. They may be as cunning and as devious as you’ve been in preparing your defensive position…..They may have prepared an offensive position to counter your defenses.

If you are expecting throngs of zombies walking mindlessly outside your retreat, moving slowly and methodically toward your front door, waiting for the inevitable head shot that will terminate them permanently, you’ll be sadly mistaken. Expect the unexpected……remember, if a person is hungry or desperate enough, the threat of being terminated most likely won’t deter them. That’s why you have to be ready…fully prepped….and your retreat must be laid out in such a way that it is defendable. A heavily defensible retreat will not be the first place that the multitudes will attack….most likely, they’ll go after the easiest targets available.

WORST CASE SCENARIO IF ALONE

Ask yourself what are the odds of survival under a 100% worst case scenario. I would say, under such conditions the odds for survival would most likely be 50-60 % at the highest. You and your group have to know that, and prepare accordingly. The true survivalist must first of all take stock of his/her weaknesses and strengths. Be able to make up for those vulnerabilities in some way….each case will be different. Lastly ask yourselves the questions that need to be answered, for instance, how one would react under duress, and in the face of varied threats and scenarios.

This essay is not a ‘how to defend your retreat’ manual. Instead, it is intended for those readers who may consider themselves preppers, yet still don’t have a clue as to how they would react for wide spread chaos did occur.….

RULES TO LIVE BY

Take nobody for granted….ever…..TRUST IS EARNED

Never underestimate a threat just because it MAY seem harmless…..

Know the lay of the land…and be able to defend it.
A multi- faceted defense is better than having just one layer
Never assume anything….never..ever assume.
Know the mindset of your enemy…otherwise, you’ll be at a disadvantage.
Know your own mindset, and know how you’ll react in a panic situation.
Be stealthy….Know your weaknesses
Know your enemies strengths and weakness and use them to your advantage.
Above all, know yourself inside and out…AND beware of the overly friendly smiling faces.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GXSHRJYxTQ

Fictional version

This version comes from Kenneth Roberts' novel, Northwest Passage, in which an uneducated but veteran Ranger explains Roger's rules to the narrator, a former artist who joined Rogers:

1. Have your musket clean as a whistle, hatchet scoured, sixty rounds powder and ball, and be ready to march at a minute's warning.

2. When you're on the march, act the way you would if you was sneaking up on a deer. See the enemy first.

3. Tell the truth about what you see and what you do. There is an army depending on us for correct information. You can lie all you please when you tell other folks about the Rangers, but don't never lie to a Ranger or officer.

4. Don't never take a chance you don't have to.

5. When we're on the march we march single file, far enough apart so one shot can't go through two men.

6. If we strike swamps, or soft ground, we spread out abreast, so it's hard to track us.

7. When we march, we keep moving till dark, so as to give the enemy the least possible chance at us.

8. When we camp, half the party stays awake while the other half sleeps.

9. If we take prisoners, we keep 'em separate till we have had time to examine them, so they can't cook up a story between 'em.

10. Don't ever march home the same way. Take a different route so you won't be ambushed.

11. No matter whether we travel in big parties or little ones, each party has to keep a scout 20 yards ahead, 20 yards on each flank, and 20 yards in the rear so the main body can't be surprised and wiped out.

12. Every night you'll be told where to meet if surrounded by a superior force.

13. Don't sit down to eat without posting sentries.

14. Don't sleep beyond dawn. Dawn's when the French and Indians attack.

15. Don't cross a river by a regular ford.

16. If somebody's trailing you, make a circle, come back onto your own tracks, and ambush the folks that aim to ambush you.

17. Don't stand up when the enemy's coming against you. Kneel down, lie down, hide behind a tree.

18. Let the enemy come till he's almost close enough to touch, then let him have it and jump out and finish him up with your hatchet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rog ... Ranging%22

docfung over and out

Missouri Seeking Protection from Federal Health Care Mandates

2009-12-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Add Missouri to 25 States Seeking Protection from Federal Health Care Mandates

Written by Right Side News

Monday, 07 December 2009 20:09

Representative Jones & Senator Cunningham to Hold Press Conference Regarding Filing of the Missouri Health Care Freedom Act

Proposed Measure Would Add Missouri to 25+ States Seeking to Protect their Citizens from Federal Health Care Mandates & to Protect their Right to Choose Their Own Health Care

JEFFERSON CITY-Representative Timothy Jones, R-Eureka, is announcing that he will join Senator Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, on WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2009 AT 10:00am AT CHESTERFIELD CITY HALL (located at 690 Chesterfield Parkway West, Chesterfield, Missouri) to discuss legislation they each will be pre-filing this month for consideration during the 2010 legislative session that is designed to protect the health care freedom currently enjoyed by all Missourians.

