Quote of the Day

I unloaded on him in words to this effect:

"Look, your right to self-defense, your right to arms, is natural and God-given. The most that any scrap of paper can do is codify that fact. The Second Amendment doesn't "guarantee" anything. The Supreme Court doesn't "guarantee" anything. Do you know what does?"

"God?" he offered.

"No, not God. The rights come from God but they're not guaranteed by Him."

I snatched a rifle off the display rack in the middle of the shop and held it at port arms.

"This. This, and millions like it in the hands of citizens willing to use them to defend their liberty and property against free-lance criminals or tyrannical governments. It is those millions of rifles and the will to use them that secures our liberties in this country. First comes the military fact of the firearms in the hands of citizens, then follows the legal niceties of the liberty recognized after the fact by politicians. Without the one, tyrants don't respect the other. Remember that."

And without another word, I replaced the rifle in the rack, picked up my cane and gimped out of the store.

Mike Vanderboegh, fellow Dutchman, at Sipsey Street Irregulars

Good News from the Supremes

I haven't read the actual decision yet, but Newsmax is reporting that the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that the Second Amendment applies equally to the federal government and to the states. I expect the usual legal bullshit allowing exceptions for certain safety and public interest issues, and as expected Justice Sotomayor is anti-Second Amendment, but overall this is good news. The Second Amendment is the last Constitutional Amendment to be recognized as applicable to the states through the 14th Amendment.

The breaking news story is here at Newsmax.

Prep Like It's 1973

Not too long ago I wrote a post about how war (a real war, not a "police action" like Iraq and Afghanistan) is imminent. The reasons keep growing as to why I believe this is going to happen by August at the latest. See this article, this article, this article, and this article. Note that three of these article are from DebkaFiles. I visit the Debka site about every day to see what is going on in the middle east. I recommend that all preppers add this site to their regular reading. Northeast Intelligence Network is another good site to follow regarding threats to the U.S.

If war does break out in the middle east, expect oil prices to go through the roof. Remember what happened to oil prices and supply in 1973 Israel was at war and we suffered through an oil embargo from the middle east because we supported Israel. While circumstances in 2010 are not likely to be the same, the effect on price and supply could be quite similar. Now would be the time to make sure that all available gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and propane containers/tanks are full. Of course, all of us should have some supply of fuel already treated and stashed away, right?

I think that the effect of a middle east war on oil prices will be the least of our worries. Look for higher prices on food and other necessities, if not outright shortages and government enforced rationing. Civil unrest, martial law, suspended elections, suspension of the Constitution, the whole shebang. My own source confirms that the federal government has plans for all of these in the works and has been conducting joint planning and exercises with state and county level law enforcement.

I believe that now is the time to put the preps in high gear. Food and fuel are both relatively cheap right now. Take advantage of it.

Retarded Like a Fox

I have given some additional thought to Retarded Politician of the Week, Secretary of Labor Hilda L(ibtard) Solis. While I recogize that her announcement of help to illegal alien workers for "fair pay" is just another chapter of the Obamination's plans to sell out U.S. citizens to any special interest group likely to vote for the Progressive/Marxist Obamagenda, there may be a silver lining to Ms. Solis' promise of help to those who cannot be legally employed in the U.S.

U.S. companies who employ illegal aliens are a major encouragement of the continued flow of illegal aliens into the U.S. These companies try to boost profits by paying lower wages to, and often no payroll taxes on, illegal alien workers. The hiring of illegal aliens displaces American workers. It also depresses wages as Americans are forced to compete in the workplace against the illegal aliens who will work for lower wages and off-the-books wages.

If the Department of Labor forces U.S. companies to give "fair pay" to illegal alien workers and to pay the taxes associated with their employment, U.S. companies may very well abandon illegal alien workers. Besides the potential liability to companies for unpaid payroll taxes, penalties, and interest, laws in many states provide for double or triple damages against an employer for failure to pay earned wages and/or the minimum wage along with attorney fees and costs. With the Department of Labor now showing a willingness to pursue the enforcement of wage laws, U.S. companies have a substantial incentive to comply. This would greatly reduce any benefits to hiring low-wage illegal aliens and make hiring American citizens more attractive.

