The Day of the Tornadoes

Thanks so much so our little sister, ras, who experienced the tornadoes in Alabama and shares her story with us. It really brings it home. Photo from CNN.

The Day Itself
by Rebecca
Wednesday, April 27th, is a day that is always going to be known at the Day of the Tornadoes in Alabama. Yes, it really was that bad.

I was awakened by thunder about 5:45 in the morning. I got up to take the dogs out and a few minutes the tornado sirens sounded for the first time. I checked the weather and the storm was in the southern part of the county and moving away (this is a BIG county) so I didn’t wake up K. Pretty soon I find out they’ve delayed schools until 10 am. I look at the radar and wonder why they were opening them at all. I had a lot of extra time now, so I made pancakes for the two of us. I wasn’t worried; no one really was at that point –and I grew up in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas; so I’ve seen storms and tornadoes all my life.

On my way to the school the tornado sirens started sounding again. I was literally right underneath one when it started and nearly went off the road. I got to work and they were putting kids in the hall, even though this storm as well was far enough away to not have to worry about it. We stayed in the hall until about 10:15, when we were all dismissed to classrooms. About 10:50 they announce that schools will close at 12:15. Basically, they opened long enough to serve lunch so that they wouldn’t have to make up the day. Only, it didn’t work out that way.

By 11 the line to check kids back out of school stretched down the block; I could see it from the classroom I was in. Not too long after 11 –fifteen or twenty minutes, give or take –the sirens blew again and back to the hallway we went. Our first close call happened about thirty minutes later. They said the storm was about five minutes away and then the hallway suddenly got dark.

I mean DARK. There were windows into the classrooms on one side, which all had windows opening on the street, and suddenly it was so dark the streetlights outside came on. I felt my stomach roll. I know that look; my great-aunt used to tell me that when the sky gets that way, you grab the kids and the chickens and get into cover. The mountain saved us for the first time that day; it pushed the worst of the storm slightly northward, and the tornado with it. I still don’t know how large that tornado was; we may never know, as one later in the day took pretty much the same track. The tornado did some damage and hit a glancing blow to one of the county high schools; luckily no one was injured.

Now the storms really got started. They never completely stopped between noon and eight that night. The kids never went back to the classroom, much less to lunch. We stayed in the hallway. Furthermore, the school board decided it was too dangerous to roll the buses (which it was) so the kids had to wait at school until their parents came to get them. It was two o’clock before they finally turned me loose, and there were still kids waiting. About 1:30 the ladies from the lunchroom brought bananas around to everyone, but no one got any lunch.

I got home to find there was no damage as of yet. I turned on the radio and ate lunch. It seemed like the tornado sirens never stopped blowing. About 4:30 the power went out. I thought it was just a cut line at that point; the storm going through was particularly bad. It was the worst of all actually –and it wasn’t long before I was in the bathtub, with an EF5 tornado coming towards us. K was still trapped in the basement at work.

I’m sure you know that axiom “two is one and one is none”. Well, during the worst of this, my battery-powered radio failed. Just failed. The batteries didn’t go out; the thing just quit working. I put new batteries in it later and it still didn’t work. That tornado got close enough to my house –probably a couple of miles, but that’s near enough, with a tornado more than a mile wide –for me to hear it in the bathroom, over the whining of the dogs and a howling cat. It was thunder that went on and on and on. It was the sound of death incarnate. There is nothing quite as scary as that sound –save perhaps the rattling of a rattlesnake. It’s that kind of instinctive fear, as my cat was quite loudly telling me.

Eventually it was over, and I climbed out of the bathtub, a little dazed. I haven’t had to climb into a tub in years, and even then I had a hunch that it wouldn’t have helped. We didn’t know then how large that tornado was, but the sound was a clue. If an EF5 tornado makes a direct hit on your house and you are inside, and not in a basement or safe room, You. Will. Not. Survive. It doesn’t matter how macho you are. That tornado not only scoured houses down to their foundations, it pulled the anchor bolts from the concrete.

The day wore on. K finally made it home during a break in the weather around seven. I’ve only rarely seen K cry, but I saw it then. The storms finally moved out an hour later. In that fourteen hour period there were 26 separate tornado warnings for my county alone. We survived. A lot of people did not.

The Damage
You’ve seen the pictures of Tuscaloosa by now, and probably even the video of the tornado. Scenes like that are replicated all over the state. It was the largest outbreak of tornadoes ever. The biggest tornado that came through Madison County was the longest ever recorded. It started just inside the Alabama border with Mississippi and cut a diagonal line across the state that was 232 miles long before it entered Tennessee. At one point it was more than 1.25 miles wide.

A few miles from us there is an intersection. On one side was a subdivision; on the other side there was a bank and two small shopping centers. The only thing left is a bank. Everything else is gone. You can’t even tell where the lots for the different houses were from the road. Nor can you tell which building was a supermarket and which a gas station.

The damage is worse than any bomb. It is just horrific. The most shocking thing about it is, like, any tornado strike, how capricious the damage was. In some places you can see a whole house standing in the middle of a debris field. Some friends of mine took a glancing blow from the EF5; the edge grazed their front yard. They have about 5 acres, 4 of which used to be wooded. Their house was surrounded by trees and their driveway was lined by them. The house is fine; all the trees are gone. Even the ones around the house, and ALL of those fell away from the house. One of them took out a gutter as it fell but that was it. The house is now surrounded by a perfect circle of fallen trees.

We don’t yet know the death toll. There are still a lot of missing people.

Life after the Storms
Our power did not come back on until Monday afternoon. There are still a lot of people who don’t have it. You know those huge 150-ft high transmission towers? The storms took out 49 of them in Madison County alone, plus more of the 75-ft towers. They cut all the power feeds to and from Browns Ferry; the reactors shut down automatically and were on generator power until Sunday night. They took down 96 high-voltage lines in the county and cut all 8 points were power from TVA feeds into Huntsville. When all was said and done, there was no power coming into the entire county. Nor were we the only county; power was out over a swath about 75 miles wide and over 100 miles long, as well as in many other areas.

K and I quickly resorted to listening for news in the car, since we never did manage to get that radio working again. It was apparent even on Wednesday evening that power was going to be out for awhile, so I headed to the garage and wrapped the deep freeze with every spare blanket in the house. It was eerie that night –no streetlights, no humming a/c units, no one leaving. One of our next door neighbors came home just before dark and sat in her car for the longest time, pressing her garage door opener. She got quite mad that it didn’t work.

