Random Thoughts

I haven't posted in a few weeks, but not for lack of material.  Seems that every day there is more to comment on.  The difficult part is figuring out what to make of it all.  Some thoughts that I have had in the past few weeks but have not reduced to a post:

Weird News:  Does your steak taste like crap?  There might be more to it than you think.  A Japanese scientist has figured out how to make meat out of human waste.  Call it Soylent Brown.  Story here.

Gun Gear:  About two years ago I bought a used Marlin Papoose takedown .22 rifle.  I already own one and discovered that the 3 1/2 pound rifle is the only one that my daughter feels confident shooting.  So I bought one that we can call "hers".  Unfortunately, and as is all too common with used takedown rifles, it did not have its factory storage case.  I bought a paintball case to make do, but I have been searching for an original case for a while.  I found a seller on Ebay who has a bunch of these for sale.  Anyone who needs a factory red Papoose case better get one while they are available.  Only $14.99 plus $4.95 shipping.  Link.

I found a source of Mec-Gar magazines that I use for my Smith & Wesson nines and my Kel-Tec Sub2000 rifle.  $19.99 each, free shipping on orders of $59.00 or more, and a $5.00 discount for new members.  I especially like that New Innovations Shooting Supply is just over the border in Rathdrum, Idaho.   I have already ordered from them and I am impressed with their fast service and good communications.  Try them.

Kel-Tec Customer Service update.  Update to this post.  I wrote to Kel-Tec about failing to receive the magazine catch I requested, and even sent a check to pay for what I needed.  I also sent copies of my emails to and from Kel-Tec.  This was in late May.  About a week and a half later I received an envelope from Kel-Tec containing two magazine catches, my uncashed check, and a note apologizing for the mistake.  OK, I can forgive the initially poor service, but I would caution anyone who needs parts from Kel-Tec to expect somewhat of a delay in getting what is needed. 

Weinergate.  I found Representative Anthony Weiner's fall from grace to be amusing, and little else.  Especially if you consider that Mr. Weiner claimed, in a telephone call to the Minority Leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi, D-Commiefornia, that 56% of his constituents wanted him to stay in the House after revelations of extramarital sexting and lewd photos.  I don't pity Anthony Weiner; I pity the residents of his district, at least I do 56% of them, for being dumber than a box of rocks.  Add to this the number of left-wing nitwits who thought that Weiner should not resign, and you have quite the pitiful bunch.  To my way of thinking, supporters of Weiner must be engaging in behavior just short of idolatry to think that the clown is somehow necessary for New York to be represented and for the nation to do its business.  Assuming a population of 300,000,000 people in this country and 435 representatives, each representative has about 700,000 constituents.  Let's assume that only one-half of those people are of age to serve, and that only ten percent of those would have the brains to do a fair job of representation.  That leaves 35,000 who could represent the district.  Why then the hoopla over Anthony Weiner?   I am convinced that Weinergate has more to do with Weiner's political cult of personality than it does with representation of the folks in that New York district.  I cannot otherwise explain why political turds such as Weiner, Charlie Rangel, Barney Frank, Alcee Hastings, and David Vitter remain in office.  There are other qualified candidates, and it is only a weak-minded and weak-willed electorate that prevents honorable persons from replacing the turds. 

Prepping Goes Mainstream.  I don't know if it is the result of a local distributor with a good sales pitch or a sign of prepping going mainstream, but I have notice that long term food storage has been appearing in more stores in the Inland Northwest.  The Auguson Farms brand of long term storage foods in number 10 cans is being sold in Rosauer's supermarket, Super One Foods, and at local WalMart stores.  The prices have been pretty reasonable, too.  I don't know how long this will last, but any preppers in the Spokane area should check this out, in case it these stores have no long-term plans to carry these products.

The Clash Between Civilization and Islam.  Notice that I did not write, "clash of civilizations".  It is clear to me that civilized Western countries are being infiltrated by Islam.  The media and political elite will not acknowledge it, but Western civilization is at great risk.  We have lost significant freedoms to the "War on Terror" which is really the war against Islam.  The Patriot Act and other assaults upon our liberty are not in reaction to some amorphous terror threat, they are a reaction to Islam's war against the West.  The refusal to acknowledge this and the kowtowing to Islam are getting so bad that evangelical minister Jack Van Impe has cut off his relationship with the Trinity Broadcasting Network over what Van Impe calls "Chrislam", the accommodation of Islam in Christianity.  See the story here. 
Unless you want to wake up one day wondering why you have your ass in the air and your head pointed towards Saudi Arabia, it is high time to start questioning what is going on with Islam in America.  Don't wait until your wife must be covered head-to-toe and the authorities allow your daughter to be repeatedly raped because there were not four male witnesses to the act.  Daily must reads regarding Islam are Jihad Watch, Atlas Shrugs, and Bare Naked Islam.  I particularly like Bare Naked Islam for its gutsy, in-your-face reporting.  For a compendium of Islam's murderous atrocities around the globe, read The Religion of Peace.  All of these appear on my sidebar.

