Prepare Now

Farewell

2011-12-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know who really follows this blog anymore, but this will be the last post.

I have tried hard to provide good information as well as a good amount of motivation for folks to be prepared both spiritually and temporally. I hope I have met expectations.

I will no longer post to this blog, at least not in the forseeable future. I will leave it up though for anyone searching for this information.

Please assess your circumstances, and do what you can to prepare for that which surely must come.

On a different note, I am no longer posting here, but I am taking a bit of a different spiritual route with a new blog.

Be Perfected

is my new blog where I hope to share some more personal spiritual thoughts as well as a place where I will repost other articles and blogposts I feel are relevant. Please check it out.

sincerely,
disciple of The Christ,

Shawn Cloward

Brigham Young Agreed With Today's Wall Street Protesters

2011-11-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

Brigham Young Agreed With Today's Wall Street Protesters from ZCBI on Vimeo.

Excellent video presentation that goes along with some of my thoughts about consecration. We seem to think that such things are just going to magically happen one day? I think they happen when our hearts are changed and we seek for them. God does not and can not violate our agency. Where is your heart?

What Recovery?!?

2011-10-02T17:10:00.000-06:00

Excellent article from a wise man name Rock Waterman found here.

Recently I bumped into an old acquaintance at the grocery store. Our conversation quickly turned to how much higher food prices suddenly seem to be getting, and I mentioned the urgency I felt to get more food storage.

“Food storage?” he asked dumbly, “What for?”

I looked at him like he had been living under a rock. “Because of what we were just talking about -because of the economy,” I replied.

My friend looked at me blankly. “The economy’s recovering,” he said.

My friend wasn’t kidding or being ironic. He was dutifully informing me of news he thought I had missed.

I spend so much time immersed in the actual signs of the coming catastrophe that I don’t realize not everyone is awake to the situation. Here was someone I thought I knew, blissfully parroting something he has heard blabbed about in the media for the past three years, when his own personal situation proves it false on its face.

My friend, you see, has been out of work for almost two years. Because his wife still has her job with the state, they are able to hold on -barely. Yet he firmly believes everything will turn right side up for them any day now.

Why? Because he’s been hearing it on the news.

He’s been fed these same promises for the past three years and things have only been getting worse for him and his family. Yet when I mentioned my intention to buy extra food now so I’ll have some in the future, he thinks I’m the one who’s screwy. And this right in the middle of a conversation about how grocery costs are climbing every month.

I’ve long maintained that aside from any threat of a natural disaster or other catastrophe, even if you manage to keep your job, the one overriding reason to buy all the food you can this year is because next year it will cost you a whole lot more. That’s the only reason you need. No matter what else happens or doesn’t happen, price inflation is a certainty.

Yet here was my otherwise well-educated friend thinking there was something kooky about thinking smart. He didn’t understand the connection between government debt and price inflation. He believed prices were going up because grocers were getting greedy.

Perhaps my friend is is the one who hasn’t heard the news, because even those sources that were keeping him in a constant state of optimistic bliss have very recently been forced to eat crow. The New York Times, for instance, reported Saturday that “for the second consecutive month, employers added scarcely any jobs in June, startling evidence that the economic recovery is stumbling.” (Feeble Job Numbers Show Recovery Starting to Stall -7/09/11)

Most economists had been cheerily forecasting 125,000 new jobs in June, but when the numbers turned up only 18,000 mostly low-paying service jobs, there was no way to spin that into good news. As Gerald Celente put it, “Virtually overnight, one dire employment report unraveled two years worth of government spin and media complicity.”

People like my friend have clung to these empty hopes for so long that they simply refuse to believe their situation could not improve. Haven’t they been hearing over and over that it most definitely will?

I spent considerable time with my friend explaining why an economic crisis is unavoidable. At this stage, a recovery is simply not possible. It’s too late to turn it around. Even if everyone in government suddenly came to their senses, we would still have to suffer through the earthquake of a correction that might last as long as ten years. We are not climbing out of a recession, we are falling into a depression.

I asked my friend, “hasn’t your own wife watched as her colleagues have been laid off all around her? Isn’t that because the the state of California just doesn’t have the money to pay them?”

“Yes,” he conceded, “but eventually the federal government will step in and bail out California.”

He had his ready answers for everything. He had been well schooled. Never mind that any federal bailout could only occur by way of more inflation, resulting in the higher skyrocketing of the price of his groceries.

I was reminded of something Frederick Bastiat wrote, “Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.”

In the end, nothing I said mattered. Am I an economist? Then what did I know? Who was I compared to all the experts in the news?

Most of us already know too many people just like my friend. They believe that even if things get really bad, it can’t get that bad. “The system” will figure it out. The politicians will save us.

In the end, all we can do is what we can do. Some of us will continue to scrape and scratch and sacrifice and do what we can to prepare, no matter how feeble or hopeless our efforts may seem; while others will make no effort at all.

Boise Preparedness Fair

2011-08-17T13:25:00.002-06:00

I will preface this with a bit of a warning if you will.

I feel like Roger K. Young and his entourage are practicing priestcraft at times in their zeal to get their word out about what they think is coming. I leave it to you to find out for yourself. I do not agree with some of what he has to say. That being said, there is this preparedness fair coming up that should be beneficial to anyone who is interested, and what can be gleaned from it...

Boise Super Preparedness Fair

August 26-27

QWEST ARENA Boise, Idaho (Where the Steelheads play, by Center on the Grove)

All you need to know and more about Emergency Preparedness

Lectures, Demonstrations, Samples, Vendors, Workshops, and much more.

WHEN: (Friday: 12 noon to 9 pm. Saturday: 9 am to 9 pm)

Outstanding Lecturers & World Class Experts: Roger K. Young, Sarah Menet, Jim
Philips, Kenneth Moravec, Ken Bowers, Rod Meldrum, Vicki Tate, Richard Nielson,
Alan South, and many more.

COST: $7.50 at the door for 12 and older for both days. $6.00 pre-registration

TOPICS:
¨ Food storage...everything you need to know (cook it, store it, buy it,
best deals)
¨ Sprouting...everything about sprouting
¨ The VERY BEST Cold weather survival
¨ Urban warfare survival
¨ Using Herbs to survive in emergency situations
¨ Self defense...(the do's and don'ts)
¨ The next 3 -10 years...the good & bad news
¨ Nuclear/biological event preparedness
¨ Solar energy/sustainable energy
¨ "In your house" super gardens, and much more...

Tentative Schedule

Friday August 26

11:30am Doors Open

12:00-1pm Ken Bowers... Constitutional Issues, who is minding the store?

1:15--2:30 Connie Neilson..All About Sprouting

3:00--4:30 Breakout Sessions.
*Ken Moravec-Nuclear & Biological Preparedness
*Grant Johanson-- Solar & Alternative Energy solutions
*Vicki Tate-Cooking With Food Storage 1

5:00-6:00 Breakout Session
* Vicki Tate-Cooking with Food Storage
* Kevin Reeve-Urban Warfare Survival..(Do's and Don'ts when the electricity goes out, and the police can't/won't respond)
*TBA

6:00-7:00 dinner break

7:00-10:30 Roger K. Young..Does the Bible clue us as to what the Russians & Chinese are preparing?

Saturday Aug 27

9:00-10:15am *TBA

11:00-12:30 Jim Philips...Emergency Survival Principals. (Survival Priorities, Cold weather survival, most 72 hour kits will kill you.)

12:30-1:30 lunch break

1:30-3:00 Breakout Session
* Rod Meldrum..Book of Mormon Evidences
* Kit Karchner...Herbal Survival
* Kevin Reeve...Personal Defense issues & Urban Survival

3:15-4:30 TBA ...

4:30-5:30 dinner break

5:30-6:30 Breakout Session
* Grant Johanson...Solar & Alternative Energy
* Connie Nielson..All About Sprouting

7:00-9:00 Roger Young - The Good News

A Few Things

2011-08-05T16:05:00.000-06:00

Also there are some speakers coming to the Boise area...

August 13th and 14th (Saturday and Sunday)
Rod Meldrum is coming to BOISE!
Book of Mormon Evidences Seminar!

Rod Meldrum has done much research on Book of Mormon lands, and takes a bit of a different approach than the FARMS people. I believe these things are interesting because it helps us to take the Book of Mormon as it was intended.

Rod will answer the questions -
1-What caused the Nephites to experience 3 days of
darkness so they couldn't even light a fire
after Christ's death?
2-What two prophets have said the Book of Mormon
took place in the United States?
3-Which river in the U.S. is the one the Nephites called
the River Sidon?
4-What does the Indian word Niagra mean?
5-What Book of Mormon name is the same as the name Moses?

Also coming up is a huge preparedness seminar...

August 26th and 27th (Friday and Saturday) Qwest Arena

Roger K. Young is coming to BOISE!
NO ORDINARY PREPAREDNESS EXPO!
He will answer questions like -
1-Who controls the vast majority of the world's oil?
2-Which war in the Bible is the Gulf War?
3-Where is the 13 month war going to be fought?
4-What stage towards socialism are we in, and what are the steps leading up to it?

And other questions that will be answered -
1-What is the VERY BEST warm clothing available?
2-How long will those $65 grinders last?
3-Where do I get a good solar lantern?
4-How can I earn free food storage?
5-What do you need to do to be prepared?

As you may know, I am no fan of Roger K. Young because I believe he borders on priestcraft sometimes. That being said, this may be beneficial for anyone who is or wants to get more serious about preparedness.

All the best,

Shawn

Arms for Defense!

2011-05-06T19:29:00.002-06:00

I was reading some of Denver Snuffers blog and came upon this one found here.

I was humbled and learned a great priciple. I share it for your consideration.

Jesus never challenged Roman authority. He submitted to it. When the time comes for the establishment of Zion, it will not be necessary for us to deviate from Christ's example. Those who are in the promised latter-day Zion will be protected by the "the terror of the Lord." The residents will be those who "will not take up arms against their neighbor." (D&C 45: 66-71.) There is no need to overthrow the world. It will overthrow itself. The Lord will not permit the wicked to destroy the righteous. (1 Ne. 22: 16.) It is the wicked who destroy the wicked. (Mormon 4: 5.)

We live in a world today in which Pax Americana has established controlled violence the world over. The fear of destruction holds forces at bay which would gladly destroy one another if permitted. The key to replacing the current world order with another one, as many insurgencies the world over recognize, is the destruction of Pax Americana by destroying American hegemony. A lot of people are working on that, both inside and outside the United States.

Latter-day Zion will not need to take up the sword to defend themselves. The Lord will be their shield and protection. Since the wicked are responsible for killing the wicked, you join them when you decide to take up arms. You also exclude yourself from those who are to come to Zion - for that group will be composed only of those who refuse to take up arms against their neighbor. (D&C 45: 68, above.)

Read again how Zion was protected in the days of Enoch. (Moses 7: 13-17.) It wasn't an army or arms which protected them. It was the Lord who dwelt among them.

Our challenge as a people is to live so the Lord can dwell among us. He will "take up His abode" with us as the Second Comforter, if we are prepared to receive Him. This is why I have written what I have written. Zion will be a byproduct of a prepared people. It never has been and never will be the result of a violent, armed, and politically motivated insurrection by people who want to isolate themselves from the world. Such people will only be a part of those who take up arms, and acting as part of the wicked, join in the destruction of the wicked, including themselves.

This does not mean that some righteous will not be required to die. The Lord's ability to protect us will require His hand move in "justice and mercy" to fulfill His promises. Those who die will die unto the Lord. Those who live will live unto the Lord. But the battle is the Lord's.

All Is Safely Gathered In

2011-03-31T09:53:00.004-06:00

Pretty good video...

Community

2011-03-23T21:40:00.005-06:00

Here is something that was sent to me that I feel speaks a lot of truth. Some of my thoughts are mixed in.

(Let me please express that I love the Lord and His gospel. I love the community and organization of the church. I honor and respect the Prophets and Apostles and do not challenge them in any respect. Based upon some of the things addressed in this article, I feel the need to express this. I am not on the road to apostasy nor are the many others who can recognize issues and are not afraid to address them. God gives us so many opportunities, one after another, to exercise our agency, and allow the Spirit to teach us a better way. That comes from MANY different sources.)

In all the preparations that we are involved in, spiritual, emotional, temporal, there is one area that virtually no one addresses. It is incredibly vital to our living through the hard
times ahead.

That area is....community.

I have noticed that there is a direct correlation between the degree of condemnation/harsh judgement we place upon ourselves and others and the degree of closeness/connectedness we have generally in our local society. The more we judge others harshly whether they deserve it or not keeps us from truly connecting with others. (this is something I myself am working on).

The more you first forgive yourself unconditionally and then love yourself unconditionally, the more you will automatically do the same with every person you meet and know.

One good example is the LDS society. We have a certain degree of connectedness, a certain degree of familiarity with each other in our prospective wards and neighborhoods.

But it only goes so deep.

We have a certain social and cultural dynamic that causes us to immediately approve or disapprove the behaviors of others. We believe that tour standard of judgement of certain kinds of people is actually righteous. But when one takes a closer look at the principles that are actually behind those harsh judgements and rejections of certain people, it becomes plain to see that many of those principles are grey and not altogether in accordance with what Christ actually did teach.

It is as if the LDS people are afraid to get too close to each other.
And it is because they fear being judged harshly for their weaknesses by others. This comes from a culture of sometimes harshly judging others even while we preach a doctrine of loving others. This hypocrisy arises from our view, sometimes, of a God that punishes rather than a God of unconditional love who allows natural consequences.

This is a difficult dynamic to explain. I call it the shunning doctrine. But it is actually what has and is keeping us all disconnected from each other. (Spend enough time in any ward, and there is a constant feeling of seeking for wealth and riches, which is against our temple covenants, as well as what I refer to as spiritual competition. I won't explain that, but I think many know what I mean.)

Many have had visions about those that will survive through the future calamities. They describe these future societies as being filled with people of all types, races, religious backgrounds working together in unity because they learned how to put aside their differences and recognize that we are truly all equal and that we are all of the same family and that we all come from the same source, (a God which is our future selves). Yet the differences continue to have control over us.

One must come to the point where one is tired of all the separateness insomuch that it causes one to search for higher laws that will bring more joy and unity.

In order for a man to find the truth, he must love the truth more than he loves his present beliefs. (This is an essential function to that simply must take place in order for us to progress. The truth AT ALL COSTS. The truth will always prevail.)

In order to learn and become higher laws, one must let go of their present beliefs,(possibly false beliefs based upon the culture and precepts of men) in order to step up to the higher laws and truth. And then use the previous lower laws and truth as his former foundation.

This final saving concept of community will not and cannot exist until we let go of our differences and focus on our similarities and love and serve each other in complete agency and purpose.

We have to stop trying to convince others to our way of believing and thinking. (This is another essential truth. Even if our beliefs have been confirmed by the Holy Spirit, it is then our responsibility to let others do the same.)

We have to totally honor our agency and the agency of others. We cannot do this until we function in absolute forgiveness of ourselves and each other. We cannot do that until we focus on true humility and putting to death the ego that keeps us blind and stupid. That ego that fills our heads with false stories of how we and others should be, and should "act". (Act is a funny word in this case, because it denotes exactly what it says, putting on an act, perhaps not who we REALLY are?) We need to stop shouldering on ourselves and see the light that we all have within and connect those lights.

Examine the fruits of unconditional love as opposed to conditional love. If my son goes to jail because he commits a heinous crime, and the entire time he is in jail, and when he gets released from jail everyone in the society shuns him. He learns to hate himself. Which causes him to act out even more which causes him to return to Jail.

What if through all of this I had loved him unconditionally. What if my love shown forth to him was the only light he had. And what if that beacon of light gave him enough hope to break the pattern of abuse and become a changed man?

Sure, we all say that exampling of unconditional love towards sinners is enabling them in their sins. In some ways it could do that but only if you do not have appropriate boundaries in place with that sinner.

Despite what some ministers might say, I know from my own experience that God loves all men unconditionally. If his love for us was conditional then certain of us would be in a hopeless circumstance. (This is something I have recently gained a strong testimony of.)

I truly believe that only those who are able to live and walk in unconditional love for others, putting aside the differences will be those who will make it through the current and coming calamities.

What about initially when the grid goes down and we are all on our own? I truly WANT to feel a genuine security knowing that I have friends in my life that I can count on to cover my back and vice versa when times get tough. Ultimately we trust in God for that.
But he wants us to learn to trust each other in that as well so we can connect, love
and care for each other in our actions. By living in that kind of a
community, every soul can become sanctified and purified.

How would you fare if every person you knew continually loved you unconditionally? What kind of an impact would that have on your heart and soul? This element of true and genuine love that connects a society of friends as a large extended family unit is the only community that will both thrive and overcome obstacles in the days ahead because everyone is fully invested in everyone else. It can be no other way. (This is also exactly what I believe that Lord has in mind for us who want to live in a Zionistic society. Moses 7:18

Those of you who are "awake" and feel that things are soon to collapse. Aren't you concerned about entering the fray all by yourselves? Standing alone? Do you really and honestly believe that the people in your ward, in your neighborhood will feed you when you and your kids have no food? When there is no more food in the stores?

Perhaps it is wise now to begin to reach out to others who desire this necessary survival tool of community. You cannot truly know a person until you have lived with them and they show you their true colors. I (the person writing this) have had people live in my home on 12 different occasions, and this has rung true in every instance.

Is there a strong enough bond of love and are your friends trustworthy enough that they would go to jail rather than tell on you that you have food storage?

Are you that kind of a friend?

How do you know you can absolutely trust anyone you know to this degree? Perhaps
by getting to truly know and love each other in a community of like minded people who are striving to create that very kind of community now.

Would it be possible to create that kind of a trusting community after things collapse?

I don't know.

But I do know that it is very possible now. We absolutely must stop condemning ourselves and others. We absolutely must create groups of friends who we truly love and know and can trust. Who support us and are there for each other now through thick and thin. If we don't, then it will be each man for himself.

The more unified groups that exist now will prove a much better situation for every soul when things break down. Without community, how many will survive, (to be a part of building Zion, the Kingdom of God on the earth.)

THE REALITY DETACHED AMERICAN

2011-03-23T21:37:00.003-06:00

Please take a look at this video. It's short but has a good message about coming to terms with reality.

-Shawn-

New Year's Re-Solutions For Non-violent Rebellion

2010-12-29T17:14:00.001-07:00

http://www.activistpost.com/2010/12/10-new-years-re-solutions-for-non.html

New Year's Re-Solutions For Non-violent Rebellion

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" - Gandhi

As the United States edges closer to becoming a third world country; anger, frustration, and cynicism continue to mount in the minds of the American population. In fact, a recent Pew Research poll showed that 80% of baby boomers are pessimistic about America's future. This pessimism seems warranted as authentic political solutions appear to be in short supply in our corporate state.

The democratic political system is now clearly run by crony cartelism. The multinational banks have hijacked the economy and are openly looting the public. Mounting and impossible-to-pay off debt is crippling local governments. The entire spectrum of our rights continues to degrade. Crimes that would land regular citizens in jail are now openly being committed by the elite and their organizations with no justice. And perhaps most telling, the power structure is establishing a control grid to eliminate due process for the Internet and beyond to stifle any dissent.

Given the current situation, it can seem impossible to affect real change. However, the exact opposite is the case. The only reason the system is maintained is because the majority still acquiesce to it. However, change won't come by electing new establishment politicians, because no matter how noble they may be they still must play the corrupt game. Change won't come through violent protests or offensive cyber hacktivism, as that only invites and justifies the creeping police state. We must stop accepting and supporting the system, individually, in order to change it.

Because our representative democracy has become a fraud, and the media and courts are clearly shills for the oligarchs, our only action appears to be non-violent rebellion; one person and community at a time. We can expose the crimes and immorality of the corporate state through civil disobedience and conscientious objection. We can punish multinational companies who commit flagrant fouls on humanity and the environment by boycotting them. Additionally, we can peacefully regain our liberty by becoming less dependent on the system for our basic needs.

Here are ten solutions through non-violent activism:

1. Buy Local Food:
One of the most powerful cartels that has their tentacles into government is the food cartel. Their agenda has been to control the basic resources of food (corn, wheat, soy, rice). The best way to conquer this cartel is by eating local; produce your own food, join and contribute to local cooperatives, and engage your neighbors and community for more local food solutions. Local co-ops are also a great place to trade locally crafted goods and even services. Obviously, do your best to avoid GMO food and eat organically when you can. Finally, be vocal and active in your opposition to GMO foods and the cartel control of the FDA.

2. Become More Self-Sufficient:
Our modern society has made us dependent on something or someone other than ourselves for most necessities such as electricity, food, water, medicine, security, and education. This dependence puts us at the direction or disposal of the cartel state. Therefore, the only entity that has the power to grant us liberty is ourselves; and we can take back our independence through self-sufficiency. Being self-sufficient means learning skills that will help you and your family survive economic downturns or other emergencies. These skills may also help you to be less dependent on your job as they'll make you a useful independent producer. Lead your neighborhood and community toward production and away from dependence.

3. Get Healthier:
The increasing pace of life seems to offer a wealth of distractions from the importance of living a truly healthy and free life. Our modern world offers easy choices like fast-food in place of fresh produce; TV in place of reading, exercise, or meditation; Internet social networks in place of meaningful personal relationships, etc. Identify the areas lacking in your own life and resolve to make the necessary changes that will increase your physical fitness, mental acuity, and your spiritual evolution. These three areas are what truly sustain us in both good times and bad -- not smart phones, computer games, and the virtual world.

4. Buy Silver and Gold:
America desperately needs a monetary revolution before the dollar experiment completely collapses. Like all revolutions this must start from a groundswell of rebellious action. A good place to start is to convert your devaluing dollars to physical gold and silver. This will punish the banks, especially JP Morgan and the Federal Reserve, as well as protect your assets. Furthermore, if the dollar continues to collapse, silver and gold may well become a viable currency in society once again, as it already is in some parts of Michigan. Buying junk silver is something anyone can afford to do and is highly recommended.

5. Expose the Agenda:
The "agenda" is one of consolidation of wealth, power, and control in every facet imaginable. The international elite are approaching near one-world control, which they call full spectrum dominance of economies and societies. In other words; national, local, and individual sovereignty is all but gone. It is extremely important to engage your local community, especially community leaders and police, to reiterate their obligation to serve the local community under the Constitution, and not to follow illegal Federal demands. Above all, do not give in to the temptation of apathy as you begin to learn more about the systems of control. These systems first count on your ignorance, then they count on laziness. Finally, say what you stand for such as peace, liberty, and genuine justice with even more force than shouting about what you oppose.

6. Boycott:
In the U.S. it has become obvious that a system has taken hold which is economically designed for one thing: consumption. This is the value that each person has been given from birth. So, one key way to assert your power and value in such a system is to vote with your wallet. Every purchase you make either contributes to, or boycotts this corporatist structure. Become aware of who the real owners are and what inhumane practices are behind the products you purchase, so that you can make intelligent choices that support your health and promote justice. Additionally, it is important to learn the true contents of the products you buy, so that you don't fall prey to slick advertising and corporate misdirection. Join or create campaigns to educate shoppers and force better labeling of products so it is easier for others to consciously boycott them.

7. Local Politics:
Forget wasting any of your energy and resources on Federal politics -- they have sold out long ago to the higher authorities that fund their multi-million dollar campaigns. Instead, get involved in small town politics and community initiatives. The future will be built from the ground up, starting right in your own neighborhood. Local politics is where you can affect tangible changes. Everything from removing chemicals from public water, to throwing the TSA out of your local airport, or refusing military recruitment or fusion centers in protest of the war on terror, can be accomplished at the local level. Each minor victory will send shock waves to other small communities and the country as a whole, so be sure to document the steps you have taken to achieve victory, then share your story for others to emulate.

8. Military refusal:
Do not contribute to fraudulent wars, and do not succumb to the pressure of feeling "unpatriotic." There are countless groups of veterans who have seen through the government lies that have led to unnecessary deaths, as well as the financial destruction of the country. There is, in fact, no more patriotic action that can be taken than to demand that our military be used properly to strengthen the country, rather than to weaken it. For some, there is absolutely no excuse for war, ever, and merely the act of showing up contributes to this affliction. It is a profound resolution of courage to live by your convictions. So, if opposing the fraudulent wars is your main issue, file as a conscientious objector and contribute to peace instead of war. As Gandhi said, "There is no path to peace; peace is the path."

9. Don't Use Banks:
The banks have proven to be some of the most immoral, dare we say "evil," institutions on the planet. Besides their Ponzi-style Wall Street casino and mortgage/foreclosure fraud, they also profit heavily from wars, Mexican drug gangs, and fleecing the public. Some are finding their actions so horrific that they'd prefer to default on their debts rather than give them another dime. That may be extreme given the consequences; however, we can at least vow not to take on any new bank financing of any kind -- mortgages, credit cards, or car loans, etc. Where possible, bank with local credit unions instead of the big banks that make up the cartel. Another powerful action is to start or support a regional competing currency. On the Federal level, we can tell our Congress reps to support Ron Paul's effort to legalize competing currencies nationwide.

10. Tax Resistance:
Becoming a tax resister is a hardcore action of civil disobedience that comes with serious consequences -- unless of course you're Tim Geithner who gets to say "oops, my bad" in order to qualify as the head of collecting said taxes. However, when the electoral process and two-party system proves to be a farce, corporations clearly win on every issue, and the will of the people is no longer represented in the media or the courts, people are left with little choice but non-violent rebellion in all its forms. Tax rebellion is often cited by conscientious objectors who oppose how the government uses taxpayer dollars to fund immoral deeds such as war, authorizing torture, building the police state, and fraudulent bank bailouts. A second group of tax protesters refuse to file because they don't believe income taxes to be lawful under the Constitution.

Local Government Collapse!

2010-12-26T18:51:00.004-07:00

Please watch and take these videos into consideration for your preparedness plans.

A Guide to Survival Food Storage in Ten Easy Steps

2010-11-06T11:10:00.002-06:00

See link found here.

by M.D. Creekmore
The Survivalist Blog

Survival Food Storage is one of the most essential elements of emergency planning.

The art and science of food storage involves strategically choosing what you'll need in the correct amount and storing it properly. With the goal of having it available and palatable when needed in an emergency.

So, whether you’re looking to protect your family in an emergency or simply want to save money by buying your foods in bulk, you’ll need some information before you start.

10 Steps to Effective Survival Food Storage
This tutorial is designed to get you up and running with the basics of building your pantry in ten easy lessons. Afterward, you’ll get recommendations for books and links to other resources. Let's get started.

10 Things To Do Now!
Top 10 Smart Ways to Build Your Food Storage
Comfort Foods
Food Shelf-Life Recommendations
Food Storage Prep
Are You Making This Food Storage Mistake?
What You Should Know About Food Grade Plastic Buckets
What You Should Know About Wheat
Don’t Buy a Grain Mill Without Reading This!
The perfect survival food
Recommended Food Storage Books
Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton (food storage and emergency preparedness)
Cookin’ with Home Storage by Vicki Tate (cooking and using basic storage foods)
Making the Best of Basics – Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens (food storage and prep)
Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival
How to Live on Wheat – The Complete Guide To Selecting, Storing, Preparing and Cooking Wheat and Other Grains

Links to Other Resources
Food Storage Calculator: Gives a Basic Estimate Of Needed qualities.
Prudent Food Storage: Questions and Answers
Emergency Food Storage List For One Person For One Year

300 pounds wheat
100 pounds of legumes
100 pounds of other grains (corn, millet, oats, buckwheat, etc.)
100 pounds of dried and canned fruits and vegetables
50 pounds of dried milk
50 pounds of canned or dried meats
25 pounds of honey
5 pounds of salt
25 pounds of oils (coconut and Olive)
2 pounds of baking powder
Multiple vitamin and mineral supplements and extra vitamin C

Walmart!!!

2010-09-29T10:39:00.002-06:00

Thought that might get your attention!!!

Walmart is having a decent sale on food storage items including 55 gallon water barrels for $38.00.

That is pretty good as they are usually about twice that amount.

Vitamin D

2010-09-20T15:39:00.004-06:00

Great article on Vitamin D. We use this in our home and have seen positive effects.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029760_vitamin_D_influenza.html

(NaturalNews) If scientists discovered something that worked better than vaccines at preventing influenza, you'd think they would jump all over it, right? After all, isn't the point to protect children and adults from influenza?

A clinical trial led by Mitsuyoshi Urashima and conducted by the Division of Molecular Epidemiology in the the Department of Pediatrics at the Jikei University School of Medicine Minato-ku in Tokyo found that vitamin D was extremely effective at halting influenza infections in children. The trial appears in the March, 2010 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr (March 10, 2010). doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.29094)

The results are from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving 334 children, half of which were given 1200 IUs per day of vitamin D3. In other words, this was a "rigorous" scientific study meeting the gold standard of scientific evidence.

In the study, while 31 of 167 children in the placebo group contracted influenza over the four month duration of the study, only 18 of 168 children in the vitamin D group did. This means vitamin D was responsible for an absolute reduction of nearly 8 percent.

Flu vaccines, according to the latest scientific evidence, achieve a 1 percent reduction in influenza symptoms (http://www.naturalnews.com/029641_v...).

This means vitamin D appears to be 800% more effective than vaccines at preventing influenza infections in children.

To further support this, what really needs to be done is a clinical trial directly comparing vitamin D supplements to influenza vaccines with four total groups:

Group #1 receives a vitamin D placebo
Group #2 receives real vitamin D (2,000 IUs per day)
Group #3 receives an influenza vaccine injection
Group #4 receives an inert injection

Groups 1 and 2 should be randomized and double blind while groups 3 and 4 should also be randomized and double blind. The results would reveal the comparative effectiveness of vitamin D versus influenza vaccines.

Unfortunately, such a trial will never be conducted because vaccine pushers already know this trial would show their vaccines to be all but useless. So they won't subject vaccines to any real science that compares it to vitamin D.

Vitamin D also significantly reduced asthma in children
Getting back to the study, another fascinating result from the trial is that if you remove those children from the study who were already being given vitamin D by their parents, so that you are only looking at children who started out with no vitamin D supplementation before the trial began, the results look even better as vitamin D reduced relative infection risk by nearly two-thirds.

More than six out of ten children who would have normally been infected with influenza, in other words, were protected by vitamin D supplementation.

Also revealed in the study: vitamin D strongly suppressed symptoms of asthma. In children with a previous asthma diagnosis, 12 of those receiving no vitamin D experienced asthma attacks. But in the vitamin D group, only 2 children did.

While this subset sample size is small, it does offer yet more evidence that vitamin D prevents asthma attacks in children, and this entirely consistent with the previous evidence on vitamin D which shows it to be a powerful nutrient for preventing asthma.

Vaccine pushers aren't followers of real science
Now, given that vitamin D3 shows such a powerful effect in preventing influenza -- with 800% increased efficacy over vaccines -- shouldn't CDC officials, doctors and health authorities be rushing to recommend vitamin D before flu season arrives?

Of course they should. But they won't. Because for them, it's not about actually preventing influenza and it never has been. The vaccine pushing camp is primarily interested in using influenza as an excuse to vaccinate more people regardless of whether such vaccines are useful (or safe).

Even if vitamin D offered 100% protection against all influenza infections, they still wouldn't recommend it.

Why? Because they flatly don't believe in nutrition! It runs counter to their med school programming which says that nutrients are useless and only drugs, vaccines and surgery count as real medicine.

The vaccine pushers, you see, aren't followers of real science. You could publish a hundred studies proving how vitamin D is many times more effective than vaccines and they still would never recommend it.

They are promoters of medical dogma rather than real solutions for patients. They promote vaccines because... well... that's what they've always promoted, and that's what their colleagues promote. And how could so many smart people be wrong, anyway?

But that's the history of science: A whole bunch of really smart people turn out to be wrong on a regular basis. That's usually how science advances, by the way: A new idea challenges an old assumption, and after all the defenders of the old (wrong) idea die off, science manages to inch its way forward against the hoots and heckles of a determined dogmatic resistance.

This attitude is blatantly reflected in a quote from Dr John Oxford, a professor of virology at Queen Mary School of Medicine in London, whose reaction to this study was: "This is a timely study. It will be noticed by scientists. It fits in with the seasonal pattern of flu. There is an increasing background of solid science that makes the vitamin D story credible. But this study needs to be replicated. If it is confirmed we might think of giving vitamin D at the same time as we vaccinate." (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...)

Did you notice his concluding remark? He wasn't even considering the idea that vitamin D might replace vaccines. Rather, he's assuming vitamin D only has value if given together with vaccines!

You see this in the cancer industry, too, with anti-cancer herbs and nutrients. Any time an anti-cancer nutrient gains some press (which isn't very often), the cancer doctor will say things like, "Well, this might be useful to give to a patient after chemotherapy..." but never as a replacement for chemo, you see.

Many mainstream doctors and medical scientists are simply incapable of thinking outside the very limiting boxes into which their brains have been shoved through years of de-education in medical schools. When they see evidence contrary to what they've been taught, they foolishly dismiss it.