There were 30 burglaries in town Wednesday night. I should rephrase that: there were 30 reported burglaries Wednesday night; a lot of people around here aren’t the sort to call the police. They would drive off a burglar themselves and go back to sleep.

On Thursday the sheriff instituted a county-wide sunset to sunrise curfew. Thursday morning TVA announced that it would be 3-7 days before power came back. People panicked. Star Supermarkets (a small, local chain) opened from 8 am until they ran out of fuel for their generators; lines stretched around the block. The owner drove all the way to Nashville to get more generators and fuel to get them back open. All of the stoplights were out, of course, but people were generally polite on Thursday and Friday. I drove down to check on my adopted grandmother, who promptly sent me to the store for her. (Her only flashlight was broken.) It was crazy. People in there were actually arguing over real cans of Spam.

For five days there was no power, no gas, no ice to be found unless you were lucky enough to get ice from a truck that pulled up. My in-laws waited in an ice line for three hours and got two of the last bags. There were burglaries, break-ins and looting or attempted looting every night. At least one would-be looter was shot and killed by the store owner on Friday morning. I never thought I would say this, but thank god this is Alabama; there are a lot of states where he would have been arrested. Instead, we had the sheriff reminding everyone every day of this that we “have the right to defend our property”.

On Thursday people drove up to two hours to get gas, generators, and supplies. By Friday generators became available as store owners trucked them in but the lines were horrendous, and just about every place selling them had police protection. Publix Supermarkets earned a lot of loyalty during this crisis; as soon as it became obvious power wasn’t coming back on anytime soon they started trucking in industrial generators and by 8 am Friday morning had all of their stores up and running with fresh supplies –they even had the muzak and air conditioning going. They also opened up the stores as a charging center for cell phones and the like. Not that it did much good for a lot of us; by Friday evening most of the towers had run out of battery power, though the crews replaced them as fast as they could.

On Saturday we decided we’d had enough. Not only had we heard gunshots in our neighborhood two nights in a row, not only were people now driving like asshats and doing whatever they wanted, but almost all of our neighbors (the ones that were left, that is) had generators and were running them constantly. It was so loud we couldn’t hear each other talk in our own living room. We packed up and went to the land for the weekend. We still didn’t have power, but at least it was peaceful and we were able to find an open laundromat.

Monday we came back, because we knew the power was starting to come back. It still wasn’t on in a lot of areas of town. We lost count of the number of the “Looters will be shot” signs and target practice sheets that had been hung up in windows; it was more than half a dozen.

We survived and the only damage was a few downed tree limbs; some of our neighbors lost trees and there’s a foreclosure down the street with a tree down on it. But we got lucky and we know it.

My hat is off to TVA and Huntsville Utilities –they were able to jury rig a system built over decades to run in less than a week. They still have to replace the towers, but locally at least the system is up and running. A lot of places in the state are still without power, and estimates range from 2 weeks to 6 months for it to be restored.

Notes
-It was amazing how quickly people started demanding free food. I heard three such demands on the radio by Thursday afternoon, and I wasn’t listening that often to conserve the car battery. (It happened Wednesday evening, remember.) These people weren’t asking; they didn’t politely request to know if anyone was serving food because they didn’t have any food in the house and no way to quick it. No, they demanded to know where they could get free food –emphasis on the free.

-A 2/3s empty chest freezer that’s well-wrapped will last more than 48 hours before it starts to defrost. If this had happened in the fall when the freezer is full I don’t think we would have lost anything, or just the top layer.

-Cell phone towers last about 48 hours in a power outage; don’t depend on them longer than that.

-Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. Remember my neighbor and the garage door opener? The neighbor across the street couldn’t get into her house at all. Not only does she have a garage door opener, but she keeps both storm doors locked, so she had no way in. Once she finally got in, she still couldn’t eat anything because she has no grill and only an electric can opener!

Heads Up

This is a photo from Hot Springs Wizard. He calls it "Buzzards Heading North." Maybe they know something.

freeacre

So… what’s up with our Mother, the Earth? We have hot and cold running disasters all over the planet. We had literally hundreds of tornadoes today and yesterday. If you go to http://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/, you’ll see that severe storms have been increasing in frequency over the last few years. We were aghast at the 7.7 earthquake and resulting tsunami in Indonesia that struck in October of 2010. Then in Australia – Queensland and Christchurch and Bangledesh. Horrible flooding there as well as Pakistan. Then, came Japan. A horrific 8.8 earthquake that destroyed cities followed by a practically unimaginable tsunami that not only wiped out cities and countryside, but severely damaging four nuclear power plants as well. This catastrophe is on-going, with nuclear fallout spreading all over the world – and the threat of meltdown not over yet.

Now it’s our turn. Two hundred and fifty tornados and severe storms in the last two days running from Oklahoma west to Alabama, then turning North up through North Carolina http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42623967#42623967

We have yet to hear from ras in Alabama or Palooka’s Revenge in Atlanta to know if they are okay. More storms are expected soon. This is only the beginning of the tornado season. Then, of course, we’ll have the hurricane season.

What’s driving all this activity? Is Mother Earth fighting back? Are we being shaken off like annoying fleas for our transgressions against the other living beings on our world? Personally, I wouldn’t blame Her.

But, this kind of thing has happened before - even before Dick Chaney and his malignant oil barons. All the indigenous peoples of the world as well as the dominant religions refer to Flood and Fire and Brimstone – Apocalyptic stories of the sudden destruction and demise of civilizations, possibly stretching back to the fabled Atlantis. Geologists have evidence of periodic die-offs, killer asteroid hits, which wiped out most life during the dinosaur days. Scientists take core samples and find that the magnetic poles have shifted over and over again. Tectonic plate theory teaches that the continents have drifted around and run into each other, creating huge mountain ranges and changing continents. It’s been extreme.

One of the most radical changes to my personal paradigm of what makes the Universe tick was watching the video available for free on thunderbolts.com that in an introduction to their theory of the Electric Universe. Then, I ordered their DVD, “Symbols of an Alien Sky,” and got blown away. So, yes, now I do believe that global cataclysms have happened before and will happen again.

I’ve changed my mind about global warming being caused by hydro-carbon pollutants. They are destructive, to be sure. Especially to the oceans, where toxic pollution is destroying sea life, and that could kill us, too. But, the temperature changes and the global storms are happening with greater frequency in all the planets in our solar system at the same time.