The Economy.  There are so many predictions out there about where we are headed that it is nearly impossible to figure out when things are going to tank.  That things are going to tank seems to be a point of agreement among the non-delusional.  It's just the when and how that are baffling.  My own thoughts seem to change each week.  Will it be a European collapse first?  Will the Chinese quit buying our debt?  Will the problems with Japan's post-earthquake economy affect ours?  Will The One start a conflagration with his Middle East policies (or lack thereof)?  Will the price of oil rise and doom the economy?  I don't know.  What I am preparing for is the possibility of a lot of out-of-work, homeless, and hungry people struggling for survival in a hyperinflationary economic collapse with government assistance consisting of a free ride to a FEMA camp. 

What I do know is that true unemployment is about 20%, utilization of government handouts is at an all-time high, people who previously made over $30,000 a year are gladly taking work at $8.67 an hour, people are scared, and more and more people are openly talking about the possibility of an imminent economic collapse.  That the price of gold is consistently staying above $1,500 and ounce and silver is above $35 is a sign (to me) that there is little faith in the government, the dollar, and the economy as a whole.  When those three collapse, the only real money is portable commodities.  Have some, whether gold or silver, or even better extra food that can be used in the next couple of years.

Although the government continues to extend and pretend, including the now-surfacing idea that Republicans may allow a "temporary" raise in the national debt ceiling, and the left-wing mainstream media continues to prostitute itself for The One, I think that the current period is just the calm before the storm.  There are plenty of signs, despite what the media and the government say, that things are not getting better and are not-so-slowly but surely deteriorating.  We should all be adding to our preps while food and supplies are still relatively cheap.  I've got a feeling that this relative "cheapness" of food and goods is not going to last too much longer.

Well, that's it for now....

Random Thoughts

Inflation:  It's definitely here as far as food prices go.  Two items I recently purchased have radically increased in price were four-packs of pudding and sugar.  Those pudding packs were $0.99 within recent memory, now they are $1.49 for the store brand.  And sugar was recently about $2.99 for a five pound bag of name brand.  Now it is $3.09 for a four pound bag.  That's right, the standard size sugar bag is only 80% of what it was and it costs more.  If it weren't for my daughter wanting pudding now and me having two teaspoons of sugar in my coffee, I would do without both.

Deflation:  Some ammo prices are definitely getting more reasonable.  I was in the White Elephant (sporting goods and toy store in Spokane) the other day, and noticed that the 525 packs of .22 ammo, both Federal and CCI, were $14.99.  Blazer Brass 9mm was $10.99 and .45acp was $18.99.  Compares very favorably with what I have been seeing online.  I found a few very good deals on 9mm and .380acp online and had to stock up.  Sportsmans Guide has Federal 9BP 115 gr JHP's for $17.47 a box of 50 ($16.60 if you are a club member like I am, and an additional 2.5% off if you have the Sportsman's Guide Visa).  SG also has free shipping right now on $99+ orders.  Graf & Sons is another place I have been shopping lately.  They recently had CCI Blazer 9mm 115 FMJ for $7.99 a box, and Blazer .380 for $10.99 a box.  Right now they are also running free shipping on $50+ orders, including ammo.  I really like the Blazer at this price because I don't feel bad about not saving my brass at the range (besides the fact that the range discourages picking up one's own brass). 

Gun Show Last Weekend:   Went to this on Sunday looking for more ammo cans.  The vendor I have bought from in the past was there, but sold out of .50's.  I did see a few good deals, such as an old Stevens Favorite .22 for $75.00, but I passed on it because the extractor looked to be worn out.  There were some good deals on ammo there, but a few "scalpers" as well.  A few tables had the same boxes of bulk .22 ammo as the White Elephant, but were being hawked for $25.00.  I have noticed that there is no shortage of opportunists reselling ammo or selling used guns for more than I could get them in a retail store.