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." - Bertrand Russell

Medical journals as guardians of ignorance
Medical journals largely function not as beacons of scientific truth but as defenders of pseudoscientific dogma. To have your paper published in most journals, your paper must meet the expectations and beliefs of that journal's editor. Thus, the advancement of scientific knowledge reflected in each journal is limited to the current beliefs of just one person -- the editor of that journal.

Truly pioneering research that challenges the status quo is almost always rejected. Only papers that confirm the presently-held beliefs of the journal's editorial staff are accepted for publication. This is one reason why medical science, in particular, advances so slowly.

Studies that show vitamin D to be more effective than vaccines will rarely see the light of day in the scientific community. It is to the great credit of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in fact, that it accepted the publication of this paper by Mitsuyoshi Urashima. Most medical journals wouldn't dare touch it because it questions status quo beliefs about vaccines and influenza.

Medical journals, you see, are largely funded by the pharmaceutical industry. And Big Pharma doesn't want to see any studies lending credibility to vitamins, regardless of their scientific merit. Even if vitamin D could save America billions of dollars in reduced health care costs (which it can, actually), they don't want vitamin D to receive any scientific backing whatsoever because drug companies can't patent vitamin D. It's readily available to everyone for mere pennies a day.

In time, it will be recognized as superior to vaccines for seasonal flu, but for now, we must all suffer under the foolish propaganda of an industry that has abandoned science and now worships a needle.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abs...

Food Storage, the Basics!!!

2010-09-06T23:16:00.001-06:00

Older talk, but great stuff.

Found here.

Vaughn J. Featherstone, “Food Storage,” Ensign, May 1976, 116

Brethren of the priesthood, sisters of the Relief Society, President Henry D. Moyle suggested that when someone speaks we ought to get three things out of the message. First and least important (but still very important), we ought to get what is said. Second, and more important, we ought to have a spiritual experience. Third, and most important, we should keep the commitments we make to ourselves. Let’s write them down and follow through. Don’t ever make a commitment to yourself you don’t intend to keep—if you do, you weaken your character.

For twenty-six years, since I was fifteen, I was involved in the grocery industry. I learned much about human nature during those years. I remember the effects that strikes, earthquakes, and rumors of war had on many very active Latter-day Saints. Like the five foolish virgins, they rushed to the store to buy food, caught in the panic of knowing that direction had been given by the prophet but not having followed that direction—fearful that maybe they had procrastinated until it was everlastingly too late.

It was interesting because only in Latter-day Saint communities did people seem to buy with abandon. It was not a few Latter-day Saints—it was a significant number. It caused great increases in sales. One such experience came when a so-called prophecy by someone outside the Church was greatly publicized.

How foolish we can sometimes be! We have a living prophet; we have God’s living oracles, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles. Let us follow the Brethren and be constant. We need have no fear if we are prepared.

Brothers and sisters, what have we done in our stakes and wards to see that every Latter-day Saint has a year’s reserve of food to sustain life? Let’s not only keep teaching the principle, but let’s also teach our people how.

This morning I would like to discuss food storage. Let me suggest three or four things we can do. Start by taking an inventory—take a physical count of all of your reserves. This would be a great family home evening project if you’re prepared. If not, it may be terribly embarrassing to you in front of your family. Imagine how the powerful testimony you bear concerning a living prophet must sound to your children, who know that as a family head you have been counseled for years to have a year’s reserve of food on hand. We need to know where we are. Every family should take an inventory—get all the facts.

Second, decide what is needed to bring your present reserve levels to a year’s supply. Then make a list and prepare a plan. Consider first, what are the basics?—wheat (or grain from your locale), sugar or honey, dried milk, salt, and water. Most of us can afford such basics. Buy them from your monthly food budget allowance. The Church discourages going into debt to buy for storage.

Now that you know where you are and where you need to be, the third step is to work out a time schedule for when you will reach your goal. I suggest that one year from today we ought to have a year’s supply of food in all active—and many inactive—members’ homes in the Church. Where food storage violates the law of your land, then abide the law. However, even in those cases we can plant gardens and fruit trees and raise rabbits or chickens. Do all you can within the laws of your community, and the Lord will bless you when the time of need comes. Now here are some suggestions how:

1. Follow the prophet. He has counseled us to plant a garden and fruit trees. This year don’t just think about it—do it. Grow all the food you possibly can. Also remember to buy a year’s supply of garden seeds so that, in case of a shortage, you will have them for the following spring. I’m going to tell you where to get the money for all the things I’m going to suggest.

2. Find someone who sells large bulk of grains, depending on your locale. Make arrangements to buy a ton or so of grain.

3. Find someone who sells honey in large containers and make arrangements to buy what you can afford on a regular basis or buy a little additional sugar each time you go to the store.

4. Purchase dry milk from the store or dairy, on a systematic basis.

5. Buy a case of salt the next time you go to the store. In most areas, 24 one-pound packages will cost you less than $5.

6. Store enough water for each member of your family to last for at least two weeks.

Where the foods I mentioned are not available or are not basic in your culture or area, make appropriate substitutions.

Now you ask, “Where do I get the money for these things? I agree we need them, but I’m having a hard time making ends meet.”

Here is how you do it. Use any one or all of these suggestions, some of which may not be applicable in your country:

1. Decide as a family this year that 25 or 50 percent of your Christmas will be spent on a year’s supply. Many families in the Church spend considerable sums of money for Christmas. Half or part of these Christmas monies will go a long way toward purchasing the basics. I recall the Scotsman who went to the doctor and had an X-ray taken of his chest. Then he had the X-ray gift-wrapped and gave it to his wife for their anniversary. He couldn’t afford a gift, but he wanted her to know his heart was in the right place. Brethren, give your wife a year’s supply of wheat for Christmas, and she’ll know your heart is in the right place.

2. When you desire new clothes, don’t buy them. Repair and mend and make your present wardrobe last a few months longer. Use that money for the food basics. Make all of your nonfood necessities that you feasibly can, such as furniture and clothing.

3. Cut the amount of money you spend on recreation by 50 percent. Do fun things that do not require money outlay but make more lasting impressions on your children.

4. Decide as a family that there will be no vacation or holiday next year unless you have your year’s supply. Many Church members could buy a full year’s supply of the basics from what they would save by not taking a vacation. Take the vacation time and work on a family garden. Be together, and it can be just as much fun.

5. If you haven’t a year’s supply yet and you do have boats, snowmobiles, campers, or other luxury possessions, sell or trade one or two or more of them and get your year’s supply.

6. Watch advertised specials in the grocery stores and pick up extra supplies of those items that are of exceptional value.

7. Change the mix in your family’s diet. Get your protein from sources less expensive than meat. The grocery bill is one bill that can be cut. Every time you enter the store and feel tempted by effective and honest merchandising to buy cookies, candy, ice cream, non-food items, or magazines—don’t! Think carefully; buy only the essentials. Then figure what you have saved and spend it on powdered milk, sugar, honey, salt, or grain.

The Lord will make it possible, if we make a firm commitment, for every Latter-day Saint family to have a year’s supply of food reserves by April 1977. All we have to do is to decide, commit to do it, and then keep the commitment. Miracles will take place; the way will be opened, and next April we will have our storage areas filled. We will prove through our actions our willingness to follow our beloved prophet and the Brethren, which will bring security to us and our families.

Now regarding home production: Raise animals where means and local laws permit. Plant fruit trees, grapevines, berry bushes, and vegetables. You will provide food for your family, much of which can be eaten fresh. Other food you grow can be preserved and included as part of your home storage. Wherever possible, produce your nonfood necessities of life. Sew and mend your own clothing. Make or build needed items. I might also add, beautify, repair, and maintain all of your property.

Home production of food and nonfood items is a way to stretch your income and to increase your skills and talents. It is a way to teach your family to be self-sufficient. Our children are provided with much needed opportunities to learn the fundamentals of work, industry, and thrift. President Romney has said, “We will see the day when we will live on what we produce.” (Conference Reports, April 1975, p. 165.)

I should like to address a few remarks to those who ask, “Do I share with my neighbors who have not followed the counsel? And what about the nonmembers who do not have a year’s supply? Do we have to share with them?” No, we don’t have to share—we get to share! Let us not be concerned about silly thoughts of whether we would share or not. Of course we would share! What would Jesus do? I could not possibly eat food and see my neighbors starving. And if you starve to death after sharing, “greater love hath no man than this …” (John 15:13.)

Now what about those who would plunder and break in and take that which we have stored for our families’ needs? Don’t give this one more idle thought. There is a God in heaven whom we have obeyed. Do you suppose he would abandon those who have kept his commandments? He said, “If ye are prepared, ye need not fear.” (D&C 38:30.) Prepare, O men of Zion, and fear not. Let Zion put on her beautiful garments. Let us put on the full armor of God. Let us be pure in heart, love mercy, be just, and stand in holy places. Commit to have a year’s supply of food by April 1977.

Bishops and stake presidents, let us accept the challenge on behalf of the Saints in our wards and stakes. It will prove to be a very Christlike deed on your part. Follow through and check up one year from now and make certain we achieve results.

In his October 1973 conference address, President Ezra Taft Benson gave some excellent instructions about home storage:

“For the righteous the gospel provides a warning before a calamity, a program for the crises, a refuge for each disaster. …

“The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to prophets and stored at least a year’s supply of survival food. …

“Brethren and sisters, I know that this welfare program is inspired of God. I have witnessed with my own eyes the ravages of hunger and destitution as, under the direction of the president of the Church, I spent a year in war-torn Europe at the close of World War II, without my family, distributing food, clothing, and bedding to our needy members. I have looked into the sunken eyes of Saints, in almost the last stages of starvation. I have seen faithful mothers carrying their children, three and four years of age, who were unable to walk because of malnutrition. I have seen a hungry woman turn down food for a spool of thread. I have seen grown men weep as they ran their hands through the wheat and beans sent to them from Zion—America.

“Thanks be to God for a prophet, for this inspired program, and for Saints who so managed their stewardship that they could provide for their own and still share with others.” (“Prepare Ye,” Ensign, Jan. 1974, pp. 69, 81–82.)

I bear my humble witness to you that the great God of heaven will open doors and means in a way we never would have supposed to help all those who truly want to get their year’s supply. I know we will have time and money if we will commit and keep the commitment. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Desolating Sickness!?!

2010-08-11T13:19:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to point this out. I look for real world applications, and fulfillment of prophecy as much as I can. Not sure how many of you know about Superbugs, but they are a very up and coming thing.

See article here.

PARIS (AFP) – Plastic surgery patients have carried a new class of superbugs resistant to almost all antibiotics from South Asia to Britain and they could spread worldwide, researchers reported Wednesday.

Many hospital infections that were already difficult to treat have become even more impervious to drugs thanks to a recently discovered gene that can jump across different species of bacteria.

This so-called NDM-1 gene was first identified last year by Cardiff University's Timothy Walsh in two types of bacteria -- Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli -- in a Swedish patient admitted to hospital in India.

Worryingly, the new NDM-1 bacteria are resistant even to carbapenems, a group of antibiotics often reserved as a last resort for emergency treatment for multi-drug resistant bugs.

In the new study, led by Walsh and Madras University's Karthikeyan Kumarasamy, researchers set out to determine how common the NDM-1 producing bacteria were in South Asia and Britain, where several cases had turned up.

Checking hospital patients with suspect symptoms, they found 44 cases -- 1.5 percent of those screened -- in Chennai, and 26 (eight percent) in Haryana, both in India.

They likewise found the superbug in Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well 37 cases in Britain, where several patients had recently travelled to India or Pakistan for cosmetic surgery.

"India also provides cosmetic surgery for other Europeans and Americans, and it is likely that NDM-1 will spread worldwide," said the study, published in the British medical journal The Lancet.

NDM-1 was mostly found in E. coli, a common source of community-acquired urinary tract infections, and K. pneumoniae, and was impervious to all antibiotics except two, tigecycline and colistin.

In some cases, even these drugs did not beat back the infection.

Crucially, the NDM-1 gene was found on DNA structures, called plasmids, that can be easily copied and transferred between bacteria, giving the bug "an alarming potential to spread and diversify," the authors said.

"Unprecedented air travel and migration allow bacterial plasmids and clones to be transported rapidly between countries and continents," mostly undetected, they said.

The emergence of these new drug-resistant strains could become a serious global public health problem as the major threat shifts toward a broad class of bacteria -- including those armed with the NDM-1 gene -- known as "Gram-negative", the researchers warn.

"There are few new anti-Gram-negative antibiotics in development, and none that are effective against NDM-1," the study said.

NDM-1 stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1.

Johann Pitout from the University of Calgary in Canada said patients who have medical procedures in India should be screened for multi-resistant bacteria before they receive care in their home country.

And then consider D&C 45 (31).

And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.

We The People!!! So What???

2010-08-03T22:44:00.002-06:00

By Greg Evensen

July 31, 2010
NewsWithViews.com
Here

I have just returned from a 2700 mile, ten day speaking tour in the mid-west. The mood of the country is far worse than you have heard. The level of anxiety about the direction and agenda of the federal government and the abject level of crises that most of the states are in is beyond comprehension.

Career jobs and decent paying employment is gone. Forced accumulation of debt through inflation and taxes is rampant. Lack of nourishment because of GMO vegetables and GMO corn fed livestock is managed by the addiction to hundreds of “miracle” pharmaceuticals that play an endless game of downward spiraling levels of health issues for the majority of America’s people.

Ultra liberal Universities crank out graduates in degree fields that are no longer viable but it doesn’t matter, primarily due to the fact that these degrees can’t prove that the people holding them can perform their role without retraining during their first year of work.

The nation is broke, it is beyond financial correction. Industry is dead, the malls are bankrupt and farms are churning out these GMO crops that may have all of us looking like lightening bugs in another generation or so.

Having delayed, dodged and subverted a simple process to prove citizenship, Barack Obama ruins this nation as an illegal alien. He and his entire government are practiced liars, deceivers and socialists running interference for anti-white, black hate groups who would cheer for weeks if whites died by the train loads leaving America looking more and more like Zimbabwe. You can’t find five guilt ridden whites who will admit they voted for this Muslim, black radical, republic killing, Mamba snake currently in human form.

Let me tell you what concerned, active, constitutional supporting men and women from all walks of life have said, are saying, and are just an inch from going wild turkey all over anybody who tries to tell them what they can no longer do, say, or believe in.

Listen VERY carefully. If you are La Raza, border crashing drug smugglers, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU, ACORN, the New Black Panther Party, UN supporters, Jihadist warring Islamic Clerics, communists, socialists, radical Christian hating sodomites, or others who practice black arts, your day of influence and the twisting of morality, history, and the destiny of this nation, are mere moments from an encounter with Americans who will stand and deal with your subversion. That day of reckoning is at hand.

As the saying goes, this in not a threat, but an absolute promise. The government may continue its purposeful indifference toward the enemies who have invaded and killed along our border, but ranchers, farmers, and dedicated able bodied-veterans who have already put it on the line somewhere else, are ready, willing and VERY able to do it again right here.

Thousands have told me openly and without hesitation that we will lose this nation, its honorable history, (yes, we have some) our children’s destiny, and peaceful security if we do not ACT and resist this invasion. Could I be any more clear? Sure, try and elect people of principal, courage and integrity at all levels. I hope you succeed. Tell “world culturally sensitive” judges to honor, obey, and defend OUR constitution and its unfettered jury system or else you will be retired from the bench by the people. Solicit citizen supporting police officers and departments who will tell Janet “No-Nothing” Napolitano, to go to Hell, so peace officers can continue their work for their real boss, the people. Order Congress to do the will of the people or there will be one final march on Washington they will never forget. Then, when arrogance and corruption as usual continues, let the games begin.

We have been given no choice. The illegitimate government of the United States has engineered this situation. Just like cattle, we have been herded into the chutes that will march us on board the trains to the slaughter houses, established and very real.

Let me say this one more time for the record. The war on this republic began several generations ago in earnest. It was really underway at the time of the independence movement and the actual conflict with Great Britain. It coincided perfectly with Adam Weishaupt’s efforts to bring the colonial leadership into a secret marriage with the earliest version of the Illuminati’s American effort. This, along with the Masonic Order’s influence and participation, sealed the deal that would guide our nation to its head-on collision between a truly free republic and a compromised, sold-out to world order influences all the way through to the current communistic cabal in Washington that is driving the train off the cliff.

Place the blame at the feet of the Federal Reserve, the greater banking establishment, the corrupted industrial giants who have left America, the military complex protecting the drug trade in Afghanistan, the ongoing Israeli driven debacle in the middle east, and the planned, intentional, deliberate, encouraged by Washington invasion of our southwest, and you have enough poisons in the vat to kill off the entire nation. THAT IS THE PLAN! That is Phase One of the final installment in the destruction of sovereign America and her population.

Phase Two has been the ongoing manipulation of history, lies about the sacred unfolding of our destiny by truly free people through the national educational system. The goals and programs established through communist ideologues like John Dewey and the current cabal at the National Education Association have insured that our past three or four generations have learned less and less while being propagandized more and more through the Federal Department of Education and its current “Czar” from Chicago’s failed school system. You see, taken alone or as a whole, these issues that I have listed are more than enough to conclude overwhelmingly, that a REAL war is being waged on America from within and without. The players have been and continue to be elected and appointed political figures groomed, promoted, and installed by the “established” powers that are descendants of the Founder’s generation and are the wolves chasing the sheep toward their slaughter.

Phase Three has been the ongoing integration of the two major political parties into an amalgamation of really just one party, the party of the elite and their world masters. The best that can be said for the current make-up of Washington’s legislators is that they are blinded egomaniacs with not a moral or honest bone in their bodies. More accurately, they are the embodiment of a creeping evil that has no end, that is, until all are enslaved and defeated on a world wide level. That is the real end game. It has no compromise zone with freedom. It cannot have anything but complete victory over liberty and an independent people. Once people AWAKEN from their drug induced, pornography ridden, anything goes morality zone, they understand what they have already lost and become a formidable enemy to the new world order cabal. It does not necessarily take just physical weapons to defeat and enemy on the field of battle, (although it may indeed require that), it takes overwhelming numbers within the most critical “systems” (judicial, political military, industrial, banking, etc.) to achieve victory. That is why our enemy has been so successful over so many years. They have patiently infiltrated our universities, governments at the federal and state level, the military and police networks, the media, and most of the productive infrastructure in America over 150 years.

Saturation has now become reality and we are faced with too much water in the boat and not enough buckets or hands to remove it. Although I support the efforts of solid folks trying through the Tea Party movement, other constitutional supporters in the state militias, and people who are in the streets trying to change the Obama “false changers” takeover of America, the task is virtually impossible. When these efforts fall short this time around as well, we will see the lid come off this country’s anger at those who have created this situation and it will be unstoppable. But then, YOU are the enemy according to the government, the NAACP and the media.

When a storm approaches, you prepare to ride it out. Nature and nature’s God has instilled that in many of us. Being caught out in the midst of a raging thunderstorm with no shelter is an event that you would never repeat. Your eyes would be on the sky and your thoughts way ahead of your actions. Our current situation is exactly like that, except we have done even less than the unprepared caught without shelter and are facing a raging tornado in an open field.

You do understand that the war is on and was started by the government, right? You do realize that you are neatly catalogued by the government’s security agencies profiling (thought that was illegal) you as to your entire standing (personal history) in society and what “lists” you are on. Have you acknowledged that the time is at hand for you to decide whether you are going along with the future that has been charted for you by these luciferians, or you will chart your own destiny? Quit wasting time on people who argue with you.

People work with me daily to formulate their own personal plans for survival. They do so out of fear and anxiety, that if they do plan, they might fail, and if they don’t plan they certainly will fail. I will take implementing the successful plan any day. We get you a long way down that road with the planning documents that may just give you the victory (www.theheartlandusa.com).

I pray that we can get through this. The republic is gone, friends. We need to rebuild a new one without the agendas that were built in to the original one. If we succeed, that is our secular, renewed national future. However, please build your lives on the hope found in your personal relationship with God and His son, Jesus.

Everything in this world, no matter how well built, is scheduled for destruction at some point in time. Rebuilding and planning for a positive, promising future is a worthy goal. But let’s always remember that when the door on this life closes, the door to the next opens. Ultimately, “our hope is built on nothing less that Jesus blood and righteousness.” That alone, is great hope. It is worthy of our efforts to become a part of, and in the end, it is all that matters. Keep on keepin’ on, dear friends. Wherever this journey leads, I want to be there with you…….meet you on the village green. It is way past time to slay the beast.

More Primer!!!

2010-08-01T22:58:00.004-06:00

Alrighty then! Here is some more primer to inspire you to prepare a lot and now!!! Please stop deluding yourself into thinking that things are going to somehow be OK.

http://thetruthwins.com/

Most Americans still appear to be operating under the delusion that the "recession" will soon pass and that things will get back to "normal" very soon. Unfortunately, that is not anywhere close to the truth. What we are now witnessing are the early stages of the complete and total breakdown of the U.S. economic system. The U.S. government, state governments, local governments, businesses and American consumers have collectively piled up debt that is equivalent to approximately 360 percent of GDP. At no point during the Great Depression (or at any other time during our history) did we ever come close to such a figure. We have piled up the biggest mountain of debt that the world has ever seen, and now that gigantic debt bubble is beginning to pop. As this house of cards comes crashing down, the economic pain is going to become almost unimaginable.
Already, things are really, really, really bad out there. Unemployment is at shockingly high levels. Foreclosures and personal bankruptcies continue to set new all-time records. Businesses are being shut down at a staggering rate, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. government continues to pile up debt at blinding speed.
There is no use sugar-coating it.
The U.S. economy is collapsing.
The following are 40 bizarre statistics that reveal the truth about the collapse of the U.S. economy....
1 - According to one shocking new survey, 28% of U.S. households have at least one member that is looking for a full-time job.
2 - A recent Pew Research survey found that 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the recession began.
3 - There are 9.2 million Americans that are unemployed but that are not receiving an unemployment insurance check.
4 - In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
5 - According to one analysis, the United States has lost 10.5 million jobs since 2007.
6 - China's trade surplus (much of it with the United States) climbed 140 percent in June compared to a year earlier.
7 - This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
8 - According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck. That was up significantly from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
9 - According to a recent poll conducted by Bloomberg, 71% of Americans say that it still feels like the economy is in a recession.
10 - Banks repossessed 269,962 U.S. homes during the second quarter of 2010, which was a new all-time record.
11 - Banks repossessed an average of 4,000 South Florida properties a month in the first half of 2010, up 83 percent from the first half of 2009.
12 - According to RealtyTrac, a total of 1.65 million U.S. properties received foreclosure filings during the first half of 2010.
13 - The Mortgage Bankers Association recently announced that demand for loans to purchase U.S. homes has sunk to a 13-year low.
14 - Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
15 - 1.41 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 - a 32 percent increase over 2008.
16 - Back in 1950 each retiree's Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 workers. Today, each retiree's Social Security benefit is paid for by approximately 3.3 workers. By 2025 it is projected that there will be approximately two workers for each retiree.
17 - According to a new poll, six of 10 non-retirees believe that Social Security won't be able to pay them benefits when they stop working.
18 - 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
19 - According to one survey, 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
20 - According to one recent survey, 24% of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
21 - The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined sharply to 52.9 in June. Most economists had expected that the figure for June would be somewhere around 62.
22 - Retail sales in the U.S. fell in June for a second month in a row.
23 - Vacancies and lease rates at U.S. shopping centers continued to get worse during the second quarter of 2010.
24 - Consumer credit in the United States has contracted during 15 of the past 16 months.
25 - During the first quarter of 2010, the total number of loans that are at least three months past due in the United States increased for the 16th consecutive quarter.
26 - Things are now so bad in California that in the region around the state capital, Sacramento, there is now one closed business for every six that are still open.
27 - The state of Illinois now ranks eighth in the world in possible bond-holder default. The state of California is ninth.
28 - More than 25 percent of Americans now have a credit score below 599, which means that they are a very bad credit risk.
29 - On Friday, U.S. regulators closed down three banks in Florida, two in South Carolina and one in Michigan, bringing to 96 the number of U.S. banks to be shut down so far in 2010.
30 - The FDIC's deposit insurance fund now has negative 20.7 billion dollars in it, which represents a slight improvement from the end of 2009.
31 - The U.S. federal budget deficit has topped $1 trillion with three months still to go in the current budget year.
32 - According to a U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015.
33 - The M3 money supply plunged at a 9.6 percent annual rate during the first quarter of 2010.
34 - According to a new poll of Americans between the ages of 44 and 75, 61% said that running out money was their biggest fear. The remaining 39% thought death was scarier.
35 - One study found that as of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
36 - The bottom 40 percent of all income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
37 - The number of Americans with incomes below the official poverty line rose by about 15% between 2000 and 2006, and by 2008 over 30 million U.S. workers were earning less than $10 per hour.
38 - According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
39 - For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
40 - A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey has found that just 23% of American voters nationwide believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed.

Antibiotics...For Fish???

2010-07-30T10:33:00.003-06:00

Good article on antibiotics, found here.

A Doctor's Thoughts on Antibiotics, Expiration Dates, and TEOTWAWKI, by Dr. Bones

By James Wesley, Rawles on July 26, 2010 9:59 PM

As a recently-retired physician who is married to a nurse-midwife, my preparedness group looks to us as the post-TEOTWAWKI hospital and medical staff. Medical progress has been exponential and even just the last decade of scientific breakthroughs can equal a century of improvement in medical treatments, surgical techniques and pharmaceuticals. However, in the years (months?) ahead, the crumbling of the infrastructure and devolution of society in general will very likely throw us back to a medical system that existed in the 19th Century.

Let’s take an example: When the U.S. was a young nation, the average woman could expect to be pregnant 10-12 times during her reproductive lifetime (no reliable means of birth control). One out of four women would not survive the pregnancy, either from issues relating to blood loss from miscarriage or childbirth or Infection (no antibiotics) following same. A myriad of other complications occurred which are treatable today but weren’t back then. I collect old medical books, and even relatively modern obstetric textbooks devoted entire chapters on how to crush a fetus’ skull in order to expedite its removal from a critically ill mother, with instruments that clearly had no other purpose. When childbirth was successful, she could expect perhaps 3-4 of her children to survive to become adults, on average, with many minor children succumbing to simple infections that had no known effective treatment at the time.

This is the grim reality that we, in modern times, will face when the inevitable happens and current medical technology and treatments are unavailable to us.

There is an interesting post-TEOTWAWKI series by History Channel called “After Armageddon” which can be viewed on YouTube. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t appear on History Channel’s list of shows). In it, a family seeks refuge in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event. The father of the family, who is a trained EMT, falls sick and dies from a simply cut on his hand because the antibiotics ran out. It shows that the lack of accumulated stores of antibiotics could mean a shortened life span for even the most prepared individual.

Given the new situation that we will have thrust upon us, it behooves every aware individual to begin to stockpile medications that will be needed in the future, and to become trained one way or another in basic and disaster first aid. Even if your group has a designated “medic”, you have an obligation to be able to handle medical issues in a catastrophic scenario for the sake of your group and your family. Just as the designated “medic” should be trained to handle security issues and should accumulate food and other supplies, so should you accumulate medications and medical supplies. Cross-training is essential for when the medic needs a medic!
Accumulating medications may be simple when it comes to procuring aspirin and other non-prescription drugs but may be problematic for those who cannot write their own prescriptions or don’t have a relationship with a physician who can. I would like to focus on the issue of procurement of antibiotics for the treatment of infection in this essay, as there are already a number of good essays on this site that discusses various aspects of medical care in the post-SHTF era. I heartily recommend that everyone read these in detail.

For all intents and purposes, it is highly unlikely that even basic antibiotics like Penicillin will be actively manufactured in an apocalyptic scenario due to the complexities in said manufacture. Those who say, “it’s just bread mold” are naïve if they think just making prepper bread and letting it sit will produce anything That would cure an infection (penicillin is actually made from liquid that the mold produces under certain man-made conditions. And, no, Ginger Root and other “home antibiotics” probably won’t either.

The reason that I consider this a major issue is that there will be a much larger incidence of infection when people start to fend for themselves, and injure themselves as a result. Simple cuts and scratches from chopping wood can begin to show infection, in the form of redness, heat and swelling, within a relatively short time. Treatment of infections at an early stage improves the chance that they will heal quickly and completely. However, many preppers, being the rugged folk that they are, are most likely to ignore the problem until it gets much worse and spreads to their entire body, causing fever and other systemic problems that could eventually be fatal. Have antibiotics already on hand in their retreat would allow them to deal with the issue until medical help (if available at all) arrives.

Now, what I am about to tell you is contrary to standard medical practice, and is a strategy that is best used in the event of societal collapse that causes the unavailability of conventional medical care for extended periods of time. This line of thought that I am presenting is that “sumpthin” is better than “nuttin” and is not meant to serve as official medical advice for any circumstance but a catastrophic breakdown of our infrastructure and ability of our country to provide medical care for its citizens. If there is modern medical care available to you, seek it out.

Small amounts of medications such as antibiotics could be procured by anyone who is willing to tell their physician that they are going out of the country and would like to avoid “Montezuma’s Revenge”. Ask them for Tamiflu for viral illness and Z-packs, Amoxicillin or Keflex for bacterial diarrhea. Stockpiling of these antibiotics is more of a problem. After searching far and wide, I have come across the best option for the prepper: Aquarium Fish antibiotics.

For evaluation purposes (and because I am an aquarium hobbyist), I decided to purchase online a variety of these products and found them to be identical (unlike some Dog and Cat medications) to those used to treat humans with a doctor’s prescription. I was able to purchase them without any demand for medical licensure, etc. The drugs are listed below and the bottles list the antibiotic as the sole ingredient. They are:

•FISH-MOX (amoxicillin 250mg)
•FISH_MOX FORTE (amoxicillin 500mg)
•FISH-CILLIN (ampicillin 250mg)
•FISH-FLEX Keflex 250mg)
•FISH-FLEX FORTE (Keflex 500mg)
•FISH-ZOLE (metronidazole 250mg)
•FISH-PEN (penicillin 250mg)
•FISH-PEN FORTE (penicillin 500mg)
•FISH-CYCLINE (tetracycline 250mg)

These medications are available usually in plastic bottles of 100 tablets for much less than the same prescription medication at the pharmacy (some come in bottles of 30 tablets). The dosages are similar to that used in humans, and are taken two to four times a day, depending on the drug. The 500mg dosage is probably more effective in larger individuals. Of course, anyone could be allergic to one or another of these antibiotics, but not all of them. (Note that there is a 10% cross-reactivity between "-cillin" drugs and Keflex, meaning that, if you are allergic to Penicillin, you could also be allergic to Keflex). FISH-ZOLE is an antibiotic that also kills some protozoa that cause dysentery.

NOTE: It should be emphasized that FISH-CYCLINE [and other tetracycline antibiotics of various names] can become toxic after its expiration date, unlike most of the other medications listed. So consider acquiring the other ones listed, first.

Which brings me to a question that I am asked quite often and to which my answer is, again, contrary to standard medical recommendations but appropriate in a post-TEOTWAWKI environment where no medical care is otherwise available. The question is: What happens when the medications I stockpiled pass their expiration date?

Since 1979, pharmaceutical companies have been required to place expiration dates on all medications. Officially, this is the last day that the company will certify that their drug is at full potency. Some people take this to mean that the medicine in question is useless or in some way harmful after that date. With few exceptions (tetracycline being one previously mentioned), this is what I delicately term as “a bunch of hooey”!

Studies performed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that 90% of medications tested were perfectly fine to use 8-to-15 years after the expiration date. There was apparently no danger in the grand majority of cases. The FDA tested more than 100 medications, both prescription and non-prescription, and continues to study the issue today. The exceptions were mostly in liquid form (antibiotics included, but also insulin, nitroglycerine and some others). What is true is that the potency of an antibiotic could possibly decrease over time, so it is important that your medication cache is in a cool, dry place if at all possible. Refrigeration is an excellent method to maintain the full potency of many drugs.

Many people gauge their preparedness on the number of full ammo boxes in their closet. I’ve got them too. However, preparedness doesn’t mean going out in a blaze of glory; it means going on, in the best health and condition, to re-establish a peaceful and productive society. Every prepper should have antibiotics as part of their medical supplies. They’re available, they’re cheap and they could save your life.

Your Last Shopping Trip?

2010-07-30T10:24:00.003-06:00

Great post by my friend and food storage guru Stephen Nix. Found here.

I am often asked by people..."How long do you think things will go on before we're living in the wild west again?" Speaking of societal collapse in the US.

The answer is..."Every day that passes...I am amazed that it hasn't already happened"! It has been absolutely incredible that we have made it the last few years without a major disaster...manmade or otherwise to send us reeling back into the dark ages. One could look at our economic ails...terrorist threats...illegal alien problems...natural disasters...mettlesome foreign policy...wickedness...growing welfare state...poor crop yields...drought...corrupt governments...etc...and make a case that any one of them could cripple this country...and yet we have many of them reaching their ebullition seemingly at the same time!

Along these same lines...every time I step into a grocery store I think to myself..."I wonder if this is the last time I will be able to purchase food and supplies before the collapse?"