Why? And why are there massive fish die offs in oceans and rivers and lakes around the world? And birds by the hundreds and the thousands falling out of the sky? Or whales and porpoises and sea turtles beaching themselves. All this is documented on The Big Wobble, Desdemona’s Despair, The Alien Project, Survival Acres and many other earth sensitive sites. All this points to electro-magnetic changes to me. All these animals rely on their sensitivity to magnetism to help them navigate through the air and the water in their migratory travels.

At first, I thought it might be HAARP. Some secret black ops project that directs intense magnetic beams into the atmosphere or into the earth for all sorts of questionable purposes. Manipulate the weather. Find oil. Maybe even create earthquakes. Who knows? Some of it might even be good. Like, if they were able to keep hurricanes from coming into the Gulf last year when it was filled with oil. We will probably never know. That, of course, is part of what is very wrong right now with the covenant we thought we had between our government and us.

But, what if it’s not all a matter of human contrivance? Reading the figuring of Patrick Geryl expressed in Clif High’s report, “The Raven Weeps” http://www.halfpasthuman.com/RadioSpecial.html got me started on becoming more aware of sun cycles and the interaction of the sun and the rest of the planets in our solar system. Geryl states that due to the build up of energy within the sun, it produces sun spots and solar flares in patterns that are predictable. There are long cycles and short cycles – some of which our scientists are aware, and others that the Mayans, astoundingly, were able to calculate. Geryl predicts a solar flare tomorrow, on the 19^th, as well as every 88 days of varying frequencies, until Dec. 2012, when there will be the Big One. Don’t make a lot of plans after that one unless you are one of the Overlords with a ticket to one of the clandestinely built underground cities, seed vault, or the top tier secret space arks. Or, move to the mountains and away from the coasts - unless you have an unsinkable boat. Clif lives by Puget Sound. Now he’s building a bigger boat.

But wait! There’s more! Where’s my Magic 8 Ball? Just since the 8.8 earthquake in Japan, I’ve been following the latest on comet spirals and binary stars, the comet (or dwarf star) Elenin, and the approach of Planet Nibiru (which may be the same thing). Elenin is definitely for real. You can see the official nasa and soho government sites explained by the great work of mr2tuff. He sounds like a redneck possessed by an astrophysicist, which is really disconcerting at first. But, now I find him comforting to listen to. I think both Rockpicker and I can hear him now in our sleep. He helps decipher the charts and grafts on the official sites. Check this out, for instance: http://www.youtube.com/user/Mr2tuff#p/u/31/AYIncRG-tVI .

It seems as Elenin approaches, the Sun, the comet (or red dwarf star) and the Earth line up. When that happens, we have big earthquakes. The Indonesian, Australian, and the quake in Japan all happened during an alignment with Elenin. And they all got stronger as Elenin got closer. Not only the gravity, but also the electronics interplay with each other, and the earth reacts. There is another theory that the earth actually expands with this additional energy. That’s on Clif’s halfpasthuman site as well.

Duetchsince is another who is doing great work keeping us apprised of what is going on. Lately, he’s been focusing on the shifting radiation patterns emanating from the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. But he also very much on top of the earthquakes going on world wide. Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/user/dutchsinse#p/u/24/fJBIAlXtHks He is another one that you can get hooked on.

Well, I could go on and on. Piers Corbyn, the English radical meteorologist is warning the there is a worldwide earthquake risk period from April 19^th through the 23^rd. We know there is a swarm going on around Hawthorn, Nevada. What is not reported is that Hawthorn is the home of a military base which houses mile after mile of ordinance in bunkers all over there. I know, because we used to drive past them on the way to the Walker River to go fishing. And, it’s on top of the Long Valley Caldera. Not good. Also, my son lives a hop, skip and a jump from there in Carson City, which makes it, for me, even worse.

I know we have referred to many of these sites in our conversations in the comment section lately. But, I thought I’d attempt to put them all together to try to focus on what is happening and how to respond. There are indications that the threats are imminent. Food, water, gas, and cash are always a good start. But, there is more to preparations than assembling stuff. There is the matter of how you are going to be. How will you cope or feel if things spin out of control? Fear-filled, vengeful, angry, depressed, or stricken with grief? Courageous, generous, strong, and loving. All these, and more are possible for all of us. The End Days have already come for many of the people of Fukushima. The jury is still out for the rest of us, in terms of radiation. Scores killed in the tornadoes. Danger seems to be both near and far, and from so many sources that you need a scorecard to keep track of them. But, then, death comes to us all no matter what. We just tend to forget about that.

You MIght Be a Survivalist If....

Well, we are over a hundred comments on the previous post, murph's computer is all FUBAR, and I just don't have any time to write. So, I thought I'd refresh the conversation with a little comic relief. I got this from Survival Mom, who also seems to have poached it from Today's Survival Show. So, thanks and all credit to them. I'm sure we can all add to the list with our own preparations and efforts. I have a question, though. What's that guy holding up in the bag?

freeacre

Thanks to Bob Mayne over at Today’s Survival Show podcast for putting this together. How did he know I save my dryer lint??

If you’re not sure of some of his abbreviations, check out The SurvivalBlog Glossary.

You have a cookbook all about Spam.

You consider your extra large ham radio antenna as “broadband”.

You know how to cook leather.

You’ve ever been on a Soviet “Potential Threat” list.

SWAT has ever asked to borrow a few of your guns.

Your new girlfriend comes over for the first time, and when she walks into the living room, the first thing she sees is your CHL regulation Man sized target with 50 holes in the chest area.

Your dog has more Emergency Rations than 95% of the U.S. population.

You’re the first person at the gun range on Dec 26th to try out your new toys, and the clerk knows you by your first name

The local supermarket manager knows to go ahead and open up the back dock doors when he sees you on a shopping trip.

Your home and property are more secure and better lit than Fort Knox or Area 51.

All the local restaurants know to save you all their 5-gallon buckets on Mondays and Thursdays.

None of your vehicles have electronic ignition or pollution control.

You know the tail numbers of all the helicopters in your area.

The magazines on your coffee table include American Survival Guide, Guns and Ammo, Soldier of Fortune, American Rifleman, Shotgun News and 4 -Wheeler.

You welcome a “mild” El Nino storm because you know its going to fill your cistern.

The power fails in your local movie theater, and you pull your flashlight from your belt and show yourself the way out.

You use your Gerber Tool to cut your steak at a fine dining establishment.

Your knife collection has its own footlocker.

When people ask about all those colorful maps on your walls, you tell them that you are planning a “Fishing Expedition”.

You can recognize the sound of a generator from four blocks away, but you also can tell the brand, horsepower and kilowatts per hour that it is putting out.

You have to kill a snake in your front yard, but then you skin and eat it.