Rifle Cleaning Chores:  I had bought a Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle while Bud's Gun Shop had them for a good price.  Unlike the SKS's and Romanian AK's I had bought in the past, this Mosin had a very dark and dirty bore.  The crown looked good, as did the chamber and what I could see of the rifling.  I cleaned out the cosmoline with WD-40 (it just melts the stuff away), then scrubbed several times with Hoppe's No. 9.  Not much luck with that, so I switched to Bore Scrubber.  A little more gunk removed and more blue-gray stuff on the patches, but still a lot of crud in the bore.  After doing a little internet searching, I came across a recommendation for Butch's Bore Shine.  It was $10.99 locally for an 8oz bottle, which is about middle-of-the-road price for bore cleaner.  I soaked a patch, ran it through, and waited about ten minutes.  The next patch took out more crud than all of my previous scrubbing combined.  I have given the bore two scrubbings with Butch's so far, and while the bore is still dark I can at least clearly see the lands and grooves.  I figure I have about two more scrubbings to go.  I'm  not looking for a bright bore, just cleanly defined lands and grooves.

Cheap Shotgun Update:  The Ultra 87 shotgun I ordered from Cheaper Than Dirt arrived and I picked it up today from my local FFL dealer.   I figure that others must have also considered $145 for  a defensive 12 gauge to be a good buy, because CTD has sold out.  I will report a little later on about fit and finish, but it may be a while before I get to go try it out at a friend's property out of town.

Preps:  Despite the reported coming price increases in grains, I found 20lb bags of white rice for $6.72 at Winco Foods the other day.  Wheat berries went up a bit to $0.47 a pound, but popcorn went down to $0.58 a pound.   Bought some of all three to add to the preps, as I cannot help but think that some radical food inflation is just around the corner.

Well, I suppose that is enough for now.  Gotta get back to my day job.

Random Thoughts

Juan Williams.  I've always liked Juan because he added an air of rationality and dignity to the liberal side.  Something that Alan Colmes always strived for but never could attain.  I repeatedly disagreed with Juan's positions, but he was the type you could disagree with at the same time you had a beer with him.  Very, very rare among liberals.  Juan found out what happens when you dance with the devils:  you get burned.  You associate with irrational bigots, and eventually you are associated with them.  The irony is that the bigots were calling Juan a bigot.  Of course, this close to the election, the shrill, closed-minded, hysterical, emotional, illogical "progressive" left is exposed for what it is at a time less than beneficial for their cause.  Thank you, Juan, and good luck at your new/old job at Fox. 

Patty Murray.  My tirade against Washington's Asshat Extraordinaire Senator Patty Murray might be getting a little old, but I will not relent until that ignorant, marxist twit is gone.  Latest Dino Rossi ad reminded me of something incredibly relevant, more relevant that Patty Moron's belief that abundant abortions are essential to the functioning of society.  Dino's latest ad has audio of Patty Murray claiming that she not only read the Obamacare bill, but that she helped write it.  Go to that link. Should we all presume that Asshat Patty also read and helped write the $800,000,000,000.00 Porkulus bill that created no jobs?  I think it is safe to give her credit for that.   Rossi is within range of taking out this wart on America's ass, but Murray has the illegal aliens out in force to scare up votes (the dead people move too slow, the imprisoned have other commitments, and the insane just won't follow directions.).

Preps.  I had been looking for a rifle with a longer range than 7.62x39 and 5.56x45 are capable of.  Problem is, I did not want to spend a lot of money, wanted something simple, wanted something with iron sights, and wanted something where ammo was currently plentiful and cheap.  After checking around a bit I finally settled on the Mosin-Nagant.  I bought a specimen in excellent refinished condition for under $100.00 (I know that I missed the boat from when even Big 5 was selling them for $69.00.  I will pay more attention to surplus rifles in the future.)  I bought a spam can of 440 rounds for about $85.00, and will probably buy another mosin and a few cans of ammo before the end of the year if the economy holds up (self-employment can suck sometimes).  I got an added bonus when I went to pick up my mosin.  The store owner asked me if I wanted to buy an SKS.  I asked how much.  He said $150.00.  I was interested, and ended up walking out with a beautifully maintained Norinco SKS, missing only the bayonet and cleaning rod.

Other News.  Somthing Glenn Beck said the other night caught my attention.  The national debt ceiling, which was raised by over $1,000,000,000,000.00 by democrats to something like $14,200,000,000,000.00, will have to be raised again sometime in February or March of 2011.  This was purposefully set up by democrats.  The dilemma for Republicans, if they control congress, will be to add further sanction to the willy-nilly printing of money to cover the national debt and appear to have no principles, or to adhere to principles and refuse to raise the debt ceiling which might have the effect of causing panic/collapse in the markets and pandemonium in the streets.  Interesting.  Could that be the galvanizing event?  We'll have to see.