With this mindset I really...really question every purchase...making sure that every red cent goes to putting up more sustaining food and needed supplies for my family...as opposed to being frittered away on useless garbage.

This has prompted the purchasing of extra apple sauce...toilet paper...and so forth.

Just a thought for you. If you knew that when you go to the grocery store tomorrow...that it would be your last time to stock up on food and supplies for an undetermined amount of time...what would you be buying? Would it just be business as usual? What items would be dropped from your list?

I am not recommending "going to extremes" or getting into debt for food storage or anything like that. I just want for people to have a reality check about the precariousness of our current situation...and to truly make use of the means that are currently available...that may not be for long.

How can I help the sisters better prepare???

2010-07-30T10:21:00.003-06:00

Here is a good conversation about storage and preparedness from a forum I frequent sometimes.

http://www.ldsfreedomforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=13260

And here is an interesting leaked report of the "elites" plans to basically have us be enslaved to them. Does that sound like anything familiar???

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6674234/Citigroup-Oct-16-2005-Plutonomy-Report-Part-1

Church Welfare Services’ Basic Principles

2010-06-11T17:35:00.004-06:00

Very good Ensign article from years back found here that I feel communicates excellent some very important principles.

Marion G. Romney, “Church Welfare Services’ Basic Principles,” Ensign, May 1976, 120

Brothers and sisters, I have in mind to discuss with you two basic, fundamental principles upon which the Church Welfare Services are founded which we should never forget. They are: first, love—love of God and neighbor—and second, work.

Before doing so, however, I desire to say a word or two about agency.

Free agency means the freedom and power to choose and act. Next to life itself, it is man’s most precious inheritance.

Free agency was operative in the spirit world. The gospel plan, as there proposed and adopted, provided that men should enjoy agency in mortality. Satan, with a third of the hosts of heaven, fought it there and lost, but they did not give up their opposition to the principle.

In the Garden of Eden, God endowed Adam and his posterity with free agency. Satan and his followers have, from then until now, sought directly and in every conceivable indirect manner to substitute the principle of force for the principle of free agency.

In the book of First Samuel, we have an instructive example of the results of making wrong decisions. In the first chapter we are told that Israel objected to being governed by judges. They wanted a king. The prophet told them that a king would make them servants. But they hearkened not, and persisted in demanding a king. This grieved Samuel, and the Lord said to him, “Hearken unto the voice of the people … for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.” (1 Sam. 8:7.)

Israel thus surrendered the form of free government God had given them. They got their king all right, and a few decades later they were taken captive into slavery. Slavery entered into by one’s own choice is no less slavery than that imposed upon him by external force.

Jesus, by the exercise of his agency, rose to be the second member of the Godhead. Lucifer, by the exercise of his agency, sank to Hades.

I suggest we consider what has happened to our agency with respect to contributing to the means used by the bureaucracy in administering government welfare services.

In order to obtain these means, one head of state is quoted as saying, “We’re going to take all the money we think is unnecessarily being spent and take it from the ‘haves’ and give to the ‘have nots’ that need it so much.” (Congressional Record, 1964, p. 6142—Remarks of the President to a Group of Leaders of Organizations of Senior Citizens in the Fish Room, Mar. 24, 1964.)

The difference between having the means with which to administer welfare assistance taken from us and voluntarily contributing it out of our love of God and fellowman is the difference between freedom and slavery.

Now as to the principle of love. In the operation of our Church Welfare Services, such love is to be the motivating power which moves us to give our time, money, and services.

“Let us love one another,” wrote John the Beloved, “for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. …

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” (1 Jn. 4:7–9, 11.)

“Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” (1 Jn. 3:17; italics added.)

“If thou lovest me,” said Jesus, “… thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support. …

“And inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me.” (D&C 42:29–31.)

When Jesus was asked, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Matthew says that he answered:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

“This is the first and great commandment.

“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:36–40.)

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all three report this incident. Luke, however, further informs us that the lawyer who put the question said further, “And who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:29.)

And Jesus responded with his Good Samaritan parable:

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

“And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

“And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

“And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

“And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

“And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” (Luke 10:30–37.)

Two of the three principles upon which the Church Welfare Services must function—agency and love of neighbor—are admirably taught in this parable.

When we love the Lord our God with all our hearts, might, and strength, we will love our brothers as ourselves, and we will voluntarily, in the exercise of our free agency, impart of our substance for their support.

Now about work. Work is just as important to the success of our welfare services as are the first and second great commandments and the preservation of our free agency.

We must ever keep in mind that the First Presidency, in announcing the welfare program in the October 1936 conference, said:

“Our primary purpose was to set up, in so far as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership.” (Conference Report, Oct. 1936, p. 3; italics added.)

A year before this statement was made, on October 7, 1935, President Clark, in a special priesthood meeting held in this tabernacle, referring to government gratuities, said:

“The dispensing of these great quantities of gratuities has produced in the minds of hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of people in the United States a love for idleness, a feeling that the world owes them a living. It has made a breeding ground for some of the most destructive political doctrines that have ever found any hold in this country of ours, and I think it may lead us into serious political trouble.

“I fear,” he continued, “we need not be surprised if some blood shall run before we of this nation finally find ourselves.”

In his conference address of April 1938, President Clark said this:

“I honor and respect old age. I would not see it suffer from want, not from disease that can be helped. It is entitled to every care, to every act of kindness, to every loving caress which a grateful community and a devoted family can give. “I have every sympathy with age. I know the difficulties which age has in fitting into modern, economic life. …

“Some plan must be devised that shall make certain that no aged person shall be cold or go hungry or unclad. But the prime responsibility for supporting an aged parent rests upon his family, not upon society. Ours is not a socialistic or communistic state, where the people are mere vassals to be driven about as animals from one corral to another. We are freemen. So still with us the family has its place and its responsibilities and duties, which are God-given. The family which refuses to keep its own is not meeting its duties. When an aged parent has no family or when the family is itself without means, then society must, as a matter of merest humanity, come to the rescue. This is perfectly clear.

“But it is a far cry from this wise principle to saying that every person reaching a fixed age shall thereafter be kept by the state in idleness. Society owes to no man a life of idleness, no matter what his age. I have never seen one line in Holy Writ that calls for, or even sanctions this. In the past no free society has been able to support great groups in idleness and live free.” (CR, Apr. 1938, pp. 106–7.)

And I’ll say to you that no society in the future will ever be able to do so.

And in a private letter five years later, President Clark wrote:

“You must remember that back and behind this whole propaganda of ‘pensions’, gratuities, and doles to which we are now being subjected, is the idea of setting up in America, a socialistic or communistic state, in which the family would disappear, religion would be prescribed and controlled by the state, and we should all become mere creatures of the state, ruled over by ambitious and designing men.”

What has happened during the third of a century since this statement was made testifies to President Clark’s prophetic insight.

Prayer in schools has been dealt a fatal blow. The integrity of the family is being undermined. Unemployment compensation, Medicaid, aid to families with dependent children (AFDC), food stamps, and hundreds of other transfer-payment programs for veterans, widows or widowers, and children are today all supported, totally or in part, by federal and state/local tax revenue.

Little is said or done in these programs about the obligation of parents to care for their own or of recipients to work for what they receive.

The Lord, in the revelations given during the Restoration, and the presidents of the Church since then, have unequivocally and repeatedly declared that our welfare services are to be founded on love and on work.

The Lord said in the revelation recorded in section 42 of the Doctrine and Covenants, specified by the Prophet Joseph as being the law of the Church:

“Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer.” (D&C 42:42.)

Later He said:

“And the inhabitants of Zion also shall remember their labors, inasmuch as they are appointed to labor, in all faithfulness; for the idler shall be had in remembrance before the Lord.

“Now, I, the Lord, am not well pleased,” he continued, “with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness; they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness.

“These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them.” (D&C 68:30–32.)

And again:

“Behold, I say unto you that it is my will that you should go forth and not tarry, neither be idle but labor with your might. …

“And again, verily I say unto you, that every man who is obliged to provide for his own family, let him provide, and he shall in nowise lose his crown; and let him labor. …

“Let every man be diligent in all things. And the idler shall not have place in the church, except he repent and mend his ways.” (D&C 75:3, 28–29.)

As frequently as the Lord condemned idleness, he spoke of the virtue of labor. The day the Church was organized, he said, “I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard with a mighty blessing.” (D&C 21:9.) Nine months later he added:

“I give unto you a commandment, that every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member, go to with his might, with the labor of his hands, to prepare and accomplish the things which I have commanded.” (D&C 38:40.)

Concerning one who would obtain an interest in the Nauvoo House, the Lord said: “Let him … labor with his own hands that he may obtain the confidence of men.” (D&C 124:112.)

The following is a great scripture in which the Lord speaks to both givers and receivers:

“Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of indignation: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved!

“Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite, and whose bellies are not satisfied, and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men’s goods, whose eyes are full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own hands!

“But blessed are the poor who are pure in heart, whose hearts are broken, and whose spirits are contrite.” (D&C 56:16–18.)

On the subject of work there are more than 100 references in the revelations. All of them are consistent with the declaration, twice repeated, that when the Lord comes he will “recompense unto every man according to his work.” (D&C 1:10; see also D&C 112:34.)

The foregoing scriptures were revealed by the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.

The succeeding presidents of the Church have vigorously emphasized these teachings. Here is an example from President Brigham Young’s teachings:

“We will have to go to work and get the gold out of the mountains to lay down, if we ever walk in streets paved with gold. The angels that now walk in their golden streets … had to obtain that gold and put it there. When we have streets paved with gold, we will have placed it there ourselves. When we enjoy a Zion in its beauty and glory [which we’re looking forward to], it will be when we have built it. If we enjoy the Zion that we now anticipate, it will be after we redeem and prepare it. If we live in the city of the New Jerusalem, it will be because we lay the foundation and build it. … If we are to be saved in an ark, as Noah and his family were, it will be because we build it. …

“My faith does not lead me,” President Young continued, “to think the Lord will provide us with roast pigs, bread already buttered, etc.; he will give us the ability to raise the grain, to obtain the fruits of the earth, to make habitations, to procure a few boards to make a box, and when harvest comes, giving us the grain, it is for us to preserve it—to save the wheat until we have one, two, five, or seven years’ provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety. … [The fulfillment of that prophecy is yet in the future.]

“Ye Latter-day Saints, learn to sustain yourselves. …

“Implied faith and confidence in God is for you and me to do everything we can to sustain and preserve ourselves. …

“You have learned a good deal, it is true; but learn more; learn to sustain yourselves; lay up grain and flour, and save it against a day of scarcity. …

“Instead of searching after what the Lord is going to do for us, let us inquire what we can do for ourselves.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, Deseret Book, 1966 ed., pp. 291–93.)

“To be Latter-day Saints men and women must be thinkers and workers,” said President Joseph F. Smith. “They must be men and women who weigh matters in their minds; men and women who consider carefully their course of life and the principles that they have espoused.” (Gospel Doctrine, Deseret Book, 1939 ed., p. 114.)

President Grant declared:

“I am a firm believer that work does not kill anyone. …

“I have never seen the day when I was not willing to do the meanest work … rather than be idle. …

“Men should have a pride in doing their full share and never want to be paid for that which they have not earned. …

“I assert with confidence that the law of success, here and hereafter, is to have a humble and a prayerful heart, and to work, work, WORK. …

“I do not ask any man or child in this Church, although I am more than eighty years of age,” he continued, “to work any more hours than I do. I have worked more than one day from half past three in the morning until nine o’clock at night. I do not know of anything that destroys a person’s health more quickly than not working. It seems to me that lazy people die young while those who are ready and willing to labor and who ask the Lord day by day to help them to do more in the future than they have ever done in the past, are the people whom the Lord loves, and who live to a good old age. …

“I have been impressed with the fact that there is a spirit growing in the world today to avoid giving service, an unwillingness to give value received, to try to see how little we can do and how much we can get for doing it. This is all wrong. Our spirit and aim should be to do all we possibly can, in a given length of time, for the benefit of those who employ us and for the benefit of those with whom we are associated.

“The other spirit—to get all we can, and give as little as possible in return—is contrary to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not right to desire something for which we do not give service or value received. That idea is all wrong, and it is only a question of time when the sheep and the goats will be separated.” (Gospel Standards, Improvement Era Pub., 1941, pp. 108, 109, 182–84.)

A statement which focuses upon and gives real meaning to what we have been talking about here is the following “Editorial on Labor,” written and published by John Taylor in Nauvoo, October 15, 1844. I just found this recently, and I think it’s a marvelous statement. This was way back there just after the Prophet had been martyred. It reads:

“Labor is the manufacturer of wealth. It was ordained of God, as the medium to be used by man to obtain his living [italics added]: hence it is the universal condition of this great bond to live. …

“God never meant to bemean his creation, especially his own image, because they had to labor:—no; never; God himself according to the good old book labored on this world, six days; and when Adam was animated from clay to life, by his spirit’s making use of him for a dwelling, we read that God put him into the garden to dress it:—Therefore, in connection with the samples of all holy men, we are bound to honor the laboring man: and despise the idler. …

“Let them labor like men, prepare for that august hour; when Babylon and all her worldly wisdom; her various delicacies; and delusive fashions, shall fall with her to rise and trouble the earth no more!” Then he said, “What a glorious prospect, to think that drunken Babylon, the great city of sin, will soon cease, and the kingdom of God rise in holy splendor, upon her ashes, and the people serve God in a perpetual union!” (Times and Seasons 5:679, Oct. 15, 1844.)

Now, my brothers and sisters, the handwriting is on the wall; “the interpretation thereof [is] sure.” (Dan. 2:45.) Both history and prophecy—and I may add, common sense—bear witness to the fact that no civilization can long endure which follows the course charted by bemused manipulators and now being implemented as government welfare programs all around the world.

Babylon shall be destroyed, and great shall be the fall thereof. (See D&C 1:16.)

But do not be discouraged. Zion will not go down with her, because Zion shall be built on the principles of love of God and fellowman, work, and earnest labor, as God has directed.

Remember that Enoch’s Zion was built in a day when wickedness was as rampant as it is among us today. Among those who rejected the word of God in that day “there were wars and bloodshed”; they were ripening in that iniquity which brought the flood. “But the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness. … because they were of one heart and one mind, … and there was no poor among them.” (Moses 7:16, 18.)

As we prepare for the building of Zion, we must not and we shall not abandon the basic principles upon which our Church Welfare Services are founded: love—love of God and neighbor—and work, or labor.

We shall persevere by helping people to help themselves until “the curse of idleness [is] done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self respect [are] once more established amongst our people.”

This is my witness, which I bear to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thoughts!

2010-06-05T12:00:00.004-06:00

I'm going to go off a little here on some things that have been bothering me. An acquaintance posted some things that I am leveraging that summarize some of what I feel. Hope it at least inspires some people.

Mormons are supposed to love light and truth. They are supposed to seek it and consume and internalize it, even if it is "at odds" with cultural belief. If this generation is to qualify for the blessings which its predecessors missed, like building the New Jerusalem, it must rise above the others. It must improve, ("Raise the Bar" if you will).

Do we forget our baptismal covenant to bear one another's burdens? Yet there is often little help among the body of the Church, from those well-equipped to help. Sometimes difficult to even find an acknowledgement, like "thanks but no thanks". Do you think the generation that builds Zion, a generation of Saints among whom there will be no poor, will have this attitude?

The Book of Mormon is absolutely full of examples of the Lord's righteous use for riches.

President Monson's most consistent plea the last several conferences has been for the Saints to bear one another up, to help each other. I might say that's the most consistent admonition of apostles generally. Yet true Christlike sacrifice, service and help seems few and far between.

Perhaps we have been far too blessed for far too long?

But none of them come under condemnation among the general rank and file of the Church. As long as the rejection of the gospel is done for the sake of worldly comfort or compatibility with cultural ideals and other doctrines of men, you are excused by your fellow Saints. However, if you preach the fullness of the law and the Gospel, as taught in the scriptures, as taught by the prophets, (before we as "saints" were too wicked to warrant any deeper doctrine) etc., you are then ostracized, outcast, and condemned.

Does this remind you of anything?

The Lord will not suffer His blessings to come upon wicked generations.

See: D&C 84:53-60 were it is written:

53 And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole world groaneth under sin and darkness even now.
54 And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—
55 Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.
56 And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.
57 And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—
58 That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.
59 For shall the children of the kingdom pollute my holy land? Verily, I say unto you, Nay.

There is a common belief among many members of the church that just by being members, that they will enter in at the New Jerusalem. We have now seen that we must do all we can to qualify to build it, and that it's not a forgone conclusion. If you want into Zion, you have to help raise this generation up. We can start by valuing the doctrine of God over the doctrine of man, specifically over the doctrine of apostate Christianity which has so deeply affected the perceptions of many in the Church.

Also see the very next verse:

60 Verily, verily, I say unto you who now hear my words, which are my voice, blessed are ye inasmuch as you receive these things;

We are blessed inasmuch as we receive the doctrines of the Kingdom and the Light and Truth of God, which are His Spirit. Please think about that.
Are you doing all you can to help?
When someone in your ward, stake, or someone in the Church generally needs and or asks for assistance, are you leaving them hanging?
Are you cleansing and re-cleansing your heart to the best of your ability so that you can receive the greater light and be prepared on the Lord's call, or do you cling to the wicked traditions of our father Gentiles?

Beyond that, a little more about food storage.

We frequently hear of the myth that when the real need arises, the food will be called in and divided up. I have heard church leadership in areas say that in the event of a disaster, unless the Church tells them otherwise, they would never direct the Saints to gather their food at the church and divide it up. They do, however, believe in arranging barter. Brother X has surplus, and Brother Y has a skill, an ATV, boat, gun, etc, so they trade.

Dividing up the food in the way the myth suggests is NOT the Law of Consecration, it's pretty much socialism.

Here are some quotes on the topic:

Boyd K. Packer (this entire talk is incredible, and was partially included in the January 2010 Ensign, page 50):

"When people are able but unwilling to take care of themselves, we are responsible to employ the dictum of the Lord that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer. (See D&C 42:42.)"
"The simple rule has been to take care of one’s self."
"When the Church welfare program was first announced in 1936, the First Presidency said: 'Our primary purpose was to set up, in so far as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help people help themselves.' "

"No true Latter-day Saint will … voluntarily shift from himself the burden of his own support. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Almighty and with his own labors, he will supply himself with the necessities of life." (from the Church welfare handbook)

"“To care for people on any other basis [than the Lord's way] is to do them more harm than good. The purpose of Church welfare is not to relieve [a Church member] from taking care of himself.”

Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference, April 1965)

“Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church - and the need for
that cleansing seems to be increasing - a famine in this land of one year's
duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members, including some
ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned.”

When the Lord comes back, he wants to be greeted by His most valiant Saints, just as the bridegroom in the parable of the 10 virgins. He doesn't want to be met by a bunch of slackers with their hands out. Many in the Church are asleep, just as all ten virgins in the parable "slumbered and slept". When the time came, those that were unprepared were sent away.

I'm NOT saying I won't share, but I am saying that those that don't prepare, for whatever reason, will wish they had. And even if the food was divided up equally, after a few weeks we'd all just start starving together. It is foolish to think that in such an event, the Lord will come to our aid when we have not heeded his counsel and commands.

In any event, I'd rather be prepared and using the Spirit to guide me, than to not be prepared and be begging door to door or trying to eat my jetski...

Obedience is the first law of heaven, and the Lord has been very clear on this topic. Be self-reliant, and be prepared. There are special cases, but for the most part if someone is unprepared it is because they haven't heeded the warnings (even as often as they've heard them) and have made unwise choices and purchases. Hopefully that last trip to Disneyland was enjoyable, because the money you spent on it could have fed your family for 6 months, and the cell phone you just bought your 12 year old daughter could have fed her for 2 months.

Key Indicators Of A New Depression!

2010-06-05T11:49:00.006-06:00

Another good article off of Lew Rockwell found here.

Key Indicators Of A New Depression
By: Euro Pacific Capital Thursday, June 03, 2010 5:56 PM

With the mainstream media focusing on the country's leveling unemployment rate, improving retail sales, and nascent housing recovery, one might think that the US government has successfully navigated the economy through recession and growth has returned. But I will argue that a look under the proverbial hood reveals a very different picture. I believe the data shows that the US economy is badly damaged, and a modern-day depression has begun. In fact, just as World War I was originally called The Great War (and was retroactively renamed after World War II), Peter Schiff has said that one day the world will refer to the 1929-41 era as Great Depression I, and the current period as Great Depression II.

For starters, look at unemployment. During Great Depression I, unemployment broke 25%. If government statistics are taken at face value, the current unemployment rate is 9.9%, but a closer look reveals that the broadest measure of unemployment is currently at 20% - and rising. So, today's numbers are in the same ballpark as the '30s even though the federal government is using unprecedented measures to keep the economy afloat. Remember, in Great Depression I, FDR never ran a deficit nearly as large as President Obama's. Moreover, the Federal Reserve of the 1930s still had a gold standard with which to contend, while today's Fed has increased the monetary base with impunity. Yet even with all that intervention, unemployment figures still indicate that we have entered depression territory.

What is demoralizing to an unemployed person is not simply being let go, it is being unable to find a new job for an extended period of time. And this is where Great Depression II really rears its ugly head. According to the US federal government's own data, the median duration of unemployment is now over five months - and rising. This is the highest it's been since the BLS started compiling this statistic in 1965. As workers start to go this long without jobs, they eat into their savings. Eventually - and especially in a country with a savings rate as low as ours and debt as high as ours - they run out of cushion and hit the street. Formerly middle-class people have to make decisions never thought possible: do I eat in a shelter or go hungry in my home?

It's no surprise, then, that about 40 million people - or one out of every eight Americans - are receiving food stamps in Great Depression II. During the height of Great Depression I, the rate was just one out of thirty-five Americans. Even with the stimulus programs, Great Depression II is actually worse on this measure than Great Depression I - and the USDA estimates that the program could grow by another 50%. Soon, out of ten people you know, one may depend on federal assistance for daily survival.

Despite tax credits that have created a rush of purchases this spring, housing is in just as bad shape.

During Great Depression I, home prices dropped some 15% from their pre-depression peak (achieved in 1925). In Great Depression II, housing is down at least 30% from the pre-depression peak (achieved in 2005), with some markets down more than 50%.

So, many of the people expected to keep making mortgage payments as they eat tuna fish to stay alive will be paying double their home's resale value. This is a tremendous incentive to walk away, with disastrous consequences for the country's social fabric in these trying times. Empty homes breed crime and vandalism, encouraging more to flee in a negative feedback loop. Moreover, the many 'walkaways' may create a class of Americans with ruined credit - right when many employers have started checking credit scores before hiring.

Even more worrisome, the present drop in home prices is against a backdrop of price inflation. In Great Depression I, our grandparents may have lost value in their home, but everyday goods (milk, diapers, automobiles, etc.) got cheaper at the same time. That made their savings 'cushion' deeper when they needed it most. Today, as home equity (now our main store of savings) declines, prices for consumer goods are rising. It's a tight squeeze indeed.

From jobs to food to the roofs over our heads, the current period of economic turmoil is at least as bad as the First Great Depression, whether or not the financial media wishes to acknowledge it. The main difference is that unlike in the '30s, the US dollar is now the world's fiat reserve currency, so we are able to push our problems overseas for awhile. The plight of the rural Chinese is really our plight - we are living lavishly on the wealth they create. Were they to quit this dastardly arrangement, the full effects of Great Depression II would be felt in America.

By contrast, in Great Depression I, the US was on the gold standard like everyone else, which forced us to live within our means. This, in turn, made it easier to recognize that the economy was in decline and changes had to be made.

Unfortunately, because of the responses of the Administration and the Federal Reserve, which I believe to be deeply misguided, I remain concerned that Great Depression II could develop into something far more devastating than its predecessor, something that other countries in the world have experienced but was thought impossible in the United States: a hyperinflationary depression. As bad as the current downturn has been, inflation would make it immeasurably worse. It would require an honest accounting of the problems we face today to avert the disaster we see coming tomorrow.

Investing???

2010-05-31T17:38:00.003-06:00

Good article from my friend found here.

I used to have a career in financial services. Even though I am out of the industry...I still have people ask questions. In the hallway at church a young mother quietly asked..."My husband has an opportunity to put more money into a work sponsored retirement account. The company matches a certain percentage of what we put into the account. She went on to express her concerns about the markets but didn't want to jeopardize their families future by not investing. "What should we do!??"

I didn't want in any way make her decision for her. I said..."Well...it all depends on what you believe." "Is this just one more downturn before a prosperous future for our country...or have we reached a day of economic reckoning which will bankrupt our country?" "Is this the buying opportunity of a lifetime...or the beginning of the greater than great depression?"

She responded that she didn't know. I suggested that she study and pray about the decision. We went on to talk about food storage and other things. I am unsure what she decided to do.

Me. I believe that we are on the cusp of the end of the dollar and great civil unrest in this country.

Phony Financial Optimism

While some might think to label me a pessimist...I consider myself a "realist" and an optimist. I am optimistic that whatever happens that the Lord will support me through it...if I am righteous. Being optimistic and having hope do not mean that you don't believe bad things will happen! Having optimism while standing on the sinking Titanic might mean that you believe that you could figure out a way to survive not that the ship won't sink. To ignore the ice cold water filling the ship...and pretend that it isn't coming in is not optimism...it's stupidity. My optimism or lack thereof would have no bearing on whether that ship is going to sink or not. Those whose rose colored glasses see only rainbows...bunnies...and the soft and cute things of the world may soon find what their so-called "optimism" has deceived them...as their savings go up in a puff of smoke.

Gold and Silver

Their values are going up. When the economy fails...they might be a good means of exchange. If things get really bad and their is no shipment of food...just remember...you can't eat gold.

Here is the advice I would give...as delivered from leaders of the church...(bolded for emphasis) Reread it until you understand what is being said...

The Saints have been advised to pay their own way and maintain a cash reserve. Recent history has demonstrated that in difficult days it is reserves with intrinsic value that are of most worth, rather than reserves, the value of which may be destroyed through inflation. It is well to remember that continued government deficits cause inflation; inflation is used as an excuse for ineffective price controls; price controls lead to shortages; artificial shortages inevitably are used as an excuse to implement rationing.
When will we learn these basic economic principles? However, “… when we really get into hard times,” said President Clark, “where food is scarce or there is none at all, and so with clothing and shelter, money may be no good for there may be nothing to buy, and you cannot eat money, you cannot get enough of it together to burn to keep warm, and you cannot wear it.” (Church News, November 21, 1953, p. 4.)

Food has an intrinsic value. Supplies do. Tools...etc. Our trinkets and fine twined linens may soon be thrown to the wombats....as people will trade their BMW for a bag of potatoes. Those things that will actually support the essentials of life.

The Dollar Bubble

Here is a video that showcases some economists and people whose views I share. It may help some to see that this isn't just another market correction on an upward moving trend. Truly past performance is not indicative of future results!!! If anything it will motivate some to do more food storage planning!

Why LDS Prepare!

2010-02-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

OK, last one for now! :-)

A great article found here by a very like minded individual that covers many topics I like to cover. I couldn't have said most of this better myself. It is long but very worth it and very true...

I gave the following talk in my ward today:

Latter-day calamities

Ask somebody how they feel after reading or watching an hour’s worth of news, and they’re likely to reply that it makes them feel depressed. It seems that the entire world is in a constant state of commotion, whether due to natural or man-made disasters, which perhaps led to Enoch asking the Lord “when shall the earth rest?” How are we, the Latter-day Saints, to view and react to these events?

Brigham Young reminded us that what we now consider to be a barrage of bad news is merely a preface to the clamor of latter-day calamities the Lord will unleash in the future:
Do you think there is calamity abroad now among the people?… All we have yet heard and all we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, ‘come home; I will now preach My own sermons to the nations of the earth,’ all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders, and lightnings and fearful destruction…. You will hear of magnificent cities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations, and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives. … You may think that the little you hear of now is grievous; yet the faithful of God’s people will see days that will cause them to close their eyes because of the sorrow that will come upon the wicked nations. The hearts of the faithful will be filled with pain and anguish for them. (Journal of Discourses, 8:123; see also D&C 88:88–92)
In response to a statement like this, it is not uncommon for us as a people to cling to the verse of scripture where the Lord instructs us that “if ye are prepared ye shall not fear”. What, then, does it take to be sufficiently prepared such that we do not fear the “fearful destruction” that awaits the world?

The false dichotomy
President Benson once remarked that “As a people, we love sweetness and light, especially sweetness.” For this reason, many sacrament meeting talks, Sunday school lessons, and other church discussions regarding the subject of preparedness often place a higher emphasis on spiritual preparedness versus temporal preparedness—if the temporal aspect is even mentioned at all. It’s easier to talk about the “sweet” methods of preparing, such as prayer, scripture study, and temple worship, than it is to talk about storing a food supply, becoming trained in basic first aid emergency response, and setting aside money in our budget to purchase needed items. We thus tend to gravitate towards the “sweet” spiritual side of preparedness, little realizing that by shifting our focus in this way, we are actually undermining our spiritual preparedness.
The Lord made clear that the term “temporal preparedness” is in fact a misnomer when used by the Latter-day Saints, since “not at any time [has He] given unto [us] a law which was temporal.” “All things unto me are spiritual”, He further declared, implying that our so-called temporal preparedness efforts are in fact an important subset of our overall spiritual preparedness.

Consider a Latter-day Saint living in Haiti. His spiritual preparedness may have helped him acquire needed strength to make it through the aftermath of the recent earthquake that has killed countless individuals and displaced even more. He may have built up enough faith to see him through these trying times, and small miracles may be unfolding before him. This is all good, and he should be praised for his efforts in this regard.

But consider further whether this individual was temporally prepared for what has happened. To be sure, his economic circumstances may not have permitted him to acquire food storage and other supplies to the extent that all of us are able to obtain. But God’s commandment to prepare knows no geographical bounds. In the aftermath of this quake, if our fictional friend had on hand a reserve of food, water, and fuel, then he will be able to provide for himself, his family, and perhaps some friends. He will have sufficient energy to serve those around him and alleviate the suffering of others who may not have been as prepared. He can administer to the emotional and spiritual needs of his loved ones and others within his sphere of influence. In short, he can build the kingdom of God.

If this person was not temporally prepared, in what condition would he be to serve those around him? Rather than sharing what he has, he would be begging for donations of food and water, or worse, perhaps resorting to the looting that has ravaged the affected areas in Haiti. He would be focusing inward on himself and his loved ones alone, rather than, as Joseph Smith said, “rang[ing] through the world, anxious to bless the whole of the human family.” Instead of being able to build God’s kingdom, he would be entirely focused on his own.
Blunt as always, Brother Brigham had this to say of the relationship between temporal and spiritual preparedness:

How many of you have had wisdom enough to procure and lay up for yourselves produce enough to last until harvest? You may call this a small matter. How many of you have wheat or flour to last you a year? If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives?
If you have not attained ability to provide for your natural wants, and for a wife and a few children, what have you to do with heavenly things?

Three years ago, the First Presidency issued a statement that contained the following counsel:
[Our Heavenly Father] has lovingly commanded us to “prepare every needful thing” (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we can care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others.
We encourage members world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings.
When disaster strikes, will we be in a position to care for ourselves, our families, our neighbors, and, through the bishop, others in our community? Suddenly, having a year supply on hand seems relatively insufficient.

Our spiritual preparedness is woefully inadequate if we lack the supplies and knowledge that are often classified as being part of our temporal preparedness. Father Lehi spoke of “things to act and things to be acted upon”; by using our agency and choosing to obey the commandment to prepared, we will be in a position to freely act and serve God and His children if and when disaster strikes. In contrast, if we exercise our agency in choosing not to prepare, we will be acted upon during such circumstances as our very lives become dependent on the actions and charitable service of others.

Counsel repeated and ignored
Several studies and surveys conducted in the past few decades suggest that the percentage of Saints who have fulfilled the commandment to prepare lies somewhere in the upper single digits. Those of you who have been in this ward for over a year may recall two stake-wide emergency preparedness drills that were conducted in September 2008 and January 2009. Based on the data we received after the second drill, we learned that our stake has on hand roughly three months of food per family, and roughly two-thirds of families have 72-hour kits.
While that three months of food per family on average may sound good, a couple qualifiers should be noted. First, that average was inflated by a few families who had a full year or more of food storage on hand, thus “compensating” for the far higher number of families who had nothing, or only a couple days or weeks worth of food. Second, during the most recent drill we asked residents of our neighborhood about their water storage as well, and the results were shockingly low. The number of families who had any type of water storage system in place could probably be counted on two hands. Finally, we did not ask about fuel, clothing, money, or other basic necessities that are crucial items in a well-rounded preparedness plan.

Some might feel justified in ignoring the commandment to prepare since they perceive that the subject has received less attention over the pulpit in recent years. Does this mean that the countless instances of counsel previously given do not have any validity or application to us today? Or does it simply mean that our leaders have decided to focus on other topics since we have collectively failed to heed the instructions we’ve been given for decades and decades? President Benson noted one element of our apathy towards preparedness as follows:
Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion.