You stock up on kerosene and firewood in 102 degree summer heat.

Your homeschooled children score in the 99 percentile on their SAT’s.

Your To Do list includes changing the batteries on the seismic ground sensors surrounding your home.

Your shopping list includes numbered items like .22, .308., .357 and 7.62

Your shopping list includes body armor.

Your scanner includes the frequencies of every law enforcement agency within 100 miles, including the ones that don’t officially exist.

Those maps on your wall have every bridge marked in red, with an alternate path marked around it.

Your paper boy throws the paper into the barbed wire just for the heck of it.

You have a key fob that says, “What Would John Wayne Do?”

Your fence posts double as range markers.

The window shutters have firing ports included in their design.

You have “ammo” on your Christmas list.

You’re on a first name basis with every vendor at a gun show.

You can’t put your groceries in the trunk of the car because its already jammed full with emergency kits, first aid supplies, and fully-stocked BOBs.

You have emergency rations for your pets, and view your pets as potential emergency rations.

You know the news three days before it hits the mass media.

You have back-up plans for your back-up plans.

You’re convinced you’ve been exposed to so many chemical-trails, you consider it a form of birth control.

You’ve ever bought antibiotics for human use through a vet or grains for human consumption through a feed store.

You’ve got more than one grain mill.

You’ve ever wondered how you might filter the used water from your washing machine to make it fit for human consumption.

You have a kerosene lamp in every room.

Your living room coffee table is actually a board with pretty cloth over it to disguise your food storage underneath.

Your box springs are Rubber Maid containers filled with rice and beans.

You save dryer lint to make fire starters.

Your most commonly used fuel additive is Stabil, instead of Gum-out.

You automatically choose the heavy duty flatbed cart upon entering Sam’s or Costco.

You know the shelf life of tuna fish, but don’t know how long you’ve had that open jar of mayo in the fridge.

Your basement walls are insulated with crates of toilet paper, from floor to ceiling, all the way around.

Other people are saving money for new furniture or vacations, but you are desperately saving to get solar panels put on your house.

You were excited beyond all reason when they came out with cheddar cheese in a can.

You’ve ever served MREs at a dinner party.

You can engage in a spirited debate on chemical vs. sawdust toilets for hours on end.

You’ve ever considered digging an escape tunnel from your basement to the nearest stand of trees.

You know how to use a vacuum cleaner in reverse to filter air in your designated bio-chem attack safe room.

You’ve ever considered buying an above-ground pool for water storage purposes.

You know what things like ‘TSHTF’, ‘BOB’, ‘GOOD’, and ‘TEOTWAWKI’ mean and routinely use them in conversations.

You have different grades of BOB’s. And re-stock them twice a year.

You know the names, family histories, locations, and degree of readiness of over a thousand fellow doomers on the internet, but you’ve never met your neighbors.

The best radio in the house is a wind-up.

You have better items in storage than you use everyday.

If the SHTF, you would eat better than you eat now.

Your significant other gave you a sleeping bag rated at -15 degrees for Christmas, and you were moved beyond words.

You’ve sewn secret mini-BOBs into the bottom of your children’s school backpacks.

Local food pantries have come to depend on donations from your larder when you rotate stock in the spring and fall.

You’re still using up your Y2K supplies.

You have enough army surplus equipment to open a store.

The local army surplus store owner knows you by your first name.

When you fill up when your gas tank, it’s already 3/4 full.

You call Rubber Maid for wholesale prices.

You have several cases of baby wipes and your kids are all grown.

You carry a pocket survival kit, a sturdy folding knife, a Sure Fire flashlight and a small concealed handgun to church every Sunday.

You start panicking when you are down to 50 rolls of toilet paper.

You keep a small notebook to write down any edible plants you happen to see along the road.

You shop yard sales, store sales, and markdown racks for bartering goods .

You own a hand-operated clothes washer and a non-electric carpet sweeper.

You have at least two of every size of Dutch oven (the ones with the legs on the bottom), and 20 bags of charcoal, although you have a gas grill.

You have rain barrels at each corner of your house although you have a city water hookup, and a Big Berkey to purify the water.

You have sapphire lights, survival whistle, and a Swiss Army knife on every family member’s keychain.

The people in line at Costco ask if you run a store or restaurant.

You require a shovel to rotate all your preps properly.

You no longer go to the doctor’s because you can either fix it yourself, make it at home, or know and understand the physicians desk reference better than he does, and can get the goods at the vets or pet store for MUCH less money anyway.

You know that GPS has nothing to do with the economy.

You track your preps on a computer spreadsheet for easy reordering, but have hard copies in a 3-ring binder, ‘just in case’.

You’ve thought about where the hordes can be stopped before entering town.

You start evaluating people according to ‘skill sets’.

You view the nearest conservation area as a potential grocery store if TSHTF.

You know *all* the ways out the building where you work.

You have enough pasta stockpiled in your basement to carbo-load all the runners in the New York marathon.

You know that you have 36 gallons of extra drinking water in the hot water tank and your 2 toilet tanks.

You know which bugs are edible.

You have a hand pump on your well.

You have #10 cans of ‘stuff’ that the labels fell off of, but you won’t throw it out or open it because it, ‘may be needed later’, even though you haven’t a clue as to the contents.

You know where the best defensive positions and lines of fire are on your property.

You’ve made a range card for your neighborhood.

Your toenail clipper is a K-BAR.

The Ranger Handbook is your favorite self-help book.

You’ve numbered the deer romping in the yard by their order of consumption.

You must move 50 cases of food for the plumber to get to that leaky pipe, and you have your own hand truck in the basement to do it.

You own more pairs of hiking boots than casual and dress shoes combined.

You have more 55 gallon blue water drums than family members.

You have a backup generator for your backup generator, which is a backup for your solar energy system.

You go to McDonalds and ask for one order of fries with 25 packs of ketchup and mustard.

You have ever given SPAM as a serious gift.

You’ve had your eye out for a good deal for a stainless steel handgun to conceal in the bottom of the magazine rack next to the toilet.

You are single male over 40, but you still have an emergency childbirth kit, just in case you have to deal with that possibility.

You have two water heaters installed in your basement, but one is a dummy that’s been converted to a hideaway safe.

You’ve made bug-out cargo packs for your dogs.

You have a walking stick with all sorts of gadgets hidden inside.

You’re a substitute scoutmaster, and you taught your son’s troop to set mantraps and punji pits, and haven’t been asked to stand in since.

You’re on your fifth vacuum sealer, but you keep at least one of the worn out ones because you can still seal up plastic bags with it.