Mo'flappuh

Sorry, couldn't think of a good title. My significant other uses "mo'flappuh" as a punctuation word like some use "motherf****r". Keeps floating around in my head, so I thought I would use it. More or less just post-mini-vacation random thoughts.

I got back last night from a four day camping trip into the wilds of the Panhandle National Forest in North Idaho. Beautiful area. Not pristine, but somewhat removed from civilization. The only amenity at the campsite area is a concrete outhouse. I love the serenity of the place, and the fact that there is no cell phone reception for miles around.

I have been out of the loop for the better part of a week, as I quit keeping up on things a few days before we left on our trip. The preparation for a family camping trip is something else. I do most of the packing and preparation for the family. I tend to overpack, as I will not leave the campsite and drive back to the nearest town just because I forgot something. I also prepare for the possibility that we may be there for a couple of extra days in case something happens.

I took the opportunity to test a couple of new pieces of equipment. A lot of my preps consist of camping-type gear, stuff that can be used when there is no power, running water, etc. I will post my own reviews of these things in the next few days.

Scanning some of the news and blogs this morning, I see that the s**t keeps gradually getting deeper, while King Soetoro and the royal family keep mugging for the camera while mugging the populace. My friend in the intelligence community says that something is likely to happen prior to the "election". Looks like he may be right.

Time to get back to work. Stuff piles up around here when I am gone.

Random Thoughts

Coffee Cans for Storage. The plastic kind that just about every coffee brand has switched to in the past few years. There are a number of food items that I do not want to store in glass canning jars or five gallon buckets. Glass jars get nixed because of the potential for breakage when moving, and buckets get nixed because I do not want to buy such a quantity of that I can fill a five gallon bucket. The solution I have found is to buy the one gallon mylar food grade bags and pack them inside plastic coffee cans that I would otherwise discard. Between home and office I get about two of these each month. An added bonus is that six of the cans fit into the same size box as six number 10 cans. This size of storage container is ideal for spices, seasoning/gravy/sauce packets, and drink mixes such as Kool Aid. Once full and the mylar bag is sealed, pop on the lid and seal with 100% silicone.

Test Your Tools and Equipment. I bought a sight adjustment tool for one of my rifles a few months ago and filed it away with my other gear. I assumed that when I needed it, it would serve its intended purpose. Big mistake. The other day I was boresighting the rifle and needed to make a sight adjustment, so I dug out the adjustment tool. The tool has a hole through which the sight is supposed to drift under pressure from a thumbscrew. The hole was not big enough. This would have been a major problem in the field, but luckily enough I was sighting in at home. I got out my set of drills and enlarged the hole. From now on I will test every tool and piece of equipment as I acquire it.

Thoughts on Plumbing. Most preppers have a plan for providing water and eliminating waste during a grid down situation. The specifics don't really matter, as situations vary for acquisition of potable water and elimination of human waste, and each must plan according to his or her needs and what resources are available. For those of us on public systems, more preparation may be needed than immediately comes to mind. When the grid goes down and public water pressure drops, it is a simple matter to isolate one's plumbing system from public water: just shut off the main water valve coming into the building or onto the property. But what about sewage? Even with the public water supply being off, people can still pour water down the drain and flush their toilets. And if the grid is down, the pumps that move the sewage through the public system and/or process the waste are likely to be down as well. If one is at the top of a hill, I suppose there may be no problems. However, sewage might back up in other areas. Aside from the water traps in the drains, how does one shut off the sewer system that is connected to the house? I am thinking that one answer may be to have drain seals ready to install in each sink, bathtub, laundry room, toilet, and floor drain in the house. If anyone has any other ideas on this, let me know.

Politics. I am thinking about this week's Retarded Politician of the week. Congressman Fortney "Pete" Stark has come up with a hare-brained scheme to tax the exchange of currencies, so that everyone who trades a U.S. dollar for a Canadian one would pay a tax of 0.005% on the transaction. I am not making the next part up: It's for the children. Oh, and to provide health care in other countries, and to fight climate change. On the other hand, Senator Lindsey Graham has pretty much stated that he will vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court because Obama won the election and is entitled to have his choice provided Kagan is "qualified." Does this idiot remember Robert Bork? He was qualified, but shot down by the Demojackals because he is a conservative. At least Stark is consistent with the "progressive" whack-jobs in his party. Thus I am leaning towards Senator Grahamnesty for a repeat. Who knows, maybe some other elected shithead will catch my attention.