President Spencer W. Kimball offered this comment:

Do we lose faith, do we lose patience, do we lose hope, do we get weary in
waiting, because the day is long and the event delayed? It is difficult to be
prepared for an event so long delayed. Many have found it too difficult and they
slumber without due preparation. Hundreds of thousands of us today are in this
position. Confidence has been dulled and patience worn thin. It is so hard to
wait and be prepared always. But we cannot allow ourselves to slumber.

In the October 1998 General Conference and later published in the January 2009 Ensign, Elder Eyring said:

Because the Lord is kind, He calls servants to warn people of danger. That call
to warn is made harder and more important by the fact that the warnings of most
worth are about dangers that people don’t yet think are real… It’s easy to say,
“The time isn’t right.” But there is danger in procrastination.

A common thread of these quotes is that since we often feel that calamities are in a far distant future, we easily procrastinate our preparedness and turn into slothful Saints who need to be commanded in all things since we will not be anxiously engaged in this cause of our own accord. The Lord’s servants have warned us time and time again to set our houses in order. Contrary to what some believe, these servants have continued talking about self-reliance, emergency preparedness, food storage, and other related principles. Have we listened, or do we feel that these commandments and teachings do not apply to us for some reason? As President J. Reuben Clark once said, “What we need today is not more prophets. We have the prophets. But what we need is more people with listening ears. This is the great need of our generation.”

Elder James E. Talmage described it this way:

In mercy the Lord warns and forewarns. He sees the coming storm, knows the
forces operating to produce it, and calls aloud through His prophets, advises,
counsels, exhorts, even commands—that we prepare for what is about to befall and
take shelter while yet there is time. But we go our several ways, feasting and
making merry, consoling conscience with the easy fancy of “time enough” and in
idle hope that the tempest will pass us by, or that, when it begins to gather
thick and black about us we can turn back and find shelter.

The Lord continues to warn us, as Elder Talmage notes, and yet we collectively are eating, drinking, and being merry with little serious regard for the future. Why is this so? The true test of one’s testimony of a prophet occurs when the counsel given is either difficult to obey or seems irrational.

Elder Maxwell remarked on this as follows:

It has been asked, and well it might be, how many of us would have jeered, or at
least been privately amused, by the sight of Noah building his ark: Presumably,
the laughter and heedlessness continued until it began to rain—and kept raining!
How wet some people must have been before Noah’s ark suddenly seemed the only
sane act in an insane, bewildering situation! To ponder signs without becoming
paranoid, to be aware without frantically matching current events with
expectations, using energy that should be spent in other ways, these are our
tasks.

As Elder Eyring has said, “The best time to have decided to help Noah build the ark was the first time he asked.”

A case study
As for pondering signs, as Elder Maxwell suggests, one instance of the Lord possibly warning and forewarning deserves our attention. Many of you will recall the story of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dream regarding seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. In the October 1998 General Conference, President Hinckley reminded us of the story by reading the historical account from Genesis 41. Then, adding a disclaimer that he was not prophesying nor predicting any future famine, he stated:
But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.…There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.
What’s interesting is that exactly seven years later, President Hinckley again referenced this story, stating:
Let us never lose sight of the dream of Pharaoh concerning the fat cattle and the lean, the full ears of corn, and the blasted ears; the meaning of which was interpreted by Joseph to indicate years of plenty and years of scarcity.
Except for another brief reference made in the conference following 9/11, these are the only instances in which President Hinckley spoke in a General Conference regarding Pharaoh’s dream, and these two references stand seven years apart. Despite his disclaimer that he was not prophesying, one is left to wonder whether the Lord was speaking through His prophet to give us our own seven year pattern of plenty and famine.

Those who are still employed, well-fed, and living comfortably may scoff at the assertion that we are living in times of famine, but a significant portion of the world’s population likely thinks differently. For example, the true unemployment rate in this country currently stands at 22%; worldwide, the situation looks fairly similar in wealthier countries, while third world countries would welcome a percentage like this with eager, open arms. Global food prices have been on the rise, spurred only in part by freezes, disasters, droughts, crop disease, and other issues. These and a host of other problems have created a turbulent economic environment in which many people are starving, homeless, and hopeless.

Hitting close to home
Being prepared, though, is not simply to be able to better weather the global storms of economic uncertainty. As the saying goes, “when your neighbor loses his job, it’s a recession, and when you lose your job, it’s a depression.” We may very well not be in a symbolic seven years of famine, but this does not mean that we won’t individually face trying circumstances. As evidenced by the Bishop’s recent invitation to increase our fast offerings, there are likely several within our own congregation who have been enduring their own economic depression.
Speaking about all of us, President Monson noted the imbalance many of us have in regards to our financial priorities and level of preparedness:

Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year’s supply of food and clothing and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year’s supply of debt and are food-free.
My parents have on three separate occasions been able to ride out those storm-tossed waves in their economic lives by relying on the food storage they had obediently acquired. Despite these three periods of unemployment, each running for around nine months, my parents enjoyed a sense of peace and satisfaction that can only come when one’s previous actions and obedience have prepared them for such times. Their modest savings allowed them to meet their financial obligations during that time, and this result of their efforts to prepare meant that they did not need the assistance of Church funds.

During the 1980 recession, then-Presiding Bishop Victor L. Brown spoke frankly in General Conference regarding the tendency that many Saints had, and no doubt still have, to rely upon the Church while disobeying the commandment to prepare:
Within the last twelve months, the distribution of fast offerings and commodities by the bishops has been alarming. At the present rate of demand, the Church resources will be almost expended in a short time…. It would appear that in altogether too many cases the teachings about preparedness have been either misunderstood or knowingly rejected. Many of our members appear to feel that when difficulty comes, the Church will come to their aid, even when they could have prepared themselves had their priorities been appropriate.
Bishop Brown then shared the following experience he had that demonstrated to him the importance of individual preparedness:

Some time ago while visiting two stakes, I saw the evidence of the point I am
trying to make. Both stakes were in predominantly Latter-day Saint communities.
Both were affected seriously by the same severe but temporary disruption of
employment. Generally, when I arrive in a new community for stake conference, I
drive around the neighborhood or countryside to get a feel for the kind of
people who live there. For example: Are their yards well taken care of? Are
their homes well cared for? Are there old dilapidated barns and outbuildings, or
are the properties neatly maintained and fenced? In other words, how much pride
do the people have in themselves and their community?
In the first stake I
refer to, I saw well-cared-for homes and yards. It seemed that this was a
prosperous, so-called middle-class area. Some would have thought it an affluent
area from the number of recreation vehicles in the driveways—boats, campers, and
motor homes. As I met with the stake presidency, I commented on the apparent
prosperity of the people. However, when reviewing the welfare needs of the
people, I was shocked to see the demands made on the fast-offering funds and the
bishops’ storehouse.
The stake president informed me that within a week or
two of the closing down of the major employer, many families came to their
bishops for assistance. They had very limited reserves from which to take care
of themselves. He also mentioned there were some faithful members in his stake
who from their reserves had taken care of their own needs as well as assisting
some of their neighbors.
In the second stake, which was some distance from
the first but which was impacted heavily by the same employment problem, I saw
few recreation vehicles. As a matter of fact, I saw little evidence of
affluence, although the properties were neat and tidy. Here I was surprised to
see practically no fast offerings or bishop’s orders being used.
I asked the
stake president if his bishops understood and were discharging their
responsibilities for the poor and those in need. He indicated that, while some
families had needed to seek assistance from their bishops, most of the members
recognized their responsibility for their own welfare and were prepared to take
care of themselves.
You see, the priorities of the members of these two
stakes were very different. Many in the first stake were not prepared and
expected the Church to take care of them, while in the second stake the
situation was reversed—the majority of the people had prepared to meet their own
needs

Brothers and Sisters, how would Bishop Brown classify our stake? Are our families ready to weather the economic storms of life, whether generally or individually felt, or will we be a drain on resources and dependent upon others’ charity? Are we like the foolish virgins who clearly knew they needed to prepare and yet did not, or are we like the wise ones who remained alert and ready for future events?

Bishop Brown closed his remarks as follows:
…the welfare program rests on the basic principle of personal and family preparedness, not on Church preparedness. We are concerned that because the Church program includes production projects, canneries, bishops’ storehouses, Deseret Industries, and other visible activities, our people are mistakenly led to believe these things replace the need for them to provide for themselves. This simply is not so. The evidence that this illusion exists is seen in the experience of the last few months as the draw on fast offerings and storehouse commodities has spiraled.
We are very much aware that we live in difficult times, perhaps as difficult as any recent period in history. The economy in general seems to be out of control; there is high unemployment in many areas. Inflation is running rampant in most countries of the world. Personal debt is staggering… Many who have purchased a home have monthly payments which leave no room to handle the slightest emergency.

We have been taught that we should build our reserves over a period of time, that we should not go into debt to do so, that we should buy those things we use and use them on a rotation basis, that we should use common sense in preparing ourselves to be independent and self-reliant. There has never been extremism or fanaticism associated with these teachings.…It is the opinion of many that more difficult times lie ahead. We are deeply concerned about the welfare of our people and recognize the potential privation and suffering that will exist if each person and family does not accept the word of the Lord when he says, “Prepare every needful thing” (D&C 88:119), and “It must needs be done in mine own way” (D&C 104:16).

We need not endure privation and suffering, if only we will prepare now for what lies ahead. As Presiding Bishop H. Burke Peterson said in 1975, “Let’s not forget one of the most important lessons learned through the year’s supply program is the lesson of obedience.” When we obey, we are entitled to receive the blessings promised by the Lord. Can we claim those blessings if we are not faithful?

President Benson answered this when he said:

Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church—and the need for that
cleansing seems to be increasing—a famine in this land of one year’s duration
could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members, including some ward and
stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned.

It is important that we remember the Lord’s declaration that “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” We cannot expect God’s help when we have chosen to ignore the counsel of His servants time and time again. God will protect and bless those who have been heeding His voice.

Conclusion
So, how do we prepare? This large task, like any other goal, must be broken down into smaller, more manageable steps. Elder L. Tom Perry gave us the following guidelines in 1995 as a model to follow:

Just as it is important to prepare ourselves spiritually, we must also prepare ourselves for our temporal needs. … We have been instructed for years to follow at least four requirements in preparing for that which is to come.

First, gain an adequate education. Learn a trade or a profession to enable you to obtain steady employment that will provide remuneration sufficient to care for yourself and your family.

Second, live strictly within your income and save something for a rainy day. Incorporate in your lives the discipline of budgeting that which the Lord has blessed you with. As regularly as you pay your tithing, set aside an amount needed for future family requirements.

Third, avoid excessive debt. Necessary debt should be incurred only after careful, thoughtful prayer and after obtaining the best possible advice. We need the discipline to stay well within our ability to pay.

Fourth, acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. Obtain clothing and build a savings account on a sensible, well-planned basis that can serve well in times of emergency. As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year’s supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness.

Brothers and Sisters, my invitation to each of us today is to consider the counsel I have shared with seriousness. Make a firm resolve to repent where necessary, and strive diligently to obey these commandments. Take seriously the prophecies for the future and the divine responsibility we have to care for ourselves and our families, both now and in the future. I invite you to prepare so that you shall not fear. I testify of the peace of mind that comes from obeying this counsel and laying up in store the supplies that can help us weather the storms of life.

STORE or STARVE!!!

2010-02-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

Pretty good article found here with some things to consider by Ron Shirtz (not sure if he is LDS, he references the church???), as found on LewRockwell.com. Not sure if I am in agreement on all of it, but pretty good info.

Store or Starve, A beginner’s guide to food storage
by Ron Shirtz

Go to the ant, thou
sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
~ Proverbs 6:6

I want people to store food not only for their sake, but for mine as well.
I don’t want to decide which of my kids have to go hungry when you and your
unprepared kin come knocking on my door. Contrary to progressive-collectivist
thinking, every individual who takes care of themselves and their families
benefits society by not becoming a burden. So take responsibility now and start
today. Don’t expect the Feds to come by to hand you your ration of
government-issued cheese. You could be in for a long wait. Wait too long, and
you may end up with a green-stained mouth from eating grass, like the poor Irish
during the potato
famine in the mid 1800’s. Or seriously reevaluate your aversion to cannibalism. Compared to
those desperate methods, dumpster diving comes off as luxury cuisine.

An adult needs a minimum
2500 calories a day. More if you are physically active. This translates to
about two pounds of food, plus a gallon of potable ("drinkable") water. To get
started, follow this cardinal rule; Store what you eat, and eat what you store.
Do not expect to suddenly acquire a taste for powered eggs or a jalapeno-spiced
chili MRE in a
long-term disaster. If you have children, they will be even more reluctant to
eat such stuff. The next rule is not go into debt by spending thousands of
dollars for pre-packaged foodstuffs. It kinda defeats the purpose if you have to
eat your food supply because you have no money left after buying it.

Begin building your food storage by buying 2–3 extra items every time you
shop at the grocery store. A few cans here, some bags and boxes there, and it
will begin to add up. Look for sales, two-for-one specials, and coupon items.
Set aside some space, and put the oldest stuff in front, and the newest in back.
Rotate from back to front as you use it. If you have food items that are going
to expire soon that you don’t have time to eat, donate them to a local food
pantry for Karma points. There. You now have established a simple but effective short-term
food storage system. Everything from here on will expand upon it.
The next
step is to create a larger, stable environment to preserve your food supply over
the long haul. Regardless if you live in a country mansion or a studio
apartment, you need the following conditions to preserve food:
Keep it airtight
Keep it cool
Keep it dark
Keep it dry
Keep it protected
Exposure to oxygen degrades food. I’ll cover one method to deal with that
later. Temperature is the next concern. The goal is to keep food at 70° or
below. For every 10 degrees cooler, food life doubles. Every 10 degrees warmer,
it halves it. But at the same time, you want to keep it from freezing.
Maintaining a stable and consistent temperature environment is the key. Avoid
temperature extremes, like storing food in an unheated, un-insulated garage in a
four-season environment. Basements make good root cellars. Real root cellars are
even better. For those in suburban homes and apartments, a closet designated as
a food pantry will serve. Metal trash cans, plastic tub containers, or buckets
all lined with a 4-mil black trash liners will help insulate food from
temperature extremes. They will also protect food from sunlight, which destroys
nutrients, from moisture, which creates mold, and rodents, who will grow in
swarming numbers as modern society falls apart. Buckets can be obtained at
bakeries and food delis for free or at little cost. Hard pressed for space in
you domicile? Put a trash can full of food in your living room, throw a nice
cloth over it, add a lamp, and it doubles as an end table. Make a media center
of boards supported by food buckets. Who said food storage isn’t fashionable?

Now back to the oxygen problem. As long as the can does not have a
tell-tale bulge, signaling spoiled contents, canned goods are viable for many years past their
expiration dates, notwithstanding a loss in nutritional value. Dry food packed
in paper, cardboard boxes, or plastic are subject to oxygen spoilage over time.
One solution is to repackage dry food items using food grade Mylar bags. These
bags are an inexpensive method for those on a budget to customize their food
storage to their personal needs and taste. Mylar is an excellent air and
moisture barrier. It is said one can jump on a filled sealed bag and it won’t
pop. But they need protection against punctures and gnawing vermin—hence they
need to be stored in a protective container, like those mentioned above. The
recommended base foods for long-term storage are wheat, oats, legumes, pasta,
honey/sugar, and salt. These will easily last 20–30
years if packed and stored properly. Flour and dry milk are more finicky,
and have a shelf life of only 5–10 years. If you or members of your family
suffer from Celiac
disease, and cannot consume gluten type foods such as wheat, substitute
white rice instead. I do not recommend brown rice for long-term storage, as it
contains oils that break down over time that causes it to spoil. Supplement your
long term food with canned goods, MRE’s and others sundries. The eventual goal
is to build a diverse storage of food for health, variety, and if necessary,
portability.

Items needed for packaging food:
Food grade Mylar bags.
I recommend minimum 4.5mil thick bags in one-gallon size. These will hold
about 4–6 lbs, depending on the bulk of the food products. Besides commercial
vendors, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints also sells them online,
along with other preparedness supplies. Their bags are 7mil thick. However, they
only sell them in bulk, so 250 bags for $94 is probably more bags than you need.
The Church also has food
canneries throughout the US that sells these in smaller quality. One can
purchase pre-packaged food or bring their own food to seal at cost at these
centers.
500cc Oxygen absorber packets.
It takes two of these for each one gallon, 11" x 13" or similar sized Mylar
bags full of food. These packets come in a sealed bag with all the oxygen sucked
out. If the bag is not flat, but puffy with air, the oxygen packets have been
compromised. You will need a glass jar with a metal (not plastic) lid to store
them after you open the bag. Or you can seal them in a Mylar bag. Ordinary
plastic bags are no good for storing oxygen packets – they provide a poor air
barrier. Oxygen packets will start to feel warm when activated by exposure to
air. Take them out only when you have everything else all set to bag and seal.
Make sure to close the lid to preserve the others.
5-gram silica gel desiccant.
These absorb any residue moisture that may reside in your food, to prevent
mold. I’ve talked to the people at our local LDS cannery, and they and others
who have stored food for years have experienced no problems not using desiccant
packets. Everything I’ve read online suggest you should put them in. Your call.
I purchase mine on eBay for around 25 cents each.
Sealer
This is a very expensive piece of equipment. I like to use the one at our
local church. Contact the local Bishop or a Mormon friend to arrange a time to
use one. It comes with a foot pedal, making it easier to seal bags. An
alternative is using a hot iron set on wool or cotton (Not the wife’s!) with a 2
x 4 piece of wood. Some find they can use conventional
food sealers. But do your homework well, as it is for good reason that Mylar
bags require industrial strength sealers compared to off-the-shelf food
sealers.
Directions for sealing bags:
1. If using the LDS Church sealer, check
that the settings are at Sealing: 3, Congealing: 6, Recycle: 2. Turn on the
sealer and let it warm up for two minutes.
2. (Optional) Place two 5-gram
silica gel packets at the bottom of the Mylar bag.
3. Pour flour, rice,
grain, etc. in bag. This can be done single-handedly, but from experience, it is
so much easier to have someone help holding the Mylar bag, as it is very slick
and does not have a flat bottom to keep it upright. Flour and dry milk can be a
pain because it "poofs" everywhere when pored in the bag. When it does, use a
damp paper towel to clean up the inside of the top of the bags where it will be
sealed together. Then apply a dry towel to remove any moisture. At this point,
firmly bang the bag several times against the table to help settle the contents
and reduce airspace between the food elements.
4. Place two 500cc oxygen
packets on top of food. Be sure to keep the unused oxy packets sealed in an
airtight container, so they will stay fresh.
5. Hold and pull tight both
ends of the open bag, place in the sealer. Let the filled part of the bag drop
down, to prevent food from coming up to opening and preventing a perfect seal.
Hit the foot pedal. The seal bar will come down for 2–3 seconds to set the seal.
I like to add a second seal to each bag for good measure. Check the seal by
attempting to peel the opening apart. If the seal is secure, you won’t be able
too. Also push on the bag and watch if any air leaks out. None should. For using
an iron, place the Mylar bag opening on the 2 x 4, and press down. Some prefer
to put a towel between the iron and the Mylar, but I’ve never scorched a bag
yet.
6. Use a permanent marker to write the on bag the date, the weight, and
the description on the bagged food. I like to include the brand name of the
food, in case I have any problems with it, or is recalled by the FDA. For some
things like powdered milk, I tape the mixing instructions on the
bag.
Mylar bags may be cut in half or smaller to store smaller portions. Filled
Mylar bags are very stiff and rigid. The bagged food will be a bit awkward to
store in round containers like buckets and trashcans. Stack fragile food like
pasta on top of the heavier, bulkier bagged foods. Large Mylar bags from vendors
are available to store quantities up to 30 lbs in 5-gallon plastic buckets. Put
one in, and fill up with the dry food product of your choice. Some recommend
using dry ice on top of the food before sealing to displace oxygen in the
bucket. I could not find any dry ice in my area, so put ten oxygen packets on
top instead. Seal with a hot iron by pressing the Mylar against a 2 x 4 piece.
Trim any excess from the sealed top edge of the bag with scissors to secure the
Mylar bag into the bucket. This YouTube video gives
excellent demonstration. Cover with a lid. I prefer Gamma
screw-top lids on my buckets. They cost from $7–10 each, but are so much easier
than popping and hammering lids off and on every time.
Other food storage
methods include canning, both traditional glass jars and #10 metal cans. The
latter can be done at a local LDS cannery center. Dehydrating food is
another valuable storage method.

A few more suggestions with building your food storage. Include fun foods
to help break the monotony and uplift morale, such as hard candy, chocolate,
powdered drinks, and dried fruit. Pick up some recipes on cooking the food you
store, to add variety to your diet. When possible, supplement your food storage
meals with garden vegetables, home grown sprouts, or
ordinary dandelion
leaves. Be careful of depending on a diet of MRE’s. While they are
portable and convenient for traveling, they are short on fiber, and can be hard
on the digestive system, especially with children and the elderly. They also
negatively affect those who are gluten intolerant. On storing
water, bottled water is okay if you are going to bug out, but for hunkering
down, you need to think much bigger. For the cost of two cartons of bottled
water, you can purchase a five-gallon water container. These are more practical
if you need to go out and get your water replenished. Add half teaspoon of
bleach per five gallons to keep it safe. Be sure to use only regular bleach, and
not those with special or extra additives. If in doubt, boil it.

Whether a global disaster strikes or one becomes unemployed, food storage
is the best insurance one can have in uncertain times. You will garner a better
dividend on your food storage than any other investment. There’s more to improve
upon than mentioned here, such as progressing to the next level from food
storage to food production. But you have enough info to get started. So no more
excuses. Get working on your food storage today. And don’t forget the can opener.

Defense and Weapons!!!

2010-02-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Old article but very good principles here...

"WHAT GOOD CAN A HANDGUN DO AGAINST AN ARMY.....?"

A friend of mine
recently forwarded me a question a friend of his had posed:

"If/when our Federal Government comes to pilfer, pillage, plunder our property and destroy our lives, what good can a handgun do against an army with advanced weaponry, tanks, missiles, planes, or whatever else they might have at their disposal to achieve their nefarious goals? (I'm not being facetious: I accept the possibility that what happened in Germany, or similar, could happen here; I'm just not sure that the potential good from an armed citizenry in such a situation outweighs the day-to-day problems caused by masses of idiots who own guns.)"

If I may, I'd like to try to answer that question. I certainly do not think the writer facetious for asking it. The subject is a serious one that I have given much research and considerable thought to. I believe that upon the answer to this question depends the future of our Constitutional republic, our liberty and perhaps our lives. My friend Aaron Zelman, one of the founders of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership told me once:

"If every Jewish and anti-nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition AND THE WILL TO USE IT (emphasis supplied, MV), Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."

Note well that phrase: "and the will to use it," for the simply-stated question, "What good can a handgun do against an army?", is in fact a complex one and must be answered at length and carefully. It is a military question. It is also a political question. But above all it is a moral question which strikes to the heart of what makes men free, and what makes them slaves. First, let's answer the military question.

Most military questions have both a strategic and a tactical component. Let's consider the tactical.
A friend of mine owns an instructive piece of history. It is a small, crude
pistol, made out of sheet-metal stampings by the U.S. during World War II. While
it fits in the palm of your hand and is a slowly-operated, single-shot arm, it's
powerful .45 caliber projectile will kill a man with brutal efficiency. With a
short, smooth-bore barrel it can reliably kill only at point blank ranges, so
its use requires the will (brave or foolhardy) to get in close before firing. It
is less a soldier's weapon than an assassin's tool. The U.S. manufactured them
by the million during the war, not for our own forces but rather to be
air-dropped behind German lines to resistance units in occupied Europe. Crude
and slow (the fired case had to be knocked out of the breech by means of a
little wooden dowel, a fresh round procured from the storage area in the grip
and then manually reloaded and cocked) and so wildly inaccurate it couldn't hit
the broad side of a French barn at 50 meters, to the Resistance man or woman who
had no firearm it still looked pretty darn good.

The theory and practice of it was this: First, you approach a German sentry with your little pistol hidden in your coat pocket and, with Academy-award sincerity, ask him for a light for your cigarette (or the time the train leaves for Paris, or if he wants
to buy some non-army-issue food or a half- hour with your "sister"). When he
smiles and casts a nervous glance down the street to see where his Sergeant is
at, you blow his brains out with your first and only shot, then take his rifle
and ammunition. Your next few minutes are occupied with "getting out of Dodge,"
for such critters generally go around in packs. After that (assuming you evade
your late benefactor's friends) you keep the rifle and hand your little pistol
to a fellow Resistance fighter so they can go get their own rifle.

Or maybe you then use your rifle to get a submachine gun from the Sergeant when he comes running. Perhaps you get very lucky and pickup a light machine gun, two
boxes of ammunition and a haversack of hand grenades. With two of the grenades
and the expenditure of a half-a-box of ammunition at a hasty roadblock the next
night, you and your friends get a truck full of arms and ammunition. (Some of
the cargo is sticky with "Boche" blood, but you don't mind terribly.)

Pretty soon you've got the best armed little maquis unit in your part of
France, all from that cheap little pistol and the guts to use it. (One wonders
if the current political elite's opposition to so-called "Saturday Night
Specials" doesn't come from some adopted racial memory of previous failed
tyrants. Even cheap little pistols are a threat to oppressive regimes.)

They called the pistol the "Liberator." Not a bad name, all in all.

Now let's consider the strategic aspect of the question, "What good can
a handgun do against an army....?" We have seen that even a poor pistol can make
a great deal of difference to the military career and postwar plans of one enemy
soldier. That's tactical. But consider what a million pistols, or a hundred
million pistols (which may approach the actual number of handguns in the U.S.
today), can mean to the military planner who seeks to carry out operations
against a populace so armed. Mention "Afghanistan" or "Chechnya" to a member of
the current Russian military hierarchy and watch them shudder at the bloody
memories. Then you begin to get the idea that modern munitions, air superiority
and overwhelming, precision-guided violence still are not enough to make victory
certain when the targets are not sitting Christmas- present fashion out in the
middle of the desert.

"A billion here, a billion there, sooner or later
it adds up to real money."
--Everett Dirksen

Consider that there are at least as many firearms-- handguns, rifles and shotguns-- as there are citizens of the United States. Consider that last year there were more than 14 million Americans who bought licenses to hunt deer in the country. 14 million--that's a number greater than the largest five professional armies in the world combined. Consider also that those deer hunters are not only armed, but they own items of military utility-- everything from camouflage clothing to infrared
"game finders", Global Positioning System devices and night vision scopes.

Consider also that quite a few of these hunters are military veterans.
Just as moving around in the woods and stalking game are second nature, military
operations are no mystery to them, especially those who were on the receiving
end of guerrilla war in Southeast Asia. Indeed, such men, aging though they may
be, may be more psychologically prepared for the exigencies of civil war (for
this is what we are talking about) than their younger active-duty
brother-soldiers whose only military experience involved neatly defined enemies
and fronts in the Grand Campaign against Saddam. Not since 1861-1865 has the
American military attempted to wage a war athwart its own logistical tail (nor
indeed has it ever had to use modern conventional munitions on the Main Streets
of its own hometowns and through its' relatives backyards, nor has it tested the
obedience of soldiers who took a very different oath with orders to kill their
"rebellious" neighbors, but that touches on the political aspect of the
question).

But forget the psychological and political for a moment, and
consider just the numbers. To paraphrase the Senator, "A million pistols here, a
million rifles there, pretty soon you're talking serious firepower." No one,
repeat, no one, will conquer America, from within or without, until its
citizenry are disarmed. We remain, as a British officer had reason to complain
at the start of our Revolution, "a people numerous and armed."

The Second Amendment is a political issue today only because of the military reality
that underlies it. Politicians who fear the people seek to disarm them. People
who fear their government's intentions refuse to be disarmed. The Founders
understood this. So, too, does every tyrant who ever lived. Liberty-loving
Americans forget it at their peril. Until they do, American gunowners in the
aggregate represent a strategic military fact and an impediment to foreign
tyranny. They also represent the greatest political challenge to home-grown
would-be tyrants. If the people cannot be forcibly disarmed against their will,
then they must be persuaded to give up their arms voluntarily. This is the siren
song of "gun control," which is to say "government control of all guns,"
although few self-respecting gun-grabbers would be quite so bold as to phrase it
so honestly.

Joseph Stalin, when informed after World War II that the Pope disapproved of Russian troops occupying Trieste, turned to his advisors and asked, "The Pope? The Pope? How many divisions does he have?" Dictators are unmoved by moral suasion. Fortunately, our Founders saw the wisdom of backing the First Amendment up with the Second. The "divisions" of the army of American constitutional liberty get into their cars and drive to work in this country every day to jobs that are hardly military in nature. Most of them are unmindful of the service they provide. Their arms depots may be found in innumerable closets, gunracks and gunsafes. They have no appointed officers, nor will they need any until they are mobilized by events. Such guardians of our liberty perform this service merely by existing. And although they may be an ever-diminishing minority within their own country, as gun ownership is
demonized and discouraged by the ruling elites, still they are as yet more than
enough to perform their vital task. And if they are unaware of the impediment
they present to their would-be rulers, their would-be rulers are painfully aware
of these "divisions of liberty", as evidenced by their incessant calls for
individual disarmament. They understand moral versus military force just as
clearly as Stalin, but they would not be so indelicate as to quote him.

The Roman Republic failed because they could not successfully answer the
question, "Who Shall Guard the Guards?" The Founders of this Republic answered
that question with both the First and Second Amendments. Like Stalin, the
Clintonistas could care less what common folk say about them, but the concept of
the armed citizenry as guarantors of their own liberties sets their teeth on
edge and disturbs their statist sleep.

Governments, some great men once avowed, derive their legitimacy from "the consent of the governed." In the country that these men founded, it should not be required to remind anyone that the people do not obtain their natural, God-given liberties by "the consent of the Government." Yet in this century, our once great constitutional republic has been so profaned in the pursuit of power and social engineering by corrupt leaders as to be unrecognizable to the Founders. And in large measure we have ourselves to blame because at each crucial step along the way the usurpers of our liberties have obtained the consent of a majority of the governed to do what they have done, often in the name of "democracy"-- a political system rejected by the Founders. Another good friend of mine gave the best description of pure democracy I have ever heard. "Democracy," he concluded, "is three wolves and a sheep sitting down to vote on what to have for dinner." The rights of the sheep
in this system are by no means guaranteed.

Now it is true that our present wolf-like, would-be rulers do not as yet seek to eat that sheep and its peaceable wooly cousins (We, the people). They are, however, most desirous that the sheep be shornof taxes, and if possible and when necessary, be reminded of their rightful place in a society as "good citizen sheep" whose safety from the big bad wolves outside their barn doors is only guaranteed by the omni-presence in the barn of the "good wolves" of the government. Indeed, they do not present themselves as wolves at all, but rather these lupines parade around in sheep's clothing, bleating insistently in falsetto about the welfare of the flock and
the necessity to surrender liberty and property "for the children", er, ah, I
mean "the lambs." In order to ensure future generations of compliant sheep, they
are careful to educate the lambs in the way of "political correctness," tutoring
them in the totalitarian faiths that "it takes a barnyard to raise a lamb" and
"all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Every now and then, some tough old independent-minded ram refuses to be
shorn and tries to remind the flock that they once decided affairs themselves
according to the rule of law of their ancestors, and without the help of their
"betters." When that happens, the fangs become apparent and the conspicuously
unwilling are shunned, cowed, driven off or (occasionally) killed. But flashing
teeth or not, the majority of the flock has learned over time not to resist the
Lupine-Mandarin class which herds it. Their Founders, who were fiercely
independent rams, would have long ago chased off such usurpers. Any present
members of the flock who think like that are denounced as antediluvian or
mentally deranged.

There are some of these dissidents the lupines would like to punish, but they dare not-- for their teeth are every bit as long as their "betters." Indeed, this is the reason the wolves haven't eaten any sheep in generations. To the wolves chagrin, this portion of the flock is armed and they outnumber the wolves by a considerable margin. For now the wolves are content are content to watch the numbers of these "armed sheep" diminish, as long teeth are no longer fashionable in polite society. (Indeed, they are considered by the literati to be an anachronism best forgotten and such sheep are dismissed by the Mandarins as "Tooth Nuts" or "Right Leg Fanatics".) When the numbers of armed sheep fall below a level that wolves can feel safe to do so, the eating will begin. The wolves are patient, and proceed by infinitesimal degrees like the slowly-boiling frog. It took them generations to lull the sheep into accepting them as rulers instead of elected representatives. If it takes
another generation or two of sheep to complete the process, the wolves can wait.
This is our "Animal Farm," without apology to George Orwell.