You haven’t bought dried fruit in years, but you buy fresh bananas, apples, peaches and pears by the case and have three dehydrators.

Your UPS man hates you because of all the cases of ammo he’s had to lug from his truck to your front door.

You have duplicates of all your electronics gear, solar panels and generator parts in your EMP-shielded fallout shelter.

You have set aside space for your live chickens in the fallout shelter.

When the power goes out in your neighborhood, all the neighbor’s kids come over to your place to watch TV on generator power.

You must open the door to your pantry very carefully for fear of a canned goods avalanche.

You have a ‘Volcano’, you know you can cook anything, and you cast evil glances at your neighbor’s annoying, yappy poodle, muttering, “Your day will come, hotdog”.

You’ve learned to make twine from plant fibers to be used for snares because you fear that all of your preps and hard work will be confiscated by FEMA troops or destroyed by earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear blasts, ravening hordes of feral sheeple or reptiloids from ‘Planet X’

The Police Chief calls you to find out what guns to buy for their officers.

No Fly Zone

Just thought you might like to see this "saddle" I made for one of the hens. She's missing some feathers from being a "favorite" of the rooster, so I made her this protective shield. Needs some work...

This is a high iodine meal, just to increase the levels so one doesn't absorb the radioactive kind... vegetable/venison soup with kelp strands and biscuits with kelp butter. Good ol' peasant food.

by freeacre

Well, I just spent about 45 minutes searching for the latest news on the pending extension of the odious Patriot Act. Has it been extended? Got me hanging. I searched several 'progressive” news sites – Capitol Hill Blues, Huffington Post, Crooks & Liars, Alternet, etc. and couldn't find an answer. Ron Paul seems to be the only one who gives a rat's ass, since we received an e-mail message from him recently asking us to contact our Senators regarding extending the bill. But, now I can't find that either. Funny how in this “information age” I'm having such a hard time finding out details on extending the Patriot Act, the most startling example of the demolition of our civil liberties in the history of the United States of America.

What prompted this frustrating search was an article on cryptogon this morning about a former Marine who finds himself on the No Fly List due to e-mailing a Muslim cleric regarding how to raise his children in a mixed religion marriage. He's a dog trainer now, married to a Christian, and when he tried to fly to another state to train a dog, he was unable to get on the plane. When he protested, he was investigated by the FBI. They would take him off the list, if he would be a snitch for them. He refused, so he's on the list indefinitely. Just one more example of the outrageous infringement of our liberty since the fascist Patriot Act was enacted.

Then there is the story, on cryptogon and others, that China is dropping cell phone calls on anyone who uses certain words, like “protest” in their conversations. The calls are being monitored in real time, and apparently being dealt with by some humongous computer program triggered by certain unacceptable words. Of course, if they can do it there, they can do it anywhere. Here, for instance. One of these days, we are probably going to attempt to go out of the country for either medical or dental care. I doubt we will be allowed to get on a plane.

Ah, well, no sense dwelling on these indignities. At least that's what my health practitioner told me the other day when I went in for a routine blood test to get my prescriptions renewed.

“You sound pretty negative,” I was told.

"Well, yeah. After suffering chronic pain for 8 years and trying everything I can think of to get better to no avail, it tends to catch up with one at times. Anyway, you asked.."

“Have you tried 'The Secret'?”

"You mean, “The Secret,” like on Oprah? Well, as a matter of fact, as a student of metaphysics for the majority of my life and a Science of Mind practitioner for twelve years, I practically could have written the fucking book myself."

“Well, why aren't you following it now, then?”

"Because, Brenda, I got sick of what I consider to be an unconscionable disregard for the planet and the consequences of all this “abundance consciousness” that it engenders. I mean, $2,000 weekends to learn firewalking or some bullshit, after which all these Yuppies can sit around and enjoy their mahi mahi lunches. But, nobody is concerned about the fact that they have killed 90% of the large fish in the oceans and their kids will be slurping up jellyfish in the future. I think it's stupid to manifest parking spaces at the Mall, when you're there to buy toxic products made by slave labor and disenfranchising the working class. It makes me sick."

“Well,” she says, “Ignorance is bliss.” “I just don't think about it.” I'm a little surprised that she didn't attempt to put me on Prozak.

That's the problem in a nutshell with trying to convince the general population of anything rooted in reality. They don't want to hear it. Period. It's too painful. Too much of a downer. Let's just pretend that everything is OK. Things will bet better. We're Number One. All our problems are due to the Muslims. And Obama is a Muslim. Yeah, that's got to be it...

On a more positive note... well, maybe not positive, but at least intelligent and insightful, Chis Hedges wrote a memorable piece lately on the demise of the Liberals that still haunts me. The essay is entitled “Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand.” It was on truthdig.com on March 14. He wrote, in part,

“The liberal class has busied itself with the toothless pursuits of inclusiveness, multiculturalism, identity politics and tolerance—a word Martin Luther King never used—and forgotten about justice. It naively sought to placate ideological and corporate forces bent on the destruction of the democratic state. The liberal class, like the misguided democrats in the former Yugoslavia or the hapless aristocrats in the Weimar Republic, invited the wolf into the henhouse. The liberal class forgot that, as Karl Popper wrote in “The Open Society and Its Enemies,” “If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”

This is another “inconvenient truth” that hardly anyone wants to face. Much like the burgeoning bullying problem that seems to have taken off after the big push in the last several years for well-intentioned programs on “conflict resolution,” so favored by the limp-wristed. Sounds good. Too bad it doesn't work. The Chinese took another tack. When housewives were bullied by their husbands, they got together and went to the home of the abuser, dragged him outside, and collectively kicked his ass. And, it was sanctioned by the State. Amazing.

Well, if the earth changes chronicled on The Big Wobble and The Alien Project, Half Past Human, and even the USGS volcano and earthquake sites along with the sun information on spaceweather.com, come to pass, we may all be getting our butts handed to us real soon. Maybe we shoulda left some of those dolphins and fish in the ocean, not poisoned the corrals, not cut down the rainforest, sucked up the water in the aquafirs, poisoned the lakes and streams, ruined the topsoil, destroyed the Gulf, etc.

It seems the Earth is fighting back. And, it ain't about some lame committee suggesting that we be nice. She's kicking our ass.

HOW BIG AN EMERGENCY?

Freeacre's desert dish last two nights. Rice and ? pudding. I can't remember what the yellow fruit is and she just left so I can't ask her. Maybe put it in later.

from Murph

Before I get into some other weightier thoughts, while reading the morning news and opinions at my regular site visitations, I had some musings to share with you.