With a step up in wage law enforcement, jobs for illegal aliens could dry up quite rapidly. With fewer prospects for employment, many illegal aliens would likely leave the U.S., and fewer would come into the country. The law of unintended consequences may strike yet again.

Retarded Politician of the Week

It's been a while since I have posted a Retarded Politician of the Week. Not that there has been a shortage of candidates. To the contrary, I am overwhelmed by the number of worthy contenders. So much so that I have not been able to make up my mind. That is, until today.

U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L(ibtard). Solis is by far the most mentally deficient politician I have heard about this week. Ms. Solis has promised that the Department of Labor will help illegal aliens to receive "fair pay" for their work in the U.S. Illegal aliens who under U.S. law cannot be legally employed in the U.S. How freaking retarded is that? Does Solis represent Americans or did she prematurely act on behalf of the North American Union? Will illegal workers be paid in Ameros? Is Kommissar Solis legally in the U.S.?

Watch the video, but make sure you have your barf bag handy.

Legal Survival No. 1

If I wore a hat, I would have to tip it to all those lawyer-hating bloggers out there who mention lawyers every time they rant on what is wrong with America. Although I disagree, I understand the sentiment. Lawyers are the obvious and most visible manifestation of our litigious society. Easier to pick on a guy in a nice suit and perfect hair than the poor, helpless client who smoked four packs a day in- between devouring four fried chickens while watching Oprah and Dr. Phil.

As penance for all the wrongs I have perpetrated on society, I thought I should write a series of posts on common-sense legal topics for preppers, libertarians, and anti-government types. Nothing that I write is intended to be taken as specific legal advice to any person, place, or thing. Your results will likely vary.

This is the first installment.

KEEP YOUR FREAKING MOUTH SHUT.

This is probably the best advice that any lawyer will ever give any client. Not only do loose lips sink ships, but they also provide new "girlfriends" to large, tattooed men who reside in state-run communal facilities, otherwise known as prisons. A large percentage of crimes are not solved by a bunch of technicians running around in lab coats, but by informants, snitches, friends, and relatives.

I know, I know: You're not a criminal, so why worry? In this day and age, just about everything seems to be illegal or on the way to becoming illegal. You may not be a criminal now, but you may be sometime in the future. Just remember that semi-automatic rifles were once legal in California. Then they became illegal except for grandfathered and registered rifles. Then the grandfathered rifles became illegal and had to be surrendered or shipped out of California. What if you and your buddy held on to your previously legal rifles because you believe California's law is void under the Second Amendment? What if your buddy's wife rats him out during a nasty divorce, or rats you out because you took his side?

Being preppers, we recognize that the future is uncertain. This applies to changes in the law and our relationship with the government just as much as it does to oil spills, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, etc. Those things we do that make us independent, prepared, and that separate us from the sheeple at large are things that could subject us to scrutiny from government entities and possibly laws targeted at us. We are already familiar with gun grabbing politicians, BATFE, and anti-gun police. Depending upon what happens in the future, we may have to deal with food rationing, fuel rationing, water rationing, travel restrictions, property use restrictions, and other governmental limitations on liberty. The things we preppers do differently from the public at large, such as food storage, water storage, fuel stocking, gun collecting, and other preparations, we should each keep to ourselves. I know that this is commonly referred to as OPSEC, and it applies to interactions with governmental entities as well.

It is a good idea to keep in mind that part of the Miranda warning that states, "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." When dealing with any government agent, from the police to the building inspector to the Department of Motor Vehicles clerk, keep this warning in mind. Never say anything more than is required to deal with the business at hand. Be polite, answer relevant questions as succinctly as possible, and do not volunteer any additional information.