Even so, the truth is that one man with a pistol CAN defeat an army, given a righteous cause to fight for, enough determination to risk death for that cause, and
enough brains, luck and friends to win the struggle. This is true in war but
also in politics, and it is not necessary to be a Prussian militarist to see it.
The dirty little secret of today's ruling elite as represented by the
Clintonistas is that they want people of conscience and principle to be divided
in as many ways as possible ("wedge issues" the consultants call them) so that
they may be more easily manipulated. No issue of race, religion, class or
economics is left unexploited. Lost in the din of jostling special interests are
the few voices who point out that if we refuse to be divided from what truly
unites us as a people, we cannot be defeated on the large issues of principle,
faith, the constitutional republic and the rule of law. More importantly, woe
and ridicule will be heaped upon anyone who points out that like the blustering
Wizard of Oz, the federal tax and regulation machine is not as omniscient,
omnipotent or fearsome as they would have us believe. Like the Wizard, they fan
the scary flames higher and shout, "Pay no attention to the man behind the
curtain!"

For the truth is, they are frightened that we will find out
how pitifully few they are compared to the mass of the citizenry they seek to
frighten into compliance with their tax collections, property seizures and
bureaucratic, unconstitutional power-shifting. I strongly recommend everyone see
the new animated movie "A Bug's Life". Simple truths may often be found
sheltering beneath unlikely overhangs, there protected by the pelting storm of
lies that soak us everyday. "A Bug's Life", a childrens' movie of all things, is
just such a place.

The plot revolves around an ant hill on an unnamed
island, where the ants placate predatory grasshoppers by offering them each year
one-half of the food they gather (sounds a lot like the IRS, right?). Driven to
desperation by the insatiable tax demands of the large, fearsome grasshoppers,
one enterprising ant goes abroad seeking bug mercenaries who will return with
him and defend the anthill when the grasshoppers return. (If this sounds a lot
like an animated "Magnificent Seven", you're right.)

The grasshoppers (who roar about like some biker gang or perhaps the ATF in black helicopters, take your pick) are, at one point in the movie, lounging around in a bug cantina down in Mexico, living off the bounty of the land. The harvest seeds they eat
are dispensed one at a time from an upturned bar bottle. Two grasshoppers
suggest to their leader, a menacing fellow named "Hopper" (whose voice
characterization by Kevin Spacey is suitably evil personified), that they should
forget about the poor ants on the island. Here, they say, we can live off the
fat of the land, why worry about some upstart ants? Hopper turns on them
instantly. "Would you like a seed?" he quietly asks one. "Sure," answers the
skeptical grasshopper thug. "Would you like one?" Hopper asks the other. "Yeah,"
says he. Hopper manipulates the spigot on the bar bottle twice, and distributes
the seeds to them.

"So, you want to know why we have to go back to the
island, do you?" Hopper asks menacingly as the thugs munch on their seeds. "I'll
show you why!" he shouts, removing the cap from the bottle entirely with one
quick blow. The seeds, no longer restrained by the cap, respond to gravity and
rush out all at once, inundating the two grasshoppers and crushing them. Hopper
turns to his remaining fellow grasshoppers and shrieks, "That's why!"

I'm paraphrasing from memory here, for I've only seen the movie once.
But Hopper then explains, "Don't you remember the upstart ant on that island?
They outnumber us a hundred to one. How long do you think we'll last if they
ever figure that out?"

"If the ants are not frightened of us," Hopper
tells them,

"our game is finished. We're finished."

Of course it comes as no surprise that in the end the ants figure that out. Would that
liberty-loving Americans were as smart as animated ants.

Courage to stand against tyranny, fortunately, is not only found on videotape.

Courage flowers from the heart, from the twin roots of deeply-held
principle and faith in God. There are American heroes living today who have not
yet performed the deeds of principled courage that future history books will
record. They have not yet had to stand in the gap, to plug it with their own
fragile bodies and lives against the evil that portends. Not yet have they been
required to pledge "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor." Yet
they will have to. I believe with all my heart the lesson that history teaches:
That each and every generation of Americans is given, along with the liberty and
opportunity that is their heritage, the duty to defend America against the
tyrannies of their day. Our father's father's fathers fought this same fight.
Our mother's mother's mothers fought it as well. From the Revolution through the
world wars, from the Cold War through to the Gulf, they fought to secure their
liberty in conflicts great and small, within and without.

They stood faithful to the oath that our Founders gave us: To bear true faith and
allegiance-- not to a man; not to the land; not to a political party, but to an
idea. The idea is liberty, as codified in the Constitution of the United States.
We swear, as did they, an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies,
foreign and domestic. And throughout the years they paid in blood and treasure
the terrible price of that oath. That was their day. This is ours. The clouds we
can see on the horizon may be a simple rain or a vast hurricane, but there is a
storm coming. Make no mistake.

Lincoln said that this nation cannot long exist half slave and half free. I say, if I may humbly paraphrase, that this nation cannot long exist one-third slave, one-third uncommitted, and one-third free. The slavery today is of the mind and soul not the body, but is slavery without a doubt that the Clintons and their toadies are pushing. It is slavery to worship our nominally-elected representatives as our rulers instead of requiring their trustworthiness as our servants. It is slavery of the mind and
soul that demands that God-given rights that our Forefathers secured with their
blood and sacrifice be traded for false security of a nanny-state which will
tend to our "legitimate needs" as they are perceived by that government.

It is slavery to worship humanism as religion and slavery to deny life
and liberty to unborn Americans. As people of faith in God, whatever our
denomination, we are in bondage to a plantation system that steals our money;
seizes our property; denies our ancient liberties; denies even our very history,
supplanting it with sanitized and politicized "correctness"; denies our children
a real public education; denies them even the mention of God in school; denies,
in fact, the very existence of God.

So finally we are faced with, we must return to, the moral component of the question: "What good can a handgun do against an army?" The answer is "Nothing," or "Everything." The outcome depends upon the mind and heart and soul of the man or woman who holds it. One may also ask, "What good can a sling in the hands of a boy do against a marauding giant?" If your cause is just and righteous much can be done, nut only if you are willing to risk the consequences of failure and to bear the burdens of eternal vigilance. A new friend of mine gave me a plaque the other day. Upon it is
written these words by Winston Churchill, a man who knew much about fighting
tyranny:

"Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

The Spartans at Thermopolae knew this. The fighting Jews of Masada knew this, when every man, woman and child died rather than submit to Roman tyranny. The Texans who died at the Alamo knew this. The frozen patriots of Valley Forge knew this. The "expendable men" of Bataan and Corregidor knew this. If there is one lesson of Hitlerism and the Holocaust, it is that free men, if they wish to remain free, must resist would-be tyrants at the first opportunity and at every opportunity. Remember that whether they the come as conquerors or elected officials, the men who secretly wish to be your murderers must first convince you that you must accept them as your masters. Free men and women must not wait until they are
"selected", divided and herded into Warsaw Ghettos, there to finally fight
desperately, almost without weapons, and die outnumbered. The tyrant must be met
at the door when he appears. At your door, or mine, wherever he shows his bloody
appetite. He must be met by the pistol which can defeat an army. He must be met
at every door, for in truth we outnumber him and his henchmen. It matters not
whether they call themselves Communists or Nazis or something else. It matters
not what flag they fly, nor what uniform they wear. It matters not what excuses
they give for stealing your liberty, your property or your life. "By their works
ye shall know them."

The time is late. Those who once has trouble
reading the hour on their watches have no trouble seeing by the glare of the
fire at Waco. Few of us realized at the time that the Constitution was burning
right along with the Davidians. Now we know better.

We have had the advantage of that horrible illumination for more than five years now-- five years in which the rule of law and the battered old parchment of our beloved Constitution have been smashed, shredded and besmirched by the Clintonistas. In this process they have been aided and abetted by the cowardly incompetence of the "opposition" Republican leadership, a fact made crystal clear by the Waco hearings. They have forgotten Daniel Webster's warning: "Miracles do not
cluster. Hold on to the Constitution of the United States of America and the
Republic for which it stands-- what has happened once in six thousand years may
never happen again. Hold on to your Constitution, for if the American
Constitution shall fail there will be anarchy throughout the world."

Yet being able to see what has happened has not helped us reverse, or even slow, the process. The sad fact is that we may have to resign ourselves to the prospect of
having to maintain our principles and our liberty in the face of becoming a
disenfranchised minority within our own country.

The middle third of the populace, it seems, will continue to baffle in favor of the enemies of the Constitution until their comfort level with the economy is endangered. They've got theirs, Jack. The Republicans, who we thought could represent our interests and protect the Constitution and the rule of law, have been demonstrated to be political eunuchs. Alan Keyes was dead right when he characterized the last
election as one between "the lawless Democrats and the gutless Republicans." The
spectacular political failures of our current leaders are unrivaled in our
history unless you recall the unprincipled jockeying for position and
tragi-comedy of misunderstanding and miscommunication which lead to our first
Civil War.

And make no mistake, it is civil war which may be the most
horrible corollary of the Law of Unintended Consequences as it applies to the
Clintonistas and their destruction of the rule of law. Because such people have
no cause for which they are willing to die (all morality being relativistic to
them, and all principles compromisable), they cannot fathom the motives or
behavior of people who believe that there are some principles worth fighting and
dying for. Out of such failures of understanding come wars. Particularly because
although such elitists would not risk their own necks in a fight, they have no
compunction about ordering others in their pay to fight for them. It is not the
deaths of others, but their own deaths, that they fear. As a Christian, I cannot
fear my own death, but rather I am commanded by my God to live in such a way as
to make my death a homecoming. That this makes me incomprehensible and
threatening to those who wish to be my masters is something I can do little
about. I would suggest to them that they not poke their godless, tyrannical
noses down my alley. As the coiled rattlesnake flag of the Revolution bluntly
stated: "Don't Tread on Me!" Or, as our state motto here in Alabama says: "We
Dare Defend Our Rights."

But can a handgun defeat an army? Yes. It remains to be seen whether the struggle of our generation against the tyrants of our day in the first decade of the 21st Century will bring a restoration of liberty and the rule of law or a dark and bloody descent into chaos and slavery.

If it is to be the former, I will meet you at the new Yorktown. If it is
to be the latter, I will meet you at Masada. But I will not be a slave. And I
know that whether we succeed or fail, if we should fall along the way our graves
will one day be visited by other free Americans, thanking us that we did not
forget that, with the help of Almighty God, in the hands of a free man a handgun
CAN defeat a tyrant's army.

-- Mike Vanderboegh
P.O. Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126
Mo10Cav@aol.com
Copyright 1998.

Some more primer...!

2010-02-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

Good article from a friend of mine again found here.

I don't remember a lot of Jr. High...but one thing I do remember is sitting in a dark room in History class...watching videos of the atrocities of war. The two videos that are indelibly etched upon my brain were of the evils done in the Holocaust...and those of the aftermath of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The suffering of those people was almost more than my spirit could bare.
Of the aftermath of Nagasaki and Hiroshima...I remember the skeletons of incinerated bodies strewn all about. They seemed to me to be the lucky ones as they were dispatched to meet their God quickly. Of those that remained behind...that were exposed to the radiation...many died slow and painful deaths...or carried deformities and sickness for the remainder of their lives. Many maladies have been passed on through the generations.
I remember practically stumbling out of the classroom...full of grief...saddened and sickened at man's inhumanity to man.
(On a tangent note...I will say that I could never be a history teacher...perhaps especially in this country...as I believe our textbooks to be riddled with propaganda...and misinformation. If we were to write a textbook right now about what is going on in the US...could we possibly agree on what is going on? Why are we at war? Why is the economy struggling? etc... If you got a group of people in a room to discuss it...arguments would break out...and that is with current events! If we hold onto our man's history as if it is the gospel truth...we may one day find how we fell prey to deception. Read Ezra Taft Bensons view of secular history and see that I am not alone in my disdain.)
Recently...one of the greatest voices for constitutional government in the US...Chuck Baldwin...wrote an article where he recommended watching a TV program called "Jericho". My wife and I sat down and watched the first two episodes...and I can see so far why he recommended it. It is not my desire to be a spoiler...but I will say that it let's you look in on a small American town that one day is operating normally...and the next day is flopped on it's head with disaster. It will get you to think about areas where your own preparedness plan has holes...to ask yourself if you really believe in constitutional government...even when times get tough...and to ask yourself some tough moral questions.
A major topic that the show brings up is with regards to how to be prepared for nuclear bomb detonations and the subsequent fallout.
Could America Be a Target?
Is America the great liberator of the world? Or are we an imperialist force seeking to rule the world? There are certainly people that hold both points of view...in and out of the US. Regardless of your your politics...it does not take much imagination to understand that we have lot's of enemies in this world...that hate us for our occupying their countries...and a variety of other reasons. Enemies that would love to have us disappear or bow to them.
When confronted with this reality...there are some people that would puff out their chests and say something like "America is the greatest country on the planet...no one can destroy us!!" Such sentiments are reminiscent of the Jews that believed that Jerusalem couldn't be destroyed (1Nephi 2:13)...or of the Ammonihahites who believed that the great city of Ammonihah was too strong to be destroyed...especially in just one day!(Alma 9:4) And yet obviously they were both wrong.
Some Latter-day Saint people might turn to scriptures in the Book of Mormon and share the many great promised blessings that have been given to the inhabitants of this land as if to say that we are above such destruction....but then smooth over...or skip the many references that clearly show that those blessings are contingent on righteousness! We must serve the God of the land or be swept off. I would ask..."Are we righteous?"..."Are we serving the God of the land?" How many more of the signs of being "Ripe in iniquity" will need to happen before the wicked punish the wicked (vs. 5)?
Do we have doctrinal reasons to suppose that super-bombs will detonate in the US?
When words are spoken in General Conference...that means something. The prophet presides over the meeting...and would correct any incorrect doctrine if it was spoken. It is like the spoken canon of the church.
Understanding this doctrine makes conference that much more meaningful...as we go to hear the actual word of the Lord to us...not flippant words spoken off the cuff.
This understanding makes the words spoken by Bruce R. McConkie in General conference in 1979 that much more sobering. In one short breath he spoke prophetically of a future... "atomic holocaust which surely shall be"... Here it is in it's context...
"We do not say that all of the Saints will be spared and saved from the coming day of desolation. But we do say there is no promise of safety and no promise of security except for those who love the Lord and who are seeking to do all that he commands.
It may be, for instance, that nothing except the power of faith and the authority of the priesthood can save individuals and congregations from the atomic holocausts that surely shall be."
While we know that the "atomic holocaust...surely shall be"...there is no indication as to where it will take place.
In a 1961 Improvement Era article authored by Elder Harold B. Lee, written in honor of J. Reuben Clark on his 90th birthday. Quoting from Elder Lee's article:
"We heard him reply in answer to a question as to why he had put his life's savings into his presently owned Grantsville ranch: ' This is all I have to leave my family when I die, and if they are not too lazy to work it, they won't starve. I have told them that when the first atomic bomb is dropped here in America, that they are to go out there on the ranch and stay until it is all over.' This last seemed not only to be wise counsel, but also a prophesy. . . ." (Harold B. Lee, "President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. An Appreciation on his Ninetieth Birthday" The Improvement Era, Sept. 1961 pp.632-633.)
So there you read the witness of one apostle Elder Harold B. Lee(who would eventually be President of the church)...quoting the witness of another apostle...J. Reuben Clark...and it being "witnessed" out a third time into a printed in a church publication!!
Then there are a scriptures that could be interpreted to be nuclear bombs going off. Some of them speaking of "Vapors of smoke"...like in 1 Nephi 22:18.
There is a book called "Superbombs, Saints, and Scriptures"..that explores scriptural passages that could be speaking of atomic events. You can get it for really cheap if you want to look into that more.
Getting Ready
Bruce R. McConkie said just after his comment about the atomic holocausts to...
"Take heed; prepare; watch and be ready. There is no security in any course except the course of obedience and conformity and righteousness."
We need to prepare! We must not fall into the lie that is perpetuated by the lazy that "All you have to do is have faith and be righteous" THE LORD HAS TOLD YOU TO BE PREPARED for the many things that will come...not just to have faith without works!! Part of being "righteous" is obeying the command to prepare...not just cherry picking at the one's we like to keep best. Your Dad told you to put a jacket on before you go out into the cold! Don't expect Him to keep you warm when you step outside in your short sleeves!!!
Here is a really large book that is available online that I printed off and put into a binder. You can also purchase it bound. Here is another book I want to read...that also covers chemical and biological preparedness. You want a hard copy of such books so that you will have them to get prepared for such events...and during so that you can speed read what to do!!
Here is a short version of some things you can do to prepare if disaster is imminent.
It is good to also understand some other major events that are likely like an EMP blast...and what could happen as a result.
After you do some reading...you will get the idea that there are all kinds of supplies that would be good to have (in addition to your normal prep supplies). One could really spend a lot of money getting completely prepared for nukes by building bomb shelters...buying a geiger counter...fallout suits...etc. Make sure that you do your research...and don't fall prey to spending your hard earned money on products that aren't necessary...and may prove ineffectual. There are myths out there regarding what works and doesn't...that have been perpetuated in movies and books. Here is some info on that topic...
One small step you might take is to purchase some potassium iodide pills for your family emergency packs that will provide some protection for your thyroids against radioactive iodine.
Now is the time to get your act together with this stuff. Fear is exacerbated by ignorance and being ill-equipped during a crisis. He that is prepared shall not fear.

This link here may not have a lot to do with these topics or preparedness, but I wanted to throw it in. Please consider your paradigm while reading. Why would BYU (who gave an honorary doctorate to a known war criminal, liar, murderer, and mid to high level LDG (latter day gadianton), invite other New World Order players as "experts" to speak to and further confuse people on the issues of truth and sound government? Just sayin!

Ron Paul Financial Sense and Others!

2010-02-13T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Stake President here in the Kuna East Stake has encouraged us to "turn off the prophets of doom, and listen to the prophets of God." Please allow me to echo that sentiment. I know that the Glenn Beck and those types seem to have more sway in LDS' minds then the Lords mouthpiece sometimes. Just look at Y2K. The prophets had been warning us for 150 years. Then all of a sudden, the "world" tells us something is coming, so everybody starts panicking and getting supplies for something that is nothing more that speculation. I testify to you that every prophecy ever given will come to pass. Forget the world. What are the prophet's saying???

What I post here, let me state again, is not for the purpose of fear mongering or pride or any such thing. It is to inspire and encourage you to use your agency and talents in becoming temporally and spiritually prepared.

Here are a few more articles about what is coming to hopefully inspire a clearer understanding of the plans of the LDG's (Latter Day Gadianton's), but mostly to encourage any non essential resources to go toward your preparedness.

Ron Paul:
As we start the new year 2010, the establishment politicians, economists and Wall Street are trying to convince themselves that we have turned the corner and economic growth has once again begun. The predictions that conditions are getting back to normal come from those who never saw the crisis coming and don't have the vaguest notion what caused it. Some of them concede that it could be a jobless recovery. That will establish a new definition for a recovery.

Official unemployment is at 10% but even the government knows that if everyone is counted, including those individuals that are too discouraged to even be looking for work, the unemployment rate is 17%. Free-market economists claim the actual unemployment rate is closer to 22%.

There's reason to believe that the correction is just barely started and has a long way to run. If the financial bubble came from excess credit created by the Federal Reserve, doubling the money supply can hardly be a solution. It wouldn't make much sense for a doctor taking care of a very sick patient from severe infection to deliberately give the patient another infection. Yet that's what the PhD doctors are doing to our very sick economy. It can't work. It will make the economy much sicker. If our leaders don't wake up soon, the economy will be brought to its knees. Great danger lies ahead.

In foreign policy, it's always crucial that the motives of those who would do us harm are understood. Denial of the truth and accepting more politically palatable excuses will guarantee that threats to our safety will continue as we pursue a seriously flawed involvement overseas.

It's the same in economic policy. If there's denial or ignorance of the real cause of financial bubbles and the inevitable corrections that must follow, the economy cannot be re-energized.

We should have learned the lesson from the Depression of the 1930s that it was a predictable result from the Federal Reserve's orchestrated excesses of the 1920s. Instead, the new-born Keynesian economists who took charge made certain that the correction would not be a one or two year affair as were the previous corrections in our history. The aggressive intervention by Hoover and Roosevelt, the Republicans and the Democrats, turned a short recession into the Great Depression, which lasted until the end of World War II.

The real tragedy was that the interpretation of the 1930s institutionalized bad economic theories. Unfortunately, and erroneously, the Depression was blamed on the gold standard, free markets and a lack of regulations. Though monetary policy was analyzed, its importance was 100% misinterpreted. The low interest rates and excess credit of the 1920s, driven by Federal Reserve policy, was not considered a factor in producing the stock market bubble and the mal-investment.

Instead, the 1930s analysts and even later analysis by Milton Freidman and the monetarists, along with academic "scholars" like Bernanke, came to an opposite conclusion: the Fed was at fault but only because it was too tight, arguing that massive monetary inflation was the only answer to the slumping economy.

And now we are witnessing a grand experiment by the very person who for years claimed special knowledge regarding the Depression. Chairman Bernanke is in the midst of trying to solve the problem of massive monetary inflation and excessively low interest rates instituted by his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, by implementing even more inflation at historic rates. The sad part is the answer to his very risky experiment with the wealth of our country and the health of our economy will take years to analyze. The conclusions will be just as flawed as they were in the aftermath of the Great Depression by an intellectual and political community that had totally rejected commodity money and the principle of free market with the current understanding in Washington.

One hope, though, is that free-market thinking and Austrian economic theories will have greater influence in the next decade or two, since their influence is now on a dramatic upswing. But there are a lot of hurdles to overcome.

In the 1930s, in an effort to find the true cause of the crisis, Congress ordered an official investigation. It became known as the "Pecora Investigation" named after Ferdinand Pecora, the aggressive chief council of the hearings. It received a lot of public attention and brought about many major changes but, tragically, every conclusion made and new policies implemented caused the depression to worsen and legitimized bad economic theories that continue to haunt us to this day.

The Federal Reserve was not blamed except for not printing enough money fast enough. Artificially low interest rates and mal-investment, the main source of the grossly distorted economy and bubble of the 1920s, were exonerated. Not enough regulations were blamed, thus the Glass-Stiegall Act and the Securities Act of 1933 were passed and deepened the depression. Separating commercial and investment banking and the newly created SEC were to have solved all future problems-as long as the Fed was free from any restraint in its money creation operation to serve big-government spenders and members of the banking cartel.

Since the flaws in the monetary and economic system were not corrected but made worse after the Depression, it was to be expected that periodic booms and busts would persist. The longer these cycles could be papered over with new money and credit, the greater would be the distortions and debt that would one day have to undergo a major correction.

That correction is now in its early stages. Since the dollar was the reserve currency of the world and totally fiat since 1971, without any linkage to gold, the financial bubble became worldwide. This bubble that burst in 2008 was the largest in history. During the formation of the bubble, the U.S. as the issuer of the world currency received undeserved benefits. We essentially became the counterfeiter of the world and no one called us on it. Even today, the trust in the dollar that persists has buffeted the pain of the correction for us. This unique setup was a prime cause for our balance of payment deficits and the huge foreign debt we owe-the largest in the history of the world. The discord in the world financial system is telling us that it's time for us to pay for our profligate spending and massive foreign indebtedness. We have lived, as a nation, far beyond our means and the message is, for the foreseeable future, that we will be forced to live beneath our means as this debt is paid.

The inflation optimists are excited about current signs of economic growth and have even announced the end of the recession. It is conceivable that a reprieve can be achieved and the penalty that our economy must endure delayed. A reprieve must not be confused with a pardon; one is a temporary delay, the other an exemption. The payback for our excesses is certain to come.

Massively increasing debt and monetary inflation can slow the crash and change some government statistics encouraging the optimists. But real job growth and return of prosperity will remain elusive. The odds of us once again becoming an exporter of manufactured goods, like steel, cars, and textiles, are remote.

Ironically, a reprieve may well restore some confidence and motivate some spending and investment. But instead of restoring long-term growth, it may well act perversely by precipitating price inflation and higher interest rates. Since today's interest rates are artificially set, much of our investing is unproductively misdirected.

Current enthusiasm in the stock market is once again a reflection of the message that low interest rates send. Thus too, the government's stimulus package has helped to sustain the bond bubble, which in time must be deflated in order to get back to sound economic growth. All of this activity poses a threat to the dollar.

Governments are very powerful, and when in partnership with the monetary authorities that can inflate the currency at will, big government thrives. Welfare demands and senseless wars can be financed for long period of time through inflation, as long as trust in the currency lasts. Trust, though ultimately controlled by facts, can be misleading, since currency values can gain benefit from a country that has a strong military and wealth and a reasonably healthy economy. Eventually, markets and reality overwhelm, and illusions about a currency's worth become a reality.

Today, reality is setting in and the first of three major events has begun. The worldwide financial system, built on a foundation of paper, has received the shock waves of an impending collapse.

The wild speculation and the derivatives market, the stock market bubble, the insurmountable debt-public and private-and the massive mal-investments have been shattered.

The only solution so far offered worldwide, but led by the United States, has been to "print money" faster, keep interest rates low at practically zero percent, and remove all stops for controlling deficits. These are the very policies that caused the disequilibrium, and doing more of the same, but only faster, can hardly help our economy. The addiction to easy credit and deficit defies a wise political solution. Politicians are incapable of delivering the message of frugality, common sense, and sound money.

We can expect that the course we are on to continue and accelerate, since the first event, the collapse of the financial system, is still in its early stage.

The housing crisis is far from over; the commercial property crisis has not yet gotten much attention, and the financial obligations of the government are growing exponentially. And none of this forces the slightest pause in the expanding of welfare growth. The number of regulations, which are indeed a tax, are exploding though the market was already suffering from regulatory excesses. There's a consensus in Washington that "wise" regulations can compensate for all the mistakes made by the Federal Reserve, the Executive Branch, and Congress. This fallacy has been around a long time and will be difficult to overcome.

The pessimism of the middle class continues to get worse despite the prognostication of Wall Street and the Administration. Most Americans know that the standard of living and real wages have not gone up for the past 10 years. If you're not a shrewd stock trader and instead invested in stocks 10 years ago and held on, in real terms you would have lost 20% of your savings. The middle class is poorer also because house prices have crashed and many have lost their homes. On top of this, all we hear about is the trillions of dollars of debt and entitlement obligations that have been racked up for future taxpayers to pay. When it is revealed that the insider friends of the Fed and Congress get billions of dollars in bailout at the expense of the middle class, it's no wonder the people are taking to the streets and directing their hostilities toward both Republicans and Democrats in Washington. Many would agree it's well-earned anger and properly directed.

This anger and frustration will certainly grow as the consequences of the collapse of the financial system become more severe. The concerted effort to prevent the correction the market demands, guarantees a prolonged agonizing crisis. Every effort to reverse the tide will depend on spending, higher deficits, increased taxes and money creation. This effort is now providing another grand bubble: the dollar/bond bubble.

The next event will be a dollar crisis. A full-blown dollar crisis will be worse than our current financial crisis. The extent of a dollar crisis depends on whether or not the Washington politicians wake up and change their ways-a dubious hope.

More likely, the insanity will continue until some not yet known event will undermine the confidence of the dollar worldwide. Signs of less desire by foreigners to hold our dollars are already present. I'm certain our Treasury and Federal Reserve are pulling out all stops to prevent a massive run on the dollar. At present the "orderly" retreat from the dollar is working. But it won't last.

China is quite active in investing in natural resources around the world, and including in Iran. While we live in the dark ages and believe only our military presence and military threats can protect our access to oil, China is actually spending some of their savings investing in their future access to energy and other precious metals and minerals.

But the orderly retreat from the dollar won't last forever. Since 1973, shortly after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods Agreement, the dollar has lost 32% of its value against a Federal Reserve basket of currencies. But that doesn't tell the real story, since that is a measurement against all other currencies, and they are fiat currencies as well. This gave the dollar an artificial benefit from its position of power in great wealth and military prowess. The dollar in relationship to gold, however, is down 97% since 1971, and 82% as measured by the CPI. The dollar, mismanaged by the Fed, has not been a benefit to the savers who sought to responsibly take care of themselves. They've been cheated by a rotten system and are just beginning to understand exactly how the Federal Reserve has been responsible for the swindle.

It is impossible to predict the time when confidence will be lost, but it can come quickly. Resorting to buying other paper currencies will not be of much help. When the dollar crashes, most likely the purchasing power of all currencies-since all countries hold dollars as a reserve-will go down as well.

This means that dollars and other currencies will go into buying consumer items, precious metals and other physical properties. Consumer prices will soar, as well as interest rates. The central bank will lose control; and the more they inflate, the worse the confidence becomes. The interest rates will respond to these efforts by rising sharply.

If the Fed tries to reverse the run on the dollar, interest rates will also soar, and the pain on the American citizens will be of such proportion that political chaos will result. Either scenario leads to political and social chaos-the third event, and the most dangerous.

With no ability of the federal government to fund its commitments, international or domestic, major changes will occur in our system. The social unrest will elicit cries for government to exert unusual force to head off a complete breakdown of law and order. The ultimate trap will be set for a system of government claiming to protect a free society. If more power and police authority are not given to the federal government, it will be argued that only anarchy will result. If more government policing power is given, it will mean a lethal threat to civil liberties. Already we have permitted the notion that a single person, the Attorney General or President, can decide who is an "enemy combatant", thus denying that individual the right to habeas corpus, permitting indefinite detentions without charges made. This attitude toward civil liberties has changed significantly since the fear built around 9/11.

Yes, I know declaring one an "enemy combatant" is reserved for the radical Muslims engaged in terrorism against the United States. To be reassured by this reasoning is quite dangerous and naïve. Logic should not lead us to equate suspects with terrorists, and include American citizens, and yet this has already been set by precedent. Under difficult circumstances, our political leaders will not be hesitant to use these powers to maintain order. Tragically, the people may even demand it.

We are rapidly moving toward a dangerous time in our history. Society as we know it is vulnerable to political and social chaos.

This impending crisis comes as a consequence of our flawed foreign and domestic economic policies, a silly notion about money, ignorance about Central Banking, ignoring the onerous power and mischief of our out-of-control intelligence agencies, our unsustainable welfare state, and a willingness to sacrifice privacy and civil liberties in an attempt to achieve safety and security from an inept government. Dangerous times indeed!

What can be done about it? Must we wait for the inevitable and expect to restore our liberties in a street fight against the overwhelming power of the state? Not a good option!

The only way that we can prevent blood from running in the streets is to offer a better idea of the proper role of government in a society that desires first and foremost -liberty.

And that is impossible without a firm commitment by our thought leaders to the ideas of freedom, the source of all creative energy and prosperity. An all-powerful state is the threat to that ideal.

The prevailing attitude of the people-as it once was in early America-must be that of liberty and self reliance, rather than the nanny state and dependency relying on government force to mold all private choices.

If this is understood, a smooth-although not painless-transition to a free society is achievable. Ignoring this option will be very destructive to everything that is dear to the hearts of most Americans.

What is it that we must do? We must immediately embark on:
• Balance the budget by reducing spending
• Change our foreign policy to that of non-intervention
• A full audit and more supervision of the Federal Reserve leading to abolishing the Federal Reserve
• Legalize competition to the Federal Reserve with competing currencies
• Regain respect for civil liberties and privacy while reigning in the CIA
• Wean ourselves off the dependence of wealth transfers by government
• Abolish crony capitalism-no subsidies, no bailouts, no regulatory or tax privileges to protect the powerful elite, especially the military industrial complex
• Eliminate the income tax, inheritance tax and taxes on savings and dividends.

None of this can happen without the restoration of Congress to its dominant position of the three Branches of Government as was originally intended by the Constitution. The Executive and Judicial must be reined in, and Congress must assert its prerogatives over all legislation curtailing all unconstitutional agendae through budgetary controls.

Signs abound that angry Americans are now more ready than ever before for a change in direction that is indeed real. If this program were improvised-even suddenly and dramatically-the adjustment, though significant and to a degree somewhat painful, would be much shorter and of minor consequence compared to the chaos and poverty that will result if we refuse to change our gluttonous appetite for a free lunch.

Another one on the bankruptcy of the US.

The Bankruptcy of the United States is Now Certain

Porter Stansberry
Silverbearcafe
Thursday, February 4th, 2010

It’s one of those numbers that’s so unbelievable you have to actually think about it for a while… Within the next 12 months, the U.S. Treasury will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt. And that’s not counting any additional deficit spending, which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion. Put the two numbers together. Then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year? That’s an amount equal to nearly 30% of our entire GDP. And we’re the world’s biggest economy. Where will the money come from?

How did we end up with so much short-term debt? Like most entities that have far too much debt – whether subprime borrowers, GM, Fannie, or GE – the U.S. Treasury has tried to minimize its interest burden by borrowing for short durations and then “rolling over” the loans when they come due. As they say on Wall Street, “a rolling debt collects no moss.” What they mean is, as long as you can extend the debt, you have no problem. Unfortunately, that leads folks to take on ever greater amounts of debt… at ever shorter durations… at ever lower interest rates. Sooner or later, the creditors wake up and ask themselves: What are the chances I will ever actually be repaid? And that’s when the trouble starts. Interest rates go up dramatically. Funding costs soar. The party is over. Bankruptcy is next.