I wish to commend and thank the regular readers of this site. It sure appears to me that most of the regular readers and comments indicate a high degree of inquisitiveness and desire for understanding events as they unfold about us. The sharing of information and sources by individuals here is awesome. In some respects, I have a sense of amazement that this blog has endured so long. There are other writers, blogs and web pages out there with very authoratative backgrounds and sources which I do not have. Even the precursor to this blog (Cyclone) had connections and sources of information that we all drew from. I do regret the loss of some regular participants to this blog over time. Why they withdrew I do not know. But it is with fondness that I remember their participation.

While I do a fair amount of reading these days, I don’t do as much as I used to. Maybe it’s something to do with getting older. Plus, to a large extent, a lot of what I’ve been picking up lately seems distorted, has way too many assumptions within it and often what sure appears to me as just outright lies, untruths, and spin concerning the main thesis. I think I’m getting tired of being hyped in my effort to find kernels of truth. I’m finding myself being drawn to playing bridge to while away some of my time not demanded for other endeavors.

Let’s see, where was I? Oh yeh. Emergency.

I am making the assumption that the readers are pretty much up to speed concerning the disaster in Japan. I am picking up snatches of information that imply that the Japanese government is hedging on the extent of their disaster, in particular, the nuclear reactors failure. Of particular concern of course, is the danger of radioactive contamination of our country by this fiasco, and most particularly, the west coast area where we live. Yesterday, Freeacre tried to find anything in Iodine available. It’s all gone but more is ordered. That would indicate to me that a whole bunch of people in our area also are concerned. Freeacre did find some dried kelp and made up a concoction last night that was a bit of an effort to force down my gullet. But what the hell, I reckon every little bit may help.

This danger of radioactive poisoning, right now as of writing this, is looming to be more and more a possibility. Oh goodie. As if we didn’t have enough on our plate right now. We were talking about this last night, and now we are wondering just how much effort we should be putting into getting ready for the summer efforts for food production. How much effort should be put into various community activities that we are involved in. Will there actually be community activities this summer? Or will other serious concerns take precedence?

To a large degree, if the Japanese reactors actually do melt down and spew huge amounts of radioactive stuff into the jet stream, it will affect the whole country to a greater or lesser extent, depending on wind patterns. I can’t help but ask the question whether this is the beginning of the great American die off? And not even a nuclear war is taking place. So much for the utter and complete safety of GE nuclear plants. The long range safety of these installations has been questioned for a long time, and the disposal of the waste product has never been solved. And yet, human kinds crazed demand for cheap power is such that we keep making these questionable and dangerous installations with the reassurance that they are completely safe. Read an article yesterday by a Nuc proponent that pointed out that the installations that blew up in Japan were 70’s vintage and technology has made them much safer, plus the American installations were way overbuilt for safety in comparison to the Japanese ones. So, no need to worry folks, we have it covered, move along now, nothing to worry about here. That’s when I start to duck and cover when I’m handed these reassurances. If these engineers and proponents of nuclear reactor power plants had any doubts, would they tell us? HELL NO!! Too much money and stockholder bite to do that. Only a very few whistle blowers are going to get in on the question and they, of course, will be shut down, marginalized and in some cases shut up by various means to keep us all clamoring for more cheap power. And, the movement of more power and money keeps going to the upper elites.

Perhaps indeed there is a source technology for abundant cheap electrical power floating around, but unless the elites can anticipate a windfall of profits and control, we will never see it. At least under the present political and economic paradigm we are operating under. As I have iterated many times before, it sure appears to me that changing this paradigm will not be easy or without massive casualties.

This possibility of national radioactive contamination and all the consequences involved are very real. If it indeed happens, it’s a whole new ball game and one I don’t really wish to participate in.

Let’s take a look at some scenarios. Suppose this radioactive cloud is extensive enough and has plutonium and is deadly enough to force evacuation of a great deal of the west coast habitable areas and extends far inland. Our personal choice is whether to evacuate or not. To what end? I sure look forward to being homeless, having to live in a refugee camp for the rest of my life since that contamination will make it impossible to ever go back home for the rest of my life. If you have doubts about this, read up on the long term affects of the Chernobyl disaster and what happen to areas of high radioactive contamination of large areas of land.

Or suppose it is determined and advertised that the contamination is short lived iodine isotopes and the danger to human health is short lived and the evacuation would only be temporary. Should I believe anything that the government says? If we get a plutonium contamination, it will definitely not be short lived. And that is a distinct possibility from what information I have gotten a hold of. If it is a radioactive iodine contamination, it will be short lived. In which case, evacuation would not be necessary if proper precautions were taken on an individual basis. Would the government tell us the truth of the situation? We have all been lied to so much could we believe anything the government tells us, particularly in a national emergency? Remember Katrina? Great job Brownie? Or the “too big to fail” fiasco?

The potential for the Japanese catastrophe affecting us directly is very real. Maybe it won’t happen that way, but I am not taking bets on it. What about you?

A side note from Freeacre;

I find these days to be painful. In addition to mind-boggling and heart-rending stories and pictures of the destruction and suffering of the people in Japan, we find ourselves bombarded by financial, political, cosmological, environmental, military, and health threats of all sorts. Sometimes I feel like returning to bed, assuming a fetal position, and pulling the covers over my head. Somewhere I hear p with his message that we are all energetic beings at our core, and that this is basically an "energy" issue. I don't exactly know how to respond to that. Somewhere I sense that there is a place in my self that contains a peace beyond understanding. I'd like to cultivate that sense of peace and empowerment to help get through this stressful time. After all, it is not helpful to be either hysterical or paralyzed with fear and loathing, regret, despair, or thoughts of vengeance. But how? I am open to suggestions. And, if I find any myself, I will share them with you. Right now it feels as though the camaraderie of our little cyber tribe is what keeps me going.
aho

MIRRORS AND REFLECTIONS

"Shrimp, avocado and quinoa salad. Gluten free. Avoiding gluten provides a whole new dimension to food storage preparations."

from Murph

In the last number of months, there is an overload of articles in printed material and digital stuff on the internet describing some problem and who to blame for it. Many of these are excellently written, good analysis in a prose that is easily digestible.