Again, I am not assuming that anyone out there is a criminal or is contemplating committing crimes. A practical example of what I am referring to: If you have a bunker underneath your garage or have a well on your property unknown to the local code authorities, I don't think that you are a criminal for exercising your property rights, but the authorities may put a serious crimp in your preparations or keep you from using your property improvements when you need them most. Pre-SHTF the authorities could demolish your bunker and cap your well. Post-SHTF the authorities could seize the supplies in your bunker and/or commandeer your property to use your bunker and your well. If nobody knows, the risk of code enforcement showing up is lessened and the chances of maintaining your resources post-SHTF are increased.

Prior to TEOTWAWKI, loose lips about prepping activities can also have far more serious consequences than a visit from code enforcement. That offhand statement about your shelter or bunker can cause a sheeple neighbor to become alarmed. The neighborhood gossip mill then turns you into some heavily armed hardcore survivalist. Next thing you know, that minor dispute with the neighbor whose dog craps on your lawn escalates to you getting served with an anti-harassment restraining order alleging that you own a bunker full of dangerous weapons and instill fear in your neighbors. Worse yet, black pajama-clad police show up en masse at your front door to serve the restraining order, because it is alleged that you own dangerous weapons. Even worse, the whole process is a public record available to anyone at the courthouse.

Can it get any worse? Yes, it can. Once allegations start flying in legal proceedings and the police have been involved, you may be "on the radar" with law enforcement. When you get pulled over for speeding, you may get asked about weapons and if you will consent to a safety search of your vehicle and person. I once had a client who was surrounded by police cars every time he was pulled over for a minor driving violation. His reputation, via his mouth, preceded him. As soon as police saw him, he was pulled over and at least two more cruisers arrived for backup.

Even if you are legally entirely in the right, how much time and money does it take to deal with the government over an alleged law violation or to comply with a governmental investigation? Does anyone like to fork over a wad of hard earned cash to lawyers? Would it not be simpler to avoid attention from the authorities in the first place? That is my point. Add "Keep Information to Myself" to your list of prep items. If you avoid coming to the attention of the authorities prior to SHTF, your money can be spent on preps rather than lawyers. And you are more likely to be able to enjoy the fruits of your prepping once SHTF, rather than cooling your heels in the 6'x8'.

PIGSHI*

Another European country, Hungary, is on the verge of collapse.

If only Turkey had been allowed to join the European Union. Now we will have to find a European country on the verge of collapse whose name begins with "T".

PIGSHIT: Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, ???

The collapse continues. Got preps?

War Is Imminent

Can't say it much plainer than that. My G-Man friend puts the timing at sometime in July, no later than August. I have to go meet up with him in person because he won't give me details otherwise. Anyone who reads the news knows that this is coming, the unknown is from what direction. That appears to have been settled.

The civilized-world motive for war is abundantly clear. A distraction is needed for the failing economy and failed leadership. In the U.S., that means that Obama is now widely known as a failure. He has been looking over BP's shoulder while they try to shut off the spill in the Gulf, much like six-year-old Johnny watches his dad replace a water pump on the old Chevy. Neither Johnny nor Obama has a clue to what is going on, but both feel free to irritate their superiors with ignorant commentary.

Obama has created few, if any, jobs outside of government and census work. Any liberty loving person with a brain knows it is not the government's job to create jobs, but since Obama has claimed it as his responsibility, he can own the failure, too. The stock markets are tanking, the banks own more homes than individual Americans, millions of homes are in foreclosure, commercial real estate is collapsing, high unemployment continues unabated, forty million Americans are on food stamps, tax revenue is down, state and local governments face record deficits and are near bankruptcy, bankruptcy filings are 1.4 million and increasing, new taxes are being added every time you turn around, and we have yet to add on the costs for Obamacare which does not even start for a couple of years.

Did I mention a $1,600,000,000,000.00 deficit for 2010, a current national debt of $13,000,000,000,000.00, and that it soon, very soon, will reach 100% of Gross Domestic Product (Whatever happened to Gross National Product, anyway?)? That the government has spent trillions of dollars on stimulus plans, which turned out to mainly be porkulus for the big banks and other special interests, little of which reached the average American, and which had little effect on the still-moribund economy? That we are guaranteeing part of the 750,000,000.00 Euro ($930,000,000,000.00) European bailout package and that we have guaranteed the ability of European banks to swap their currencies into dollars (at our loss) in order to be able to pay their debts in a "stable" currency?