When governments go bankrupt it’s called “a default.” Currency speculators figured out how to accurately predict when a country would default. Two well-known economists – Alan Greenspan and Pablo Guidotti – published the secret formula in a 1999 academic paper. That’s why the formula is called the Greenspan-Guidotti rule. The rule states: To avoid a default, countries should maintain hard currency reserves equal to at least 100% of their short-term foreign debt maturities. The world’s largest money management firm, PIMCO, explains the rule this way: “The minimum benchmark of reserves equal to at least 100% of short-term external debt is known as the Greenspan-Guidotti rule. Greenspan-Guidotti is perhaps the single concept of reserve adequacy that has the most adherents and empirical support.”

The principle behind the rule is simple. If you can’t pay off all of your foreign debts in the next 12 months, you’re a terrible credit risk. Speculators are going to target your bonds and your currency, making it impossible to refinance your debts. A default is assured.

So how does America rank on the Greenspan-Guidotti scale? It’s a guaranteed default. The U.S. holds gold, oil, and foreign currency in reserve. The U.S. has 8,133.5 metric tonnes of gold (it is the world’s largest holder). That’s 16,267,000 pounds. At current dollar values, it’s worth around $300 billion. The U.S. strategic petroleum reserve shows a current total position of 725 million barrels. At current dollar prices, that’s roughly $58 billion worth of oil. And according to the IMF, the U.S. has $136 billion in foreign currency reserves. So altogether… that’s around $500 billion of reserves. Our short-term foreign debts are far bigger.

According to the U.S. Treasury, $2 trillion worth of debt will mature in the next 12 months. So looking only at short-term debt, we know the Treasury will have to finance at least $2 trillion worth of maturing debt in the next 12 months. That might not cause a crisis if we were still funding our national debt internally. But since 1985, we’ve been a net debtor to the world. Today, foreigners own 44% of all our debts, which means we owe foreign creditors at least $880 billion in the next 12 months – an amount far larger than our reserves.

Keep in mind, this only covers our existing debts. The Office of Management and Budget is predicting a $1.5 trillion budget deficit over the next year. That puts our total funding requirements on the order of $3.5 trillion over the next 12 months.

So… where will the money come from? Total domestic savings in the U.S. are only around $600 billion annually. Even if we all put every penny of our savings into U.S. Treasury debt, we’re still going to come up nearly $3 trillion short. That’s an annual funding requirement equal to roughly 40% of GDP. Where is the money going to come from? From our foreign creditors? Not according to Greenspan-Guidotti. And not according to the Indian or the Russian central bank, which have stopped buying Treasury bills and begun to buy enormous amounts of gold. The Indians bought 200 metric tonnes this month. Sources in Russia say the central bank there will double its gold reserves.

So where will the money come from? The printing press. The Federal Reserve has already monetized nearly $2 trillion worth of Treasury debt and mortgage debt. This weakens the value of the dollar and devalues our existing Treasury bonds. Sooner or later, our creditors will face a stark choice: Hold our bonds and continue to see the value diminish slowly, or try to escape to gold and see the value of their U.S. bonds plummet.

One thing they’re not going to do is buy more of our debt. Which central banks will abandon the dollar next? Brazil, Korea, and Chile. These are the three largest central banks that own the least amount of gold. None own even 1% of their total reserves in gold.

I examined these issues in much greater detail in the most recent issue of my newsletter, Porter Stansberry’s Investment Advisory, which we published last Friday. Coincidentally, the New York Times repeated our warnings – nearly word for word – in its paper today. (They didn’t mention Greenspan-Guidotti, however… It’s a real secret of international speculators.)

And lastly, here is a good article from a friend in California who is very much "awake". I leverage his stuff from his preparedness blog sometimes. Blog and posting found here.

Preparing for a Global Debt Bomb...

When the housing market was at it's peak a few years back...and people were seeing only rainbows for their financial future...I started to preach the opposite. I believed then that it would not last...and that we were in for some substantial economic hard times. In fact...I was advising my clients to start getting their money out of the markets and to start buying food storage and stocking up on supplies. This is one of the reasons I had to leave financial services...because I could no longer make money at it...as a planner who doesn't put their clients into investments...makes no money. Also because I started to feel as if I was trying to peddle cigarettes to children...like I was contributing to something morally wrong.

When I left that firm I was with...the manager called me up to try to get me to stay. I told him in no uncertain terms that I believed that another great depression would be short on the horizon. He tried to convince me that the market trends are up...that there may be bumps...but that it will continue up. He mentioned how strong the auto industry numbers were...and the housing numbers. I told him that I believed the "Indicators" to be full of bologna...and that he would see that I was right...that there would be a day of economic reckoning. He ended the conversation by saying..."Well...I hope you are wrong...because then we'll all be out of a job".

And he is. The firm he was with...a large firm...has closed it's doors. The auto and housing markets fell into the dumps...and my forecast...which I take no pleasure in...continues to come true. While I may have sounded insane at the time to many of my clients...and my manager...I'm sure that many of them wish that they would have taken my advice. Many wouldn't have lost a third or more of their savings.

As bad as things are with the economy...I say they will get worse. I say that now more than ever we should question every purchase we make and ask "Will this have any worth during the depression?". "Can I eat it...can I wear it...will it provide the basics to keep me alive".

I am progressively not a lone voice in the wilderness. The less than mainstream media has supported my views for some time...but now my views are progressively mainstream.

Here is an article from the WALL STREET JOURNAL...that sings my song. This is not some guy plunking out articles in his basement. This is one of the most influential and well known publications in the US with regards to investing. An interesting and sobering read.

Gathering Storm Clouds!

2010-02-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Good article found here.

2010: Giant Gathering Storm Cloudsby Jim Willie, CB. Editor, Hat Trick Letter January 6, 2010

The year 2008 bore my mark as the year the system broke. A public article addressed the issues, laid out before the breakdown occurred in September of that year. The consequences for the many failures, the desperate nationalizations, the hasty scrambles to put financial sewage under USGovt ownership, the realization of TARP as a vast slush fund for illegitimate bank rescues, the official monetization plans put forth to prevent bond implosions, and much more occurred in the year 2009 as a recognized aftermath. Here we are in 2010 and the threats must again be laid out. A prelude was offered in an mid-December article entitled "Full Circle of Govt Debt Default" (CLICK HERE) where a global sovereign debt ruin in vicious circle was displayed the sequence that started in the Untied States and will end in the Untied States. Rather than make specific forecasts of extreme events, a list is presented much like a smorgasbord. The odds are 100:1 in favor at least one extreme event occurring in this current calendar year in my view. The odds are very high in favor of several events taking place this year. The key here is that a great many extremely damaging and highly disruptive events loom like giant gathering storm clouds that meet, complete with lightning displays. More terrestrial types might consider that a great many land mine explosives lie in the wide pathways ahead. At least a few extreme craters will be formed. A few financial edifices will be toppled. Great changes come, especially to the global power structures. This time around, the stakes are bigger, and entire nations will face debt failure and national realignment. The ripple effects will reshape the global financial system.

The blind, the deficient, and the compromised fail to fully appreciate and detect the meaning of the Dubai debt default or the Iceland financial failure. They actually believe these busts have been dealt with by the very strength of the capitalist system. These default failures signify a continuation of the credit market crisis that never went away. Instead, accounting fraud was legalized. Instead, bloated bank toxic balance sheets were permitted. Instead, sovereign debt finance by monetary expansion was endorsed, i.e. monetization. Instead, stock equity sales to the nitwits incapable of reading balance sheets was widespread. Instead, broader statistical gimmickry of economic data was installed. Not a single meaningful reform has taken place on US soil, which guarantees the continuation of the credit crisis is assured. No substantial reduction of US home loan balance sheets. No return of US manufacturing. No liquidation of dead US banks. No removal of Goldman Sachs from control of the USDept Treasury. No disclosure of US Federal Reserve disbursements of over $1 trillion. No steps to restore the Glass Steagall Act to create firewalls between the financial sectors. No effort to prosecute for $trillion bond fraud. No initiative to bring to light the deep criminal lace to Fannie Mae and AIG, now protected under USGovt aegis. No attempt to rein in military spending and endless wars. No movement to create a monetary system with a currency other than the current debt denominated $20 bill coupons. Instead, with much greater force, enthusiasm, and recklessness, the financial system hurtled deeper into the Weimar chambers of commerce. Worse, most steps simply apply greater doses of precisely what caused the problems with debt overload and excessive monetary expansion. Worse doubly, most reforms grant even more power to those responsible for the breakdowns and fraud perpetration. The Untied States is being recognized internationally as a rogue nation moving headlong toward communism, run by powerful syndicates, whose most prominent foreign policy is explained by military hardware.

There is no shred of the capitalist structural makeup remotely evident outside of Asia. We see cronyism systems in the West, but worse, we see syndicate systems with alleged cords of criminality. The discredit of the central bank franchise system is barely noticed by the mainstream, which applauds the printing press monetary operators without recognition of the repeat of Weimar chapters. Just today, the New York Times formally posed the question of how the US Federal Reserve can prevent the next asset bubble when it missed the last one. It actually misses all asset bubbles, creates them all, and denies the existence of each during formation. The signature signals of a failed central bank is a lasting 0% rate and heavy monetization, called euphemistically Quantitative Easing so as to make economist failure sound like some wondrous medical prescription in high falluting nomenclature. How about the US Financial Reform being called Economicus Moribundus and the vast printing of money in monetary policy being called Whisky Delugius?

Let's review a rather lengthy list of potential events. These are not wild raving pronouncements. Each has some critical mass of likelihood. Each event is presented like an ugly perverse budding shoot on the charred landscape, easily representing an element of the Paradigm Shift. The global shift is almost totally missed by the American leaders, the press networks, and the people. My interpretation is that they live inside the US Dome of Perception, and hardly ever pay attention to matters pertaining to the USDollar. They instead regard it as a constant factor, quite erroneously. The list to follow includes matters often considered sacred, due to the sanctity and inertness of sovereign governments and their debt. The event closest to the Untied States is the dreadful dismemberment of Mexico, which is Greece on steroids and cocaine with the temperature turned up and the violence turned up, where the law enforcement and military have both been compromised and infiltrated. It is a tight race between the US and Mexico as to which nation is more overrun by crime syndicates. The difference is the US has white collar crime, while Mexico violent crime.

The following events are presented as potential disasters looming, spanning the full spectrum, each with triggers in numerous arenas. These are potential disasters, not presented as forecasts, but rather as a list to beware for nasty highly disruptive eruptions. They are loaded with a geopolitical streak, in keeping with Paradigm Shift that signifies a powerful set of changes in altered power. The one common trait all the following potential events have is that they are systemic game change agents. The globe will be reshaped by each and every event that comes to pass. They are not listed in any order of likelihood, since they are all very much at risk of occurrence, and integrally interconnected to a frightening degree. Each would heap tremendous damage, disruption, and devastation, upon occurrence. One should note that if one or two events occur, then others might occur with domino effect from the chain reaction of chaos and opportunity. Note for instance, how the Dubai default resulted in Greek Govt debt downgrade, with no connection except possibly some ancient Greek statues in marble lined parlors in Dubai edifices. The ripple effects will be felt for a full year, just like Lehman, Fannie Mae, and AIG in the United States, just like Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Lloyds in England. The triggers have been ignited, and constant fallout comes. The process never stopped, only the perception that it had stopped. The process can only stop when liquidation and reform occur. Neither is remotely evident.

Use the following scale for grading risk and effect. The likelihood of the event happening will be shown as a percentage, with 0% the lowest and 100% a certainty. The impact for each and every stated event would indeed be huge, extreme, and dangerous. Many different sources have provided lists of extreme events for the new current year, a tradition. Much lies in common for those who choose to think ahead, instead of employing the common practice of putting a new less credible layer of deception on the current landscape. The best among all the sources seen in my view has been the Business Insider. Thanks to my own circle of colleagues and confidants, who provided at least a couple of events listed.

EXTREME WARNINGS FOR EXTREME TIMES
Saudi Royals fall: The Saudi Arabian royal family would lose government control to the Islamic Fundamentalists and is replaced. Scores of old royals escape loaded with hundreds of billion$ in assets, conjuring up memories of the Shah of Iran. Disruptions and instability spread across the entire Persian Gulf. A clampdown of fundamentalist groups in other Gulf nations invites backlash. Occupation forces in Iraq face renewed resistance. (chance: 20%)

China gains full naval military capability: The Chinese Military would attain aircraft carrier force with three carrier groups. In expert circles they call it blue water capability. With this potential, including long range strike potential, the balance of power in Asia is altered. Pressures are put as a result toward changed alliances in key nations considered loyal to the West. Certain strategic points gain attention, as focus is trained on the Mallacan Straits, the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Bosporus Straits, the access routes to the Bering Sea, Australia, and South America. (chance: 30%)

Russian cuts off natural gas to Eastern Europe: Russia would enter a deep dispute with Eastern European nations, in particular Ukraine, and cuts off the flow of natural gas. Disputes center on return to the Russian fold from the independent factions encouraged by the Untied States motivated by the many Color Revolutions. Caught in the middle, at the end of the distribution lines, is Central Europe, whose ties forged by Germany to Russia remain healthy and strong. Russia later forges an alliance with Central Europe that results in some stability, as it becomes clear that Russia has come of age as a peacemaker with further ramifications in time. (chance: 50%)

Greece defaults on its debt: Great problems would result for the parent European Union, sure to fracture. Germany lets it go, does not cover the Greek debt, but employs plausible deniability on minimal offered assistance. A chain reaction begins, to reach the other vulnerable nations. Portugal, Italy, and Spain teeter upon the event, soon to suffer their own defaults, none aided. Even France suffers the ignominy of default, but is aided by Germany in the end, unlike the PIGS nations. The crux of the matter is refinance rollover of debt, which fails. The non-German EuroBonds then rise in yields, enough to force a split in the Euro currency to form the Nordic Core Euro. Default nations revert to their old former currencies and suffer massive devaluations. (chance: 80%)

Mexico fails as a state: The conditions in Mexico would become fully recognized and openly discussed. Two factors are front & center. The rise of the drug cartels in their control of the nation in numerous aspects is already global news. The unexpected net import of crude oil that ruins the nation's federal finances is not yet global news. The former has been understood, but the loss of oil exports takes the region by total surprise. Hyper-inflation then hits Mexico, which prints money to alleviate the federal budget shortfall. Chaos results on numerous levels. Supply disruption hits the US southern refineries. (chance: 70%)

Credit crisis relapse hits the US banks: The Untied States would suffer a relapse into a second round of bank failures, debt defaults, institutional liquidations, corporate deaths, and market disruptions. The proximal cause is the spread and continuation of the property decline, home foreclosures, and commercial defaults. Numerous bank analysts continue to harp on commercial mortgage loss risk after a 40% price decline, so far covered up by phony accounting rules. Impaired assets sit as bank assets. A trigger is the USFed removal from mortgage bond support, coupled with a powerful second downwave in housing prices from Option ARMortgages. A solution is put forth for wide USGovt purchase of housing inventory and the official advent of Fannie Mae as landlord. The supply chain is disrupted in extreme ways, as commercial paper grinds to a halt, and a deeper recession takes root. (chance: 40%)

The US supply chain suddenly suffers disruptions: The economic supply chain would be crippled by its two primary points of vulnerability. The finance credit lines are tied to wounded commercial paper markets. The actual tangible output supply comes from industries that struggle in credit flow, unstable prices, burdensome regulations, worker shortages, and constricted metal supply. Certain trucking firms have already shut down. Gasoline refineries are below their 1990 capacity. Mexican oil supply is soon to end. The lack of trained skilled experienced workers is chronic. (chance: 40%)

Fannie Mae is revealed as a slush fund, toxic bond haven, and object of grand criminal fraud coverup: Leaks would lead to calls for further Congressional investigations of mortgage bond fraud and past presidential pilferage. At the same time, various alerts would be given that the USGovt is harboring a black hole certain to cost over $2 trillion in additional bailouts, maybe up to $4 trillion. The prospect of wide USGovt home ownership from default sparks research reports and great scrunity, even clamor by younger members of Congress. The unlimited credit line to back USAgency debt securities has opened the door to a nasty effect on perception of USTreasury debt, as global perception of the actual USGovt debt ramps up 50%. Discussion of default rises. (chance: 40%)

The real 911 story comes out: The full seamy story would be revealed with many participants named. No further comment except that nation then would become deeply divided in reaction, and international isolation would result. The beneficiaries become the object of scrunity, criticism, and investigation. Attention turns to the swine flu vaccination and global Cap & Trade green taxes, each of which faces the harsh eye of investigation in Europe. (chance: 20%)
Iran is attacked: Great controversy would result from the direct attack of its nuclear facilities and other targets. Controversy would stir from scattered unconfirmed reports of involvement by various nations. Retaliation by Russia and China, long promised, then comes in hidden ways not fully understood. In the aftermath, the banks in the Mideast region are subjected to great scrutiny by several global players, especially one US ally nation. (chance: 10%)

Japan suffers a financial & economic crisis: A recession would take grip, spreading to its financial markets. Reduced export trade eliminated the trade surplus long ago. The Japanese Govt Bond then jumps higher by 2% or 3% in bond yield. The rising Yen currency consequently runs up 20% to 30% from the reverse of the Yen Carry Trade. Their export trade grinds to a near halt, and major conglomerate banks announce insolvency. Then China steps in. (chance: 40%)

UKGovt suffers a debt downgrade: The United Kingdom would be the first major industrialized nation to lose its high credit rating. The UKGilt bond yields then rise above 6% without pause. The threat of sovereign debt default is debated. The British Pound currency falls, which perversely aids the USDollar. Shock waves extend to the Wall Street financial center. Later, scrutiny comes to the USTreasury for its own downgrade and default risk. (chance: 50%)

Talk swirls for eliminating some central banks: Debate would focus on the central bank role as cause for asset bubbles, and extensions to the faulty nature of money itself. Analysts would cite money free from anchors of asset backing. However, awareness rises of the impracticality of central bank elimination, since debt liquidation and cleared decks cannot occur without global depression. In the background is rampant discussion of syndicate involvement and the risks of retaliation by the secretive banker organizations. (chance: 10%)

China faces a degree of chaos: Falling export trade, faltering bank reserves, empty commercial buildings, rising unemployment, idle factories, stalled construction projects, and restive population would contribute to a national crisis that struggles to be told amidst press controls. Armed with a $2500 billion war chest of reserves, China begins to convert assets into tangible rescues, aid, and welfare. The Chinese crisis then ignites a global sale of USTreasurys. As an offshoot to the chaos, the colonization of America then begins, as China cashes in on its USAgency Mortgage Bonds. It exploits it cut deal of Eminent Domain conversion of bonds into property. (chance: 20%)

Food prices soar in the US: The divergence between official crop forecasts would clash with the reality of crop failures and profound shortages this summer. Being the greatest food production source, the US crisis spreads globally. The deCarbonnel threat is realized, as foreign nations sell US$-based assets in order to finance food supply purchases. China enters the fray as a buyer of distressed farm property, amidst accusations of carpetbagger. (chance: 80%)

JPMorgan is object of persistent rumors of gigantic credit derivative losses: The slowly rising USTreasury Bond long-term yield would cause deep painful losses to JPMorgan. Their abuse of Interest Rate Swap contracts becomes a topic of debate. The monetization of USTreasurys becomes a topic of debate. The ability for the USGovt to control its deficits and auxiliary (hidden) losses becomes a topic of debate. Even bond fraud within JPM hallowed halls becomes a topic of debate. To cover the losses, monetary inflation grows out of control, and a USDollar decline ensues, taking the DX dollar index below the 70 level. (chance: 40%)

London metals exchange shuts down: The venerable London Bullion Market Assn would close, unable to fulfill gold orders. The varied stories continue regarding unorthodox practices from the London metals exchange in the month of December, like redemption of gold contracts in cash, like outsized demands for gold delivery mainly by Chinese entities but increasingly by the Swiss, like satisfaction of gold contracts with Street Tracks GLD shares, and much more. Scrutiny with assays upon high volume delivery have been standard since the tungsten gold story emerged, an indirect confirmation often ignored. The supply chain with intermediaries suddenly halts, as they too have no gold bullion to supply the LBMA. Companies shut down. Lawsuits result. Prosecutions begin. Midlevel officials are arrested. Some turn state's evidence. The gold price enters a state of extreme confusion, with vast discrepancies between paper gold price and physical gold price. (chance: 70%)

GOLD & SILVER START A NEW YEAR
Like after a stormy night, the new year has arrived much like a new market with fresh perspectives. The end of tax loss selling, accompanied by tax gain offsets, has come. The beneficial effect is equally shared between gold and silver, although the percentage gain from the recent reversals this week is larger for silver. Not shown in the two graphs is the upward jump in today's prices. They extended gains, with gold reaching the 1135 level, and silver reaching the 18.1 level. The most important factors to keep in clear focus are why gold is rising in a powerful upward trend in the first place. They have not changed. There is no end in government spending, from the Untied States, the UK, Europe, and Japan. There is no meaningful reform of any kind, surely no remedy unless one considers padding banker balance sheets with taxpayer funds as pre-requisite for remedy. There is only a rampant rabid race to grow the money supply, to produce federal deficits, to expand the central bank balance sheets. The real adjusted cost of money is negative after price inflation. The 0% official rates have become fixtures, as central banks look increasingly incompetent in justifying their continuation.

Notice the sharp reversals since the new January month began. Long-term moving averages remain in the uptrend, despite the orchestrated December correction. Investment demand is skyrocketing, a story barely told in the Western press. The wide band for the silver price hints of a strong price rise toward the 20 level on the next upswing. It has already begun. The tumultuous 2010 year, identified by at least a few key critical events listed above, will send the gold & silver prices soaring. Those who believe the hype in the previous month by the mainstream biased press will regret not climbing aboard. This will be the year of magnificent crises that change the face of the global financial structures. Debt will be dumped like a broken Vegas gambler. Paper money will be discarded like yesterday's newspaper. With the crude oil price at almost $83 per barrel, where are the Deflation Knuckleheads now? They led some gold investors to exit before the push from $900 to $1200. They remain legends only to the image in their own mirrors. The crude oil price might actually come down somewhat in the coming month or two, from scads of vessels loaded and sitting at sea. But gold & silver are set to continue a powerful upward thrust in price, as the perversion of money has become a desperate broad global pursuit. Most major currencies face serious debasement. This is a great opportunity to join the Precious Metals Locomotive after a pit stop. Targets are gold at $1375 and silver at $22.25 per ounce.

Moving Forward!

2010-02-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

I started this blog mostly as a means of providing preparedness information to interested parties. I have put quite a bit of food storage information and links in previous posts. If it seems like it is a lot of doom and gloom, please go back and read previous posts.

I do post a lot of current event info talking about essentially last days events. The main purpose for this is to inspire the readers to set aside Babylon that is the world, and focus themselves on what you do have control over; your temporal and physical preparedness.

The second lesser reason is to inspire like minded individuals, to awaken to our awful situation, and stand for the truth and right no matter where it may be.

Moving forward, I am going to post some more info on our economy and financial trends, then I will move back to some food storage and preparedness ideas.

The following info is a number of compilations and articles I have come across lately that I thought would be beneficial to point out to us how the secret combinations, and latter day Gadianton's work. These people haven't the slightest semblance of care or concern for this people at all. The sooner we realize that it really is the righteous (who seem to be becoming fewer), against Babylon (this world and everything in it), and learn to stand on our own, or together with the Lord, the better off we will be.

PHOENIX - For the 5th quarter in a row food prices have fallen, according to the Arizona Farm Bureau. In an informal survey of 16 grocery items, prices fell 13 cents from last quarter. Grocery prices have dropped about 15 percent since last year.In the early 1980s the city council repealed the food tax in Phoenix. Now the city council is considering a move to bring the tax back. Which would bring in about $50 million dollars a year.
http://www.abc15.com/content/financials ... 0nY4Q.cspx

Quote:
Metro, which runs department stores, supermarkets, cash-and-carries and electrical stores, is expected to report weaker numbers due to its larger exposure to non-food goods, weak eastern European markets and falling food prices.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/01/ ... etail.html

Quote:
Retail prices for apples, potatoes, and corn have fallen as much as 25% in the past year, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Wholesale prices for chilled and frozen turkeys have dropped 9.2% in October from a year earlier, while those for wheat declined 31%.Soft commodities, such as fruits and vegetables, have been losing value this year as a rainy growing season led to large harvests, and a strengthening dollar made these goods less appealing to investors. And domestic turkey production is down, but falling exports have created a glut of birds in the U.S.While recession-weary consumers will welcome lower food costs, investors might also stand to gain. Falling wholesale costs are helping some food companies and retailers prosper even as customers cut spending.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10625500 ... costs.html

Identifying the speculation culprit....

Quote:
In 2007 and 2008 prices of most primary commodities first increased very rapidly, to a degree that was completely unwarranted by actual changes in global demand and supply. Then they collapsed, from peaks in May-June 2008, at even more rapid rates than their previous increases. But in many countries the fall in global prices was not associated with a fall in prices paid by consumers, while the actual producers (such as farmers) rarely benefited from the price increases.Price swings It is now quite widely accepted that financial activity — specifically the involvement of index investors — was strongly associated with these dramatic price movements. Commodities emerged as an attractive alternative investment avenue for financial investors from around 2006, when the US housing market showed the initial signs of its ultimate collapse.This was aided by financial deregulation that allowed purely financial agents to enter such markets without requirements of holding physical commodities. This generated a bubble, beginning in futures markets that transmitted to spot markets as well.Thereafter — even before the collapse of Lehman Brothers signalled the global financial crisis — commodity prices started falling as such index investors started to withdraw.The global recession that was evident from mid-2008 led to perceptions that commodity prices would not firm up any time soon. While this contributed to fears of deflation in the context of liquidity trap conditions, this was even seen to be an advantage especially for food and fuel importing developing countries, whose import bills would be reduced accordingly.But while the collapse in commodity prices after the recent peak was sharp, it proved to be quite short-lived.Most important commodity prices — especially food and oil prices — have been rising from early 2009, even before there was any real evidence of global “recovery”.This creates a piquant situation for economic policy. In macroeconomic terms, the global threat of deflation is still greater than that of inflation, especially because the financial crisis is far from resolved or even properly dealt with and is bound to result in new problems in real economies sooner rather than later.However, both the nature of the recent recovery and the policy response to the crisis (which has provided more liquidity without adequate control or regulation) suggest that primary commodities may well witness a price surge once again.Such price surges have huge negative implications for developing countries. Because they are the result of financial activity, they typically do not benefit the direct producers who may be resident in the developing world. But they cause huge damage to consumers of food and other essential items, typically the poor in developing countries, who are the worst affected as the prices of necessities increase even as their employment and wages continue to languish.If these very adverse effects are to be avoided, financial regulation to curb speculative activity in commodity markets must become an urgent priority at both national and international levels.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/201 ... 070900.htm

Quote:
On the face of it, inflation was tame last year. The Consumer Price Index, the broadest measure of changes in consumer prices, fell at an annualized rate in at least eight months in 2009. That hadn't happened in a single month since 1955, let alone for eight consecutive months.Inflation, the rise of prices across the economy, fell on a year-over-year basis every month from March through October. It ticked up again in November, the latest reading from the government, rising 1.8 percent from last year.Even with the broad drop in prices, however, American consumers feel pinched because they don't buy a lot of what the CPI measures - everything from airfares to hotel rooms - with any frequency.For example, the price of a television fell 27.9 percent in November compared with 12 months earlier, and 18.8 percent in November 2008 compared with the 12 months before that, but people don't buy TVs very often. They do, however, regularly buy gasoline, pay heating and electric bills, shop for groceries or eat at fast-food chains, and what they spend at the supermarket and the gas station affects what they think about the economy."The incomes of families have been falling for many groups because of unemployment and reduced hours of work. Ongoing inflation means that even people with jobs ... aren't doing so well," said Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal policy-research group.Last year's respite from rising energy prices is giving way. Oil prices are back above $80 a barrel on anticipation that a global economic rebound this year will increase demand, and that has sent gasoline prices to a nationwide average of $2.70 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. A year ago, gasoline cost almost $1 less, averaging $1.72 a gallon nationwide, the club's daily Fuel Gauge report said Thursday.
http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/1674338.html

Quote:
KUALA LUMPUR: Commodity prices rose to fresh highs as the US dollar weakened yesterday against the backdrop of a recovering global economy which triggers the anticipation of rising inflation.The ringgit was traded at its firmest point in 16 months versus the greenback. Economists said rising prices of commodities such as crude oil, gold, and palm oil could be a positive sign that companies were positioning themselves for a rebound in consumer spending.At the same time, it is also an indication of investors’ anticipation of rising inflation amid central banks' loose monetary policies to rejuvenate their respective economies. "Both actual price rise and fears of future inflation threaten to put central bankers around the globe in a tough spot, particularly in Asia, which was not badly hit by the credit crisis and where economic growth is generally stronger."Indeed, food prices are a big concern in developing countries such as China and India, where food makes up a large proportion of consumer purchases," RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd economist Peck Boon Soon wrote in a note to clients today.Crude oil prices for February delivery at the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed to their highest in 15 months at US$83.52 (RM278.96) a barrel at 3.24pm. The hydrocarbon resource pierced the US$80 mark on Jan 4, the first time since October last year, as traders predicted that an economic recovery in the US, the world's largest economy, would fuel demand for the commodity.Freezing winter conditions in the world's largest energy user have also prompted expectations that demand for winter fuels such as heating oil and natural gas will increase.
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/business ... ollar.html

contrasted with....

Quote:
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- A 26-mile-long line of idled oil tankers, enough to blockade the English Channel, may signal a 25 percent slump in freight rates next year.Traders booked a record number of ships for storage this year, seeking to profit from longer-dated energy futures trading at a premium to contracts for immediate delivery, according to SSY Consultancy & Research Ltd., a unit of the world’s second- largest shipbroker. Ships taken out of that trade would return to compete for cargoes just as deliveries from shipyards’ largest-ever order book swell the global fleet.“The tanker market has been defying gravity,” said Martin Stopford, a London-based director at Clarkson Plc, the world’s largest shipbroker. Stopford has covered shipping since 1971.More than half of the ships are in European waters, with the rest spread out across Asia, the U.S. and West Africa. Lined up end to end, they would stretch for about 26 miles.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-1 ... ate3-.html

So what is the underlying truth? which is it? Inflation or deflation....falling demand or rising demand....rising wages or falling wages.....faster growth or slower growth? Especially when blatant lies are told -

Quote:
Separately, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told David Gregory on NBC's "Meet the Press" that "economically the worst is over," as there's been a comeback in terms of job creation and home sales.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/job-gr ... _news_stmp

FYI - Last weeks average daily unemployment borrowing just surpassed average daily sales tax collections in California. The worst is yet to come....as the current situation is still being supported by additional debt that has to be paid back at some future point. The $6 billion plus of unemployment debt is accruing at compounded 5% interest.