Which raises again the question in my mind, “Are institutions, governments and businesses a reflection of involvement and agendas of the general population, or is the population a reflecting the businesses, institutions and governments agendas?” I suspect that the preponderance is located at the institutions reflecting the agendas of the citizenry. If we had had vast citizen involvement from the git go, even our constitution would be different than it is now. Most of our country's citizen involvement in decision making is by small fractional groups with their own agendas and has nothing to do with national consensus. When the decision was made to switch to a strong central government instead of a Federation of States, much of the debate on this issue was done behind closed doors with little non elite input into the process, and the few non elites that did take part left in disgust and they sure didn’t sign it. The infant propaganda machine went into overdrive at the time to convince the various states to ratify the new document, and at the state level, there again, was little input from the non elites of the time. So, we ended up with what we now have as a covenant between the citizens and a strong central government. Even the preamble to the constitution was thrown in as a piece of sarcasm to placate the masses, (We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America), and how the Bill Of Rights was worded in such a way as to be able to bypass any legitimate intent of them. Notice how the Bill of Right’s statements are constantly being challenged and bypassed today.

As in any discussion of these issues, we have the problem of talking about what to do about the perceived problems. Arguments over ideas to cure the problems abound. Take a look at all that is written and discussed concerning energy. The plethora of cures is incredible, from the fantastic woo woo stuff to the far more practical consideration. So, someone concerned about this issue begins to wade through all the information they can find on this issue. I’ve spent considerable time on it, probably incomplete, but I have spent time looking at this information. The whole topic seems to want to revolve around a concept we call GREEN ENERGY or sustainable energy, (for the most part an oxymoron, similar to "sustainable growth"), in an attempt to supply substitute sources of energy for what we call fossil energy so that we can continue society in the same paradigm as we do presently, free use and very consumptive use of energy from whatever source. I have concluded this is another financial scam and bubble. It ain’t gonna fly. Your conclusion may be different. This does not take into consideration the concept of abiotic energy sources of which I cannot find absolute and uncontroversial support of it. Plus, even if true, I can find no information concerning field refreshment rate. It is alleged that if we have the technology to extract oil from extreme depths., there is a never ending supply. I haven’t seen financial figure on the cost of that technology yet either. We do know that oil extraction from deep sea reservoirs is very costly and has a good probability of screwing up the environment, ie. the Gulf disaster. I have also seen what seems to me to be ample evidence the natural gas extraction by “fracking” is of enormous detriment to the environment on multiple fronts. So much for technology trying to solve the energy problem and is instead producing other expensive, multiple and severe problems for human life.

So, after that little overview on the energy problem, what is to be done? It appears that trying to change how things are done by working within the system, public demonstrations, and voting, are mostly ineffectual. If that worked, we would not be where we are. The SYSTEM has just about everything locked up to prevent really mass support for anything. The SYSTEM has managed to fragment this society to an extreme degree, thus preventing consensus on any issue. This was done with full intent and malicious forethought. The old "divide and conquer" concept. There is no way that I can see where the general public can be made aware of what is/has been done to them at this time and most of that kind of information would be rejected by most people anyway. The only means I see to have significant change of some kind is for so huge a proportion of the populations in abject misery and hopelessness that they unite against the SYSTEM: that is called a revolution. Even if that takes place, a demi god will likely appear, representing the elites of course, to make “changes we can believe in” and there will be a shuffling of the power seating chairs and personnel and we will have some form of extreme control established over our lives anyway. Remember Napoleon after the French revolution or our own from English rule for that matter. We immediately stepped into a hierarchical form of government, with Washington at the head, an elitist if there ever was one.

In my opinion, until the mass of people realize that the elites ARE the problem, the essentials will not change. Otherwise, we will just go through the old shuck and jive that we have been subjected to for generations, with a few bones thrown over their shoulder to pacify the dissenters.

Is this change in perception likely to happen? Again, in my opinion, I am not optimistic about it. Not that I think it is 0% probable, just not very high probability. Of course that is a rather fluid dynamic and so some miraculous situational change could take place, principally in people’s attitudes about elite control of their lives. Around this, we have the predictions that this change is about to take place. Stay tuned, the universe may wink at us again.

That brings me back again to the title of this post. In my view of how things work, until a significant mass of humans do have this rather extreme change in perceptions, nothing will change for the better. The vast amount of humans on this planet will still be subject to exploitation, abuse, manipulation and torture to enrich the elite classes. I’m sure you have heard the defense of the elites and their vast wealth. It seems to center on the idea that they are the ones that supply jobs for us all to survive on. It is a bull shit argument, in my opinion, and hardly worth replying to. My god, whole societies have existed for thousands of years without that kind of wealth focus. Of course, the European mindset has wiped out most of these societies over a long periods of time and the non Europeans starting in pre biblical periods to the best of our written records. The whole top down hierarchy (coupled with patrimony) with the elites at the top is not a new idea, it is very old, and I suspect started with formalized religion, although I recognize that could be contested.

You may ask why I would write a post that is so general and broad, an overview. There is so much detailed information out there on any subject, masses of books written on any given subject, essays and commentaries abound, that my diving into any of these issues with a micro view is self defeating. I have a tendency to want to look at the macro view anyway. It gives me more information that has the potential to get myself and other people through the bad times that are coming by figuring what the bad times probably will look like instead of a complete focus on a single issue.

So I periodically put up posts of this nature hoping that someone new will read it and the following comments, so that those that have not been exposed to such thoughts before just might say “Eureka I get it!” and begin to investigate to determine validity. If you can stand the heat, keep holding the mirror up to peoples faces, some of them will get it. And of course, heat you will get. People have a fantastic ability to deny a reality that contradicts what they prefer to see and believe and often violently. Invariably, these perceptions and beliefs are to their own and most other peoples disadvantage. Sort of like the destruction and burning of the library of Alexandria, again, instituted and propagated by the elites of the time.

Archeologists are constantly turning up evidence of complex and large civilizations that have existed before the Sumerians, pre biblical stuff. It seems that our concepts of linear progression of human beings needs to be revised, and our whole time scale of events appears to be flawed. Of course these revelations tend to be viewed with derision by the biblical fundamentalists. Instead, for some reason I simply cannot comprehend, they like viewing god as the great trickster tempting us away from the faith. I am completely befuddled as to why god would do that, but whatever….. And here I thought Satan was the great trickster and tempter, ie. Taylor Caldwell, (sighing). Perhaps these folks just became a bit confused about who to blame. I find it rather amazing how politics and religion are so much the same. The strict adherence to a doctrine and ideology in the face of contradictory evidence, historically and immediate. Ok Palooka, back in the saddle on the horse of denial.