Enough on the economy. Times are tough, Obama is weak, and the Democrats need a way out of the mess they may not have created, but have fumbled, bumbled, and worsened. The sure-fire way out of a bad economy and the embarrassment of nation-cripplingly weak foreign policy is to get into a war.

Currently, Obama has his pick of several hotspots on which to fan the flames. There is North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Taiwan/China, several African civil wars, and that perennial time-bomb of the Israel/"Arabs in Palestine" issue. Obama the internationalist apologist for American might (in order to prove his allegiance to the Ummah and whatever other anti-American ideals he has grown up with), will not start the fight. After so much bowing, kowtowing, and apologizing to all of America's enemies, Obama will not cede what he believes to be his moral high ground. He is The One, you know.

The war will be in the Middle East. Israel will be attacked by Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Egypt, and Turkey. Prior to this year, all of the former were predictable, even Egypt. Egypt will abandon its peace treaty with Israel to join its Muslim brothers. The new significant actor bringing this to war is Turkey, which has an Islamist party in power and at the head of government in the form of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. Turkey's Islamists have purged its military of officers who could stop the de-secularization of Turkey, have increased ties with Syria and Iran, and have chosen to jeopardize its ties to the West and to NATO. Turkey has now turned on its former friend, Israel, and joined the Arabs in the Palestine cause (the so-called "palestinians" are Arabs), and is getting very aggressive with Israel out of proportion to Israel's response to the increasing terrorist provocations originating from Turkey under Prime Minister Erdogan. Yes, Turkey's Prime Minister is sponsoring terrorism against Israel, then is threatening Israel for defending itself from the terrorism.

The provocations and threats from Turkey keep increasing. Israel continues to maintain its defenses, for which it should receive encouragement from the U.S. Obama, however, continues to fiddle while Turkey's Erdogan continues to strike matches and throw them at Gaza. Erdogan is reading this, perhaps correctly, as a sign that Obama will throw Israel under the bus just as he did his own grandmother and Reverend Wright when it suited him. I believe that Turkey will lead off in attacking Israel, to be followed in rapid succession by Hezbollah/Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Hamas, Egypt, and perhaps Libya and any other crackpot Muslim dictatorships. Support will come from Pakistan, Iraq, Jordan, Afghanistan, otherStans, and left-wing lunatics in Europe and the U.S. Israel's enemies certainly have the support of Obama's foreign policy predecessor/muse, James Earl Carter, Jr.

I don't think that this would happen this year except for the new involvment of Turkey. Whatever Turkey's motive, from its newfound Islamic solidarity to resurrection of the barbaric Ottoman Empire, it has established itself as the lead hyena opposing Israel. This radically changes the dynamic for Europe and the U.S. for war in the Middle East. Previously, Europe and the U.S. would have no conflict in providing aid to Israel, as Harry Truman did in the late 1940's and Richard Nixon did in 1973, if Israel were to be attacked by its foes.

Now we have NATO member Turkey threatening Israel and unresponsive to pleadings from Obama to calm down. Prime Minister Erdogan appears to be testing the waters with his sponsorship of Turkish terrorists against Israel, sponsorship of vessels to challenge Israel's justified blockade of Gaza, severing ties with Israel, and increasing threats against Israel. Erdogan wants to see where Obama stands when it is a contest between America's old friend Israel and NATO-alliance member Turkey.

Will Obama come to the defense of Israel? Will Obama reveal our commitments to defend Israel? Will he even condemn Turkey's actions? What will Obama do about America's commitments to NATO members when one member, Turkey, is clearly the malevolent aggressor against Israel? Will Obama help NATO member Turkey? These questions, and many more, apply to the European democracies as well.