Representative Jones and Senator Cunningham will introduce legislation in the form of a proposed state constitutional amendment that is designed to protect Missourians from federal health care mandates and guarantee Missourians the right to continue to choose their own health care and insurance options. The proposed legislation would also protect small business owners from the fines that are part of the current federal health care "reform" package that will be assessed for declining to participate in government run health care mandates.

The legislation would add Missouri to a list of over two dozen states calling for legislation or state constitutional amendments to guard citizens against attempts to socialize health care through the "public option" health care mandate currently under consideration by Congress. Arizona already has such a measure on its 2010 ballot.

"If this measure is passed by the Legislature, Missouri voters would have an opportunity to decide if they want to send a message to Washington that participation in an insurance plan is a personal right and a freedom which should not be infringed upon," Representative Jones said.
All are invited and encouraged to attend the press conference. For more information or to contact Representative Jones on this or any legislative matter, you may reach him at 573-751-0562

Source:
http://www.rightsidenews.com/200912087677/politics-and-economics/add-missouri-to-25-states-seeking-protection-from-federal-health-care-mandates.html

I encourage everyone to contact their State Representatives and tell them to support this legislation.

Missouri government plots undercover sting operations against families selling raw milk

2009-12-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

Monday, December 07, 2009
by Mike Adams, the Health RangerEditor
of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) Imagine being watched by two undercover cops as you engage in an illicit deal in a deserted parking lot. The buyer hesitantly hands you some cash. You flash a look over your shoulder, just to make sure the coast is clear, then you hand over the contraband. Neither of you says a word. You just nod, acknowledging the deal is done, then you head back to your car and buckle up for the drive home.

But before you can even put the car into drive, a screeching formation of police cars, surrounds you, sirens wailing. Armed officers leap from their vehicles, guns drawn and sunglasses glaring. "Come out with your hands up!" they shout.

You slowly open the driver's door of your car and inch out of your seat with both hands raised in surrender, cowering behind the open door. "What did I do, officer? What's my crime?"Their answer comes back loud and intimidating: "SELLING RAW MILK!"

Springfield Missouri: Where farmers are branded criminals

The above description is a dramatization of real events that happened recently in Springfield, Missouri, where the state has decided to spend considerable taxpayer resources running a sting operating against a family that was caught dealing -- gulp! -- raw milk in a parking lot.

Yes, both the Missouri Dept. of Health and the state Attorney General (Chris Koster) have decided that prosecuting a farm family for illegally "trafficking" raw milk should be at the top of their list of priorities. The family being targeted by state officials is the Bechard family, of Armand and Teddi Bechard, and their children Joseph, Hananiah, Kazia and Katie.

The name of the cow offering the milk is reportedly "Misty."

As the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader paper reports, "Two undercover investigators with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department allegedly caught two of the couple's daughters on two occasions selling a gallon of milk each from a Springfield parking lot. Charges followed in municipal court.

"In case you're not yet sure what you're reading here, note carefully that these daughters were not caught selling crack, meth or crank. They weren't dealing second-hand pharmaceuticals to yuppie school kids. They weren't selling e.coli-contaminated hamburger meat, cancer-causing diet sodas (made with aspartame) or canned soups laced with MSG. They weren't even selling broiler chickens contaminated with salmonella -- just as you can find in every grocery store in America. Nope, they were selling raw milk. You know, the bovine mother's milk, unpasteurized, unprocessed, non-homogenized and wholly pure, natural and innocent. The stuff America was raised on. The stuff your parents fed you when you were a kid, if your family was lucky enough to have a cow.

In Missouri today, selling such a natural product is now apparently a criminal act. What's next? A ban on farm-fresh eggs because the Dept. of Health doesn't control their quality? The outlawing of raw broccoli because broccoli contains natural anti-cancer medicine?

Fortunately, the Bechard family is fighting back.

As reported by the News-Leader:"They will not sign a consent order to make the state's complaint go away and they're defending themselves against the city charges, too. They've gotten legal help from the The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization made up of farmers and consumers pooling resources to fight for the rights of family farmers trying to get unprocessed food to consumers who want it."