Is it too late for Tom Vilsack to try and get his job back as Iowa governor? It appears that with all the hullabaloo from the racist camps of Jesse Jackson and the NAACP that Vilsack may soon be unemployed for firing Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod. Through her own statements at a NAACP gathering Ms. Sherrod cast the USDA in a bad light, which should be grounds enough for firing. It is in the private employment sector. Gub'mint business is different, somehow, especially when race is involved.

Random Thoughts

The weekend seems to be a good time to put down all the things that have occurred to me during the week. Here goes.

The general population of the United States is a bunch of idiots led around by a news media that is generally full of idiots. Case in point: Look at what is happening to Rand Paul, candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jim Bunning. Rachel Madcow somehow got Dr. Paul on to the subject of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. When Dr. Paul answered the question, he stated that he did not support discrimination, that he believed individuals and individual businesses had the right to determine who they would serve without government intervention, and that the Civil Rights Act should have been properly directed more at the government. I agree with his answer, and that answer is not racist or discriminatory in any way. Like most Libertarians, Dr. Paul believes that individuals should be free to make choices without intervention of the government so long as no one gets hurt. If a business chooses to exclude persons of a particular race, bigots and apathetic persons are free to patronize the business while fair-minded people would likely shop elsewhere. Bigots should be free to discuss their views in public, and others should be free to know who the bigots are and to shun them. I have seen the effects of this in North Idaho, which is rumored to be full of white supremacists (rumored, but not true except in the minds of idiots like Morris Dees and Mark Potok). The Aryan Nations people spouted their crap, but their numbers were small and virtually nobody was flocking to their compound. Due to extremely poor judgment on the part of previous Supreme Court justices, Dr. Paul is a public figure and has little recourse in the way of suing for defamation of character against the raving-mad, insane, racist, retarded moonbat asshats in the left-wing media and the drooling, special-education institution escapees driven to protest against Dr. Paul by the biased media zealots.

I have been noticing that the Department of Defense keeps coming up with new and interesting weapons. New rifles that shoot caseless ammunition, energy weapons, tiny air-burst grenades fired from a rifle attachment. The military technology keeps getting more and more advanced, while the civilian weapon technology seems to have hit the ceiling with semi-auto rifles and mid-20th century cartridge technology. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constititution gives all citizens the right to keep and bear arms. It does not say that I am limited to one particular class of arms (It also does not say that any citizen would lose such a right upon conviction of a felony, think about that.). If the founding fathers had intended that Americans be limited to a single shot rifle, or arms inferior to the army, they would have said so. The dictionary definition of an arm, besides a body part, is of a weapon, a munition, an implement of war. Although I have no desire to own a ray gun, I have the right to own it under the Second Amendment. We need to start thinking outside of the "establishment box" on this Second Amendment issue, or soon we will find ourselves cowed by the overwhelming might of the government's arms while we are reduced to hiding with our peashooters.

Our incompentent government will undoubtedly crucify British Petroleum for the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Undoubtedly BP deserves blame, but the Carter II Administration seems to be going overboard with its threats against BP, especially considering that BP is doing most of the heavy lifting with regard to the cleanup (whether by doing it or paying for it). B. Hussein Soetoro should be focused on the cleanup, then truly investigate once the cleanup is done, then propose ways the government itself can be less incompetent in the future. What will actually happen is a witch-hunt against BP and other energy producers, with the result being extreme limitations on offshore drilling. Given the potential for damage to the environment, limitations on offshore drilling would not be a bad idea if we had economical means to replace the energy that comes from offshore oil wells. Since we don't, get ready for higher energy costs and another hit to a struggling economy.

What will the Carter II Administration and South Korea do about North Korea's sinking of a South Korean navy ship in March? Nothing. The Norks are a proxy of the Chinese. It was only a ship that sank. It was only 46 sailors who died. Move on, please. B. Hussein already has moved on to begging the Chicoms for fair trade.

I can't resist a bit of commentary about the coming collapse and gold. Gold is down a bit this last week. So is the stock market. But only a bit. There are some opposing forces at work with both gold and stocks, from my point of view. Investors, as always, are seeking a way to profit. If profits seem elusive, they look for a store of value. Gold appears to be down because investors are seeing opportunities to profit from the market jitters in Europe and the U.S. The gold market has cooled a bit as investors see opportunities in the markets. Even though you can't eat gold, I believe it will shortly return to $1,200.00 an ounce and start going higher once the profiteers have finished exploiting the ups and downs of the jittery, but largely not improving, markets.