Quote:
OLYMPIA — Last year was bad. This year is worse. The future won't be much better. That, in a nutshell, describes the state budget mess lawmakers face when the Legislature convenes its 60-day session Monday.Revenue collections have dropped so fast — by $1.5 billion in the past year, with more declines forecast — that state Treasurer Jim McIntire warned that the government literally could run out of money in a few months.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... adlines%29

Quote:
Across-the-board, Arizona's elected leaders agree making the state's disintegrating budget whole again won't be easy, and however they do it will be painful. What they don't agree on is what to do. In short, the coming year looks like a rerun of last year, only with even less potential for a happy ending.The state has already used many of the accounting gimmicks available to it, such as rolling over its K-12 and university payments, and it is awaiting the pending sale of state buildings, which would free up about $735 million in cash.Even with all that, "We're still broke," said state Treasurer Dean Martin. "You're looking at a situation in which the state is poised to head over a big cliff."Martin, who could be among those challenging Brewer for her job later this year, said the state payroll is about $100 million every two weeks. "You could fire every state employee and still not be able to balance the budget," he said.Brewer acknowledged any budget repair will have to include more cuts and more borrowing. But she said, "We could cut every service in the state of Arizona that's not mandated by the federal government and still not balance the budget," so there is no getting around the need for more revenue.Senate President Bob Burns, however, said he still doesn't think he can get the votes and it's not an answer for this year anyway. "With almost every tax proposal I'm aware of, there's a time lag. And even if the Legislature were to pass it, which I don't see happening, it would take time for it to start generating revenue."He said he still sees cutting as the answer. In particular, he sees no way to avoid cutting things that cost a lot of money but that are political sacred cows — health and education. Cutting other areas, such as departments of water or environmental quality or agriculture, can't alone close that gap, he said."People are critical of the Legislature, claiming we're making cuts to valuable programs. But it's not the Legislature making the cuts," Burns said. "It's the economy making the cuts. The money has gone away.""We're on the verge of issuing IOUs, where people will be paid with a piece of paper they can't cash."
http://www.azstarnet.com/altds/pastfram ... adlines%29

Hard to see when your buried in the forest....have to climb the mountain and get a better perspective....also the best place to talk to God!Description of the forest -http://market-ticker.org/archives/1839- ... Is-It.html

Quote:
The recent release of State and Metro unemployment data from BLS comes at a time when oil prices have just made a new, 52 week high, and it seems appropriate to consider the these developments together. As I have noted previously on this blog, Southern California is a kind of super-region in terms of population and our collective vehicle fleet to both the State of California itself, and to the United States as as whole. Indeed, there is no more perfect region in the country to watch the effects of the housing crash, unemployment, changes in interest rates, and the price of oil.First, let’s consider that gasoline prices in Southern California are once again solidly above $3.00 per gallon. This is higher than petrol prices one year ago in either November, or December of 2008–or even January of 2009. But of course the advance since that time in unemployment in Southern California has been dramatic. In LA-Long Beach-Santa Ana, unemployment has soared from 8.2% to 11.5% from November 2008 to November 2009. In Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, from 9.7% to 14.2%. And in San Diego-Carslbad-San Marcos from 6.9 to 10.3%. While the $4.00 and $5.00 dollar gasoline of late Winter and Spring 2008 was painful, and was falling over a quickly deteriorating situation in California’s economy, this recent gasoline move to post-financial crisis highs is falling over extremely high unemployment in California as a whole. Indeed, the broader measure of unemployment in the metro areas mentioned above would be even higher, as California’s U-6 measure is at least as high as 19.6%. see: Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States, Fourth Quarter of 2008 through Third Quarter of 2009 Averages.When the BLS releases its next update to this quarterly report later this month, I expect that U-6 for California will finally crack 20%. Let’s also consider that the 5 Big Counties of Southern California, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, and San Diego, not only contain 60% of California’s total population, but also are the counties where people are very leveraged to the automobile. You can begin to imagine the buzz-saw that will begin to cut across SoCal’s woeful situation should oil rise to $90 and possible $100 as we proceed into Spring.Gasoline at $3.15 and headed to $3.50 in January of 2010 is at least as destructive if not moreso than the 4-5 dollar gasoline of late Spring 2008 and certainly than the comparable prices of one year ago. More importantly I strongly disagree that these changes in petrol prices have little more than moderately damaging effect on the US economy. And here’s why: if 1 out of 7 people in the country is currently taking food stamps, with the additional data point that 1 out of 4 children in the country are currently benefiting from food stamps, then clearly petrol prices matter. Alot. If a household needs public assistance to put food in the mouths of children, then that household’s monthly gasoline expense rising to say $160 from $120 will not go unnoticed. Recent data has shown that the growth in food stamp demand in California has been quickly accelerating. I think it’s not too strong a conclusion, therefore, to speculate that petrol prices are once again at-the-ready to crush any nascent economic recovery in the United States.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/181969- ... california
Good synopsis -http://www.zerohedge.com/article/good-m ... to+zero%29
Excerpt from above -

Quote:
The California budget crisis has been dragging on a long time, and probably could drag on a good bit longer, but we can only realistically expect the funding crises in various US states to worsen -- causing another classic example of problem-reaction-solution where more power is given to the Feds and central banks around the world. Ultimately power is flowing upward, away from the localities and states, towards the US Federal Government -- and ultimately towards global institutions such as the UN and the IMF.
Here's a good look at the flight to safety (short term maturities) - http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/ ... chv1i1.pdf

Quote:
Further, it becomes apparent that the current maturity profile is such that even extensive inflation will likely be ineffective in mitigating the impact of the debt analyzed.While the ramifications of quantitative easing or Treasury collateral reverse repo operations may escape even learned financial professionals, unique visual presentation (or may we go so far as to say "art"?) often has the potential to crystallize complex issues in the public psyche. We attempt this dangerous feat in this paper and media connected thereto.As of end of month December 2009, amount of marketable debt maturing in:o 0-30 days: $432.0 billiono 31-60 days: $382.3 billiono 61-90 days: $307.0 billiono Total maturing in under 90 days: $1,121.3 billionUsing inflation to reduce debt impacts in an environment characterized by short maturities is difficult if not impossible. (Rising interest rates ensnare each roll-over and raise the debt service required of the Treasury)

Animated version -
http://www.zerohedge.com/etch/v1i1?utm_ ... to+zero%29

More here - http://market-ticker.org/archives/1841- ... tions.html

2010-01-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

DOES ANYONE ACTUALLY READ THIS BLOG??? I NEVER RECIEVE ANY KIND OF FEEDBACK OR COMMENTS OR ANYTHING. PLEASE SEND FEEDBACK, OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OR SOMETHING TO LET ME KNOW IF THIS IS OF ANY WORTH. OTHERWISE I WILL SHUT IT DOWN.

I have resigned my church preparedness rep position. I do not feel that anyone listens. No one wants to hear the hard advice or the hard truth as spoken by the Lord.

thanks,

Shawn Cloward

Update: Well, my counter keeps going up, so I am hpoing that that is an indication that at least some people are awake and reading. Thank you to those who do, and those who have enough faith and foresight to prepare in ALL ways.

Shawn

Food Crisis!?

2010-01-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Friend of mine posted this, and I found it pretty good and thought provoking, even if I don't believe it all.

Shawn

Perhaps you read like I did all of the grim reports in 2009...of crop failure...farm closures...and the general plight of the farmer that took place across the United States. Putting together those puzzle pieces...coupled with our other woes in this nation has led many preparedness minded people to feel perhaps more than a little concerned about how things will shake out in 2010.

This article gives a sobering forecast that the "other shoe will drop" in a couple of months! While some may be quick to dismiss this as sensationalism...I don't see why it couldn't happen as predicted. Such news may be good ammunition to help you to convince your spouse, friend, sibling, parent, child, or whomever, that it is time to stock up on those needed supplies!

The article...

You have maybe two months to stock up on the necessities of life before food prices rise dramatically, potentially prompting a food panic, widespread famine, and quite possibly the long-expected collapse of the U.S. economy.

Farmers across America and in many other parts of the world are calling 2009 the worst harvest they’ve ever seen in their lives, owing largely to extended bouts of bad weather. At the same time the U.S. Department of Agriculture is officially forecasting bumper crops, while grain elevators stand nearly empty and close to three-fourths of the country’s farmland is in areas declared eligible for federal disaster assistance due to failed crops.

A popular farmers’ Web site is chock full of stories of entire crops of soybeans rejected for moisture damage, long delays in harvesting corn only to find out the corn is moldy, damaged or too light to be used as animal feed or even ethanol, and farmers unsure if they’ll even have a farm for another year due to the losses they’ve taken.

Most agricultural products are purchased in futures, which are promises to deliver a quantity of a commodity at a future date. Futures carry many risks, prominent among them the possibility that the commodity simply won’t be available at the promised delivery date. While futures prices are set by the market, some of the information used to set the prices comes from the USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates reports. The unrealistic 2009 bumper crop predictions in its recent reports, which may have seemed reasonable months ago before 2009’s long string of bad weather but which USDA has failed to revise, drove futures prices artificially low.

But grain futures prices have already risen well above the USDA’s latest projections as the corn harvest threatens to drag on into March in some areas of the country, thanks to an unusually wet 2009 and unprecedented fall flooding in the Midwest.

The good news is that even with 2009 being the worst harvest in human memory, there will still be plenty of food in the U.S. to feed everyone in the U.S. The bad news — if you’re in the U.S. — is that the food won’t be used to feed everyone in the U.S.

It seems China has finally figured out what to do with all the U.S. dollars it’s holding. You’ll recall that the Federal Reserve took some pretty extreme measures over the last two years, ostensibly to save the U.S. economy. In fact, those measures have set us up the bomb. For decades China has been buying U.S. debt and financing Americans’ credit addiction as well as the government’s massive spending on millions of projects it has no business being involved in. But, it seems, they’ve had enough of the dollar and are about to pull the plug.

In the meantime, China has been using those dollars to buy every morsel of American food it can get its hands on. Combined with 2009’s bad weather and the USDA’s ridiculous numbers, this prompted a late August soybean shortage which is expected to continue through 2010.

The U.S. has a very good reason to fudge the numbers on crop estimates. If it published realistic numbers, and crop futures prices rose sharply, three things would likely happen: Wall Street would take massive losses, inflation fears would cause investors to dump bonds, frustrating the government’s attempts to finance its incredible expanding debt, and most importantly, China, whose currency is tied closely to the U.S. dollar, would allow it to appreciate. That alone would likely send the U.S. dollar into freefall; all three would mean utter economic collapse.

Of course, you can’t fool the market for long; as noted above, futures prices are already well above the USDA’s numbers. All they really managed to do with their numbers game was buy the U.S. dollar another year of life.

One market analyst believes that the 2010 food shortage will be the catalyst which not only brings about the collapse of the U.S. economy, but takes down Great Britain and Japan with it.

"While a food crisis was unavoidable to some extent because of the abnormal weather and financial crisis, the total panic which will soon grip world agricultural markets is a creation of the USDA and its fictitious production estimates. If not for the USDA’s interference, food prices would have risen in the first half of 2009 in anticipation of the 2009/10 shortage. The United States Department of Agriculture has caused incalculable damage to the world economy by encouraging overconsumption of rapidly diminishing food supplies.

Once the 2010 Food Crisis starts, confidence in the US government will be shattered as a result of the USDA’s faulty estimates. The starvation and misery caused by higher food prices will also create a lot of anger . . ." — Market Skeptics

In this scenario, rural banks will begin failing rapidly, especially in the Midwest, and the inevitable bailouts will drive up U.S. debt further. These bailouts, combined with the Chinese allowing the yuan to appreciate, will erode confidence in the U.S. dollar to the point that foreign banks and investors begin dumping U.S. debt at fire sale prices. At that point the Federal Reserve will have no choice but to print money, leading directly to hyperinflation.

I shouldn’t have to tell you what hyperinflation will look like, but in case you need a reminder, it will likely make the Great Depression look like a minor recession. Tens of millions of people who have never known want in their entire lives are going to be shocked to wake up broke and hungry, with no idea what happened or why it happened to them. The government will almost certainly be unable to fulfill its promises of food stamps, social security and other such welfare programs. Food riots are likely and people will almost certainly die when the government attempts to put them down.

Worst of all, almost nobody will assign blame where it truly belongs: central banks and fiat currency.

Market Skeptics and many other foreign investors I’ve seen quoted widely in foreign media but virtually never in the U.S., recommend investing in agriculture, except derivatives, and in precious metals. I also recommend you invest in as much nonperishable food as you can lay hands on in the next two months, at least a year’s supply if you can manage it. If there’s no collapse, you can eat it, and if there is, you’ll at least have something to eat. And when you read a headline such as “Yuan allowed to rise versus dollar,” it’s time to head for the hills.
By Michael Hampton – homelandstupidity.us

Globalism and FAMINE!!!

2010-01-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

I was going to put a picture of the harlot Pelosi, but I didn't want anyone to have to scratch thier own eyes out, so I found this one that was as tame as I could find.

A person whom I respect posted this found on this Forum. I found it very insightful and very true to our current and coming situation.

"One example of this globalism is the recently proposed global "fee" by Nancy Pelosi on financial transactions of .25%. It appears small, but let's put it into perspective. In a typical transaction for me, my broker charges me just $5-6. Pelosi's fee would be about to $250! That's a very deep financial whole to dig oneself out of to profitability! And Pelosi wants it to be "global", she said, so that no one can escape it. The fees, by the way, are intended to provide permanent funding for a global government. Not a penny of it would be for the U.S.

Cap and Trade is also very destructive of U.S. sovereignty. It's intended to be! It is a literal "redistribution of wealth" plan on a global scale. Last week, Hillary Clinton pledged $100 billion a year of U.S. tax-payer redistribution to other countries in Copenhagen. Just to put that into perspective: That's about 1 out of every 14 dollars of individual taxpayer funds received annually by the U.S. government. One of every 14 dollars you pay in taxes will now be "redistributed" to other countries. And that doesn't even count the higher cost of energy for Americans here, either.

Many Americans have a myopic view of global warming's impact. They don't see the forest for the trees. They only see the first ripple -- its impact on their utility bill and cost to the gas tank of the car. It's real impact and intent is to destroy national sovereignty and to lead to greater globalization.

I am a grain trader by profession. I receive information daily from some of the world's best grain analysts and writers. They tweet me info around the clock. A few highlights from the Global Warming scam:

1) The "indirect use" provision of Cap and Trade will take 50 million acres of American farmland OUT of production, thus cutting food production. This land will be converted to forest, taken permanently out of food production.

2) The United States will go from being the world's largest exporter of agricultural products, to IMPORTING food over the next few years. One of the world's leading agriculture writers, who works with some of the largest ag cos in the world, told me this last week. America will no longer be the "breadbasket to the world". Imagine the impact on food prices domestically! Imagine the civil unrest and riots in other countries!

3) The United States will reduce its use of the very farm machinery that has made it the most efficient country in the world for food production. The average American farmer produces enough food to feed about 80 people. The global average is only 7. Farm combines and diesel fuel are the main reasons for this vast difference. This difference will be nullified as the cost of fuel is intentionally multiplied many times. Put simply, food will cost more! A LOT more!

4) Use of fertilizer in the United States will be significantly reduced. This will occur for two reasons. First, since fertilizer is made from crude oil and natural gas, the escalating price of these two fuels will force farmers to use less, thus cutting production. Second, Cap and Trade will force farmers to use more "green" methods. While not bad in itself, these methods are much more labor intensive and produce lower yields. They are great for supporting a local vegetable stand, but don't produce sufficient quantities of food for large-scale (as in "grocery stores") food distribution.

I find it hard to believe that Heavenly Father would have placed these vast energy resources in the earth with the intent that they NOT be used.

"And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion." (D&C 59:20)

When I think of "extortion" related to the subject of the earth's resources, I can't help but think of OPEC. But the Lord knew there would be other forms of extortion, too. One is the EPA declaration of CO2 as a pollutant last week, and threatening Congress that they would regulate it if Congress doesn't. The EPA even said it would not be "market-friendly". That's pure extortion.

Most famine in history was caused by bad government policies, not bad weather. It appears we're going to learn the lesson again -- the HARD way!"

Me again. As you read the Book of Mormon, what lessons are you gleaming forth which teach and instruct you on just what you might be able to escape and avoid? And what are the principles upon which such blessings are predicated?

I do know that we cannot deceive ourselves to think calamities will not happen, for here we have this prophetic statement of Ezra Taft Benson from Conference in 1980:

"Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Prepare for the Days of Tribulation," Ensign, Nov. 1980, 32)

Proper Government and Additional Prepardness Thoughts!

2010-01-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

Please bear with me as I am going to hit a few topics in this post. I recently wrote a few things concerning governments proper role, including this...

"What a guise that higher education seems to be. Seems mostly a ploy to extract as much money as possible from you. Keep greedily raising their prices, then people will complain enough so that the gubmit will then step in and "save" education by completely taking it over. That will be fun. If you want higher education, please educate yourself on the principles of sound government and freedom and agency. Rights are given of God and administered by a good sovereign government appointed by the people to represent their interests. We are a republic, or at least a democratic republic. Such is why the founders did NOT institute a straight democracy. The voice of the "majority" will every time abuse that power and choose more money and "programs" for themselves. Why do people seem to think that government actually still have the people's best interest in mind? It's about control...slavery...from cradle to grave. Voting and writing representatives has no bearing. All that would return us to a proper state at this point is blood. Unfortunately, the people (or sheeple, whichever you like) have been all too conditioned to accept the "authorities" and the "experts" and what they tell the people to do. Revolution! I would gladly lay down my life if it came to that, in a righteous cause of restoring the Republic."

More along this thinking can be found in the words of the late Ezra Taft Benson's "The Proper Role of Government" found Here.

As stated above, it seems surprising to me that there are still so many in this world, and especially within the LDS church, who continue to trust and put faith in the current governmental leaders. Helaman chapter 6 tells us that the secret combinations of the time had taken over the government. We claim that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and inspired for our day. Why would such secret combination not be in full effect today??? My point is that you can bet that Satan is unleashing everything he has. It has all culminated to this generation.

Chuck Baldwin speaks about the anger that many in this country feel with the direction of things, but essentially not enough to actually take meaningful steps to fix it. See article Here. From that article...

"That Americans are angry with the federal government is nothing new. As a general rule, Americans STAY angry with the federal government. So what? Nothing changes, anger and discontentment notwithstanding.

Oh! Occasionally, grassroots effort can be mustered in sufficient quantity to stop whatever happens to be the latest effort by the miscreants in Washington, D.C., that tramples our freedoms. But only occasionally. The only recent triumph I can think of was when G.W. Bush, Lindsey Graham, and John McCain tried to ram an amnesty bill for illegal aliens through Congress. But never fear, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid will pick up that particular baton soon enough."

Consider also this recent article titled "There'll be nowhere to run from the new world government" that caught my eye found Here.

You can probably put things together in your mind, but please be aware of what is coming. Please know that the Saints have been commanded to be aware of the signs of the times.

All of that being said, again I need to issue a plea to do whatever you can to prepare as much as you can for what is coming. Time for preparedness is waning, and as President Benson said, we will rue the day that we harbored the illusion that tough times are not coming our way. Consider this article titled "2010 Food Crisis for Dummies" found Here. I'm not much for putting dates on things, but if it helps to create some of the urgency that many already feel and are hopefully acting upon, in you, then I'm all for it.

Ether chapter 8 speaks of "awakening to your awful situation". This denotes awakening to the latter day Gadianton Robbers who are instituting Satan's plan as we speak. One last article found Here tells us how this is sort of like the 11th commandment. Instead of being afraid of last days happenings, the righteous look forward to it because they have no need to fear. The fruits of "awakening" are as follows...

1. Having an intensely deepened testimony of the gospel and the Saviors plan of salvation.
2. A more fervent attendance to family duties, church callings, temple attendance, consistent home teaching and family home evening,
3. A magnified dislike for the evil influences on television.
4. Diligence in preparedness in both spiritual and temporal matters.
5. A more discerning ear and heart when listen to the Prophets and Apostles.
6. A much greater determination to following the council and admonitions our inspired leaders.
7. A desire to serve God more fully by developing and utilizing our talents to bring sheep to His fold with more zeal then ever before.
8. A call to our Civic duties as a part of our ultimate responsibility that Jesus Christ will hold us accountable for at Judgment Day.
9. An intensified willingness to protect, defend, and to proclaim the ‘Heavenly Banner’.
10. A burning desire to uphold all that is holy and good and to more intently fulfill the three fold mission of The Church seeking earnestly the eternal truths from Christ and his prophets.

I understand that the Church is planning on adding an additional "mission" to the three fold mission. It is "To care for the poor and needy". If some of things prophesied to happen, do, then we will all be the poor and needy. Please take steps to help prevent such.

Mark of the Beast?!?

2009-12-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many people even read this blog. I have invited many people to it, including everyone I go to church with. I am involved a great deal in learning about everything that is going on around me. I feel that this is part of my calling in life. I have tapered down a bit on the conspiracy fact front as of late, but still have quite a deluge of information that comes my way.

I use this blog mostly as a means of providing information about preparedness and food storage. But I also like to use it from time to time as a means of communicating a little of the info I get in my life (at least some of what I feel is pertinent, and true) out to others who at least from my observations, haven't an inkling of what is really going on. Please don't think that is an insult, because it is far from it. Use it as motivation to "awaken to a sense of our awful situation" Ether 8:24.

In Revelations chapter 13 it states...

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Now I am fairly secure in my own interpretations of these scriptures through personal study and revelation form the Holy Spirit. But I post these things hoping that you will seek for the same. Perhaps it will begin to be obvious?

There is a company talked about a lot in my circles called Verichip. IF you refer to the website there is some interesting merging going on. Quoting from their site...

"On November 10, 2009, VeriChip Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP) completed its
acquisition of Steel Vault Corporation (OTCBB: SVUL) and formed PositiveID
Corporation. In conjunction with the name change, PositiveID will begin trading
under the new ticker symbol "PSID" on the NASDAQ effective November 11, 2009.
For more information, please visit http://www.positiveidcorp.com/."

Additionally here is an article that talks about this merger...

VeriChip’s Merger With Credit Monitoring Firm Worries Privacy Activists
By Penn Bullock
December 9, 2009
3:46 pm
Categories: Identification, RFID
Remember VeriChip, the Florida company that once dreamed of injecting its human-implantable RFID microchips in everyone from immigrant guest workers to prison inmates?
We haven’t heard much from the company since a dipping stock price nearly got it delisted from the NASDAQ in March. But it’s still alive, and in November it pulled off a seemingly incongruous acquisition. Now called PositiveID, the new company is a merger between VeriChip and Steel Vault, the people behind NationalCreditReport.com.
With a human-implantable microchip maker now running a credit-scoring and identity-theft-protection website, privacy activists are worried again. “The attraction to investors is the potential for synergies,” says Mark Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. “You have to anticipate over time there will be an attempt to integrate the services.”
“Sci-fi wise, you could have a chip read by a scanner that determines your credit-worthiness,” says Evan Hendricks, editor of Privacy Times. “Or you could have a credit card implant.”
VeriChip and its former owner Applied Digital have been drawing fire since 2004, when the FDA approved the rice-sized injectable RFID for human use. While the company primarily pushed the chip as part of a system to index medical records — a kind of subcutaneous MedAlert bracelet — Richard Sullivan, then-CEO of Applied Digital, had a penchant for wantonly confirming every nightmare of cybernetic social control.
After 9/11, it was Sullivan who announced the VeriChip would be perfect as a universal ID to distinguish safe people from the dangerous ones. He dreamed of GPS-equipped chips being injected into foreigners entering the United States, prisoners, children, the elderly. He thought the VeriChip would be used as a built-in credit or ATM card.
Indeed, in 2004, one of VeriChip’s earliest deployments was at a Barcelona nightclub, where VIP patrons could pay 125 euro to get the chip installed in their arms as a debit card for drinks.
But today, Sullivan’s replacement says the company has no plans to market the VeriChip as a path to instant credit, despite the recent acquisition.
With his white-buttondown shirt open at the chest, PositiveID CEO Scott Silverman spoke about the merger in an interview at the company’s office suite in Delray Beach, Florida. “Using the chip to relate to the credit-reporting services of NationalCreditReport.com, or even using it for financial transactions … has not been a part of our business model for five years or more, since Sullivan’s been gone, and is not part of our business model moving forward,” he says.
Silverman also backed away from some of the Orwellian ideas floated by his cyberpunk predecessor. “I can tell you that … putting [the chips] into children and immigrants for identification purposes, or putting them into people, especially unwillingly, for financial transactions, has [not] been and never will be the intent of this company as long I’m the chairman and CEO,” he says.
Yet in 2004, Silverman told the Broward-Palm Beach New Times that the VeriChip could be used as a credit card in coming years. And in 2006, he went on Fox & Friends to promote the chipping of immigrant guest workers to track them and monitor their tax records.
And ahead of the recent merger, VeriChip gave a presentation to investors hinting there would be some cross-pollination between the two sides of the business. It plans to “cross-sell its NationalCreditReport.com customer base” (.pdf) the Health Link service and vice-versa. So, Americans with implanted VeriChips will be encouraged to divulge their finances to PositiveID, while credit-monitoring customers will be marketed the health-record microchip.
Critics of chipping are moved by a variety of concerns, ranging from the pragmatic to the religious — anti-RFID crusader Katherine Albrecht believes the technology is the Mark of the Beast predicted in the Book of Revelation, but also doubts its efficacy as a medical tag: VeriChip’s instruction manual warns that the chip may not function in ambulances and areas where there are MRI and X-ray scanners.
Security is another issue. RFIDs can generally be scanned from distances much greater than the official specs suggest. Nicole Ozer at the ACLU of Northern California notes that after Wired magazine writer Annalee Newitz experimentally cloned her VeriChip in 2006, the company continued calling it secure.
But human chipping has high-profile fans as well, including former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, who left his job as overseer of the FDA in 2005 — a year after VeriChip’s approval — to join the company’s board of directors. Thompson announced he would personally join the 700 to 900 Americans who have the chip installed in their bodies. (He later reportedly reneged.)
Whatever its plans for the future, PositiveID is focused on its original mission for now: implants tied to medical records. On December 1, the new company announced it’s collaborating with Avocare, a Florida health care business, in the hopes of bringing its “health care identification products” to 1 million patients.

This article focuses somewhat on the privacy aspects of an RFID chip being implanted in a human being, but also on the possibilities of it being used to replace drivers licenses and credit cards. I lean more to what the scriptures say about it. With such things being tied into your credit and finances, the reality of NOT being able to buy and sell becomes a little more clear and feasible. I will let you draw your own conclusions though. Please comment your thoughts???

In any case, this is one more reason for preparedness and food storage. Satan's war on agency is all to real and all to prevalent today. All of these kinds of things are for that purpose, to take away your agency and enslave you to a darker power. The war in heaven continues today, and the Adversary seeks to implement his plan today. To take away our God given agency.

I was saddened recently that a good friend of mine chose to purchase a very expensive television instead of exercising a little foresight and perhaps getting some more food storage for what many of us know is only the inevitable, and the prophesied.

I plead with you all with all the energy of my soul that you consider your current state. Pray for the inspiration of what may need to be sacrificed, learned, sold, repented of, etc. so that you may be better able to handle the tests that shortly must come to pass. The time for preparedness is now. Please don't be too late.

Feeding Your Family Well During Hard -- and Harder -- Times!

2009-12-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

I found this article recently and thought it applies very well to current situations, and to the purpose for this blog. Enjoy!

Original article found Here.

Feeding Your Family Well During Hard -- and Harder -- Times, by Lin H.

We can all agree that at the very least hard times are here, for way too many of ourselves, our friends, our family members, our acquaintances. And most of us here agree that harder times are a’coming. And I’ll add another basic human agreement: we all need to nourish our bodies with food, preferably good-tasting and health-sustaining food. I’d like to address and share my thoughts on this basic human requirement. I am not an expert in food nutrition or preparation. I have no college degrees in these areas: my credentials are only a little common sense and 30 years of feeding my family, as well as possible, on the smallest dime possible.

So first I’ll address hard times: feeding your family on as little as possible during normal hard times. I have a few “rules” for thrifty cooking: (1) basics are better; (2) beans, rice and pasta; (3) meat is a flavoring agent, not a main dish; (4) if it’s on sale, buy a bunch; and (5) use your imagination.

Basics are better. I’m talking basic cooking ingredients like flour, sugar, salt, oatmeal, baking powder/soda, spices/herbs, oil/shortening, bouillon/broth, dried milk, eggs, vinegars and soy sauce, basic vegetables etc. Learning to cook from scratch using basic ingredients will save you big bucks, is healthier, and can bring you immense satisfaction. Learn to bake bread (I recently discovered the wonderful new “no knead” bread recipes: as easy as it gets, and makes delicious bread). Practice making scratch biscuits, cornbread and pie crusts. Play with serving flavored oatmeal for the kids’ breakfasts, instead of the expensive store-bought cereals. Try creating different soups and stews using the various spice and herb possibilities. Experiment with making a “kitchen sink” casserole or stir-fry, using different combinations of ingredients and flavorings.

Beans, rice and pasta. These should become your kitchen “go to” staples. They can be purchased affordably in bulk and can stretch any meal far beyond the usual menu ideas. Countless sauces and toppings can be created and stretched by being served over rice or pasta; all three items can bulk up soups or be the basis of warming and nourishing casseroles. I understand that if your constitution isn’t adapted to bean-eating (and carbohydrates in general) you may have intestinal distress - so start now on adding some bean dishes to your family’s diet. They’re cheap, tasty and healthy. Learn to cook a perfect pot of rice. It’s not hard, it just takes a little practice.

Meat is a flavoring agent, not a main dish. Meats tend to be the most expensive part of any meal, so get away from the “meat-n-potato” mindset when planning menus. Less meat, mixed and stretched with sauces, vegetables, broths, and the aforementioned beans, rice and pasta, etc. gives you a similar satisfaction, and good taste, for a lot less money. It’s healthier too. An example: I’m going to fix Sunday brunch for my family of five. I have a pound of bacon, which if I fried and had a basic meal of bacon, eggs, potatoes, toast, juice - we’d eat most, if not all, of that bacon. So instead I only fry up 3-4 slices, and stir it in with beaten eggs, potatoes, veggies, flavorings etc. and bake it for a breakfast casserole. I now still have 2/3 of the bacon, so for supper tonight I might use another 3-4 slices to flavor a pot of beans. With appropriate side dishes, it‘s another whole meal. And the last third I can use for another supper - a skillet of bacon/veggie fried rice. We’ve eaten 3 wholesome and satisfying meals vs. 1 meal using the same pound of bacon. This is just one example, but you can see how a little thinking about your meat usage can really stretch a food budget.

If it’s on sale, buy a bunch. This is self-evident. If your grocery budget is very tight, start small on stocking up on sales, but start. Buy fruit and vegetables that are in season and therefore lower in price. Pay attention to grocery prices so that you’ll know what a good price is. In my area of the country, the price of a pound of cheddar cheese (which we use a fair amount of) can fluctuate from $2.69 all the way to $3.89. I know, from price-watching, that $2.99/lb. and below is a good price. So I always buy at least two at those times (four if the budget allows). Cheddar freezes excellently, I always have it on hand, and never have to overpay for it.
Use your imagination. I’d like to suggest a paradigm shift here: when planning your main meal of the day (let’s call it supper), don’t ask yourself in the morning “What sounds good for supper tonight?” Rather, you should ask “What do we have around that needs used up for supper?” Are there any leftovers in the fridge that could be adapted to a casserole? Any veggies that are starting to look bad, but could still be thrown into a pot of soup? Something you could “sauce up” and eat over rice or pasta? The possibilities are endless, and the creativity of trying to come up with a tasty meal using a little bit of nothing can even be fun!

And now we address harder times, or serious hard times, which is much more difficult because it’s theoretical. But we are all here on this most excellent Survivalblog.com because we at least see the possibility of food shortages, hyperinflation, loss of basic utility services, theta. So we’re stockpiling. Later, we may have to make do with the foodstuffs we’ve stockpiled or can otherwise forage. We may need to dramatically stretch small amounts of food. And we’ll want to be able to feed our families as healthily and tastefully as possible with what we’ve been able to put by. If we’ve already practiced the tips I’ve stated above regarding thrifty frugal cooking, then those ideas will also stand us in good stead in the event of serious hard times.

(For the purposes of staying on-topic, I have to assume that those reading this will have already addressed the basics of water procurement/storage/purification, and having at least three sources of a cooking method, in the event of serious hard times.) So back to:

Basics are better. I have stockpiled my own personal list of dehydrated veggies, herbs/spices, canned meats, and kitchen staples. Your choices would probably be different than mine. But the point is that stockpiling basic kitchen ingredients, rather than only prefab meals, means my choices in feeding my family varied and tasty meals dramatically increases. Using my stores of basics I can bake bread, or use a bit of oil to make flatbread. I can prepare either cornbread or johnny cakes. I can make a breakfast of oatmeal, or even a treat of pancakes, because I’ve learned to make my own pancake batter and maple-flavored syrup. I can make noodles to stretch a pot of broth. Rather than deciding which can of soup to open, I can cook any of a number of types of flavorful soups, stir-fries, or casseroles, using different ingredients and spices. My personal “A-list” of stored veggies is dehydrated celery, carrots and onions. I can mix these same three ingredients into a beef stew with potatoes; or I can use them with a bit of canned bacon or ham and make fried rice; or I can layer them with a flavored white sauce, a bit of canned ham or tuna, some peas and some pasta for a hearty casserole; or I can cook them in a chicken broth with some beans, corn, rice, tomatoes, garlic and cumin for a tasty Southwestern soup. Same basic ingredients, infinite possibilities.

Beans, rice and pasta. Because I’ve stored quantities of these foodstuffs, my ability to stretch my stockpiles has also increased. I could open up a can of chili and feed 2 people, and rather minimally at that. Or I could heat that can of chili along with a cup or can of cooked beans, a cup or can of tomatoes, some garlic, oregano and cumin, serve a dollop of it on top of bowls of rice, and feed 4-5 people with plenty of flavor and satisfaction.

Meat is a flavoring agent, not a main dish. I can guess that meat would be in much shorter supply in harder times, and I am afraid to depend on electrical power to maintain stores of meat products in this event; therefore I’ve concentrated my budget on canned meat stores. This is expensive stockpiling. (Many people pressure-can their own meats; this is something you may want to look into.) So of course I would be rationing those precious meat stores to the greatest extent possible. Because I already cook our meals using smaller amounts of meats, I am in practice of imagining meals using meat more for flavoring than as a main dish.
If it’s on sale, buy a bunch. Saving money on my grocery budget today helps enable me to prep foodstuffs for a possible harder-times tomorrow.

Use your imagination. This will be more important than ever in the event of serious hard times. I will have to substitute and make do with my stores. For instance, I have been researching sourdough bread-making, in the event that commercially-produced yeast isn’t available. I have been practicing bread-biscuit-and-pizza-making both in the charcoal grill and over (and under) the fire pit. I have been researching the foraging possibilities in my area - trying to learn what grows wild that I may be able to use to improve the nutrition of our meals. (Or even simply to keep us alive.) I’m thinking about the possibilities of “you bring me some of your venison and I’ll cook and stretch it three different delicious ways, using my stores, and we’ll share”.