Charles Smith has two excellent articles pointing out the contradictions and hypocrisy of the liberal and conservative doctrines and ideology in his last two posts. Have to get to the archives from this month to see the first one. And, of course, there are volumes written concerning the hypocrisy and contradictions in religious doctrine. All of which point out the state of denial concerning the reality with which we are surrounded. Of course, as expected, when these points are made to adherents of such doctrines, they are vehemently denied and sometimes violently. Bringing into focus the famous line, "You can't handle the truth". And, of course, the field of what we call "science" gets mixed up in all of this too. Instead of "science" discovering and explaining the complexity of our lives and environments, it all to often creates complexity to prove an assertion.

I am going to presume this post might stimulate a bunch of links and comments on the subject. Go for it. Somebody new may just stumble across this little blog site and gain some insights.

Notes from the Doom-o-sphere

Back to dry land again, with a great picture fr om Hot Springs Wizard.

by freeacre

There are three concepts that stick out more than anything else for me this week:

1 . George Ure's writing that we are on a disastrous course economically because the wages of the workers can only increase linearly, while our debt to our financiers increases exponentially due to compound interest. Here's an excerpt from last week's Urban Survival:

“...the old right/left/socialist/fascist politics is being hauled out to get you to choose up sides and become a partisan in a rigged game. Wrong battle. Way off base.

Fact: The creation of money out of thin air in problem #1. It waters down the honest money, pure and simple, all the fancy formulas and secret spells of central banksters aside.

Problem #2 is when financial products invent "Interest on Interest".

Problem #3 (which also guarantees a nonlinear bad ending, in case you don't see where this is going) is when financial product are evolved which promise "Interest on Interest on Interest."

Think Warren Buffett is smart? (as well as Charlie Munger, of course...). Did they buy derivatives for Berkshire? Nope. Bought a railroad. There's a huge clue there about how to preserve wealth over time, maybe?

Historical Fact: No way in hell can any economy survive compounding on interest, but compounding wages paid to working people....the two lines over time - as my friend Ehor and I worked out in early 2001 when we described the Debtberg.

2. My own observation that while the government regulators and bureaucrats whom we citizens appeal to in our “public process” civil actions continue to get paid whether anything gets “processed” or not. Therefore, they can afford to stall and drag the whole thing out until the original citizens who initiated the proceedings are either broke, sick, or dead. Then they start the whole process all over again, and nobody remembers what the hell went on with the last group.

3. Responsibility. The American Indian perspective that one should be responsible in their decision-making to the well-being of the future generations. Right now, the imperative is to be profitable, not responsible, in the short-term and to hell with the long term. Listen to the message from Indigenous Nat, part 2, a video on the right side of the page at http://whiteknightsreport.blogspot.com/.

All these problems are compounded because we are unable to have a national dialogue due to the mass media being corporately controlled. It would not due to disrupt their revenue stream by changing the financial paradigm. So, that won't happen. In fact, they are beefing up their “weapons of media destruction” with the software that has been ordered to create legions of false network identities to give the impression that a consensus is established when that is not the case, and other really sophisticated propaganda techniques featured last week on cryptogon.com and also on Max Kaiser Report http://maxkeiser.com/ (interview with Glenn Greenwald). Jaw dropping.

So, we are on the equivalent of a runaway train to economic, political, and social disaster. We can't get the assistance of our government representatives because they have made an art form out of ignoring, diverting, stalling, or in other ways, refusing to allow our objections to be persuasive. And, we can't get any real consensus of opinion going to empower the citizenry because our messages get all distorted, denied, filtered, re-interpreted, or disappeared. It all becomes part of the background babble that keeps us fighting each other rather than those who are profiting from this mess.

It puts me in mind of a memorable rant that one of Joe Bageant's readers posted back in 2008 called Declaration of Defeat, by Scott in Appalacia. It read,

DECLARATION OF DEFEAT

“I (your name goes here), having CONCLUDED, based on the undeniable reality that all American problems invariably become exponentially clusterfucked and are always forcefully contagious, and that the American dream is a tiresome, unrewarding bad trip, not worth the efforts or the casualties. Understanding that participation is complicity, resistance is futile. Having consumed all the mind-numbing propaganda that I can bare. Being duly aware that, I, by having neglected to contribute to the coffers of the winning campaigns can expect no favors and no mercy. Having zero interest in the present electoral outcomes, even for their circus-like entertainment value.

We understand that descent into total class war and social chaos is inevitable, unstoppable, and evolutionarily necessary. We fully expect to eventually be enslaved, incarcerated, tortured, shot in the cross-fire, blown-up by CIA terrorists, euthanised, or simply left behind when Jesus, or Sun Myung Moon, finally comes.

With no fond memories or illusions of any real loss whatsoever. With all patriotic tendencies as thoroughly deceased as the countless Iraqi victims of the spreading of "freedom and democracy". With the foundations of my trust for authority as wobbly as WTC Building 7. With all community affectations rendered ineffective and foreclosed. With not even a hint of a faith-based initiative. With no demand for a raise in wages. No care for a tax break. With no pleas for food stamp allotment increases or cost of living adjustments. Having no part to play in the stimulus program. With no expectations of receiving medical assistance from any of the greedy, incompetent, indifferent, upper-class medical professionals in this sanctimonious society of hustlers and pickle vendors. With no hopes of a secure, comfortable, contented, or full life. With no care for how my body is disposed of when I am relieved of the need for it. Not giving a shit who inherits my earthly belongings, if any shall somehow remain in my possession at the time of my demise or abduction.

Having no desire to profit from such an aggressively militant, murderous, deceptive, oligarchical, purified, religiously confused, environmentally rapacious culture. With no inclination to consume slave made wares, to eat toxic or genetically modified corporate American food or to interact socially with a generally lost and misguided society of hopelessly hypnotized consumer slaves or their xenophobic sycophantic superiors -- preferring to be alone unto myself.

Knowing full well that I may be trampled in the cardboard box that I may be living in when the banks finally fail, the grocery trucks run out of gas, the plug gets pulled from the hologram, the shit hits the fan,and the urban masses stampedes towards the countryside in search of the farmers' chickens or things to steal to trade for a rat-meat sandwich or a new tattoo, do hereby OPT OUT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, goodbye and good riddance.”

---

I think that mrs.p's observation that these times seem to really be the End of Days and look a lot like the Hindu concept of the Kali Yuga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga ). Or the Biblical Apocalypse, or the end of the Mayan Calendar, or whatever your favorite reference is. This is it. Personally I'm waiting for the Sun and its binary star, Nibiru, to put an end to our problems and allow us and our dear Mother, the Planet, to start over. Meanwhile we can eat pie and popcorn and talk amongst ourselves.