I do have another suspicion related to the slight drop-off in the price of gold amid reports that the Germans and other Europeans are exhausting physical gold reserves in Europe. Could it be that the paper gold market has become so obviously manipulated that trades in actual gold are occurring off market? Someone with more brains and connections than I have should investigate this.

Funniest moment of the week was when Nouriel Roubini told Bill Maher that people should buy Spam, not gold. Roubini explained that Spam has a more practical store of value long-term: You can eat it.

Speaking of market jitters, I would appreciate it if the idiots in the media would quit referring to every thirty point fall in the Dow as a "sharp decline" and a thirty point rise as a "rally". If the government wants to waste time investigating market manipulation, let's find out how much the markets have been affected by this media hyperbole. Is it the financial equivalent of yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater when the mass media trumpet a Dow downward move of 50 points as being a precipitous fall?

List of threats I am watching: Iran/Syria/Turkey/Lebanon/Hezbollah/Hamas/Israel, North Korea, Venezuela/Brazil, Russian Empire Expansion, Pakistan/India, Energy Dependence/BP spill, Creeping Marxism/Economic Collapse, Fascist Leftists/Deprivation of Rights, Food Shortages, Kalifornia, Rahm Emmanuel.

Enough for today. Got to get some more Spam.

Random Thoughts

I've been trying to make sense of what has been going on with the economic collapse. That has been holding my attention and I haven't posted in a while. I am convinced it is coming, but there are mixed signals from the markets. Gold is up, but the stock market can't seem to make up it's mind. The Dow goes down, goes up, goes down, seemingly related to the EuroPorkulus. More money being printed out of thin air by the Fed to, once again, bail out bankers. Once more, no help for the little guy.

I was bored last night waiting for the significant other and my daughter to get home, so I watched Bill O'Reilly. He is becoming a bigger idiot every day. What bothered me most was the segment with Glenn Beck, where O'Reilly stated he was in favor of suspending Miranda rights for U.S. citizens who were deemed terrorists by the government. Glenn Beck was aghast and tried to make Bill see the light, to no avail. Those who trade liberty for security end up with neither.

I have heard a lot of negative comments lately about Glenn Beck. Complaints are that he is trying to co-opt the Tea Party movement and that he is just a showman getting rich. For the record, I like Glenn Beck. If he gets rich while he keeps us informed, so be it. That is the American way. To me, Glenn is the Libertarian who has that unique ability to connect with the average guy. He is on par with Dennis Miller and John Stossel, but more "everyman" than Miller and Stossel combined.

Had a run-in with my daughter's school this week. The idiot principal gave her two days lunch detention because she was present and laughed when two other girls were making fools of themselves. My kid had to serve one of those before I ever found out about it. I told the chief Libtard of the school that they were not to question my kid unless I was present. Period. I then obligated myself to taking my daughter out to lunch every day for the rest of the school year because I am not going to allow such ridiculous punishment.

Both Cheaper Than Dirt and Centerfire Systems have some good deals on Russian ammo. Cheaper Than Dirt has Tula .223 55gr FMJ and 7.62x39 FMJ for $4.19 a box. Centerfire Systems has .223 55gr FMJ and 7.62x39 FMJ for $209.99 a case of 1,000, shipping included. They have half-and-half cases for the same price. Get it while you can. I can recall paying $6.50+ for 20 round boxes of Russian ammo not too long ago. I would check with Centerfire Systems before ordering from them. I ordered a rifle from them which was supposed to be in stock, but has not been shipped five weeks later.

Speaking of things that go bang, I would like to thank Mayberry for recommending Classic Arms. I ordered a rifle from them and was thoroughly pleased with the service. In-stock items are listed on the website, the prices were great, and shipping was prompt. The rifle was exactly as described.

I think one service we preppers can provide to each other is reviews of companies and products. I don't think most of us are wealthy, and one prepper's bad experience can save others some money and grief. Bashing William deserves a lot of thanks for his expose of the survival seed business. Thanks, I was tempted to give in to the convenience of ordering a survival seed package before I read your recent posts on the matter.

Well, that's it for now. I'm still watching the markets. There won't be a lot of notice when the bottom falls out and the panic sets in.

If we manage to get that far, Remember in November!