Entire books have been written on just small areas of what I’ve touched on here. Because the subject matter is so vast, I’ve only hit the high points, hoping to give a learner somewhere to start, some things to think about. Every cooking skill we learn today, when grocery stores are full of affordable and available foodstuffs, could come in very handy later if shortages occur. Knowing how to create an edible and good-tasting meal from available little-bits-o’-nothing could become an important skill-set to have and share with others. Indeed, having this knowledge could someday be essential toward keeping ourselves and our loved ones alive and healthy.

The Collapse of the Dollar!!!

2009-10-30T18:32:00.001-06:00

This is a fantastic article I found today by a good man named Ron Paul, that I believe is very important to understand about what is coming. Hyperinflation is very real and one of the main reasons in my book for things like prepardness and food storage. Enjoy!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/10/30/ron.paul.fed/index.html

Editor's note: Ron Paul is an 11-term Republican U.S. representative from Texas who made a bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. His book, "End the Fed," was recently published by Grand Central Publishing.

Washington, D.C. (CNN) -- A growing number of Americans are becoming aware of the Federal Reserve System, what it is, how it has precipitated our financial crisis, and how it continues to pursue policies that delay economic recovery and weaken the dollar.

The Fed's actions, combined with the federal government's bailout bills and stimulus packages, have struck a nerve in the American people.

Recent polls have shown that more than 75 percent of Americans support efforts to audit the Fed, something which my bill, HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, aims to do. HR 1207 has the support of 304 members of Congress, and the Senate version of the bill, S. 604, is supported by 31 U.S. senators.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has embarked on an ambitious program of monetary expansion, more than doubling the monetary base to almost $1.9 trillion and doubling the size of its balance sheet to over $2 trillion, placing the American economy in a precarious position.

If all this excess money begins to be loaned out, the Fed risks creating a hyperinflationary crisis similar to 1920s Germany. If the Fed contracts this money, it risks harming the banks it desperately wants to see bailed out.

It is imperative that the American people know what the Fed is up to, how much money it loans to banks and what types of agreements it enters into with foreign banks and governments. Just about all of this information is exempt from audit or oversight. The Fed's actions directly affect the value of the dollar, which is coming under increasing pressure from our foreign creditors. If we do not wish to see a complete collapse of the dollar, the Fed needs to be subject to a strict audit of its actions, if not an outright abolition of its charter.

While I would like nothing more than to see the Federal Reserve abolished, it is not absolutely necessary to do so with direct legislation.

The Fed's influence comes about because of its monopolization of the creation of money. If we could abolish the government monopoly on the creation of money, the Federal Reserve would be forced to clean up its act or go out of business. Economists know that monopolies lead to reduced output and higher prices, a suboptimal allocation of resources. This applies as well to the market for circulating currency as it does to markets for any other good.

In the previous Congress I introduced legislation that would eliminate the three major barriers to competition in currency and break the Fed's stranglehold on money.

The first barrier: Legal tender laws, which Congress does not have the Constitutional authority to enact. Historically, legal tender laws have been used by governments to force their citizens to accept debased and devalued currency.

Gresham's Law describes this phenomenon, which can be summed up in one phrase: Bad money drives out good money. In the absence of legal tender laws, Gresham's Law no longer holds. If people are free to reject debased currency, and instead demand sound money, sound money will gradually return to use in society.

The second barrier: laws that prohibit the operation of private mints. Certain sections of U.S. code classified as anti-counterfeiting statutes were in fact intended to shut down private mints that had been operating in California. There is no reason to ban private companies from minting gold and silver coins to compete with the dollar.

All currencies are based on trust, trust that the issuing authority will not debase the currency. If it becomes known that the issuer of a particular currency is minting underweight coins, people will stop accepting that currency and that company will go out of business. If someone else attempts to counterfeit that currency and pass those coins, there are sufficient counterfeiting laws on the books to prosecute those counterfeiters.

Merchants and individuals are free to choose which currencies they accept, and in the absence of legal tender laws I believe that alternative currencies will gain more traction.

Stores today can accept whatever currency they like. In Washington, DC a few years ago, some stores began accepting euros from international tourists. Harrod's in London accepts pounds, euros, and dollars. There is no legal requirement in the United States for a store to accept dollars for non-debt transactions.

If you walk into a 7-11 to buy a soda, the clerk doesn't have to accept your dollars, he could demand euros, silver, or copper. But because legal tender laws backing the dollar have caused the dollar to drive other currencies out of circulation, it is easier for stores to accept dollars.

However, most stores also accept credit cards, personal checks, and debit cards, none of which are legal tender. Some stores are moving to credit card-only transactions to minimize costs, which they are allowed to do.

Under a system of competing currencies, it would be to the advantage of stores to accept as many currencies as they could, in order to attract a wide range of customers. Stores that only accepted one currency would see their customer base shrink. The use of credit cards could simplify things just as it does today when Americans travel to Europe. They pay in euros with their credit card, and their card company bills in dollars. The market will find a solution to any problems that might arise.

The final barrier to competing currencies: Laws that assess capital gains and sales taxes on gold and silver coins. Under federal law, coins are considered collectibles, and are liable for capital gains taxes. These taxes actually tax monetary debasement. The purchasing power of gold may remain relatively constant, but as the nominal dollar value increases because of a weak dollar, the federal government considers this an increase in wealth and assesses taxes.

Thus, the more the dollar is debased, the more capital gains taxes must be paid on holdings of gold and other precious metals. For individuals who may wish to use gold and silver in everyday transactions, this can quickly become a complicated and costly burden.

The long-term strength of the dollar will only be weakened by maintaining the Fed's monopoly on our monetary system. Our foreign creditors are already moving to dethrone the dollar as the world's currency.

The prospect of American citizens also turning away from the dollar toward alternate currencies should provide an impetus to the U.S. government to regain control of the dollar and halt its downward spiral. Restoring soundness to the dollar will remove the government's ability and incentive to inflate the currency, and provide stability to the financial system. With a sound currency, everyone is better off, not just those who control the monetary system.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rep. Ron Paul.

Random Thoughts!

2009-10-29T17:43:00.000-06:00

Just a bunch of random thoughts that I thought I would put out here to inspire you to get food storage if you have not, and to get more if you have some. :-)

On the auction block in Detroit: almost 9,000 homes and lots in various states of abandonment and decay from the tidy owner-occupied to the burned-out shell claimed by squatters.

Taken together, the properties seized by tax collectors for arrears and put up for sale last week represented an area the size of New York's Central Park. Total vacant land in Detroit now occupies an area almost the size of Boston, according to a Detroit Free Press estimate.

The tax foreclosure auction by Wayne County authorities also stood as one of the most ambitious one-stop attempts to sell off urban property since the real-estate market collapse.

Despite a minimum bid of $500, less than a fifth of the Detroit land was sold after four days.

The county had no estimate of how much was raised by the auction, a second attempt to sell property that had failed to find buyers for the full amount of back taxes in September.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33471824/ns

-United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in an opinion piece published by The New York Times, laid out a number of benchmarks for success in the upcoming global climate talks, planned to be held in Copenhagen.

Among them, Ki-moon argued in the Tuesday edition that a "global governance structure" must be levied to ensure that nations collaborate on how resources are deployed and managed.
http://rawstory.com/2009/10/chief-calls

-The amount of television watched by children reached an eight-year high, according to figures released by Nielsen yesterday. The analysis based on 2008 figures reported the time spent watching live and recorded television, as well as movies and gaming systems. When added all up, children ages 6 to 11 spend more than 28 hours in front of a television every week.
http://slatest.slate.com/id/2233691

-Des Moines, Iowa (AP) - After burning through $1 million in savings and seeing no end to their losses, dairy farmers Jake and Lori Slegers figured they didn't have much choice -- they had to kill the cows.

So one day last summer their sons tagged all 1,571 cows, loaded them onto trailers at their farm south of Fresno, Calif., and watched them rumble away to a slaughterhouse.

Lori Slegers said her husband came into the house and broke down.

"He said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do," she said. "Luckily, my boys could do it."

Growing demand in developing nations drove up milk prices when times were good, and dairy farmers expanded their herds. But the global recession hurt exports and left farmers with too much milk on their hands. Milk processors cut the price they were willing to pay farmers, in many cases below what it cost to produce milk.

In the past year, hundreds of farmers have come to the same conclusion as the Slegers: The only way to raise prices is to reduce the supply, and that means killing cows. In some cases, whole herds have been turned into hamburger. In others, farmers have kept their best producers and sent the rest to slaughter.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56136

-Billionaire globalist George Soros told the Financial Times during an interview that China will supplant the United States as the leader of the new world order and that America should not resist the country’s decline as the dollar weakens, living standards drop, and a new global currency is introduced.

Asked what Obama should discuss when he visits China next month, Soros stated, “This would be the time because I think you really need to bring China into the creation of a new world order, financial world order,” adding that China was a reluctant member of the IMF who didn’t make enough of a contribution.

“I think you need a new world order that China has to be part of the process of creating it and they have to buy in, they have to own it in the same way as the United States owns…the current order,” said Soros, adding that the G20 was a move in this direction.

Soros said that there was a flight from currencies across the board, and that this is why the price of commodities, notably gold and oil, were generally rising. He also stated that an orderly decline of the dollar was “desirable” and that the entire system needed to be reconstituted towards a global currency.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/soros-china

-Here's something rather rotten from the State of Denmark. Its government yesterday unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, nappies, sunscreen lotion and moisturizing cream.

The 326-page report, published by the environment protection agency, is the latest piece in an increasingly alarming jigsaw. A picture is emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminizing male children all over the developed world. And anti-pollution measures and regulations are falling far short of getting to grips with it.

The results build on earlier studies showing that British children have higher levels of gender-bending chemicals in their blood than their parents or grandparents. Indeed WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund), which commissioned the older research, warned that the chemicals were so widespread that "there is very little, if anything, individuals can do to prevent contamination of themselves and their families." Prominent among them are dioxins, PVC, flame retardants, phthalates (extensively used to soften plastics) and the now largely banned PCBs, one and a half million tons of which were used in countless products from paints to electrical equipment.

Young boys, like those in the Danish study, could end up producing less sperm and developing feminized behavior. Research at Rotterdam's Erasmus University found that boys whose mothers were exposed to PCBs and dioxins were more likely to play with dolls and tea sets and dress up in female clothes.

And it is in the womb that babies are most vulnerable; a study of umbilical cords from British mothers found that every one contained hazardous chemicals. Scientists at the University of Rochester in New York discovered that boys born to women exposed to phthalates had smaller penises and other feminization of the genitals.

The contamination may also offer a clue to a mysterious shift in the sex of babies. Normally 106 boys are born for every 100 girls: it is thought to be nature's way of making up for the fact that men were more likely to be killed hunting or in conflict. But the proportion of females is rising, so much so that some 250,000 babies who statistically should have been boys have ended up as girls in Japan and the United States alone. In Britain, the discrepancy amounts to thousands of babies a year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthc

-Turns out coursing a few gigavolts of financial stimulus current through even an economy the size of the U.S. will still get Frankenstein off the slab, however briefly.
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2009/

-Fox News, under the guise of a news story, gives free advertising time to the United States Military’s Human Resources Department. (And the Obama White House claims that Fox News doesn’t support him. Silly gooses!) As far as I can tell, this is not one of those spoof videos that are always on YouTube —though after watching it, you’ll wish it was.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/a

-Barack Obama's decision last week to label swine flu a national emergency will likely increase demand for a vaccine that is already in short supply. Yet by the time large amounts of vaccine arrive, it may be too late to stop most infections.

On 23 October, Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, reported that the US had received 27.4 million doses of vaccine. This is not enough even for the country's 42 million most vulnerable people: pregnant women, people caring for babies, children under 4, front-line healthcare workers and under-18s with medical problems.

By now, the US should have had 120 million doses, according to predictions in July. This estimate was cut to 45 million when it emerged in August that the vaccine virus was growing at half the usual rate. Now even some of those doses have not arrived. Several companies are now using a faster-growing strain to make vaccine, but supplies won't arrive for weeks.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2

-You're right, as more money is available, work your way towards 6 to 12 months worth of food. Either way you're going to use it no matter what, and you sure can't live without it.

I'm of a different opinion regarding the first (and for many the only) weapon to own.

A used Glock in good condition isn't that expensive, and if nothing else at least get a revolver but I've always insisted on a handgun first, and enough training to be proficient with it.
Of course its less powerful, but you can't drop a shotgun in your jacket's pocket or carry in your waist and that makes all the difference.

Street, or home, the handgun will cover both, while the shotgun will only be a home defense gun, and even at that, you don’t carry a shotgun all the time in the house or keep it handy. Entering or leaving your home, the garage, unless you conceal carry you'll be unarmed when you need it the most.
Another couple things I'd like to mention: A shotgun, specially a pump action shotgun, requires a LOT of skill to operate, specially at close range and against several targets many operators will transition to their handgun when in CQC, which is the most common self defense range.

A shotgun also needs to be aimed well, at close range there's no difference between shogun shells and solid projectile, they both make a single hole. It takes several more feet and even then the spread isn’t that much you can afford not to aim as you should.

One of the worst inconveniences with shotguns and close range fighting: A) you need both hands to operate B) It requires a complex mechanical movement that requires both hands for each shot.
Shotguns are nice, but for all these reasons, I always recommend a handgun as a first and maybe only firearm.
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/10/firs

-Despite that fact, delinquencies have moved steadily higher with the 30 day + delinquency now reaching close to 50% of all outstanding Option Arms. If our economists are right about the size and timing of the Fed Funds rate hike (approx. 1% per quarter starting in Q2 next year), the impact on borrowers of these types of loans could be very significant. Those who are slightly delinquent or barely holding on could see their payments move substantially higher with the impact possible late next year.”
http://acrossthecurve.com/?p=9779
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/arch

-Who is Valerie Jarrett? The brain of Barack and Michelle Obama. The alter ego, the “mind meld”. The head of the pimple on a rash of pimples infecting our executive branch. She’s the one who brought in Van Jones, and who knows how many other communist radicals. Read her background – her roots (Chicago tentacles) go way back and very deep into Obama’s background. An insider. In fact, she’s so inside, she’s at the center of it.

The media is hammering Glenn, attacking him at every turn. He is the new “cause du jour” object of the Saul Alinsky Left, who have identified him, polarized him, and are attacking him in an all-out effort to destroy him. For those who are unable to listen to him explain it this morning, his transcript will be available at his site later today.

Why is this important? Because it is a high def example of what Obama and his army of radicals do. Like a heat seeking missile, they attack to destroy anyone who threatens their mission. Both Rush and Glenn are major targets. It is brutal. And the point is this: what they’re doing to Glenn et al, they’ll do next to us. We are in their crosshairs. Mister Smooth and Cool in the White House is the window dressing to a nefarious bunch who’ll stop at nothing to enforce their regime of “hope and change” on all of us. And Valerie Jarrett is the General who’s planning the strategy and issuing marching orders. Familiarize yourself with this pimple.
http://stopjarrett.com/

-Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday said it will begin taking ratings actions in Q409 as needed to account for updated assumptions underlying US residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) loss projections.

The loss projection revisions come as Moody’s expects house prices to continue to decline to a Q310 trough.
http://www.housingwire.com/2009/10/29/h

-Former European Central Bank chief economist Otmar Issing recently said what current officials aren't addressing:

Nobody can be sure that we have a self-sustaining recovery. The challenges facing the ECB are tremendous. "Money multipliers have collapsed everywhere. What M3 is telling us is that confidence is missing. I don't see any way to stabilize M3 in such circumstances.

As Ambrose Evans-Pritchard notes:

Data from the European Central Bank shows that the M3 broad money supply has contracted over the last six months, confounding expectations that ultra-low interest rates would soon boost monetary growth. Loans to the private sector fell 0.3pc from a year earlier, the first such decline since the data started in 1983.
The M3 figures include a wide range of bank accounts...

The picture is even starker in America where M3 has shrunk at an annual rate of 6.5pc over the last three months, a pace of contraction not seen since the 1930s. US bank loans have plummeted since May.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2

-The engine of American foreign policy has been fueled not by a devotion to any kind of morality, but rather by the necessity to serve other imperatives, which can be summarized as follows:

• making the world safe for American corporations;

• enhancing the financial statements of defense contractors at home who have contributed generously to members of congress;

• preventing the rise of any society that might serve as a successful example of an alternative to the capitalist model;

• extending political and economic hegemony over as wide an area as possible, as befits a "great power."

This in the name of fighting a supposed moral crusade against what cold warriors convinced themselves, and the American people, was the existence of an evil International Communist Conspiracy, which in fact never existed, evil or not.

The United States carried out extremely serious interventions into more than 70 nations in this period.
http://www.questionwar.com/US_interventions.html

-While initial jobless claims have been in a downtrend on a national basis since March, different states have seen different rates of declines. In addition to the weekly national report on initial jobless claims, the Department of Labor also reports claims data on a state by state basis. Although these numbers are not seasonally adjusted, they can help to gain insight as to which areas of the country are recovering (or stabilizing) the quickest. In the map and tables below we have highlighted the ten US states that have seen the largest and smallest percentage declines in initial jobless claims since their recession peaks.

Looking at the chart shows some interesting trends. In terms of states with the largest decreases in jobless claims, all but two of them (North Dakota and Kansas) are in the eastern half of the United States, including Michigan, which has seen the highest decline of any state in the union (84%). Granted, the state had one of the highest unemployment rates, so there is a lot of room for improvement. The southeast has also seen a notable improvement. Four of the ten states with the largest decrease in initial claims are the cluster of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The states with the smallest decreases in initial claims for the most part also share some common traits. First of all, just as most of the states with the largest decreases are in the eastern half of the country, all but three of the ten states with the smallest decreases (Arkansas, Florida, and Maryland) are in the western half of the United States. Another theme shared by most of these states is that they are all heavily reliant on tourism. So it would appear that Americans aren't quite confident on their outlooks to spend money on vacations.
http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespok

Chuck Baldwin, "Ravenwood"

2009-10-09T21:33:00.000-06:00

I found this article quite compelling and couldn't resist posting it. I feel it is again pertinent to our situation today.

"Ravenwood" Comes To America
By Chuck Baldwin
October 9, 2009

Fans of the CBS-terminated TV series JERICHO will recognize the name"Ravenwood." This was the ruthless mercenary force used by the illegitimatefederal government at Cheyenne to subjugate the citizens of Kansas in theaftermath of a massive nuclear attack against two dozen American cities.

As with much of JERICHO's superbly written story line, Ravenwood reflected real-world entities. Private mercenary forces have been used extensively throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as in many other theaters. And as JERICHO correctly depicted, these "private contractors" have largelyoperated without oversight or accountability. (Can anyone say,"Blackwater"?) For the most part, the American people are unfamiliar withthese mercenary forces, because they normally operate in foreign theaters ofwar. JERICHO put them on the streets of U.S. cities. Now it looks like JERICHO was more prophecy than fiction.

An underreported (what's new?) story out of a little town in Montana hasbrought real-life drama to the CBS blockbuster TV series. Interestingly enough, CBS is the only major news network that has covered the Montanastory.In the little town of Hardin, Montana (which is about the same size as thefictitious town of Jericho, Kansas, in the TV series), a private security firm, American Police Force (APF), has been contracted to provide all policeservices and to manage the operation of the town's jail. According to localnews reports out of Billings, Montana, "American Police Force officialsshowed up in Mercedes SUV's that had 'Hardin Police' stenciled on thevehicles. The twist, the city of Hardin doesn't have a police department."Two Rivers Authority [the city's economic development agency] officials sayhaving APF patrol the streets was never part of their agenda." (Source:KULR-8 Television, Billings, Montana).

Until now, the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office was responsible forpatrolling the city. However, numerous Hardin citizens have testified to APFmercenaries patrolling Hardin's streets.The Hardin jail is an interesting situation, all by itself. Completed inSeptember 2007, the 464-bed facility has sat totally empty (which begs aninvestigative analysis as to how and why the facility was built in the firstplace). APF promises to fill the jail (with whom is not clear) and alsointends to build a 30,000-square-foot military-style training facility and a75,000-square-foot dormitory for trainees. Costs are to be covered byRavenwood's--excuse me--APF's "business activities," which includes securityand training, weapons and equipment sales, surveillance, and investigations.Of course, under our Constitution, there can be no such thing as an"American Police Force" in the United States. Any kind of national policeforce is not only unconstitutional; it is anathema to everything Americanlaw and jurisprudence is built upon. Law enforcement is clearly and plainlythe responsibility of the states and local communities. That a mercenary organization would take the moniker American Police Force is, by itself,disconcerting.

But there is much more.

APF touts itself as providing security and investigative work to clients in"all 50 States and most Countries." It boasts having "rapid response unitsawaiting our orders worldwide." It further brags that it can field abattalion-sized team of Special Forces soldiers "within 72 hours." APFstates that it "plays a critical role in helping the U.S. government meetvital homeland security and national defense needs."Yet, an Associated Press search of two comprehensive federal governmentcontractor databases turned up no record of American Police Force.Representatives of security trade groups said they had never heard of APF. Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel for the ProfessionalServices Council, said, "They're really invisible."

An attorney for APF, Maziar Mafi, said the company was a spin-off of a majorsecurity firm, but declined to name the parent company or give any otherdetails. But at least one source reports, "American Police Force, the paramilitaryunit patrolling a small town in Montana, has been exposed as being a frontgroup for the disgraced private military contractor Blackwater, now called'Xe'."Whoever is backing APF has deep pockets; that much is for sure. That APFmight be connected to Blackwater makes this situation even more problematic.But there is still more.According to numerous local news reports, APF's lead figure has a criminalhistory. APF's head is a man named Michael Hilton. And recent revelationshave turned up the fact that Hilton has served several years in jail--alongwith being served several civil judgments--for fraud. In fact, Hilton iscurrently scheduled to appear in a California court over an outstandingjudgment in a fraud case.

This has caused the Two Rivers Authority (TRA) tostep back from the APF deal. And at this writing, the future of theagreement between TRA and APF is uncertain.Adding to the dubious image of APF is the accusation that theiron-the-ground leaders seem to be Russians. According to Hardin residents,the APF officer in charge had a "thick Russian accent." (Of course, Hiltonhimself is Serbian, and it appears that many of his personnel are likewiseSerbian.) Residents also state that they were told seventy-five percent ofthe security officers that were to be trained would be "international." Isthis what we have to look forward to: foreign mercenaries--employed byinternational corporations and backed by the federal government--being usedto police American cities?Local protests against the introduction of APF mercenaries in Hardin havealready caused APF to change its name. Late news reports state that theprivate contractor is now operating under the name of American PrivatePolice Force.In the meantime, Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has launched aninvestigation into the Hardin matter. According to the AG's office, theinvestigation is predicated upon concerns that the company might beviolating the Montana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act.

The Hardin saga is both noteworthy and troublesome. It is the latestexample--but certainly not the first--of how private security companies arebeing employed as law enforcement personnel.Retired lawman Jim Kouri recently wrote a fascinating piece in which hechronicles the growing trend of private security companies exercising policepowers. Kouri summarizes an American Society for Industrial Security report,saying, "There are more than one million contract security guards, withperhaps another million guards who are proprietary security officers who arehired directly by businesses and institutions. On the other hand, there areabout 700,000 sworn law enforcement officers working for towns, cities,counties, states and the federal government." Of course, most of these "private police" mercenaries are military-trained.And they are also the ones providing most of the military-style training toAmerica's various law enforcement agencies.Kouri goes on to point out that Lexington's (Kentucky) Police Departmentcontracted Blackwater Security International to provide "homeland securitytraining."

And in New Orleans, Louisiana, mercenaries openly patrol citystreets. Kouri notes Blackwater officials as saying they are on contractwith the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority"to use lethal force if necessary."See Kouri's column athttp://newswithviews.com/BreakingNews/breaking168.htmAll of the above is disconcerting enough, but when one factors in PresidentBarack Obama's desire to create a "Civilian Defense Force," potentialproblems only intensify. For example, in 1995, the United Nations'International Police Task Force (UNIPTF) was created. Ostensibly, the UNIPTFwas formed to "carry out programs of police assistance in Bosnia andHerzegovina."

Then, in 2003 the Civilian Police International (CPI) wascreated. This was a joint venture between the U.S. State Department and suchnotable private companies as Wackenhut and Kellogg Brown & Root (aHalliburton company; and, by the way, so is Blackwater. But this is just acoincidence, right?). The stated purpose was for "international lawenforcement and criminal justice programs." Inertia for mercenary-style (backed by the federal--or even international--government) law enforcementhas been growing ever since.The question must then be asked: "Could the whole APF and Hardin, Montana,affair be a test run for Obama's budding Civilian Defense Force?"In the CBS TV series, JERICHO, residents resisted the federal government'smercenary force, Ravenwood, and fought ferociously for their freedom andindependence. At the time the show aired, it all seemed like fantasy. But ifyou talk with the residents of Hardin, Montana, today, they might say thatfantasy is fast becoming reality.

Stay alert, America: your town could be next.

It's Going to be a Rocky Road, by Chuck Baldwin

2009-09-22T22:24:00.000-06:00

Chuck Baldwin is an independent baptist minister who was the Constitutional Party's presidential candidate in 2008, (and whom I voted for I might add). He has a lot to say about maintaining respect for God and righteousness to avoid his judgements.

This column is archived at http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2009/cbarchive_20090922.html Let's face it: most Americans live in a world of false security. This issomewhat understandable, given the fact that the majority of the U.S.population was born after 1945. Few remember the dangers and hardships ofWorld War II; fewer still remember the Great Depression. Few Americans knowwhat it's like to not have some sort of "supercenter" nearby with shelvesstocked with every kind of food imaginable, twenty-four hours a day. Fewknow what life was like before there were restaurants of all sizes and typeson virtually every street corner in America. And only a handful rememberswhen most roads were unpaved, or when sports were truly a pastime and not amegabuck obsession.Modern living within the world's only "superpower" has created a giantunsuspecting, soft, lackadaisical, and lethargic society.

We expect thegovernment to keep our streets safe, our roads paved, our stores stocked,our jobs secure, and our enemies at bay. However, in the desire to makegovernment the panacea for all our problems, we have sold not only ourindependence, but also our virtue.Where the federal government was contracted (via the U.S. Constitution) toaccept limited power for the overall good of both states and people, it hasbecome a monster of gargantuan proportions, claiming authority overvirtually every liberty and right known to man. And in the process, itdecided it didn't need God, either.It is no hyperbole to say that the U.S. federal government has been on a"Ban God" bandwagon for the past 50 years. Whether it kicks prayer and Biblereading out of school, bars military chaplains from praying in Jesus' name,burns Bibles in Iraq, removes state supreme court chief justices from theirpositions for posting the Ten Commandments, or threatens high schoolprincipals with jail for asking the blessing, the federal government hasinvoked the judgment of Heaven upon our country as surely as did OldTestament Israel.

Although the comfortable, sports-crazed, TV addicts probably aren't payingattention, this country is on the verge of an implosion like you cannotbelieve. For anyone who cares to notice, the signs are everywhere.First of all, Israel and Iran are on the verge of war. And right now, I'mnot concentrating on the "why" or "who's right or wrong" of the equation.I'm simply telling you, war between Israel and Iran could break out at anytime. And when it does, the chances that it will not become nuclear and notbecome global are miniscule. Yes, I am saying it: the prospects for nuclearwar have never been greater. The CBS-canceled TV show, JERICHO, could becomea reality in these United States in the very near future. (I strongly urgereaders to purchase both seasons of JERICHO and watch them, because thiscould be our future.)

Secondly, America is on the verge of total financial collapse. By the end ofthis year, America's budget deficit will stand at around $2 trillion. The debt gap is many trillions more than that. But the nail in the coffin forAmerica's fiscal health will be the decision by China to dump the U.S.dollar. Ladies and gentlemen, this will be the death knell for our financialstability (and a painful lesson in sowing and reaping).It is estimated that China owns around one-third of all U.S. debt. If andwhen China dumps the U.S. dollar, there would be nothing left to stabilizeit, and Weimar Republic/Zimbabwe-style inflation will ensue. America will bethrust into financial chaos. (If one doubts that China is planning to dumpthe dollar, consider that China is currently purchasing and stockpiling goldat an unprecedented level. This is why gold has suddenly surged to over$1,000 per ounce and why it will continue to rise.)

Third, the paranoia regarding the Swine Flu being demonstrated by bothgovernment and media spokesmen begs a giant push for some type of"government solution." If they keep hyping this "pandemic," mass hysteriaand fear (created by the government and its lackeys in the media) willresult. This would, no doubt, necessitate some form of forced vaccination,quarantine (maybe this is what all those internment camps will be used for),and martial law.Exactly how and when all of the above will actually materialize is yet to beseen. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that within the next fewmonths, the world that we know today is going to vanish. And most Americansare totally unprepared for what's coming.If you are able to get out of debt, do it. If you need to scale down yourlifestyle in order to be better prepared for difficult days, do it. If youdon't have guns and ammo, buy them. If you have not prepared some sort ofpreserved food pantry, do it. If you don't have some kind of survival planin place for you and your family, get one. If you are not physically fit,get in shape. If you are able to move to a more secure, out-of-harm's-waylocation, do it. (During any kind of financial or societal meltdown, urbanareas will quickly turn into war zones. Can anyone say, "New Orleans afterHurricane Katrina"?) In other words, get your nose out of the boob tube, getyour bottom off the easy chair, and get busy.

Am I worried or discouraged? Absolutely not! (But I am preparing.) The potential good that may result from all of the above is that perhaps Godwill protect and raise up a remnant of people who would be willing torebuild a place where Natural Law is respected, constitutional government isrevered, and where a ubiquitous, loathsome, overbearing federal governmentis far, far away. You know, like America's Founding Fathers did 233 yearsago.

In the meantime, get ready. It's going to be a rocky road.

More VACCINATIONS!!!

2009-09-02T21:07:00.000-06:00

I have recently read where mainstream media has sought to discredit those that say that vaccinations for swine flu could be "mandatory". They have dismissed those that say that our government could try to force us to be vaccinated as the rant of lunatics.
While these critics may or may not have good intentions...they are dead wrong. A bill that just went through the Massachusetts senate shows what could be in the future for any of the states if we choose to sit on our hands while evil works late into the night.
The following is cut and pasted from an article found here. They break down which rights are being violated...and how they plan to squeeze the residents of MA into compliance. I think it is impossible to dismiss this article as sensationalism...AS IT QUOTES THE ACTUAL BILL! If you doubt it...read it in the context of the bill. Whether you or not you believe the swine flu vaccination is a good or bad thing...the following should sicken anyone who truly believes in constitutional government...and should be cause for alarm.
"The United States of America is devolving into medical fascism and Massachusetts is leading the way with the passage of a new bill, the "Pandemic Response Bill" 2028, reportedly just passed by the MA state Senate and now awaiting approval in the House. This bill suspends virtually all Constitutional rights of Massachusetts citizens and forces anyone "suspected" of being infected to submit to interrogations, "decontaminations" and vaccines.It's also sets fines up to $1,000 per day for anyone who refuses to submit to quarantines, vaccinations, decontamination efforts or to follow any other verbal order by virtually any state-licensed law enforcement or medical personnel. You can read the text yourself here:http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st02pdf/st02028.pdfHere's some of the language contained in the bill:(Violation of 4th Amendment: Illegal search and seizure)During either type of declared emergency, a local public health authority... may exercise authority... to require the owner or occupier of premises to permit entry into and investigation of the premises; to close, direct, and compel the evacuation of, or to decontaminate or cause to bedecontaminated any building or facility; to destroy any material; to restrict or prohibit assemblages of persons;(Violation of 14th Amendment; illegal arrest without a warrant)...an officer authorized to serve criminal process may arrest without a warrant any person whom the officer has probable cause to believe has violated an order given to effectuate the purposes of this subsection and shall use reasonable diligence to enforce such order. [Gunpoint] (Government price controls)The attorney general, in consultation with the office of consumer affairs and business regulation, and upon the declaration by the governor that a supply emergency exists, shall take appropriate action to ensure that no person shall sell a product or service that is at a price that unreasonably exceeds the price charged before the emergency."Involuntary Transportation" (also known as kidnapping)Law enforcement authorities, upon order of the commissioner or his agent or at the request of a local public health authority pursuant to such order, shall assist emergency medical technicians or other appropriate medical personnel in the involuntary transportation of such person to the tuberculosis treatment center.$1,000 / day in finesAny person who knowingly violates an order, as to which noncomplianceposes a serious danger to public health as determined by the commissioner or the local public health authority, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 30 days or a fine of not more than one thousand dollars per day that the violation continues, or both. Forced vaccinationsFurthermore, when the commissioner or a local public health authority within its jurisdiction determines that either or both of the following measures are necessary to prevent a serious danger to the public health the commissioner or local public health authority may exercise the following authority: (1) to vaccinate or provide precautionary prophylaxis to individuals as protection against communicable disease... Forced quarantine for those who refuse (illegal imprisonment without charge)An individual who is unable or unwilling to submit to vaccination or treatment shall not be required to submit to such procedures but may be isolated or quarantined pursuant to section 96 of chapter 111 if his or her refusal poses a serious danger to public health or results in uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that poses a serious danger to public health, as determined by the commissioner, or a local public health authority operating within its jurisdiction."