Turkey can already count on the European powers to stay out of the conflict. Most of the European countries are useless militarily and will not fulfill obligations under NATO without strong urging from the U.S. That means that NATO members in Europe will probably not get involved either for or against Turkey without Obama taking a leadership role. Europe will make commercial sales of anything Turkey wants, as Europeans have a long history of making profits out of selling arms to their enemies. As far as militarily, Europe will not get involved under NATO because the spineless Obama will not demand it.

That leaves Turkey to worry about the Americans. Erdogan has noted that Obama and his administration are hostile to Israel and do not hold the so-called palestinians accountable for their violence. Erdogan has also noticed that Obama is decidedly friendly to Islamic interests out of proportion to, and often in opposition to, the American national interest. What Erdogan has to consider is whether Obama represents the political winds in America, or if he is an aberration which will disappear in the face of American support for Israel. The former would support war with Israel, the latter would not.

Turkey's increasingly hostile actions towards Israel indicates that Prime Minister Ergogan has made his call. I believe that Erdogan has chosen war. I also believe that Obama will initially do nothing but bow and talk, but that one way or another we will end up involved in this war. I don't know whether this will be a global conflagration, but it sure has the potential for it.

Time to prep, prep, and prep some more. Although I have high hopes for paring back the Democrats in November, that may be too late. Unless Turkey backs off from its agression towards Israel, war is imminent.


P.S. If I seem to be pro-Israel, that would be a correct reading. I believe Israel has the right to exist and to defend itself. No country should have to endure the assaults and terrorism that Israel endures on a daily basis. The idea that Israel has so-called palestinians under siege is ridiculous. If the so-called palestinians want peace, they should renounce violence, recognize Israel, and put word to deed by actually living in peace with Israel.

Thumbs Up for Sta-Bil Gas Preservative

Back in 2001 I bought a gas-powered generator for emergency use. Aside from testing it out back then and starting it up a couple of times since then, it has sat in the garage. Over time it had become sort of a table on which I stacked various items that I was too lazy to put away.

I did want the generator ready for use, so sometime in 2003 I filled it up with five gallons of gas treated with Sta-Bil according to the directions on the bottle. I then started the generator and ran it for a few minutes before turning off the fuelcock and letting the engine starve to a stop. I think I have done the start-up, starve-off routine a couple of times since then. Like I said, I've been a bit lazy and have not run the generator on a regular basis.

Since 2003 I have tapped into the tank when I needed gas for the lawn mower and did not want to go to the gas station. I would just disconnect the fuel line and drain half a gallon into a gas can. No problems running the lawn mower off the preserved gas. I think the last time I took gas out for the mower was about three years ago. Since then I have stacked too many things on and around the generator to easily get to the fuel line.

Last weekend a friend called and wanted to borrow my generator. He was going camping with his travel trailer and wanted to be able to run his coffee maker and air conditioning. I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about agreeing, only because I was afraid the generator might not start after sitting for so long with gas from 2003. I was thinking that I would have to empty the tank and put in fresh gas just to see if it would run.

After digging out the generator and pulling it outside the garage, I dusted it off, checked the oil, then removed the gas cap and smelled the gas. Didn't smell "gas pump" fresh, but didn't have a varnishy smell, either. I put the cap back on, turned the fuelcock on, and set the choke. Two pulls was all it took to start the generator. Turned the choke off and the engine ran as smoothly as the day I brought it home. After checking for power output I shut it down and helped my friend load the generator into his truck a few minutes later.

After my friend returned from his camping trip I asked him how the generator ran. He said that he had run it under the load of the coffee maker, air conditioning unit, and a hair dryer using the old gas that I had in the tank, and that it had run steady without any hint that it was struggling under load.

Although Sta-Bil's label says that it preserves gas for up to two years, it appears that it is effective for far longer. I obtained satisfactory results after seven years of storage under conditions ranging from twenty degrees below zero in the winter to over a hundred degrees in the summer. I had been planning on buying Pri-G for preserving gasoline, but had always hesitated because of the high cost. Based upon my experience using Sta-Bil I am convinced that it is more than adequate for my gasoline storage needs over the long term, is readily available, and is quite affordable.