A view from the Missouri-born Health Ranger

I grew up in Raytown, Missouri, just a few miles from Springfield. I spent more than a few summers on a farm near St. Louis, where we would milk the cows, gather fresh eggs from the chickens, and fish for catfish in the pond. I'm not exactly a farm boy, but I'm familiar enough with living off the land to know the difference between real food and processed food (a distinction the Missouri Dept. of Health still hasn't gleaned...)

Welcome

2009-11-14T11:17:00.001-08:00

We, the management team of this new community of preparedness sites and the Preparing For The Future Forum Board, would like to welcome everyone to our new home for the sharing of preparedness information and friendly support to help you get better prepared for the things that lie ahead due to the state of of the world we live in today. If you are reading this it means this state site has no contributors at this time. As we believe everyone who is preparing has knowledge to share, we invite you to become a contributor to your state site and help to build this community in to the best tool for the new people coming to our preparedness community. If you would like to join us in this endeavor please go to the forum link in the link bar above and just about anyone on the forum can give you info or contact WVSanta or nitewalker. Thanks and have a nice day, Gary.

“Emergency Communication....What Works???”

2009-11-07T02:36:00.003-08:00

“Emergency Communication....What Works???”

Original posting at Canadian Preppers Network

Edited and re-posted at American Preppers Radio Net

How people communicate with one another when land line phones, cell phones and the internet are at best unreliable or nonexistent, is one thing that seems to get very little attention and is wide open to speculation.
A small group trying to survive hard times (which, depending from your viewpoint seems inevitable) will need to have a plan to communicate with each other. Aside from carrier pigeons, or smoke signals, there are modern options to consider and prep for. Three most readily available are GMRS or FRS radios, CB radios, and Ham radio.

GMRS/FRS: These radios are good for short distances with little terrain interference. Used as pagers/communicators inside a building or a camp, GMRS/FRS radios offer low-cost & convenience. Small and easy to carry, GMRS/FRS radio family biggest drawback is their range. While fine as a group communications tool, they lack the ability of medium or long rage communications.

CB radios: Around for several years as an offshoot of Ham Radio,CB does not require a license and, unlike amateur radio, it may be used for business as well as personal communications. Enjoying a boom in the mid-seventies and are readily available today, CB radios are still the main short range communications choice for Truckers.
You can find CB’s fairly cheaply at yard sales and flea markets. Mandated by regulation as a low power device, the range on these radios is much greater when combined with a signal amplifier, or “Linear” Amp. It is not advocated using a linear amp, however for the most part, enforcement of the restrictions are few and often only when an illegal stations signal interferes with other communication methods. Long distance communication is possible when atmospheric conditions permit.
CB radios come in many different forms, ranging from legal 40 channel/4 watt models, to a grey-area type of “export radio”, that skirts legality by being built for ham radio use, but are easily modified for the CB band. Operating within the 10-12 Meter HF Band, CB radios need a longer antenna than UHF/VHF GMRS/FRS radios. The unregulated “outlaw” nature of CB radio often fills the airways with raucous and foul language. At times, it’s best to keep small children out of the radio shack when the CB is on.

Ham or Amateur Radio: Offers the farthest operating range, and broadest array of communication modes, from voice communication, to text, photo, video, and digital telemetry. Requiring a license to operate, ham radio is well organized and self regulated.
Ham radio is fairly cheap to get started in as there are many used radio bargains around. New ham radios cost run from hundreds, to several thousands of dollars, but with frugal shopping, one can set up a rather nice base station and talk all around the world.
Some of the best ham antennas are homemade, simple to conceal, wire antennas strung between trees. This type set up is very portable if need be, and can be setup almost anyplace. Mobile ham rigs are available that can talk all over the world... A typical ham might check into a long distance radio net during a morning commute, rag chew with regular’s everyday from Florida to Canada and make contacts from east coast to west coast hams with ease.

Choosing a way to communicate outside normal everyday methods, can be a daunting task. So much of it depends on your needs, but how you apply your limited resources, and for what return is inconsequential as long as your ability to get your message heard at a critical time can be assured. For further help in weighing options and to learn more about what choices are available, these websites can be of some help.

Links that you may like

CB/Ham and Other

Ham Radio In US

Ham Radio In US

Ham Radio In US

Ham radio in Canada

Ham radio in Canada
(C) 2009 W4DMH.com